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Tuesday 22 January 2013

More news- Do not adjust your VCR

UPDATE- Added Lizzy LeDuc's routines from a few weeks back, and Bridget Sloan's brand new floor for Florida, debuted last week.

China, who took the team title at AYOF despite four falls, did not dominate in the AA and EF, sadly. However, they did accrue some more medals- Mei Jie took third in the AA, first on bars and third on beam, Luo Huan took second on bars, Liu Zhilin second on floor and third on vault and Chen Siyi second on beam. All in all, they went home far from empty handed, and at an inauspicious time of the year for them, still in the middle of Winter Training. There is great dissapointment that they did not sweep the board, but I don't think they should be written off...they are not used to competition, particularly international, and will not have been training high level skills for long. A good point was made on IG, that Deng Linlin was extremely inconsistent as a junior. Conversely of course, Tan Sixin and plenty of others never translated their potential as a junior to a senior. I am very impressed with Britain! Hope to see all of these girls in the future.

There's a US National Team Camp taking place. Some more appointments to the Junior National Team would be nice. Sarah Finnegan is not at camp, no idea as to why not. Hopefully not an injury. If she is not present at the next camp at the end of February, it is unlikely that she will be in contention for the competitions in Italy and Germany coming up in March. This one will no doubt be focusing on upgrades for those meets, and the summer season- Classics and Nationals, as well as SCAM of course.

Norah Flatley, Alexis Vasquez and Jordan Chiles will all be trying for elite this year. Norah and Alexis are Chow's most promising Level 10's, with some gorgeous beam work and artistry. Jordan is the girl I posted about a while ago, who has an arsenal of awesome skills in training- a DTY, a front triple-layout front etc. but sadly is not elegible for Rio. They would all make fabulous additions to the Junior National Team. I am most excited for Bailie Key, who now has a Downie and Church (!!!) on bars, and a standing arabian on beam. No doubt she has plans for floor and hopefully vault too. She will make excellent competition for Amelia Hundley.

Here is Michaela Chernoch's of Southern Utah's vault from a while ago, versus UCLA. It's the last one, at about 20 seconds. It's a one and a half on, full off. There's a lot of debate over whether it is a vault or not. It's extremely expressive in that a) she lands it and b) she lands it dead centre, and not off the mat...that's a very difficult vault to control the direction on. It also of course, looks awesome. But I'd have to agree it's not a vault, the vault is in her way, not a tool for her to rebound off. She gets pretty much no repulsion off the table and barely touches it. So, not a vault as it does not conform to the three stages of one. But wow!


Beth Tweddle performed for the second time on Dancing on Ice at the weekend. On her first outing, she was commended for her skill and bravery, but condemned for her roboticness. I would agree that she is much more watchable this time around, and has clearly made a lot of effort as regards her presentation. Well done Beth! Particularly impressive in that she was not felling well and had been hospitalised during the week.

Here are Lizzy LeDuc's routines from a meet a few weeks ago. The super-stylish junior who garnered quite a fanbase, moved gyms from WOGA after breaking both her elbows and dropped to Level 10. She failed to qualify elite last year, and has moved gyms again. This is an interview she gave after that move. It won't work for me, not sure if it's under gymnastike's gold' premium section or what. She seems happy with the goal of a college scholarship in mind, and indeed her routines look very NCAA. LOVE that floor. Still, I'd say ruling out her return to elite is premature.

Bridget Sloan did not dissapoint with her new floor routine. It makes the most of her choreography potential, and there's plenty of room for her to increase the difficulty in her tumbling, which is fairly average at the moment. I especially like the opening part.

This is my routine of the day, Hope Spivey at the 1994 NCAA EF on floor. Not only because she was 26 and still awesome, but for the difficulty, form and flair she shows here. Did I mention...reverse choreography??? Wow. Do not adjust your VCR!XD

I made a tumblr. I'm not sure exactly why, as I've no real interest in the tumblr world of OMG REBLOG LOL and I only ever look at a grand total of 3 tumblrs. Boredom I suppose. Predictably, you can find it at http://beautifulgymnastics.tumblr.com It looks extremely bare right now. I will use it for more informal snippets/pictures/videos. You can ask me questions or suggest something for a post on this blog. I won't be neglecting blogger in its place. EDIT- I got very sick of it and deleted it. I just don't like tumblr.

17 comments:

  1. Interesting that you think Bailey would be competition for amelia. Is this something you think Marta will do?Put them against each other.

    Sara F. not showing up at camp doesn't worry me as I didn't figure to see her until classics. Hopefully its not a serious injury keeping her away from death camps.

    Bailey Key I have to see these new bar upgrades Ive been hearing about.

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    1. Currently there aren't many in the NT to be competition against each other! At the moment it's Bailie, Amelia and Polina. I predict Nica, Laurie and Alexis will be added at the very least. Bailie's upgrades are on gymnastike, or at least the Downie is. Not sure if she just mentions the rest or if there's footage of them too. I think she has enormous potential, and can outclass Amelia who is at the moment a 2-eventer.

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    2. i really, really like bailie's gymnastics. she's just so clean in her execution and has lovely lines. as she turned elite fairly young she's got time (and potential) to build up difficulty. just gotta focus on staying healthy! i see her as a competing AA in the future.

      i also like laurie, i think she'll be really dynamic and fun to watch in the next couple of
      years.

