Gymnix rosters have been released. The Romanian team which differed between sources before is definitely Andreea Munteanu, Andreea Iridon, Laura Jurca and Paula Tudorache. The first three all feature in my New Kids on the Block Romania post. Very dissapointed not to see Madalina Blendea who doesn't seem to have competed in nearly a year, but word is she is not competition ready yet after an illness. Russia are sending lesser known girls to get experience. Apparently Seda Tutkhalyan has a DTY and round-off-layout on beam so that seems promising. Heaven Latimer, Aleeza Yu, Shallon Olsen and Rose Kayen-Woo from Canada will be there, as well as teams from Japan, Belgium and France. Should be very good. I'm expecting Romania to win. The final roster is here. (download)
In US news, the second girl for SCAM should have been announced by now! Patiently waiting. I fully expect Lexie Priessman but you just never know. Simone Biles would be another strong bet, or maybe Kennedy Baker. It looks like a very bad idea to push Katelyn Ohashi to compete all-around at the moment, so her name would be a huge surprise. The competitive field for this is quite weak so while you will hear a lot about the depth of competition from the commentators...in reality there will be two extremely strong US girls against a B team. In fact, there will be nobody else from the top 4 at all. I'm most interested in Kyla Ross' upgrades and my main hope is that it will be a good fight for bronze. Jordyn Wieber has reported that she is training and has almost all of her skills back. That will make for an interesting Nationals if she's ready. Aly Raisman looks to be a dead cert for Dancing With the Stars (Strictly Come Dancing) which should be good as dancing definitely does not come easy to her. The official announcement will be tomorrow. Aly's age first and foremost makes her a good choice as she does not have to jump through the hoops Shawn Johnson had to first time around- child labour laws, court, guardian at all times, reduced practice etc. etc. However, I think she's also a smart choice due to her sunny, pleasant personality and she seems very genuine and humble. It's no suprise that she is raking in endorsements all over the place. EDIT- Aly has been confirmed. The competition starts mid-March.
EDIT- Bit of a shock! Katelyn Ohashi and Simone Biles will be the two USA girls for SCAM! Kyla Ross has sadly withdrawn due to a bruised heel. It's fine apparently, but she has had to reduce her training in the last few weeks so isn't ready to go on all four events. I'm sooo suprised to see Katelyn Ohashi, as I expected her not to be fully ready on floor and vault yet, she scratched floor at the WOGA Classic and only did a FTY so I thought she would take longer to be fully ready as an all-arounder. Not liking the fact that injury has forced a complete reversal of the original American lineup..it's very early in the season. It has also kept Lexie Priessman out, she's recovering from an injury apparently. Really looking forward to Biles, and also to see what Katelyn has up her sleeve in an all-around. Koko Tsurumi has withdrawn and will be replaced by Maegan Chant of Canada. Ross may compete exhibition on beam. Full lineup is Moors, Chant, Jupp, Teramoto, Seitz, Ferrari, Ohashi and Biles with withdrawals from Price, Ross, Iordache and Tsurumi. There's a lot of snark going on about Kyla not being injured/recovering. There's no evidence for that but there is for the opposite so I'm going with that.
Peyton Ernst, another new senior, has been added to the National Team. She will compete at the Tokyo Cup, the previously unnamed USA spot.
Chantysha Netteb suffered a scary fall at a Euros qualifying competition at the weekend when she landed her beam dismount on her neck. She was taken to hospital as a precaution but thankfully the damage is only minor- a bump on her arm and some neck pain. There's a lot of optimism that she'll be ready to go for the next qualifying meet in a fortnight.Edit- Chantysha has her own blog. The fall sounds even scarier, she missed her foot before the dismount, attempted to get back up after and fell back down. She herself remains hopeful she can compete at the second qualifier. Get well soon Chantysha! Her blog is here. It's in Dutch of course, which translates fairly well but mixes up bars and beam. The accident happened on beam, not bars. I just left a comment which has probably translated as gibberish. I love when gymnasts have blogs- Jennifer Pinches has started to blog her London experience with looooads of photos, it's fascinating. I'll link the posts when she's done.
Does anyone else miss the old-style nicknames the Soviets got? I absolutely love them and wish they would be reinstated.
Olga Korbut- The Sparrow from Minsk
Svetlana Boginskaya- The Belarussian Swan
Tatiana Gutsu- The Painted Bird from Odessa
Tatiana Nabieva- The Peacock from St. Petersburg
LOL JK Tatiana Nabieva does not have a nickname other than Nabs. In fact, this type died with the Soviet Union. I don't count Simona Amanar's nickname meaning airhead and Raluca Haidu's meaning dwarf (lovely bunch in the Romanian National Teams...), they have to be of this exact type. Sometimes a Russian comes along who deserves to be memorialised like former Soviet greats were. Tatiana is one, Aliya another. Bring it back!
