Zeng Siqi has retired

I've been expecting to hear this news for a while, and although hope dwindled entirely last year that she would truly get it together and shine, it still sucks when someone so young and with such talent retires.

She had a great beam routine at Doha last year but then declined throughout the year, falling on almost all beam routines and struggling elsewhere, culminating in a spectacular meltdown at the Mexican Open.  Zeng suffered an ankle injury in late 2011 and never fully bounced back from it, rapidly losing her DTY and making no progress on floor. I would imagine that it's a big factor in her decision, coupled with general loss of enthusiam for her sport. Edit- another factor I keep forgetting about is the loss of her coach, He Hua was fired last year. It's probable she did not adjust well to the coaching group she was subsequently placed in.

I don't use weibo/baidu myself or as a source for obvious reasons but here's some backup.
Disclaimer - No, not a 100% verifiable bavkup but I think it's the only one saying anything about her return to her province. However, I do not make stuff up or state explicitly when I am unsure. Many people in the know have confirmed this, and they are the source. Not a forum.

Wonderfully expressive dancer. 

Quality beamer too.

Copyright - sports.sohu

 Farewell and hopefully she will be happy in whatever she decides to do.

Bits and stuff

Don't buy all of your Nanning tickets at once now. Not that I'm going but I'm extremely disappointed that Glasgow's website for 2015 is fully functional with tickets going on sale soon apparently, but Nanning's for 6-7 months hence is a bit of a mess.

The nominative Jesolo list was released by the Italians, bearing in mind that it is nominative it's still very exciting.

Seniors- Kyla Ross, Peyton Ernst, Madison Kocian, Maddie Desch, Maggie Nichols, Rachel Gowey, Mykayla Skinner, Alyssa Baumann

Juniors- Nia Dennis, Norah Flatley, Bailie Key, Jordan Chiles, Emily Gaskins, Ragan Smith

Some of this lot are not on the National Team - Rachel Gowey for one, although with her super impressive video released recently, it would be utterly unsurprising were she to be added at the March camp. The lack of upswing on the Maloney and shap full is a little odd, but it is just practice after all. Jordan Chiles is a great little gymnast, but I'm thinking her place could have Alexis Vasquez' name on it, since the latter turns senior next year and Jordan is an '01 born who does not as of yet desperately need the experience.

It will be VERY interesting to see Mykayla Skinner's scores. I'm thinking maybe 2 replacements in this team if any but no great upheaval. McKayla Maroney requires knee intervention according to Marta, she suffered an avulsion fracture to the patella at some point late last year and rest has not worked, unfortunately. Lexie Priessman and Amelia Hundley are probably both not quite recovered yet, though Lexie was back at camp. Don't forget Jesolo will be livestreamed this year!

Simone Biles, as we all know, has moved from Bannon's Gymnastix, where she has been since at the age of 6, to an as yet unknown location with her longtime coach, Aimee Boorman. She is dealing with shoulder strain also. Quite frankly, I'm not really concerned. She's got her coach and interviews with Simone, her coach and her family give off only the very best of vibes. I've seen rumours as to the location but nothing concrete and I'm sure we'll know for sure soon enough. Given her status to Marta and on the National Team, I highly doubt there is any risk of her falling through the cracks. Hopefully she will bounce back from the transition and injury and be ready to go maybe for Pac Rims and if not, then Classics.

Elizabet Vasileva, the Bulgarian rythmic turned artistic gymnast, showed up at AOGC Legends recently. Check out her beam immediately. She has really improved her acrobatic skills I think, and really it is such a special routine. She's elegible for Junior Euros so hopefully we'll see her there.

GB continue to push the boundaries on bars. Definitely going to do a round-up of their stuff there at some point but in the meantime, Rebecca Tunney competed a new routine at Welsh Championships (Open Competition as she's English) with a stunning Church-Bhardwaj connection - it's so clean and awesome! It makes her loose form on much easier skills sort of suspect, and it's quite a long routine so hopefully it can be refined for her, although no dismount is no big deal for what is essentially an exhibition. I'd almost forgotten what a non-glide kip mount looks like.

