Stuff

EYOF podium training took place yesterday and team finals and quals are tomorrow. Romania are kind of the team to beat as they have a 1.6 lead over everyone else on vault and really strong routines elsewhere. That's not to say Russia have no shot or anything, but they are down on the difficulty front. Unfortunately, it looks like only the AA, on Thursday, will be streamed.

Good news- Elizabeth Price WILL compete at Classics despite not being on the roster. Two events, according to her aunt. I'm guessing bars and beam since these are the events she showed in the camp videos. Luckily since she's qualified to Nationals anyway it doesn't matter that she's not doing the AA, she can still do the AA at Nationals.

Source- gymfanconfessions.tumblr.com

Technically there should be an accent on the i but I've always found this funny. I can take her seriously but she's basically yellow Kim to me...which I've just realised sounds really racist. Damn. And Oana Ban's surname is spelled the same as the word for white, bit not pronounced the same (Bui is) so I won't count it.

Source- gymfanconfessions.tumblr.com

Now this one made me sad. What kind of state are beam routines in if a new fan thinks Shawn Johnson's and Alicia Sacramone's low to beam choreography is something other gymnasts should aspire to? Granted they were a little better than some we are seeing but still very perfunctory and kind of pathetic. I know I know, they don't have time to writhe elegantly anymore, but there's plenty of moves that wouldn't even be time consuming. Anything is better than my least favourite, Aly Raisman's flop. I have it tagged as 'Aly finds a coin on the beam' since it reminds me of someone diving to pick up a coin off the road.

This should be required viewing. Most of my favourites are in this- the first girl, who I believe is Scandinavian but I forget her name, the second girl- Charlotte Mackie who only did this in 2004, Elena Gurova who appears at 0:25, the girl at 1:24, Li Li and her back spin at 1:49, the girl right after her, Oksana Fabrichnova with a cradle at 2:29 (Khorkina did this as a junior), right after her- Jackie Bender (check out her mount, it's the hardest non-acro by far) and right after her- Maria Filatova in 1977. Other favourites are Elena Abrashitova in 1990 (very skill-skill, but awesome) and Eythora Thorsdottir's current routine. And this, which must count since she starts from sitting. That is Shannay Gentles of Jamaica at the WOGA Classic, seeing as the uploader went for the shock title. Yes, she dislocates her shoulder on that. I know I've forgotten some. What's your favourite?

While I'm on the subject of Mostepanovafan's amazing videos, check out the dismount one if you haven't already.

My ultimate favourites are the flyaways which begin at 1:47. And guess who's bringing it back..Eythora Thorsdottir of course! She has a double which as you'll notice is not a D so hopefully they have a 2.5 planned. If they were going to upgrade her previous double pike to a boring double layout of full in tuck, then they wouldn't have bothered chucking a flyaway in now so it must be here to stay. They ARE very hard to stick though. Victoria Moors and Ellie Black are also breaking the monotony nicely. Anyway, other favourites are Li Ya's arabian piked double front (Semenova does it in the video at 3:28 but hers wasn't near as good),  Betty Okino's dismount at 1:13, Li Ya's piked full in at 2:31 (thanks FIG for rating it the same as tucked, it's harder and so much prettier than the tucked version so there's no incentive to do it!), Adrienn Varga right after her, Jamie Dantzcher's dismount at 3:14, Shantessa Pama's triple back at 3:44 (That's right folks, not a Jordan Randall original! Personally I think there's gymnasts that get enough height to do this cough Biles), Laura Martinez at 4:17, Elena Mukhina at 4:51 and of course Ma Yanhong's dismounts which begin right at the end, 4:56. What are your favourites? Will we see more of a break from the traditional DLO/Full in?

And a bonus! A confession that really annoyed me.

