New year's resolution is...blog more often. I can't really do a 'year in review' since a lot of it is blurry, and only worlds received my undivided attention.
Anyway, the new year is just a few hours away now here in GMT, with lots to hopefully look forward to.
NEW SENIORS
First and foremost, we will get a bumper crop of new seniors. Of the entire quad, 2015 has long shown itself to be the year. There are more exhaustive lists, but here is mine. YOG this year offered a good look at some of these, but of course, only one per country and the US were missing. There are plenty of exciting names here, like the trio of Ellie Downie, Tyesha Matthis and Amy Tinkler who are going to inject team GB with much needed depth and difficulty to boost their programme higher, particularly since Rebecca Tunney is having difficulty after injury after difficulty and Hannah Whelan seems to be fading away. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade has been anticipated for years, and Flavia Saraiva has definitely made a more recent name for herself too.
Romania will get Laura Jurca and Andreea Iridon amongst others, while the exciting Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Mikhailova will swell Russia's much depleted ranks.
One name stands out of course, and that is...
BAILIE KEY
Finally. FINALLY. Not only does she have 'it', Bailie is 'it'. Form, execution, much improved choreography/dance, oodles of difficulty, no weak event, textbook gymnastics. Very ready for an amanar, already has a beam in the mid 6's, floor is over 6 with room to grow, bars have enormous potential and are getting there with steady upgrades. I can almost forgive the really shoddy layout on beam (PLEASE rework her acro line!) because of that glorious Pak on bars. It's just stunning, like much of her work. She'll never be as exciting as for instance, Simone Biles, yet there is something very exciting about how good she is at ticking almost every box. Bailie is a better Kyla, a gymnast worthy of Simone. Her main source of criticism tends to be robotic, dead inside performances. This really improved last year with a much-needed overhaul of her floor routine. Hopefully her expression continues to improve.
Her explosion in height and injury in the last year caused some concern, but she really seems to be paced extraordinarily well. She is clearly not doing anything she's not capable of, everything looks very easy and it's good to focus on the long-term goals to minimise burnout, particularly when the gymnast adds several inches to their height in a short period of time and skills need to go reworked to accommodate that safely.
Bailie can absolutely give Simone a run for her money, and I'm really looking forward to seeing that in action all season. Some people seem to think that the latter may as well give up since she stands no chance now, an attitude which is downright bizarre, with the information we have now as regards difficulty, and certainly in terms of experience, our double world champion has the advantage.
LESS SHITTY TEAM FINAL
One can always hope? The crop of new seniors will have a big hand to play in this. Of course, the US are getting excellent gymnasts like Bailie, Nia Dennis, Alexis Vasquez and others, but the gymnasts other programmes can now count in their ranks should still lessen the gap. Hopefully, Laura Jurca will show improvement on her 2014 performances. Andreea Iridon's bars and beam will be very valuable to Romania, and the lesser known Dora Vulcan should boost the programme too. The premature fizzling out of Madalina Blendea is a big loss though, if only for the beauty of her work.
For Russia, Maria Bondareva and Anastasia Dmitrieva have been fading for years, so I don't really count them. Seda and Daria will be very welcome, especially if the former bucks up her consistency. It looks like Ksenia Afanasyeva will be back and ready to go for Russia, and there's always the possibility Vika can stay healthy long enough to deliver on bars and beam (NOT AA, that ship has sailed), who knows. Along with Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova that's a good, strong core for 2015 teams. It would be nice if Evgeniya Shelgunova emerged too..
GB could definitely be in the mix with their new seniors, I expect them to keep building. Chin a on the other hand, don't get their big guns until 2016 but they will get Wang Yan and also Deng Yalan, who is also a much-needed vaulter. Yuan Xiaoyang who should be turning senior also...her status is unclear, and a retirement would not be surprising, unfortunately. An injection of power on their weak events is exactly what will help them.
Can any of the above chase the US? No. But hopefully they can look better while doing so and narrow the massive gap a bit.
THE PRETTY ONES
There's always the gymnasts who aren't exactly going to shine in the medal stakes, but who are just fantastic or highly interesting to watch. Previous examples this quad are Eythora Thorsdottir and Ilaria Kaeslin. Case in point is Sae Miyakawa of Japan who has some seriously floaty work and the seriously elegant Mara Titarsolej of the Netherlands. Also stunning Fan Yilin of China who looks set to make a comeback of sorts after an earlier retreat from the national team, but I'm hoping she can also be successful.
THE UNKNOWN
There will always be surprises. My money is on Lauren Navarro of the US, I have my eye on her and have done since she singlehandedly inspired Marta to bring in hair rules last year. Her routines were fairly average, but brimming with potential to me. I don't see big massive all-around hope, but her beam in particular looks really good. This year's routine was much improved, perhaps cutting off half her hair had an impact. Elements of it are really, really nice, like her toepoint, general ease, and the dismount. There's something about her. I wouldn't be surprised if she surprised, basically.
THE COMEBACKS
Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas have both attended camp and released tempting footage of themselves. I hope we don't have to wait until Classics to see where they're at in terms of full routines, maybe Jesolo? That would be great. I don't really want to see them exhibition at SCAM...I'd prefer a new senior in that particular role. Both gymnasts are immensely talented and seem to be very, very serious. Gabby never reached her peak, and Aly looks like she could get back to hers with ease. Hmmm. As well as that, I'm looking forward to seeing Afan back in action, and hopefully Didi Bulimar.
WORLDS
Ooooo the year before Rio, where we can expect to see gymnasts really showcasing Olympic routines and solidifying new skills. Not to mention what will hopefully be a killer showdown between super-duper gymnasts Simone Biles and Bailie Key, though hopefully with some international input too.
And....I have tickets because it's in my back garden as far as flights are concerned :D Good thing too, since the next major competition in Europe won't be until 2019! It will be extremely interesting to compare against Antwerp. That had a great atmosphere, but I expect bigger numbers of course at this since it's more important. Shiny new arena will be very interesting too, it's huge..
What and who are you looking forward to? How much faith do you have in much-anticipated comebacks? Will SCAM still be a SCAM? Will anyone understand the announcers and locals in Glasgow? CAN Simone triple it? Will Mykayla Skinner do the half-on two and a half off one-handed and live to tell the tale?
Showing posts with label Rebeca Andrade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rebeca Andrade. Show all posts
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Friday, 25 April 2014
What's the story with YOG?
YOG is the Youth Olympic Games. This August, 16-18th to be exact, they will take place in the city of Nanjing, China. Not to be confused with Nanning which is thousands of miles away and is where worlds will be held.
There is only one female gymnast per country allowed, who must have been born in 1999 i.e. turning senior next year. The US have declined this opportunity and will not be sending any WAG. This is disappointing but is probably no bad thing..Bailie Key has had a lot of experience with wiping the floor with her competitors, and this leaves podiums more open and exciting.
Gymnasts qualify at a number of events. These include: Jr Euros, Jr Pan American Games and Jr Asian Championships. Ultimately it is down to the federation who gets to go, but it seems to be the case that the gymnast must have competed at one of the qualifying meets.
Note: Skills can be named at this meet. Viktoria Komova had one of her bars transitions named here. This will be only the second ever YOG.
So, who's in the running?
Russia have a number of options:
Maria Bondareva
Anastasia Dmitrieva
Seda Tutkhalyan
Maria Bondareva would have been seen as the forerunner of this for quite some time, however over the last year she seems to have stagnated quite a bit. Anastasia isn't consistent enough to really impress at this point either. Seda is the best option but isn't too consistent just yet.
Romania have two that I know of:
Laura Jurca
Andreea Iridon
This one isn't near as open, the spot should be Laura's. Andreea has some beautiful work but doesn't seem to be an all-arounder, which is the focus of this competition.
China have two major contenders:
Wang Yan
Yuan Xiaoyang
This one will I think go to Wang Yan if she is healthy. I mention her a lot, she's quite the star on vault and beam in particular although Asian Junior Championships did not go her way recently..
Britain have three:
Ellie Downie
Tyesha Matthis
Amy Tinkler
Now this will be close, all three are powerhouses with quite a lot of difficulty. We will I believe see amanars from this bunch when senior.
Japan have two:
Aiko Sugihara
Sae Miyakawa
Both girls are strong on floor. Sae also has a nice DTY under her belt.
Brazil have two:
Rebeca Andrade
Flavia Saraiva
Rebeca has had her name on this for years. Super springy, with an amanar, DLO and improved bars. However, Flavia is extremely promising and will hopefully be given a fair chance in the running for the spot.
Netherlands also have two, though I don't know a huge amount about these girls. Update: Both are currently injured. Many of their seniors are too - Chantysha Netteb, Noel Van Klaveren, Eythora Thorsdottir. The new CGA??
Mara Titarsolej
Dana de Groot
Sadly, the star that is Kim Janas is injured and won't be ready to compete. She could have given the big 3 a run for their money.
Elizabet Vasileva of Bulgaria won't be in medal contention but she WILL turn heads on floor and beam if she goes. She used to be a rythmic gymnast and incorporates this to stunning effect on both events. Australian Darcy Norman is another to look out for also. Edit- Elizabet may be 2000 born and therefore not elegible. We will see her at Euros though.
Now is the time to have fun on youtube looking up the contenders. It should be a great battle, some enormous potential and talent with no real obvious winner from looking at the lists of those elegible.
To me, the AA is anyone's game. On vault, looking forward to seeing who can contest Rebeca Andrade, hopefully Wang Yan can. On floor I'd love to see Sae Miyakawa holding her own, she has a super neat double front and double layout last pass. If this lot go of course. Beam and bars are harder to puzzle out.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing?
There is only one female gymnast per country allowed, who must have been born in 1999 i.e. turning senior next year. The US have declined this opportunity and will not be sending any WAG. This is disappointing but is probably no bad thing..Bailie Key has had a lot of experience with wiping the floor with her competitors, and this leaves podiums more open and exciting.