They want the Brazillian good stuff: American Cup

Thank you, Al Trautwig, for that quote- referencing Ebee. Always reliable for that kind of thing.

I can't deny that the withdrawal of Simone Biles and Larisa Iordache sucked a lot of the excitement out of this competition for me. I was also a little miffed that there were no new seniors. It's a great competition to make a debut, up against the Americans who don't compete much internationally, and in time to make adjustments for competitions like Euros or for national competitions. Last year saw the triumphant unveiling of Simone Biles herself, Katelyn Ohashi and Gabby Jupp. Nevertheless, this year's competition still had a very decent lineup, despite snubbing by three of the big four.

The competition itself was a bit scrappy, but that's to be expected at this time of year, I tell myself.

Highlights

The scoring! Notice that only five e-scores, vault aside, were higher than 8.5. We can of course attribute that to falls and mishaps, but it also points to logical scoring. This also happened last year but still a bit out of kilter then. It's refreshing. Long live the not-so-Scam.

Ebee Wow! Phenomenal routines from her, really her best ever bars and beam I think. An utterly deserving American Cup champion who left no room either for her competition or for any 'if only' about the placing. Untouchable. Not to mention sticking her bars and beam dismounts and her double double - Chellsie Memmel '08 Trials style. Loving how her amplitude on her layout on beam has improved especially. She looks so ready to storm onto the Nanning team and be incredibly useful there.

Bars look to be getting more interesting in general with more people taking advantage of cool connections. You've got Ebee's Church-Bail, Brenna Dowell's Tweddle-Ezhova, Roxana Popa's Maloney-between bars Gienger and Ray-Pak, Victoria Moors' Ricna-Pak and Sophie Scheder's inbar-fest. Also liking the rejuvenation of lesser used releases like the previously mentioned Ricna and Giulia Steingruber's Khorkina.

Brenna Dowell's bars in general. Better handstands than she had been showing recently and she managed the Ezhova very well, not letting it throw her off course. Really strong routine and the composition is tough, leaves her open for deductions but even with that, I think she could have been given a tenth or so higher and it would have been reasonable.

Victoria Moors' floor. Showing everyone not just what great choreography looks like but fluidity. It flows so beautifully and that's so rare to see these days. Very good job on her eponymous skill too but I still wish she'd dump it to score higher with a beautiful tucked version.

Roxana Popa's second pass. YES. I drool over this thing and the crowd went wild, appropriately.

Sophie Scheder's bars. Beautiful, quite different to others in its composition and such a gorgeous line to show off with.

Floor was strong for almost everyone, with some nice tumbling on display. A piked double front here, two tucked and one laidout double double, several flighty double layouts...awesome.

Not-so highlights

Falls. Sophie Scheder sitting her vault and crashing her 2.5 twist. In general, she showed herself as a specialist yesterday, but it's a little early to say that for sure. Roxana Popa having to jump off bars after slamming her feet into the ground on her Pak after such glorious bars work right before - so upsetting. I was really hoping she could edge into the medals. Carlotta Ferlito falling off beam.

The broadcast. I couldn't get my way around the geoblock to watch the Youtube broadcast, so I was stuck with NBC. Minimal gymnastics, far too much faffing around watching gymnasts drink water. Bleughh. Or my favourite, back after an ad break to see someone drink water, then another ad break. STAHHHP.

Good/Mixed/Bad Day For:

Ebee of course. Stellar routines.
Brenna Dowell Some mishaps, a non-steady beam and a big OOB on floor but overall she fought very well and got silver for good reason.
Victoria Moors Stayed on beam, showed off her upgrades and dazzled everyone on floor.
Giulia Steingruber So solid, and a well-earned bronze.

