The roster for the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships has been announced for Japan..and North Korea! (China already covered). North Korea's team consists of Hong Un Jong, Kang Yong Mi, Kim Un Hyang and three much younger total unknowns- Kim So Yong, Pak Sin Hyang and Ri Un Ha who all have birthdates of 1995/6. How exciting! First of all to see what Hong Un Jong and the other two are still capable of, and what the other 3 have up their sleeves. I am dissapointed not to see Cha Yong Hwa of the superb bars, but even so. Fantastic stuff.
Japan's team consists of Risa Konishi, Wakana Inoue, Sakura Noda, Erica Danko, Shizuka Tozawa and Mirai Sekiguchi. Like China they are not using Olympians, but they also seem to have gone one further and are using a bit of a b-team lineup. Very dissapointing not to see Mai Murakami and Natsumi Sasada, but perhaps they are being saved for bigger competitions. Hopefully. The competition takes place from 7-15th November and has an AA, TF and EF's. YAY!
In other news, John Orozco is the 3rd victim of the tour, injuring his knee on a dismount. Ridiculous! High level gymnastics is obviously more appealing as a draw, but so not worth it. It is confirmed to be a torn ACL and meniscus, which puts him out for at least a year. This tour is terrible.
The Russian teams for the upcoming Massilia Cup and next July's Universiade Games have been announced. Massilia's line-up will be Anastasia Sidorova, Yulia Inshina, Maria Kharenkova and Yevgeniya Shelgunova. Universiade's will be Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Afanasyeva and Kristina Goryunova. Great to see Kristina get a bigger assignment of more note, and of course, to see Nabs again. Maria Kharenkova is arguably Russia's best junior, so hopefully she can make even more of a name for herself.
The Chinese team for the upcoming Massilia Cup will be Lou Nina, Mei Jie, Chen Siyi and Liu Zhilin who all had strong performances this year at Nationals. Bars and beam should be a highlight and hopefully they can dominate there. The competition takes place from the 17th-18th November.
Romanian Junior Nationals have just taken place. They were split up into 4 categories from girls born in 2001-2002 down to girls who are already on the junior national team. Sadly, plenty of the most promising did not compete- Madalina Blendea, Adela Florea and Andreea Munteanu were all injured and Laura Jurca only did bars due to an injury also. Other girls were also injured, but quite a few only doing 1 or 2 events. Andreea Iridon who is great on bars (not a qualifying statement- she is!) dominated her age category and won bars, beam and floor. Silvia Zarzu did well but is hindered by her terrible bars. Laura Jurca took silver on bars. Sad to see so many absences, especially as the purpose of this competition was to add more to the national team. The big excitement was Andreea Iridon's bars and Asiana Peng's triple full on floor.Their team for Massilia has not been announced yet, but since they have a plethora of injuries it will be tougher than expected. Individuals and other teams have been announced. Of note are the two super exciting and very different Dutch girls- Eythora Thorsdottir and Chantysha Netteb. The former is glorious on beam and has a floor fresh from the 1985 Soviet team. The latter is powerful with her speciality being vault on which she is the reigning Junior European Champion. From Canada, Victoria Moors who is already down for both world cups and Victoria Woo and Gabriella Douglas (LOL if she competes against Gabby at some stage) are among the contingent.
Bruno Grandi has been re-elected. Yawn. New blood please. He will be 82 when his term ends. So has Nellie Kim which is less of a surprise given she ran unopposed. Nellie continues to be biased in her decisions, no longer a direct judge but having the power to sway their decision.
Anna Pavlova will compete at the Tournoi meet. In USA news, there is a big furore over comments Anna Li has made and some sort of (maybe not at all) reply Nastia made. ie accusations of bullying by Anna followed by 'Let it be' tweet from Nastia. Suspicion has been planted firmly in Alicia Sacramone's corner, with 'victims' being Gabby, Anna and Nastia. Personally, it would not take much for me to believe that of Alicia who does appear from several instances to have a mean side. Bullying is quite a step further though, despite the fact they have been cooped up together for quite a while, and dumping girls in their teens and early 20's together and expecting no drama is ludicrous. However Anna should never have posted any comments. It smacks of immaturity, and she is definitely old enough to know better. It's one thing doing something like that on facebook between school friends, but it's definitely worse when these girls have a substantial fanbase and attract a lot of attention from the gym community at large. Not impressed.
Showing posts with label Anna Li. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anna Li. Show all posts
Monday, 22 October 2012
Sunday, 7 October 2012
News
Rebeca Andrade has won the all-around at the South American Junior Championships. A great pity we won't see Rebeca in a much stronger field like Euros, but hopefully other competitions like Pan-Ams will see her square off against stronger competition. Her score was 54.8 Her highest score was 14.5 on vault, a DTY, and her lowest was 12.633 on bars, her nemesis. She does not do much on bars but she has a Comaneci salto..hopefully they can be improved over the next few years. Beam and floor are good events for her too. Brazil won the team competition also. Rebeca is elegible for the 2014 YOG and is lucky to be turning senior for a home games, as serious money is being poured into the gymnastics programme of which she is recognised as the shining star.
Kristina Goryunova of Russia who was suspended from international competition and therefore missed the Olympics due to a positive doping test- has won bars, beam and floor at a local competition called SDUSHOR. Kristina herself has said her difficulty is not high enough for international competitions, but she is thought to be quite useful at the moment as Russia are not bursting with talent. Hopefully we will see her again, even at Euros.
Lexie Priessman has committed to Georgia. Fear not, she will be competing as a senior elite beginning next year. 2016 would be her startdate really, and longer if she wants to hold out. I have limited knowledge of NCAA but there seems to be a lot of dissapointment that it's not UCLA. Georgia I know have been on a slump since the glory days of Courtney's Kupets and McCool but maybe Lexie and fellow recruits can drag it back into the top 6. It is up to her what university suits her best, location, and which gymnastics programme so I think her choice should be respected.
Rachael (whatshouldgymfanscallme.tumblr.com) has uploaded a history and background to Alexandrov's dismissal. It begins with a brief background of him, goes through his recall after the disaster of 2008 and ends up with post-dismissal. Rachael understands Russian so her insight is very valuable. This is extremely well written and don't be put off by the gifs, they add to it! I will add these articles are not suitable to be read on phones because of the amount of gifs. MUST READ.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Anna Li has a double twisting double layout dismount. Invented by Elise Ray, it's one of the hardest dismounts and is extremely rare. Shawn Johnson also did it. Anna would be the biggest contender the USA have to take the bars title at worlds, especially if she actually does have a Kovacs up her sleeve by then as well. Sadly it does not seem like Marta would give her an international assignment like that again. Here it is though:
Also here's a hilarious video of the girls on tour learning shuffling. Mostly hysterical because Nastia seems so bewildered by the whole thing, or else just in awe of Anna, at the front. Rebecca Bross is on the right of Nastia, pretty sure that's Jordyn behind at the back right and Julie Zetlin is behind Anna to the left.
In other tour news, Gabby has committed to the whole thing and it looks like Kyla has already left as she is tweeting about high school a lot. McKayla did go to Oklahoma with Kyla for the tour stop that was filmed (Oct 14th air date) but seeing as she was in two casts, I doubt she did anything other than wave or something. We'll see. (Or see when it goes up on youtube in its entiriety, as the case may be). Sabrina Vega is expected to join the tour for its east coast stops. It is currently in Texas.
