French World Cup and stuff

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

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

:D 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Medals with a fall

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!

A look back at the 2010 Worlds AA: "Live" Blog

This was a suggestion, to look back and comment on a past competition. I picked this one because I am very familiar with these gymnasts and because I am more familiar with the scoring, as opposed to the last quad. I also picked it because it saw the rise and domination by a true great.

2010 World Championships All-Around, Rotterdam

The greatest excitement in this all-around competition surrounds Aliya Mustafina of Russia, the highest qualifier who does not have a weak event. Rebecca Bross of USA also has high hopes surrounding her. Bringing up the rear are their respective tag teams, the highly entertaining one of the unbelievably bad amanar Tatiana Nabieva and the powerful one of the much lamented form, Aly Raisman. Also present are the beautifully elegant but with a shitty weak vault Ana Porgras of Romania and the ultimate headcase can-be-great Huang Qiushuang of China and the fan favourite Jiang Yuyuan.

The USA at this point are weak. Rebecca Bross has almost a clear field as the 2008 team have fizzled away and stars like Jordyn Wieber aren't able to compete at the senior level yet. (Except of course at SCAM, which does not folllow any noticeable rules). Aly Raisman is a worthy number 2 all-arounder, but has quite a few issues and areas to clean up. Russia are a mixture. Aliya Mustafina is the greatest prodigy they have produced this side of the millenium and Tatiana Nabieva is strong on some events, but they are also suffering from lack of depth halfway through the quad. Romania are going through an upheaval with the changing of the guard, and a hideous lack of depth. Ana Porgras is truly exceptional with gorgeous gymnastics but lacks power. A 1.5 Yurchenko has no place in a major all-around for a top competitor. China's super-young team of 2008 (ahem I do not believe they were underage) are a bit all over the place at this point, though some remain firmly in the game, puberty is taking its toll.

(Sadly, I cannot find BBC coverage of the AA. DAMN. NBC it is)

Rotation One

Raisman VAULT Having failed to perform an amanar safely earlier that year, Aly has reverted to a DTY. Nice colour pink/berry leotard, pity about the white swirls which add nothing. Elfi and Tim are pretty complimentary of her rock-steady status, nice to hear. A really efficient vault, bounces out of the landing but it's really well done. Slightly sloppy and her feet kinda ugly in the air, but still a very decent vault. 14.9 fair score

Bross VAULT I appreciate Bross as a gymnast, but I never enjoy her routines. She comes across as stiff and robotic with uninspiring choreography or expression. I hate to say it, but her sickled feet take away from her line terribly, even though I know she cannot do anything about it (there are LOADS who have no excuse!) it still is just not nice to see. Another DTY, loose leg form in the air and she lands quite low and takes a step back. She was still recovering from a shin injury though, so this was a really good effort considering. Same leo as Aly. 14.7

Nabieva BARS Here comes the delightful Nabs. Gymnastics is always in need of fiery or different personalities I think. Painful as her vault is to watch, her form on bars is a totally different story. Here comes her signature move! LOVE it, great height and straight into a Pak. Wobbles slightly in her handstands, Tkachev slightly flat but still fine. Plants her dismount firmly as if the mat had insulted her. BOOF! Replay shows loose enough leg form, damnit. Looking like a total badass in a glorious black leotard, looks like the same leo as Nastia and Shawn's 08 one. Fabulous in black. 15.133

Mustafina VAULT Mustafina eyes the vault with pure ice in her eyes. Great game face. The first amanar of the day and probably one of only 2. Twisting form is not spectacular, crossing and loose form is evident in her legs but it's not atrocious. Nice landing in the centre, just a small step. It's not until the replay that you see how dangerous it is, because she's twisting into the ground. Also highlights the leg form and leg seperation on her block. Urggh. Truly this is a day of ugly vaulting. Another who gets the job done though. She looks well in purple, but it's an overused swirly leotard which gets no love from me. 15.666

Porgras VAULT Ah here comes Ana to show us an elegant vault, pity it's worth feck all. Gloriously done, beautiful form. Nice landing too. White and black leo, something about it looks PVC. Inoffensive, not great. 13.966 Sigh

Huang VAULT Our favourite headcase sounds a return to fugly vaulting. It's not awful, a decent DTY with some leg form. Small hop forward. Replay shows her legs fairly bent at the knee, but not enough to be declared tucked or anything. Standard reddish leo, looks fine. Can't find the score on this, probably a 14.7 or something like that.

