Happy blogbirthday to me, and news

Source- bugakampar.com

Today marks one year since I started blogging instead of boring my boyfriend's head off about gymnastics- he's subjected to much smaller doses now :) I really enjoy blogging, I won't really be able to keep up with the amount I post now in the future, but I'm still committed..and I love discussing things with commenters. Feel free to tell me post suggestions or how I should really keep an eye on my loooong run-on sentences.

I think it's fitting that on this day we get a glimpse of the amazing McKayla Maroney in action, since she is a favourite of mine.. Trying not to be biased here but she had three surgeries with the last in December and is only back a few months in the gym. No bother to her it seems..as she unleashes not just the amanar (and her second vault from 2011, the Lopez) but a brand new double layout! Her coach also taught Mattie Larson her own amazing version of this skill, but even so it's not one I would have envisioned for her. We have seen tantalising double layouts before like Jordyn Wieber's that never materialised, but McKayla does look stronger than before so with extra stamina on floor it would slot in nicely. Maybe 3.5, double layout, 2.5-front layout and double arabian. She's more of a twister so I think she would find this easier than taking out the third pass and slotting in a double pike to end instead. She used to do a double arabian so that's not new but its return is very welcome since her knees are glued together..how often do you see that? Inga Sckarupa, Anna Myzdrikova and Sarah Finnegan..nearly as rare as a TTY! As for bars, hmm. They are better and I wasn't afraid watching them that she was about to majorly mess up, a definite improvement. The dismount has always been spot-on, maybe she could double it if she has the stamina.

USAG are trickling out the videos, yesterday showed Brenna Dowell and Kyla Ross, also training new skills. I've harped on about Kyla's lack of difficulty before but I really hope she has more in the bank than what's she's showing here. The bars and beam combinations do look nice and will bump up her score, it is floor that's quite disappointing. Double tucks are too easy, whips or not. She needs to chuck her beam one too. Here's hoping for a lovely Geinger-Pak-Stalder-Shaposh and maybe side aerial-LOSO-wolf jump-sheep...double pike dismount. And a floor with no double tucks or twists! It has been suggested that the floor skill could be a timer for a whip-double arabian. Here's hoping! I find it hard to get excited about Kyla's gymnastics, as lovely as her lines are there's very little spark to her..which doesn't just come with difficulty. Regardless, I want her to do well as she has enormous potential and it would be a shame if she was crowded out and bumped into NCAA too early. Come on Kyla, 6.6 bars, 6.5 beam, 5.9 floor and 5.8 vault!

Now Brenna is really busting out the big skills. Here comes the first showing of her amanar..and a thoroughly unexpected full-in double layout! Brenna is an extremely hard worker, acknowledged by her coach as his best gymnast in that regard, and she has made great strides of improvement in the last year- her bars have cleaned up bigtime. Not that they are perfect, but they are a lot better. She favours front tumbling, by contrast to just about everyone else, so these huge back tumbles are a real surprise. I love how clean it is when she begins the twist in the full-in, though it's hard to tell if she pikes down or not, it seems like she does but I don't think it's significant enough for actual downgrade. This girl could be a real surprise, and a super solid contributor for team finals.

Here is Rebeca Andrade's amanar! It's not as clean as some of the best, but it's so floaty and easy for her..just like McKayla Maroney's in that sense. She beat British powerhouse Tyesha Matthis who unveiled a double double, but she also fell off beam and her DTY to counter was not enough. The meet was barely publicised, fielding two Brazilian teams against a whole host of British clubs. Jade Barbosa won the senior AA..looks like a junior AA was not contested as such judging by the lack of number 1 beside Rebeca's name. Competition was not fierce and Jade appears to have struggled, but still an encouraging result given her recent return to the gym. Sadly Ruby Harrold looks to have had major trouble with her bars again. The results are here and here. It's worth noting that Rebeca is missing a compositional requirement on bars (a release), so that's why her d-score is so low. Beam and bars ARE very promising but need a ton of upgrades. Watch the vault here.

