European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championship recap

In the final major competition in Europe before the Olympics in Rio, some big names showed their skills at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland. Some gymnasts were completing a comeback in hopes to be healthy and ready to perform in Rio, while others were simply getting in that one final tune-up before taking on the rest of the world.

Russia Wins Team Gold, Tops Medal Table

After qualifications, it looked like Russia and Great Britain were going to have a tough battle for gold in the team competition. The two were virtually tied entering the finals, and given that Great Britain were sending a team that closely resembled their bronze medal winning World Championship team, and Russia were sending former Olympians to the floor, it was sure to be a battle to the end.

Unfortunately, early errors by Great Britain took all of the drama out of the competition.

Russia, who was lead by Aliya Mustafina in her first international competition since being hospitalized in March, performed solid routines throughout the finals, and found separation from the British team after the second rotation. Great Britain would rebound from their early mistake and perform beautiful routines on the floor, as well as solid vaults, but they would only get within five points of Russia, who make up for their disappointment at last year's World Championship with a dominating performance in Bern. Russia already named four members of their Olympic team, with Mustafina, Viktoria Komova, Maria Paseka and Ksenia Afanasyeva all being named to the team. Komova and Paseka sat this event out, but Mustafina and Afanasyeva, who both have been plagued with health problems over the past couple of years, decided to use this event to test their strength. Both would perform incredibly well, and give Russian gymnastics fans hope that the team could return to glory at Rio. By the end of the weekend, Russia would walk away with five medals - in addition to team gold, Mustafina would win gold on the beam and bronze on the uneven bars. Daria Spiridonova, who is trying to securing the final spot on the Olympic team, took home the silver in the uneven bars. Afanasyeva, who is going to be competing in her third Olympic Games this year, won the bronze in the vault.

Great Britain, however, will not be hanging their heads too far in disappointment. The fact that they were able to rebound their way into a dominating silver medal position after their early miscues shows that GB has a world class team. Also, the team would take home three medals in the event finals, with Rebecca Downie winning gold on the uneven bars, and Elissa Downie winning silver in both the floor and the vault.

In what may be seen as a bit of an upset, France took home the bronze medal. France, who barely qualified for Rio at the test event in April, made up the majority of their points in the uneven bars, where they were the second best team, behind Russia, in combined scoring. They beat Switzerland, who was fueled by their home crowd, by less than three points. France also won an event medal, as Marine Boyer won the silver on the beam.

With the United States being the overwhelming favorites to win the gold medal in Rio, the battle for silver and bronze will be incredibly competitive. Russia and Great Britain will battle China, who won the silver at the World Championships, as well as Canada and Japan, who have young teams that are improving.

Steingruber Dazzles The Home Crowd

While Switzerland was barely edged out for the bronze medal in the team event, Giulia Steingruber more than made up for it in the apparatus finals. She performed a beautiful, flawless floor routine that scored a 15.200, giving her the gold medal by .700 points over Britain's Ellie Downie.

Steingruber and Downie would carry their battle over to the vault, where the two would win gold and silver once again. The results were much closer, however, as Steingruber was only able to beat Downie by .05 points.

The results got the Swiss crowd on their feet, not only because one of their own performed so well, but also because it happened one year after the World Championships, where Steingruber appeared to have suffered a horrific knee injury. It turned out that the injury was not nearly as bad as it appeared to be, and gymnastic fans were delighted to see her not only competing pain free, but doing so at the highest level.

Switzerland can only send one gymnast to Rio due to their lack of team placement in the World Championships and the Rio Test Event. With these results, Steingruber can go ahead and make travel arrangements.

Ponor Continues To Shine

There was a time when 19 year old women gymnasts were retiring from the sport. Being in your 20's made you "old", and very few people returned for more than one Olympic Games.

As gymnasts have been working harder to stay healthier, however, experience is being valued as much as youth, and Catalina Ponor is the perfect example of the value of experience.

Ponor, who first competed for Romania in the Olympics in Athens back in 2004, is seeking to make her third Olympics (she took 2008 off). She showed in Bern that she still has the skills to be competitive against the best in the world, winning the bronze medal in the floor exercise and the beam. She described her beam performance as "disappointing", and hopes to fix a few things when she returns home.

Unlike Steingruber, who is all but guaranteed to be invited by Switzerland to compete in Rio, Romania has a tough decision to make. For the first time in recent history, Romania did not qualify for the team portion of the Olympics, and now the NOC has to select their one gymnast who can compete for them. Ponor would be a good choice, considering her Olympic history, but Larisa Iordache, who is coming back from hand surgery, is the reigning all-around bronze medalist at the World Championships. Iordache isn't expected to compete prior to Rio, so there is no telling how her injury would have healed by then; however, she gives Romania their best chance at medaling in the all-around. Ponor, meanwhile, has proven to be a better specialist in the beam and the floor, but is not expected to compete for an all-around medal. If Iordache's injury doesn't heal in time, the decision will be made for them, but if she's back to being healthy, the NOC will have a real difficult decision to make.