Gymnasts qualify at a number of events. These include: Jr Euros, Jr Pan American Games and Jr Asian Championships. Ultimately it is down to the federation who gets to go, but it seems to be the case that the gymnast must have competed at one of the qualifying meets.
Note: Skills can be named at this meet. Viktoria Komova had one of her bars transitions named here. This will be only the second ever YOG.
So, who's in the running?
Russia have a number of options:
Maria Bondareva
Anastasia Dmitrieva
Seda Tutkhalyan
Maria Bondareva would have been seen as the forerunner of this for quite some time, however over the last year she seems to have stagnated quite a bit. Anastasia isn't consistent enough to really impress at this point either. Seda is the best option but isn't too consistent just yet.
Romania have two that I know of:
Laura Jurca
Andreea Iridon
This one isn't near as open, the spot should be Laura's. Andreea has some beautiful work but doesn't seem to be an all-arounder, which is the focus of this competition.
China have two major contenders:
Wang Yan
Yuan Xiaoyang
This one will I think go to Wang Yan if she is healthy. I mention her a lot, she's quite the star on vault and beam in particular although Asian Junior Championships did not go her way recently..
Britain have three:
Ellie Downie
Tyesha Matthis
Amy Tinkler
Now this will be close, all three are powerhouses with quite a lot of difficulty. We will I believe see amanars from this bunch when senior.
Japan have two:
Aiko Sugihara
Sae Miyakawa
Both girls are strong on floor. Sae also has a nice DTY under her belt.
Brazil have two:
Rebeca Andrade
Flavia Saraiva
Rebeca has had her name on this for years. Super springy, with an amanar, DLO and improved bars. However, Flavia is extremely promising and will hopefully be given a fair chance in the running for the spot.
Netherlands also have two, though I don't know a huge amount about these girls. Update: Both are currently injured. Many of their seniors are too - Chantysha Netteb, Noel Van Klaveren, Eythora Thorsdottir. The new CGA??
Mara Titarsolej
Dana de Groot
Sadly, the star that is Kim Janas is injured and won't be ready to compete. She could have given the big 3 a run for their money.
Elizabet Vasileva of Bulgaria won't be in medal contention but she WILL turn heads on floor and beam if she goes. She used to be a rythmic gymnast and incorporates this to stunning effect on both events. Australian Darcy Norman is another to look out for also. Edit- Elizabet may be 2000 born and therefore not elegible. We will see her at Euros though.
Now is the time to have fun on youtube looking up the contenders. It should be a great battle, some enormous potential and talent with no real obvious winner from looking at the lists of those elegible.
To me, the AA is anyone's game. On vault, looking forward to seeing who can contest Rebeca Andrade, hopefully Wang Yan can. On floor I'd love to see Sae Miyakawa holding her own, she has a super neat double front and double layout last pass. If this lot go of course. Beam and bars are harder to puzzle out.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing?
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Stuff
WOGA Classic was fairly interesting. Rebeca Andrade stole the show for me, utterly dominating the junior competition. She did not, however, win bars as the official results dictate - Lv Jiaqi did with 14.55, not 14.05. Her d-score was miscalculated by 5 tenths, but she was still given the gold. Rebeca showed a steady floor, with her DLO looking less piked, lovely dynamic DTY instead of the amanar she did not need, and solid improvement on beam and bars. The latter two badly need difficulty but it looks like she's on the right track.
Lv Jiaqi is recovering from a slight injury, so only did bars and floor. Glorious dance on a watered-down floor and her bars were great, so a good meet for her despite not being able to show off her beam - her best event. Tiny munchkin Flavia Saraiva was impressive too, despite a fall on her bars..though it'd be a fairly new routine for her so no worries there. Her line is great on bars and she has nice skills elsewhere..Andrade will more than likely get the YOG nod but I hope Saraiva gets the chance to fight for it. Amy Tinkler's floor was fantastic, great strong tumbling and not even her best- she has a double double in the works. GB has a surfeit of great 1999 girls to form the core of what's sure to be a super-strong Junior Euros team, and a difficult choice over who to send to YOG- Amy Tinkler, Ellie Downie or Tyesha Matthis.
Xie Yufen had a strong, steady meet. She's b-team I think but she could still surprise if she continues strong, at least this year when they're definitely not going to be able to field a stellar worlds team. Yuan Xiaoyang counted two falls which was disappointing, hopefully we will see improvements from her at later meets- after all, they're still in winter training. As for WOGA themselves, seniors Madison Kocian and Alyssa Baumann looked good on their pet events, so that will be interesting. I want a hybrid of those two for the ultimate UB/BB girl..Kocian is better on bars and Baumann on beam but neither are truly outstanding by themselves. There remains a Katelyn Ohashi shaped hole in the USA National Team. Her interview was sad and it sounds like getting back to NCAA level, nevermind elite, will be a very tough ask. The back injury must be very serious and it could mean she won't even be cleared for the full 4 years of college. With luck we will see her again at some level.
Newly Level-10 Kennedy Baker stole the show in that level, effectively crowning herself the Nastia Liukin Cup Champion in the process. I've always thought her gymnastics scream 'college', I think she will shine there. Irina Alexeeva sadly fell on her arabian but I like the composition of her new beam, utilising aerials etc. Last year's routine was too much for her. Still curious over whether she is settled on the US elite track or if she'll plump for Russia as initially intended.
If you're wondering about the obvious disregard for the new floor rules, they won't come into effect until April. Videos of the meet are here.
I haven't had a chance to see much of Elite Canada but I'm impressed by Aleeza Yu, and the sound of Ellie Black's upgrades - including a Shang and BHS-tucked full. I'm not too sure about Victoria Moors' new beam dismount. She's not too consistent on that apparatus and her routine doesn't have a huge amount in it, hopefully the rest of it improves to keep pace with the ending.
Romania have released some rosters of junior competitions, and confirmed Larisa Iordache will be on her way to the US soon. Linky link. I'm most excited to see Olivia Cimpian who is tragically too young for Rio. She is a star in the making, but I'll have my eye on the other girls too.
Speaking of which, Junior Euros could possibly be more exciting than Senior, in the team competition. 1999 and 2000 born are seriously strong years internationally, hence excitement. GB would quite easily be the ones to beat- a team of Tyesha Matthis, Ellie Downie, Amy Tinkler, Catherine Lyons and Georgia Mae Fenton/Teal Grindle is formiddable. Romania should be strong- maybe Laura Jurca, Madalina Blendea, Anda Butuc, Andra Stoica and Andreea Ciurusniuc? The Russian team will preferably have Maria Bondareva, Anastasia Dmitrieva, Seda Tutkhalyan, Ekaterina Sokova and I'm not sure of the fifth.
Seniors are murkier, hard to tell where half of the potential Russian team is at. Hopefully that will become clearer soon.
I cannot wait for American Cup! I'm thinking gold is Simone Biles' already, unless she falls..and she could, but having an incredible worlds will probably help her out in the nerves department. Really looking forward to the debut of her impressive upgrades although the Cheng will have to wait- no event finals of course. Ebee and Larisa Iordache should have a good battle for colour of medals I think, with Roxana Popa, Giulia Steingruber and Vanessa Ferrari right behind them. Bars rotation should be exciting - Roxana and Sophie have some of my favourite routines, Ebee is always good to watch, a hit routine from Larisa like she did late last year would be awesome, Vanessa might throw her newly-regained Comaneci, and Simone has at least one upgrade too. Vault also- 2 amanars, a Rudi and strong DTY's.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing at American Cup/Euros?
Lv Jiaqi is recovering from a slight injury, so only did bars and floor. Glorious dance on a watered-down floor and her bars were great, so a good meet for her despite not being able to show off her beam - her best event. Tiny munchkin Flavia Saraiva was impressive too, despite a fall on her bars..though it'd be a fairly new routine for her so no worries there. Her line is great on bars and she has nice skills elsewhere..Andrade will more than likely get the YOG nod but I hope Saraiva gets the chance to fight for it. Amy Tinkler's floor was fantastic, great strong tumbling and not even her best- she has a double double in the works. GB has a surfeit of great 1999 girls to form the core of what's sure to be a super-strong Junior Euros team, and a difficult choice over who to send to YOG- Amy Tinkler, Ellie Downie or Tyesha Matthis.
Xie Yufen had a strong, steady meet. She's b-team I think but she could still surprise if she continues strong, at least this year when they're definitely not going to be able to field a stellar worlds team. Yuan Xiaoyang counted two falls which was disappointing, hopefully we will see improvements from her at later meets- after all, they're still in winter training. As for WOGA themselves, seniors Madison Kocian and Alyssa Baumann looked good on their pet events, so that will be interesting. I want a hybrid of those two for the ultimate UB/BB girl..Kocian is better on bars and Baumann on beam but neither are truly outstanding by themselves. There remains a Katelyn Ohashi shaped hole in the USA National Team. Her interview was sad and it sounds like getting back to NCAA level, nevermind elite, will be a very tough ask. The back injury must be very serious and it could mean she won't even be cleared for the full 4 years of college. With luck we will see her again at some level.
Newly Level-10 Kennedy Baker stole the show in that level, effectively crowning herself the Nastia Liukin Cup Champion in the process. I've always thought her gymnastics scream 'college', I think she will shine there. Irina Alexeeva sadly fell on her arabian but I like the composition of her new beam, utilising aerials etc. Last year's routine was too much for her. Still curious over whether she is settled on the US elite track or if she'll plump for Russia as initially intended.
If you're wondering about the obvious disregard for the new floor rules, they won't come into effect until April. Videos of the meet are here.