Source- gymfanconfessions.tumblr.com

Ukraine's money problems are well known. Even if this person didn't know, information about the state of their gymnastics programme is only a quick google away and would have explained why they did not have expensive leotards. The leotard, by the way, isn't even that bad. It's not nice but it's not even ugly really. But it doesn't matter if you have to scrimp and save to send your gymnasts anywhere at all to compete, they might as well not have shown up if they didn't have a glittering uber-shiny creation costing more than their coaches earn in a month. Because who cares that they couldn't afford to send two gymnasts to the WOGA Classic and the host gym stumped up the cost (and arranged host families for accommodation) or the fact that their star gymnast has torn her ACl again and will need the best of care and physiotherapy? DUHHH they need GK in, stat!

Beam and floor event finals

Two more event finals, two more tiebreakers! FIG need an overhaul, and a huge kick up the arse. Moving on.

Beam had quite a few top contenders, Sui Lu and Cata Ponor the top favourites, with Deng Linlin, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova relagated somewhat but still top contenders.

Sui Lu  Up first. She has the old school beam grace, fluidity and form. Although the Chinese are awesome at beam, she's the best they've produced in quite a while. I could watch this over and over again. Her tumbling line is my favourite, incredibly difficult and she stuck it cold. Gorgeous leaps and toepoint. Tiny step back on a pike back. So close to perfection. Very nice red glittery leotard 15.5

Catalina Ponor After being incredibly fierce in the team finals, she loses it and returns to her qualifying routine. Overcooked a turn, wobbles everywhere. Fierce otherwise, chucked the full twisting double pike but it was incredibly low. Unfortunately not at her best today. Wearing a fierce black leotard with lots of silver swirls, decent enough but the silver kind of killed it 15.066..too high, that was a crap routine by her standards

Deng Linlin Total precision, great form and an incredible combination..almost ran out of beam when she stuck the Korbut on the end. She doesn't have the grace of Sui Lu and didn't have great rythmn, too many pauses. White leo with some colour swirls, decent. 15.6..too high, Sui Lu has been robbed already.

Larisa Iordache Larisa did not qualify, she was the first reserve. Diana Bulimar qualified ahead of her and was pulled. Sounded like a Bitang and Bellu stunt of old, but it has emerged that Diana is injured. Regardless of whether this is true or not, Larisa is quite clearly injured herself. So much so that Marina Bitang said she regretted allowing her to do the AA at all. Anyway, Larisa comes off on her tumbling line, which she has struggled with since her injury. Fought hard to stay on. Rest of the routine was lovely, beautiful jumps and total precision in her standing fulls and connections. Gorgeous triple twist with a small hop. Sigh. Larisa really regained herself well, but it was a mistake to allow her to compete in the state she's in. That was a heartbreaker. Brings back her yellow Pikachu leo from Euros and it is fabulous. 14.2

Ksenia Afanasyeva She of the amazing floor routine delivers again here on beam, lovely long lines in her tumbling and a fabulous full turn tour jete leap. So lovelyly but her difficulty kills her, 5.8 against 6.5/6.6. Wearing the bland but absolutely not offensive or ugly Russian team leo. 14.583

Gabby Douglas Here comes Gabby! Huge roar from the crowd. Has delivered strong beam routines THREE times in a row now, plenty are predicting it's too much to ask of her and her former headcase-ness to deliver again. Lovely lay-out step-out's, she has become more graceful I think in the last while. Leg up on a standing full but she fights it back on, but it bodes ill for her as she misses her foot seconds later, clings onto the beam and puts a foot down. Wow. Not nice to see- although I was afraid of her emdalling as I believe she is outclassed here and has been overscored on this event, I don't enjoy seeing falls from her, or anyone. Recovers well and finishes strongly. Can't help but mention she is wearing McKayla's vault EF leo and I'm surprised. It suits her more than McKayla but with the choice available she went for an unlucky one. Hmm. I can't see any of them going for white again, especially her and M. BBC's feed was really kind to her, the slow-mo recap showed absolutely nothing except her fall. Three times. 13.633

