Cranking numbers for Antwerp and more news

Who has the highest difficulty this year going into Antwerp? It's very hard to say who will hit their connections or who will definitely upgrade etc. but having a look at the raw difficulty scores of the top contenders is still very interesting.

1. Larisa Iordache, Romania. 25 (VT 5.8 UB 5.9 BB 6.9 FX 6.4)
2. Shang Chunsong, China. 24.6 (VT 5.0 UB 6.9 BB 6.6 FX 6.1)
3. Aliya Mustafina, Russia. 24.4 (VT 5.8 UB 6.3 BB 6.4 FX 5.9)
4. Simone Biles, USA. 24.3-5 (VT 6.3 UB 6.1 BB 5.7-9 FX 6.2)
5. Kyla Ross, USA. 23.7-9 (VT 5.8 UB 6.4 BB 5.8-6 FX 5.7)

Edit- There has been a reshuffle, Shang Chunsong's full bars routine is 6.9 so she bumps Aliya Mustafina to third. Simone Biles is either third or fifth, depending on what day of Nationals you pick.. 

Now for the fun bit!

- Larisa Iordache is not guaranteed to get 6.4 on floor. Nor is she guaranteed to get all of her connections on bars- we all know it's a weak spot and for one routine at Euros she just got 5.5. So..
- We would be underestimating Aliya Mustafina if we expect her to roll up at Antwerp with 6.3 bars. I believe she will be aiming for at least two tenths extra there, possibly four. At the same time, if her triple on floor is gone with no replacement or a lower difficulty replacement, expect that to drop. If she CAN squeeze a double layout in instead of it, it will go up 0.1 If she goes for the triple y turn and gets it credited, that is 0.1 also. On the other hand, her beam connections have been dodgy more than they have been solid.
- Shang Chunsong is said to be training a DTY. She has not done it yet at National Games, but if she does throw one at Antwerp- that is 25.2! She's not immune to mistakes/lost connections but neither are any of the top few. Her super high d score WITH an FTY is incredible, and not as one-sided as the infamous Nastia example since she's also very good on floor.
- Simone's score here is with her downgraded beam which she competed at Nationals. IF she brings back her better routine, her total goes up to 24.9. I don't know what to do with her beam, I was so sure the routines were the same at Nationals both days but I was fixated on Day 1, which was lowest. So she MAY be second in this list- not sure whether to bump her up or not in my 'standings'. Her floor is at its lowest- if she brings back the 1.5 to tucked full in she gets 0.2 more so 6.4 and if she does the DLO half-out it will almost certainty be given a value of G, so another 0.1 to 6.5. If she does the double wolf it will be insurance if one of her leaps gets downgraded/not credited. Her full total could be 25.2, but this is far from a given of course. Her floor score is a little complicated- I think because of the leaps. Please feel free to correct me- I am going by YT coded videos which seem to credit everything, and then actual competition scores.
- Don't expect Kyla Ross' difficulty to increase, Marta herself has said this is it. She CAN lose connections on beam if she is unsteady. I wasn't sure what beam d-score to go with since 6.0 was the last but she's been competing with 5.7-8 all year. Her high execution could have her more equal with Simone if Simone doesn't upgrade.
- Yao Jinnan is not included as she is injured and her routines at National Games are being downgraded and upgraded where possible to accommodate that and it's just a mess. She DOES have the highest possible bars d-score though. (7.0) Diana Bulimar (23.3 full capabilty) is not here because she is not a top contender I don't think. She should be, I know.

So, there are quite a few scenarios that can change things, the most dramatic being if Shang Chunsong acquires a DTY. Let's not forget execution- Simone may not get full credit for her leaps, Larisa will more than likely get slammed on bars and any of the what-if's- like Kyla having a low landing, or of course out of bounds, falls etc. etc. The problem with Kyla which is plain as day here, is that even with her full difficulty and Simone who's nearest at her lowest- there's a gap. So she basically has no reserve and needs to be perfect, whereas most of the others can afford some mistakes.

EDIT- I have been linked to some statistics compiled by a poster called Yingova on a thread on a Chinese forum. My favourite one is highest d-score credited this year. Simone Biles 24.9 Aliya Mustafina 24.5 Larisa Iordache and Yao Jinnan 24.1 Shang Chunsong 24 and Kyla Ross 23.9. Not all of those are recent but clearly the AA despite some absences and others under threat will still be interesting..

On to other news- the National Games Team Final took place yesterday, with the podium being in order- Shanghai, Zheijang and Hunan provinces. Zheijang lost out on gold by one error in the end- Wang Wei's fall on her triple twist, which is not nice knowledge for her to carry in a competition this big and prestigious. (Shanghai includes Sui Lu, Tan Sixin, Zheijang Huang Huidan, Luo Huan and Hunan Shang Chunsong, Tan Jiaxin).

- Shang Chunsong hit, again. Not fantastic bars- lost it on a handstand and nearly on another, but hey, she didn't fall. Huang Huidan also hit again, even more astonishing. Great news for these two, and promising for their worlds debut.
- Yao Jinnan struggled with her injury. She fell on floor, and only did an FTY- thankfully. She downgraded her beam and fell twice on bars- on the new Mo Salto and on her Tkachev. The Mo was caught with one hand. I'm so thrilled she went for it and although I'm worried that she still has routines left to compete like floor and vault and her all-around prospects for worlds are not looking good- I've no concern over her bars. It was a fabulous routine and I think it was moreso the mental pressure of carrying your team when you're injured that got to her there.
- He Kexin fell twice on bars, on her Pak and Jaeger. Her bars in qualifying were not as great as usual, and she has obviously been pushing herself to compete here at all. She easily made the bars finals and can hopefully redeem herself there.
- Zeng Siqi fell on beam, again. She still has the AA but it's a bit too little too late at this stage. Beautiful work but her endurance has long been a problem and with consistency on top of that..I think she should be building her routines now and her strength rather than unleashing them on the world stage.
- Wang Yan had a disaster on beam but hit her vault. Tan Jiaxin fell on bars again but hit her vaults too. Junior Luo Huan impressed with a gigantic beam score of 15.067- tying Sui Lu with both execution and difficulty (6.3), despite being eight years younger.

Videos are here. and here. The full livestream has been reuploaded.

Part 2 is the video response underneath. To help you out (and me) here is a little list of the major gymnasts and their competition numbers. I think it's easier than confusing people with what province features on what event in what rotation. Anyway, feel free to comment 'who's number 96' or whatever and I'll find out. Thanks to WangXiangu for compiling the source for this :)
  
Shang Chunsong- 100
Sui Lu- 136
Yao Jinnan- 32
Huang Qiushuang- 40
Wu Liufang- 46
Tan Sixin- 138
Lv Jiaqi- 172- 2016 senior
Luo Huan- 174- 2016 senior
Tan Jiaxin- 102
Zeng Siqi- 106
Liu Tingting- 42- 2016 senior
Wang Yan- 22- 2015 senior
Huang Huidan- 166
Fan Yilin- 134- 2015 senior
He Kexin- 14

The Japan Junior list is out and you should be excited because it looks a lot better than that YOG will be like, even just by virtue of more gymnasts and more birth years admissible. I think the top two places in the AA will be a US story but check out those names..Romania and Russia are sending their best, and so are China. I'm hoping for a livestream, there's a good bit of time to find out..