A high-quality version of Yelena Produnova's famous 1999 Universiade double front vault has been uploaded. In this one you can even make out how unimpressed the woman beside the vault is and the amount of chalk on Produnova's legs. No less an amazing feat than it ever was- but I did not realise until the dead-on replay how cowboyed it is. Nothing says 'never let anyone try this vault again' more than how even Prod had to speed up her rotation that much to land it at all.
Kristina Goryunova of Russia who was suspended from international competition and therefore missed the Olympics due to a positive doping test- has won bars, beam and floor at a local competition called SDUSHOR. Kristina herself has said her difficulty is not high enough for international competitions, but she is thought to be quite useful at the moment as Russia are not bursting with talent. Hopefully we will see her again, even at Euros.
Lexie Priessman has committed to Georgia. Fear not, she will be competing as a senior elite beginning next year. 2016 would be her startdate really, and longer if she wants to hold out. I have limited knowledge of NCAA but there seems to be a lot of dissapointment that it's not UCLA. Georgia I know have been on a slump since the glory days of Courtney's Kupets and McCool but maybe Lexie and fellow recruits can drag it back into the top 6. It is up to her what university suits her best, location, and which gymnastics programme so I think her choice should be respected.
Rachael (whatshouldgymfanscallme.tumblr.com) has uploaded a history and background to Alexandrov's dismissal. It begins with a brief background of him, goes through his recall after the disaster of 2008 and ends up with post-dismissal. Rachael understands Russian so her insight is very valuable. This is extremely well written and don't be put off by the gifs, they add to it! I will add these articles are not suitable to be read on phones because of the amount of gifs. MUST READ.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Anna Li has a double twisting double layout dismount. Invented by Elise Ray, it's one of the hardest dismounts and is extremely rare. Shawn Johnson also did it. Anna would be the biggest contender the USA have to take the bars title at worlds, especially if she actually does have a Kovacs up her sleeve by then as well. Sadly it does not seem like Marta would give her an international assignment like that again. Here it is though:
Also here's a hilarious video of the girls on tour learning shuffling. Mostly hysterical because Nastia seems so bewildered by the whole thing, or else just in awe of Anna, at the front. Rebecca Bross is on the right of Nastia, pretty sure that's Jordyn behind at the back right and Julie Zetlin is behind Anna to the left.
A high-quality version of Yelena Produnova's famous 1999 Universiade double front vault has been uploaded. In this one you can even make out how unimpressed the woman beside the vault is and the amount of chalk on Produnova's legs. No less an amazing feat than it ever was- but I did not realise until the dead-on replay how cowboyed it is. Nothing says 'never let anyone try this vault again' more than how even Prod had to speed up her rotation that much to land it at all.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Bits and pieces
Unfortunately not much news on training, since WAG training doesn't appear to really have been covered today- all bloggers pegged it over to watch MAG podium training in the arena instead. Understandable I suppose!
Anna Li fell off bars and was taken to hospital for testing. All tests came back clear and according to USAG with their favourite phrase, she is or appears to be 'fine'. Is it really 'routine' to be taken to hospital after a bars fall? Clearly it must have been more than just a simple fall on release. Of course this isn't a disaster for USA because she is an alternate, but still newsworthy. I hope Anna is back on her feet very soon and continuing to train. EDIT: Clearly it was serious, she's out for six weeks and is in a neck brace. So she's 'fine' according to USAG...
Larisa Iordache had a meltdown in training, stopped doing tumbling passes, did not vault and only really did bars after that. She got a bit of a talking to and cried. She does not appear to be injured as she was seen jogging normally. Too much injury speculation about this..she's young, known to be hyper and may just be experiencing a crash in energy levels and mood related to jetlag. Hopefully team vets Cata and Sandra can get through to her, and B&B. I'd hazard a guess she'll get over it and be a rock to the team come Sunday, and PT tomorrow. It's worth remembering how much pressure there is on her, not only is she a top AA contender, she will also compete all 4 events in TF AND is expected to medal in 2 EF's. Certainly she is not the only girl doing all of that for her team, but if you take the case of Jordyn- Larisa's scores are more important for her team. Larisa's bars score will be significantly higher than her teammates, her amanar will score higher than Sandra's Cheng and their third vault, and her beam and floor will be the highest scoring too. By contrast, while Jordyn may have the highest beam and floor scores it's not a certainty, and her bars will be the lowest and her vault in between. Vika and Musty will be more of a double act as the strongest contributors, rather than shining by themselves. So it's very tough on Iordache, who isn't as experienced as some others. EDIT: she is injured, see above post. Does not mean she can't compete, but it is in doubt.
Video has emerged of Grishina's Silivas (Priakhina!!). Her coach is helping her, but she does look perfectly capable of getting it around herself. Musty looks very sharp on beam and has ANOTHER upgrade there. Vika's amanar has been described as both very off-direction and beautiful. Interesting! Seeing as Paseka's was reliably described as wonderful, looks like they have improved their amanaring and can eat into USA's vault advantage.
Russia's team total d-score now stands at a phenomenal 78. USA's is 76.8, China's 76.7 and Romania 76.2. Headcasing not counted blah blah disclaimer! Without Musty's amanar it's 77.3, still a decent headstart. How exciting.
No word on McKayla Maroney that I have seen. In her own words in an instagram of the team sunbathing 'after a great practice'. I highly doubt she would say great practice if she spent the majority of it on the sidelines. Probably reading too much into it but I infer from that that she at least trained more fully today. Here's to that pesky toe clearing up, NBC have reported worst scenario is a cortisone shot and she will be able to compete. Sounds good to me that that is the 'worst' scenario. EDIT: Did not train fully yesterday either- no beam or floor.
Here is the best photo I've seen from training so far.
USA have had plenty of high-flyers in the past (Sey, Dawes, Kupets, Tricase) but Gabby looks to be the highest, it's actually incredible how high that is. This photo is ripe for a caption, especially since it looks like they might be telling her to fix that cable..or the air-con! Here in Ireland we normally get Britain's weather first, it moves west from the Atlantic. Plenty of rain since but it's still pretty humid, so I don't see any difference for them in their stifling training gym yet.
I am reading a gymnastics thread on a Romanian sports forum through google translate, www.onlinesport.ro I found it because they linked to here! Anyway, it's very very interesting to get a patriotic view on things that isn't American. Just like the Russian translations, there are some good ones here too. Beam translates as drink and amanar as delay. 'Diana Bulimar killed it on drink!' In sadder news, it looks like I won't be able to access at least some of the Olympics coverage on TV as I'm unsure if I'll receive any of the extra Olympic channels BBC are providing. Although I have all of the BBC terrestial channels, I've no access to their online coverage so will have to use an IP shield. Probably just for prelims, but as a back up for the rest too. Still, whatever works!
Anna Li fell off bars and was taken to hospital for testing. All tests came back clear and according to USAG with their favourite phrase, she is or appears to be 'fine'. Is it really 'routine' to be taken to hospital after a bars fall? Clearly it must have been more than just a simple fall on release. Of course this isn't a disaster for USA because she is an alternate, but still newsworthy. I hope Anna is back on her feet very soon and continuing to train. EDIT: Clearly it was serious, she's out for six weeks and is in a neck brace. So she's 'fine' according to USAG...