Viktoria Komova Can she put her unbelievably shitty Olympics behind her and deliver? Strong contender for a bronze. Wobbles on her first skill. Such extension and leaps, divine. Looking rattled and far from composed. Great sheep jump and lovely tumbling series. Huge wobble on a punch front, fights to regain control and comes off anyway. DAMN. Vika is pissed and rattled now. I would not have been surprised if she stormed off and gave up. Anyway, continues and goes for her Patterson, which she sits. Wow. Stupid move to go for that, she quite clearly had neither the frame of mind or energy to land it properly. Wearing the lovely red and white AA leotard. Vika should be watched, that is too much for her to handle. 13.166

Aly Raisman I thought Aly had only an outside chance at a medal but Vika and Larisa have just handed her an opportunity, as has Cata with her underpar routine. Wobbles and misses a connection but she fought fiercely to regain her rythmn..you could almost hear her thinking 'You must be joking if you think I'm going to fall NOW'. Rest of the routine is typical Aly, nails all of the rest of her connections, tumbling and leaps. Obviously a totally different style to Vika and Sui Lu etc. but so enjoyable to watch her attacks and she really has cleaneed up her form. Great stuff from her. She is so determined here. Rocks that Patterson, small hop forward. Yes! Wearing the patriotic flag leo seen in a press photo a while ago, and which trampolinist Savannah Vinsant wore the other day. Suits her really well, though it's not fabulous. 14.966, well harsh. Didn't have her full d-score due to the missed connection but that thing deserved around a 15.1

Annnnd Mihai files an inquiry. D-score lowballed. And it's successful, Aly jumps to 15.066 and ties with Cata. Aly's execution is far higher due to her really clean routine and she has the bronze!

Deng Linlin takes gold, Sui Lu silver and Aly Raisman takes bronze ahead of Catalina Ponor on a tiebreaker. Wow. Deng had a great routine but it was too slow. Sui Lu deserved that gold, she was only a shade off absolute perfection and had the difficulty behind her. She's in absolute bits, and I'm not surprised or critical. She was robbed and she knows it. Deng was a VERY worthy silver, would have had no issues with that. Catalina was just not on form today, she looked like she knew it too from right after she finished. Gifted that score and Aly deservedly took her bronze. Another tiebreaker- and another huge mistake from the d panel whose ONLY job is to calculate d-score.

Vika is getting huge criticism for her attitude. She probably is too fragile, but she really has had a miserable time of it. Let's just hope she can get some sports psychologist and regain her consistency and her potential to be the most fabulous gymnast in the world. Sui Lu, McKayla Maroney, Vika Komova, Mustafina last week are all being called horrible names. It's such a shame, the work that goes into their routines, their huge potential, and their age and crushed dreams...it's a disgrace that they have to face public outrage because they did not look thrilled in the process. I say, good for them for not being fake. Vika though needs help to get through this, as she is now showing she's as fragile as porcelain. I hope she can take a leaf from Mustafina's fierce bitch book and come back fierce. (Disclaimer: Fierce bitch doesn't mean 'bitch')

And after that heartbreaker, what a FANTASTIC high bar final. Horton and Leyva did really well but this thing belonged to Hambuechen and Zonderland. Amazing stuff.

And onto floor. Ksenia Afanasyeva is the artistic favourite, though lacking in d-score a bit. Romania's Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor are favourites, but Aly Raisman with a complete first pass is right up there.

Ksenia Afanasyeva Oh, Ksenia. Great double layout but goes OOB. LOve this music and her choreography is just amazing, best floor I've seen in a long time. Lovely two whips to triple. OOB on the third pass, she's lost it now. Good finish, but that was really costly 14.566

Jordyn Wieber Girl with a point to prove. Jordyn seems a little skittish or just not as 'on'- Geddert has said she is carrying a stress fracture. How crap for her. Great double double but has to hop back, and a leap on another pass brings her out of bounds. Devastating. Gets through the rest of the routine fine and nice double pike at the end. She's miserable, really sad to see such a star falter at the games. Looking well in the same flag leo as Aly. 14.5 Ouch :(

Aly Raisman Hopefully that bronze and Jordyn's errors have inspired her. Needs that layout! She's on fire, sticks the first pass WITH layout. Fabulous double piked arabian with a leap. Showing her determination in her choreography, she has improved here. Lovely triple full, stuck. Enormously high double pike to end. Form issues as always but she has improved, that was the best floor she's ever done. And what a reward, 15.6! That's too high, even for how great that was and how high her d-score is. 15.4 would be perfect.

