You would think, given the furore over McKayla Maroney's vault silver and Mustafina's tying for third (and eventually winning) in the AA, that these gymnasts had somehow cheated and deductions had not been applied properly. Given the open-ended scoring, relying on the gymnast's own difficulty, medals with falls were literally impossible in the old perfect 10 system- despite the deductions for a fall being much less. The current COP has sought to offset this by upping the fall deduction to a full point. It was 0.8 last quad. But there have been several medals with a fall since the new scoring, 2006, and possibly even before then. Certainly there are more than most people think, yet only a few inspire uproar!
2012
McKayla Maroney, Vault Event Final- Silver
McKayla's fall on her second vault took a full point off in the execution score. However, vault is easier than other event finals to bounce back from, because the fall deduction averages to 0.5 when the two vaults are averaged. McKayla had the highest difficulty and there was extremely little to deduct in the second vault except for the fall and lack of height. Interestingly enough, had she landed her amanar in bounds (she received an 0.3 deduction for not doing so)- she would have taken gold. Her medal is testimony to what an excellent vaulter she is, and also how weak the rest of the vault field was. If a girl with a fall and an out of bounds can beat you, then something is wrong. Izbasa's vaults were extremely weak for a gold winner, and Paseka's should have received a boatload of deductions, not least for not being fully around.
Yamilet Pena and Janine Berger both qualified to vault finals with a fall.
Aliya Mustafina, AA- Bronze
This is a bit of an odd one, because she did NOT win bronze with a fall. She tied for bronze with a fall. The medal was determined by her and Raisman's top 3 scores, so the beam of both was dropped. Therefore her beam had nothing to do with how the medal was determined- so it wasn't won with a fall. Nevertheless, Aly had a huge mistake on beam so she couldn't drop her weak bars. So she was left with counting a weak event. Mustafina did not count any weak event, and had 7.0 bars. Not a gigantic surprise there. Only 4 gymnasts were capable of vying for a medal. Mustafina was able to be one of those 4. In what world are Sandra Izbasa, Deng Linlin and Huang Qiushuang top AA-ers?
2011
Yao Jinnan, AA- Bronze
Yes, this one flies well under the radar. Yao fell off beam and would have ended the eternal Komova V Wieber controversy by beating them both had she stayed on. She was still able to score a 13.933 for an excellent beam, which was well able to beat Raisman's disaster of a time on bars where she received a 12.9. This was another fairly weak field, with Ana Porgras dropping well down due to her FTY and Huang Qiushuang once again being a bit of a headcase.
2010
Rebecca Bross, AA- Bronze
Rebecca also fell off beam. She received an extremely high score- 14.1, which was an overscore given the rest of the routine, which was not perfect. However, Huang Qiushuang whow as 4th had a bit of a nightmare on floor so the placement is probably correct. Another win with a fall that is totally blanked.
2009
Rebecca Bross, AA- Silver
Rebecca missed her tuck full in her last pass and put her hands down- which is technically a fall, and received an extremely low 12.875 for it. She had very high difficulty and only lost to Bridget Sloan by half a tenth, in yet another example of a desperately weak field.
2008
Cheng Fei, Vault Event Final- Bronze
This is the other medal with a fall that people remember, not just because of the fall but because she still managed to beat Alicia Sacramone, who vaulted cleanly. The reason behind this was that Cheng Fei had so much more difficulty than Alicia that the fall made very little difference. The difference in difficulty in Cheng's favour is 0.45. The fall (worth 0.8 in this code) averaged to 0.4.Alicia hopped on her landings and great as her form is, Cheng's is second to none. Controversial- but understandable.
Nastia Liukin and He Kexin both qualified into the uneven bars final despite falls in prelims because of their extremely high difficulty.
2007
Jade Barbosa, AA- Bronze (tie)
Jade brought a full-in pike to her knees and touched the floor with her hands, receiving a score of 14.00. Her high difficulty across her events still brought her up higher than 4th and 5th place finishers, Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin. Her beam and vault really sealed the deal, and the high bars scores of the other 2 were no match.
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- bronze (tie)
Vanessa fell on her Comaneci on bars, literally a few seconds in. Similar to Barbosa, her high difficulty was enough to keep her ahead of Liukin and Yang.
Li Shanshan, Beam Event Final- Silver (tie, no bronze awarded)
Li's beam was so flawless (fall aside) and so difficult- 0.6 and 0.7 more than the other medal winners, that this result was pretty much a no-brainer. She would have received a monster 16.7 without the fall and would have wiped the floor with Nastia and Steliana easily.
2006
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- Gold
The only gold medal with a fall! Vanessa fell off beam, and still received a generous 14.9 (15.7 without the fall). She exploded onto the scene these championships, and coupled with ehr high difficulty was just about able to steal the scene from Jana Bieger, who also had very high difficulty. Her bars won the day for her, as Jana was weak there. This still does evoke controversy, but Vanessa was still clearly the better gymnast that day. Sandra Izbasa who came third had such a low bars score I thought she had fallen too. But nope, just very sloppy.
So, 10 falls taking medals (or tying for bronze, as the case may be before tiebreakers) since the introduction of the new code. And at least four qualifying into event finals with a fall. Bear in mind this is only covering the major competitions- Worlds and Olympics. Clearly it is more common than what the average fan thinks, yet the majority of the above are not remembered and not talked about! It's a shame to lambast some with falls and ignore the rest. It is possible there are falls with medals in the old perfect 10 code, and I will investigate that- though it is much harder then of course. If anyone knows of any, let me know!
Showing posts with label Nastia Liukin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nastia Liukin. Show all posts
Monday, 15 October 2012
Monday, 9 July 2012
My ideal combo gymnast
Theepanel had a great post along these lines a while ago. Here is mine, a bit more convoluted!