Romanian and Chinese Junior Nationals start this weekend. Not all of the Chinese girls will compete, but a sizeable proportion. This is more important for Romania who are looking to EYOF of course. I think that team depending on size has pretty much pointed itself out though- in order of importance: Andreea Munteanu, Andreea Iridon, Madalina Blendea, Laura Jurca, Silvia Zarzu with Paula Tudorache maybe worming her way in.

Stale news by now but Oksana Chusovitina won the Trnava Gymfest AA. She posted the highest scores on beam and bars, just pipped to the post on vault by what must have been an incredible DTY from Anna Pavlova, who managed a 15. Oksana also claimed the vault title and placed second on beam. Anna won the floor event final. Full results are here.

I've updated the list of gymnasts turning senior this quad. You can find it here. All gymnasts marked with an asterisk are new additions to it, and all worth watching if you haven't heard of them! First and foremost if you only pick one unknown to watch would be Elizabet Vasileva, who is a rythmic-artistic crossover. All (European) girls born in 1998 and 1999 are elegible for EYOF. YOG is 1999 ONLY, and restricted to one per country. Junior Euros next year will be for 1999 and 2000 girls. I was sooo excited when I heard new senior Maddie Leydin verified a Counter-Kim-geinger combination. Sadly, though I had hoped it wasn't an error- it is; she actually does a Markelov-Geinger combo. Included in the same routine are a Ricna, Pak and shaposh, pretty impressive!

Round-up of awesomeness

First; this picture of Xiao Sa from 2010. She is not Xiao Sha, and was injured and seems to have totally faded away.

Source- Gymjiajia

WOW does not cover it, I've never seen oversplit like that from an artistic gymnast. Just a work of art.

Here is Laurie Hernandez' DTY in training. Not explosively dynamic, but well done and she's still so very young anyway.

Vanessa Zamarippa doing a Lopez vault. This was McKayla Maroney's second vault from 2011. Amazing laid-out form on this. This is why I love PGC, gymnasts who don't have the inclination or endurance for full-on elite routines, but who can still bust out amazing skills, some of which they haven't attempted before.

Catalina Ponor doing front walkover, Kotchetkova and Omelianchik! BAMF as always.

Anna Pavlova with a stunning double stag and what's down as a Ruflova. I'd moreso call it a full-turning Korbut than full-twisting, but lovely nonetheless.

Speaking of Anna;

Source- n134

It looks like extensions, but whatever. What a goddess.

Here is a report from the PGC. I can't wait until some kind soul uploads the whole thing, it's airing (if you live in the US) soon.

This is part of Mykayla Skinner's new bars routine. It's old now but I just saw it this week, she's improved quite a bit though the full routine would need to be seen first. Impressed by her handstands and the height on her release.

French World Cup and stuff

The La Roche sur Yon World Cup lineup and roster has been announced. It takes place 16-17th March. Luckily I despise the gigantic mess that is Dublin on St. Patrick's Day (revoke your citizenship if you don't pass out by 9pm!), so I'll probably watch a stream of this instead. This World Cup is the new location and subsequently name for Bercy. The roster/lineup is here. One of the nicest things is that Larisa Iordache will compete all-around, originally only being down to compete bars and beam. Must be as a result of dropping out of SCAM. Certainly she has enough to be getting on with, she should also be a star at Euros, which this year are individual only, much like Worlds. Diana Bulimar is competing beam only, there are other spots available on floor (I don't expect bars from her somehow..) so hopefully that might come to fruition. Russia are sending Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva and Maria Paseka! Maria is vault ony, Aliya bars and floor and Ksenia beam and floor. Here's the exciting bit....wait for it...Aliya and Ksenia will have new floor routines! YES! Presumably with watered down tumbling, but I can't wait to see what two of the most exciting and potentially most elegant floor workers have to show. I will also be watching out for Janine Berger's vaults and Celine Van Gerner and Kristina Palesova's bars. There are currently no Asians listed, though I don't believe North Korea can qualify, as they have not had berths at the Olympics or subsequent World Cups. I would like to see Shang Chunsong or Zeng Siqi make their mark. And a Japanese contingent would be delightful, or more representation from Britain and Canada. Edit: Another odd thing is that Diana Chelaru is down for floor. She was slated to have retired last year. She definitely did leave the National Team and retreated back to her home gym, but nice to see her get another outing.