Mixed Day For:
Vanessa Ferrari Vault is not her friend and beam didn't go her way, yet such a great floor. It's amazing that she can still tumble and perform like that at the end of a competition.
Roxana Popa Great routines but huge mistakes on bars dragged her right down, though she recovered so well afterwards. She also missed her Memmel on floor.

Bad Day For:
Carlotta Ferlito had weak and mediocre routines, AND a fall. So thankful that NBC reined themselves in with no mention of previous controversy.
Sophie Scheder: Super disappointing vault and floor from her, despite bars being so great.

Routines

Floor
Actual best score: Vanessa Ferrari
Favourite: Roxana Popa even though her expression was a bit lacking
Second favourite: Victoria Moors

Bars
Actual best score: Ebee
Favourite: Sophie Scheder
Second favourite: Brenna Dowell

Beam
Actual best score: Ebee
Favourite: Victoria Moors
Second favourite: Giulia Steingruber

Vault
Actual best score: Ebee
Favourite: Ebee/Roxana Popa
Second favourite: Giulia Steingruber

Leotards

1st- Roxana. Source- Kindly provided by Carmen Popa :)

It just rocks- deep purple bodice colour, white accents, the neckline, the back, use of mesh. 

2nd- Giulia. Copyright- USAG/John Cheng

Classy, and so suited to her- elegant design, but also a bit badass just like her.

3rd- Ebee. Copyright- USAG/John Cheng

Love the colour of this, and the design is nicely balanced.

I wrote this in a comment in the last post, but I'll stick with a general summation of: It wasn't a very exciting competition, but it was interesting.

Who was your favourite? How awesome are Sophie Scheder's and Giulia Steingruber's beam dismounts? Can you believe there actually wasn't a gross leotard?

Stuff

WOGA Classic was fairly interesting. Rebeca Andrade stole the show for me, utterly dominating the junior competition. She did not, however, win bars as the official results dictate - Lv Jiaqi did with 14.55, not 14.05. Her d-score was miscalculated by 5 tenths, but she was still given the gold. Rebeca showed a steady floor, with her DLO looking less piked, lovely dynamic DTY instead of the amanar she did not need, and solid improvement on beam and bars. The latter two badly need difficulty but it looks like she's on the right track.

Lv Jiaqi is recovering from a slight injury, so only did bars and floor. Glorious dance on a watered-down floor and her bars were great, so a good meet for her despite not being able to show off her beam - her best event. Tiny munchkin Flavia Saraiva was impressive too, despite a fall on her bars..though it'd be a fairly new routine for her so no worries there. Her line is great on bars and she has nice skills elsewhere..Andrade will more than likely get the YOG nod but I hope Saraiva gets the chance to fight for it. Amy Tinkler's floor was fantastic, great strong tumbling and not even her best- she has a double double in the works. GB has a surfeit of great 1999 girls to form the core of what's sure to be a super-strong Junior Euros team, and a difficult choice over who to send to YOG- Amy Tinkler, Ellie Downie or Tyesha Matthis.

Xie Yufen had a strong, steady meet. She's b-team I think but she could still surprise if she continues strong, at least this year when they're definitely not going to be able to field a stellar worlds team. Yuan Xiaoyang counted two falls which was disappointing, hopefully we will see improvements from her at later meets- after all, they're still in winter training. As for WOGA themselves, seniors Madison Kocian and Alyssa Baumann looked good on their pet events, so that will be interesting. I want a hybrid of those two for the ultimate UB/BB girl..Kocian is better on bars and Baumann on beam but neither are truly outstanding by themselves. There remains a Katelyn Ohashi shaped hole in the USA National Team. Her interview was sad and it sounds like getting back to NCAA level, nevermind elite, will be a very tough ask. The back injury must be very serious and it could mean she won't even be cleared for the full 4 years of college. With luck we will see her again at some level.

