The roster for the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships has been announced for Japan..and North Korea! (China already covered). North Korea's team consists of Hong Un Jong, Kang Yong Mi, Kim Un Hyang and three much younger total unknowns- Kim So Yong, Pak Sin Hyang and Ri Un Ha who all have birthdates of 1995/6. How exciting! First of all to see what Hong Un Jong and the other two are still capable of, and what the other 3 have up their sleeves. I am dissapointed not to see Cha Yong Hwa of the superb bars, but even so. Fantastic stuff.
Japan's team consists of Risa Konishi, Wakana Inoue, Sakura Noda, Erica Danko, Shizuka Tozawa and Mirai Sekiguchi. Like China they are not using Olympians, but they also seem to have gone one further and are using a bit of a b-team lineup. Very dissapointing not to see Mai Murakami and Natsumi Sasada, but perhaps they are being saved for bigger competitions. Hopefully. The competition takes place from 7-15th November and has an AA, TF and EF's. YAY!
In other news, John Orozco is the 3rd victim of the tour, injuring his knee on a dismount. Ridiculous! High level gymnastics is obviously more appealing as a draw, but so not worth it. It is confirmed to be a torn ACL and meniscus, which puts him out for at least a year. This tour is terrible.
The Russian teams for the upcoming Massilia Cup and next July's Universiade Games have been announced. Massilia's line-up will be Anastasia Sidorova, Yulia Inshina, Maria Kharenkova and Yevgeniya Shelgunova. Universiade's will be Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Afanasyeva and Kristina Goryunova. Great to see Kristina get a bigger assignment of more note, and of course, to see Nabs again. Maria Kharenkova is arguably Russia's best junior, so hopefully she can make even more of a name for herself.
The Chinese team for the upcoming Massilia Cup will be Lou Nina, Mei Jie, Chen Siyi and Liu Zhilin who all had strong performances this year at Nationals. Bars and beam should be a highlight and hopefully they can dominate there. The competition takes place from the 17th-18th November.
Romanian Junior Nationals have just taken place. They were split up into 4 categories from girls born in 2001-2002 down to girls who are already on the junior national team. Sadly, plenty of the most promising did not compete- Madalina Blendea, Adela Florea and Andreea Munteanu were all injured and Laura Jurca only did bars due to an injury also. Other girls were also injured, but quite a few only doing 1 or 2 events. Andreea Iridon who is great on bars (not a qualifying statement- she is!) dominated her age category and won bars, beam and floor. Silvia Zarzu did well but is hindered by her terrible bars. Laura Jurca took silver on bars. Sad to see so many absences, especially as the purpose of this competition was to add more to the national team. The big excitement was Andreea Iridon's bars and Asiana Peng's triple full on floor.Their team for Massilia has not been announced yet, but since they have a plethora of injuries it will be tougher than expected. Individuals and other teams have been announced. Of note are the two super exciting and very different Dutch girls- Eythora Thorsdottir and Chantysha Netteb. The former is glorious on beam and has a floor fresh from the 1985 Soviet team. The latter is powerful with her speciality being vault on which she is the reigning Junior European Champion. From Canada, Victoria Moors who is already down for both world cups and Victoria Woo and Gabriella Douglas (LOL if she competes against Gabby at some stage) are among the contingent.
Bruno Grandi has been re-elected. Yawn. New blood please. He will be 82 when his term ends. So has Nellie Kim which is less of a surprise given she ran unopposed. Nellie continues to be biased in her decisions, no longer a direct judge but having the power to sway their decision.
Anna Pavlova will compete at the Tournoi meet. In USA news, there is a big furore over comments Anna Li has made and some sort of (maybe not at all) reply Nastia made. ie accusations of bullying by Anna followed by 'Let it be' tweet from Nastia. Suspicion has been planted firmly in Alicia Sacramone's corner, with 'victims' being Gabby, Anna and Nastia. Personally, it would not take much for me to believe that of Alicia who does appear from several instances to have a mean side. Bullying is quite a step further though, despite the fact they have been cooped up together for quite a while, and dumping girls in their teens and early 20's together and expecting no drama is ludicrous. However Anna should never have posted any comments. It smacks of immaturity, and she is definitely old enough to know better. It's one thing doing something like that on facebook between school friends, but it's definitely worse when these girls have a substantial fanbase and attract a lot of attention from the gym community at large. Not impressed.
Monday, 22 October 2012
2013 Ones To Watch: Part 1
Following on from my posts on upcoming seniors in the new quad and the list of most notable juniors in their senior year (Links to posts on all countries/regions here and non-exhaustive list of senior year here), I want to focus on those that will turn senior next year, and also current seniors who haven't yet had their chance to really shine. This part will be on 2013 seniors, second part will be on the latter category. NOTE: Competitions are not exhaustive in the case of juniors from non-English speaking countries, because it's much harder to find results not in my language! Videos of all of the below are in my first link. Also easily found on youtube. (Read: I am way too lazy to embed them all again).
2013 Seniors- Ones to Watch
Have to start with the two with the most hype and the greatest sense of 'if only x was born a bit earlier'.