Wow! Glad to hear that Weiber has almost been back to comp form but the most important thing is that whether she has recovered well from so many injuries. I want a healthy and energetic Weiber!
ReplyDeleteI prefer Simone Biles competing in American Cup(just my selfishness:P) but it eventually depands on their performance in recent camp. Both of Simone and Lexie seem to make progress so it's interesting to see either of them but what I expected for so long is Kyla's upgrades. Hope she will surprise me!
Aly's dance program... it's a good time to learn real dance lol(I'm not laughing at her dance:P ) But does it mean that she won't back to gymnasitics?
That's a bad news from Chantysha Netteb:( Hope she still can compete in Euros! (Was that crash like WLF's in Trials last year? It's so gruesome..)
Nabs's face in the photo you chose suits that fake nickname a lot LOL
BTW, Pitic is so short but Didi is even shorter than her :P I found a funny photo before →http://www.google.com.tw/imgres?start=535&hl=zh-TW&client=firefox&hs=ixy&sa=X&rls=com.yahoo:zh-TW:official&tbm=isch&tbnid=gcns1jSySGQQyM:&imgrefurl=http://www.prosport.ro/alte-sporturi/gimnastica/romania-a-castigat-patrulaterul-de-gimnastica-desfasurat-in-sala-polivalenta-9828084&docid=HmV-uHCWLKE96M&imgurl=http://storage0.dms.mpinteractiv.ro/media/401/581/7962/9828084/1/catalina-ponor-diana-chelaru-larisa-iordache-amelia-racea-raluca.jpg%253Fwidth%253D610&w=610&h=406&ei=VZUsUeSJLsXVkwX8sYHoCA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:51,s:500,i:157&iact=rc&dur=727&sig=108718470068993583925&page=36&tbnh=173&tbnw=258&ndsp=17&tx=133&ty=92&biw=1024&bih=598
Look at Pitic's and Didi's feet. LOL
As far as I know she just had the one injury, a stress fracture, and she still competed amanars and full floor routines on it so it can't have been that bad. Maroney is the one riddled with injuries..I'm hoping to see her at Nationals or verify at a camp in Autumn.
DeleteYes I'm really looking forward to SCAM but I'm really gutted at the news of no live stream. Hopefully a dodgy one will surface. Russian Championships begin the next day and I'd kill for a livestream of that too.
It wouldn't neccessarily mean the end. Only if she wants. The competition will only be a few months long, less if she is voted out mid way through or even earlier and she will have to maintain her extreme fitness so she would be in good shape after too. Hopefully with much improved dance skills! Shawn did compete after her first go in DWTS but she was hindered completely by her knee injury the following spring. This injury was I believe exaggerated when she blamed it for her retirement...but it was a factor back then.
Yes I'm hoping so too! It seems to have a positive outlook- which is great considering how wrong that could have gone. Only last year an American gymnast was paralysed from a bars dismount, landing the same way. Fangfang hit her head but the impact was absorbed from her legs, but it says Chantysha landed on her neck, so I'm not sure. In the case of Fangfang the cause was clear, her foot completely slipped off. I wonder if gymnasts can be trained to react so fast if that happens that they just do a simple layout off or something? I've seen very quick reactions before...
It's my favourite photo of her! I'm glad we'll more than likely see her at Universiade. What a personality she has.
That is a brilliant photo, so cute! There was a discussion on IGF recently that if anyone can do a double layout off beam, it's her because of how small she is and the height she already gets on her dismount. Really looking forward to seeing more of her this year- starting next month at the French World Cup :)
I only knew that she had a stress fracture in London as well but since she has used high-difficulty routines for years, I bet that she has a few minor injuries which do affect her a lot while she is getting older. I always think those who paced too fast in junior can't maintain their senior career too long... Anyway, continuing training in elite is good to her as her dream hasn't really fulfill yet :)
DeleteHope you can watch both of them live! I can't stay up late as I have to go to school the next day.
Shawn never trained so much time like 2008 so she had few injuries before Olympics. I think that's an important factor to her success. What a pity she couldn't make a strong comback last quad. I know little about Aly and I'm not a fan of her but if she wants to back to elite gymnastics, I will be glad to see.
Yes, I saw similar situations before and some of them just did a layou like Liukin IIRC and I saw some gif about this situation(made mistakes on her round-off or BHS and just did simple dismount) in baidu but I can't find that post now. Similar situations happens on floor. Some gymnasts can react to their mistakes and then do a simple tumble to protect themselves while others can't... I think there are complex factors to affect their reaction. Maybe sometimes it just happened so fast that gymnasts couldn't react to it immediately or they didn't dare to peform a waterdowned skills as there were many pressure on them...