FIG have released the worlds nominative list, here.These names and events were submitted nearly two weeks ago and can be changed up to the day before competition starts. For instance, the Dutch team has been officially named and Wyomi Masela is on it in place of Vera van Pol who is listed. Viktoria Komova is on the list, but the news that Anna Rodionova may take her place was released after they submitted names for this list. Victoria Moors is not down for vault, Elsa Garcia does not appear, Australia have gymnasts when they have just announced they're not taking any, it is hoped that Viktoria Komova will do bars too, Sandra Izbasa is down for vault which is in question and the US are not naming their team for another ten days so I would call Brenna Dowell far from solid- others in the past have been shafted between the nominative list and competition for the US. All in all, I don't think a huge amount will change. The British team, which has not been named- is interesting. It is what a lot of people have suspected, that Hannah Whelan will just do floor and not beam since Becky Downie is outscoring her there and not the AA since she's not ready for that yet and Ruby Harrold is. Brazil's team has caused outrage, since Jade Barbosa is too injured to compete and Laetitia Costa has not competed well this year at all, so that might change too. I was hoping Jade would be better in time but it doesn't sound too positive. Italy's team is strange- it includes Sydney 2000 Olympian Adriana Crisci! I'm wondering where Elisa Meneghini and Elisabetta Preziosa are when it comes to who's in contention. Are there any other glaring mistakes or interesting omissions/inclusions?

Romanian Nationals are starting soon! For the first time they will be on a podium. Larisa Iordache is said to compete and I'll update with news of the competition.

More bad news! But some good

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

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

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

Let the various Nationals/Cups begin!

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

Bits of news

China are holding a regional competition, and snippets of news are emerging though it is closed to the public. Tan Sixin, Tan Jiaxin, Jiang Yuyuan, He Kexin, Zeng Siqi, Luo Peiru and a bunch of juniors- Luo Huan, Wang Wei, Xie Wenwei, Yuan Xiaoyang, Lv Jiaqi, Fan Yilin and more all competed in qualifications today. News comes from YangYilinAAandUBGold and another very helpful person on IGF who got it via Weibo and Baidu.

- Tan Jiaxin has a DTY and it's apparently great- scored 15! And high execution scores are not given out like candy so it must at least resemble the Bailie Key and Kyla Ross school of DTY's. She did not compete bars but she did floor, where she has a big mistake, no idea what. Still, this is very promising. I don't think she's the second coming of Cheng Fei or anything but she does have a lot of power and endurance, things which are still lacking among her teammates. And speaking of Cheng Fei, she's a National Team coach. I hope she find and mould gymnasts to emulate her.

- Luo Peiru and junior Wang Wei also have DTY's. There were some others performed too which is always good to hear. Luo Peiru is lovely on bars. Wang Wei also showed a double layout on floor.

- He Kexin did her old bars routine, which is now out of 6.8. It had issues, only scoring 13.95..a large step on the dismount and a pause apparently. But it's a long time to National Games all the same so she doesn't want to peak too soon.

- One of my favourites, junior Lv Jiaqi who is stunning to watch, now has 6.0 bars and 6.2 beam. She is quite young still, though elegible for Rio, so it's great to see make strides in her difficulty.

- It looks like Li Yiting nailed vault, she qualified first with 14.75

- Sadly, Jiang Yuyuan had a meltdown on bars. So did Zeng Siqi who fell on her Tkachev, hit the low bar and crashed the dismount. ZSQ also missed a connection on beam and took a large step on her dismount. I really hope she can get it together as her work is beautiful, but wow is she fragile.

- Tan Sixin had a mixed meet. She nailed beam for a monster score of 15.15, placing first. It also appears that she hit floor, though with quite weak passes. However she had trouble on bars and only vaulted a FTY. I hope she can become more relevant again.

- Sui Lu looked a bit sluggish, and missed her leap series on beam which decimated her score. She's another like He Kexin who has to be careful not to peak too soon.

Some videos:

Luo Huan UB Beautiful, great flight on transitions and I love her release (Deltchev? I suck at recognising some). A little pirouette heavy for a code that won't reward that as much though.
Tan Sixin BB Very steady set from her, I'm in love with her layout and dismount. Some very nice leaps too and her connections looked secure.
Wang Wei FX A pity about the punchfront but the DLO and the rest of her tumbling was gorgeous. Her choreo is a little scrappy, but the quiet bit in the middle is well done. One to watch.
Tan Jiaxin FX I can't wait to see her vault! Anyway, this is her first time to compete floor in quite a while I believe, and it's a strong effort. I wouldn't really be put off by her landing deductions and fall this early in the season. I liked the dramatic music and choreo to match.

Some of the videos won't load at all for me so I'm not going to link them. There's more in IGF on the China thread. EDIT: Apparently some videos have been made private. Hopefully some others still work?

Mariya Livchikova has torn her ACL, the other one this time. She was the poster girl for the Stella Zakharova meet, and then didn't compete. The source for this is a Ukrainian video, which you can see here. Inna Korobchinskaya, a Ukrainian coach says that the results of the MRI are 'not soothing..it looks like a complete tear of the ACL'. She goes on to say that recovery time differs between athletes of course, but she is definitely out for 6 months. Mariya tore her other ACL at 2011 worlds, and consequently missed the London Olympics as she could not contend for the single spot at the Test Event. This year she will miss Euros and Worlds. Awful. There are of course gymnasts who have bounced back from tearing both ACL's, but it's still incredibly difficult and sadly Mariya is part and parcel of an underfunded and now fragmented programme.

The Tokyo World Cup takes place this weekend. Former b-list gymnast Peyton Ernst has really upped her game and is expected to take the title. It will be interesting to see Shang Chunsong and what she does though. She was definitely seen training a piked Hindorff which has not been done before, and is rumoured to have a layout full on beam. She is apparently connecting the piked Hindorff to a Pak and still has the Tkachev-Geinger combination. She has a shap variation too into another Hindorff? Sounds awesome, looking forward to a video. Sadly she fell on it today but bits of it are new and it sounds exhausting, hopefully she'll get used to it.

Peyton Ernst is leading after day 1(vault and bars) at Tokyo. Second is Asuka Teramoto who vaulted a DTY...she looks too tiny for one! Sadly Shang Chunsong is in 6th after falling off bars. Huang Qiushuang only vaulted a FTY but she got through bars without incident I think.

Old news by now, but Aliya Mustafina won the AA at the Stella Zakharova meet despite a fall on floor. Her beam looks better than ever, the connections have definitely gotten better. Enormous pause to set up her dismount but I doubt she'd do that in major competition. Similarly with floor, we'll definitely see a better version at Euros, then again at Universiade and by the time Worlds rolls around it should be magnificent. No point in pushing herself too hard right now. It looks like it will be an interesting showdown at Euros though..

There's an exciting rumour that Yao Jinnan has a Mo Salto on bars now. I would pretty much be foaming at the mouth if I saw that materialise randomly in Antwerp. Unfortunately, there is also news that she hurt her hip and is in constant pain. Hopefully that clears up fast :( If she does have a Mo Salto it's likely it was learned in winter training, pre-injury.

More News

Alexander Alexandrov is in Brazil this week, with a view to forming a contract to coach their senior National Team. Brazil already poached another ill-treated Russian coach, Oleg Ostapenko, who coaches the junior team. While this would be beyond fantastic for the team leading into their home games...it would be a great shame for his personal student, Aliya Mustafina, who has already been dumped by her personal coach before. (Not Alexandrov..) So I'd be happy for Alexandrov to take up this oportunity, or indeed any fabulous opportunity that comes his way as he is an excellent coach and deserves it. Just after Mustafina retires would be preferable.

A video of the Chinese National Team training has emerged, shot by some Australians who were beyond lucky to even be there...though it's hard to call people suffering through Beijing's poisonous levels of air pollution lucky. Sui Lu can be seen on floor at the start. Shang Chunsong is the one on bars doing the lovely Hindorff to uprise. Zeng Siqi and Tan Sixin are tagged. It's great to see that Tan is back on the National Team and in full training, though it's obvious she has deteriorated. Hopefully just growing pains, she should be able to adjust. Zeng looks great, lovely connections. The other two on beam towards the end are Wang Wei and Yuan Xiaoyang, two of the most promising juniors. Wang is the one who falls on the layout and then nails it. It's private so I can't embed, watch it here.