Larisa Iordache had a meltdown in training, stopped doing tumbling passes, did not vault and only really did bars after that. She got a bit of a talking to and cried. She does not appear to be injured as she was seen jogging normally. Too much injury speculation about this..she's young, known to be hyper and may just be experiencing a crash in energy levels and mood related to jetlag. Hopefully team vets Cata and Sandra can get through to her, and B&B. I'd hazard a guess she'll get over it and be a rock to the team come Sunday, and PT tomorrow. It's worth remembering how much pressure there is on her, not only is she a top AA contender, she will also compete all 4 events in TF AND is expected to medal in 2 EF's. Certainly she is not the only girl doing all of that for her team, but if you take the case of Jordyn- Larisa's scores are more important for her team. Larisa's bars score will be significantly higher than her teammates, her amanar will score higher than Sandra's Cheng and their third vault, and her beam and floor will be the highest scoring too. By contrast, while Jordyn may have the highest beam and floor scores it's not a certainty, and her bars will be the lowest and her vault in between. Vika and Musty will be more of a double act as the strongest contributors, rather than shining by themselves. So it's very tough on Iordache, who isn't as experienced as some others. EDIT: she is injured, see above post. Does not mean she can't compete, but it is in doubt.
Video has emerged of Grishina's Silivas (Priakhina!!). Her coach is helping her, but she does look perfectly capable of getting it around herself. Musty looks very sharp on beam and has ANOTHER upgrade there. Vika's amanar has been described as both very off-direction and beautiful. Interesting! Seeing as Paseka's was reliably described as wonderful, looks like they have improved their amanaring and can eat into USA's vault advantage.
Russia's team total d-score now stands at a phenomenal 78. USA's is 76.8, China's 76.7 and Romania 76.2. Headcasing not counted blah blah disclaimer! Without Musty's amanar it's 77.3, still a decent headstart. How exciting.
No word on McKayla Maroney that I have seen. In her own words in an instagram of the team sunbathing 'after a great practice'. I highly doubt she would say great practice if she spent the majority of it on the sidelines. Probably reading too much into it but I infer from that that she at least trained more fully today. Here's to that pesky toe clearing up, NBC have reported worst scenario is a cortisone shot and she will be able to compete. Sounds good to me that that is the 'worst' scenario. EDIT: Did not train fully yesterday either- no beam or floor.
Here is the best photo I've seen from training so far.
USA have had plenty of high-flyers in the past (Sey, Dawes, Kupets, Tricase) but Gabby looks to be the highest, it's actually incredible how high that is. This photo is ripe for a caption, especially since it looks like they might be telling her to fix that cable..or the air-con! Here in Ireland we normally get Britain's weather first, it moves west from the Atlantic. Plenty of rain since but it's still pretty humid, so I don't see any difference for them in their stifling training gym yet.
I am reading a gymnastics thread on a Romanian sports forum through google translate, www.onlinesport.ro I found it because they linked to here! Anyway, it's very very interesting to get a patriotic view on things that isn't American. Just like the Russian translations, there are some good ones here too. Beam translates as drink and amanar as delay. 'Diana Bulimar killed it on drink!' In sadder news, it looks like I won't be able to access at least some of the Olympics coverage on TV as I'm unsure if I'll receive any of the extra Olympic channels BBC are providing. Although I have all of the BBC terrestial channels, I've no access to their online coverage so will have to use an IP shield. Probably just for prelims, but as a back up for the rest too. Still, whatever works!
Monday, 2 July 2012
USA blatant overscoring
It annoys me. It is healthier all around to score gymnasts as they could expect to score in London. The other thing about it is that it was selective. If you're going to overscore them, then overscore them all so that it's still a level playing field.
Jordyn and Aly scored impossibly high on floor, as did Gabby. Some OOB's not penalised, unfair on those that were. McKayla's score was too high night 1, but not by as much. Bars was blatant, especially in relation to Gabby and Jordyn's scores. By contrast, Anna and Kyla deserved higher even though their scores were a bit too high also. Nastia scored too high in all of her comps this year, sure they had to deduct for her falls and obvious form errors, but late handstands and turns were completely ignored, as were leg seps. In direct contract, McKayla's mistakes scored much much lower, even though she had a much stronger bars routine both days. Sure they were both crap, but McKayla had no falls Night 2 and had a strong unlaboured routine. Beam was more generous at Nationals than Trials, where it credited Jordyn's connections. All of the girls with wobbles scored too high, but it wasn't AS bad it could have been. Gabby's score again stood out here as a huge gift.
Kyla and McKayla out of the 5 had much fairer scores than the others. Gabby completely stands out as being far too gifted with her scores. 15.9 on bars with an error, 9.4 E score on floor with errors? Absolutely, Aly and Jordyn were also quite overscored, but the point remains that Gabby's gifts were greater. It was quite a desperate attempt to keep her ahead of Jordyn. In a way, it's a good thing, because it means Jordyn will be out for the kill in London. In a way, it's bad. Gabby's confidence isn't the best and building it up with overscores means the comedown could damage and shake her mentally when she scores fairly in London. It could shake others too, though Gabby's fragility seems like she will be the one to take it as a blow. By and large, the rest of the girls were marked fairly. It's not nice to see disparity in scoring. You're never going to hear 'woah Sabrina Vega was SO overscored' and not just because plenty of her routines were not broadcast. It's also because- she wasn't. I like the fact that John Geddert's blog mentions the 'weird scoring'. He also mentions that Marta and Bela are also taken aback by it. I'm not sure what to make of that..obviously he has much more of an insight than I do. BUT..why would the judges have an agenda of their own accord? It smacks of being controlled on high, unfortunately.
I have images in my head of Vika and Musty watching Gabby's bar routine and laughing at the score. And Romanians sniggering at the beam scores. It is true that by contrast, other countries Nationals have either fair scoring or harsh scoring. Russian scoring was a bit of a mix, though seemed mostly fair. Britsh Nationals were very scabby! WHY do USA continually do this? It serves no purpose. I assume their coaches will absolutely know better but it may gloss over aspects the gymnasts need to fix, and of course, build them up only to tear them down mentally. A good change has occurred this time, with the team named privately AT Trials. Hollie Vise's face is fixed in all of our minds forever, thanks NBC. Hopefully we can see more changes next quad, like non-delusional scoring.
Will be having a look at Canadian Trials if available and German Trials. Now that the USA fuss will die down for a while, it's time to check out the others again!
Jordyn and Aly scored impossibly high on floor, as did Gabby. Some OOB's not penalised, unfair on those that were. McKayla's score was too high night 1, but not by as much. Bars was blatant, especially in relation to Gabby and Jordyn's scores. By contrast, Anna and Kyla deserved higher even though their scores were a bit too high also. Nastia scored too high in all of her comps this year, sure they had to deduct for her falls and obvious form errors, but late handstands and turns were completely ignored, as were leg seps. In direct contract, McKayla's mistakes scored much much lower, even though she had a much stronger bars routine both days. Sure they were both crap, but McKayla had no falls Night 2 and had a strong unlaboured routine. Beam was more generous at Nationals than Trials, where it credited Jordyn's connections. All of the girls with wobbles scored too high, but it wasn't AS bad it could have been. Gabby's score again stood out here as a huge gift.
