i'm sorry but i just realised that i did not see yussupova in the european champs - and i managed to see all the finals videos. where was she? is she injured? i'm pretty sure she hasnt retired because she has competed this year. anyone know?

umm, kazakstan doesnt belong in europe.. its in Asia.. I guess thats the reason...

That is the reason exactly.

really? i had no idea (feeling slightly shamed right now and incredibly culturaly un aware) i guess i need to polish up on my eastern europe/asian geography i'll go look at a map right now!

There are some countries I don't understand either.. For instance, Israel is certainly not a European country, but why do they compete in EC? On the other hand, people seem to think that Azerbaidjan and Georgia are Asisan countries, which they aren't. They belong to Europe (for some reason I'm not really sure about), so they compete

yeah I don't think AZE en Georgia belong to Europe but oh well for some reason they do, though I never have learned that in school.

I also didn't know Israel or Turkey (partly) were part of Europe but here they are at Euros

Kazakhstan takes part in the Asian games though

Well, Turkey and Israel both compete in the Eurovision Song Contest, so I guess they are part of Europe, LOL!

Israel is surely NOT a part of Europe ( it would be weird since it's on another continent.. "Oy, China is now a part of South America" Right..) Both Turkey and Russia are split between Europe and Asia. Turkey has only a little bit of land in Europe, but that's enough for them to be called European though.

But Israel is for some reason seen as part of Europe (or they want it themselves?) cause Pizetsky & Rizenson are at Euros and Israel takes part in Eurovision.

Wonder how it is decided which countries are in Europe, It seems countries dont have to be "on continent" to be European... like Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Malta, Cyprus... so I suppose Israel has the right to be in Europe? (even tho shurely she isnt an island as the others)

Of course they don't, there's a border on the Atlantic Ocean/Sea or what's-it-called. But Israel still remains in the Middle East, which surely belongs entirely to Asia. Russia and Turkey are on continent, but mostly Asian, so they can choose if I'm not mistaken or it's maybe like Pacific Games, gymnasts who coem from countries that compete both in EC and PG, won't get points on the World Ranking list for PC.

Eurhm GB was one of the very first countries which belonged to Europe!!

It's not because you're an Island that you can't belong to a continent....

And yeah it still is the Atlantic Ocean as far as I'm concerned.

The reason (probably) why they are seen as part of Europe in competitions etc has to do with a European trade which they are part of.

As usual, a bit of a tangent from me

Kazhakstan may have at one point been considered Europe b/c it was part of the USSR:

circa 1989, administrative regions
www.lib.utexas.edu . . .

After the Soviet Union fell, Russia lost most of its [what I presume to be with my somewhat limited knowledge of contemporary Russian history/politics] autonomous regions, such as Kazhakstan and Kyrgyzstan, formerely Kyrgezia autonomous region (I think autonomous regions are called "oblast" in Russian, singular).

Russian administrative regions, circa 1994
www.lib.utexas.edu . . .

Much Love Always,
Dasha

yes, on my map on my wall is says Kazakstan is "part in europe, part in asia" =S

Most definitely not. Russia is partly European partly Asian but Kazakstan (as well as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and Tadjikistan) is located in Central Asia.

Just don't ask me why Azerbeijdan is considered European it'll be political/economical reasons as AZE is a South-West Asian country.

well I don't know if that's true at all, but I heard that Israel's performing in Europeans becouse they don't have champions like that in Afrika, and that's why they are on all Europeans competitions (becouse in their continet is not enough competition). May be that's the reason ??

Israel is not part of Africa ....


It's just that their neighbours who are strong Muslim countries don't want to compete against a more democratic Israel.

of maybe it because all gymnasts who represent Israel ARE European =D

with the Israelian nationality so technically they aren't European.

....

Ok

Israel: Diplomatic-wise, Israel is 100% european because most of their copatriots are european

Russia: Although most of its land is in Asia, about 70% of Russia's population is in the european side (Moscow and St. Petersburg are in europe)

Azerbaijan: Is not european it's asian (armenia which is closer to europe is asian)

ahh so much flexibility! i thought i was flexible.. take all that back! lol

yeah sorry to change the subject of this post but i do love this photo - how the ribbon must have been moving so fast the camera picked up two frames of movement, amazing.

also thanks for everyone explaining the geography of eastern europe/asia for me, its always interesting to learn something new about the world!

Though Azerbeijdjan is a West Asian country it does compete at European Championships. So does Armenia and Georgia