More bad news! But some good

I'm sure plenty of people are aware of this but it's news to me as a new gymnastics fan, and presumably others too. At worlds qualifications in Antwerp, (and any post-Olympics worlds) only 3 gymnasts per country can compete each event. This means that there isn't room for 3 gymnasts to battle it out for the all around final and have a fourth specialist compete for her chance in event finals. First of all, this truly makes Maria Paseka redundant this year since Ksenia Afanasyeva can equal or better her vaults while also being a floor favourite, whereas Paseka can only challenge on vault. Unfortunately for Afan, this also means that she's highly unlikely to compete all-around if Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina are fighting fit, unless they only bring these three gymnasts. This is now an ideal opportunity for Anastasia Grishina to impress on beam and bars with some upgrades- I wrote her off before since without upgrades she cannot challenge for a medal anywhere, and while she probably still won't they'll be happy enough to give her the chance I think.

It's no bother to Romania who are only bringing three girls but it makes US Nationals more important as it will effectively decide their second all-arounder, as they also cannot have Simone Biles, Kyla Ross and Brenna Dowell/ Peyton Ernst/ Elizabeth Price battling it out in qualifications. This makes the inclusion of a beam/bars specialist like Peyton Ernst/Abigail Milliet or a healthy Katelyn Ohashi more likely than I previously thought as a team dominated by strong vault/floor workers makes less sense than ever since they can't all compete for the chance to qualify, let alone qualify. For me, despite her strong performance and some floor upgrades, it also betters the case of Kyla not competing the all-around since if you think about it, her floor and vault spots are practically a waste when you consider what the US have in store on those events. Not a particularly popular opinion and I will absolutely shed it IF Kyla has more upgrades in store and really closes the door on anyone else doing the all-around in her stead. Of course, Simone Biles could implode completely as an all-arounder and have to fight McKayla Maroney for a vault/floor spot...there are a lot of possibilities.

For China, it is a golden opportunity for any floor/vault specialists for they cannot have a team where they're all vying for beam and bars spots. If Tan Jiaxin and Sui Lu do well at National Games and if the latter is happy to delay her retirement, they make the most sense since Tan has two strong vaults (DTY/ Tsuk 2/1) as well as a very good hope of making bars finals for which she can battle Yao Jinnan and Shang Chunsong for in qualifications, while not interfering with Sui Lu's chances of similarly battling Yao and Shang for a beam finals spot and potentially floor. Zeng Siqi is still a logical pick for a beam spot though she will need to be back on the National Team by then, but she's not useful on another event..so in short I'm really looking forward to National Games more than ever.

Let the various Nationals/Cups begin!

The good news which is widespread by now is of course that Chellsie Memmel will be competing in power tumbling, aiming for a worlds spot. Chellsie, despite being substantially decorated, never received her rightful Olympics experience thanks to injuries and also never received her due from USAG despite saving them at no less than two world championships team finals with some individual medals- including two world titles- thrown in for good measure. She was of course unfairly treated last year, and I had thought with her subsequent retirement, barely-there Pro Gymnastics Challenge appearance, long career filled with injuries and last but not least, upcoming wedding, that we had seen the last of her in a competitive gymnastics way at least. But underestimate her at your peril! I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when certain people in USAG got wind of this. Power tumbling worlds is pretty close but presumably, she didn't begin training just last week or when she broke the news. Really looking forward to seeing how she gets on in her training and if she doesn't make the worlds team, rest assured CFM remains more of a BAMF than ever. I don't usually use acronyms and I tend not to swear here...but these ones just flow when mentioning this inspirational, incredible gymnast. Go Chellsie!

News and USA upgrades

Pretty old news by now but Chellsie Memmel has officially retired. Chellsie is a certified judge and is due to be married next summer, but is in excellent shape throwing very hard tumbles during the tour, so expectations were that she might try to continue. However, I think she would have had such little hope of making any team, so that coupled with the toll gymnastics has taken on her is enough to call it a day. Her 2003 worlds performance, 2005 AA win, 2006 single-handed team silver medal and 2008 Olympic Trials floor exercise will live on- what a legacy.

Simona Amanar has given birth to a baby girl, who she intends to be a gymnast. Just about elegible for the 2028 Games!

McKayla Maroney has one cast off- the one from the tour injury, and a few weeks left on the other one. Then rehab, then back to the gym.