Newly Level-10 Kennedy Baker stole the show in that level, effectively crowning herself the Nastia Liukin Cup Champion in the process. I've always thought her gymnastics scream 'college', I think she will shine there. Irina Alexeeva sadly fell on her arabian but I like the composition of her new beam, utilising aerials etc. Last year's routine was too much for her. Still curious over whether she is settled on the US elite track or if she'll plump for Russia as initially intended.

If you're wondering about the obvious disregard for the new floor rules, they won't come into effect until April. Videos of the meet are here.

I haven't had a chance to see much of Elite Canada but I'm impressed by Aleeza Yu, and the sound of Ellie Black's upgrades - including a Shang and BHS-tucked full. I'm not too sure about Victoria Moors' new beam dismount. She's not too consistent on that apparatus and her routine doesn't have a huge amount in it, hopefully the rest of it improves to keep pace with the ending.

Romania have released some rosters of junior competitions, and confirmed Larisa Iordache will be on her way to the US soon. Linky link. I'm most excited to see Olivia Cimpian who is tragically too young for Rio. She is a star in the making, but I'll have my eye on the other girls too.

Speaking of which, Junior Euros could possibly be more exciting than Senior, in the team competition. 1999 and 2000 born are seriously strong years internationally, hence excitement. GB would quite easily be the ones to beat- a team of Tyesha Matthis, Ellie Downie, Amy Tinkler, Catherine Lyons and Georgia Mae Fenton/Teal Grindle is formiddable. Romania should be strong- maybe Laura Jurca, Madalina Blendea, Anda Butuc, Andra Stoica and Andreea Ciurusniuc? The Russian team will preferably have Maria Bondareva, Anastasia Dmitrieva, Seda Tutkhalyan, Ekaterina Sokova and I'm not sure of the fifth.

Seniors are murkier, hard to tell where half of the potential Russian team is at. Hopefully that will become clearer soon.

I cannot wait for American Cup! I'm thinking gold is Simone Biles' already, unless she falls..and she could, but having an incredible worlds will probably help her out in the nerves department. Really looking forward to the debut of her impressive upgrades although the Cheng will have to wait- no event finals of course. Ebee and Larisa Iordache should have a good battle for colour of medals I think, with Roxana Popa, Giulia Steingruber and Vanessa Ferrari right behind them. Bars rotation should be exciting - Roxana and Sophie have some of my favourite routines, Ebee is always good to watch, a hit routine from Larisa like she did late last year would be awesome, Vanessa might throw her newly-regained Comaneci, and Simone has at least one upgrade too. Vault also- 2 amanars, a Rudi and strong DTY's.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at American Cup/Euros?

Nanning Predictions

By anon request, though these are a lot of fun to think about. You can read my hilariously wrong Antwerp predictions here, mostly written in November 2012. This gives us a view already of how ridiculous (nonetheless entertaining) it is to predict anything in gymnastics, much less 9 months or more out. But check it out: I said Viktoria Komova would not do the AA (and got criticised for that) and she didn't. Bow down before my omniscience.


TEAMS

(prelims events in brackets)

USA

Simone Biles VT, FX, UB, BB
Kyla Ross UB, BB, (VT), (FX)
Elizabeth Price UB, VT, FX, (BB)
Madison Kocian (UB), BB
McKayla Maroney VT, (FX)
Lexie Priessman (UB), (BB), (VT), FX

Alt: Brenna Dowell, Sarah Finnegan, Peyton Ernst (Nica Hults replaced)

This team is so strong on vault and floor that it's a bit of a joke. Some issues here with beam as you can see. Sticking Madison Kocian up in TF on the nerviest event is not exactly ideal, but I believe she's consistent when healthy. 4 vying for the AA would be a lot of fun. Maroney is my backup floor worker for TF. They can absorb not-so-strong bars/beam and possibly more than one fall and still win...interesting. I wanted to stick Finnegan on the team but this is predictions not 'want' and I can't really see her on it..yet. Likewise no returning Olympians who haven't competed since, we have seen even less of what stage they're at.