Must have McKayla Maroney's twisting ability and vault block and form, Sarah Finnegan's artistry on floor, Mariya Livchikova's elegance, form and toepoint, Aly Raisman's power on floor, Alicia Sacramone's consistency and confidence, Yang Bo's beam with Nastia Liukin's long lines and Shawn Johnson's acro difficulty thrown in, finished off with Elena Produnova's badass dismount, Viktoria Komova's bars swing, lines and turns with Elise Ray's dismount (yes, Shawn did this too), Li Ya/He Kexin's release combo, Beth Tweddle's release to transition combo and Tatiana Groshkova and Aleftina Priakhina's ability to innovate..all with He Kexin's bars d-score, (7.4, if she's not picked, then Komova's 7.0) Larisa Iordache's d-scores on beam and floor (6.9 and 6.7) and McKayla Maroney's d-score on vault. (6.5)
It's very interesting to think about. For this one I purposely used relatively well known gymnasts. So rarely do we get a gymnast these days who has it all, so it's fun to surmise an absolute beast in every single respect of each event.
Must have McKayla Maroney's twisting ability and vault block and form, Sarah Finnegan's artistry on floor, Mariya Livchikova's elegance, form and toepoint, Aly Raisman's power on floor, Alicia Sacramone's consistency and confidence, Yang Bo's beam with Nastia Liukin's long lines and Shawn Johnson's acro difficulty thrown in, finished off with Elena Produnova's badass dismount, Viktoria Komova's bars swing, lines and turns with Elise Ray's dismount (yes, Shawn did this too), Li Ya/He Kexin's release combo, Beth Tweddle's release to transition combo and Tatiana Groshkova and Aleftina Priakhina's ability to innovate..all with He Kexin's bars d-score, (7.4, if she's not picked, then Komova's 7.0) Larisa Iordache's d-scores on beam and floor (6.9 and 6.7) and McKayla Maroney's d-score on vault. (6.5)
It's very interesting to think about. For this one I purposely used relatively well known gymnasts. So rarely do we get a gymnast these days who has it all, so it's fun to surmise an absolute beast in every single respect of each event.
Monday, 2 July 2012
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.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150774533772168&set=a.10150774533122168.347393.27029627167&type=3&theater
Best I've seen. You can't take gymnastics from Lindsay's heart! Did you know that she's the best and is getting more solid? Lindsay so deserves her place at Trials.
The next photo of her in the album is a beautiful pak. Can't fault it, it is GORGEOUS. However it seems to have inspired the sheep 4-years commenters into thinking that she still has it. 'Gold medal this time!' Her routine was also way better than Jordyn's. I don't remember Jordyn eating mat, or looking like she was wrecked, or having as big a mistake.
He Kexin and her 7.4 routine will have something to say about that! Maybe it might shut people up about Nastia because if she makes that fifth spot and hits, it probably will take gold. She has a much higher chance of hitting than Nastia as she does actually have the stamina to complete a routine. But why would an OLYMPIC CHAMPION need to finish a routine??? I feel like Lindsay could go up there, do a giant and belly flop off the top bar and STILL people would say she should be on the team. 'That fall might cost her though'. What about the Nationals fuck up? The Classics fuck up? The heavy tapping in ALL of podium training? Are we all blind now? I do like Shawn Johnson but STFU about her. I am strongly tempted to rename Nastia as Lindsay from now on here, but I'll probably forget. Just to clarify, I DO respect Nastia for not giving up and she did deserve that ovation. But the comments on facebook and twitter are not seeing ANY of her mistakes, it's hilarious.
USAG Facebook is the gift that keeps on giving. (Yep, killing time. Almost 1 hour!). Did you know that McKayla might get the fifth spot if she doesn't fall off bars again? We need her bars damnit, she's not going to London without them! Also Ebee got a perfect 10 on vault this year, the whole world missed that one. Oooo Jordyn's a sl** because she 'gets low'..splits on beam. Intriguing. Jennifer White Smith is a bitch. At least Mary Margaret isn't, just deluded. Bross falls on every Arabian? Trials Day 1 is EVER obviously. Bill Strauss was faking those tears, yes of course...Loving the comments on Nastia's LATE turn..nobody is copping how fecking late it was. Kyla is 'the new Shawn'. Yup, you couldn't get a closer comparison than that. Christ. Anyway, 45 minutes to go! WOOHOO!!
Emily Ann is very dissapointed about Finnegan and Price being alternates. Who the HELL would she pick instead? No doubt Nastia would be one. CLASSIC- on a picture of Finnegan on bars wrongly labelled Anna Li, someone has said Katelyn Ohashi! Sneaky Katelyn, determined to make the team she has morphed into Sarah AND deliberately did a poor bars routine at Trials so nobody would know. Nastia will always be the best gymnast in the whole world...debateable. Would have been perfectly fine if he had said favourite. Sarah's beam mount should be the Finnegan. Sure it's the best one, but way to kick Terin Humphrey and Lauren Mitchell in the face.
There's a picture of the Cirque du Soleil Elvis opener. A girl with short redish hair is on top. 'Is this Shannon Miller' OH GOD, DYING.
The gift that just keeps on giving. 'Why weren't America in the 2012 European championships?', because the clue isn't in the name at all. Interesting twitter hashtag...Mc kayla Maroney #olympicaachamp SERIOUSLY? I love her and all, but surely people aren't that thick? This Roderick Dorado Henry guy is so annoying. He's not happy with Russia's team selection because 'komova have bunches of wobbles on beam though'. Get her OFF that team, they don't need her amanar and 7.0 bars!
Best I've seen. You can't take gymnastics from Lindsay's heart! Did you know that she's the best and is getting more solid? Lindsay so deserves her place at Trials.
The next photo of her in the album is a beautiful pak. Can't fault it, it is GORGEOUS. However it seems to have inspired the sheep 4-years commenters into thinking that she still has it. 'Gold medal this time!' Her routine was also way better than Jordyn's. I don't remember Jordyn eating mat, or looking like she was wrecked, or having as big a mistake.