Jiang VAULT Beijing cutiepie of the super-expressive floor is back, looking a bit older. She had an amanar in 2008 but was pulled from team finals with it as she kept messing it up right before. Nevertheless, a good vaulter and here she shows a BEAUTIFUL DTY, textbook stuff and by the far the best one shown today. Jiang was one who was slightly all over the place after Beijing but this is a nice return to form. Replay shows bending of the hips and a tiny hop back on presentation, but still glorious. 14.833 Same standard leo.

- Rotation one standings: Mustafina leads by half a point. Not surprising!

Rotation Two

Bross BARS Truly one of the most aggressive bar workers ever. Great attack and handstands, nice height on her releases. I love her form on her stoop-throughs. Plants the dismount! Nice, but Mustafina's difficulty advantage on vault is fairly insurmountable. 14.933


Nabieva BEAM Excellent death stare! No casual stepping onto the beam from her, beautiful flic-flac mount instead. Brings her foot up on her barani but recovers fast. NICE barani though. And she's off on her round-off layout series, hitting her chest quite badly in the process which elicits a gasp from Elfi. Total shame. A bit rattled, probably in pain from that. Nice double tuck dismount, really sharp. Bahhh, fall deduction takes her right out of course. She is PISSED. NBC sees fit to replay the fall about 4 times, trying to see what she hit. Charming. 13.266

Mustafina BARS Yuss, a beautiful bars routine is on the way. Lovely crisp lines and fluidity. Lucky to catch her last release as it's really low but otherwise this is well done. Nice dismount, her own skill, just slight hop forward. Great routine. 15.350 Well deserved.


Porgras BARS Very reminiscent of Yang Yilin's lines, fantastic pencil-like form. Great height on her releases and flight between the bars. Plants a great double layout dismount. Fabulous. Could have done with higher difficulty, which is reflected in her 14.666 score.

Huang BARS Lovely pirouetting, nice and sharp. Big form break though, ughh. Really nice intricate high bar work. Great double layout with a planted landing. Ha she looks back at the bars like they pissed in her cornflakes, classic. 15.2 Hmm, seems a bit high considering.

Jiang BARS Not known as a great bars worker, but these are pretty nice. Very zippy in her movements, everything is done well and she has a nice pirouette combination. Lovely form and great full twisting double layout dismount. 15.533 WOW, nicely rewarded.

Raisman BARS Always her greatest weakness, and moreso here. Struggles but is doing okay until she messes up a turn towards the end and has to jump off. A great shame that her competition ends like this. Horrific flexed feet throughout. Nice dismount though. Lol at Al 'that could be a red flag for the Olympics'. Even with the power of hindsight that I have, that was a stupid statement to make, especially 2 years off London. 11.7

Rotation 2 standings. Mustafina has increased her lead to 6 tenths. Raisman and Nabieva are gone from the top, Jiang and Huang have replaced them. Lol at Al talking about Bross 'She's going to have to climb a big Russian mountain by the name of Mustafina'.

RotationThree

Mustafina BEAM Looking very determined here. Really nice double turn and a total stomp on her arabian. Leap series is totally badass. Extremely confident first half of routine, but some wobbles towards the end. Love her 'STOP' hand. Crossed feet in her triple twist dismount, but still a great routine. That leo looks worse as the competition goes on though.