Videos are circulating of Beyond the Routine- a Gymnastike documentary following Mary Lee Tracy at her gym, CGA. I find it hard to watch, from the dog on the mats to her beratement of the younger girls, the explanation of Amelia Hundley's nickname, her condescension to her gymnasts, favourtism, obsession over some stupid clock all the way to her dangerous driving. All in all, it confirms what I had already thought about how she operates, and then some. In a much more uplifting documentary (and this time free, so I'll link), we get a look at the daily lives of elite gymnasts. Very excited about this one! It's called Off the Mat and first up is the lovely Nia Dennis. The first episode focuses on her family life, the morning routine, her interaction with her cutiepie little sister Mya, and how her parents balance her gymnastics with quality family time- like her dad's conversations with her on the way to gym. An immediate impression is created of a great supportive family, it's nice to see. Next will be looking at her daily gym routine I think. The first episode is here.

Here is yet another great interview with McKayla Maroney, at the Metroplex Challenge where she signed autographs for 3 hours and only left because she was made to- I like hearing stuff like that. McKayla insists that she's not done and will be gearing up for worlds. She has an automatic berth for Nationals given her Olympian status, though if she misses it and verifies routines before Worlds, she would still stand a very good chance..particularly with a TTY or Y double back.

Alicia Sacramone has officially retired. Given the excellent shape she was in last year after another injury in late 2011, it's a shame, but she's definitely been around long enough and has a lot of medals to her name. She's not a gymnast I particularly like or enjoy watching, but I appreciate her enormous talent and longevity. I'll miss the fierceness of her beam certainly.

Here's Beth Tweddle's third performance on Dancing on Ice. Sadly her expression regressed a bit, though I can't blame her for entering wooden gymnast mode given the huge complexity and difficulty of her routine, which she nailed. Hopefully she can polish her performance more in the weeks to come.

None of this is particularly new because the One to Watch post took me 3 days or so, so news got old in the meantime.

BUT this is new- Romania will only have 3 girls at Euros! Dropping a place is a little ominous. I'm thinking Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar and Stefanie Stanila. There's no team finals, much like worlds, though I'm not sure if there's an AA. If there is, I don't think Iordache will do it because she will have done so at LRSY a month before. Germany will not have Elizabeth Seitz or several other elites because of the timing, right in their exam season apparently. Edit- Diana Chelaru is returning to the National Team and Sandra Izbasa is in full competitive training for this year so both of them are in the mix. I'd like to see Daniela Andrei get the nod for Euros though, especially if they don't want to tax Iordache and Bulimar.

Ellie Downie will compete at the WOGA Classic. She is the younger sister of Becky and has some lovely work, looking forward to seeing her. Also Jordan Chiles, who will be competing optionals in her bid for elite.

Danusia Francis won beam at UCLA vs Stanford! Nice. I.want.videos. Time difference kills me.

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).

 

2011 Balance Beam Final

I don't think I've ever seen such a 'beauty and the beast' lineup. Power- Ponor, Raisman, Wieber VS artistry Komova, Yao, Sui. Fascinating to see all of the different styles that will be on display. Komova has the burning desire of revenge, Wieber and Raisman are at a peak level and coming off team victory AND Wieber the AA victory. Sui Lu of course can never be counted out. The 2004 beam champion Catalina Ponor is in the mix, along with surprise AA bronze winner, newcomer Yao Jinnan. Exciting stuff AND I have BBC coverage for this.

They do a run through of the Wieber VS Komova rivalry all week which is well done..except for spelling Wieber wrong. Unforgiveable when they've been looking at her all week. Something about this arena seems quite dull and bleak, maybe just the colours they're using.

Catalina Ponor Switch side leap, wobbles slightly. Round off-layout, great height but another small wobble. Beautiful Onodi right into another acro line, steady. Serious speed in her hand movements. Another wobble on an aerial, brings her leg up. Sticks her full in dismount but very low. A very good routine for a comeback but too much hesitation. Gross leotard, her favourite black that she wears so well with sparkles only there's two nauseating maroon panels fighting with each other on the front that totally ruin it. 14.241 Very low even with her errors, but the reasoning is her very low difficulty, 5.7

Yao Jinnan Starts with a standing full twist, nicely done. Foot comes off when she lands but not too far and she easily gets it back on. Perfect acro line- BHS-RO-LO. Great precision. Nice leaps. If that aerial was supposed to be connected to that sheep jump there was way too much of a pause in between. Nice front somersault. Great spin and Yang Bo. Just the dismount left..double pike with a step back. Great routine, pity about the missed connection. Red leotard with some yellow swirls on the bodice. It's eh fine. 15.233

Aly Raisman Nice acro line straight off the bat, pounds the beam. Really crappy split leap with turn, does not hit 180. Pike front into a LOSO, slightly choppy form. Another not great leap but it probably achieved split. Looks like she's too afraid to really go for it on leaps. Into a pike front but as Christine says, 'she didn't make any attempt to join them'. Tiny wobble on her aerial. She is always perfect on her tuck and pike fronts though. Another tiny wobble on her turn. Aly can be much steadier and precise than this, dissapointing from her. Great double arabian dismount, tiny hop back but really well done. I'm conflicted about this leo. Red body which suits her so well, then dark blue sleeves with sparkles..but it's not the full sleeve, it stats from her neck and skips the shoulder. It's weird. 15.055

Viktoria Komova Nice roll onto the beam in straddle position- anything is better than just sitting on it as a mount. Lovely tuck front. Here comes the 1992 acro line- BHS-LOSO-LOSO! Great stuff, no hesitation. So floaty. Standing arabian, foot comes off but just like Yao gets it back on, no damage done. Nice L turn into walkover and she has a true connection to her sheep jump, but foot comes off again. Side somi, one of the most elegant ever done but wobbles slightly. Double spin and comes off. Ughhh. She could have fought for that at least somewhat..didn't seem bothered. The forerunner of things to come, that giving up. Nice double tuck but takes a step back. Just looks underpar and performs like it too, coming off injury. Nice dark blue leotard with some white, elegant but a bit dull. Loses some of her difficulty score too- 13.766

Yulia Inshina  Nice mount, press to handstand into a roll. Great split leap into a tuck back. Tiny hesitation but doesn't wobble. Sheep jump but her legs are too seperated on it, not pretty. Good leap combination, no hesitation here. Okay that was a really nice side somi. (?? side somi? nice?). Fabulous L turn. Steady in the free cartwheel. Good Yang Bo, only brings her head back for the smallest fraction of a second. Very nice routine, but doesn't have the difficulty needed either. Wearing the same leotard as Komova, but it suits Yulia better. 14.525

Jordyn Wieber She is so 'on'. Straddle mount, yawn. Nice free walkover, straight into one-handed BHS and LOSO. Very steady. Extremely effortless hitting her splits in her leaps, great pike front. Side somi, fine. Very slight wobble on her straddle jump, but she is working very well. Standing full twist into back walkover, tiny hesitation on the landing. This is just packed with acro and I don't see why it was changed for the worse. Ughh. Ha I can hear McKayla going nuts in the stand. Great 2 and a half twist dismount, just a slight hop. Super stuff from Jordyn, much more attack than Yao and Komova but no less dynamic and exciting. Wearing the berry pink 'tie' leotard, suits her. 15.133

Sui Lu Komova's fall is her opportunity as the second highest qualifier. Great pike front into Korbut. Tucked barani, wobbles slightly on landing. This is amazing stuff, acro line with a back walkover into tuck back. Turn into turn combination. Love it. Side somi, solid. Wolf jump into split leap, no problems there either. Great sheep jump. Another split leap variation into tuck back, tiny pause in between. Double pike, sticks it! WHAT a routine. 15.866 WOW

Amelia Racea Ooo a full twist in acro line, lovely! Wobbles and leans to the side but controls it well. Great split leap with turn, very effortless. Great straddle leap, they're rare. Free cartwheel into a side somi. Windmills her arms and her fellow Romanians shriek so loudly you'd imagine she'd jump off in fright but she's fine now. Lovely 2 and a half twisting dismount, takes a step. Lovely routine but too weak in difficulty. I seriously love this leotard, lilac body with white structuring stripes. It's beautiful. 14.533

1. Sui Lu
2. Yao Jinnan
3. Jordyn Wieber

Interesting competition. Amelia Racea and Yulia Inshina had the best composed and most elegant and fluid routines, a shame they didn't have higher difficulty. Aly should have been able to beat Jordyn but just wasn't solid and 'on' enough. Komova was recovering from injury here, but nevertheless showed how she does not fight for landings. Glorious routines from Yao and Sui and a good comeback from Catalina Ponor. Such difference between the routines!