ROMANIA

Larisa Iordache VT, FX, UB, BB
Diana Bulimar VT, FX, UB, BB
Andreea Munteanu VT, FX, UB, BB
Silvia Zarzu (VT), (FX)
Paula Tudorache (BB), (UB)
Stefania Alina Stanila (VT), (UB), (FX), (BB)

Alt: Ana Maria Ocolisan, Diana Teodoru, Ioana Nicoara

I'm thinking Larisa Iordache and Diana Bulimar will gain a spectacular new team-carrier in Andreea Munteanu. Yes, Sandra Izbasa is not appearing as I just don't see it? It's fairly weird to have three bench-warmers during team finals, but really they aren't good enough or specialist enough to knock the other three off an event, and they all need experience.

RUSSIA

Aliya Mustafina VT, FX, UB, BB
Viktoria Komova VT, FX, UB, BB
Ksenia Afanasyeva (VT), FX, (UB)
Maria Kharenkova (FX), BB
Maria Paseka VT, (UB)
Anastasia Grishina UB, (BB), (FX), (VT)

Alt: Alla Sosnitskaya, Evgeniya Zhukova, Ekaterina Kramarenko (Alla replaces Viktoria Kuzmina)

Viktoria Komova can't be so unlucky as to miss another year, right? I do not think she will be at her 2012 or pre-2012 level again, but still obviously an extremely valuable asset and threat in the AA. This would be a strong team but Russia seem to be going down the tubes as a programme so it's very hard to predict this lot.

CHINA

Yao Jinnan VT, FX, UB, BB
Shang Chunsong VT, FX, UB, BB
Huang Huidan UB, (BB)
Wang Wei VT, FX
Tan Sixin BB, (FX), (UB), (VT)
Chen Siyi (FX), (VT), (BB), (UB)

Alt: Tan Jiaxin, Xie Yufen, Zeng Siqi

This is not a team destined for home glory. Next year and the year after will hopefully be a different story, but Nanning...um. Bars is fine of course but there's no backups, beam is quite fluid. It's hard to assess Chen Siyi and Huang Huidan could knock Shang Chunsong out of the beam lineup. This team is snookered with vault I think. I have actually left a DTY off the team...Tan Jiaxin. But, it's really bad and her bars or other events do not warrant inclusion. This will be an off year as a team at least, hopefully not individually too.

BRITAIN

Ruby Harrold VT, (FX), UB, (BB)
Gabby Jupp (VT), FX, UB, BB
Hannah Whelan VT, FX, BB, (UB)
Rebecca Tunney VT, FX, UB, BB
Raer Theaker (VT), (FX)
Becky Downie UB, (BB)

They are not getting any new seniors of note, and Gabby Jupp recovering to her early 2013 self is essential here..though not strictly devastating to the team if she drops VT, FX. Quite a glut of usable all-arounders, should be interesting.

JAPAN

Asuka Teramoto VT, FX, UB, BB
Mai Murakami VT, FX, (UB)
Yuki Uchiyama FX, UB, (BB), (VT)
Natsumi Sasada BB, (FX), (VT), (UB)
Koko Tsurumi (FX), UB, (BB), VT
Yu Minobe BB

Alt: Wakana Inoue, Risa Konishi

Some glorious routines amongst this lot, but this isn't a team with much depth. Interesting to see how it will play out. They will be as always the definition of artistic gymnastics however.

CANADA

Victoria Moors VT, FX, UB, BB
Ellie Black VT, FX, UB, BB
Heaven Latimer BB, FX, (VT)
Meagan Chant VT, (FX), (BB), (UB)
Sabrina Gill UB
Aleeza Yu (BB), (FX), (VT)

Moors and Black doing a lot of the work in TF but some really nice backups here and I hope a good test for newcomers Yu and Latimer.

I cannot do Italy because of the unknown status of Enus Mariani..it makes it too difficult, and I don't know enough about Germany and other possible teams.