It has emerged that Li Yiting was injured during the Asian Artistic Championships, the reason behind her underpar performance. She has proved herself quite a few times in internal competitions, so expect to see her form a part of pretty much every team.

The upgrades for Lexie Priessman are phenomenal. Not sure whether these are competition ready, in the works, or in the pipeline. They are slated to include a second vault with Tsukahara entry, a shaposhnikova 1/2, piked Tkachev and piked stalder hecht on bars, front pike and an acro line of BHS-BHS-laid out full-BHS on beam (WOW I will take that even with the inevitable fugly form) and a full twisting double layout and 1 and a half into tucked full in on floor. Crazy stuff. Amelia Hundley, Mary Lee Tracy's other most promising gymnast other than Lexie, also apparently has upgraded all 4 events, but no details that I have seen. Unlike Lexie she has another year to wait as a 2014 senior. Simone Biles also has crazy upgrades listed but as they are not from a source like Lexie's- which are from an interview with her and one with Mary Lee Tracy her coach, I will leave it.

Elite Gym Massilia is underway. Canada have already done extremely well, I am most looking forward to videos of the Russians and Chinese, as well as the individual performances of Victoria Moors, Eythora Thorsdottir and Chantysha Netteb. Mei Jie, a lovely gymnast will not be competing as her visa did not arrive in time, sadly.

The team from Deva unsurprisingly won the event at the recent Romanian Nationals. Although the AA was not contested, Andreea Iridon continues to impress by having the highest AA total. Asiana Peng, Silvia Zarzu and Laura Jurca also had strong performances. Videos are starting to emerge, I'll probably dump my favourites from Massilia and this in one post.

Skills: The Best of. Part 1: Floor Tumbles

As it says in the title. Some of these are more subjective than others, but a few cannot be argued with at all.

Best Double Arabian



Anna Myzdrikova, Russia, 2009 Worlds EF

She stumbled on her third pass and handed her title away, but her other 3 passes were fantastic- one of which is a triple twist tuck back, perfectly done. THIS is amazing, legs glued together and knees at the same height (almost..she does correct it) is incredibly rare. Not to mention how light it is and how she plants the landing beautifully. Stunning. Others with great double arabians are Inna Sckarupa, Alicia Sacramone and Liubov Sheremeta.

Best Double Front



 Ivana Hong, USA, 2008 Visa Nationals 

This was the easiest, because nobody's compares to this really. Mariya Livchikova came close, but this skill is famous for cowboying and basically everyone else is an offender. Glorious- knees together, feet pointed, light landing.

Best Double Piked Arabian (Dos Santos I)
 



Chellsie Memmel, USA, 2008 Olympic Trials

This was really hard. Although it's one of the most difficult tumbles, there are still quite a few to choose from. The majority are quite crooked in the air. Chellsie's is also, but she corrects it and as well as being one of the straightest she also has great form in the air and sticks the landing. Most take a hop forward, or if they do stick it, it's ugly. Also, quite a lot land it dangerously low. Others in consideration were Sarah Finnegan and Alicia Sacramone.

Best Triple Full



 Cheng Fei, CHN, 2004 Olympics TF

You would think it would be easy to pinpoint people who have a perfect one, and find examples on youtube. It isn't. So many beautifu floor workers with clean tumbling- Pavlova, Komova, Yao, Ukrainians en masse and many others all failed me. You think it's fine until you see it in better quality or on the replay. But Cheng throws out a perfect one, with zero crossing of the ankles. So high, clean and tidy with super perfect form.The only other that came close was Mattie Larson.

Best Double Double (Silivas)

 

Mai Murakami, JPN, 2010 All Japan Gymnastics Championships

It can be tough to pick out the 'best' because not many have actually done it badly or had a rough landing. (Excusing the 80's originators on their unsuitable floor) It seems to be quite easy to keep form on, but some have better, cleaner tuck positions than others. Mai brings a lightness and grace to such a difficult power move. And what a landing! Others considered for this were Cheng Fei, Larisa Iordache and Jordyn Wieber.

Best Double Layout



Lavinia Milosovici, ROM, 1994 Worlds EF

This is probably the most subjective of all. Countless times I went back and watched noted elegant tumblers with lovely floaty DLO's only to see leg seperations, a lot of piked positions in the second layout, bent knees, sickling of feet, totally flexed feet...urghh. To me, this is about as textbook as it gets. Beautiful. Others who came close were Mary Lou Retton, Mattie Larson and Cristina Bontas.