I am pretty much done with old competitions. Sadly there is still not enough to talk about otherwise though.

Origin of London's difficult skills

All commentators stress the difficulty of certain skills. Certainly some of them are more prevalent now in competition than they ever were before, but extremely few were invented this side of the millenium which shows how innovative the 80's and 90's were when it did not pay to break the mould and perform a super-difficult skill. Here are the ones seen in London and their origins.

The Double Double/Silivas

This double double is currently a G skill and will be a H under the new code. In London it was performed by Jordyn Wieber, Victoria Moors, Larisa Iordache, Vanessa Ferrari and Anastasia Grishina. Though it is named after Daniela Silivas of Romania who performed it at the 1988 Olympics, it was first done by Aleftina Priakhina of USSR in 1986. Neither had great landings, but they were using a crap old floor.


Double Arabian beam dismount/Patterson

An exceptionally difficult beam dismount which requires a lot of height and speed. In London it was executed by Aly Raisman, Viktoria Komova and Marta Pihan-Kulesza. Carly Patterson of USA was the first to perform it, at the 2003 Worlds but Corey Fritzinger also of USA did it first in 2001. 

Standing Full twist- beam

A move which elicited awe when Shawn Johnson did it but it's much older than that. Usually has quite a low landing due to the difficulty of fully rotating it in time. In London it was performed by Gabby Douglas. This is another skill done first by Aleftina Priakhina of USSR, again in 1986.


Tucked full twist in acro line/combination

This one is more common as it provides more momentum to get the twist around, but is just as risky otherwise. In London it was performed by Larisa Iordache. The inventor is Ecaterina Szabo of Romania who performed it in 1983.


Full twisting double layout

This is the other skill to be awarded H status in the code. Performed only by Daiane Dos Santos of Brazil but although Catalina Ponor of Romania warmed one up in podium training she never competed it. Named after Oksana Chusovitina of USSR (at the time) who performed it in 1991. It was first done by Tatiana Tuzhikova of USSR in 1987.

Li Ya Jaeger-Jaeger combination bars

Performed only by He Kexin who despite growth has managed to keep this. Often called her original skill but it was first done by Li Ya also of China who competed it in 2006.

Tucked Barani/Grigoras

My favourite acrobatic skill on beam, it's quite rare. Sui Lu of China performed it in London and it was invented by Cristina Grigoras of Romania in 1980. Chellsie Memmel had a nice one too.

Amanar vault

The most common difficult skill/vault. It was performed by McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, Maria Paseka and Viktoria Komova. First performed by none other than Simona Amanar of Romania who did it at the 2000 Olympics.

Produnova vault

This was performed (read: sat down feet first) by Yamilet Pena Abreu of Dominican Republic in London. It is the hardest vault with a difficulty of 7.1 Notoriously difficult as it requires immense height and a powerful block. It was first attempted by Choe Jong Sil of North Korea at the 1980 Olympics but she completely crashed it so credit goes to Yelena Produnova of Russia who most notably landed it totally upright in 1999.

Def release- bars

The Def is a one and a half twisting Geinger, first performed by Jacques Def of France. His name has carried over to WAG as the first woman, Snejana Hristakieva of Bulgaria who first performed it in 1991 has a much less catchier name. It was done in London by Elizabeth Seitz of Germany. Interestingly, both perform it very sloppily but is IS possible for it to look neat- check out Cha Yong Hwa and Elena Dolgopolova.

Double Double bars dismount/ Fabrichnova

One of the hardest bars dismounts, this was performed by Beth Tweddle and Viktoria Komova in London. It was first done by Oksana Fabrichnova of Russia in 1993, and remains fairly rare.

Piked Double Arabian/Dos Santos I

This was performed by Aly Raisman and Beth Tweddle. The originator, Daiane Dos Santos of Brazil who first performed it in 2003 was in London but has not been doing it recently. It is one of the hardest floor tumbles and should be rated higher.


Full-in beam dismount

Having watched the 1996 AA all over again just recently, this was more common then. Performed in London by Catalina Ponor of Romania. It is was first done by Albina Shishova and Natalia Frolova both of USSR in 1983.

If I have missed any others in London who performed these skills please let me know. I did watch every single subdivision but some things can be forgotten easily. I have real issues about the standing full..there's no way it was just done by Gabby. As for the originators, I stand by all of them as being correct.

 

 

Official: London judges actually on crack

The judges report has been released and it makes for interesting reading. Some very questionable and downright mad judging going on.

Qualifying

Floor

Lauren Mitchell got an 8.0 and a 9.0 in execution for this routine. Seriously a whole point between two different judges?

The 9.0 judge gave Afanasyeva and Raisman the same execution score, when every other judge rightly had 0.1-0.4 difference in favour of Afan. Interestingly, gave Tweddle her lowest execution score too. So you hate artistry or not?

Bars

One judge gave Tweddle a 9.2 execution score and Komova an 8.5! Not surprisingly, this was Komova's lowest execution score by three tenths. The same judge gave Mustafina an 8.3, also her lowest by three tenths. Going to go out on a limb here and suggest this judge doesn't like Russia?

Douglas, Mustafina and Jinnan all had an 0.7 range between their execution scores.

Beam

One judge saw a tenth in the execution difference between Deng's and Sui's routines. Another saw a full point.

Jordyn's scores ranged from 8.2 to 9.0- 0.8 difference.

Two judges gave Raisman and Ross the same execution score..

Vault

One judge gave Douglas a higher score than Maroney's amanar by three tenths. WTF. The same judge also scored Jordyn's and Aly's amanars two tenths higher than Maroney's amanar.

Actually, only one judge thought Maroney's amanar was better than Jordyn's.


Team Finals

Floor

Victoria Moors was lowballed, receiving 0.7 less than Raisman for execution by the same judge. Not one judge scored her higher than Raisman.

Vault

One judge thought Douglas and Wieber deserved 9.6 for their vaults and Mustafina a 9.5. No, just no. All three have form and technique errors. And had just two-tenths between Maroney and Douglas..

Bars

One judge has 0.7 in the difference for execution between Tweddle and Jinnan, and 0.8 between Tweddle and Qiushuang, both in Tweddle's favour. ???

Beam

One judge gave Iordache and Ponor 9.0's and Sui 8.3!

Kyla Ross' scores have jumped from qualifying, for the exact same routine.

0.7 difference in Asuka Teramoto's score range.

A full point in Hannah Whelan's. Also the difference between Hannah's highest score and second highest score is 0.6.

All-Around

If the reference judges scores were used, Komova would have won the AA.