He Kexin and her 7.4 routine will have something to say about that! Maybe it might shut people up about Nastia because if she makes that fifth spot and hits, it probably will take gold. She has a much higher chance of hitting than Nastia as she does actually have the stamina to complete a routine. But why would an OLYMPIC CHAMPION need to finish a routine??? I feel like Lindsay could go up there, do a giant and belly flop off the top bar and STILL people would say she should be on the team. 'That fall might cost her though'. What about the Nationals fuck up? The Classics fuck up? The heavy tapping in ALL of podium training? Are we all blind now? I do like Shawn Johnson but STFU about her. I am strongly tempted to rename Nastia as Lindsay from now on here, but I'll probably forget. Just to clarify, I DO respect Nastia for not giving up and she did deserve that ovation. But the comments on facebook and twitter are not seeing ANY of her mistakes, it's hilarious.
USAG Facebook is the gift that keeps on giving. (Yep, killing time. Almost 1 hour!). Did you know that McKayla might get the fifth spot if she doesn't fall off bars again? We need her bars damnit, she's not going to London without them! Also Ebee got a perfect 10 on vault this year, the whole world missed that one. Oooo Jordyn's a sl** because she 'gets low'..splits on beam. Intriguing. Jennifer White Smith is a bitch. At least Mary Margaret isn't, just deluded. Bross falls on every Arabian? Trials Day 1 is EVER obviously. Bill Strauss was faking those tears, yes of course...Loving the comments on Nastia's LATE turn..nobody is copping how fecking late it was. Kyla is 'the new Shawn'. Yup, you couldn't get a closer comparison than that. Christ. Anyway, 45 minutes to go! WOOHOO!!
Emily Ann is very dissapointed about Finnegan and Price being alternates. Who the HELL would she pick instead? No doubt Nastia would be one. CLASSIC- on a picture of Finnegan on bars wrongly labelled Anna Li, someone has said Katelyn Ohashi! Sneaky Katelyn, determined to make the team she has morphed into Sarah AND deliberately did a poor bars routine at Trials so nobody would know. Nastia will always be the best gymnast in the whole world...debateable. Would have been perfectly fine if he had said favourite. Sarah's beam mount should be the Finnegan. Sure it's the best one, but way to kick Terin Humphrey and Lauren Mitchell in the face.
There's a picture of the Cirque du Soleil Elvis opener. A girl with short redish hair is on top. 'Is this Shannon Miller' OH GOD, DYING.
The gift that just keeps on giving. 'Why weren't America in the 2012 European championships?', because the clue isn't in the name at all. Interesting twitter hashtag...Mc kayla Maroney #olympicaachamp SERIOUSLY? I love her and all, but surely people aren't that thick? This Roderick Dorado Henry guy is so annoying. He's not happy with Russia's team selection because 'komova have bunches of wobbles on beam though'. Get her OFF that team, they don't need her amanar and 7.0 bars!
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!
Nastia eats bars
It is tough to see a gymnast fall at Trials or anywhere but we all saw this one coming. Not enough time, no endurance. Can we please leave it there and have her scratch bars if not retire before Sunday..it is dangerous for her. And humiliating.
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.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Thoughts on podium training 27/6 or 6/27
Just to keep this seperate from the more detailed info we will have from tomorrow's media attended PT.
McKayla Maroney- Is looking great and healthy and training all 4 (floor music can be heard during another video). Bars look much improved, still a struggle on one handstand but this event is uselessd for her anyway. What is the story with that weird kip angle? I may mean cast, always confuse the two..that angle, you'll know what I mean. Beam solid and low-SV as ever, wish it was higher. Vault was just a timer but as always the height and block show that it's highly unlikely her amanar will be messed up. Update: Amanar looking awesome as always. The floor pass looks very clean too, only small adjustment on landing. Reassuring to see her so ready for this.
Jordyn Wieber- She always trains the full-twisting DLO dismount..will we see it? She always sticks the DLO, she risks taking a large step with the more difficult one and negating the higher SV it brings her. Beam as frustrating as ever, they've had so long to make the connections work for her or change them. We can hope.
Gabby Douglas- Only beam has emerged. It looks great, love her standing full twist, sooo upright! However I still wouldn't put her up in TF, risky. Update: Amanar looking very well! If she can stick this both nights and in Olympic warm-ups then stick her up in TF, it's much cleaner than Aly's. Bars great as ever. Floor choreo annoying as ever, just doesn't work. I do agree that if she must use this music then she should throw in some robotic moves.
Aly Raisman- Only beam as far as I can see. Looking like the solid consistent gymnast she is, she's better than Jordyn on it even with that god-awful low-to-beam.
Sarah Finnegan- Bars, not a full routine. Messy shap. If she had bars she would strip Kyla of her place and though I like Kyla, Sarah is much more exciting. Her swing is good, her and McKayla frustrate me with their bars potential. Beam, her turn not as good as usual. Standing full twist quite low, wobble also. Hopefully just a bit of an off day, I'm rooting for her as alternate, bars kills her chances of the team.
Nastia Liukin- Bars dismount only, it looks so much cleaner than a few years ago but of course the real test is yet to come. A bit ominous both her dismounts, beam also, are seperate. Beam had great lines, but laboured with slow connections, much like Classics. I doubt she can nail both, but even if she does, not enough to displace Kyla. Update: That bars routine is dissapointing. I do not think she deserved to go to Trials or can possibly get on this team but I do want to see her do well. That bars was so heavily spotted, it does not bode well. I would be surprised if it has no mistakes in comp and if she puts the dismount in.
Alicia Sacramone- Beam as fierce as ever. Some leaps not 180, though I like her sheep jump. Hate her low-to-beam, Mihai needs to reevaluate it, it's important to the flow and look! Alicia's displays her lack of flexibility unfortunately. Right foot taped- so is Gabby's, stay healthy!
Kyla Ross- Bars only a bit of routine, it looks very clean as always. Floor is just dance, would be great if harder tumbles were stuck in. Update: Beam looks very clean and floaty, very consistent here. More and more confirming her place as the fourth member. Amanar- what a surprise! It's much much cleaner in the air and her landing much improved. Would still use Gabby over her I think.
Will include Li, Sloan, Bross and Price in tomorrow's PT eh..analysis.