March is shaping up to be fantastic.
1st- Nastia Cup
1st-7th- Russian Championships
2nd- SCAM
16-17th- LRSY WC
21-24th- Cottbus WC
23-24th- Jesolo
30th- USA V Romania V Germany V Spain

:D 

There have been some slight changes to the COP. One of which is pretty dull, scissones must land on one foot, and not two. Switch ring leaps are getting a bit of a makeover, the back leg must be bent at a 90 degree angle, along with the previous requirements of head release, back leg at head height or higher, front leg at least at horizontal. There will be an 0.1 deduction for angles between 45 and 90, and total discredit for angles less than 45. This I think is in reaction to this monstrosity:

Not a switch ring leap in any code, but was credited. And to add insult to injury, it comprises the front cover of her book. Here's me trying and failing at a skill! Gabby does not have bad form as a rule, so I'm sure they had a cache of much better images to choose from. Anyway, here's what a switch ring leap now has to look like:

And not like these, they would all fail to avoid deuction or even get full credit:

Eww, hideous! Sigh. The 90 degree angle is jarring and takes away from the line. Who on earth thinks that the first one is more aesthetically pleasing than the 3 below? The other change is to the sheep jump, which must now have a 30 degree angle in hip extension. I hope everyone else is picturing beam judges everywhere squinting with protractors, because I certainly am. This means little for Russia and China, who are well capable. I think they will drop off a bit in popularity elsewhere, as it won't be worth the risk for those less flexible. I do think this will increase the risk for sheep jumps to become scrappier in the fight for the correct angle- feet apart, knees apart, sickling, one leg higher than the other etc. Hmm.

Ebee's new upgrades are cited to include a full twising double layout on floor, and a Mustafina (or half on, full off for its correct term, as it isn't the Mustafina in the COP) as a second vault. Jordan Chiles has passed elite compulsory testing. She will now have to pass elite optionals, at the WOGA classic on February 16th. Looking forward to seeing her shine at Junior Nationals. Grace Quinn of Texas Dreams passed elite testing, I haven't heard of her before so will keep an eye out. Maddie Desch has reportedly torn her mesniscus. A horrible start to her senior career, but it doesn't have a particularly long recovery so she could easily compete at Nationals etc.

Here is one of the funniest 'action' gymnastics photos I have EVER seen. Signing off with the fiercest warrior of them all, Llomincia Hall (rhyme an unintended bonus).

 

Happy New Year!

2013 still doesn't sound very appealing as a year, though I remember saying that about 2001 and 2003. There's something just ugly about 1's and 3's in years like that.

So my first gift is my new blog header. I was bored of my samey old one and those type of ones are too common anyway. Maybe this one will become endearing and actually original, or something other than just laughably bad and childish looking. But I like it, it's magnificent, no? Such toepoint, such beautiful non-flexed wrists (thanks to Spanny, flexed wrists can never be unseen) and such a symmetrical beam! Though I think the toepoint was better before I decided it would look better if she faced right not left.. And yes it should really be a switch ring leap, but arching the back and head would be too hard for my limited paint skills. You never know, I might shake it up a bit and introduce stag, double stags and maybe even a sheep or wolf jump if I'm feeling adventurous. A perfect Yang Bo is the pinnacle I'm aiming for. For the moment though, a very very oversplit switch leap it is. I seem to remember Anna Pavlova managing a similar shape to my gymnast's left leg, so no making fun of it. You might notice the gloriously patriotic leotard incorporating Celtic designs AND colours, genius or what. Ireland will be at the top of WAG for the 2037-2040 quad and forever after- you heard it here first.