Floor

One judge gave four scores over 9. The rest only gave one each. The same judge gave Komova a 9.5! Also gave Douglas a 9.3 which devalues it a bit.


Vault

Douglas received THREE 9.5's for hers


Raisman received a 9.6!

Mustafina's lowest score was a 9.4

Bars

Mustafina's scores jump dramatically.

Douglas jumps too, and has 0.7 range in her scores

Beam

An 0.7 range in scores for Raisman and Komova

Komova received a 9.4! The same judge gave Deng four tenths less.

Douglas' scores have inflated again.

Floor Finals

The same judge who gave Raisman and Mustafina 9.3's gave Ponor an 8.5. This was Ponor's lowest score by SIX tenths.

The e-panel's score gave Ponor one tenth higher overall execution. The reference judges gave Raisman two tenths higher execution. Because of the difference between the e-panel and ref judges of Ponor's execution- 0.4, it was averaged between the two. If it had not been averaged, Ponor would have received 15.4. Still would have lost though.

Ferrari was lowballed completely.

Beam Finals

One judge gave Ponor and Raisman the same score.

One gave Deng a higher execution score than Sui   

Vault Finals

Paseka received no less than two 9.0's for her (not a) amanar.

Berger was lowballed and got an 8.5 for her Rudi.

Maroney's amanar received a 9.8 (before the neutral deduction), despite being noticeably not as good as the team finals one.

One judge have Pena an 8.0 for her unbelievable mess of a first vault. Another gave her 7.0- another point difference.


Overall

- Far too much disparity between scores, several instances where there was an 0.7 range and a good few where there was a full point. Regardless of the highest and lowest scores being dropped, this shouldn't be happening in the first place.
- Vault judges all on crack. An amanar once actually landed on the mat nevermind what direction it was facing or how much the gymnast came off the mat afterwards was totally gifted. Not near enough deductions on vault in general- dynamics, height, block technique..all ignored. Not near enough difference between Maroney and others.
- Too much inflation going on. Raisman in particular was gifted a lot of her scores, but few remained consistent throughout the whole competition for much the same routine.
- Some gymnasts were totally screwed, Ferrari the most obvious. Qiushuang another. Sui Lu in team finals beam, and Deng in the all-around.
- What subdivision you were in in qualifying greatly affected your score.
- Overscoring a big problem. Hard to believe that everyone thought crappy amanars were going to get slaughtered and that beam and floor were going to be harsh.




 

Thoughts on London's podiums

Not literally podiums, though the team finals one could have been bigger of course and they reminded me of Cadbury's (way way nicer than American chocolate). Moving on..

TEAM FINALS

USA on top looked like a foregone conclusion earlier this year, until USA's amanar advantage suddenly seemed to be eaten up by Russia's 2 confirmed and 1 possible amanar which along with their bars advantage made them a formidable threat. This only increased closer to the games when beam and floor upgrades started emerging practically every day.  Romania's resurgence with such a small pool of talent was realised probably most forcefully at Euros, which they won. Obviously dismal on bars, the huge start values on beam and floor and the videos of an amanar and cheng made their case for potential gold, especially if mistakes were forthcoming from the other two teams as consistency has long been Romania's greatest weapon in the hunt for medals.

Only a few days before prelims, disaster struck when the news of Larisa's very painful injury came to light. She was immediately struck out of the AA, then reinstated. Doubt over her ability to perform at her best was realised when she watered down in prelims and fell on floor. Romania on the whole played it safe and did not unleash all of their potential upgrades, which lessened their chances of gold or silver even before team finals. Russia did quite well in prelims, but played it safe too and had a good few wobbly beams and a weak floor from Komova to contend with, as well as being one amanar short of USA. USA on the other hand despite showing some errors like Kyla hitting her feet off the low bar (please stop growing Kyla..) and Gabby running out of bounds on floor, fulfilled their promise and stayed ahead of the pack. A great advantage to have going into team finals, even though it did not do their men's team any good in the end.

In the end of course, USA got it together and even though their team had a giant headcase, made no big or even medium errors. Gabby was clearly coached to peak for the right DAYS. Russia had to count a low-scoring amanar from Paseka, very wobbly beams and not one but two disastrous floors from Grishina and Afanasyeva. Romania had a subpar star, who could not do the amanar her team needed to push ahead further, or produce an excellent floor. Bulimar did a beautiful job in Larisa's stead, but counting 5.8 SV when you had a potential 6.7 is galling. Both Russia and Romania played it safe again, while USA fired ahead with all of their long-term upgrades. A closer fight would have been great, but there's no arguing with the final result. Had Russia hit 12/12 they would have gotten a LOT closer, but a 5 point lead is too much. A well deserved win, even if it was heartbreaking to see Russia crumble and Romania unable to fight as hard as they could have done with Larisa at her peak.

Too long, didn't read: Well done USA on a very decisive win, pity Russia and Romania weren't able to give it their all.


ALL- AROUND

This AA was much less exciting than everyone expected heading into the games. In fact, it was anti-climatic and a bit boring. Frustrating too, as overscores were blatant. Not that Gabby was the only culprit- hers were the worst but Komova, Raisman and Mustafina got some gifts too. Larisa Iordache, who could quite convincingly have taken gold had she been able to perform at her best with full difficulty, was placed in the second group. Yao Jinnan fell foul of the two-per-country rule, a thigh injury prevented her from being anywhere near her best, and Deng Linlin and Huang Qiushuang both qualified ahead of her. Not forgetting reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber who also fell foul of it, but much more controversially as she placed 4th, not 19th and did not have an outright 'bad' performance at all. So all in all, a deflating start to the competition, minus three possible stars. Gabby and Vika were always going to be top contenders, as long as both did not headcase in prelims and face the likelihood of being ousted by another all-arounder in their respective teams. Doubt was in evidence as to whether Mustafina had it in her to medal, a bad performance at Euros and a difficult road of recovery being the main reasons fuelling the speculation. Raisman was expected not to qualify at all, with a slim likelihood she could have done so if Gabby had messed up. Surging ahead of Gabby and placing higher than her in prelims, which knocked Jordyn out as she placed behind Gabby- was a huge suprise to everyone. Miss Raisman obviously worked intensely hard to improve her form, and that's all it took. Unfortunately, it also meant she faced a backlash from the media for knocking out the world champion (even though technically Gabby did) and huge attention was placed on Jordyn's plight while Aly's triumph was ignored. Not a great start to the biggest competition of your life.

Gabby retained the quality of performance she showed at team finals, her headcase label was nowhere to be seen. A strong amanar, a steady beam set, great bars and staying in bounds on floor was all it took, 4 great performances in all. Komova unquestionably would have taken the title off her IF she had performed at her best, but she couldn't get it together. A bad landing on her amanar right at the start sunk her, as she scored a huge four-tenths less than she could have done. Great bars, a very strong beam and THE best performed and most beautiful floor of the quad, which nobody thought she had in her..was not enough, she fell just short of Gabby's enormous total. We can argue all day long  about whether Komova's higher standard of beauty in her gymnastics should have swung the gold in her favour, but I don't think so..not with THAT vault. Although Gabby got some sickening scores like the second highest beam score from the whole competition, outscoring all of Sui Lu's and Catalina's magnificent team finals beam, and an insane score on bars, Vika was quite frankly gifted in some of her scores too, most notably beam. I would not blame the judges for marking her execution higher there because of her exquisite form and leaps, but it's clear to see that it wasn't just one gymnast being overscored.