I haven't had a chance to see much of Elite Canada but I'm impressed by Aleeza Yu, and the sound of Ellie Black's upgrades - including a Shang and BHS-tucked full. I'm not too sure about Victoria Moors' new beam dismount. She's not too consistent on that apparatus and her routine doesn't have a huge amount in it, hopefully the rest of it improves to keep pace with the ending.
Romania have released some rosters of junior competitions, and confirmed Larisa Iordache will be on her way to the US soon. Linky link. I'm most excited to see Olivia Cimpian who is tragically too young for Rio. She is a star in the making, but I'll have my eye on the other girls too.
Speaking of which, Junior Euros could possibly be more exciting than Senior, in the team competition. 1999 and 2000 born are seriously strong years internationally, hence excitement. GB would quite easily be the ones to beat- a team of Tyesha Matthis, Ellie Downie, Amy Tinkler, Catherine Lyons and Georgia Mae Fenton/Teal Grindle is formiddable. Romania should be strong- maybe Laura Jurca, Madalina Blendea, Anda Butuc, Andra Stoica and Andreea Ciurusniuc? The Russian team will preferably have Maria Bondareva, Anastasia Dmitrieva, Seda Tutkhalyan, Ekaterina Sokova and I'm not sure of the fifth.
Seniors are murkier, hard to tell where half of the potential Russian team is at. Hopefully that will become clearer soon.
I cannot wait for American Cup! I'm thinking gold is Simone Biles' already, unless she falls..and she could, but having an incredible worlds will probably help her out in the nerves department. Really looking forward to the debut of her impressive upgrades although the Cheng will have to wait- no event finals of course. Ebee and Larisa Iordache should have a good battle for colour of medals I think, with Roxana Popa, Giulia Steingruber and Vanessa Ferrari right behind them. Bars rotation should be exciting - Roxana and Sophie have some of my favourite routines, Ebee is always good to watch, a hit routine from Larisa like she did late last year would be awesome, Vanessa might throw her newly-regained Comaneci, and Simone has at least one upgrade too. Vault also- 2 amanars, a Rudi and strong DTY's.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing at American Cup/Euros?
Monday, 2 December 2013
Rebeca Andrade fixes the lights
Clicky.
I know the camera is not steady but that IS McKayla Maroney-high. It's not her first competitive one, she seemed to lose it for a while. But it's back with a bang! :O This netted her 15.850 in team finals/AA and she also unsurprisingly took the vault EF title. Her other events, especially bars, are being whipped into shape so she isn't quite showing her full potential anywhere else yet, not that that's a bad thing as a 2015 senior.
Longer post about the weekend's gymnastics is..in the post.
I know the camera is not steady but that IS McKayla Maroney-high. It's not her first competitive one, she seemed to lose it for a while. But it's back with a bang! :O This netted her 15.850 in team finals/AA and she also unsurprisingly took the vault EF title. Her other events, especially bars, are being whipped into shape so she isn't quite showing her full potential anywhere else yet, not that that's a bad thing as a 2015 senior.
Longer post about the weekend's gymnastics is..in the post.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Happy blogbirthday to me, and news
 |
| Source- bugakampar.com |
I think it's fitting that on this day we get a glimpse of the amazing McKayla Maroney in action, since she is a favourite of mine.. Trying not to be biased here but she had three surgeries with the last in December and is only back a few months in the gym. No bother to her it seems..as she unleashes not just the amanar (and her second vault from 2011, the Lopez) but a brand new double layout! Her coach also taught Mattie Larson her own amazing version of this skill, but even so it's not one I would have envisioned for her. We have seen tantalising double layouts before like Jordyn Wieber's that never materialised, but McKayla does look stronger than before so with extra stamina on floor it would slot in nicely. Maybe 3.5, double layout, 2.5-front layout and double arabian. She's more of a twister so I think she would find this easier than taking out the third pass and slotting in a double pike to end instead. She used to do a double arabian so that's not new but its return is very welcome since her knees are glued together..how often do you see that? Inga Sckarupa, Anna Myzdrikova and Sarah Finnegan..nearly as rare as a TTY! As for bars, hmm. They are better and I wasn't afraid watching them that she was about to majorly mess up, a definite improvement. The dismount has always been spot-on, maybe she could double it if she has the stamina.
USAG are trickling out the videos, yesterday showed Brenna Dowell and Kyla Ross, also training new skills. I've harped on about Kyla's lack of difficulty before but I really hope she has more in the bank than what's she's showing here. The bars and beam combinations do look nice and will bump up her score, it is floor that's quite disappointing. Double tucks are too easy, whips or not. She needs to chuck her beam one too. Here's hoping for a lovely Geinger-Pak-Stalder-Shaposh and maybe side aerial-LOSO-wolf jump-sheep...double pike dismount. And a floor with no double tucks or twists! It has been suggested that the floor skill could be a timer for a whip-double arabian. Here's hoping! I find it hard to get excited about Kyla's gymnastics, as lovely as her lines are there's very little spark to her..which doesn't just come with difficulty. Regardless, I want her to do well as she has enormous potential and it would be a shame if she was crowded out and bumped into NCAA too early. Come on Kyla, 6.6 bars, 6.5 beam, 5.9 floor and 5.8 vault!
Now Brenna is really busting out the big skills. Here comes the first showing of her amanar..and a thoroughly unexpected full-in double layout! Brenna is an extremely hard worker, acknowledged by her coach as his best gymnast in that regard, and she has made great strides of improvement in the last year- her bars have cleaned up bigtime. Not that they are perfect, but they are a lot better. She favours front tumbling, by contrast to just about everyone else, so these huge back tumbles are a real surprise. I love how clean it is when she begins the twist in the full-in, though it's hard to tell if she pikes down or not, it seems like she does but I don't think it's significant enough for actual downgrade. This girl could be a real surprise, and a super solid contributor for team finals.
Here is Rebeca Andrade's amanar! It's not as clean as some of the best, but it's so floaty and easy for her..just like McKayla Maroney's in that sense. She beat British powerhouse Tyesha Matthis who unveiled a double double, but she also fell off beam and her DTY to counter was not enough. The meet was barely publicised, fielding two Brazilian teams against a whole host of British clubs. Jade Barbosa won the senior AA..looks like a junior AA was not contested as such judging by the lack of number 1 beside Rebeca's name. Competition was not fierce and Jade appears to have struggled, but still an encouraging result given her recent return to the gym. Sadly Ruby Harrold looks to have had major trouble with her bars again. The results are here and here. It's worth noting that Rebeca is missing a compositional requirement on bars (a release), so that's why her d-score is so low. Beam and bars ARE very promising but need a ton of upgrades. Watch the vault here.
Romanian and Chinese Junior Nationals start this weekend. Not all of the Chinese girls will compete, but a sizeable proportion. This is more important for Romania who are looking to EYOF of course. I think that team depending on size has pretty much pointed itself out though- in order of importance: Andreea Munteanu, Andreea Iridon, Madalina Blendea, Laura Jurca, Silvia Zarzu with Paula Tudorache maybe worming her way in.
Stale news by now but Oksana Chusovitina won the Trnava Gymfest AA. She posted the highest scores on beam and bars, just pipped to the post on vault by what must have been an incredible DTY from Anna Pavlova, who managed a 15. Oksana also claimed the vault title and placed second on beam. Anna won the floor event final. Full results are here.
I've updated the list of gymnasts turning senior this quad. You can find it here. All gymnasts marked with an asterisk are new additions to it, and all worth watching if you haven't heard of them! First and foremost if you only pick one unknown to watch would be Elizabet Vasileva, who is a rythmic-artistic crossover. All (European) girls born in 1998 and 1999 are elegible for EYOF. YOG is 1999 ONLY, and restricted to one per country. Junior Euros next year will be for 1999 and 2000 girls. I was sooo excited when I heard new senior Maddie Leydin verified a Counter-Kim-geinger combination. Sadly, though I had hoped it wasn't an error- it is; she actually does a Markelov-Geinger combo. Included in the same routine are a Ricna, Pak and shaposh, pretty impressive!
Monday, 3 June 2013
News
This is one exciting month for competitions. Coming up in just 3 days is a juniors friendly between Romania and France. Romania are sending Andreea Munteanu, Silvia Zarzu, Andreea Iridon, Diana Teodoru and....Madalina Blendea, who has not competed in more than a year! Let us hope for videos. Silvia also has not been seen for a good while. Right as that ends is the Gym Festival Trnava in Slovakia, which has more Romanian faces emerge from the crypt..Ana Maria Ocalisan and Daniela Andrei! Ocalisan is a new senior who really should have been at Euros just for experience. Andrei has not had an assignment for quite some time despite being one of the very few seniors they have left. Unfortunately, the mother of Asiana Peng who is also at Izvorani has said that Andrei has left the National team. That would not be particularly surprising given that the girl has not competed in so long, but truly astonishing just as news broke that she actually has a competition coming up. We will see! Anna Pavlova, Kristina Yaroshenko (who competed at the WOGA Classic), Anna Myzdrikova and Oksana Chusovitina are competing and in the younger category, the wonderful Varvara Zubova. I'm thinking Myzdrikova's place here means she won't be at Universiade. Coming up in the middle of the month are Chinese Junior Nationals and Romanian Junior Nationals, another chance to see Blendea. Parkettes Elite Qualifier is also taking place, at which Norah Flatley and Alexis Vasquez of Chow's hope to make the cut. Then right at the end of June there will be a world cup in Portugal. The roster for this includes Noemi Makra, Shang Chunsong, Zeng Siqi, Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Alla Sosnitskaya, Anastasia Grishina, Ekaterina Baturina, Anna Rodionova, Jade Barbosa, Hannah Whelan and Rebecca Tunney. Rodionova has been injured and this marks her return, similarly this is the first opportunity to see Rebecca Tunney in quite some time.