Catalina Ponor Needs to really top Aly here, but her difficulty is lower. Throwing a Chusovitina first pass would help but she stays safe with the double layout- stuck! Wow, fire in her to beat Aly after that tiebreaker. Sticks her triple twist but it's still quite fugly with leg form. Great routine, she really brought it. 15.2 That's correct, too high with her messy legs in her triple perhaps considering she has already lost three tenths to Aly on difficulty. Romanians in the crowd are pissed and boo! Too bad, they're not looking at the d-score and after a fabulous crowd all through these games, that shit is annoying.

Lauren Mitchell Has had issues with a tear in her stomach muscle but that was at podium training..she's definitely improved on that, really strong tumbling and great double arabian. Unfortunately she sticks a leap on everything and they are quite low and fugly. Not cool. Though she is not the only one by a long shot, it she is the inventor and the worst offender and it artifically boosts her d-score to within range of Aly. Code's fault, not hers. Great floor from her and possibly her last performance at this level, so well done to her for hitting when it counts. Wearing the Aussie team final leo, pink with a cobwebby sleeve pattern. One my my least favourites these games. 14.833, that's fair.

Vanessa Ferrari Wow. I was waiting for her to compete individually to really bring the ugly back to leotards and she has delivered more than I ever thought possible. The AA one was actually really nice, until you spotted the cut-outs on her shoulders. But she stepped it up a notch here. The body of the leotard is really nice, blue with some glittery pink siz-zag pattern on her sides. Works really well. And then...it's one-sleeved with a shoulder cut-out on the other sleeve! Why Vanessa why! On to her routine, lovely double double and full twisting double pike to back tuck. Fast enough to get credited. Decent choreo and some great leaps. Best she's been in a long time. 14.9. ROBBED It's as if they deducted for lack of sleeve. There was nothing overtly wrong with that routine.

Aliya Mustafina Interesting to see how she contends. She has really matured on floor and this music is really growing on me. Must find the Cradle of Filth song that the start and end come from, Dani Filth would be proud. This really showcases how dramatic and fierce she is. Anyway, textbook double arabian to stag jump- which is my favourite leap out of a pass, and a great leap in general. Falls out her turn, DAMN. That's expensive. Very messy legs on the triple full, but judges don't seem to judge that too harshly here. D-score downgraded to a 5.9 and she gets a 14.9! It's a well deserved score as she really was great here, but..Ferrari is screwed on the tiebreak. Yes, another tiebreak. Wearing the red and white leo again. She's thrilled! Ferrari is gutted, feel for her as she totally screwed over on her own score.

Sandra Izbasa It's not over yet! The defending champion is here to knock someone off a medal, probably not Raisman as she doesn't have the uber-difficulty to contend with that score. Beautiful tumbling, great full twisting double pike to start. Going well and she brings her front tuck with a half twist to her hands and knees. Crap. It was her last pass, she didn't get enough purchase on the ground before she launched into the punchfront but she was too far advanced to stop it. Very sad to see, but she certainly has done so well here already. She looks very accepting of that. Wearing her vault final leo in turquoise. 13.333

Two tiebreaks and two more people screwed! I hope immense pressure is put on FIG to change that. Everyone would like a modification to the two per country rule too, or its abolition. For the AA, it would be nice if the third girl per country could qualify if she has over a 58. For event finals, a score over a 14.8.