Kyla and McKayla out of the 5 had much fairer scores than the others. Gabby completely stands out as being far too gifted with her scores. 15.9 on bars with an error, 9.4 E score on floor with errors? Absolutely, Aly and Jordyn were also quite overscored, but the point remains that Gabby's gifts were greater. It was quite a desperate attempt to keep her ahead of Jordyn. In a way, it's a good thing, because it means Jordyn will be out for the kill in London. In a way, it's bad. Gabby's confidence isn't the best and building it up with overscores means the comedown could damage and shake her mentally when she scores fairly in London. It could shake others too, though Gabby's fragility seems like she will be the one to take it as a blow. By and large, the rest of the girls were marked fairly. It's not nice to see disparity in scoring. You're never going to hear 'woah Sabrina Vega was SO overscored' and not just because plenty of her routines were not broadcast. It's also because- she wasn't. I like the fact that John Geddert's blog mentions the 'weird scoring'. He also mentions that Marta and Bela are also taken aback by it. I'm not sure what to make of that..obviously he has much more of an insight than I do. BUT..why would the judges have an agenda of their own accord? It smacks of being controlled on high, unfortunately.
I have images in my head of Vika and Musty watching Gabby's bar routine and laughing at the score. And Romanians sniggering at the beam scores. It is true that by contrast, other countries Nationals have either fair scoring or harsh scoring. Russian scoring was a bit of a mix, though seemed mostly fair. Britsh Nationals were very scabby! WHY do USA continually do this? It serves no purpose. I assume their coaches will absolutely know better but it may gloss over aspects the gymnasts need to fix, and of course, build them up only to tear them down mentally. A good change has occurred this time, with the team named privately AT Trials. Hollie Vise's face is fixed in all of our minds forever, thanks NBC. Hopefully we can see more changes next quad, like non-delusional scoring.
Will be having a look at Canadian Trials if available and German Trials. Now that the USA fuss will die down for a while, it's time to check out the others again!
Price and Sacramone- robbed?
I don't think so. Both had terrific competitions and nailed routines, scoring very well. Price actually ended up in fourth and didn't make the team. Sacramone scored over 15 on beam and well over that on vault, and didn't even make alternate. Why? Is this a disgrace? Let's break it down.
Price competes all around. Every other country would be glad to have her.
Floor- This is where she shines, her tumbling was THE best in Trials. So powerful! Unfortunately her choreo is really horrendous. All in all it makes for a mixed combination and could easily be slaughtered in London. She does not make ENOUGH of a case here to displace Jordyn, Aly, Gabby or McKayla on this event.
Beam- Pretty solid, again it does not flow and is quite mechanical. All in all, a good beam. But not exceptional. Kyla, Jordyn, Aly and McKayla all beat it.
Bars- Pretty good, mostly dependable on this. Will not score high enough to displace the third bars workers, Jordyn and this is why Li was taken- we need an exceptional bars worker as back-up.
Vault- Is great. Good form, and explosive power. She hurts herself by not having a second vault here, but even so, McKayla will outscore her every time and has a 6.1 second vault. A better vault than Gabby, Jordyn and Aly but the rest of her events combine to make it not worth displacing someone else to put her on the team.
In short, she is a fierce all-arounder and a great gymnast. She is THE victim of USA's depth because even though she knocks out great routines, it isn't enough to take her over the 5 that were picked. The team chosen was correct, and has the maximum score potential. Rage against the 5 person team all you want but in this situation, not naming Price to the team made perfect sense. Unfortunate, but correct.
Sacramone only competes vault and beam. Not having floor badly hurts her, and so does bars to an extent. She nailed vault both days and was extremely solid on beam, deserving her high scores. Sadly, these are two events where USA has a lot of depth. She cannot displace Jordyn or Aly on beam because they are valuable elsewhere, and cannot displace Kyla because her bars are very neccessary. Her vaults cannot displace McKayla because McKayla's amanar will score higher in TF and in EF, her combined SV is higher by several tenths, as well as her form being better. She CAN displace Gabby on vault and beam, but Gabby has a usuable floor as opposed to no floor and her bars add such valuable tenths, Alicia can't win over those tenths. That's why she didn't make the team. Why she didn't make alternate is quite similar. A UB worker was badly needed, so Li got in. A strong beam and floor were needed, so Finnegan got in. A vault and all-around back-up were needed, so Price got in. It's as simple as Sacramone not having floor and bars, where USA needed more help and depth.
Both of these gymnasts are victims of the super-small team situation. Neither deserved to displace those who got in, because of the reasons outlined above. Nevertheless, they are superb gymnasts and I hope Sacramone in particular can recover swiftly and continue to kick ass. It's sad they cannot compete for another country. Can you think how valuable either would be to countries like Russia and China? In an ideal situation where neither team needed alternates, I would love for the two of them, Finnegan, Li and Vega to compete for a country not fielding a team, we'll say Ireland. Hey, Finnegan has an Irish surname. So does Maroney for that matter..
VT- Finnegan, Price, Sacramone
BB- Vega, Sacramone, Finnegan
UB- Price, Vega, Li
FX- Vega, Price, Finnegan
It is a testament to the awesomeness of USA's depth right now that the above team could easily beat China, Australia and Britain and give the top 3 a great run for their money. I wish all of the girls dissapointed last night great future careers and to continue in gymnastics if they so wish.
Price competes all around. Every other country would be glad to have her.
Floor- This is where she shines, her tumbling was THE best in Trials. So powerful! Unfortunately her choreo is really horrendous. All in all it makes for a mixed combination and could easily be slaughtered in London. She does not make ENOUGH of a case here to displace Jordyn, Aly, Gabby or McKayla on this event.
Beam- Pretty solid, again it does not flow and is quite mechanical. All in all, a good beam. But not exceptional. Kyla, Jordyn, Aly and McKayla all beat it.
Bars- Pretty good, mostly dependable on this. Will not score high enough to displace the third bars workers, Jordyn and this is why Li was taken- we need an exceptional bars worker as back-up.
Vault- Is great. Good form, and explosive power. She hurts herself by not having a second vault here, but even so, McKayla will outscore her every time and has a 6.1 second vault. A better vault than Gabby, Jordyn and Aly but the rest of her events combine to make it not worth displacing someone else to put her on the team.
In short, she is a fierce all-arounder and a great gymnast. She is THE victim of USA's depth because even though she knocks out great routines, it isn't enough to take her over the 5 that were picked. The team chosen was correct, and has the maximum score potential. Rage against the 5 person team all you want but in this situation, not naming Price to the team made perfect sense. Unfortunate, but correct.
Sacramone only competes vault and beam. Not having floor badly hurts her, and so does bars to an extent. She nailed vault both days and was extremely solid on beam, deserving her high scores. Sadly, these are two events where USA has a lot of depth. She cannot displace Jordyn or Aly on beam because they are valuable elsewhere, and cannot displace Kyla because her bars are very neccessary. Her vaults cannot displace McKayla because McKayla's amanar will score higher in TF and in EF, her combined SV is higher by several tenths, as well as her form being better. She CAN displace Gabby on vault and beam, but Gabby has a usuable floor as opposed to no floor and her bars add such valuable tenths, Alicia can't win over those tenths. That's why she didn't make the team. Why she didn't make alternate is quite similar. A UB worker was badly needed, so Li got in. A strong beam and floor were needed, so Finnegan got in. A vault and all-around back-up were needed, so Price got in. It's as simple as Sacramone not having floor and bars, where USA needed more help and depth.
Both of these gymnasts are victims of the super-small team situation. Neither deserved to displace those who got in, because of the reasons outlined above. Nevertheless, they are superb gymnasts and I hope Sacramone in particular can recover swiftly and continue to kick ass. It's sad they cannot compete for another country. Can you think how valuable either would be to countries like Russia and China? In an ideal situation where neither team needed alternates, I would love for the two of them, Finnegan, Li and Vega to compete for a country not fielding a team, we'll say Ireland. Hey, Finnegan has an Irish surname. So does Maroney for that matter..