Mitchell FLOOR First look at Australia's Lauren. Never going to be a favourite floor worker of mine, but she is a great tumbler. Woah seriously 80's elevator music. Really nice double arabian but was lucky to keep the uncontrolled stag leap in bounds. Full twisting double back is a little messy with a low landing, but sticks it. Awkward dance bit...fights to keep her cossack turn, but manages it. Really awful posey dance bit in the corner, she has great ability but her dance is eh not much to write home about. Beautiful combination twisting third pass. Another awful posey bit in another corner! NOOOO. Great double pike to end. What a tumbler, but the rest of the routine...I will end this by saying I really appreciate what she has done for Australian gymnastics AND only one pass had a leap out of it. Plainish black leo with red and blue swirly bits. Not bad at all, it's pretty decent actually.  14.6

Porgras BEAM Yay. Fabulous flexibility, great sheep jump. Pure elegance and form perfection. Really strong in her acro line. Gorgeous leaps. Really nice double pike, but takes an expensive step back. I like how Al says the Chinese now have to do something great to 'catch the Russian' because I'm now picturing them chasing Mustafina with nets. 15.433 Awesome

Huang BEAM This is a bit scrappy straight off the bat, leg up on first skill and misses a connection shortly after. Lacking confidence in her skills, but they are well done. And she's still on the beam, which considering her headcase label is great. Really nice double pike dismount. 14.7

Jiang BEAM She really is stunning. Really low landing on her pike front. Everything else is great, with planted landings but it's very skill-skill and doesn't flow very well. Nice Rulfova but it's all a bit stop and start, from the Deng Linlin school of beam routines really. Still it's a very good routine and she is precise in everything. Great dismount also. 15.066

Bross BEAM Needs a killer routine here to offset the Chinese. Mustafina is untouchable at this point. Runs onto the beam, nice attack. Can't get her balance after her arabian and ends up having to come off. Sad to see. Keeps her focus but it looks like she's going through the motions as she's clearly gutted. Loses her balance again but saves it. Heads into the Patterson and lands it well, slightly low but fine. Devastating fall though. That makes falls from both Americans, everyone else is largely clear of big errors. 14.1 Still in the game with a score like that actually, which is too high.


End of rotation standings (nice Ibiza vibe to the rotation music): Mustafina's lead still more than half a point. Jiang Yuyuan and Huang Qiushuang bringing up the podium. Bross in 5th, not too shabby after that fall.

Rotation 4

Porgras FLOOR Gorgeous spin straight off the top, though I think she dropped her heel early. Great planted first pass- full twisting double I think? It's so clean it's hard to tell. Another lovely pass, twist into layout. Wonderful elegance throughout this routine. Nice balletic-style dance with a good spin. Sprightly music suits her so well as it also screams class. Sky-high double tuck and a planted double pike, slightly low. She doesn't have huge power, but it looks decent enough to improve her vault, the weakness of which remains a mystery. Great routine and a great competition. 14.3

Huang FLOOR Lots of talking about climbing and mountains from Al. This is 'the second gymnast Bross has to climb over'. And she fulfils their wishes by landing out of bounds on her first pass. One of the most expressive gymnasts on floor though, really gets into the movement. Sad about the headcase bit, which always haunts her on floor. HUGE air on her full twisting double pike, plants that landing safely. Wonderful dance, working really well to her interesting tribal-mix music. Very nice double pike to end. Probably needed more difficulty to offset that OOB. Great dancer though. Replay shows her landing out of bounds, half a point off. Worse than previously thought. NBC are THRILLED. 13.7 bahhh

Jiang FLOOR Using her crowd pleaser 2008 music, excellent. Combination twisting first pass. Double tuck, well done. Seems a little lacklustre compared to her former sparkle on this routine, probably tired. Difficulty is a bit low too. Nice spin and double pike. A bit dissapointing, but well performed. 14.566

Bross FLOOR Needs a really high score to medal. Nice first pass, layout into double arabian to stag leap. Lovely combination second pass. Dance is a bit all over the place, she looks awkward. Another awesome third pass, should be enough..? Floor scores pretty harsh here though. 15.233 Now that is a bit of an overscore.