Moving on, wow a tiebreaker. The first of five, but we weren't to know that. And how heartbreaking, especially as both Aliya and Aly had to bear the knowledge that they both had big errors. If either had hit all four, it wouldn't have been an issue. Had they both hit, it most likely wouldn't have been either. But to know that if you were in a tiebreak situation because you didn't do your best is really tough. Aly's big error on beam did her in, as it meant her bars had to be counted. Every other time, her beam could be relied on for a nice high score, but not this time. Aliya had to handle the fact that she fell off beam, staying on would have put her substantially ahead of course. Every tiebreaker sucked, this one the worst I think. Both deserved the bronze. Aly had to go back with the knowledge that she missed out on a medal she earned thanks to a ridiculous rule, and knowing there would be lots of smug fuckers thinking 'Should have given her place to Jordyn'. All in all, a very dissapointing competition. Gabby and Vika's positions were correct thanks to the latter's errors but a tiebreaker really sucked the fun out of it in the end,

Too long didn't read: Gutting that Jordyn, Larisa and Yao weren't in it. Gabby's gold deserved due to Vika's crappy vault. Tiebreaker sucked.


VAULT FINAL

There are no words to describe the horror of this event final. It is almost reassuring to note that the biggest proof of Maroney's talent is not that she still managed a silver, it is that had she repeated the amanar she performed in team finals again here, she would have gotten gold. Gold with a fall. That's incredible. It received a three tenth deduction of landing on the red (fascinating to note that the FIG don't care if your vault landing is so bad you have to come off the mat entirely and practically hug the judges- just as long as you land on white there's no deduction!) and another for landing offline. Anyway, it was very dissapointing that the fantastic Giulia Steingruber failed to qualify after falling on hers, that Maksiuta fell also and that Ti Phan's struggles this year were very much in evidence as she bombed as well.

Disaster struck early on when Elsabeth Black crashed her vault and got a zero. Clearly injured, she had the unbelievable determination to line up again for her second vault. Luckily she realised that it wasn't worth it and she ran past the vault, subsequently being treated for her injury. Very sad to see. Tension struck again when Pena arrived to cannonball her way to a deep squat, the best that could be hoped for. Her coaches clearly believe that instead of correcting her technique- she has the power but it is converted into unneccessary distance instead of height- the best way was to teach her to always get her feet to touch first to avoid a zero. Brilliant. Usually thrilled to be alive after her vault, Pena was absolutely devastated, which was not only saddening to see but also to realise that she must have had insane pressure to medal despite the fact that she had never stood up any of her life-endangering handspring double-front's. It should have been a lesson when not even Produnova managed an upright landing more than once.

On it went, with Chuso being the beast she is and landing both of her vaults. The second one was actually really nice in the air. Her Rudi has deteriorated in form but since we are all in awe that she can handle the pounding of vault there's not much you can really criticise. WHAT a career she had had. Janine Berger proved her selection by landing two really well done vaults, the same as Chuso's but much better performed. She has a lot of power, so much that she could not control the landings well. One to watch. Here comes Paskeka with a 2.25 amanar! What a joy it is to note that the judges DID do their job and award it as a DTY but a certain ex-Soviet Nellie Kim overruled it and gave it as an amanar. Oh Nellie. What an absolute travesty. There's also a furore over Paseka's second vault, which although lovely to watch is being debated as to whether it was laid-out or not, the general consensus being that it wasn't. And up comes Maroney and because she nailed the best amanar ever in team finals, it was almost dissapointing to see her amanar here lost a little form on its usual perfection, was offline and landed out of bounds. But no matter, she'll still win..except the unthinkable happened. Although her Mustafina is much lower than her amanar, she herself stated she has never crashed it. Of her vaults total, she crashed the amanar once as a Junior in competition. It was extremely hard to process that she was sitting in the middle of the mat. So what a huge surprise it was when she found it hard to come to terms with and didn't grin like a maniac afterwards. Sandra landed two very good vaults afterwards and her gold was deserved. But it doesn't change anything about Maroney's status as best vaulter in the world, especially since even with the fall a better amanar would have put Sandra in silver and it doesn't negate the horror of seeing crashes, an injury, a death-defying vault, a wrongly awarded amanar and a deserving bronze winner being screwed over.

TL; DR: Awful, awful, awful. Nellie Kim screws Berger over, numerous crashes and an injury. Worst vault final ever. Gold and silver deserved, rightful bronzer winner robbed.

BARS FINAL

How refreshing, and what a deep field. Komova the defending world and euro's bars champion, He Kexin the defending Olympic champion, Beth Tweddle former world champion and Mustafina and Douglas, both national champions. He Kexin proved the doubters wrong, Jinnan redeemed herself after a miserable experience up until then, and Mustafina showed just how valuable all of the extra time she spent training on bars when she was too injured to tumble or vault has been. Crushing to see Vika miss out again after a fluke mistake and to see Beth's steps on dismount cost her a higher medal- but she is very lucky to hold onto that bronze, for which she can thank Komova! Lovely to see her finally medal, great moment.

Not much else to say here, this was a fabulous final even with Vika and Gabby's errors. Fully agree with this podium.

BEAM FINAL

Quick, women's haven't had a tiebreaker in a while! After the awesomeness of bars final, hopes were high for another final with fair scoring and few errors. It was not to be. Iordache, controversially subbed in for the may-or-may-not-have-been-ill (cough low difficulty..?) Bulimar, fell off. Komova gave up entirely, failing to fight to stay on and then sitting the Patterson. A clearly knackered Gabby who had been fighting inconsistency for so long prior to the bars final, returned to her former hit-or-miss self and fell. The veteran Catalina showed nerves and had an error and wobble-filled routine, breaking hearts everywhere. Afanasyeva gave a gloriously elegant performance without much of a chance at medalling due to her low difficulty. Fabulous to watch. Deng Linlin and Sui Lu nailed EVERYTHING, but they got the order wrong..Deng's routine was stiff with too many pauses, compared to Sui Lu's sensational exercise. Lu was robbed. Oh, and they couldn't even get Aly's d-score right, and Mihai was too dense to contest it. Luckily the Karolyi's saved the day and got his ass in gear by screaming at him from the stands. Certainly not the best beam she's ever done, but it deserved bronze in light of the amount of disasters in this final. Along with vault in particular, a huge argument for ONE-TOUCH WARM-UP!! I agree with the three on this podium, but silver and gold should have been switched.

FLOOR FINAL

A mixed final, though not with quite the same disaster level as beam or vault. I had high hopes of Afanasyeva's amazing routine medalling, Raisman or Ferrari clinching the bronze and either Sandra or Cata taking the other medal. A redemption by Jordyn for her non-AA appearance would have been great too, although her difficulty with uncredited leaps would effectively have thrown her outside of the medals anyway. It was tough to see her not at her best, going out of bounds and lacking fire in her eyes. Afan did well to maintain her stamina and land everything, but those out of bounds were a killer. Very dissapointing for this wonderfully choreographed and exciting routine. Crappy to see Sandra fall on her last pass after doing so well also. I would not have put Aly in gold medal position  but her performance was mindblowing, amazing landings, the first showing of her phenomenal first pass these games and she had such a sparkle and surety in her oft-contested leaps. No question here, Aly killed it and deserved that medal. Her difficulty was very tough to beat, especially as Cata did not do her full-twisting double layout and the other two main contenders faltered.

Beautiful routine by Mustafina, but Ferrari was really destroyed here. She deserved a higher score. Graceful dancer she is not- but neither are Raisman or Cata. She is furious over being in a position to lose that tiebreaker, which is no surprise as she really was screwed. The fifth tiebreaker, and probably the scabbiest one of all, especially as Aly went on to her own glory after her AA dissapointment.

In case you couldn't tell, writing overly long sentences is an ingrained habit of mine and which required heavy editing of all of my essays in university before printing..ah the frustration before deadlines when I realised there were were sentences of six or more lines. Anyway, I'll try to be more cautious of this in future but I'm too tired to edit it here!