And..no more gymnastics :( At least, not artistic. Beam was a heartbreaker, tough to see so many falls and errors. And very sad to see more overscoring and underscoring. Sui Lu is absolutely justified. Jordyn stands out as someone with just as much cause to be as devastated as Vika- Vika doesn't have TF gold, but she medalled in the AA Jordyn wasn't able to even compete in. Really wanted to see Jordyn end on a high note, and we didn't get that either today. Injury or not, she peaked too soon.

Boo overscoring Trials Day 2

WOW very interesting competition. No new leos as such, slightly dissapointing! 2011 worlds TF leo very popular, plenty of other reds too.

Jordyn- HIT 4/4. Missed connection on beam, and stepped to the side on her amanar. I did not see bars because the stream cut but she appears to have hit that with a slight hop on dismount. Floor was great. She should have won, less errors than the winner. Leo looked great on her, deep purple. No ribbon though, I love her ribbons..Anyway, she didn't get the number one spot and she looked pissed. She earns her scores. Still a lock obviously.

Gabby- Nice amanar, stuck! Not explosive or high by any means but clean. Makes her case to be the first up on vault in TF. Bars were great, good to see her hit. Beam had wobbles and hops all over the place, still dangerous and could kill her AA podum potential. Floor was slightly messy, still convinced it shouldn't be the lead-off but the alternative had an error. Qualified to the team. Deserved to, but far too gifted with her scores. This will make her alienated..bit of a pissed looking convo between the 3 BFF's at the end, looks like it was concerning the fix.

Aly- Very dangerous amanar, I don't know how her body is absorbing those. Sloppy. Bars are getting stronger, but form is still abysmal. Floor was great. Beam SO SOLID, tiny error. Makes her case, she's sooo in.

Kyla- AMAZING bars, stuck landing! Absolutely beautiful form. Well done to her. Floor best she's ever done- though repeating myself, unusable. Beam had one missed connection but otherwise great, lovely lines. Vault was a beautiful DTY with a hop back. THANK YOU for not amanaring. Go Kyla!

McKayla- Mistake on bars but recovered nicely. Good for her. I can't wait to see beam, apparently it was great and scored a 15. Good back-up there. Floor went OOB on the third pass, costly. I so hope this is fixed before London..she can do it! Or just sacrifice the 1.5 an add a leap instead? Double pike shook her a bit but landed fine, almost went out of time. This is fixable, especially since it's so close to her concussion. Amanar was beautiful, hop forward. Mustafina not seen yet but apparently stuck! Great job.

Nastia- Hard to watch. Especially since my streaming froze! Saw another bad error on handstand and she came off. Finished the routine and flung the dismount, landed it but low. Beam was good, no major errors. Not particularly valuable. I really hate the hype around her and she did not deserve to advance to Trials but it was lovely to see the cheers and standing ovations she got- after another crappy bars, good for such support to be shown. I'm a sucker for teary moments. I suddenly love Bill Strauss for this reason too!

Rebecca- Even harder to watch. Had to jump off, fell again, big handstand error, had to come off after her pak. Heartbreaking. Also downright odd since she normally hits bars very well. Extremely tough to see but nice to see the crowd rooting for her. Feel so bad for her. Beam not broadcast but apparently contained a stood-up Patterson. Good for her.

Anna- YES that was an excellent bars routine- AGAIN! hink her repetitive training of it is really helping her. Brilliant stuff, better than Kyla or Gabby's. Beam not broadcast.

Elizabeth- Great comp for her, fierce competitior. She can't displace McKayla but she is a lock for alternate. LOVE her tumbling, want to stab whoever designed that choreo. Vault had a step to the side, it's explosive but isn't as clean as McKayla's. Beam was nice and solid. Bars not broadcast.

Sarah- I saw NOTHING of hers. Gutted. I better have access to the youtube videos- I won't if it's just NBC uploading them..but USAG will be fine.

Still jitters but plenty of improvements on Friday. Team remains unchanged, and so do alternates- just subbing in Li for Sloan.