Not a clue what's happening with my employment situation yet. I will either have no hours or much less than I was doing last year- so more time to post in general. Anyway, I hope to get stuck in straight away with SCAM/Jesolo/Euros rosters and actual competitions as they become available, and of course, upgrades. I seem to have got rid of an awful lot of the opinion I had built up prior to starting my blog (which is 6 months old!!) with prolific posting, but no doubt more will spew out of somewhere.

Anyway, happy new year :)

Bailie Key has divulged some of her new upgrades- a Downie, Church and shaposhon bars and arabian on beam. Awesome! She mentions these in a recent interview, with footage of the beautiful Downie in question. A more awesome bars release wish partially fulfilled already and we're only one day in! The interview is on gymnastike and you can see it here. Part 2 is further down on the side. Also check out Arianna Guerra doing a full twisting DLO bars dismount. I fully expect to see CGA and Texas Dreams utterly dominate the next quad for USA.

The Resurgence of Mariya Livchikova and News

I will always hold a soft spot for Ukrainians and wish them well. Mariya Livchikova is no different from their typical strain, with beautiful, original and difficult work on beam and floor, not to mention FABULOUS leaps and toepoint. Happily, recovery from injury aside, she appears to be among the most consistent of the bunch. Last year at Worlds Mariya tore her ACL. The team performed so badly that they only earned the right for a single spot in London. At the Test Event, Mariya was too injured to compete for the spot, which went to Natalia Kononenko. Happily, despite that massive strain of bad luck, Mariya is now back to her prime. Here is her glorious floor from a competition recently and her beam from the Grand Prix at Brno, at which she scored 15.250.

Double fronts seem to be easier to stick than other tumbles, but still, WOW. So tidy too.

This needs to be tweaked and in all world finals...just a better dismount and maybe some code whoring, some nice connections in the new code that she looks well capable of.

Aliya Mustafina has been named Russian Sportswoman of the year. Not only of course is this a great honour for her, it also bodes well for the state of artistic gymnastics as a whole in Russia- is is completely overwhelmed by rthymic, and even names like Khorkina and Nemov are by no means household names.

Videos are beginning to emerge from Voronin Cup. You can see some here. First is Evgeniya Shelgunova on vault, second is a girl I haven't heard of before, third is Anna Pavlova on beam, fourth is Mariya Livchikova on floor, next is Pavlova on bars and last is Anna Myzdrikova on beam- another old favourite, though she is past her best. The one I most want to see is Anna Dementyeva on beam, as apparently it was awesome. Update: It scored 15.6 in EF- need a video immediately! Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova both qualified to the bars final first and second respectively, but neither actually competed- a late Olympians ball the night before! Demy won the senior AA, and Shelgunova the junior.
Edit: These are labelled as Voronin, but there is doubt that they all are. They ARE recent though.

The Toyota Invitiational has just taken place. Than Ti Phan Thanh of Vietnam won vault and placed second on beam. Mai Murakami was second on vault and second on floor (with a fall). Her vault difficulties were 5.8 and 5.4, a step up from the FTY she performed at Stuttgart. A good day for the veterans, Koko Tsurumi won floor and Rie Tanaka won bars (with a fall). Yu Minobe and Yuko Shintake were first and second on beam. Asuka Teramoto seems to be at least somewhat back on form, it seems that she was the alternate for beam, with a score that would have put her in second in the final.

Just at the mention of Anna Pavlova, here she is wearing a version of the USA TF leo! I think it looks great. This was taken at the recent Larisa Latynina Cup.

News :)

Not as new as I would like, as I am working all the time and am permanently wrecked. (Okay not all- but 37 hours in retail feels like 90).