VT- Finnegan, Price, Sacramone
BB- Vega, Sacramone, Finnegan
UB- Price, Vega, Li
FX- Vega, Price, Finnegan
It is a testament to the awesomeness of USA's depth right now that the above team could easily beat China, Australia and Britain and give the top 3 a great run for their money. I wish all of the girls dissapointed last night great future careers and to continue in gymnastics if they so wish.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Team is Gabby, Jordyn, Aly, Kyla and...McKayla! Thank GOD. It was pretty obvious but even so. Not much of a deliberation really. They were all in tears walking out, was lovely...except for Kyla, surprisingly! I must have missed that in my excitment. Alternates! Price, Finnegan and....Li! Price has the edge over Sacramone, suspected that would happen. Finnegan not a surprise. Li takes over from Sloan, she always had a much better bars but unusable everywhere else. Congratulations to all.
SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!
Gutted for those dissappointed, and especially Bross, horrible to end like that. Vega I would say is dissapointed, and Baker. Sacramone had a greater chance at alternate but they did need bars. She seemed at peace with this possiblity before so hopefully she's okay...although it doesn't look it, preparing for the worst is smart but it can be very different when it actually happens as to how you cope with it.
SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!
Gutted for those dissappointed, and especially Bross, horrible to end like that. Vega I would say is dissapointed, and Baker. Sacramone had a greater chance at alternate but they did need bars. She seemed at peace with this possiblity before so hopefully she's okay...although it doesn't look it, preparing for the worst is smart but it can be very different when it actually happens as to how you cope with it.
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.
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.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
US team will be named in...18 hours!
It's 10.30AM here. Trials will start at 2AM for me and will end at 4AM. Selection debate..apparently 20 minutes after comp ends? So we can expect a team being NAMED at 4:30AM. CRAZY. It's odd to think that the constant speculation will actually end in less than 24 hours. Quick sysnopsis judged by all performances this year and Trials Day 1
Jordyn- Keeps proving herself as an exceptional gymnast. She SHOULD be outscoring Gabby, especially if she has zero mistakes on bars and makes her beam connection. She's getting better at it and Geddert seems to be the master of pacing, so I have faith it will be nailed when it counts. Kudos to her for pulling out the full-twisting DLO and sticking it. Absolute lock, will be used on ALL events. 4/4 in TF, top AA contender, will qualify for FX EF.
Aly- Nobody is more consistent and solid than her, she proves it over and over again. Her floor and beam are very valuable and she may use her amanar over Gabby's. One or two errors Day 1 of Trials she doesn't normally make but you can be sure they won't be repeated. It's unclear as to whether her form will be hammered in London- it wasn't in Tokyo. Absolute lock, will be used on floor and beam and quite possibly vault. 2 or 3/4 in TF, possible AA contender- big fight on her hands, will qualify for beam and FX EF.
Gabby- Keeps improving, she really is a her peak. GREAT bars, GREAT beam. Still inconsistent and dangerous on beam. Floor tumbling has improved bigtime, it's great, choreo has not improve at all. Vault is a bit shaky still, amanar looks nice but her block is crap and ensures sitdowns from her in Training. Floor may outscore McKayla's. Absolute lock, will be used on 1 or 2 in TF, very probable top AA contender, will qualify for bars EF.
Kyla- So valauable on beam and bars. A great pity the other two events are not as strong. Lovely DTY, dangerous amanar. She won't be used on that. Floor obviously is fine but yet again, have to say it's too low to be valuable. Some bobbles on beam night 1, but this is a beautiful strong event for her, it's unlikely they are a permanent fixture. Most probably a lock, no other bars/beam specialist will outscore her at this stage and we need her bars. Will be used on 2 in TF, possible AA contender, may qualify for EF in bars and beam.
McKayla- Extremely valuable on vault She will bring hold the gold in EF, guaranteed. Price's amanar is great but McKayla's will still score a few tenths higher especially with no step or a much smaller one than she had on Night 1. Very useful on floor too, may well outscore Gabby. Beam and bars falls won't really affect her, especially as she is usually very solid on even her poor events. Most probably a lock, will be used on 1 or 2 events. DEFINITE gold in EF vault.
Rebecca has unfortunately proven she isn't a contender, as her beam is too unreliable and Kyla can outscore her on bars, as well as be usable in the two other events. This is a very sad end for her, perhaps not end but I'd imagine end of truly competitive career. Nobody would have seen this coming two years ago, that not only will she not make the team, she's also unlikely to be named alternate.
Alicia- Has damaged her chances by not having floor. She cannot truly oust McKayla because McKayla's both vaults combined are much higher SV and Alicia's beam isn't needed. I just hope she doesn't fling the double tonight and injure herself but it seems she's being very wise about what she can and cannot do and sustain. Unlike a certain Beijing team-mate of hers. A very likely alternate.
Sarah- Seems injured. She was much much sharper and solid at Jesolo and even at Classics and Nationals compared to now. She's been reported as being very sluggish in podium training, slightly watered down her tumbling pass and still fell on it in comp and her beam was wobbly. She seems tiired. Hopefully she can recover to her prime soon. She is an extremely valuable alternate and could plausibly score a 16 on beam, that's how high the SV is and how clean her execution is. Floor likewise is very high scoring when she's on.
Anna- Anna is another likely alternate, though she will be hurt by falls on beam which is very low scoring due to no connections anyway. Her bars are great however and extremely high scoring, if she has no errors again tonight she may have vanquished her earlier inconsistency on this event. With Sloan and Nastia out of the way, weak bars from Sarah, average bars from Ebee and no bars from Alicia- she may be needed as alternate to replace Sloan. It's unclear as to whether Marta would really trust her, who knows.
Nastia- Has humiliated herself and most likely damaged her former glory considerably, though too early to tell...maybe not. I've been out of the loop for while so while I hope she retired in the meantime but I somewhow doubt it. She will most likely do a flyaway dismount. Extremely unlikely to be named anything. I get more and more annoyed everytime I see her 'compete'.
Elizabeth- GREAT alternate, extremely likely. She just doesn't have the edge over McKayla to take her place, and cannot take Kyla's. If she had great bars then yes, and she can be used on them, but it's not enough as they don't score that well. Her floor is quite valuable but would be running the risk of being slaughtered for artistry as even Gabby's beats it in that sense.
Kennedy's strength's aren't enough in a country of this depth to get her on or near this team. Sabrina has too little difficulty, so does Brenna.
It's not 18 hours anymore..it's a bit less than 6 until the team is named!! EXCITED.
15 MINUTES!! I'm not going to liveblog, I don't think I would even if this blog got thousands of hits. I'm a focus person, especially since I cannot rewatch Trials until it goes on youtube. Will probably do a rundown while waiting for team announcement..coherency doubtful at 4AM.
Jordyn- Keeps proving herself as an exceptional gymnast. She SHOULD be outscoring Gabby, especially if she has zero mistakes on bars and makes her beam connection. She's getting better at it and Geddert seems to be the master of pacing, so I have faith it will be nailed when it counts. Kudos to her for pulling out the full-twisting DLO and sticking it. Absolute lock, will be used on ALL events. 4/4 in TF, top AA contender, will qualify for FX EF.