Speaking of China, here is a great montage of the girls of Coach Wang/Xu's training group of the National Team, including Yao Jinnan, Sui Lu, Huang Huidan and juniors Liu Tingting and Yuan Xiaoyang at the recent Chinese National Games prelims. These girls captured the AA, VT, UB and FX (shared) titles. Love 0:27-33 especially.
Eythora Thorsdottir of the Netherlands placed first in a NED v SWE competition recently. This forms part of the Dutch qualification for EYOF- European Youth Olympic Festival which takes place in July. She beat the very promising Emma Larsson even with a fall on beam. Sadly she is quite shaky on this event, hopefully it can be ironed out before she turns senior next year.
Rebeca Andrade competed at two internal competitions recently- Brazil Trophy and Circuito Caixa and won both decisively. She is not doing her amanar yet but she did unveil a fabulously straight DLO, which is oddly piked in the first salto. Unfortunately her choreo has gone downhill, hopefully just a blip. Her beam continues to be wonderful, very light and floaty as well as super springy and ripe for upgrades. Floor is here and beam is here.
Here is a news excerpt of Mai Murakami to get your hopes up about her again. Watch it here. I don't know if ads can be skipped on youku but I just sit through them anyway. She shows a new skill in training here- a 1.5 DLO! It also reportedly mentions when showing Kohei Uchimura's triple twisting double that she wants to compete it in the future. Bonus- a cute confession about her:
USAG have said they will post videos of the ongoing National Team Camp. Here's a group photo in the meantime:
L-R: Hundley, Ross, Maroney, Nichols, Price, Shchennikova, Dowell, Locklear, Baker, Priessman, Desch, Milliet, Skinner, Gowey, Dennis, Key, Hults, Gaskins, Quinn, Schild, Biles, Flatley and Vasquez.
Notable exceptions are Sarah Finnegan, Katelyn Ohashi, Laurie Hernandez and Peyton Ernst. Laurie was out because her coach just had a baby (she..does have more than one coach though) and the rest are recovering from injury. The return of McKayla Maroney is momentous though. She had better show up in a video! Amelia Hundley, who performed well below her standard in Europe, has one shin heavily wrapped. Nia Dennis has been added to the junior National Team. Deafening silence on the inclusion of Laurie Hernandez (at the last camp- which she won) and Mykayla Skinner- but the new national teams will be chosen fairly soon I suppose. Plenty of new floor routines debuted during verification AND.... McKayla Maroney looked better and had higher difficulty than expected. Bring on Classics!
Speaking of China, here is a great montage of the girls of Coach Wang/Xu's training group of the National Team, including Yao Jinnan, Sui Lu, Huang Huidan and juniors Liu Tingting and Yuan Xiaoyang at the recent Chinese National Games prelims. These girls captured the AA, VT, UB and FX (shared) titles. Love 0:27-33 especially.
Eythora Thorsdottir of the Netherlands placed first in a NED v SWE competition recently. This forms part of the Dutch qualification for EYOF- European Youth Olympic Festival which takes place in July. She beat the very promising Emma Larsson even with a fall on beam. Sadly she is quite shaky on this event, hopefully it can be ironed out before she turns senior next year.
Rebeca Andrade competed at two internal competitions recently- Brazil Trophy and Circuito Caixa and won both decisively. She is not doing her amanar yet but she did unveil a fabulously straight DLO, which is oddly piked in the first salto. Unfortunately her choreo has gone downhill, hopefully just a blip. Her beam continues to be wonderful, very light and floaty as well as super springy and ripe for upgrades. Floor is here and beam is here.
Here is a news excerpt of Mai Murakami to get your hopes up about her again. Watch it here. I don't know if ads can be skipped on youku but I just sit through them anyway. She shows a new skill in training here- a 1.5 DLO! It also reportedly mentions when showing Kohei Uchimura's triple twisting double that she wants to compete it in the future. Bonus- a cute confession about her:
 |
| Source- gymfanconfessions.tumblr.com |
 |
| Copyright- USAG |
Notable exceptions are Sarah Finnegan, Katelyn Ohashi, Laurie Hernandez and Peyton Ernst. Laurie was out because her coach just had a baby (she..does have more than one coach though) and the rest are recovering from injury. The return of McKayla Maroney is momentous though. She had better show up in a video! Amelia Hundley, who performed well below her standard in Europe, has one shin heavily wrapped. Nia Dennis has been added to the junior National Team. Deafening silence on the inclusion of Laurie Hernandez (at the last camp- which she won) and Mykayla Skinner- but the new national teams will be chosen fairly soon I suppose. Plenty of new floor routines debuted during verification AND.... McKayla Maroney looked better and had higher difficulty than expected. Bring on Classics!
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Bits and pieces
In an interesting twist, Laurie Hernandez emerged as the top junior at camp verification at the weekend, beating Bailie Key into second place. Polina Shchennikova was third. It's unclear who did NOT compete all-around so I'm not sure if Amelia Hundley did all four pieces or sat some out. What is clear is that she has grown even more and looks to have beaten Kyla Ross in the height stakes. Similarly in the senior ranks, it looks like quite a few didn't do the AA as Kyla Ross was first, followed by Brenna Dowell and Peyton Ernst- with no sign of Ebee Price or Simone Biles who really could not but be in the top 3. Ebee finished off 2012 superbly by capturing two world cup all-around titles in a row, but was hindered this year by an injury- so probably she is not all there yet. Simone is not, that we know of, recovering from an injury, but has more than proved herself as a top all-arounder this year. I am SO excited for Classics to see how all the girls pan out. The Olympic team can skip Classics by right but will probably use it as a competitive opportunity if they are ready in time- McKayla Maroney and Jordyn Wieber that is, as well as Kyla Ross who is clearly ready. I think Simone Biles and Kyla Ross are pretty much guaranteed for the worlds team if they remain healthy. The other two are more than up for grabs. There is an opening for a second floor/vault girl- which Lexie Priessman, Ebee Price, Mykayla Skinner (I have no idea how she did at camp...). McKayla Maroney and possibly Jordyn Wieber (if she does actually produce a second vault, Geddert has said before Jordyn has enormous difficulty with forward entry) will be vying for. And they badly need someone for beam, which Katelyn Ohashi could take and be a back-up all-arounder. There are so many factors at play really for the second two spots- as well as, where are Kennedy Baker, Sarah Finnegan and Maddie Desch at? Sarah would fit in very nicely with my team if her beam d-score is huge again. I'm also very excited to see juniors Laurie Hernandez, Bailie Key and Nia Dennis with all of their upgrades, and newcomers like Jordan Chiles. Who do you want to see on the team? Do all-around? Should Katelyn Ohashi be taken just for beam? Can Lexie Priessman remain in one piece?
Here is Noemi Makra's floor and beam from the Slovenian world cup. I will keep raving about this girl because she is just exquisite and not enough people know about her. LOOK at that full-in pike, I think we should have an overlay of Diana Bulimar's over it, like the infamous Maroney-Uchimura 2.5 Y. Her execution is breathtaking and it needs to be acknowledged. Her third pass has no business in her routine, I'd like to see it replaced by whip-whip-double tuck or something. The technique on her turns is a bit mysterious, she starts out so well and they all drop, though it's kind of endearing the way she kept the first one going. Hopefully that can be sharpened up along with her too-easy pass. And much as it pains me, maybe some leaps to up the d-score. Her beam is another lesson in beautiful gymnastics (just like her bars. What's not to love?), with a gorgeous mount and nice connections. Sure the connection between the aerial-aerial is broken, the turn combination was not great and she biffed her last leap but these things are all tiny in the scheme of how great this routine is. The dismount is extremely high, she could maybe do a harder one. Though I'd hate to see an injury strike her, we've already lost two beautiful gymnasts so far this year, so it's nice that she's taking it slowly. There's no sound on her floor and her vault hasn't been uploaded yet, or you may be sure I'd have snuck that in too.
Grr not embedding. Her floor is here and is a must watch for the opening pass alone and her beam is here.
Rebeca Andrade is busy upgrading. A 2015 senior, she will hopefully be Brazil's candidate for YOG 2014 as she's likely to hoover up medals. Check out her new DLO below, it's gorgeous as it's one of the straight ones. She also has an amanar though the video of it shows a fall. Apparently she landed more to her feet, so it's all good. The video is via GymBlogBrazil who have plenty more videos uploaded.
I'm trying to think of every gymnast who has had Irish music. Only one actually predates Riverdance, Deliana Vodenitcharova, Bulgaria, 1988. The rest that I know of are Kim Zmeskal, 1998 (part of 98, she had two routines that year), Dominique Moceanu, 1998, Andreea Raducan, 2000, and Cheng Fei, 2003. Can anyone think of more?
Here is Noemi Makra's floor and beam from the Slovenian world cup. I will keep raving about this girl because she is just exquisite and not enough people know about her. LOOK at that full-in pike, I think we should have an overlay of Diana Bulimar's over it, like the infamous Maroney-Uchimura 2.5 Y. Her execution is breathtaking and it needs to be acknowledged. Her third pass has no business in her routine, I'd like to see it replaced by whip-whip-double tuck or something. The technique on her turns is a bit mysterious, she starts out so well and they all drop, though it's kind of endearing the way she kept the first one going. Hopefully that can be sharpened up along with her too-easy pass. And much as it pains me, maybe some leaps to up the d-score. Her beam is another lesson in beautiful gymnastics (just like her bars. What's not to love?), with a gorgeous mount and nice connections. Sure the connection between the aerial-aerial is broken, the turn combination was not great and she biffed her last leap but these things are all tiny in the scheme of how great this routine is. The dismount is extremely high, she could maybe do a harder one. Though I'd hate to see an injury strike her, we've already lost two beautiful gymnasts so far this year, so it's nice that she's taking it slowly. There's no sound on her floor and her vault hasn't been uploaded yet, or you may be sure I'd have snuck that in too.