Part 2 will be a mixture of bars releases, bar and beam dismounts and leaps.

Top 10: Floor routines

Not individual floor workers, just routines. I've never been the type of fan who judges every floor by 80's soviet routines, I would often much prefer to watch routines that were way ahead of their time, broke the mould in some way, extraordinarily powerful or energetic in movement or just a plain triumphant routine for somebody who was written off by most. In this list, there's about 7 routines that will always feature in a top 10 for me.


10. Andrea Raducan, ROM 1999 Worlds EF, Tianjin

One of my favourite Romanian floor workers, Andreea combined great tumbling with brilliant dance and a real sparkle selling the entire floor exercise. It is the dance that puts it ahead of so many other Romanian floor exercises for me.

9. Dominque Dawes, USA 1992 Dodge Challenge

Her best performance of this routine. Incredibly energetic and really fun to watch, with a great back-to-back tumbling pass in the middle.


8. Deliana Vodenitcharova, BUL, 1988 Olympics TF

So much great Irish music, and this dirge was chosen. Sigh. This routine is so ahead of its time that it would still have a high start value today...24 years later. Excellent tumbling with some nice moves in between. Totally robbed as she always received a much lower score for this than the big names with their weaker tumbling.


7. Olga Strazheva, USSR, 1989 WorldsAA

The modern dance masterpiece, a total antithesis to the usual balletic Soviet floor routines. Her tumbling really is secondary to the dance, though it's not bad at all. She performed this with such ease- every movement was so thought out and so in tune with the music. Just amazing.

6. Chellsie Memmel, USA 2008 Olympic Trials

This is one of the most phenomenal floor exercises, and one I keep coming back to. The combination of the 5 very difficult tumbling pass, her illusion sequence, her presentation at the end of the pass and the most planted double pike ever seen is magnificent, made all the better by the fact that Chellsie was written off prior to Trials due to her long string of injuries. A very triumphant fuck-you to those people, though of course- Chellsie who cemented her place in the team after her Trials performances was injured right before the games.


5. Cheng Fei, 2004 Olympics TF

Perfect combination. Chinese grace and presentation combined with raw power and great energy and sparkle in her dance. Superb choice of music too. Her failure to reproduce this for both Olympic event finals was a travesty.

4. Liubov Sheremeta, UKR, 1997 Worlds TF

Liubov was a better floor worker than Lilia in my opinion. Hard to choose between this and her 1996 routine- but this edges the win due to its quirky choreography. Such a performer with such exquisite tumbling.

3. Inga Shkarupa, UKR, 1999 Worlds TF

 One of the cleanest tumblers ever with such perfect form. This would be higher but I find her choreo a bit lacking. Love the unusual third pass and just about everything, such excellence!

2. Anna Myzdrikova, RUS, 2009 Worlds EF

The third pass is upsetting because she messes it up a bit and it costs her the gold medal. I chose this one because she was at her absolute greatest here, and the first and second exquisite passes are the best she's ever done them- check out the PERFECT double arabian. Unbelievable form, great chorepgraphy and relation to the music. A joy to watch.

1. Tatiana Groshkova, USSR, 1990 USA Vs USSR

There are a lot of Soviet masterpeices that I passed over- Baraksanova, Filatova etc. This one takes the crown not only because it contains beautiful expressive choreography in the typical balletic style but because it contains the most insane tumbling pass. The first pass is a double full-in- which is the same as a double-double except that both twists are in the first salto. It would automatically have a H rating next quad as that's what the double double has. Only one other has ever competed it- Alexis Brion, but Tatiana did it on a crap old floor. Just amazing, the entire routine.

Honourable mentions: Elena Produnova, Olga Roschupkina, Simona Amanar, Oana Ban, Ekaterina Lobaznyuk, Ludivine Furnon, Aurelia Dobre, Lavinia Milosovici, Daniela Silivas, Daiane Dos Santos, Oksana Omelianchik, Irina Baraksanova, Mattie Larson, Henrietta Onodi, Diana Dudeva, Olessia Dudnik, Natalia Laschenova, Tatiana Lyssenko, Kim Zmeskal, Ivana Hong, Viktoria Karpenko, Pang Panpan, Vera Kolesnikova, Maria Filatova, Natalia Frolova, Vanessa Atler, Victoria Moors

The most memorable floor choreography

Not whole routines, though often the entire routine IS iconic. Here is just my favourites, the parts that I most remember. Not all of them are beautiful, some were just a big departure in choreography and noteworthy because of that. Or just plain awesome to see.