Aly- Nobody is more consistent and solid than her, she proves it over and over again. Her floor and beam are very valuable and she may use her amanar over Gabby's. One or two errors Day 1 of Trials she doesn't normally make but you can be sure they won't be repeated. It's unclear as to whether her form will be hammered in London- it wasn't in Tokyo. Absolute lock, will be used on floor and beam and quite possibly vault. 2 or 3/4 in TF, possible AA contender- big fight on her hands, will qualify for beam and FX EF.
Gabby- Keeps improving, she really is a her peak. GREAT bars, GREAT beam. Still inconsistent and dangerous on beam. Floor tumbling has improved bigtime, it's great, choreo has not improve at all. Vault is a bit shaky still, amanar looks nice but her block is crap and ensures sitdowns from her in Training. Floor may outscore McKayla's. Absolute lock, will be used on 1 or 2 in TF, very probable top AA contender, will qualify for bars EF.
Kyla- So valauable on beam and bars. A great pity the other two events are not as strong. Lovely DTY, dangerous amanar. She won't be used on that. Floor obviously is fine but yet again, have to say it's too low to be valuable. Some bobbles on beam night 1, but this is a beautiful strong event for her, it's unlikely they are a permanent fixture. Most probably a lock, no other bars/beam specialist will outscore her at this stage and we need her bars. Will be used on 2 in TF, possible AA contender, may qualify for EF in bars and beam.
McKayla- Extremely valuable on vault She will bring hold the gold in EF, guaranteed. Price's amanar is great but McKayla's will still score a few tenths higher especially with no step or a much smaller one than she had on Night 1. Very useful on floor too, may well outscore Gabby. Beam and bars falls won't really affect her, especially as she is usually very solid on even her poor events. Most probably a lock, will be used on 1 or 2 events. DEFINITE gold in EF vault.
Rebecca has unfortunately proven she isn't a contender, as her beam is too unreliable and Kyla can outscore her on bars, as well as be usable in the two other events. This is a very sad end for her, perhaps not end but I'd imagine end of truly competitive career. Nobody would have seen this coming two years ago, that not only will she not make the team, she's also unlikely to be named alternate.
Alicia- Has damaged her chances by not having floor. She cannot truly oust McKayla because McKayla's both vaults combined are much higher SV and Alicia's beam isn't needed. I just hope she doesn't fling the double tonight and injure herself but it seems she's being very wise about what she can and cannot do and sustain. Unlike a certain Beijing team-mate of hers. A very likely alternate.
Sarah- Seems injured. She was much much sharper and solid at Jesolo and even at Classics and Nationals compared to now. She's been reported as being very sluggish in podium training, slightly watered down her tumbling pass and still fell on it in comp and her beam was wobbly. She seems tiired. Hopefully she can recover to her prime soon. She is an extremely valuable alternate and could plausibly score a 16 on beam, that's how high the SV is and how clean her execution is. Floor likewise is very high scoring when she's on.
Anna- Anna is another likely alternate, though she will be hurt by falls on beam which is very low scoring due to no connections anyway. Her bars are great however and extremely high scoring, if she has no errors again tonight she may have vanquished her earlier inconsistency on this event. With Sloan and Nastia out of the way, weak bars from Sarah, average bars from Ebee and no bars from Alicia- she may be needed as alternate to replace Sloan. It's unclear as to whether Marta would really trust her, who knows.
Nastia- Has humiliated herself and most likely damaged her former glory considerably, though too early to tell...maybe not. I've been out of the loop for while so while I hope she retired in the meantime but I somewhow doubt it. She will most likely do a flyaway dismount. Extremely unlikely to be named anything. I get more and more annoyed everytime I see her 'compete'.
Elizabeth- GREAT alternate, extremely likely. She just doesn't have the edge over McKayla to take her place, and cannot take Kyla's. If she had great bars then yes, and she can be used on them, but it's not enough as they don't score that well. Her floor is quite valuable but would be running the risk of being slaughtered for artistry as even Gabby's beats it in that sense.
Kennedy's strength's aren't enough in a country of this depth to get her on or near this team. Sabrina has too little difficulty, so does Brenna.
It's not 18 hours anymore..it's a bit less than 6 until the team is named!! EXCITED.
15 MINUTES!! I'm not going to liveblog, I don't think I would even if this blog got thousands of hits. I'm a focus person, especially since I cannot rewatch Trials until it goes on youtube. Will probably do a rundown while waiting for team announcement..coherency doubtful at 4AM.
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Curse of the beam: Trials Day 1
What a jittery Trials. Here's hoping these girls can knock out their full potential on Sunday. Cheers for no broadcast of Anna Li or Kennedy Baker. Jordyn wins! Poor Bridget Sloan, hurt her elbow in warm-up and had to scratch. Would have made a good alternate, though unclear if she can compete on Sunday yet.
McKayla Maroney- I like the leotard colour, not gone on the tie bit. She has her own vault scoring, she can do both those vaults better than that..amanar had a big step and Mustafina was underrotated slightly. But still incredible. Fell off bars, which looked great aside from that. Fell off beam, normally so steady on that! However she is still a lock..she HIT FLOOR! It was great :) That third pass was great and the 3.5 had the best landing yet..I'd call that stuck. Floor got a 15.2 and shows potential to beat Gabby in London. Falls are bad at Trials obviously but since she hit the two events she is needed for and fell on the ones nobody cares about that doesn't really hurt her..especially since both falls are very uncharacteristic.
Jordyn Wieber- Seriously so impressive. Not flawless but wow, she's amazing to watch. She's been 'on' since what, 2009? Looks better than Nationals, even with the slight struggle on bars and the missed connection on beam. Floor was great as usual, stuck landings! Deserved higher than Gabby's. Also wow on sticking the full-twisting DLO cold! Loved her old-school meets new-school leo. She is of course still getting a good but of the spotlight but she's being eclipsed a bit..not really fair.
Gabby- Uncharacteristic mistake on bars..hopefully a total fluke. Leg up on beam, great routine otherwise. Floor tumbling was great however the choreo is still to be honest, shit. Vault I haven't seen, wasn't broadcast? Or else missed it as the dodgy webcast did cut a few times. Am sure will see perfect bars on Sunday, but I'd question these mythical upgrades? Still too dodgy to trust on beam. Still overscored, but enjoyable to watch. Boring bling, never liked that leo.
Kyla- Kyla nailed floor and bars. Floor not helping her out much of course, still no upgrades. Beam had plenty of bobbles and subsequent missed connections, otherwise lovely. Vault- does that count as being sat? Hands down, incredibly low- only got a 14.4 so must have counted as being sat. GET RID OF THE AMANAR! She clearly cannot do it to a safe level. Wore Nastia's AA 2008 leo! Interesting.
Aly- Bars were fine, for her. Floor- great but had an OOB, uncharacteristic. Vault looks a little cleaner before she twists, probably the safest of the three dodgy amanars (G and K too). Beam again, looks like she spotted a coin on it, that's how ungraceful her low-to-beam is. Also had balance checks! Normally so rock solid, so that was surprising. But not damaging. Another tie leotard, looks good on her but she's worn nicer.
Nastia- It actually looked like she was going to get through the routine at one point, lovely clean lines. Unfortunately it was incredibly laboured and slow. She messed up a handstand, struggled and bent her knees and the stupidly flung herself into a dismount that was never going to happen and landed on her back. She needs to scratch bars on Sunday, that was scary and humiliating. It's ridiculous on both counts, a) actually got to Trials and b) competed bars when they are quite clearly in a state and she does NOT have the endurance. Beam had two big balance checks, looked good otherwise. Misses the last hope at an alternate spot.
