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Friday 15 March 2013

Quick round-up

Sadly the rumour is true, no Larisa Iordache at LRSY this weekend. This makes it her fourth missed world cup. She is still slated to compete at Doha and Cottbus world cups, and is expected to be a certainty for Euros. I'm not sure why they bothered overloading her with assignments as now they face more indignity in pulling her out of this one- and at a very late stage too. A slight injury was cited as the cause, I'd be more inclined to believe her March and April schedule is packed enough moreso than an injury. If it is, then hopefully it's a very swift recovery. We have to see her this year sometime..she can't withdraw from everything...right? Maria Paseka is not there either, the reason seems to be another visa problem- which makes it the third in quick succession, Mei Jie could not attend Massilia and Andreea Iridon could not attend Gymnix for the same reason. Sort it out, major gymnastics federations...

The good news is, Diana Bulimar has been added to the LRSY floor line-up. She is also down for Cottbus, Doha and is another almost-certainty for Euros. However she has less pressure on her and is not as of yet a brilliant all-arounder- though she has upped her game on vault. Really looking forward to her floor. The impressions from training report states that she is using her choreography and music from London. Fine by me. You can read it here, in French. I'm proud I understood without translating. Finally!

Update: What a splatfest. Really sad to see gymnast after gymnast come to grief at the hands of bars, vault and beam. Not to mention Janine Berger and Kristian Thomas who injured themselves on vault. The prognosis on Janine is that she will be out for two weeks. I was most dissapointed to hear that Becky Downie had a disastrous time on bars and that Diana Bulimar fell off beam twice. Bars and beam were a case of whoever doesn't fall, qualifies. Well done to Ksenia Afanasyeva for hitting both of her routines. However, I am disgusted she was wrongly awarded 0.5 CR for a front/sidewards element on floor as she did not perform it, she left out her front aerial. Her turn combination was beautiful though. I was a little dissapointed with her beam as she left out a very pretty connection from Russian Nationals. The routine seemed like a fight, it wasn't anywhere near as graceful as it could have been, but there's plenty of time to iron that out, hopefully. Ugly dismount too, sigh. Afan's floor being judged incorrectly means that Diana Bulimar should have won floor by a landslide. Which would have been nice considering her beam. I didn't see anything wrong with her leaps, two of which failed to get credit. Will have to rewatch. Although Anne Kuhm's beam was a meltdown, her BHS-LOSO-LOSO looks like it will be absolutely beautiful. Carlotta Ferlito's beam was another highlight, very strong and it looks like she has absolutely nailed the new arm-swing rules. Her acro line was totally Li Ya-esque in its lack of arm swing, brilliant to see. I've no idea how this rule physically affects gymnasts, but it seemed like it set Marine Brevet off balance..


Our winners are:

UB- Giulia Steingruber
VT- Giulia Steingruber
BB- Carlotta Ferlito
FX- Ksenia Afanasyeva

Afan fell off beam, handing the title to Carlotta. I haven't seen Afan's floor yet (issues with the livestream..) but she did have an aerial in apparently. Didi scored just one-tenth lower, I don't know yet if she had her leaps credited. Her tumbling was a little scrappy, especially in slow-motion. Bit of a dissapointing competition given all the falls and some odd judging. Here's to Jesolo being better!

And for the day that's in it (it's a disaster zone and I avoid it like the plague here. Tip: If you're ever visiting Ireland, don't coincide your trip with Paddy's Day); here is Kim Zmeskal with the best example of an Irish music floor routine that I've seen yet. I really love this music, and it works so well. She even has little movements inspired by the dance..not many, just the ones after her second and third passes, but still. She changed this routine for nationals and had different music. Boo. This one rocks.

I'm too late for the old news that Beth Tweddle has won Dancing on Ice. I wonder if the gymnasts lucky streak will continue for Aly Raisman though. Really looking forward to seeing her first dance. I think she will at least initially face the same criticism Beth did- too much focus on technicality, not enough on losing herself in the dance and her presentation. I think it's hard for gymnasts to do the opposite of what they do so much of- keeping the body tense and being incredibly focused on technicality. Obviously not that hard, since they're winning everything they enter, but still..