GOOD luck to Chantysha Netteb!!
I really want to see Nabs in Universiade! Maybe that will be her last major comp as she seems to be engaged this year.
Yeah, I think so but DLO dismount is too risky. If she failed to land this dismount, it will cause very serious consequence(maybe being paralyzed :/) so I don't want her try this dismount. I hope Bellu can upgrade her FX and BB a lot as she DOES have much potential but the team didn't really need her last year/quad ( (She didn't even perform her FX in TQ!! She definitely can qualify to EF if she had competed.) Too many injuries during 2010~2011 is another factor which caused her not to upgrade a lot before entering senior stage:(
She said she wants to be an AAer this quad and I'm so excited to hear that. I'm looking forward to see her in French World Cup :)
Soooo sad about Kyla:( but her health is most important so I can just expect her next comp. And... who do you think will win the title, Ohashi or Biles? Interesting to guessXD
That's true, and she has been an elite since 2006 which is crazy. I hope more gyms can adopt Chow's training hours, 5 hours instead of 8 hours- very smart.
DeleteI found a live stream for it and just checked the time difference for you and it would start at 00:30, damn. It's very reasonable for me, which is great because watching Classics, Nationals and Trials last year were all very late for me and if I watch an NCAA meet live they are brutal as well.
Mattie Larson could have done with it to fix her 2010 floor routine! I've seen that done before, miss the combination and throw one in somewhere else. It's most important on beam I think when the roundoff/backhandspring is messed up. One of the fastest (and funniest) reactions I have seen is Kyoko Oshima at the 2005 worlds AA when she did her sole circle to transition to the high bar facing the wrong direction and did not miss a beat in recovering from that...considering it's about the oddest mistake ever, her reaction was incredible.
I'd never rule a healthy Nabieva out of a Euros team, especially with injuries etc. but I don't see her at worlds. I hope she makes universiade.
I'd like to see it being done into pits. I'd be very nervous if it was actually going to be done in a competition- there's no room for error with it. Diana though is capable of more than she was doing last year and I really want to see her and Larisa anchoring teams with strong routines. Looking forward to both at the French world cup.
Biles. Ohashi will be overscored but her beam won't be enough if she produces a FTY versus a super explosive amanar. 5.0 versus 6.3 is massive and her beam advantage with non-connections credited won't be enough to offset it since Simone will have more difficulty on floor and I don't think Katelyn's beam advantage would be a full 1.3.
Biles-Ohashi-Seitz is my podium. The rest can't match Seitz' difficulty and I doubt Ferrari will be pushing herself to outmatch her.
I like your podium picks. Im thinking it will end up that way as well.
DeleteDo you know what simones D score on bars and beam were last year?
I am going to be so nervous for her lol I hope she rocks it.
Nope and I can't code. Yet! She has upgrades, I hope she can get her beam up to 6.4/5 (Katelyn's will be in the 7.2 range if she has a dance series) and her bars around the same.
DeleteI found the livestream will be in Saturday so maybe I can make a try to watch it! (If my mom won't force me to go to bed early:P)
DeletePeyton Ernst will represent USA to compete in Tokyo. She wasn't outstanding last year so she must improve a lot since then. She appears not powerful compared to other US gymnasts but is still good to see except for her poor bar routine.
I agree with your point but someone told me that it was humiliating for US to perform Y360 in comp... so he expected Ohashi will do Y720, if so, she has chance to win the title . I agree with his view point especially when Ohashi hits both UB and BB, I prefer Biles win, though. I expected Asuka can fight for bronze medal originally but she just recovers from her injury so maybe she won't use full difficulty in this comp? I think she is the only promising AAer in Asia now. (when YJN is still a question mark)
She must have improved bigtime. Nice lines and I like her on floor but she's not very dynamic..her beam for one had no amplitude on anything.
DeleteI think they'll take any humiliation over an injury to Ohashi though. It would be stupid to do a DTY unless she is always landing them safely. If she does do one then she will win. If she doesn't as I would expect and hands a 1.3 advantage to Biles who will also have an advantage on floor, then she won't be able to, no matter how her bars (her Healy turn is full of deductions) and beam are scored.
Asuka's difficulty from last year needs to have improved for her to beat Seitz in this. I'd like her to, but I've no idea where her difficulty is at.
American Cup announced!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see Simone Biles but not sure what to expect from Ohashi. Hopefully it won't take long for videos to appear if there's going to be no live stream.
It won't be a universal sports livestream like last time but there may well be dogier ones around. Not sure what to expect from Ohashi either, very excited about Biles.
Delete"the peacock of st. petersburg" - nearly just spit out my coffee everywhere from laughing! especially with the matching photo of her "dont mess with me" face hahahaha.