EVENT FINAL QUALIFIERS (in random order)

VAULT

Simone Biles
McKayla Maroney
Giulia Steingruber
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Hong un Jong
Ellie Black
Phan Thi Ha Thanh
Yamilet Pena

I am too unsure about the level of Mariana Oliveira's and Wang Wei's vaults for them to usurp anybody here. Nothing has changed for Yamilet Pena to not make this final, and Maria Paseka is a question mark as far as consistency is concerned.

FLOOR

Simone Biles
Lexie Priessman
Victoria Moors
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Larisa Iordache
Diana Bulimar
Mai Murakami
Ellie Black

HUGE depth here.

BEAM

Kyla Ross
Simone Biles
Aliya Mustafina
Viktoria Komova
Yao Jinnan
Tan Sixin
Larisa Iordache
Andreea Munteanu

How very big 4..

BARS

Kyla Ross
Elizabeth Price
Yao Jinnan
Huang Huidan
Viktoria Komova
Aliya Mustafina
Ruby Harrold
Roxana Popa

Niiice.

PODIUMS 

TF

1. USA
2. ROMANIA
3. RUSSIA

China in 4th makes me so sad but I just don't see them any higher. Russia are a strong team here in this, but since their programme is a mess and they have injured/recovering gymnasts a-plenty, I think consistency will be the issue.

AA

1. Simone Biles
2. Viktoria Komova
3. Larisa Iordache

Where is the second American?? Second and third also switched a bunch of times when typing (and thinking). Hmmmmm.

VAULT

1. Simone Biles
2. McKayla Maroney
3. Giulia Steingruber

Yes, I WENT THERE. Biles was so close last year and now has 0.8 extra..Maroney has deteriorated form-wise and seems as injury prone as ever also.

FLOOR

1. Simone Biles
2. Ksenia Afanasyeva
3. Larisa Iordache

Really, really difficult to choose silver and bronze. I am also a monster for leaving Murakami out..

BEAM

1. Larisa Iordache
2. Andreea Munteanu
3. Tan Sixin

Stiff competition here too.

BARS

1. Yao Jinnan
2. Huang Huidan
3. Aliya Mustafina

Where's Komova? I think her growth is going to mess with those bars. Another tough decision.

I did go over teams making sure 5 were on each event, so hopefully I haven't overlooked any errors. Some of the above, particularly qualifiers and team members are (almost..so close) to being a certainty but many of the podiums while very likely, are still very fluid and could go either way...without even factoring the inevitable injury list in.

So, how much crack am I on?











 

Simone Smashes January Gym Monotony

What a great way to boost excitement for the elite season.

She really is the most jawdropping gymnast. I got so excited when this was released that I lost the head and couldn't really figure out what was new...which is admittedly tough on a 3.5" phone screen anyway.

The Cheng was expected. Not 100% but close. The height is not amazing but the form and technique is. This boosts her second VT D-score by 0.8. It IS more difficult than her amanar but there's no point in that....the amanar is much more familiar for her and will score higher anyway.

Annnnd the shap half makes its appearance! This gives her an automatic 0.2 so 6.3 and although this doesn't show any other upgrades on bars, her dismount is crying out for one and a Ray was slated to replace it before. A Fabrichnova would be ideal either with the height of her and the height she gets on it. Anyway, really it's a pity that shap halves are so necessary to boost d-scores now..hecht transitions can be awesome and Simone's Ray was a good example with great amplitude. The fun part is, this is not your regular toe-on shap half i.e. Van Leeuwen. This is the Khorkina! Especially formulated for a gymnast close to one foot taller than her. Very impressive, and she gets great height on it - I love how she seems to pause in the air. Not the cleanest, hopefully she can tighten it up a bit.

I am loving the resurgence of BHS-LOSO-LOSO, the mainstay of 90's beam. She keeps nice form on it, and while it's hard to judge the amplitude on the series it doesn't look too flat. Probably a very wise move with the crackdown on layouts on beam. The aerial cartwheel - straddle jump looks great, kind of original. Straddles always suit powerhouses very well and are really underused. Simone's beam has been fairly empty (minus the dismount) since the layout was dumped early on so it's great to see it fill out, especially in an unexpectedly great way.

