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Tuesday 18 June 2013

EYOF/Universiade/Portugal

The first shock is Romania's team for EYOF. The girls named are Andreea Iridon, Madalina Blendea and Laura Jurca. As in, where the hell is Andreea Munteanu? Lots of guesses going on about how she has already competed so much this year and maybe they are resting her for next year or maybe they want to try the younger girls with less experience etc. but by far the most common opinion is that she must be injured, as they really need her. This is a very strong team for bars and very good on beam, but extremely weak on vault where they would desperately need her DTY and her high beam and floor scores would come in very handy too. This meet is in fact a big deal, moreso than any other she has attended this year so it's quite bewildering IF she isn't injured.It's important to remember that this is a nominative registration list and that Romania are huge fans of substitution. However, they are also quite fond of not disclosing injuries so there's that too..

For the host country, Eythora Thorsdottir is a certainty, despite counting falls at Dutch Nationals and in general being unsteady on beam. Dana de Groot is another good bet, but not sure about the third. Britain have quite a good team, not named yet but expected to be Tyesha Matthis, Amy Tinkler and Ellie Downie. Sadly Catherine Lyons is not elegible. I would call Maria Bondareva a lock for the Russian team. Maria Kharenkova too if she is fully healthy, she has been dealing with a hand injury this year. The others place(s) are between Anastasia Dmitrieva, Viktoria Kuzmina, Seda Tutkhalyan and Evgeniya Zhukova. The latter in particular is a great vault and floor girl, would would be very lacking in a team of Bondareva/Kharenkova for instance. Kim Janas is a huge AA threat, almost certainly she will feature on the podium there. But the one I most want to see is Elizabet Vasileva of Bulgaria who hasn't been named at all, but is elegible for her country!

Russia have named their Universiade team. No surprises with Aliya Mustafina and Ksenia Afanasyeva on the roster, and joining them will be Tatiana Nabieva, Anna Dementyeva and Maria Paseka. I did expect one of Ekaterina Kramarenko and Anna Myzdrikova or even both, since despite Demy's much higher start values she is still very inconsistent unlike those two. The biggest excitement is Afan's new floor routine! And also whether she will do bars and what she will throw on vault. Aliya's beam is her most important event here, as once that is steady she's away on a hack to really challenge in Antwerp.

Also for Universiade, Alexa Moreno of Mexico who is an amazing vaulter, and Danusia Francis of Britain who is of course, very valuable on beam and floor.

The Portugal World Cup which has an absolutely stacked roster takes place this weekend. I will edit in a few links before then, I already have one that definitely works so check back for that! Competing at this competition are Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Rebecca Tunney, Hannah Whelan, Jade Barbosa, Shang Chunsong, Zeng Siqi, Anna Rodionova, Ekaterina Baturina, Alla Sosnitskaya, Anastasia Grishina, Jessica Lopez, Oksana Chusovitina, Noemi Makra, Ilaria Kaeslin and Janine Berger!


20 comments:

  1. Catherine, can you explain just generally what kind of competition Universiade is? I tried to look it up on wikipedia but there wasn't much of an explanation. It seems pretty big and that a lot of countries participate but is it just for European countries? It also said they were university athletes but do these gymnasts actually take university classes or is it just an age criteria?

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    1. No, it is international. But plenty of countries don't care about it. USA and Canada are participating for the first time in over a decade but no WAG for USA...funny considering how many they have in NCAA gymnastics. Danusia Francis IS going but representing Britain of course. Russia are generally big into it, and Japan. Most countries field one or two from their a-team and then the rest are unknowns. Russia are the hosts so all of their team are well known this year.

      They must be in university or taking university classes- this means there pretty much is an age restriction built in, but it doesn't go by age. There will be team, AA and event finals.

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    2. I am not Catherine but I can answer. Universiade is for University students, so they must be enrolled in a university i.e. take classes as well. There is a summer one for summer sports and a winter one. It is done every 2 years(i think) It is for everyone not only Europeans.