I am so thrilled at the vast improvement of Andreea Munteanu. Andreea is a 2014 senior, whose strengths are floor and beam..no surprise there for a Romanian. Thankfully, she also has superb toepoint, leaps and extension. She stood out on beam in particular last year at Junior Euros but has really come on since then. I could look at her 1/4 straddle all day long. And she already has a (nice and high) tuck full! Much as I enjoy Larisa Iordache's superb beam work, her toepoint is severely lacking and her leaps aren't a patch on Munteanu's. So I'd have no problem for her to be surpassed on beam by the girl with superior form. Really great to see her comeback after a vastly dissapointing TF and AA and take the beam and floor titles and a bronze on vault. Hopefully Laura Jurca can recover quickly, she aggravated an old injury on floor and then scratched vault..the reason why they finished last with 2/3 in their vault rotation. Andreea herself would have easily claimed the AA had she not had a disaster on bars. A modest score of 12.8 would have given her a generous lead. Sigh.

This is the greatest thing I have seen on twitter, ever.

There's a meet in May that I've never heard of before, but it sounds very interesting. The Professional Gymnastics Challenge will pit two groups- USA Vs The World- of mixed gymnasts against each other. Gymnasts will compete head-to-head in an offence against defence format where the first group devise a skill or series and the other team must better the originators effort in order to be the new offending team. Tumbling is one category, there are plenty of others. I can't wait to see how it pans out. It's not new, but it is to me! On the US side will be Jana Bieger (still training..?), Anna Li, Kat Ding and a whole bunch of big enough MAG names. The international team includes Oksana Chusovitina, Anna Pavlova, Jade Barbosa, Jessica Lopez and Lisa Mason. Jade's gym has dropped their professional programme and fired a whole bunch of staff, leaving her, the Hypolito's and a few more in the lurch. (It's not clear how this affects Rebeca Andrade who is too old for the recreational programme for younger kids which is being kept, but is not a senior pro and is not named as being affected. Nevertheless, the coaching situation will impact her if nothing else). So if Jade has not withdrawn as of yet, hopefully that's good news and she has somewhere good to train. The website is here, for a better explanation of how the competition will work. I'm most excited about Anna Li as there is an uneven bars bit..and Jade Barbosa anything.

Chantysha Netteb and Noel van Klaveren will compete for the Netherlands at Euros. Absolutely thrilled Chantysha rebounded quickly from her scary fall at her first attempt to qualify, but dissapointed they are not sending more. After all, they're sending six MAG. Sanne Wevers (queen of turns) still scores high on beam and Daphne Slingerland could do with the experience. Hmm. Elizabeth Seitz, Tabea Alt and Sophie Scheder will compete at Chemnitz. Sophie is the reigning junior Euros bars champion, looking forward to seeing what she has up her sleeve for her senior debut, and Tabea too. Mariya Livchikova and new senior Darya Matveyeva placed first and second respectively at Ukrainian Cup. Presumably both will be headed to Moscow. Darya was very flaky last year at Junior Euros, though very promising as is usual with Ukraine. Let's all pray to something that Mariya can stay on the beam as her original and daring routine is probably worth more in this code...

26 comments:

  1. Queen Cata is awesome. Though to be fair Izbasa is even taller than Cata isn't she?

    Munteanu is lovely and very polished. She's got the lovely Romanian solid confidence on beam but is so light and floaty. Reminds me of Porgras..

    The meet in May sounds really interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing Li, what is she actually doing now that she's already graduated from college? Bieger too.. Ding also, since she's graduated from college too right? It's interesting how many new meets there are for all kinds of levels.. but gives gym fans more to look forward to.

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    1. Ha yes she is, it would be awesome if the picture had Daffy in it as well. Ah well, doesn't diminish it.

      Munteanu is a bit like Porgras alright. Would be great if she developed even more finesse and grace.

      Li seems to be spending some time in the gym, either helping her parents or lightly training herself. Yeah Ding graduated last year, with the bars and floor titles. I've no idea about Jana Bieger? Must be in gym shape or she wouldn't be on the roster. It will be broadcast on ESPN. Hoping for a livstream.

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  2. Jana Bieger wow I haven't heard anything about her for years. Was she ever recruited by NCAA?

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    1. I haven't heard anything about her since elite days, she would have been picked up by a big enough college if she went that route surely?