Mustafina FLOOR And the routine that will seal the deal. Love this music, so perfect for her. Gorgeous tucked arabian, really high. Bit of a meh stag leap out of it but haven't seen anyone do much better with it. Great twisting combination second pass, leg form not noticeable in real time or with the angle. Nice precise spins and lovely fluid movements. Third pass another combo one, sticks the landing and it looks great in the air. Triple full to end and out comes the crossing of the feet! Still, fabulous routine. 15.033

1. Aliya Mustafina
2. Jiang Yuyuan
3. Rebecca Bross


Okay wow that took a while. I absolutely love watching Aliya Mustafina at the top of her game, and hope to see her get back there again as she is clearly able to show more than she did in London. She literally picked up the competition and swept the floor with them. Amazing to watch. Rebecca Bross was quite hyped up for this but even without the fall she would not have been able to take gold. Maybe not the deepest of competitions, but a great one for the pure dominance of Musty. Some really bad replays here, lots with a gymnasts hands leaving the bar and catching it again, same with feet on a beam- err great? Some not so nice overscores and underscores too.

The sickled feet debate

Arghhh. This sickens me. Although I am well aware that Rebecca has little choice but to do this, I still hate it. It really ruins her routines for me, great as they are otherwise. It's very possible to despise how this ruins a bodyline and hope that gymnasts who ARE capable of straight legs and feet can get out of the habit without being some sort of monster who hates Rebecca for her knock knees, but the internet thinks otherwise!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team is Gabby, Jordyn, Aly, Kyla and...McKayla! Thank GOD. It was pretty obvious but even so. Not much of a deliberation really. They were all in tears walking out, was lovely...except for Kyla, surprisingly! I must have missed that in my excitment. Alternates! Price, Finnegan and....Li! Price has the edge over Sacramone, suspected that would happen. Finnegan not a surprise. Li takes over from Sloan, she always had a much better bars but unusable everywhere else. Congratulations to all.

SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!

Gutted for those dissappointed, and especially Bross, horrible to end like that. Vega I would say is dissapointed, and Baker. Sacramone had a greater chance at alternate but they did need bars. She seemed at peace with this possiblity before so hopefully she's okay...although it doesn't look it, preparing for the worst is smart but it can be very different when it actually happens as to how you cope with it.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Great gymnasts we won't see in London

Inconsistency, injury and recovery and sheer depth has done these gymnasts out of their chance to shine in London.

Ana Porgras

Ana is the most artistic gymnast to emerge this quad. Her lines are exquisite and very reminiscent of old-school beautiful lines such as Aurelia Dobre. She could also swing bars like Romanians haven't since the late 1980's. A beautiful bar and beam worker, she also had an elegant floor. Vault was her nemesis into breaking into the AA, as she never really mastered a DTY. Truly a gymnast who would have flourished in the perfect 10 code, Ana was dogged by injuries for most of her senior career and has now retired. With more and more older gymnasts making comebacks, we can hope she will also.

Mariya Livchikova

Mariya is quite similar to Ana, her artistry is evident in her beam and floor, which are works of art. Her beam also showcases great original connections. Unfortunately she also has the Ukrainian tendency to splat all over the place, but it was her injury last year which counted her out of receiving the only WAG place for Ukraine, who shockingly placed so badly they cannot field a time. We can hope Mariya will stick around.

Cheng Fei

Admittedly she had her chance at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but individually failed to shine at both. A huge departure from the Chinese tradition of having petite gymnasts excel at bars and beam, Fei was a powerhouse on vault and floor, with an amanar and a double-double as her highlights as well as a fierce beam routine. This time around, her strengths would have been helpful in complementing those of her team-mates. Unfortunately, Fei has fallen victim to the plague of achilles tendon, ruptured performing a triple twist on floor. Her presence and strength on floor will be missed.

Rebecca Bross

 Rebecca Bross peaked in the middle of the quad. Seen as a lock for the US Olympic team two years ago, she will now be very lucky to make alternate. She blew her knee vaulting last year, and it appears to have impacted her greatly. She is now only training two events and neither will score high enough to justify taking her. A sad end for a great gymnast.

Mai Murakami

I've already spoken quite a bit about Mai. In short, she is amazing and has incredible difficulty. Inconsistency was an issue at the Japan nationals so she missed out. Thankfully Japan love sending veterans so we can hope she will be around for the next quad.. 2013 worlds!