ATHENS – Germany”s Anna Dogonadze avenged her early mistake in the 2000 Olympic Games trampoline final by nailing her final routine in Athens to claim the women”s trampoline gold on Friday afternoon at the Olympic Indoor Hall.
Dogonadze scored a 39.60 for her 14.2 difficulty routine to edge reigning world champion Karen Cockburn of Canada at 39.20. The USA”s Jennifer Parilla landed on the blue mat following the eighth skill of her second routine, finishing with a total score of 52.70 for 14th place.
“If I couldn”t win the gold medal today, then it was great to see Anna win it,” said Parilla, of her training partner for the past month. “I started my first skill too low, and the seven skills I was able to do after that were all just kind of fighting to get to the correct height.”
Parilla misstepped on her full-full-half out tucked to a full-full-half out layout, landing on the blue mat following the layout.
Dogonadze, meanwhile, earned judges marks from 8.3 to 8.6 for her final routine. Though not the most difficult of the competition, Dogonadze proved that technical consistency and cleanliness of form can win a gold medal. Parilla spent the past few weeks training in Bad Kreuznach, Germany with Dogonadze on the grounds of a former U.S. military base there.
“Anna is technically one of the most perfect trampolinists in the world, and she”s been a pleasure to train with this past month,” Parilla said. “I”ve learned so much in the last four years. I”ve learned what it takes day in and day out to become an Olympic champion. I”m going to take what I”ve learned and perfect it.”
Dogonadze won the Olympic Test Event in 2000 only to fault on the first skill of her final routine, earning a 5.00 in the trampoline final of the 2000 Olympic Games. Dogonadze, 30, is a nine-time world medalist in the trampoline disciplines.
Four-time world champion Irina Karavaeva, who won the inaugural Olympic trampoline competition in 2000, got off balance early in her second routine, finishing 15th with a score of 39.90.