Best routine- Kyla Ross' bars
Favourite routine- Mckayla Maroney's beam. YES beam, it was so solid and great to see it (on youtube admittedly) after her fall two days before on an event she doesn't even need.
Best hair: EBEE! Far and away the best. Jordyn had no ribbon, dissapointed- they make her look so professional or something.
Can't pick a best leo when they were all unoriginal!  However Asac looked great in another 2008 killer leo, good for her.

Who will take the 2nd AA spot for USA?

I used to think it was guaranteed, but it's a two horse race now, with a strong third chasing on their heels. The first is Jordyn's barring injury.

Aly Raisman I thought she had this in the bag last year. Her difficulty has actually increased and her floor and beam are great and will score well. She has a glaring weakness which is of course bars. This will score mid-13's at best, it really is brutal execution-wise. There really does seem to be a seperate bars scoring for her. That was great...for Aly. She always manages to stay on, which I think is the main objective but wow, it will get slaughtered in London. Her vault is dangerous, badly landed, not fully around and with crappy leg form at every point of the vault. It deserves maybe a 15.4 being generous, though possibly lower. She's a magnificent beam worker, so strong and steady on it with great skills. Her form isn't great on it though which will incur deductions but I bet the fact that it has no flow and that the low-to-beam work is just thrown in perfunctorily won't affect the score. On to her best, floor. Love love love the tumbling and the choreo is very clever. Again, her form will be penalised, and her non-existing toepoint, certainly won't get near a 15.8. She is great, but her form does deserve to get shot down and I question whether her strengths are enough to make up for her weaknesses when you have such a gymnast as

Gabby Douglas nipping at your heels. Gabby has great lines and difficulty, but inconsistency is her major weakness, the opposite to Aly's rock solid routines. Like the other two, she has an amanar and it isn't bad. It will score higher than Aly's, if she hits it which isn't a given. Her bars are great with a huge SV and she never misses there, this bumps her up massively ahead of Aly. beam can take her right back down again, she usually has major wobbles on it and has often either fallen or grabbed the beam. It's not as good as Aly's when she hits but won't take her significantly down score-wise. Floor is a bit unknown scoring-wise. Difficulty is below Aly's, but her tumbling is great. Unfortunately the choreo is pretty bad, and scrappy. The music may also do her no favours at all. Despite this, if she hits, the spot is hers.

Kyla Ross has been touted as an AA threat, but it's not even certain Marta would allow her when her vault is dangerous and her floor has such a low SV. Her DTY is beautiful but it puts her at a .7 disadvantage straight off, which she also has or even more compared to Aly's floor! She is likely to throw the amanar and throw is the correct word, her landings are so dangerous that her score could easily be better on the DTY. Beam and bars are great, but won't surpass the efforts of the other two (Gabby's bars only, not Aly's). Floor just falls too far behind for her to threaten the other two and it's such a shame. Just throw in some leaps out of passes, anything to make it approach a 6.0!

So, I see Jordyn and Gabby taking on Aliya, Viktoria, Larissa and Diana. May the best gymnast win!

Thoughts on 2012 Visa National Championships

Just a rundown with a bit of assessment, not including all gymnasts as I have not yet viewed every routine.

McKayla Maroney- Great floor routine Night 1. She will score well in London with that (with third pass fixed, she is well capable of that) as her artistry and elegance are streets ahead of some others. Her music showcases her strengths well and WOW I love that 3.5 twist. Thankfully, she is fine after that horrible fall Night 2 warm-up. I am a bit disgusted that was broadcast, no need for it. It might be good for her to rest for a bit as this is injury-season right now. Her amanar and mustafina are excellent. Yes she looks to be well capable of a TTY and Cheng,..in the air, those landings would take a lot of work and she did not have time for that. She is still on my team, and will do floor if she can score higher than Gabby in Olympic prelims. Leotards 5/10 and can't judge what little was visible of her second night one..it did look nice though.