Japanese Nationals have just been held. (Asuka Teramoto is injured, and possibly did not compete at all). Rie Tanaka was 2nd on bars and third on floor, Koko Tsurumi was first on bars and second on beam and Mai Murakami was first on floor and sixth on bars. Beam was won by Yuko Shintake and vault by Wakiko Riyu. Risa Konishi who is down for the Asian Artistic Championships looks pretty valuable, she came second on vault and floor- which are Japan's weak points. A news clip of the competition is below. It heavily features Rie Tanaka, who everybody loves (like duh). That is Mai Murakami at around 5:30! She has grown so much, although her landings are a little unsure on her double double and triple full..hey, she has a double double and triple full, and they look great in the air.

Lavinia Milosovici will give birth to a boy early next year. This is fantastic news, seeing as Milo lost her daughter Denisa Florentina at the age of 4 due to a nervous system disorder. Simona Amanar, the godmother of Denisa, is due to give birth within a few weeks also.

McKayla Maroney who has played up her obnoxious ham side in interviews recently, gave an excellent interview the other day. The fact that she is so comfortable doing both types of interviews and can be very articulate points to the possibility that she could well be a very good actress. This interview is gold, probably the best I've seen by a gymnast- past or present.

Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland won the recent Arturo Gander Memorial. Mariya Livchikova of Ukraine had a bit of a meltdown, falling on her beam dismount and going out of bounds on floor, to finish 6th. Very dissapointing for her, from her injury at worlds making her unable to attend the Test Event and take the Olympic spot for Ukraine, to winning Ukrainian Nationals..to this. Hope to see her back on form soon.

The Swiss Cup took place just today, and was won by Elizabeth Seitz who continues to prove herself as a strong all-arounder...and didn't even have to unleash her Def to win. Giulia Steingruber was second and Kim Bui of Germany was third. Mariya Livchikova fell off bars. Probably tired from the Gander Memorial, as Niamh Rippin of Britain must have been too, she fell on 3 of her 4 floor passes.

Glasgow World Cup roster has been added to. Not sure about Stuttgart. Kaitlyn Hofland of Canada is competing, and Victoria Moors isn't on it. Hmm. I was sure she was doing both, but the links I was using for the rosters before no longer work, so can't say for sure. If she's out of both, her floor is a great loss. Wakana Inoue of Japan who is also competing at the upcoming Asian Artistic Championships is on the list, which means Mai Murakami has recieved zero international assignments this year. Get that girl some consistency and luck! The last place is Niamh Rippin of Britain. (Niamh is pronounced Neev and is an Irish name). She is pretty good on vault and floor. On a British note, get ready to watch Danusia Francis be totally awesome at UCLA this season. I feel like Peng Peng Lee is getting a lot of attention, Danusia deserves just as much hype. Excellent beam and such a great dancer on floor. Not to mention her bubbly personality, anytime I think of her I see the photo of her holding Komova!

Anna Pavlova has won the International Tournament. She competed a very solid DTY, whip to triple on floor and a beautiful beam. She did have to jump off on bars, but got through the rest of the routine fine. Some endurance issues and some of her leaps weren't great, but her turns and elegance were out in spades. You can see videos here.

Not much going on, and I've very little energy to construct blog posts in my head- feel free to give me ideas.

News

It appears that Sabrina Vega has moved to GAGE. She is as of now training at GAGE and although twitter exploded with the news that this is a permanent move etc., there is another train of thought that maybe she is just training there temporarily in preparation for the Kansas City stop of the Kellogg's Tour. We'll see. Sabrina's longtime coach is probably my favourite Romanian ever, Teodora Ungureanu. Sabrina has nice presentation and choreography and is lovely on beam and floor in particular. However, she desperately needs more difficulty if she wants to contend in the elite scene in the new quad, so a gym change is not exactly surprising if that is what has happened.

