Elisabeth Seitz - German all-around champion 2010
"Eli", like the gymnast from the club TG Mannheim is called, is the shooting-star of the German national women's team. At her first European Championships and as the youngest senior gymnast in the team she was the only German gymnast who reached a final at the Women's European Championships in Birmingham. At the 2010 German Championships she was the most successful female gymnast.
Everything went that quickly, that sometimes she has to pinch herself. The gymnast Elisabeth Seitz - at her first participation in the seniors field at German Championships in 2009 she won three silver medals. And then in the same year she took part in the World Championships in London and only narrowly missed the all-around final. At the European Championships 2010 she reached the 8th place on uneven bars. Then in September 2010 she became the best German gymnast: At the German Championships she won the all-around title as well as the finals on uneven bars, beam and floor.
This success didn't come out of the blue. "Elisabeth has a competitive personality. She trains a lot, always does more than the others", mentioned Germany's head coach Ulla Koch at the European Championships in Birmingham 2010. "Eli" trains more than 30 hours per week. Sunday is her only free day.
Lucky charm from the "witch house"
The 1.60 m tall gymnast has a friendly personality. She likes to laugh and to talk to other people. Before important competitions she has a ritual. "I always go to a small shop in my hometown, it's called "witch house". There is a wheel of fortune with little stones on which can be found oracles. But I always take my mother with me and if I get a bad stone, I give it to her." However, before the 2010 European Championships she didn't have the time to go there. That obviously wasn't a problem, considering her results in Birmingham.
The today 16-year-old girl started quite late with competitive gymnastics. However, she made her first steps in recreational gymnastics already at the age of two at the club "TV 1892 Friedrichsfeld". Then at the age of seven she started with competitive gymnastics. She is ambitious and has a lot of fun with her sports. "I like learning new elements. "Flying around" is simply great", explained Eli. The talent for gymnastics seems to be a heritage for her. Her mother, Claudia Süßenbach, has been a gymnast as well.
Meteoric rise
Since 2004 she belongs to the national squad of the German Gymnastics Federation. Two years later she switched to her current coach Claudia Schunk. Ms. Schunk remembers "When she came to me in 2006, she still was the weakest gymnast in my junior team". The coach told Eli to do a lot of strength training and that seems to have been successful. At the following German Youth Championships she climbed up from rank 10 to the third place. Also on beam and uneven bars - her favourite apparatus - she won bronze medals.
Her debut in the seniors' national team took place in May 2009 in a dual meet against the USA. Since then it can be talked about her meteoric rise. Right in her first year in the seniors field she qualified for the World Championships in London and reached the 27th place in the all-around. "She did very well", said Germany's head coach Ulla Koch. In 2010 took place the highlight of her career up to now: The 8th place in the uneven bars final at the European Championships in Birmingham. At the German Championships in the same year she won four titles and proved to be in top form. Through that she clearly qualified for the World Championships in October 2010 in Rotterdam.