Beam and floor event finals

Two more event finals, two more tiebreakers! FIG need an overhaul, and a huge kick up the arse. Moving on.

Beam had quite a few top contenders, Sui Lu and Cata Ponor the top favourites, with Deng Linlin, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova relagated somewhat but still top contenders.

Sui Lu  Up first. She has the old school beam grace, fluidity and form. Although the Chinese are awesome at beam, she's the best they've produced in quite a while. I could watch this over and over again. Her tumbling line is my favourite, incredibly difficult and she stuck it cold. Gorgeous leaps and toepoint. Tiny step back on a pike back. So close to perfection. Very nice red glittery leotard 15.5

Catalina Ponor After being incredibly fierce in the team finals, she loses it and returns to her qualifying routine. Overcooked a turn, wobbles everywhere. Fierce otherwise, chucked the full twisting double pike but it was incredibly low. Unfortunately not at her best today. Wearing a fierce black leotard with lots of silver swirls, decent enough but the silver kind of killed it 15.066..too high, that was a crap routine by her standards

Deng Linlin Total precision, great form and an incredible combination..almost ran out of beam when she stuck the Korbut on the end. She doesn't have the grace of Sui Lu and didn't have great rythmn, too many pauses. White leo with some colour swirls, decent. 15.6..too high, Sui Lu has been robbed already.

Larisa Iordache Larisa did not qualify, she was the first reserve. Diana Bulimar qualified ahead of her and was pulled. Sounded like a Bitang and Bellu stunt of old, but it has emerged that Diana is injured. Regardless of whether this is true or not, Larisa is quite clearly injured herself. So much so that Marina Bitang said she regretted allowing her to do the AA at all. Anyway, Larisa comes off on her tumbling line, which she has struggled with since her injury. Fought hard to stay on. Rest of the routine was lovely, beautiful jumps and total precision in her standing fulls and connections. Gorgeous triple twist with a small hop. Sigh. Larisa really regained herself well, but it was a mistake to allow her to compete in the state she's in. That was a heartbreaker. Brings back her yellow Pikachu leo from Euros and it is fabulous. 14.2

Ksenia Afanasyeva She of the amazing floor routine delivers again here on beam, lovely long lines in her tumbling and a fabulous full turn tour jete leap. So lovelyly but her difficulty kills her, 5.8 against 6.5/6.6. Wearing the bland but absolutely not offensive or ugly Russian team leo. 14.583

Gabby Douglas Here comes Gabby! Huge roar from the crowd. Has delivered strong beam routines THREE times in a row now, plenty are predicting it's too much to ask of her and her former headcase-ness to deliver again. Lovely lay-out step-out's, she has become more graceful I think in the last while. Leg up on a standing full but she fights it back on, but it bodes ill for her as she misses her foot seconds later, clings onto the beam and puts a foot down. Wow. Not nice to see- although I was afraid of her emdalling as I believe she is outclassed here and has been overscored on this event, I don't enjoy seeing falls from her, or anyone. Recovers well and finishes strongly. Can't help but mention she is wearing McKayla's vault EF leo and I'm surprised. It suits her more than McKayla but with the choice available she went for an unlucky one. Hmm. I can't see any of them going for white again, especially her and M. BBC's feed was really kind to her, the slow-mo recap showed absolutely nothing except her fall. Three times. 13.633

Viktoria Komova Can she put her unbelievably shitty Olympics behind her and deliver? Strong contender for a bronze. Wobbles on her first skill. Such extension and leaps, divine. Looking rattled and far from composed. Great sheep jump and lovely tumbling series. Huge wobble on a punch front, fights to regain control and comes off anyway. DAMN. Vika is pissed and rattled now. I would not have been surprised if she stormed off and gave up. Anyway, continues and goes for her Patterson, which she sits. Wow. Stupid move to go for that, she quite clearly had neither the frame of mind or energy to land it properly. Wearing the lovely red and white AA leotard. Vika should be watched, that is too much for her to handle. 13.166

Aly Raisman I thought Aly had only an outside chance at a medal but Vika and Larisa have just handed her an opportunity, as has Cata with her underpar routine. Wobbles and misses a connection but she fought fiercely to regain her rythmn..you could almost hear her thinking 'You must be joking if you think I'm going to fall NOW'. Rest of the routine is typical Aly, nails all of the rest of her connections, tumbling and leaps. Obviously a totally different style to Vika and Sui Lu etc. but so enjoyable to watch her attacks and she really has cleaneed up her form. Great stuff from her. She is so determined here. Rocks that Patterson, small hop forward. Yes! Wearing the patriotic flag leo seen in a press photo a while ago, and which trampolinist Savannah Vinsant wore the other day. Suits her really well, though it's not fabulous. 14.966, well harsh. Didn't have her full d-score due to the missed connection but that thing deserved around a 15.1

Annnnd Mihai files an inquiry. D-score lowballed. And it's successful, Aly jumps to 15.066 and ties with Cata. Aly's execution is far higher due to her really clean routine and she has the bronze!

Deng Linlin takes gold, Sui Lu silver and Aly Raisman takes bronze ahead of Catalina Ponor on a tiebreaker. Wow. Deng had a great routine but it was too slow. Sui Lu deserved that gold, she was only a shade off absolute perfection and had the difficulty behind her. She's in absolute bits, and I'm not surprised or critical. She was robbed and she knows it. Deng was a VERY worthy silver, would have had no issues with that. Catalina was just not on form today, she looked like she knew it too from right after she finished. Gifted that score and Aly deservedly took her bronze. Another tiebreaker- and another huge mistake from the d panel whose ONLY job is to calculate d-score.

Vika is getting huge criticism for her attitude. She probably is too fragile, but she really has had a miserable time of it. Let's just hope she can get some sports psychologist and regain her consistency and her potential to be the most fabulous gymnast in the world. Sui Lu, McKayla Maroney, Vika Komova, Mustafina last week are all being called horrible names. It's such a shame, the work that goes into their routines, their huge potential, and their age and crushed dreams...it's a disgrace that they have to face public outrage because they did not look thrilled in the process. I say, good for them for not being fake. Vika though needs help to get through this, as she is now showing she's as fragile as porcelain. I hope she can take a leaf from Mustafina's fierce bitch book and come back fierce. (Disclaimer: Fierce bitch doesn't mean 'bitch')

And after that heartbreaker, what a FANTASTIC high bar final. Horton and Leyva did really well but this thing belonged to Hambuechen and Zonderland. Amazing stuff.

And onto floor. Ksenia Afanasyeva is the artistic favourite, though lacking in d-score a bit. Romania's Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor are favourites, but Aly Raisman with a complete first pass is right up there.

Ksenia Afanasyeva Oh, Ksenia. Great double layout but goes OOB. LOve this music and her choreography is just amazing, best floor I've seen in a long time. Lovely two whips to triple. OOB on the third pass, she's lost it now. Good finish, but that was really costly 14.566

Jordyn Wieber Girl with a point to prove. Jordyn seems a little skittish or just not as 'on'- Geddert has said she is carrying a stress fracture. How crap for her. Great double double but has to hop back, and a leap on another pass brings her out of bounds. Devastating. Gets through the rest of the routine fine and nice double pike at the end. She's miserable, really sad to see such a star falter at the games. Looking well in the same flag leo as Aly. 14.5 Ouch :(

Aly Raisman Hopefully that bronze and Jordyn's errors have inspired her. Needs that layout! She's on fire, sticks the first pass WITH layout. Fabulous double piked arabian with a leap. Showing her determination in her choreography, she has improved here. Lovely triple full, stuck. Enormously high double pike to end. Form issues as always but she has improved, that was the best floor she's ever done. And what a reward, 15.6! That's too high, even for how great that was and how high her d-score is. 15.4 would be perfect.