ReplyDeletei guess this long delay about SCAM announcements is finally explained. so it would make sense that they were putting off announcing kyla was out as long as they could for financial purposes (two non-fierce five gymmies competing).
Yes, and it also makes me think that Kyla IS definitely recovering from an injury, because she is the biggest draw for tickets that they could have of all the options open to them.
DeleteStill, they'd want to get a move on announcing Jesolo and Germany too, they're fairly close. I hope the girls involved know by now anyway!
The pictures of Boginskaya & Gutsu made me smile. I used to have those legs!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah I used to be tiny and slight like Gutsu. I'm always surprised she was only 4'7 because she seemed gangly..would have given her 4'11ish. Boginskaya must have felt like a giant around those pixies on her team.
DeleteLook at those fabulous forms...
ReplyDeleteI'm not expecting everyone to have perfect releve while performing pivots but still... I'd rather see a very easy routine with clean form than a messy difficult one.
I'm pretty cool with both..depends how sloppy the difficult one is. Raisman's floor, fine. Shelgunova's bars, not fine. But for the former- it's why I love the Japanese so much. Sooo clean. And Italians like Lia Parolari. I don't understand why everyone's arms are held so high for pirouettes. We always held them horizontal in ballet. The only pirouettes that I don't like though are Memmel's with the supporting leg bent and Lilia's manky fouettes.
DeleteI agree. As a rhythmic AND artistic gymnastics fan, I always find it disgusting to see an incomplete turn, bent leg, moving foot, etc.
DeleteI've always wondered how Kanaeva can do fouettes without toe shoes-she's basically performing in on bare feet!
Ooo look up Elizabet Vasileva, she is rythmic turned artistic. Quite rough around the edges tumbling wise since she isn't long in artistic but her potential for dance elements and turns is unbelievable. Unless gymnasts stumble or lurch forward I always find it hard to detect if the turn is incomplete because I'm watching the outer leg, not the supporting foot!
DeleteOhhh thank you sooo much for letting me know! I just checked her video and she has the best hand held back split pivot I've ever seen from any artistic gymnasts! She already has an epic beam mount. Maybe she can even try an utsiasheva on beam someday. I really like how she connects a split jump to a back split balance in her floor routine. That's what rhythmic gymnasts do usually :) She's also doing a Kabayeva originality at the end of her floor routine. She can possibly change that to Kanayeva's originality. Is she going to do a penche in the future??? Ahhhhh I'm over the moon now :D
DeleteSo it seems like she's doing both sports at the moment, which is AWESOME!!! I just hope she can clean up her twists, fix the low landings and gain more confidence on beam. Her sheep jump can be much much better considering her flexibility.
Sorry about the length of this comment. I'm just really really excited :D
Yes she's very exciting! Not sure how much hope there is that she can get the leap to scale named after her though, since FIG would probably lump it into the same category as the short-lived Liukin- two skills, not one. But it would be great if she could get a triple Memmel or triple scorpion named for her.
DeleteShe most likely switched to artistic (it's not clear if she still does rythmic..if she does I'd say it's more recreational) because Bulgaria has enormous competition for rythmic, and none at all for artistic so she would find it very easy to go to Euros and Worlds if she gets her difficulty up.
Her beam mount is almost scary! It's like 'ooh I'm not great at press handstands but wait for it..I'm an octopus!'. It's so fast, even though moves like that have been done (Luisa Portocarrero and almost by Irina Baraksanova come to mind), never with her ease. She's understandably shaky on beam, probably why she didn't go for the sheep. I hope she just concentrates on beam and floor and gets them to a good standard, with superb flexibility moves like she is doing now.
Is a penchee a turn in split position with the body position horizontal to the floor? If so, she looks well capable. Not sure what an Utyasheva is, I looked her up but I'm lost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hanbPBlRM
DeleteUtiasheva originality is in 1:06-07. Most gymnasts usually add another back split balance or half turn at the end. It would be crazy to see such a difficult element on beam.
YES, you are right about penche. Kanayeva was able to connect panche to ring, which is just crazy. I don't expect this young lady to do that, though. If someone does a ring pivot in artistic gymnastics, it should be rated as H!
Bulgaria isn't really a powerhouse anymore since the 90's, although they've still produced some wonderful rhythmic gymnasts like Paycheva and Miteva. Still, I guess their artistic gym dept is even weaker. Hopefully
Thanks so much for the livestream info!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! It will be the full competition- NBC themselves will not broadcast until the men have done their first two events.
DeleteI just watched Elizabet Vasileva's floor routine! I hope she sticks with artistic gymnastics~she has so much potential!
ReplyDeleteHer beam screams glorious potential too, though she's quite likely to fall..and no wonder since she hasn't been in artistic very well. I'm going to guess she's 13 now but I don't know.
Delete