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  3. Anna Pavlova <3 Wow, Finally we can see her in international comp! Though it's as major as Euros or Universiade, it's still a great news to her fans :P

    I saw a news about Ukrainian Cup and seems full of falls... And the photographer not taking a shoot at Livchikova's routine made me a bit angry. The news should focus on their stars rather than anyone falling off apparatus... Anyway, hope Livchikova and Matveyeva have good comp in Euros :)

    Hope Didi has new floor music in Euros or WC. She has used that music since she entered senior stage... Even Chelaru, who is less competitive than Didi, has new floor music in London:(
    And... you can read French? Wow!!!

    Cata Duck LOL
    Do you hear the rumor(from Semenova) that Paseka won't go to Euros? If it's true, I will be glad that both Afan and Shelgunova can get the spot:) Judging from VT EF in Penza, I don't think Paseka can perform her Y900 well when she need to perform two vault at the same time. So if she won't go to Euros, it's good for her as well as she isn't ready I think.

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    1. http://www.dtb-online.de/portal/news/detailansicht/article/laenderkampf-gegen-usa-und-rumaenien.html Maybe this is why Iordache withdrew from WC? USA vs ROU vs GER !!!!

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    2. That was an awful news broadcast, I didn't post it. Focusing on falls..who does that? The only thing that redeemed it was Livchikova's voice, I love it!

      At the moment I'm happy that she is doing floor. She does deserve a new routine though, hopefully be WC? I can understand it but I could not make a translation, it's been a while since I learned it, six years. It just makes a nice change from having to translate everything else ha. I also discovered that I was in LRSY, 15 years ago :)

      Semy broke the news that Paseka is not in LRSY..haven't heard about Euros, but her place was seen as a given. Interesting. I'm calling USA v ROU v GER 'Chemnitz' as it's easier. But it clashes with Doha which Larisa is down for..

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    3. A pity we don't know what she meant:(

      Didi fell twice on beam... A shame she couldn't qualify to EF and I think Bellu will continually change her routine. I thought sheep jump wasn't her friend when she was a junior but now it's decent:) (But aerial+sheep jump is still difficult for her I think)
      I'm glad she soon performed well on FX after falling hard and she added Gorgean leap (did it very well)to her routine. Hope her tumbling passes will be upgraded this year(with new floor music please!). She can afford more difficult one!
      And She seems to grows a bit:P So cute as usual <3

      Wow, you do love languages:) and I'm jealous of you as I never go abroad:P

      Oh, sorry I didn't notice that. I think she will attend this instead of WC which is less competitive... and team comp is more interesting than individual comp to me :)

      I want to complain about yesterday's qualification... it was totally a disaster especially UB except for FX. I don't know why Berger still did chuso which she fell in Nationals recently. She fell again and hurt herself:( Hope she gets well soon and can compete in Euros. UB is just a joke. Who didn't fell of bars could qualify to EF...
      I have no idea about Afan's performances agian even if she didn't have any big mistake. Those wobbles can be considered that she was nervous as this comp has a lot to do with Euros' lineup but how was that dismount? She never did such ugly one before:( And all her connections aren't steady. It seems she was still trying which was suitable for her so it's okay. But the one aerial+aerial+leap is... I don't like Ohashi's 4D combination which contains two aerial in order to earn more CV/SV but it's definitely much better than Afan's DDA combination :( As for FX, landings were much better than those in Nationals but I can't say it's good enough to get the last spot to Euros, her turns has improved a lot though. She just did 2 1/2 in third pass but still has trouble controlling the landing of double pike. Btw, she forgot to do front aerial so her D score should be deducted 0.5 (saltos in different directions) Hmm... What was going on with those judges? They credited her D score as 6.0

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    4. I just noticed that Didi's two leaps weren't credited... her D score of FX is 5.7.... Okay, judges just love Afan (angry)

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    5. A bit disgusted with the floor judges. Leaps are open to interpretation but there's absolutely zero doubt about Afan's missed CR and that's an enormous error for the judges to making at a competition like this. That said, I rewatched Didi's leaps a few times and I don't see them as worthy of being discredited? They seem fine.

      I wasn't expecting Afan to nail all of her connections yet and I think she did an alright job with it. But it seemed like a fight, and rushed..wasn't a great aesthetic affect overall.