Rebecca Bross- GREAT bars, she nailed it. Fell off beam, another wobble and then sat the dismount. That was obvious, as she was knackered. Sad that it ends here, she cannot be trusted after that as alternate.
Sarah- HEARTBREAKER! I've heard rumours she is injured, and it certainly seems so as she has looked sluggish all week and just not 'on'. Floor she took out the whip before the double arabian and almost fell on the last pass, poorly rotated. Bars were very good for her. Vault not seen. Beam she missed a connection and wobbled..I think. May have said goodbye to alternate. She looks tired, I wonder what's the story there. I love her, sad to see her not at her best.
Elizabeth/Ebee- Choreo on floor worse than Gabby's but WOW at her tumbling, it's unreal! Made a very strong case for herself as alternate. GREAT amanar, it looks amazing. I still do not see her touching McKayla though. Bars not shown, were great apparently. Beam neither, had a few checks but nothing major. Actually apparently bars were not great and only got got a 14.5, must have a a biased source where I heard they were great. That damages her chances at the team and displacing Maroney bigtime.
Alicia- I can't believe she wobbled on beam, soo unlike her! Looked fierce otherwise. Vault, Rudi shown looked great, more power in it. FTY not shown. I think throwing the double would break her, she has already said she can't train the Rudi as often as the rest are flinging amanars so I don't know people are constantly saying she should do the double..absolutely not if she is not capable of landing it safely or without having the endurance to repeat it.
Kennedy, Li and Dowell not broadcast. Vega had a decent floor and one or two wobbles on beam.
Beam had a great night for itself...it claimed McKayla, Anna, Rebecca and Kennedy. EVERYBODY else had either big balance checks, missed connections and/or small wobbles.
Best routine: Kyla's bars!
Favourite Routine: McKayla's floor
Worst routine: A toss-up between Rebecca's beam and Nastia's bars. Crap day for WOGA.
Looking forward to night two! Hoping it will broadcast earlier than 2AM for me...zzzzzz...very very thankful I got hold of a webcast for this, however illegal the quality was good. Hmm you can tell this was written at about 5AM. But so will the next one!
McKayla Maroney- I like the leotard colour, not gone on the tie bit. She has her own vault scoring, she can do both those vaults better than that..amanar had a big step and Mustafina was underrotated slightly. But still incredible. Fell off bars, which looked great aside from that. Fell off beam, normally so steady on that! However she is still a lock..she HIT FLOOR! It was great :) That third pass was great and the 3.5 had the best landing yet..I'd call that stuck. Floor got a 15.2 and shows potential to beat Gabby in London. Falls are bad at Trials obviously but since she hit the two events she is needed for and fell on the ones nobody cares about that doesn't really hurt her..especially since both falls are very uncharacteristic.
Jordyn Wieber- Seriously so impressive. Not flawless but wow, she's amazing to watch. She's been 'on' since what, 2009? Looks better than Nationals, even with the slight struggle on bars and the missed connection on beam. Floor was great as usual, stuck landings! Deserved higher than Gabby's. Also wow on sticking the full-twisting DLO cold! Loved her old-school meets new-school leo. She is of course still getting a good but of the spotlight but she's being eclipsed a bit..not really fair.
Gabby- Uncharacteristic mistake on bars..hopefully a total fluke. Leg up on beam, great routine otherwise. Floor tumbling was great however the choreo is still to be honest, shit. Vault I haven't seen, wasn't broadcast? Or else missed it as the dodgy webcast did cut a few times. Am sure will see perfect bars on Sunday, but I'd question these mythical upgrades? Still too dodgy to trust on beam. Still overscored, but enjoyable to watch. Boring bling, never liked that leo.
Kyla- Kyla nailed floor and bars. Floor not helping her out much of course, still no upgrades. Beam had plenty of bobbles and subsequent missed connections, otherwise lovely. Vault- does that count as being sat? Hands down, incredibly low- only got a 14.4 so must have counted as being sat. GET RID OF THE AMANAR! She clearly cannot do it to a safe level. Wore Nastia's AA 2008 leo! Interesting.
Aly- Bars were fine, for her. Floor- great but had an OOB, uncharacteristic. Vault looks a little cleaner before she twists, probably the safest of the three dodgy amanars (G and K too). Beam again, looks like she spotted a coin on it, that's how ungraceful her low-to-beam is. Also had balance checks! Normally so rock solid, so that was surprising. But not damaging. Another tie leotard, looks good on her but she's worn nicer.
Nastia- It actually looked like she was going to get through the routine at one point, lovely clean lines. Unfortunately it was incredibly laboured and slow. She messed up a handstand, struggled and bent her knees and the stupidly flung herself into a dismount that was never going to happen and landed on her back. She needs to scratch bars on Sunday, that was scary and humiliating. It's ridiculous on both counts, a) actually got to Trials and b) competed bars when they are quite clearly in a state and she does NOT have the endurance. Beam had two big balance checks, looked good otherwise. Misses the last hope at an alternate spot.
Rebecca Bross- GREAT bars, she nailed it. Fell off beam, another wobble and then sat the dismount. That was obvious, as she was knackered. Sad that it ends here, she cannot be trusted after that as alternate.
Sarah- HEARTBREAKER! I've heard rumours she is injured, and it certainly seems so as she has looked sluggish all week and just not 'on'. Floor she took out the whip before the double arabian and almost fell on the last pass, poorly rotated. Bars were very good for her. Vault not seen. Beam she missed a connection and wobbled..I think. May have said goodbye to alternate. She looks tired, I wonder what's the story there. I love her, sad to see her not at her best.
Elizabeth/Ebee- Choreo on floor worse than Gabby's but WOW at her tumbling, it's unreal! Made a very strong case for herself as alternate. GREAT amanar, it looks amazing. I still do not see her touching McKayla though. Bars not shown, were great apparently. Beam neither, had a few checks but nothing major. Actually apparently bars were not great and only got got a 14.5, must have a a biased source where I heard they were great. That damages her chances at the team and displacing Maroney bigtime.
Alicia- I can't believe she wobbled on beam, soo unlike her! Looked fierce otherwise. Vault, Rudi shown looked great, more power in it. FTY not shown. I think throwing the double would break her, she has already said she can't train the Rudi as often as the rest are flinging amanars so I don't know people are constantly saying she should do the double..absolutely not if she is not capable of landing it safely or without having the endurance to repeat it.
Kennedy, Li and Dowell not broadcast. Vega had a decent floor and one or two wobbles on beam.
Beam had a great night for itself...it claimed McKayla, Anna, Rebecca and Kennedy. EVERYBODY else had either big balance checks, missed connections and/or small wobbles.
Best routine: Kyla's bars!
Favourite Routine: McKayla's floor
Worst routine: A toss-up between Rebecca's beam and Nastia's bars. Crap day for WOGA.
Looking forward to night two! Hoping it will broadcast earlier than 2AM for me...zzzzzz...very very thankful I got hold of a webcast for this, however illegal the quality was good. Hmm you can tell this was written at about 5AM. But so will the next one!
Thursday, 28 June 2012
New podium training breakdown
I have to say I really really love the National team training leos. The patriotic red, white and blue designs are very nice. Kyla's at the first podium training probably my favourite, Rebecca wore it too if I remember correctly. Not the biggest fan of McKayla's night two, decent night one though. Anna Li's night two definitely a stand-out, loved the back of it! And yes I will say night because podium training for me starting at 11pm yesterday, it's easier.
