British performances have been steadily improving over the last couple of years, with Louis Smith winning the first Olympic medal in one hundred years and culminating in Daniel Keatings winning Britain's first 'All around' medal at last year's World Championships in London.
With this background there was an air of eager anticipation going into this event but the results achieved last week in Birmingham exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic, catapulting them up the European rankings. The week commenced with all five members of the junior team achieving a top 10 finish and winning team gold by a country mile.
With only two gymnasts from each country able to progress the All around final, Sam Oldham and Max Whitlock produced near faultless performances to take the gold and silver medals - complete domination.
This was followed by the senior squad achieving a place in the Team final for the very first time ending the competition on the podium, just behind winners Germany.
In the Apparatus finals four junior medals and a gold, silver and bronze medal in the senior event concluded a historic achievement in front of the jubilant home crowd.
This young cadre of gymnasts has great strength in depth and has placed the country in its strongest ever position ahead of the two-year Olympic qualification process that begins at the World Championships in Rotterdam in October. Team GB can now have confidence in qualifying a full team for London, the first time they have done so since the Barcelona Games in 1992.
Congratulations to all those who have worked tirelessly over many years to make these results possible!
It all happened despite the volcanic ash...
All good event management incorporates contingencies plans, but no could have ever predicted that, after 12 months of meticulous planning, a volcano would erupt just two days before teams started arriving, presenting a massive challenge.
I was able to observe first-hand how the local Organising Committee, comprising British Gymnastics and Birmingham City Council, called on all of their previous experience to confront the challenge.
Crisis meetings held three or four times a day led to major modifications to the training and competition schedule to give teams more time to make their journeys from across Europe. There was constant communication with all the national gymnastics federations, and the assistance of the Borders Agency and ferry companies was vital in ensuring that in the end 90% of the teams made it to Birmingham.
The event was awash with numerous stories of epic journeys made by teams determined not to be defeated, such as the Greek team who made the decision to drive all the way from Greece to Birmingham.
Hopefully London 2012 will not have such exceptional challenges to face, but with Britain being fortunate to have such event organisational experience and tenacity, the Games are sure to be a fabulous success no matter what mother nature decides to throw at them!!
The event now continues through the week with the women in action at the National Indoor Arena.