Grr not embedding. Her floor is here and is a must watch for the opening pass alone and her beam is here.
Rebeca Andrade is busy upgrading. A 2015 senior, she will hopefully be Brazil's candidate for YOG 2014 as she's likely to hoover up medals. Check out her new DLO below, it's gorgeous as it's one of the straight ones. She also has an amanar though the video of it shows a fall. Apparently she landed more to her feet, so it's all good. The video is via GymBlogBrazil who have plenty more videos uploaded.
I'm trying to think of every gymnast who has had Irish music. Only one actually predates Riverdance, Deliana Vodenitcharova, Bulgaria, 1988. The rest that I know of are Kim Zmeskal, 1998 (part of 98, she had two routines that year), Dominique Moceanu, 1998, Andreea Raducan, 2000, and Cheng Fei, 2003. Can anyone think of more?
Sunday, 17 February 2013
News and stuff
The WOGA Classic has taken place. The Texas Dreams girls did not compete, which drastically lowered the amount of serious competition. They are being paced for camp later this month. Katelyn Ohashi did not compete floor, and vaulted an FTY. Probably a very wise decision this early in the year though it makes me think there's not a hope she will be the second AA spot at SCAM. She did compete a very ambitious beam, with numerous issues which hopefully will be ironed out. It did not have a dance series, the layout full needs to be replaced with a tuck version, and nothing was connected..so the score while it is too high, also reflects the monster d-score..in and around 6.5 to 6.7 for the routine shown, which can hit mid 7's in full. Similarly, her bars are a bit problematic too, the Healy turn is not working for her and is not worth doing if it remains like that. I really like Katelyn and hope she can be paced correctly this quad. Mariya Livchikova was second AA behind Abigail Milliet. Abigail is one of those elites you never hear much about, but she had pretty decent scores here. She was rumoured to be training an amanar but with a score of 15 on vault, I'm not sure if she did a very good DTY or a rough amanar. I'm inclined to go for the former, as overscoring was definitely evident at this meet. Really looking forward to seeing Mariya's beam and floor especially, though she did fall on beam. Krystyna only competed bars. Katelyn's beam is here and her bars are here. Senior results can be seen here.
Jordan Chiles missed qualifying elite by a tiny fraction, as she fell off bars. Seeing as she is 4 years off being a senior, this is far from a calamity, though dissapointing for her of course. She is very strong on all 4 events so if she avoids a fall in future there's pretty much no doubt she'll make it. Really looking forward to seeing her routines, I saw a beautifully clean DTY video recently. Pixie Brock, the girl in blue who was given short shrift in the MLT documentary, failed to qualify elite as did Alyona Shchennikova, Polina's sister. Madison Kocian managed it. There isn't a full list yet so I'm unsure if Irina Alexeeva qualified. She is even younger than Jordan by virtue of not turning senior until 2018 so again, plenty of time. She competed in the junior elite ranks later on in the day but seeing as she is from WOGA that isn't a chrystal clear indication..rules can be bent when it's your gym. Edit- Irina qualified elite! Well done to her. She just did beam and floor after doing the AA earlier, managing the highest scores on both events. I LOVE her beam. Seven juniors competed AA, with Meredith Sylvia of Parkettes in first. Laurie Hernandez counted a fall on bars and was second. Polina Shchennikova seems to have had a rough time on beam, coming in fourth. Full results are here. Irina's qualifying routines are here.
Russia have pulled out of Jesolo. This is a bit of a blow both as an opportunity to see a wide range of seniors and juniors and as a means of seeing them face off against USA which they now won't be doing until worlds and then only individually, but it does make sense that they don't want to wear their gymnasts out this early in the quad. They have quite a bit on their plate- Russian Championships at the beginning of next month, the LRSY (Bercy) World Cup in the middle of March which has Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva and Maria Paseka on its roster, and then Euros towards the end of April. Anna Rodionova is injured and won't be at Championships. She competed watered down routines with a cast recently..a leg injury, not sure if it was sustained when she fell on her Pak on bars at Stuttgart late last year or if it's unrelated. Also missing will be Viktoria Komova of course, though prognosis on her seems to be better than expected. Edit- Aliya has pulled out of LRSY. Paseka and Afan are still on the roster. I was looking forward to seeing a new floor from her- even just with back layout passes- but still there's a few opportunities to see her before summer so whatever keeps her healthy and paced correctly. I noticed Diana Chelaru is not on the roster anymore in the last update, but hadn't seen the February 14th update. It's here.
Elena Zamolodchikova has reportedly suffered a heart attack. She has been dealing with a lot of stress- the closing down of her gym, move to another multi-sports facility and friction there. She appears to stand accused of physically beating other coaches (??!!). The translations are pretty bad, but it appears that she has been released, still feeling weak, and will be observed until Wednesday. It is entirely blamed on the stress she has been under. Edit: It's been said on IG forums that a fluff piece stated she had a minor heart condition, which would make this attack at such a young age all the more likely. I'm waiting for a decent translation to fill in the gaps but you can read/translate the original article here.
While it's obvious that Oksana Chusovitina has not retired given her recent participation in meets, the latest news is that she plans to compete for Uzbekistan in Rio. This would be her 7th Olympics, and if she makes it to 2016, her 25th year competing as a senior elite. WOW. Oksana has said before that she wanted to focus on coaching the Uzbek team, which presumably she will combine with her own training. While she has German nationality from moving there for her son's treatment, Uzbekistan is her native country so presumably she has dual nationality and won't have to jump through hoops to be elegible. Wishing this incredibly inspirational athlete the best of luck.She really deserves to be recognised outside of her own sport..it's quite a bit different to someone competing that long in a sport like archery or equestrian..
USAG just posted a short interview with Kyla Ross. She talks about focusing on her all-around potential and her goals of performing strongly at SCAM and Nationals. There's footage of her on all four events at camp, though vault and floor are just warm-ups. She looks nice and sharp on bars, good to see.
I posted this 10 minutes after USAG uploaded it. Delighted this morning to wake up to ones with Lexie Priessman, Katelyn Ohashi and Simone Biles. Hopefully a Maddie Desch one too. Obviously Kyla is already a senior, the rest are new to the scene. You can see the others here.
The Nadia Comaneci International Invitational was won by Victoria Moors in the senior category and Rebeca Andrade in the junior category. I thought this was a Level 10 meet when I heard about it a while ago, so very happy to discover some great names competing. Another favourite is 2000- born Romanian Asiana Peng who is very clean and artistic on beam and floor. Routines have been uploaded here. The highlight is Victoria Moors on floor. So great to see her right back on form after an off day at the recent Canadian Nationals. Love the choreography right in the middle, and the turn before her last pass. Although she is an extremely worthy floor medal winner she needs a good bit more difficulty to contend, but I'm glad she isn't being overworked when she's not long back from a mild injury. Rebeca Andrade is once again extremely impressive on beam and floor, super height on everything. Nice to see she's keeping it easy though. Bars are her nemesis and she did not do her Comaneci- a shame considering the meet. Asiana Peng has a lovely sprightly floor and nice swing on bars. Plenty of time for the two of them to develop on bars yet.
The Tokyo World Cup roster has been released. (C'mon Jesolo!!). It's a nice mix and I'm most excited to see Asuka Teramoto, Elisa Meneghini and Shang Chunsong. Elisa is a brand new Italian senior who isn't far behind Enus Mariani in terms of promise. (Speaking of Enus, there's a dance run-through of her new floor routine and it's amazing! Epic, dramatic music and she really sell it.) I'm a bit dissapointed to see Huang Qiushuang because although I love her expression on floor and she can display gorgeous work elsewhere...I feel like she has had endless opportunities often with dissapointing results and that it's time to push Zeng Siqi, Huang Huidan and Wu Liufang forward for the international experience they need. Elsabeth Black recently had an extrememly dominant performance at Canadian Nationals, so she should be strong competition. Somehow I am not suprised to see Vanessa Ferrari on the roster as she is competing like a maniac saving up for a house..hopefully a mansion at this stage, she deserves it. I haven't seen much at all of Charlie Fellows so I'm looking forward to her. And last but not least...an unnamed American! Very exciting stuff and it's nice to see them participating in a greater number of international meets. February camp should be very interesting, names for SCAM, Jesolo, the Germany meet and now this, not to mention the much depleted Junior National team. I've named all the girls for the Tokyo Cup but you can see the roster and for MAG too here.
TCG have confirmed the Japanese lineup for Jesolo and coupled with the source on weibo, I'll take that! I'm SO EXCITED to see Asuka Teramoto who is definitely making up for missing competitions with a minor injury last year, Mai Murakami as always, not so much new skills from her as it's very early..but consistency, the cleanest bars worker I've seen in a long time- Wakana Inoue, the girl with the layout full beam mount- Natsumi Sasada who has been missing in action for quite a while and Waikiko Ryu who I haven't seen much of. Superb lineup. They are also sending five juniors and as their juniors are completely unknown to me, an excellent opportunity to see what's coming up through their ranks.
Jordan Chiles missed qualifying elite by a tiny fraction, as she fell off bars. Seeing as she is 4 years off being a senior, this is far from a calamity, though dissapointing for her of course. She is very strong on all 4 events so if she avoids a fall in future there's pretty much no doubt she'll make it. Really looking forward to seeing her routines, I saw a beautifully clean DTY video recently. Pixie Brock, the girl in blue who was given short shrift in the MLT documentary, failed to qualify elite as did Alyona Shchennikova, Polina's sister. Madison Kocian managed it. There isn't a full list yet so I'm unsure if Irina Alexeeva qualified. She is even younger than Jordan by virtue of not turning senior until 2018 so again, plenty of time. She competed in the junior elite ranks later on in the day but seeing as she is from WOGA that isn't a chrystal clear indication..rules can be bent when it's your gym. Edit- Irina qualified elite! Well done to her. She just did beam and floor after doing the AA earlier, managing the highest scores on both events. I LOVE her beam. Seven juniors competed AA, with Meredith Sylvia of Parkettes in first. Laurie Hernandez counted a fall on bars and was second. Polina Shchennikova seems to have had a rough time on beam, coming in fourth. Full results are here. Irina's qualifying routines are here.