McKayla- Again proving herself a lock. Much impressed with her floor, her expression in her dance looks more confident or something. Nicely done with the third pass, in bounds by oh..an inch! Vaults perfection as always. Bars definitely have improved a lot this year, beam again very very solid. Not needed to do those two but it is great that she IS usable on them in an emergency.
Aly- Not much to say here. Consistency, consistency, consistency. Had issues on bars, but looked solid doing full routine. Not really a big deal except for her shot at doing AA of course. Sloppy amanar but may be safer than either Gabby's or Kyla's so it's great she has it!
Gabby- Her issues with handstands were a bit shocking..didn't expect that! Still, great full routines. Such solid beam in training! Her standing full twist is amazing, sooo upright. Her amanar can't really be relied on to replace Aly's sloppy one..looks like her block is the problem. She sat a good few and landed very low on the rest, not a good sign. This is a skill she probably shouldn't be doing, we all know the dangers of messing up an amanar. Here's hoping she sorts out these jitters and gets a lesson from McKayla on blocking.
Jordyn- Not much to say here either, except her bars looked great. She managed to stick the full-twisting DLO, making a great case for including it in comp and upping her SV. Lovely amanar, I would put it ahead of Ebee's.
Kyla- Ooo, lots of wobbles and balance checks on beam, surprising to see. Of course they may be long dissapeared before comp, I have faith in her. Amanar again dangerous, she stepped off the mat and takes a good few steps to save herself. Her and Gabby are keeping us guessing as to whether they have the capability to replace Aly's. Bars and floor lovely as always.
Anna- LOVE her bars. Fell on a release elsewhere. Beam too low an SV, but I like it's flow. Probably because it isn't stuffed with connections that it flows better. She is making a good case for alternate but even the pool for alternates is deep! How much would other countries give for that problem..
Bridget- Only bars shown again. Lovely form and execution. Some issues with stalder work..I'm sure she can fix that. She STOOD on the high bar. Twice. For five seconds! Amazing. A pity she can't stick a Korbut/Mukhina flip in for some H rating.
Sarah- Consensus on her from quick hits is that she seems sluggish. Floor and beam have certainly looked better alright. Hope she gets it together in comp, in an ideal 6-7 person team she would so be on it.
Ebee- Making a strong case for alternate. WHAT a double double she has. Bars look fine too.
Alicia- Only showing FTY's. Hmm. Does she have the endurance to knock out Rudi's every day? It kind of puts paid to the rumours that she will throw doubles. She is surprising though. Fierce beam as always.
Nastia- Fair play to her, that was an improved bar routine. The interior looked great. I didn't think it possible she could really get through the whole thing plus dismount. HOWEVER, it may be the case that she can't, that was some heavy spotting. It remains to be seen
Rebecca- Woohoo, landed that Patterson consistently, both days. It still gives itself a strong case for removal though as we all know it's not consistent and landed very low when it is landed.
As I said in the previous post, specialists have gotten shot down by Marta. The team is obvious to everyone according to her. Yes it is. Stay healthy, girls!
See I managed to get through another post about Trials without moaning about being region blocked from the comp! USAG facebook remain hopeful about it being on youtube very shortly after. Like, when I wake up (I am 5 hours ahead of eastern time), I EXPECT it to be waiting for me on youtube. Optimistic I know.
McKayla- Again proving herself a lock. Much impressed with her floor, her expression in her dance looks more confident or something. Nicely done with the third pass, in bounds by oh..an inch! Vaults perfection as always. Bars definitely have improved a lot this year, beam again very very solid. Not needed to do those two but it is great that she IS usable on them in an emergency.
Aly- Not much to say here. Consistency, consistency, consistency. Had issues on bars, but looked solid doing full routine. Not really a big deal except for her shot at doing AA of course. Sloppy amanar but may be safer than either Gabby's or Kyla's so it's great she has it!
Gabby- Her issues with handstands were a bit shocking..didn't expect that! Still, great full routines. Such solid beam in training! Her standing full twist is amazing, sooo upright. Her amanar can't really be relied on to replace Aly's sloppy one..looks like her block is the problem. She sat a good few and landed very low on the rest, not a good sign. This is a skill she probably shouldn't be doing, we all know the dangers of messing up an amanar. Here's hoping she sorts out these jitters and gets a lesson from McKayla on blocking.
Jordyn- Not much to say here either, except her bars looked great. She managed to stick the full-twisting DLO, making a great case for including it in comp and upping her SV. Lovely amanar, I would put it ahead of Ebee's.
Kyla- Ooo, lots of wobbles and balance checks on beam, surprising to see. Of course they may be long dissapeared before comp, I have faith in her. Amanar again dangerous, she stepped off the mat and takes a good few steps to save herself. Her and Gabby are keeping us guessing as to whether they have the capability to replace Aly's. Bars and floor lovely as always.
Anna- LOVE her bars. Fell on a release elsewhere. Beam too low an SV, but I like it's flow. Probably because it isn't stuffed with connections that it flows better. She is making a good case for alternate but even the pool for alternates is deep! How much would other countries give for that problem..
Bridget- Only bars shown again. Lovely form and execution. Some issues with stalder work..I'm sure she can fix that. She STOOD on the high bar. Twice. For five seconds! Amazing. A pity she can't stick a Korbut/Mukhina flip in for some H rating.
Sarah- Consensus on her from quick hits is that she seems sluggish. Floor and beam have certainly looked better alright. Hope she gets it together in comp, in an ideal 6-7 person team she would so be on it.
Ebee- Making a strong case for alternate. WHAT a double double she has. Bars look fine too.
Alicia- Only showing FTY's. Hmm. Does she have the endurance to knock out Rudi's every day? It kind of puts paid to the rumours that she will throw doubles. She is surprising though. Fierce beam as always.
Nastia- Fair play to her, that was an improved bar routine. The interior looked great. I didn't think it possible she could really get through the whole thing plus dismount. HOWEVER, it may be the case that she can't, that was some heavy spotting. It remains to be seen
Rebecca- Woohoo, landed that Patterson consistently, both days. It still gives itself a strong case for removal though as we all know it's not consistent and landed very low when it is landed.
As I said in the previous post, specialists have gotten shot down by Marta. The team is obvious to everyone according to her. Yes it is. Stay healthy, girls!
See I managed to get through another post about Trials without moaning about being region blocked from the comp! USAG facebook remain hopeful about it being on youtube very shortly after. Like, when I wake up (I am 5 hours ahead of eastern time), I EXPECT it to be waiting for me on youtube. Optimistic I know.
News just in: Marta condemns specialists
In a post podium training interview, Marta has confirmed what most people already know. She has an ideal team in her mind and this team is obvious to those watching competitions all year, in her own words. She also said she does not value specialists highly because she likes girls who can do everything. This further cememts the places of Kyla and McKayla (read: McKayla may only compete 1 or 2 events in TF but specialists don't train all 4, which she IS doing) and damns the chances of Nastia, Bridget, Alicia, Anna and Rebecca. Price and Finnegan are more up in the air and are still extremely likely alternates. Strong execution will be favoured over difficulty apparently, which doesn't really change anything..maybe puts Finnegan ahead of Price for first alternate.
In other words, Nastia is definitely NOT on this team.
In other words, Nastia is definitely NOT on this team.
Monday, 11 June 2012
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.
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.
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