McKayla Maroney- Is looking great and healthy and training all 4 (floor music can be heard during another video). Bars look much improved, still a struggle on one handstand but this event is uselessd for her anyway. What is the story with that weird kip angle? I may mean cast, always confuse the two..that angle, you'll know what I mean. Beam solid and low-SV as ever, wish it was higher. Vault was just a timer but as always the height and block show that it's highly unlikely her amanar will be messed up. Update: Amanar looking awesome as always. The floor pass looks very clean too, only small adjustment on landing. Reassuring to see her so ready for this.
Jordyn Wieber- She always trains the full-twisting DLO dismount..will we see it? She always sticks the DLO, she risks taking a large step with the more difficult one and negating the higher SV it brings her. Beam as frustrating as ever, they've had so long to make the connections work for her or change them. We can hope.
Gabby Douglas- Only beam has emerged. It looks great, love her standing full twist, sooo upright! However I still wouldn't put her up in TF, risky. Update: Amanar looking very well! If she can stick this both nights and in Olympic warm-ups then stick her up in TF, it's much cleaner than Aly's. Bars great as ever. Floor choreo annoying as ever, just doesn't work. I do agree that if she must use this music then she should throw in some robotic moves.
Aly Raisman- Only beam as far as I can see. Looking like the solid consistent gymnast she is, she's better than Jordyn on it even with that god-awful low-to-beam.
Sarah Finnegan- Bars, not a full routine. Messy shap. If she had bars she would strip Kyla of her place and though I like Kyla, Sarah is much more exciting. Her swing is good, her and McKayla frustrate me with their bars potential. Beam, her turn not as good as usual. Standing full twist quite low, wobble also. Hopefully just a bit of an off day, I'm rooting for her as alternate, bars kills her chances of the team.
Nastia Liukin- Bars dismount only, it looks so much cleaner than a few years ago but of course the real test is yet to come. A bit ominous both her dismounts, beam also, are seperate. Beam had great lines, but laboured with slow connections, much like Classics. I doubt she can nail both, but even if she does, not enough to displace Kyla. Update: That bars routine is dissapointing. I do not think she deserved to go to Trials or can possibly get on this team but I do want to see her do well. That bars was so heavily spotted, it does not bode well. I would be surprised if it has no mistakes in comp and if she puts the dismount in.
Alicia Sacramone- Beam as fierce as ever. Some leaps not 180, though I like her sheep jump. Hate her low-to-beam, Mihai needs to reevaluate it, it's important to the flow and look! Alicia's displays her lack of flexibility unfortunately. Right foot taped- so is Gabby's, stay healthy!
Kyla Ross- Bars only a bit of routine, it looks very clean as always. Floor is just dance, would be great if harder tumbles were stuck in. Update: Beam looks very clean and floaty, very consistent here. More and more confirming her place as the fourth member. Amanar- what a surprise! It's much much cleaner in the air and her landing much improved. Would still use Gabby over her I think.
Will include Li, Sloan, Bross and Price in tomorrow's PT eh..analysis.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Good luck to Nastia and Shawn in the olympics!!
USAG facebook is the funniest thing ever. It's going to be hilarious when the team is announced and everyone gets butthurt that Nastia won't be on it. Oh and the 'OMG where's Shawn??'. Can't wait. Youtube comments with a team of Nastia, Alicia, McKayla, Aly and Jordyn also crack me up. Especially since I won't have access to the actual comp, so analysis and comments are where it's at. I would also appeal to any US readers to please upload the comp if possible. Nobody outside of the US can watch Trials at all, and there is major interest in them! It's a disgrace.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
That irrational anger at youtube comments on gymnastics videos
For me, it is people who check out an old routine, see a big difference in the composition compared to today, and instead of researching why or asking about it, they just go ahead and dismiss it because of that. You're watching a classic and beautiful bars routine that scored very highly and then a comment underneath says 'Ehh she didn't hit all her handstands, didn't deserve that score. Nastia is better'. Instead of the perfectly acceptable 'Oh were perfect handstands not a requirement back then?' or something. Okay so Nastia doesn't appear in all of those comments but they are quite common and plenty cite her...anyway that's my only issue with youtube comments. I totally gloss over personal wars gymnast x versus y, so they never bother me.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Code-whoring and hypocrisy
We hear a lot about code-whoring, which basically means taking advantage of the current code for scoring purposes. And yet, why shouldn't gymnasts and their coaches do this? If the code allows for bonuses for certain connections which are easier than throwing hard skills, why wouldn't they be overused? It makes perfect sense. And yet, it's not really open-ended scoring and overused connections that annoy me, it's the selective response to this overuse, which to me IS hypocritical. The prime example in this code is, leaps out of passes, which absolutely are overused but are a quick and easy way to up SV on an event where scoring can be quite low (internationally, NOT in the US).
Lauren Mitchell is the scapegoat for this. She was definitely amongst the first to do it, and generally does it after every pass or almost every pass. Sometimes they appear quite forced, which ruins the flow, but it's moreso that they are low and don't have the 'wow' factor. Her artistry and sense of dance is so nonexistent that she needs all the help she can get from difficult tumbling and bonus connections. This is smart manipulation of the code, and not her fault everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. Here is her 2011 worlds AA floor, probably the best she has ever done her leaps. Lauren is far from the only one who gets the flak for this, but is the most obvious.
Aly Raisman has been criticised for it, but not near as much. Her leaps are much higher so tend to look better, but are arguably worse as the form on them is bad- particularly the last one with flexed feet.
They are quite similar as regards floor styles- no artistry or dance, HUGE tumbling. Lauren should take a lesson from Aly here, if your music is good and matches your power you can manipulate people into forgetting the lack of artistry.
But this is where the hypocrisy really comes in. When the leaps are done brilliantly as well as having great height, everyone keeps their mouths shut and gazes in awe at the exact same code-whoring they complain about when others attempt it. Here are two examples of great leaps
These leaps are high with great form. So nobody cares that it's the same code manipulation they criticise others for doing more sloppily! Very very annoying, either censure everyone for it or quit complaining about it full stop.