Catalina Ponor Needs to really top Aly here, but her difficulty is lower. Throwing a Chusovitina first pass would help but she stays safe with the double layout- stuck! Wow, fire in her to beat Aly after that tiebreaker. Sticks her triple twist but it's still quite fugly with leg form. Great routine, she really brought it. 15.2 That's correct, too high with her messy legs in her triple perhaps considering she has already lost three tenths to Aly on difficulty. Romanians in the crowd are pissed and boo! Too bad, they're not looking at the d-score and after a fabulous crowd all through these games, that shit is annoying.

Lauren Mitchell Has had issues with a tear in her stomach muscle but that was at podium training..she's definitely improved on that, really strong tumbling and great double arabian. Unfortunately she sticks a leap on everything and they are quite low and fugly. Not cool. Though she is not the only one by a long shot, it she is the inventor and the worst offender and it artifically boosts her d-score to within range of Aly. Code's fault, not hers. Great floor from her and possibly her last performance at this level, so well done to her for hitting when it counts. Wearing the Aussie team final leo, pink with a cobwebby sleeve pattern. One my my least favourites these games. 14.833, that's fair.

Vanessa Ferrari Wow. I was waiting for her to compete individually to really bring the ugly back to leotards and she has delivered more than I ever thought possible. The AA one was actually really nice, until you spotted the cut-outs on her shoulders. But she stepped it up a notch here. The body of the leotard is really nice, blue with some glittery pink siz-zag pattern on her sides. Works really well. And then...it's one-sleeved with a shoulder cut-out on the other sleeve! Why Vanessa why! On to her routine, lovely double double and full twisting double pike to back tuck. Fast enough to get credited. Decent choreo and some great leaps. Best she's been in a long time. 14.9. ROBBED It's as if they deducted for lack of sleeve. There was nothing overtly wrong with that routine.

Aliya Mustafina Interesting to see how she contends. She has really matured on floor and this music is really growing on me. Must find the Cradle of Filth song that the start and end come from, Dani Filth would be proud. This really showcases how dramatic and fierce she is. Anyway, textbook double arabian to stag jump- which is my favourite leap out of a pass, and a great leap in general. Falls out her turn, DAMN. That's expensive. Very messy legs on the triple full, but judges don't seem to judge that too harshly here. D-score downgraded to a 5.9 and she gets a 14.9! It's a well deserved score as she really was great here, but..Ferrari is screwed on the tiebreak. Yes, another tiebreak. Wearing the red and white leo again. She's thrilled! Ferrari is gutted, feel for her as she totally screwed over on her own score.

Sandra Izbasa It's not over yet! The defending champion is here to knock someone off a medal, probably not Raisman as she doesn't have the uber-difficulty to contend with that score. Beautiful tumbling, great full twisting double pike to start. Going well and she brings her front tuck with a half twist to her hands and knees. Crap. It was her last pass, she didn't get enough purchase on the ground before she launched into the punchfront but she was too far advanced to stop it. Very sad to see, but she certainly has done so well here already. She looks very accepting of that. Wearing her vault final leo in turquoise. 13.333

Two tiebreaks and two more people screwed! I hope immense pressure is put on FIG to change that. Everyone would like a modification to the two per country rule too, or its abolition. For the AA, it would be nice if the third girl per country could qualify if she has over a 58. For event finals, a score over a 14.8.

And..no more gymnastics :( At least, not artistic. Beam was a heartbreaker, tough to see so many falls and errors. And very sad to see more overscoring and underscoring. Sui Lu is absolutely justified. Jordyn stands out as someone with just as much cause to be as devastated as Vika- Vika doesn't have TF gold, but she medalled in the AA Jordyn wasn't able to even compete in. Really wanted to see Jordyn end on a high note, and we didn't get that either today. Injury or not, she peaked too soon.

Subdiv 4: Aliya rocks her gameface

Ooo, another very interesting subdivision. This one saw Russia square off against China, Germany and a mixed group (and against USA's mammoth team total earlier). Sadly, Yao Jinnan is very much affected by her injury recovery and newly sustained recovery..I didn't see her bars, but everything else had huge errors and falls. Such a shame. Vika brought IT to competition, seems to have had errors on floor (..not broadcast), but nailed everything else. Slightly crossed legs on her amanar, but it was good and clean and high. (Paseka's not seen..). I am impatiently waiting for footage of Afan's floor to emerge, damn you BBC! No amanar from Qiushuang and plenty of missed connections for the Russians on their upgrades, but very exciting nonetheless as they almost reached USA's total.

Highlights

- Sui Lu's beam. BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely solid, and so clean.
- Vika's bars. She has the edge over Musty here, but not by much. So precise and crisp
- He Kexin ROCKED that bars routine. She does have more SV in the bag, competed a 7.1 here. Looks like enough to really challenge for the top so maybe she'll keep it safe and stick to the 7.1. Delighted for her
- Chuso once again throwing a huge vault, for which we must forgive those form errors
- Huang Qiushuang's floor. Yes her tumbling landings weren't great but she got sooo into her choreo, fantastic expression
- Elizabeth Seitz on bars. Did a def and has really cleaned up on her form, great to see
- Grishina's floor. Lovely as always AND she really did an excellent job on the Silivas, even with the OOB

Jessica's Gil Ortiz and Lopez had pretty bad leotards, Gil ortiz gets a bonus point for her fabulous hair though. Russia's was pretty boring, bring out the fabulous elegance! Interesting that they brought a side angle for He Kexin's bars when we've been looking at dead-on angles all day. Hmm. Hope for multiple angles at TF, AA and EF! The hot pink and purple is fine..until an aerial shot when it really starts to hurt the eyes! Enjoying the slow-mo on leaps and vaults that BBC are providing, but wow did not need to see Yao Jinnan crash over and over again.

So Russia and USA are really close, both over the 180 mark. What will Romania bring??? 2 hours to go!

My Olympic EF podiums

Bars

Beth Tweddle so deserves this gold. Under the modern code, bars do not get more difficult than hers. Of course she does not have a Counter-Kim or Gaylord I or II (check out Zhou Duan's uneven bars for the Gaylord II...incredible) but since these moves now incur a deduction because they will end in a dead hang, it is inadvisable to do them (unfortunately). Sadly for Beth, her form and handstands are not as crisp as others and for that reason I do not see her getting the gold. Silver

Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina have amazing bar routines. Beautiful lines, transitions, releases. It's all there. Komova will pip her team-mate for gold, leaving Aliya with the bronze. She is just that bit crisper.

Vault

This is a lock for McKayla Maroney. The most certain gold of any we can expect. Although she is the reigning world champion on this event and has a much more difficult second vault now, she is not a certainty for her team. However she has a brilliant chance at taking that fifth spot.

The other two spots are a little up in the air. Chusovitina is still in the mix amazingly, but her vaults recently had quite low landings. With her age it is of course astounding she can still throw difficult vaults at all. In a small reversal of Worlds standings, I see her taking the bronze and Phan Ti Ha Thanh of Vietnam taking the silver.

Floor

This is much harder to predict and will be very exciting. There is one US gymnast, Sarah Finnegan, who could so easily medal here ahead of her US teammates, yet she is fairly unlikely at this stage to make the team at all. Larissa Iordache clinches it for me. Her floor is just so difficult and exciting, I see it making it's way to the top for gold. Anastasia Grishina does not have the same clout as most of the other contenders for team Russia but her floor is ahead of the rest, even Afansayeva. Grishina's beautiful artistry so prevalent in this exercise will take silver. Bronze is a bit tougher, at this stage I see Jordyn Wieber clinching it but that might change.

Beam

Sui Lu of China takes gold, her beam is just a work of art. Iordache and Catalina Ponor also of Romania will fight for the other two spots, Cata I think landing the silver.