Chellsie has put this into almost all of her routines. A master of illusion turns, it isn't elegant or pretty but it looks amazing. Originality is usually the key to a part of a routine's dance sticking in your head.



Daniela Silivas showcasing the greatest way I have ever seen of uniquely getting from the floor to standing. I would love to see this again, but I doubt it'd ever be used because it's so recognisable.



The best part of the best 'cute choreo' routine. Mo also had great tumbling here.



Yes, I love Groshkova. This has been done in a variety of ways and is a great way of getting out of a spin, chose this because both the spin and her extension are just beautiful.



This entire routine by Olga Strazheva is famous and rightly so. Side-by-side with the most beautiful elegant routines, Olga performed her modern dance extravaganza with great aplomb. This is the most memorable part of the routine for me.



Another ground-breaking routine, Camelia Voinea displays her breakdancing skills. Always overshadowed by Silivas and Dobre (HOW deep was that team), Voinea not only had brilliantly unique choreography, she also had very difficult tumbling- double layout punchfront!


Elena Produnova attacks the floor so fiercely even in her dance!

Top 10 things that annoyed me at Visa Nationals

10. Sarah Finnegan not having as great a competition as I had hoped. Mistakes on floor and beam and a fall off bars won't do her case any good, she needed to be consistent. I was wondering if her higher SV on floor and beam could oust Kyla for that spot even with the bars deficit but it doesn't look like it. Maybe just inexperience which is such a shame as her gymnastics are so beautiful. However she still has trials but even if she knocks it out of the park, this team is too small. A great alternate though, she's my first alternate.

9. Kyla Ross' floor. Damn it Kyla, your floor could be great but 5.5 is NOT usable. This should have been done last year, why on earth not? Even just some leaps out of passes, bit of code whoring, it would help. This will mess up her chances of securing the 2nd AA spot in London

8. Kyla Ross DUN DUN DUNNN two OOB's Day 1, one of which was not deducted for. Nice to see a fluff about her but talk about focusing on the wrong issue..the issue is with the low SV, not uncharacteristic errors.

7. Seeing Chellsie Memmel timing routines instead of getting ready to compete was very sad, especially while watching Nastia tank her routines.

6. ..Which brings to me to seeing Nastia Liukin advance to Trials following these routines. Beam both nights blatantly overscored, bars day 2 I would say so as well. Her beam won't be used anyway, it's not valuable enough and those bars are NOT going to be fixed in time. She had a chance if they were perfect but they are far from it. I will go mad if she is named alternate even, there are so many more deserving girls. She got up there and tried, but she does not deserve to be on the National team OR at Trials. Blatant favourtism seeing as Chellsie Memmel was denied even Nationals. Neither have a chance at the team, but both should have been allowed retire gracefully after Nationals. (Hint: Nastia should retire gracefully. Now so it will die down for Trials)

5. Non broadcast of Elizabeth Price, Kennedy Baker, Sabrina Vega and Anna Li Day 2. I can't recall if any were shown Day 1 or not, I suspect barely any of their routines. Sure it makes sense to broadcast Aly, Jordyn, Gabby, Kyla and McKayla if they are up at the same time...but why not show the routines later? Far too much footage of gymnasts sitting and standing around (especially a certain blonde one) and not enough quality gymnastics. Price's amanar and floor, Baker's floor and Li's bars especially. Thank God they are uploaded seperately at least, but the nation deserves to know that while Nastia chokes her routines, other gymnasts are kicking serious ass. Baker has a Dos Santos I for feck's sake and Price's amanar IS the second best in the world.

4. Broadcast of McKayla Maroney's fall day 2 during warm-ups, which I am not embedding. McKayla fell on an overrotated triple twist and because the girl is the best WAG twister out there, the height she falls from is incredible and pretty scary. Of course we should all be thankful she landed flat on her back and not at an awkward angle or directly on her neck or head but we did NOT need to see that. Of course broadcasters cannot help showing injuries that occur during competition but this was not one of them. I was so thrilled to get an update on her, which quickly descended into OMFG are you effing SERIOUS am I actually being shown this sentiments.

3. Way too much coverage of Nastia Liukin. I do understand it, she draws in the ratings. It doesn't make it any less annoying though and was distressing seeing her face so much after she tanked bars night 1. Lingering shots of her sitting alone..and then lingering shots of Valeri, WTF? There is gymnastics going on out of view. Infuriating. In a way this may be more jarring for me as I am not that used to US TV. I watch BBC broadcasts of all past competitions if available but obviously no choice with internal US competitions.