Stuttgart World Cup roster is out! See here Larisa Iordache, Vanessa Ferrari, Victoria Moors, Elizabeth Price, Elizabeth Seitz and Rebecca Tunney make for an AMAZING floor lineup. Hopefully none of those pull out. Larisa will I'm sure only compete if she is fully healthy and not in pain. The two empty spots will be interesting too I'm sure but Russia have effectively ruled out any of their Olympians competing. Maybe Anastasia Sidorova or Yulia Inshina might be in line for a spot though. I'd like to see representatives from Asia and South America. Mai Murakami and Jessica Gil Ortiz would be my picks. The men's lineup is equally impressive as it stands at the moment. The competition takes place 1-2 December and consists only of all-around, no qualifications. If back to her best and depending on who fills the other two spaces, Larisa should win. If she's still a bit off, then Price should be able to take it.

Diana Chelaru has left the national training centre and returned home to her local club to train. It has been stated that she is unsure of whether or not she wishes to continue. It is sad to see Romania lose talent, or in this case potentially lose it depending on Diana's decision, especially when they are not bursting with top gymnasts. Diana's pet piece is floor, on which she has won world medals as well as team medals in general. Hopefully she makes whatever decision is right for her.

Dityatin Cup results are out. For Juniors, Alexandra Yazydzhan of Russia took first in the AA. Kim Janas of Germany took second and Mariana Oliviera of Brazil was third. Senior AA results don't seem to be available yet. Ekaterina Kramarenko won bars EF with 14.5, Anastasia Cheong of Russia won floor with 13.9, Alina Sotnikova took first on vault with 13.813 and Anna Pavlova won beam with 14.275. Anna also took second on vault with 13.313 and second on floor with 13.725. Those scores are not that high and the competition was not not what you'd call deep, but still a great outing for Anna. Hoping to see videos of her especially. Evgeniya Shelgunova of Russia was second on beam with a 13.75. In the more junior category (2013 seems to count as senior), Kim Janas of Germany was first on floor and second on vault. Alexandra Yazydzhan, the AA champion, was first on bars and beam. Not sure about the senior AA yet as no PDF is opening from that page, but all in all it seems like a bit of a Russian domination.

Danusia Francis, former British gymnast (check out her great beam and floor) and current UCLA 1st year has a (newspaper hosted) blog. The first one is here. It's not very interesting and is just talking about how she came to be there. Future ones discussing training and of course competing will I'm sure be more worthwhile. She is a very sparkly gymnast and is just as exciting as new teammate Peng Peng Lee. 

Not exactly news, but I was waiting for Dityatin Cup results that are still not forthcoming. Brenna Dowell won the Mexican Open, Essenia Estrada of Mexico was second and Anna Dementyeva of Russia was third. Brenna, despite being quite sloppy, convincingly won due to her high difficulty. Her opening pass on floor, a front double pike is awesome. Demy was hampered not only by her scary FTY, but also by a fall on beam. Coming only third is not going to do her case any good for future Euros/possibly Worlds teams any good, unless she vastly ups her difficulty- her bars were lovely, but so weak in difficulty. Alexa Moreno of Mexico performed a piked Deltchev and a double arabian piked! Great stuff. The gala performed after is also available on youtube. Highlights are Anna Dementyeva's charming floor routine, and Daniel Purvis of GB's pommel routine wearing a kilt. Brenna did a sort of ballet class barre routine using the beam, which was puzzling given how unsuited she is to ballet work. Jessica Gil Ortiz and Jorga Giraldo swapped apparatus, competing on the parallel bars and beam respectively. Here is the whole competition in 4 parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And the gala and award ceremony: here.

At the Eva Sanyo Memorial, Team Russia (Anastasia Sidorova, Anastasia Dmitrieva and Maria Kharenkova- senior, junior, junior) took the team title by about 16 points. The other teams were mostly Hungarian. Maria Kharenkova beat Anastasia Sidorova for highest AA total..but Hungarian junior Noemi Makra beat them both! She is going to be an interesting senior. Sidorova took vault and beam in event finals, Dorina Boczogo of Hungary took bars and Maryna Kostivchenko of Ukraine took floor.

