Great gymnasts we won't see in London

Inconsistency, injury and recovery and sheer depth has done these gymnasts out of their chance to shine in London.

Ana Porgras

Ana is the most artistic gymnast to emerge this quad. Her lines are exquisite and very reminiscent of old-school beautiful lines such as Aurelia Dobre. She could also swing bars like Romanians haven't since the late 1980's. A beautiful bar and beam worker, she also had an elegant floor. Vault was her nemesis into breaking into the AA, as she never really mastered a DTY. Truly a gymnast who would have flourished in the perfect 10 code, Ana was dogged by injuries for most of her senior career and has now retired. With more and more older gymnasts making comebacks, we can hope she will also.

Mariya Livchikova

Mariya is quite similar to Ana, her artistry is evident in her beam and floor, which are works of art. Her beam also showcases great original connections. Unfortunately she also has the Ukrainian tendency to splat all over the place, but it was her injury last year which counted her out of receiving the only WAG place for Ukraine, who shockingly placed so badly they cannot field a time. We can hope Mariya will stick around.

Cheng Fei

Admittedly she had her chance at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but individually failed to shine at both. A huge departure from the Chinese tradition of having petite gymnasts excel at bars and beam, Fei was a powerhouse on vault and floor, with an amanar and a double-double as her highlights as well as a fierce beam routine. This time around, her strengths would have been helpful in complementing those of her team-mates. Unfortunately, Fei has fallen victim to the plague of achilles tendon, ruptured performing a triple twist on floor. Her presence and strength on floor will be missed.

Rebecca Bross

 Rebecca Bross peaked in the middle of the quad. Seen as a lock for the US Olympic team two years ago, she will now be very lucky to make alternate. She blew her knee vaulting last year, and it appears to have impacted her greatly. She is now only training two events and neither will score high enough to justify taking her. A sad end for a great gymnast.

Mai Murakami

I've already spoken quite a bit about Mai. In short, she is amazing and has incredible difficulty. Inconsistency was an issue at the Japan nationals so she missed out. Thankfully Japan love sending veterans so we can hope she will be around for the next quad.. 2013 worlds!