2. Selective overscoring and underscoring. The way I see it is, if you are going to inflate scores substantially beyond what they would get internationally then do it for ALL competing gymnasts and not just a few. This is how Nastia got to trials and this is how Gabby almost beat Jordyn with a fall. Not that their routines were the only culprits, I will throw my hands up and admit that Jordyn's routines were also overscored, and Aly's. McKayla's were not. Sarah's beam was. Bridget and Anna's routines were not. Price was underscored. Be CONSISTENT with scoring damn you. Either everyone fairly or everyone generously.

1. McKayla Maroney's fall day 2, which again I am not embedding. Annoyed is the wrong word here, horrified fits better. She is my favourite US gymnast and I wanted her to get out there and proove she can do bars better than that, fix that third pass, and continue being awesome on beam and vault. (Yes her beam doesn't have a great SV but it's soooo steady with such great form). The good news of course is that she will be fine and it's nothing serious but I am so gutted for her that it happened at all and that it neccessitated being pulled out. She will bring it at Trials, no question.

Nastia/Chellsie drama!

This is a tough one. On the one hand, Chellsie did not score enough to advance to Nationals and did not appear as if she is really able to nail her routines, judging by podium training as well as Classics. I do see the reasoning there. On the other hand, this girl is the comeback queen and has bounced back better than ever after injury before. She did not appear to have enough time to really get back into competitive shape, but giving her the chance to end her illustrious and frustrated career at Nationals instead of having her petition refused and bowing out her career on a bum note would have made all the difference. It is unlikely Chellsie would have advanced to Trials and more unlikely to be named to the team but no harm in allowing her to showcase her still impressive beam at Nationals and salute her numerous fans. Of course, rules are rules. But they have been broken before, most notably for Shawn Johnson who also failed to reach the scores required. One rule for one athlete and another for a different one does NOT go down well and is grossly unfair.

Nastia of course is the darling of US artistic gymnastics. The reigning Olympic AA champion deserves her due and was an exquisite gymnast at her peak. She clearly did a lot of media whoring etc. or whatever you want to call it since, but no harm in making money while she can. It is her attitude towards certain fellow gymnasts and her deliberate attention seeking showcased very well in her announcing her comeback DURING WORLDS and giving herself the accolade of spurring those excellent gymnasts on with her pep talk which really is nauseating. But on to her comeback. Of course many doubted her and were taken aback when she showed crisp, clean gymnastics in podium training and at Classics on beam. However the missed connections means her beam would not score well internationally (but not affected much by US overscoring). At Visas, both of her beam routines showcased missed connections, not perfect leaps, and night 2 obviously the grabbing of the beam. Her beam is fairly useless anyway in the scheme of things and as we kept hearing 'bars is where she punches her ticket to London'.

Bars were disastrous with a 2-night combination of serious breaks and form errors, overcooked pak salto, NO handstands, laboured swing, smacking the bar with her feet and single flyaway dismounts because she does not have the stamina to pull one out, especially not after having to cover up mistakes- further draining her. This is NOT a gymnast who can help USA. Hitting 1 routine out of 4 (and the 1 being mediocre) means this gymnast needs to bow out gracefully, thanking her fans for the support, no matter what her past history and current media darling status is. Her bars day 2 actually scored higher than McKayla Maroney's day 1. All I can say is LOL at favourtism. Yup, Maroney hit her feet off the bar and had struggles on handstands. And yet, she had a great easy much-improved swing, great releases- loved her geinger- AND a proper dismount.

Nastia, despite finishing 19th on bars and 6th on beam (overscored enough to get that score up there..) was invited to trials. This makes absolute crap of Chellsie's denied petition and is a kick in the face for her. Both gymnasts should have been given an equal chance to prove themselves, instead of one being shot down before the Nationals she by default qualified for and another eating bars and beam and getting a free pass. USAG and Marta need to cop on and standardise this rubbish. One rule for one and a kick in the face for another is not on. I would absolutely sign or help create a petition for her to stand down after the Olympics but unfortunately such blatant favourtism appears to be endemic in USAG.

Congratulations to Chellsie on a fabulous career and a brave comeback. Well done to Nastia for attempting a comeback also, won't take that from her no matter what I feel about her scoring and free passes.