      Yes, it was painful to hear about all the falls. And MAG too. Yes, it would be better for Iordache to compete against the USA a-team. I wonder would that be easy to do? A fifth withdrawal and then insertion into another competition. Hmm. Apart from anything else, she'd likely perform better in Germany than Qatar given the distance/time zone.

      I only really go to Europe, and not that often- the airlines, like Ryanair, are very very cheap. Anywhere outside of Europe and it's very expensive. I've been to the US once.

      Haha yeah, not a clue what Mariya is saying. I'd imagine something along the lines of 'I am happy with my performance today but looking to make some improvements, especially as I hope to compete at Euros'. Gymnasts tend to be predictable, but I'm not sure what else they can say...

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    6. http://streaming.deportv.gov.ar/ Are you watching the live stream? :)

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    7. Trying! I did see Marine Brevet's floor and that was basically it, it keeps stopping on me altogether and freezing a lot when it is actually going.

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    8. Didi was behind Afan.... Soooo sad. She did very well except for a step after double tuck. Afan did a pretty double pike but the other third passes wren't clean. :(:(:( (cry)
      I have to go to bed now. Good night:P

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    9. I saw Didi's floor too, but not Afan's. Behind by a tenth, hmm. Didi's tumbling was not as clean as I thought when they did it in slow motion but her landings were brilliant on almost every pass. I think one of her leaps today was worthy of being downgraded, but only one. At least Afan had an aerial this time.

      Good night!

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  4. Also, for Chuso fans - now competing for UBZ:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrWFTSSxoKU&feature=youtu.be

    Did she downgrade? Her form actually looks to have cleaned up quite a bit since London... or at least the form errors aren't noticeable in real time without the slow motion

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    1. I think her first vault is downgraded? However I'm not brilliant at identifying handspring vaults. Probably because we never see them in AA or TF anymore..

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  5. I saw on wogymnastike that bulimar took a nasty fall on beam. No report of injury and she did get back up to finish her routine.

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    1. Her second fall was a bit scary. I think she'll have a killer bruise on it. She was fine on floor which I'm pretty sure came after beam..

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  6. Yay Jessica Lopez! She's the one that got SO lowballed at 2011 worlds on bars right?

    (on another note, I've been following you since London Olympics, went to google gym blogs as I got back into the sport, I think I found you through Larisa Iordache getting subbed in for Bulimar in beam finals, and through you I found gymtruthteller, TCG, Aunt Joyce, and others. You were basically my introduction to the entire gymnastics community, so I just wanted to pop by with my new blogger account XD

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    1. She did? I'd need to have a look, she didn't really come to my attention until just before London (new fan at 2011 worlds). But I really like her, so glad to see her compete at this.

      Lol at this blog being a gateway. I think the name helps, it's pretty simple and lots of random google searches find their way here. For me, TCG was the gateway, and gymnastics coaching.

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    2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYnqN3PHCOE

      this is the routine

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  7. I too can see nothing wrong with Didi's leaps and can't believe the judges could make such a huge mistake with Afan's scoring! I had been really looking forward to this meet but then with all the withdrawals and falls it's been quite a let down.

    Also, it looks like Ohashi might not be going to Europe - Ebee's aunt mentioned it on twitter and I also saw that Katelyn wished Bailie Key good luck for the next couple of weeks, which seems a bit strange if she were going too.

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    1. I saw her message to Bailie and thought that was odd. Maybe somebody has copped she is exhausted looking and preserving her for Classics/Nationals is a better bet..

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    2. Yeah hopefully that's all it is and not an injury or something, I just always think she looks like she's being pushed too hard and isn't able to cope with her difficulty. Not to mention the fact that Nastia said she's hoping to have an amanar in the future, which could be disastrous as she barely manages the double.

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    3. Brenna Dowell has replaced Ohashi in the European line-up. This is an interesting team with a mixture of experienced competitors and newbies. Ironically the two juniors, Key and Hundley, would be counted amongst the experienced girls.

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  8. Afan's overscoring...(sigh)

    I wish that they would stop allowing aerials to count as a requirement. I think that gymnasts should be required to do one pass that is fully front tumbling, or at minimum a punch front after their big salto. They have managed to find a loophole to get around front tumbling, but just tossing an aerial by itself in the middle of their choreography looks messy and awkward to me. Think of great front tumblers like Podkopayeva and Produnova. I love their routines because they are unique and fun to watch.

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