This isn't of course the only 'code-whoring'. Last quad, it was pirouettes on bars. Yang Yilin, He Kexin and Nastia Liukin showcased very beautiful turns in handstand, Onos and Healys and with their pencil bodyline it looked amazing. Yet it was done so much solely to boost difficulty in combination, Beth Tweddle needed a huge amount of releases and releases in combination to rival their D-scores. But you'll find very little about that manipulation and overuse- again, because it looked great.
The moral of the story seems to be- we don't mind code-whoring, once it's done well. But woe betide sloppy form- suddenly they face a barrage of criticism. Infuriating.
(It's interesting to note that FIG do not appreciate overuse and code-whoring. Next quad's code gets rid of pirouette combination connection bonuses AND leaps out of passes have to be at least a B leap- making it far more difficult to do. I'm sure there will be overuse of something else, and the same hypocritical opinions though!)
Lauren Mitchell is the scapegoat for this. She was definitely amongst the first to do it, and generally does it after every pass or almost every pass. Sometimes they appear quite forced, which ruins the flow, but it's moreso that they are low and don't have the 'wow' factor. Her artistry and sense of dance is so nonexistent that she needs all the help she can get from difficult tumbling and bonus connections. This is smart manipulation of the code, and not her fault everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. Here is her 2011 worlds AA floor, probably the best she has ever done her leaps. Lauren is far from the only one who gets the flak for this, but is the most obvious.
Aly Raisman has been criticised for it, but not near as much. Her leaps are much higher so tend to look better, but are arguably worse as the form on them is bad- particularly the last one with flexed feet.
They are quite similar as regards floor styles- no artistry or dance, HUGE tumbling. Lauren should take a lesson from Aly here, if your music is good and matches your power you can manipulate people into forgetting the lack of artistry.
But this is where the hypocrisy really comes in. When the leaps are done brilliantly as well as having great height, everyone keeps their mouths shut and gazes in awe at the exact same code-whoring they complain about when others attempt it. Here are two examples of great leaps
These leaps are high with great form. So nobody cares that it's the same code manipulation they criticise others for doing more sloppily! Very very annoying, either censure everyone for it or quit complaining about it full stop.
This isn't of course the only 'code-whoring'. Last quad, it was pirouettes on bars. Yang Yilin, He Kexin and Nastia Liukin showcased very beautiful turns in handstand, Onos and Healys and with their pencil bodyline it looked amazing. Yet it was done so much solely to boost difficulty in combination, Beth Tweddle needed a huge amount of releases and releases in combination to rival their D-scores. But you'll find very little about that manipulation and overuse- again, because it looked great.
The moral of the story seems to be- we don't mind code-whoring, once it's done well. But woe betide sloppy form- suddenly they face a barrage of criticism. Infuriating.
(It's interesting to note that FIG do not appreciate overuse and code-whoring. Next quad's code gets rid of pirouette combination connection bonuses AND leaps out of passes have to be at least a B leap- making it far more difficult to do. I'm sure there will be overuse of something else, and the same hypocritical opinions though!)
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Overrated gymnasts
I'm not one to be nasty about gymnasts. This is more about overblown hype. These girls are talented, but not as much as the hype allows for.
Nastia Liukin
..invented gymnastics if the hype around her is anything to go by. She was the well deserving 2008 AA champion. Nastia is of course famed for her beautiful long lines and extremely difficult uneven bars. Her beam and bars in particular were amazing to watch, especially skills like her Onodi, Ono and Healys which were so well executed. She was not, however, flawless. On bars her cowboyed dismount and bent legs on her giants are obvious, and her artistry is characterised by an uptight upper body and head throw-backs. She's regarded as an excellent dancer by most but her lines carried her and her choreography was dull, empty and stiff. I will also echo the excellent Spanny Tampson in deploring her stupid flexed wrists, which ruined lines. Butt shelves also are not valid choreography but she is of course far from the only culprit there. Nastia DOES deserve her success and was an excellent gymnast still showing several signs of that brilliance today. However her hype detracts from other gymnasts, exhibited by NBC cameras focusing on her face and her dad/coach instead of other routines performed by other gymnasts. Her hype alone got her to Trials, ahead of other gymnasts who performed much better than her. The crazies in the Nastia camp seem to forget that there were gymnasts before Nastia came along, and many were far better, which is not a good thing for gymnastics. I won't even mention her weak vault and floor being made up by her extraordinary bars difficulty as this is the case in general these days, though only in reverse in the US.
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana's fame has probably been well overtaken by Nastia now, but her dominance for an entire decade was unbelievable. Known interchangeably as the diva and the Queen of the Bars, Khorkina competed in three Olympics, an amazing feat. She was a great gymnast, especially given her height and it is sad that she never clinched the AA gold, especially in 2000 when she was well ahead of her contenders and the vault controversy and the upset of that causing her to fall from bars were the only reasons why she didn't. However, she competed against extremely difficult uneven bar routines like Mo Huilan's and Bi Wenjing's and won every single time, their added difficulty appeared not to matter. Bi did snatch the gold from her, but only in a World Cup. She was also blatantly overscored in the 2004 Olympics to try to get het to win, in order to 'make up' for 2000. This is such BS. 'Making up' to a gymnast score-wise is just ridiculous and I am glad it did not succeed. Khorkina in 2004 was gaunt and emaciated and her gymnastics had deteriorated- Carly well deserved that win. Khorkina's diva attitude and comments such as implying Carly's win was a fix are extremely annoying, I do not like rudeness and egos in any sport. However she clearly had a good side to her, I absolutely loved that she gave up her vault EF place to Zamo- her reaction to Zamo's perfect vault is priceless! She was a strong all-arounder even with her beam and vault getting worse over time, and she did make an impact on gymnastics by altering it to fit her height (especially bars) but I still think her fame in the gymnastics world is a bit over the top.