Russia have pulled out of Jesolo. This is a bit of a blow both as an opportunity to see a wide range of seniors and juniors and as a means of seeing them face off against USA which they now won't be doing until worlds and then only individually, but it does make sense that they don't want to wear their gymnasts out this early in the quad. They have quite a bit on their plate- Russian Championships at the beginning of next month, the LRSY (Bercy) World Cup in the middle of March which has Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva and Maria Paseka on its roster, and then Euros towards the end of April. Anna Rodionova is injured and won't be at Championships. She competed watered down routines with a cast recently..a leg injury, not sure if it was sustained when she fell on her Pak on bars at Stuttgart late last year or if it's unrelated. Also missing will be Viktoria Komova of course, though prognosis on her seems to be better than expected. Edit- Aliya has pulled out of LRSY. Paseka and Afan are still on the roster. I was looking forward to seeing a new floor from her- even just with back layout passes- but still there's a few opportunities to see her before summer so whatever keeps her healthy and paced correctly. I noticed Diana Chelaru is not on the roster anymore in the last update, but hadn't seen the February 14th update. It's here.
Elena Zamolodchikova has reportedly suffered a heart attack. She has been dealing with a lot of stress- the closing down of her gym, move to another multi-sports facility and friction there. She appears to stand accused of physically beating other coaches (??!!). The translations are pretty bad, but it appears that she has been released, still feeling weak, and will be observed until Wednesday. It is entirely blamed on the stress she has been under. Edit: It's been said on IG forums that a fluff piece stated she had a minor heart condition, which would make this attack at such a young age all the more likely. I'm waiting for a decent translation to fill in the gaps but you can read/translate the original article here.
While it's obvious that Oksana Chusovitina has not retired given her recent participation in meets, the latest news is that she plans to compete for Uzbekistan in Rio. This would be her 7th Olympics, and if she makes it to 2016, her 25th year competing as a senior elite. WOW. Oksana has said before that she wanted to focus on coaching the Uzbek team, which presumably she will combine with her own training. While she has German nationality from moving there for her son's treatment, Uzbekistan is her native country so presumably she has dual nationality and won't have to jump through hoops to be elegible. Wishing this incredibly inspirational athlete the best of luck.She really deserves to be recognised outside of her own sport..it's quite a bit different to someone competing that long in a sport like archery or equestrian..
USAG just posted a short interview with Kyla Ross. She talks about focusing on her all-around potential and her goals of performing strongly at SCAM and Nationals. There's footage of her on all four events at camp, though vault and floor are just warm-ups. She looks nice and sharp on bars, good to see.
I posted this 10 minutes after USAG uploaded it. Delighted this morning to wake up to ones with Lexie Priessman, Katelyn Ohashi and Simone Biles. Hopefully a Maddie Desch one too. Obviously Kyla is already a senior, the rest are new to the scene. You can see the others here.
The Nadia Comaneci International Invitational was won by Victoria Moors in the senior category and Rebeca Andrade in the junior category. I thought this was a Level 10 meet when I heard about it a while ago, so very happy to discover some great names competing. Another favourite is 2000- born Romanian Asiana Peng who is very clean and artistic on beam and floor. Routines have been uploaded here. The highlight is Victoria Moors on floor. So great to see her right back on form after an off day at the recent Canadian Nationals. Love the choreography right in the middle, and the turn before her last pass. Although she is an extremely worthy floor medal winner she needs a good bit more difficulty to contend, but I'm glad she isn't being overworked when she's not long back from a mild injury. Rebeca Andrade is once again extremely impressive on beam and floor, super height on everything. Nice to see she's keeping it easy though. Bars are her nemesis and she did not do her Comaneci- a shame considering the meet. Asiana Peng has a lovely sprightly floor and nice swing on bars. Plenty of time for the two of them to develop on bars yet.
The Tokyo World Cup roster has been released. (C'mon Jesolo!!). It's a nice mix and I'm most excited to see Asuka Teramoto, Elisa Meneghini and Shang Chunsong. Elisa is a brand new Italian senior who isn't far behind Enus Mariani in terms of promise. (Speaking of Enus, there's a dance run-through of her new floor routine and it's amazing! Epic, dramatic music and she really sell it.) I'm a bit dissapointed to see Huang Qiushuang because although I love her expression on floor and she can display gorgeous work elsewhere...I feel like she has had endless opportunities often with dissapointing results and that it's time to push Zeng Siqi, Huang Huidan and Wu Liufang forward for the international experience they need. Elsabeth Black recently had an extrememly dominant performance at Canadian Nationals, so she should be strong competition. Somehow I am not suprised to see Vanessa Ferrari on the roster as she is competing like a maniac saving up for a house..hopefully a mansion at this stage, she deserves it. I haven't seen much at all of Charlie Fellows so I'm looking forward to her. And last but not least...an unnamed American! Very exciting stuff and it's nice to see them participating in a greater number of international meets. February camp should be very interesting, names for SCAM, Jesolo, the Germany meet and now this, not to mention the much depleted Junior National team. I've named all the girls for the Tokyo Cup but you can see the roster and for MAG too here.
TCG have confirmed the Japanese lineup for Jesolo and coupled with the source on weibo, I'll take that! I'm SO EXCITED to see Asuka Teramoto who is definitely making up for missing competitions with a minor injury last year, Mai Murakami as always, not so much new skills from her as it's very early..but consistency, the cleanest bars worker I've seen in a long time- Wakana Inoue, the girl with the layout full beam mount- Natsumi Sasada who has been missing in action for quite a while and Waikiko Ryu who I haven't seen much of. Superb lineup. They are also sending five juniors and as their juniors are completely unknown to me, an excellent opportunity to see what's coming up through their ranks.
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
The One to Watch
I have done a mini-series showcasing the best upcoming seniors of this quad. You can find the links to each New Kids on the Block post here. It's worth noting that the China one is a bit redundant, as further competitions and insight has shown that there are brighter stars in their future. I'll redo it. You can also find a not-totally-comprehensive-but-including-everyone-of-consequence list of upcoming seniors here. As you can see, we have just had 21 girls (at least) turn senior! Exciting stuff, and Euros will be very interesting to see their upgrades and potential for worlds. And of course, the competitions USA, China etc. will be at. But now to pinpoint the one girl from each country who I think will be the star. It's tough! At least I discovered page breaks. If the routines have falls, it's either a) the only routine on youtube or b) a fluke but by far the most recent routine or c) doesn't really affect how much amazing potential there is in the rest of the routine.
USA
Bailie Key
This was very difficult, not to push Simone Biles, Amelia Hundley and Lexie Priessman out of the way, but to disregard Nia Dennis. The reason why the first three did not get a look in is because they are currently very weak and exhibiting poor form on bars and beam. Having two dodgy events will not get you my crown. As for Nia, I think Bailie has the greater potential. Now, moving onto Bailie herself. She trains at Texas Dreams and will turn senior in 2015.
LOOK AT IT! And she can get her front leg higher. Disregarding the fact that this will be a victim of the new switch ring leap rule, this is awesome, and especially from an American gymnast. Bailie's greatest assets are her form and flexibility. Her bars exhibit fabulous form (minus her tendency to flex her feet on transitions), beautiful releases, precise and beautiful bodyline and a great dismount. She tends to clear the bar like Nastia unfortunately, but as she grows taller hopefully technique can be bettered on that. Upgrades include a Shaposh 1/2, Downie AND Church! Wow! All in all, her bars are like golddust, and world class long before she's senior. Beam is another delight, showcasing her lines and extension in her acro skills, a beautiful twisting 2.5 dismount, the aforementioned switch ring leap and a tour jete 1/2 actually worthy of credit. Her upgrades here include an Arabian. She looks well capable of an Onodi or Kotchetkova, her whole routine looks easy for her. Side somi has to go, she's too good for that ugly thing!
USA
Bailie Key
| Copyright- Jessica Frankl |
 |
| Copyright- USAG- USA Gymnastics |
Sunday, 7 October 2012
News
Rebeca Andrade has won the all-around at the South American Junior Championships. A great pity we won't see Rebeca in a much stronger field like Euros, but hopefully other competitions like Pan-Ams will see her square off against stronger competition. Her score was 54.8 Her highest score was 14.5 on vault, a DTY, and her lowest was 12.633 on bars, her nemesis. She does not do much on bars but she has a Comaneci salto..hopefully they can be improved over the next few years. Beam and floor are good events for her too. Brazil won the team competition also. Rebeca is elegible for the 2014 YOG and is lucky to be turning senior for a home games, as serious money is being poured into the gymnastics programme of which she is recognised as the shining star.
Kristina Goryunova of Russia who was suspended from international competition and therefore missed the Olympics due to a positive doping test- has won bars, beam and floor at a local competition called SDUSHOR. Kristina herself has said her difficulty is not high enough for international competitions, but she is thought to be quite useful at the moment as Russia are not bursting with talent. Hopefully we will see her again, even at Euros.
Lexie Priessman has committed to Georgia. Fear not, she will be competing as a senior elite beginning next year. 2016 would be her startdate really, and longer if she wants to hold out. I have limited knowledge of NCAA but there seems to be a lot of dissapointment that it's not UCLA. Georgia I know have been on a slump since the glory days of Courtney's Kupets and McCool but maybe Lexie and fellow recruits can drag it back into the top 6. It is up to her what university suits her best, location, and which gymnastics programme so I think her choice should be respected.