      This link might let you know a bit more about the sports for the summer universiade http://www.fisu.net/en/Summer-Universiades-3490.html

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    3. i didnt realise it was such a big deal until my mum mentioned it to me recently (completely non related to gymnastics, cant actually remember how it came up in conversation though). she studied/lived in europe in the 80s and remembers it from then. i had no idea it was an event outside of russia (dont know how that one went over my head!).

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  2. I will like to see the EYOF to see more of the young gymnasts that are comig up.

    Russia's team for Universiade isn't a real surprise. It would be good to see Nabs again.

    Wow Portugal World cup is stacked! I hope to see links for it or at least videos. I really like Iordache so hope she does well

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    1. I'm hoping to record the livestream. Working on testing it but the channel isn't airing...yet anyway.

      Piibunina will record videos, he'll be there.

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  3. Well, a lot of the NCAA gymnasts never competed elite (and in some cases, wouldn't have the skills, especially at the non top 18 schools), so the 100s of gymnasts in NCAA is a little misleading.
    I think it mainly comes down to that NCAA athletes have to have their schools permission to compete outside of the NCAA, even during the summer, and a lot of schools aren't willing to risk injury to their athletes. Especially if they are on scholarship.
    Also, the codes are sufficiently different (not just in difficulty), that it is practically impossible to train both elite and NCAA at the same time, at least for WAG. (MAG uses a modified FIG code)

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    1. Its not really about the NCAA schools permission (I think a lot of coaches would probably encourage these opportunities) and everything to do with USAG and their philosophy. USAG WAG doesn't like to go anywhere unless they are expected to win/contend. Its not often that usag wag gives out international assignments. Three world cups, the mexican open and an additional leg on the European tour was HUGE for Marta in the past 12 months. Additionally, rarely do you have an NCAA athlete that is a major contender on the elite scene and sending a team to Universiade means diverting funds away from the national team.

      With the exception of this year with Russia sending their aces, most years the top NCAA athletes could contend for a top spot. A team with a mix of Kytra, Bridget, the Caquattos, Chelsea Davis, Zamarippa, Pescezk (when healthy) and even Kayla Williams could contend pretty well as a good mix.

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    2. I just find it funny considering the huge proportion of collegiate gymnasts that the US has. I understand about scholarship etc. but on the other hand, it's good for them to train and compete for something off-season, and injuries happen all the time no matter where they are. And still, the big deal that is UCLA is releasing Danusia Francis.

      Also, I think you are exaggerating the level of competitiveness that would be at Universiade. Plenty of Level 10's would do very well, there are plenty of difficult skills being done outside of the super 6 and they could field some very talented teams if they so wished. Yes, Russia are sending an amazing team but that is not usual- normally they only send 1-2 big names, and the rest of the countries are not exactly sending Olympic AA contenders.

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    3. 2 main factors of USAG WAG
      1. Only show up to win
      2. $$$$$$$$

      the money is a HUGE issue as it would be taken out of the elite budget

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    4. I think the Russians are trying to do well so they get more funding.

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  4. rumour has that zeng and shuang are not competing? anyone can confirm this? it does make sense for zeng sinnce she is now back training in province team (her group in national team has dismissed), but i cant think of a reason for shuang.

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    1. Shang IS in Portugal, but she's not on the list anymore. It's not known if she will compete, or any reason why she wouldn't. Zeng is not in Portugal but her national team group has not been disbanded.

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  5. Hi Catherine! I'm really excited for the Universiade and Portugal World Cup. I'm very excited for Afan's new floor routine.

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    1. BTW I love your blog! It's really informative. I've posted a few times as an anon on here. I'm the 11 year old/6th/7th grader.

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    2. Thanks Kaley! I'll do a big post about Portugal, I'll be watching live and recording the stream, which I'll post after. I think you win the title of youngest blogger! Will check it out :)

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    3. Thanks Catherine! I only have like one post though. It was the first thing that came to mind.

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  6. Any live stream links Catherine?

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  7. Videos are up for the Portugal world cup qualifier. Bulimar had a decent FX as well as Shang Chunsong. Poor Rebecca Tunney she had a meltdown on bars. She also looks like she's grown since London.

    I was impressed with Adrian Gomes from Brazil. Nice vaulting.

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