Mary-Lou Retton
Mary-Lou would never have won the AA had the Olympics been attended by the Soviets. In a way it seems to unfair to cloud her achievement like this but there were at least 5 Soviets who would have beaten her- Olga Mostepanova who achieved 12 perfect 10's at the friendship games that year was a given, but Baraksanova, Shushunova, Illienko, Yurchenko and Frolova would all been frontrunners too, if that many were allowed qualify. Mary-Lou was highly talented, I have no issue with her body-type, it's moreso her form, execution and presentation were wholly eclipsed by other gymnasts of the time. But it's easy to see why there was so much hype around her as the first US AA Olympic champion, it would be odd if it wasn't. The fact remains that she was not up against the best in the world and the hype often forgets that.
That's all I can think of for now. Gymnasts like Shannon Miller, Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci fully deserved the hype that surrounded each, all of them had amazing form, artistry and difficulty. It's harder to think of those that didn't fully deserve all of the hype.
Nastia Liukin
..invented gymnastics if the hype around her is anything to go by. She was the well deserving 2008 AA champion. Nastia is of course famed for her beautiful long lines and extremely difficult uneven bars. Her beam and bars in particular were amazing to watch, especially skills like her Onodi, Ono and Healys which were so well executed. She was not, however, flawless. On bars her cowboyed dismount and bent legs on her giants are obvious, and her artistry is characterised by an uptight upper body and head throw-backs. She's regarded as an excellent dancer by most but her lines carried her and her choreography was dull, empty and stiff. I will also echo the excellent Spanny Tampson in deploring her stupid flexed wrists, which ruined lines. Butt shelves also are not valid choreography but she is of course far from the only culprit there. Nastia DOES deserve her success and was an excellent gymnast still showing several signs of that brilliance today. However her hype detracts from other gymnasts, exhibited by NBC cameras focusing on her face and her dad/coach instead of other routines performed by other gymnasts. Her hype alone got her to Trials, ahead of other gymnasts who performed much better than her. The crazies in the Nastia camp seem to forget that there were gymnasts before Nastia came along, and many were far better, which is not a good thing for gymnastics. I won't even mention her weak vault and floor being made up by her extraordinary bars difficulty as this is the case in general these days, though only in reverse in the US.
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana's fame has probably been well overtaken by Nastia now, but her dominance for an entire decade was unbelievable. Known interchangeably as the diva and the Queen of the Bars, Khorkina competed in three Olympics, an amazing feat. She was a great gymnast, especially given her height and it is sad that she never clinched the AA gold, especially in 2000 when she was well ahead of her contenders and the vault controversy and the upset of that causing her to fall from bars were the only reasons why she didn't. However, she competed against extremely difficult uneven bar routines like Mo Huilan's and Bi Wenjing's and won every single time, their added difficulty appeared not to matter. Bi did snatch the gold from her, but only in a World Cup. She was also blatantly overscored in the 2004 Olympics to try to get het to win, in order to 'make up' for 2000. This is such BS. 'Making up' to a gymnast score-wise is just ridiculous and I am glad it did not succeed. Khorkina in 2004 was gaunt and emaciated and her gymnastics had deteriorated- Carly well deserved that win. Khorkina's diva attitude and comments such as implying Carly's win was a fix are extremely annoying, I do not like rudeness and egos in any sport. However she clearly had a good side to her, I absolutely loved that she gave up her vault EF place to Zamo- her reaction to Zamo's perfect vault is priceless! She was a strong all-arounder even with her beam and vault getting worse over time, and she did make an impact on gymnastics by altering it to fit her height (especially bars) but I still think her fame in the gymnastics world is a bit over the top.
Mary-Lou Retton
Mary-Lou would never have won the AA had the Olympics been attended by the Soviets. In a way it seems to unfair to cloud her achievement like this but there were at least 5 Soviets who would have beaten her- Olga Mostepanova who achieved 12 perfect 10's at the friendship games that year was a given, but Baraksanova, Shushunova, Illienko, Yurchenko and Frolova would all been frontrunners too, if that many were allowed qualify. Mary-Lou was highly talented, I have no issue with her body-type, it's moreso her form, execution and presentation were wholly eclipsed by other gymnasts of the time. But it's easy to see why there was so much hype around her as the first US AA Olympic champion, it would be odd if it wasn't. The fact remains that she was not up against the best in the world and the hype often forgets that.
That's all I can think of for now. Gymnasts like Shannon Miller, Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci fully deserved the hype that surrounded each, all of them had amazing form, artistry and difficulty. It's harder to think of those that didn't fully deserve all of the hype.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
What putting Nastia on the US team does to scores
This is assuming the most likely team of Jordyn, Aly, Gabby, Kyla and McKayla and is using their highest Nationals scores. Yes, this team score will be huge because of the overscoring but since all of them and Nastia were overscored, it makes little difference. The only one who wasn't is McKayla, who CAN get a 16.15 on vault internationally. This team assumes using Gabby on floor, but that depends on whether it can outscore McKayla's in prelims, assuming McKayla has a beautiful third pass.
UB: Jordyn, Gabby, Kyla- 46.4
BB: Jordyn, Aly, Kyla- 45.6
FX: Gabby, Jordyn, Aly- 46.35
VT: McKayla, Jordyn, Aly- 47.85
Team total- 186.2
Enter Nastia. Now because Kyla is competing Nastia's two events, we'll switch them. Firstly using Nastia's actual highest scores from Nationals.
UB: Jordyn, Gabby, Nastia- 44.55
BB: Jordyn, Aly, Nastia- remains unchanged, 45.6
Combined with floor and vault gives..184.35, almost two points lower. In a sport of tenths seperating winners, obviously this format is unusable. But let's be fair and assume Nastia did an alright job on bars, using an easier dismount than her old one and with form errors, but not as disastrous as what we actually saw. We'll also give her beam a realistic score, assuming no errors besides missed connections. Hypothetical bars score: 14.4 Hypothetical beam score: 14.7
This gives a team score of 184.7, only a bit better. Now let's be REALLY generous and assume Nastia really nailed her bars and had no missed beam connections and then was overscored on top of that. We'll give her beam and bars a 15.
Team score: 185.6 I have to admit I was a bit shocked at that, thought it might close the gap more. She needs to manufacture 6.05 more tenths. She can't do that. I really admire her gymnastics of old and for her to make a pretty brave comeback. But the admiration ends there after the free pass to trials and the realisation that she absolutely cannot help this team whatsoever, even assuming impossible scoring. Give it up already.