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    3. I adore Bailie. I'm excited to see the direction her floor will go once she outgrows her carnival music. Ahh her leaps! And her bars seem exciting too. Once she grows some more she could possibly do an amanar. Laurie just has IT on floor, and a really nice beam. I'd like to see her develop as an all-arounder...she's only 12 after all, plenty of time.

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  2. Alexis Beucler is a senior this year which I think lowers her chances of making the team, at least for now. I would also like to see Nia Dennis added.

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    1. Ha I seer to be having trouble adjusting that 1997 is now senior. Thanks! Yes, definitely Nia.

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  3. I'm seeing three categories right now:

    1. Rio contenders AA or specialists: Bailey, Kyla,Lexie, Laurie, norah, amelia, Katelyn

    2. Will make 1-2 worlds team, then head to NCAA: Simone, ebee, alexis, Maddie

    3. Unknown/wildcard/?: sarah, nia, polina, jordyn chiles

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    1. Sadly Jordan is not elegible, she turns senior in 2017. That is why her skill level is so impressive, though a bit scary as regards the potential for burn out and injuries- much like Shallon Olsen, who has the same potential problems.

      I think Nia is definitely in the mix. Polina and Katelyn are very valuable for their bars and beam- Lexie, Simone and Amelia kind of suck there. As well as Bailie of course.

      Rio biggest contenders- Lexie, Amelia, Simone, Laurie, Nia, Katelyn, Polina.

      I just don't know where anyone else fits in! I do see your 4 NCAA recruits being there, and I don't think Ebee can make it to Rio. Maddie is very much so up against Sarah. Kyla is to the forefront, but 4 years is a lot of time.

      For Rio I would like to see- Laurie, Simone, McKayla M, Bailie and Polina. I don't think that's possible, Nia and Lexie are obviously missing there, and McKayla and Simone have the same strengths. Bahh. They are covered for vault, floor and beam in my lineup. Bars are an issue, but then they always are. Bailie, Polina and then one of the rest have to step up- Laurie hopefully. I prefer Simone to Lexie.

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    2. I thought Jordyn was 13 for some reason.

      My thing with Maddie is shes only good on floor maybe vault. But she only does a FTY right.

      Lexie: Terrible form on beam, blah on bars. Im calling her a specialist for now on floor and vault.

      Amelia: her beam is better than Lexie. I can see her more as a potential AA than Lexie.

      Nia omg Gabbys twin from her body type to her lines and form.

      Polina I only like on beam. Her floor and bars are messy. Especially bars. Shes already tall so she'll have the issue like khorkina unless she cleans it up.

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    3. To me, Maddie and Sarah are pretty much interchangeable. Sarah is better than her, at the moment. It depends if Maddie can improve her beam, and get her bars up to a decent level. She could be useful if she does, but I do see her fading as things stand now.

      Yes, Lexie needs vast improvements on beam and bars to really keep any kind of status as the main all-arounder. BUT, her floor has such an incredible SV and she still has an amanar, and that may be enough to carry her for a while.

      I really like Nia. She screams huge potential.

      Polina is so valuable, and I do like her on beam and bars. She could be the 2012 Kyla if she cleans up, and there's shite all other good bar workers to be had. Maybe Nica. But they need a back up of Bailie, Nica and Katelyn.

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  4. The thing about the Chinese is bless them because they are constantly amongst the most beautiful gymnasts but they have always been prone to nerves. They've lost Olympic team medals (2004). Favourites have lost gold (Cheng Fei) and gymnasts like Fan Ye could go from the highest score of the quad to not even qualify for finals (beam). And of course Mo Huilan who could have qualified for more finals and win an AA medal of any colour and win Olympic Gold.

    On One hand tumblrs can be great but some of them who seem to be obsessed with the male anatomy do go way too far. Also call me stupid but I can't seem to find your tumblr

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    1. That is partly what makes Cheng Fei's 2004 FX TF so magical, she was so young and it came after such disastrous routines she knew they were out of medals. A great pity that toughness did not present at other times for her. As for Mo Huilan, I think she was the greatest gymnast ever. Exceptional vaulter- best DTY of all time. Exceptional bars worker with gorgeous flight, incredible height and form and of course, one of the hardest releases ever. Exceptional beam worker, with a gorgeous layout and mount. Blah blah floor. Literally no weak event, just incredible. It sucks she made such errors, and that she was a shadow of herself in 97. Much as I love Chinese gymnasts particularly 2003-2008 (Fan ye was also amazing to watch on floor, used to think she was only a beam specialist), nothing beats their enormous potential 95-97.

      I altered the link, hope it works now! Very dull so far.

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  5. I mentioned this another gymblog, but there is junior by the name of Ashley Foss I noticed at visa last year. I saw her on YouTube. Her bar routine wasn't the most difficult and she needs to work on her releases and swing but I like how she could hit a hand stand with her legs glued together and toes pointed. I also see potential on beam as well.

    Is she a threat or contender for Rio? No, but you never know.

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    1. I haven't seen or heard enough of her to make a judgement. She seems to be one of the background girls at the moment. It'd be nice for someone to come out of nowhere though!

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    2. Yeah she's definitely a background girl like Amanda huang or a Jessica wang. It would spice things up for someosne to spice things up.

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    3. Yes I really like Ashley Foss, her lines remind me of Komova, who has some of the most beautiful gymnastics.Hope she makes it to Nationals again this year and with higher D-scores. She's 1998 born so there's still time for her.

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    4. Interesting, one to watch so. America needs a dose of nice lines I think.

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