Rachael (whatshouldgymfanscallme.tumblr.com) has uploaded a history and background to Alexandrov's dismissal. It begins with a brief background of him, goes through his recall after the disaster of 2008 and ends up with post-dismissal. Rachael understands Russian so her insight is very valuable. This is extremely well written and don't be put off by the gifs, they add to it! I will add these articles are not suitable to be read on phones because of the amount of gifs. MUST READ.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Anna Li has a double twisting double layout dismount. Invented by Elise Ray, it's one of the hardest dismounts and is extremely rare. Shawn Johnson also did it. Anna would be the biggest contender the USA have to take the bars title at worlds, especially if she actually does have a Kovacs up her sleeve by then as well. Sadly it does not seem like Marta would give her an international assignment like that again. Here it is though:
Also here's a hilarious video of the girls on tour learning shuffling. Mostly hysterical because Nastia seems so bewildered by the whole thing, or else just in awe of Anna, at the front. Rebecca Bross is on the right of Nastia, pretty sure that's Jordyn behind at the back right and Julie Zetlin is behind Anna to the left.
In other tour news, Gabby has committed to the whole thing and it looks like Kyla has already left as she is tweeting about high school a lot. McKayla did go to Oklahoma with Kyla for the tour stop that was filmed (Oct 14th air date) but seeing as she was in two casts, I doubt she did anything other than wave or something. We'll see. (Or see when it goes up on youtube in its entiriety, as the case may be). Sabrina Vega is expected to join the tour for its east coast stops. It is currently in Texas.
A high-quality version of Yelena Produnova's famous 1999 Universiade double front vault has been uploaded. In this one you can even make out how unimpressed the woman beside the vault is and the amount of chalk on Produnova's legs. No less an amazing feat than it ever was- but I did not realise until the dead-on replay how cowboyed it is. Nothing says 'never let anyone try this vault again' more than how even Prod had to speed up her rotation that much to land it at all.
Kristina Goryunova of Russia who was suspended from international competition and therefore missed the Olympics due to a positive doping test- has won bars, beam and floor at a local competition called SDUSHOR. Kristina herself has said her difficulty is not high enough for international competitions, but she is thought to be quite useful at the moment as Russia are not bursting with talent. Hopefully we will see her again, even at Euros.
Lexie Priessman has committed to Georgia. Fear not, she will be competing as a senior elite beginning next year. 2016 would be her startdate really, and longer if she wants to hold out. I have limited knowledge of NCAA but there seems to be a lot of dissapointment that it's not UCLA. Georgia I know have been on a slump since the glory days of Courtney's Kupets and McCool but maybe Lexie and fellow recruits can drag it back into the top 6. It is up to her what university suits her best, location, and which gymnastics programme so I think her choice should be respected.
Rachael (whatshouldgymfanscallme.tumblr.com) has uploaded a history and background to Alexandrov's dismissal. It begins with a brief background of him, goes through his recall after the disaster of 2008 and ends up with post-dismissal. Rachael understands Russian so her insight is very valuable. This is extremely well written and don't be put off by the gifs, they add to it! I will add these articles are not suitable to be read on phones because of the amount of gifs. MUST READ.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Anna Li has a double twisting double layout dismount. Invented by Elise Ray, it's one of the hardest dismounts and is extremely rare. Shawn Johnson also did it. Anna would be the biggest contender the USA have to take the bars title at worlds, especially if she actually does have a Kovacs up her sleeve by then as well. Sadly it does not seem like Marta would give her an international assignment like that again. Here it is though:
Also here's a hilarious video of the girls on tour learning shuffling. Mostly hysterical because Nastia seems so bewildered by the whole thing, or else just in awe of Anna, at the front. Rebecca Bross is on the right of Nastia, pretty sure that's Jordyn behind at the back right and Julie Zetlin is behind Anna to the left.
A high-quality version of Yelena Produnova's famous 1999 Universiade double front vault has been uploaded. In this one you can even make out how unimpressed the woman beside the vault is and the amount of chalk on Produnova's legs. No less an amazing feat than it ever was- but I did not realise until the dead-on replay how cowboyed it is. Nothing says 'never let anyone try this vault again' more than how even Prod had to speed up her rotation that much to land it at all.
Monday, 1 October 2012
News and stuff
Romania's senior team are moving from their base in Izvorani to Dinamo club in the capital, Bucharest. This is for a few reasons, according to Mariana Bitang. One, education. They need access to better education for their gymnasts (this comes after a bunch of them failed part of their BAC this summer). Health, they will now have better access to a doctor with less concerns about travel etc. They also feel they will have better equipment. Unfortunately the club is a little rundown so they need to do some work first. This is the second move, back in the day they trained in Deva which now hosts the Junior national team. It appears that it has not been officially written off on as a decision but it is something they are determined to do and they are already there 'and hoping to stay there'.
North Korea are officially back this month after their long ban. I really hope something emerges! Aside from using underage gymnasts, they are also known innovators- Pak salto, counter Kim, double front vault and for using hard skills like the Def and vaults like the Amanar and Cheng. I laughed my head off when someone enquired on the USAG Facebook page as to whether Hong Un Jong is still in training as if anyone has any insight into the country at all, nevermind its gymnastics programme. Hopefully we will see them at worlds next year and before then.
Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor are set to perform at the Univ Gym Gala in the Netherlands in December. Looking forward to videos appearing, especially as I doubt it will contain any LMFAO shuffling.
Kennedy Baker's withdrawal from the Mexican Open is down to a mild calf injury- a tweak I think. So it is more precaution than anything else. On the subject of meets this year- not sure about Voronin Cup. The Russians are withdrawing from the Stuttgart World Cup but the word in interviews is that they are not going to compete this year, which would also rule Voronin out. Remains to be seen.
There is a South American Championships taking place this week. Competing will be one of my favourite juniors, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. Rebeca won the Brazil Trophy meet recently ahead of tipped favourites Jade Barbosa and Daniele Hypolito. Considering she is 13 and is still has quite a way to go building her difficulty, that is amazing. I will stick up a few videos when they're up.
McKayla Maroney is flying to Oklahoma City with Kyla Ross. The tour is currently there, looks like she's rejoining soon..
North Korea are officially back this month after their long ban. I really hope something emerges! Aside from using underage gymnasts, they are also known innovators- Pak salto, counter Kim, double front vault and for using hard skills like the Def and vaults like the Amanar and Cheng. I laughed my head off when someone enquired on the USAG Facebook page as to whether Hong Un Jong is still in training as if anyone has any insight into the country at all, nevermind its gymnastics programme. Hopefully we will see them at worlds next year and before then.
Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor are set to perform at the Univ Gym Gala in the Netherlands in December. Looking forward to videos appearing, especially as I doubt it will contain any LMFAO shuffling.
Kennedy Baker's withdrawal from the Mexican Open is down to a mild calf injury- a tweak I think. So it is more precaution than anything else. On the subject of meets this year- not sure about Voronin Cup. The Russians are withdrawing from the Stuttgart World Cup but the word in interviews is that they are not going to compete this year, which would also rule Voronin out. Remains to be seen.
There is a South American Championships taking place this week. Competing will be one of my favourite juniors, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. Rebeca won the Brazil Trophy meet recently ahead of tipped favourites Jade Barbosa and Daniele Hypolito. Considering she is 13 and is still has quite a way to go building her difficulty, that is amazing. I will stick up a few videos when they're up.
McKayla Maroney is flying to Oklahoma City with Kyla Ross. The tour is currently there, looks like she's rejoining soon..
Friday, 24 August 2012
New Kids on the Block: Eastern Europe and elsewhere
Hungary
Hungary have not really had a break-out gymnast since Henrietta Onodi. Funding is an issue but there is definitely talent lurking.
Noemie Makra
Noemie needs a lot more difficulty to contend with the top few, but is a very good all-around prospect, strong on bars and floor in particular. Slight form issues, but could well go further than any gymnast from Hungary has done since Henrietta Onodi. Nice technique and form overall, and long lines. Noemi will turn senior in 2013. No photos of her.
Nice clean tumbling and classical dance. Needs lots more difficulty and better spin control.
Lovely to watch, such clean acro skills and she's very light and floaty on the beam.
Mistake aside, she has beautiful form here. Lots to build and needs to hit handstands but she has lovely bodyline and flight.
Her execution got her into the vault finals even though she didn't have the difficulty to really compete well. This is fabulous, legs glued together and more PERFECT form. Hopefully it translates well to upgrading.
Ukraine
Ukraine really need a few gymnasts with Lilia Podkopayeva consistency but it doesn't look like that's happening yet, sadly. They have issues both with money and with a lack of team spirit/unity from the coaches. The beauty is there and the difficulty is on the way..some more consistent with not falling than others, but hopefully it can gel together before Rio. Mariya Livchikova the fabulous senior has unfinished business, injured at worlds, injured for the test event to qualify to London, a dissapointing Euros and then a fabulous showing at Nationals. She definitely has more to give. Nataliya Kononenko and Yana Demyanchuk are strong too, though headcases abound in both the junior and senior ranks as usual! Cannot find photos of this lot.
Darya Matveyeva
Darya is especially fabulous on bars, but could definitely be a strong all-arounder. Unfortunately falls are not out of the question for her but the potential is all there, hoping she makes the transition to senior well and builds on her difficulty and consistency.
Tiny leg seperation here and there and some short handstands, but this is a beautiful routine with gorgeous lines. She could have knocked herself out had she hit the bar on that dismount! Bursting with potential here, she already has high difficulty
Lovely. She's usually quite wobbly here, but this one was really well done.
Weak difficulty, but glorious elegance and looks to have lots of room to upgrade
Darya Kloptsova
Darya Kloptsova is bursting with potential. Steadier than some of her teammates, and she has more time to work on it as she turns senior in 2014. Beautiful to watch on floor and bars and her beam has some nice touches.