UB: Jordyn, Gabby, Kyla- 46.4
BB: Jordyn, Aly, Kyla- 45.6
FX: Gabby, Jordyn, Aly- 46.35
VT: McKayla, Jordyn, Aly- 47.85
Team total- 186.2
Enter Nastia. Now because Kyla is competing Nastia's two events, we'll switch them. Firstly using Nastia's actual highest scores from Nationals.
UB: Jordyn, Gabby, Nastia- 44.55
BB: Jordyn, Aly, Nastia- remains unchanged, 45.6
Combined with floor and vault gives..184.35, almost two points lower. In a sport of tenths seperating winners, obviously this format is unusable. But let's be fair and assume Nastia did an alright job on bars, using an easier dismount than her old one and with form errors, but not as disastrous as what we actually saw. We'll also give her beam a realistic score, assuming no errors besides missed connections. Hypothetical bars score: 14.4 Hypothetical beam score: 14.7
This gives a team score of 184.7, only a bit better. Now let's be REALLY generous and assume Nastia really nailed her bars and had no missed beam connections and then was overscored on top of that. We'll give her beam and bars a 15.
Team score: 185.6 I have to admit I was a bit shocked at that, thought it might close the gap more. She needs to manufacture 6.05 more tenths. She can't do that. I really admire her gymnastics of old and for her to make a pretty brave comeback. But the admiration ends there after the free pass to trials and the realisation that she absolutely cannot help this team whatsoever, even assuming impossible scoring. Give it up already.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
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.
Open-ended code- waiting for disaster?
As we all know, gymnastics is getting more and more difficult. But not by natural progression. This code means that difficulty is rewarded. But at what cost? We now have a situation where the team with the most amanars is a shoe-in for the gold because of .7 per amanar over DTY that the code rewards. Every single interview with the Russian coaches stresses that their gymnasts need it if they want to contend, never mind the huge advantage they hold with bars. What we probably forget because it's now so common is that the amanar is incredibly difficult, and places great stress on the knees if the gymnast cannot get it around properly. We only have to look at 2011 where Aliya Mustafina blew her ACL on one. Aliya Mustafina has regained almost to the level she was at before, yet her form has suffered.
Let's look at how 'safe' America's amanars are. The safest of all are McKayla Maroney's, Elizabeth Price's and junior Simone Biles all of which are explosive, dynamic, fully rotated and also excellent in air and landing. Jordyn Wieber's is usually fine and fully rotated, but she did land with her legs locked Visa's night 1, a recipe for injury. Aly Raisman's is a cause for concern as she sometimes does not get it fully around. Kyla Ross did not compete it either night at Visa's and instead competed a lovely clean DTY. But the pressure is on for her to regain her amanar, despite the fact that she cannot land it safely. Sarah Finnegan with her beautiful lines and extraordinarily difficult beam and floor seems to be counted out entirely, not just for her weak bars but also because she has no amanar. Internationally, there is big pressure on Romanian powerhouse Larissa Iordache to exhibit one, as well as team Russia. Looking to Juniors, Katelyn Ohashi is under extreme pressure to get her amanar, even though right now her DTY looks extremely dangerous.
The amanar is not the only culprit of course. Landings that are not fully upright on double arabians, Dos Santos I and Patterson dismounts from beam (not so much Becca's sat-down ones, but Raisman's low ones) are all cause for concern, amongst others. Serious knee injuries can count out a gymnast for a year before she can regain her previous level entirely, and are on the rise. Yet increased difficulty is worth the risk in this code. We have seen gymnasts win medals with falls ahead of competitors with none. It is almost funny to listen to commentary on old competitions with its utter dismissal of the chances of a top contender once they fall, or even a lesser mistake such as a form break or OOB or even a step on a dismount. Kim Gwang Suk's 1992 bars routine is an extreme example. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful clean routine with excellent form and with a release nobody else could come close to, her tiny step on landing counted her out of medals while much simpler routines surged ahead.
The old system of gymnasts competing much more difficult routines such as the above and not being rewarded was clearly unfair. Tatiana Lysenko's DTY scoring lower than the FTY's of others being perhaps the most famous example. Yet we seem to have gone the opposite way entirely. Gymnasts can make up for often sloppy execution and form by pulling out extremely difficult tricks. This is of course helped by no compulsories. Gymnasts like Aly Raisman who are top on beam and floor would be slaughtered in the old system for execution.
The code we are in now places more pressure for difficulty than the 2005-2008 code did, helped mainly by the explosion of amanars in team USA. If we were to hold the 2008 Olympic all-around tomorrow in today's code (assuming all gymnasts in it at their 2008 selves), Nastia Liukin would have a huge struggle to achieve gold with her 1.5 Yurchenko as her bars score would be lower as less skills are counted for the score these days. Undoubtedly, Shawn Johnson would emerge the winner due to her difficulty. But what is in the future? Will we see TTY's being performed? A huge increase in injuries? It all seems possible. The next quad's code has degraded the SV of an amanar, yet it still gives a distinct advantage.
Clearly both styles of scoring, old and new, have their advantages and disadvantages. Yet we are now seeing beautiful gymnastics fall by the wayside as more and more difficult gymnastics often with much poorer execution take centre-stage. This is not the route we should be aiming for. This open-ended scoring is pushing the boundaries of what is possible for top gymnasts to achieve, and this will only continue. Gymnasts showing beautiful, elegant gymnastics with lower difficulty are falling by the wayside, most notably Ana Porgras who just could not hack the strive for difficulty but who would have been a top contender at the 1996 Olympics and earlier. We need to find a way to reward execution more than it currently is, even at the expense of difficulty.