McKayla Maroney will be on crutches for another 8 weeks. The boot for her toe will be for another 5 weeks, and the stabiliser for her other leg another few weeks after that. As expected, she is just appearing at the end of the tour shows and waving, and signing autographs. Kyla Ross is headed to camp! Hopefully with some planned upgrades in tow if she wants to compete at SCAM and be seen as an all-around threat next year. Elizabeth Price and Kennedy Baker are also headed, along with the vast majority of juniors. As before, it is expected that some juniors will be named to the National Team. The major suspects for this would be Nica Hults, Nia Dennis, Arianna Guerra, Alexis Buecler, Laurie Hernandez and Polina Schennikova.

News

Brenna Dowell leads the Mexican Cup after Day 1. The competition is being split over two days, vault and bars were contested, beam and floor is next. Anna Dementyeva is in fourth place, knocked down after a very scary yurchenko full which she barely got around after no block. Dowell had a DTY, the only one of the competition. Although she is a GAGE girl, Dowell's form is pretty sloppy. Nevertheless, her difficulty puts her ahead- her bars contained shaposh 1/2, Jaeger and a full twisting double layout dismount. Demy is usually excellent on beam, but doubtful that it will be enough for gold at this point. Dowell is strong on floor and will be looking to get a double front piked credited. It was apparently downgraded to tucked position before, which as a deduction as she already has one of them. If you're that good at front tumbling, do Podkopayeva's double front half out in place of the tuck and save the penalty! Georgia Rose Brown of Australia is in third and Yessenia Estrada of Mexico is in second, delighting the home crowd. Tomorrow will be a strong day for Brenna Dowell and Marta Pihan-Kulesza who would be able to work her way up the rankings. Nobody's sure what Demy can or will bring on vault and beam, hopefully enough to medal. Videos are available, I will be putting up highlights in a new post along with Dityayin Cup videos, if they become available.

Amanda Reddin is the new head coach for Team GB. Amanda is the long-term coach of Beth Tweddle, as well as Hannah Whelan and Jenni Pinches. It is very obvious from seeing how she interacts with her gymnasts and looking at Beth's longevity and continued extremely high level of performance that she is a fantastic coach. Former head coach Adrain Stan is moving on to high level coach development. Bring on the continued beautiful gymnastics of Rebecca Tunney and the new era of wunderkinds Gabby Jupp and Angel Romaeo!

Amelia Racea of Romania has retired. Amelia most notably had success in 2010 Europeans, where she won beam. She qualified to 2011 worlds event finals on that event, but was hindered by low difficulty. Nevertheless, she had lovely gymnastics and would make a nice addition to Euros teams. Amelia is just not feeling gymnastics anymore and has gone to university, so fair enough. This year has seen the retirement also of Ana Porgras and Gabriela Dragoi.

McKayla Maroney has rejoined the Kelloggs tour. McKayla was still in two casts last week, so I highly doubt she has been medically cleared to do any actual gymnastics. She will of course need to spend a lot of time getting back into peak condition anyway after resting for so long.

Along with the Mexican Cup which will be streamed live here, the Dityatin Cup in Russia is attracting some interesting faces. Anna Pavlova, Ekaterina Kramarenko and Evgeniya Shelgunova are the major Russians competing. Anna has quite low difficulty now and seems to train more recreationally but still gets decent vault scores which shove her up the rankings. Ekaterina is she of the infamous vault touch-automatic zero from 2007 Worlds. Not sure what shape she's in, but I'd say her floor is still worth watching. Evgeniya is a 2013 senior, and is quite promising though probably not the best Russia will have in its arsenal leading into Rio. From Ukraine, Darya Kloptsova, a junior with a lovely elegant floor is competing. Kim Janas, a German junior is also very exciting and elegant. Hope to see videos from this. I'll put some up of both comps if they become available.

China's roster for the Asian Championships has been announced. It's quite the break from the usual faces, but should be very interesting. It is composed of the girls who excelled at the recent Nationals. Zeng Siqi, Li Yiting, Huang Huidan, Shang Chungsong, Wu Liufang and Luo Peiru.