Aly Raisman- What a solid, consistent gymnast. She is a lock for the team, and should be leader. Yes I cringe at her bars, they are fairly brutal. Her scores for them may knock her out of AA contention in London. Her floor has such amazing tumbling and I love her music. It hides her lack of artistry well but that would be punished in London. Decent amanar and such solid beam, well done Aly. Wore those leotards well, 7/10 and 7/10

Jordyn Wieber- Delighted for her. Yes her beam was overscored and credited with connections she did not make but since most of the top contender's routines were overscored it doesn't matter as much. She does look a little laboured and not at her peak, which she should not be at yet but I hope it doesn't mean she is past her peak. Her bars have improved a lot, well done to her on that. Amanar is pretty decent and her floor still looks great. Annoyed she didn't win by a higher margin, she should have. Lovely leotards! 7/10 and 8.5/10

Gabby Douglas- I do enjoy her gymnastics, especially her bars. Her tumbling was great, but the lack of choreography, artistry and terrible music are very annoying. Her bars will not reach that in London but are nevertheless impressive. Beam was very overscored, 14.1 with a fall when she had wobbles like that. Her overscoring was much worse than Aly's and Jordyn's. I'm not too convinced about her amanar but it is probably better than Aly's. Leotards both nights fairly fugly, 4/10 and 3/10.

Kyla Ross- Wow, great showing for her. Although she has lovely, clean gymnastics she just is not exciting so will never by one of my favourites. Another lock on my team, unfortunately her low floor may not be enough to keep ahead of Aly for the 2nd AA spot but Aly's form and artistry will suffer more. I do hope she can get her amanar back, but ONLY if it safe to do so. Her others before she only did DTY for visas all looked dangerous, massive steps on landing and her legs look locked. She would the number one contender for an ACL before olympics if she does do the amanar and for that reason, don't think it's worth it even though she really needs it to fight for 2nd AA with a 5.5 floor. Whhhhyyyy no upgrades? I can hope. Night 1 leotard looked very Irish, loved it. 7/10. Night 2, didn't love it as much as others. 6/10

Nastia Liukin- First up, well done to her for making a great shot at this comeback. Her lines on beam are still amazing, but she is not needed on it and her slow connections and hands-down Night 2 only serves to further enforce that. There is no way she can pull out a perfect bars routine in time and even if she did...how could it be trusted not to be a fluke? Did not deserve to be invited to trials. Take a bars specialist and it should be Anna Li, but I don't think any should be taken, team is not big enough. Wayy too much camera focus on her but I suppose the deman is there for it. Focusing on Valeri with routines going on took the cake though. Bow out gracefully Nastia! Leotards 4/10 and 2/10

Sarah Finnegan- I love this girl and her lines. She won't make the team after being that shaky and not really being able to displace Kyla Ross. Beautiful, creative skills. Her form is impeccable and I am in LOVE with her floor routine. I see her as an alternate. Leotards 6/10 and 4/10

Elizabeth Price- Another casualty of the 5 person team. Will be an alternate ahead of Alicia Sacramone, she can be useful. Have not seen all her routines yet- none broadcast is ridiculous! Her movements seem to be very mechanical, great skills but not enough flow.

Kennedy Baker- Have not seen yet, except floor, which was great. Again she seems quite mechanical with little choreography

Anna Li- WOW best bar routine of the night by far. Absolutely loved it. Unfortunately she tends to be inconsistent on it, such a shame but maybe can be alternate with it. Loved her combinations. Her beam was fine, but pretty low SV.

Bridget Sloan- Good on her for rocking her bar routines. Impressed with her floor also despite sloppy landings. Maybe alternate!

Alicia Sacramone: Nobody attacks a beam like her. Fierce! Loved her beam and impressed with her vaults. I do not think there is a place for her either, unless Maroney does have to bow out but that is very unlikely.

Too much focusing on gymnasts standing/sitting instead of showing actual routines. Kennedy Baker and Elizabeth Price should have been broadcast. I do understand about Anna's bars- Jordyn was on floor. Could have shown it after though. Too much overscoring! Jordyn should have won by more.Yes blah blah Gabby needed that confidence boost..it doesn't make it any less ridiculous.