Let's look at how 'safe' America's amanars are. The safest of all are McKayla Maroney's, Elizabeth Price's and junior Simone Biles all of which are explosive, dynamic, fully rotated and also excellent in air and landing. Jordyn Wieber's is usually fine and fully rotated, but she did land with her legs locked Visa's night 1, a recipe for injury. Aly Raisman's is a cause for concern as she sometimes does not get it fully around. Kyla Ross did not compete it either night at Visa's and instead competed a lovely clean DTY. But the pressure is on for her to regain her amanar, despite the fact that she cannot land it safely. Sarah Finnegan with her beautiful lines and extraordinarily difficult beam and floor seems to be counted out entirely, not just for her weak bars but also because she has no amanar. Internationally, there is big pressure on Romanian powerhouse Larissa Iordache to exhibit one, as well as team Russia. Looking to Juniors, Katelyn Ohashi is under extreme pressure to get her amanar, even though right now her DTY looks extremely dangerous.
The amanar is not the only culprit of course. Landings that are not fully upright on double arabians, Dos Santos I and Patterson dismounts from beam (not so much Becca's sat-down ones, but Raisman's low ones) are all cause for concern, amongst others. Serious knee injuries can count out a gymnast for a year before she can regain her previous level entirely, and are on the rise. Yet increased difficulty is worth the risk in this code. We have seen gymnasts win medals with falls ahead of competitors with none. It is almost funny to listen to commentary on old competitions with its utter dismissal of the chances of a top contender once they fall, or even a lesser mistake such as a form break or OOB or even a step on a dismount. Kim Gwang Suk's 1992 bars routine is an extreme example. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful clean routine with excellent form and with a release nobody else could come close to, her tiny step on landing counted her out of medals while much simpler routines surged ahead.
The old system of gymnasts competing much more difficult routines such as the above and not being rewarded was clearly unfair. Tatiana Lysenko's DTY scoring lower than the FTY's of others being perhaps the most famous example. Yet we seem to have gone the opposite way entirely. Gymnasts can make up for often sloppy execution and form by pulling out extremely difficult tricks. This is of course helped by no compulsories. Gymnasts like Aly Raisman who are top on beam and floor would be slaughtered in the old system for execution.
The code we are in now places more pressure for difficulty than the 2005-2008 code did, helped mainly by the explosion of amanars in team USA. If we were to hold the 2008 Olympic all-around tomorrow in today's code (assuming all gymnasts in it at their 2008 selves), Nastia Liukin would have a huge struggle to achieve gold with her 1.5 Yurchenko as her bars score would be lower as less skills are counted for the score these days. Undoubtedly, Shawn Johnson would emerge the winner due to her difficulty. But what is in the future? Will we see TTY's being performed? A huge increase in injuries? It all seems possible. The next quad's code has degraded the SV of an amanar, yet it still gives a distinct advantage.
Clearly both styles of scoring, old and new, have their advantages and disadvantages. Yet we are now seeing beautiful gymnastics fall by the wayside as more and more difficult gymnastics often with much poorer execution take centre-stage. This is not the route we should be aiming for. This open-ended scoring is pushing the boundaries of what is possible for top gymnasts to achieve, and this will only continue. Gymnasts showing beautiful, elegant gymnastics with lower difficulty are falling by the wayside, most notably Ana Porgras who just could not hack the strive for difficulty but who would have been a top contender at the 1996 Olympics and earlier. We need to find a way to reward execution more than it currently is, even at the expense of difficulty.
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.
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.
Artistry Vs Power debate
This particular debate seems to rage far more in youtube and blog comments moreso than actual competitive scoring, but is still valid. It is best epitomised in the ever-famous Nastia Vs Shawn. It seemed like you had to take sides and could not appreciate and enjoy the gymnastics of both. Nastia of course is famed for her beautiful lines and artistry. To me, it is best shown in her beam skills such as lay-out-step-out and Onodi. Shawn is the definition of powerhouse and is probably the most famed one. Yet she always seemed to lose the raging debate or else have to fight much harder to have her brand of gymnastics- throwing such insane skills as a double-double on floor and a double-twisting double layout off bars have the same recognition as Nastia's less difficult gymnastics. The NBC trio weighed in constantly with Nastia having the 'international' look which Shawn by default lacked.
Why cannot both share the same pedestal? Can we not watch a routine by a powerhouse of a gymnast without comments about her shape and build? Gymnastics NEEDS to eradicate these views, starting most obviously with commentators. We no longer see gymnast's height and weight displayed which was of course a very smart move but the pressure still exists. Shawn herself has stated that she felt under terrible pressure with all the comments about her weight, and has yo-yo'd since. This hasn't gone away. Today we hear so much about Kyla Ross and Sarah Finnegan's great international look which will no doubt intensify throughout the next few months. Jordyn, Aly and Gabby have all scored highly abroad. Clearly the issue with body type does not affect scoring if you have the skills, the form, the toepoint, and the flow. NO MORE COMMENTS. These girls are 15,16, very rarely more than 20. It's too young, too impressionable.
I for one appreciate both and love both for what they are. I am as able to drool over an Aurelia Dobre routine as I am a Yelena Produnova one. It seems few are able to give both types the same value, artistic slimmer gymnasts seems to just be valued more, or at least they are not very vocal about it. This is just BS and I am sick of it. Go power gymnastics!
Why cannot both share the same pedestal? Can we not watch a routine by a powerhouse of a gymnast without comments about her shape and build? Gymnastics NEEDS to eradicate these views, starting most obviously with commentators. We no longer see gymnast's height and weight displayed which was of course a very smart move but the pressure still exists. Shawn herself has stated that she felt under terrible pressure with all the comments about her weight, and has yo-yo'd since. This hasn't gone away. Today we hear so much about Kyla Ross and Sarah Finnegan's great international look which will no doubt intensify throughout the next few months. Jordyn, Aly and Gabby have all scored highly abroad. Clearly the issue with body type does not affect scoring if you have the skills, the form, the toepoint, and the flow. NO MORE COMMENTS. These girls are 15,16, very rarely more than 20. It's too young, too impressionable.
I for one appreciate both and love both for what they are. I am as able to drool over an Aurelia Dobre routine as I am a Yelena Produnova one. It seems few are able to give both types the same value, artistic slimmer gymnasts seems to just be valued more, or at least they are not very vocal about it. This is just BS and I am sick of it. Go power gymnastics!
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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