Now floor is where my eyes were deceiving me most. I thought the last pass was a Moors at first. That it ain't, but what is it? The jury is out on a very laid-out piked full-in or a full twisting double layout that's quite piked in the second salto. What do you think? The piked full-in makes sense as I couldn't figure out why she with her power would pike down like that on a straight salto..but then it doesn't because isn't it worth the same as the tucked version, so why bother? HMMMMMM. I was kind of hoping she would keep the front layout in the twisting pass as the height on it was so fun to watch (nobody else rises on that skill!), but the 2.5-front full-straddle (YES, straddle again!) is so well done that I have no quarrel with it at all.

Curious about the composition too. Silivas, (mystery pass), Biles, 2.5-front full-straddle?

Is there anything she can't do?? She's quite possibly the most powerful gymnast ever, yet has the power to surprise on her 'weak' events too.

What is your favourite upgrade of hers? Do you think she has more up her sleeve? (*cough* Bhardwaj footage late last year, and any number of floor passes..) Does a healthy or otherwise Viktoria Komova stand a chance? Are you a code genius? I know her bars are at 6.3 but that is it..

Quick round-up

Happy (late) New Year!

It appears that Aliya Mustafina might take a few months break from gymnastics. NOT confirmed, but a bit more than a baseless rumour at this stage. Very interesting if she does...it could re-energise a fairly lacklustre programme and boot them back into shape. Of course, time to rest and heal could be very beneficial to her. I'd wonder how hard it would be to get back into competitive shape though. I'd like to see her take Euros off at least and focus on worlds. Russia really rely on her quite a lot and being forced not to can only be a good thing in the end, I think.


Mattie Larson has retired. She was injured last season. It's always sad to see a gymnast retire prematurely, especially one who has contributed such beautiful work and never really fulfilled her full potential. But once she's happy, that's the main thing. Mattie will unfortunately always have that disastrous 2010 floor as her legacy, but here's some wonderful routines that come to mind when I think of her.

2008 WOGA Classic Beam

Wonderful lines, great dancer, superb form in her tumbling- especially the textbook triple twist. What a talent.


Speaking of WOGA Classic, the international elite roster has been partially released, here. Joining Yuan Xiaoyang will be Xie Yufen and Lv Jiaqi. Xie Yufen is a largely untested, fairly consistent new senior. The other two are 2015 and 2016 seniors respectively. I have videos of the two juniors in a previous post, and all 3 exist on youtube. I don't know about other names to be announced though...GB should be interesting, maybe Catherine Lyons can join Amy? Notice no Katelyn Ohashi listed although I'd be really surprised if she was.


The roster for the American Cup has been announced. Brilliant lineup, all of the girls placed in the top 12 at Antwerp. Personally I'd like to see Andreea Munteanu tested..Larisa Iordache has competed so much. Substitutions are more than likely however. Really looking forward to seeing what Simone Biles has up her sleeve, should be a good competition. The inclusion of Carlotta Ferlito gives me some cause for alarm, I really hope there is no ugly scenes or nastiness, or NBC manufactured drama...there's been enough fuss.


Routine of the week, watch the first transition closely:

Sarah Finnegan returns from the depths of mystery injured gymnasts! Watch all of her routines here. Brenna Dowell's and Maddie Desch' are also there. Some great work from this trio, and interesting stuff...Sarah for instance is chanelling Ruby Harrold and Brenna is echoing Beth Tweddle. GB are nothing if not innovative and creative. Great to see Sarah looking fit and I have hopes Brenna can clean her shiny new Ezhova, since she cleaned up on bars bigtime last year.

Danusia Francis further cements her legendary status at UCLA. Amazing. I LOVE sideways work so much...

Bridget Sloan is awesome.