Gorgeous! Obviously weak in difficulty, but she's quite clean and has beautiful choreo
More of the same issues here, handstands and lack of flight, but it looks great and can only get better.
Lovely work, needs much more attack of course but lots of potential
Olesya Sazonova
Olesya is more of an unknown, but she definitely figures into the equation because she has quite a lot of difficulty compared to her teammates on floor, and seems quite solid on beam too. A very valuable gymnast for them. She has improved dramatically since 2011 apparently, so let's hope she continues. Great power on floor and confidence on beam (cannot find bars or vault), she lacks finesse with landings and some leaps though. She turns senior in 2013.
Wonderful. She exudes confidence here, great choreography. Landings need work.
Great attack, wonderful to see from a Ukrainian. She needs to be more polished, but beam and floor are very strong.
Other Ukrainian juniors of note: Olena Vasylieva
Belarus
Belarus has never figured since the break-up of the Soviet Union, although they were the nation that produced some fabulous Soviet greats like Svetlana Boguinskaya. It would be really wonderful to see them make an impact.
Dayana Hryhoryeva
Dayana specialises in uneven bars, of all the juniors she is the best bars worker as she has phenomenal swing and form and makes everything look effortless. Very graceful to watch on floor, really exquisitite form and she is bursting with poise and artistry. She is another who could become an event specialist or continue building her difficulty up to be an all-arounder, although she desperately needs higher d-scores to contend in the future, she does not lack power or skill to upgrade so she should be able to keep up.
AMAZING. Impeccable form, even on releases, lovely bodyline and she effortlessly hits handstands and transitions. Huge potential here.
Fluke mistake here, but still lovely to watch. Recovers very well from the mistake, excellent form and choreography and does two double saltos from only one round-off which would imply she can fling much more difficult tumbles in the future.
Looks very nervous and fell obviously, but this does look fixable.
Canada
Canada will be hoping to continue strong after their best-ever result and first ever qualifying for team finals in London. They are losing their best senior, Peng Peng Lee to UCLA but they still have some strong seniors and a diamond in the rough coming up through their junior ranks.
Shallon Olsen
Shallon looks to be the full package as a gymnast. She can dance, has good flexibility, clean tumbling- AND super high difficulty. In fact her level of difficulty is a bit worrying as she has only just turned 12- senior in 2016- and having that difficulty so early sounds like a recipe for disaster- either injury, burn out, or a huge struggle to retain her skills as she grows. Hoping she can stay at this fabulous level, she's very exciting to watch and certainly looks like one of the strongest all-arounders if she can keep going for another 4 years.
Love her dance and confidence. GREAT tumbling- what a first pass for an 11 year old! (11 at this competition) Needs more finesse with her leaps and toepoint but this just screams future floor star.
Lots of difficulty here too. Beautiful flexibility and her acro skills look amazing, but this lacks fluidity due to her pauses and excessive bending before skills. Probably a bad habit as she certainly does not lack power.
Bars look to be her weak point, but look as if they could be really good and absolutely not bad enough to hold her back as an all-arounder. Toepoint is really obvious here and she doesn't hit her handstands or hold her leg form well enough- but she's very speedy and flighty and with some hard work on form, these could be special.
Nice DTY, lovely upright landing and she holds the form very well. Again, wow at the difficulty from one so young. She needs to be coached extremely well and paced better to remain at this level.
This is much lower and I'm not sure what it is- one in the Khorkina style obviously but I don't know it's worth. If she gets more height this would be great to see, vault certainly needs diversity.
Brazil
No country is more in need of fresh young talent than Brazil, as their team was too aged in London to really shine. Funding will probably be more forthcoming as they are hosting the next Olympics so let's hope they can make more of an impact for their home games.
Rebeca Andrade
Rebeca is an unbelievable floor worker who gets crazy height on her tumbles and leaps. Her double tuck and pike have Daiane Dos Santos height, and her twists are reminiscent of the height McKayla Maroney commands on hers. Beam looks really good, her power translates well. Bars are unsurprisingly weak with bad toepoint, but check out her release! Vault is very powerful DTY. Bursting with potential, especially if she can fix her bars and she has lots of time as she will not turn senior until 2015. Wonderfully exciting gymnast who will have all eyes on her to bring glory to Brazil's gymnastics programme for Rio.
WOW. The idea that she would struggle to upgrade is laughable..unreal power and height. Leaps are fantastic too and she can certainly dance.
Super DTY, great height and form, and what an upright landing.
Not her best event, but this is really good. Lovely and floaty and her power serves her well- a standing full twist would be a cinch for her, and a Patterson dismount.
Here comes the weak point! Nevertheless, she has a Comaneci and it is amazing. Lots of form errors like toepoint, but with work this wouldn't be able to hold her back.
I can't find anything concrete on Japan, sadly. They do have plenty of strong seniors, including the as yet untested Mai Murakami of the insane floor upgrades and potential star vaulter, and the wonderful beam worker Natsumi Sasada..not forgetting tiny dynamo Asuka Teramoto as well as veterans Rie Tanaka and Koko Tsurumi, neither of whom look laboured or burned out in the slightest. Japan are the masters of preserving their seniors, which is probably one reason why their juniors are not that big a deal. I know I have missed other countries, but these are the gymnasts with the most potential in MY opinion who come from countries outside of the top 4.
Hungary have not really had a break-out gymnast since Henrietta Onodi. Funding is an issue but there is definitely talent lurking.
Noemie Makra
Noemie needs a lot more difficulty to contend with the top few, but is a very good all-around prospect, strong on bars and floor in particular. Slight form issues, but could well go further than any gymnast from Hungary has done since Henrietta Onodi. Nice technique and form overall, and long lines. Noemi will turn senior in 2013. No photos of her.
Ukraine
Ukraine really need a few gymnasts with Lilia Podkopayeva consistency but it doesn't look like that's happening yet, sadly. They have issues both with money and with a lack of team spirit/unity from the coaches. The beauty is there and the difficulty is on the way..some more consistent with not falling than others, but hopefully it can gel together before Rio. Mariya Livchikova the fabulous senior has unfinished business, injured at worlds, injured for the test event to qualify to London, a dissapointing Euros and then a fabulous showing at Nationals. She definitely has more to give. Nataliya Kononenko and Yana Demyanchuk are strong too, though headcases abound in both the junior and senior ranks as usual! Cannot find photos of this lot.
Darya Matveyeva
Darya is especially fabulous on bars, but could definitely be a strong all-arounder. Unfortunately falls are not out of the question for her but the potential is all there, hoping she makes the transition to senior well and builds on her difficulty and consistency.
Darya Kloptsova
Darya Kloptsova is bursting with potential. Steadier than some of her teammates, and she has more time to work on it as she turns senior in 2014. Beautiful to watch on floor and bars and her beam has some nice touches.
Olesya Sazonova
Olesya is more of an unknown, but she definitely figures into the equation because she has quite a lot of difficulty compared to her teammates on floor, and seems quite solid on beam too. A very valuable gymnast for them. She has improved dramatically since 2011 apparently, so let's hope she continues. Great power on floor and confidence on beam (cannot find bars or vault), she lacks finesse with landings and some leaps though. She turns senior in 2013.
Other Ukrainian juniors of note: Olena Vasylieva
Belarus
Belarus has never figured since the break-up of the Soviet Union, although they were the nation that produced some fabulous Soviet greats like Svetlana Boguinskaya. It would be really wonderful to see them make an impact.
Dayana Hryhoryeva
Dayana specialises in uneven bars, of all the juniors she is the best bars worker as she has phenomenal swing and form and makes everything look effortless. Very graceful to watch on floor, really exquisitite form and she is bursting with poise and artistry. She is another who could become an event specialist or continue building her difficulty up to be an all-arounder, although she desperately needs higher d-scores to contend in the future, she does not lack power or skill to upgrade so she should be able to keep up.
Canada
Canada will be hoping to continue strong after their best-ever result and first ever qualifying for team finals in London. They are losing their best senior, Peng Peng Lee to UCLA but they still have some strong seniors and a diamond in the rough coming up through their junior ranks.
Shallon Olsen
Shallon looks to be the full package as a gymnast. She can dance, has good flexibility, clean tumbling- AND super high difficulty. In fact her level of difficulty is a bit worrying as she has only just turned 12- senior in 2016- and having that difficulty so early sounds like a recipe for disaster- either injury, burn out, or a huge struggle to retain her skills as she grows. Hoping she can stay at this fabulous level, she's very exciting to watch and certainly looks like one of the strongest all-arounders if she can keep going for another 4 years.
Brazil
No country is more in need of fresh young talent than Brazil, as their team was too aged in London to really shine. Funding will probably be more forthcoming as they are hosting the next Olympics so let's hope they can make more of an impact for their home games.
Rebeca Andrade
Rebeca is an unbelievable floor worker who gets crazy height on her tumbles and leaps. Her double tuck and pike have Daiane Dos Santos height, and her twists are reminiscent of the height McKayla Maroney commands on hers. Beam looks really good, her power translates well. Bars are unsurprisingly weak with bad toepoint, but check out her release! Vault is very powerful DTY. Bursting with potential, especially if she can fix her bars and she has lots of time as she will not turn senior until 2015. Wonderfully exciting gymnast who will have all eyes on her to bring glory to Brazil's gymnastics programme for Rio.
I can't find anything concrete on Japan, sadly. They do have plenty of strong seniors, including the as yet untested Mai Murakami of the insane floor upgrades and potential star vaulter, and the wonderful beam worker Natsumi Sasada..not forgetting tiny dynamo Asuka Teramoto as well as veterans Rie Tanaka and Koko Tsurumi, neither of whom look laboured or burned out in the slightest. Japan are the masters of preserving their seniors, which is probably one reason why their juniors are not that big a deal. I know I have missed other countries, but these are the gymnasts with the most potential in MY opinion who come from countries outside of the top 4.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)