Katelyn Ohashi, USA
Katelyn Ohashi created a storm around her when she unleashed her monster beam set in 2010. She also has fantastic bars, an area USA still need improvement on.
Trains at: WOGA, Texas
Competitions: US Classic 2009-2012, Visa Nationals 2009-2012, Pacific Rim Championships 2012, Jesolo 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2011 Junior National Champion, 2012 Pacific Rim All-around Champion, 2012 Pacific Rim Beam, Floor and Bars Champion, 2012 Junior National Champion on bars, silver beam and floor, 2011 Champion on bars, beam, floor. Katelyn has won the national bars title 3 years in a row.
Best event(s): Bars and beam
Worst event(s): Vault
Needs to: Fix her vault. Has had a scary time with DTY's this year, needs to either get it back safely or a similar difficulty vault to stay as a strong all-arounder. Katelyn showed signs of overtraining at Nationals, so should possibly hold back on upgrades for the moment.
Weak point: Power a bit lacking
All-around potential? Pretty high. Huge with a fixed vault.
Event final potential: Gold on beam and bars
Why the fuss? As well as being a potentially very strong all-arounder, Katelyn has gold medal world/Olympic titles written all over her bars and beam.
Lexie Priessman, USA
Lexie barely falls short of being a 2012 senior. She has created a stir for being a powerhouse in the style of Raisman and Wieber- she has an amanar and a double double on floor.
Trains at: CGA, Cincinnatti
Competitions: US Classic 2009-2012, Visa Nationals 2009-2012, Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup 2010, Japan Junior International 2011, Pacific Rim Championships 2012, Jesolo 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior National Champion, 2012 Junior National Champion on floor, second on vault and bars, 2012 Pacific Rim vault champion, second all-around, 2012 US Classic floor champion, 2011 Japan Junior International Champion, 2010 Supergirl Cup Champion
Best event(s): Vault and floor
Worst event(s): Beam
Needs to: Work big-time on her form, it shows up most noticeably on beam. Presentation and choreography a bit all over the place on floor too. Get a second vault.
Weak point: Form, and flexibility to a lesser extent.
All-around potential? Massive.
Event final potential? Vault medallist with a second vault. High on floor.
Why the fuss? This girl is a powerhouse and with a consistent decent beam could blindside the rest of the competition.
Simone Biles, USA
With a phenomenal amanar under her belt, as well as a difficult floor, Simone looks like a very valuable gymnast for USA's collection.
Trains at: Bannon's Gymnastix
Competitions: US Classic 2011-2012, Visa Nationals 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior National Champion on vault, 3rd place in the all-around, 2012 US Classic Champion, 2012 US Classic Champion on vault
Best event(s): Vault
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Upgrade her floor, a very strong event for her already. She could be a great all-arounder with a decent bars and beam- they need a lot of work. Needs to get and upgrade a second vault, she has plenty of power.
Weak point: In general, not great on non-power events. Lack of finesse.
All-around potential: Yes, not the top one or two but definitely she could be a good one.
Event final potential? Gold on vault, could qualify to floor
Why the fuss? Her amanar is so powerful that she is one of two girls in the world capable of doing a TTY. (Prize for guessing the other). She could quite easily medal in vault, has a strong energetic floor that's valuable and might be able to be a valuable all-arounder too.
Noemi Makra, HUN
Noemi is the great hope of Hungary, and certainly has what it takes to become a great all-arounder, she is the full package gymnast.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Eva Sanyo Memorial, 2011 EYOF, 2010 Top Gym
Notable Achievements: 2011 EYOF champion on bars, highest all-around total at Eva Sanyo, qualified 10th to all-around finals at Euros 2012, and qualified to vault event finals.
Best event(s): Floor, bars
Worst event(s): Only because it lacks difficulty so much- vault
Needs to: UPGRADE. Noemi is the full package, everything she does is such a high standard. She just needs more difficulty.
Weak point: Lack of difficulty.
All-around potential: Certainly, especially at Euros. She could make quite a mark at Worlds and maybe even Olympics if she brings her difficulty up to scratch.
Event final potential: Hard to tell, her difficulty is too low at this stage.
Why the fuss? Such great execution, and she does not have a weak event. As I say so many times here, with more difficulty she is a major contender. Remarkable considering she is from outside the top 4.
Gabby Jupp, GBR
Gabby heralds the exciting new age of British gymnastics. She is strong and consistent, showing a nice mix of power and execution.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 British Championships, 2012 English Championships, 2011 Gymnix, 2011 British Championships, 2011 Junior France/Great Britain, 2010 Espoir (Hopes)
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European third on floor, fifth in all-around, 2012 Junior British Champion, 2012 Junior British Champion on bars, 3rd on vault, 2012 English Champion, 2012 English Champion on vault, beam and floor, 2011 Junior British Champion on beam, 2nd all-around, floor and vault, 2010 Espoir Champion on beam, third on floor
Best event(s): Beam and floor
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Clean up her bars and upgrade across the board.
Weak point: I don't really see one besides some issues on bars.
All-around potential: Yes, she could quite easily go one better than Rebecca Tunney and really challenge the top 4 countries. May have to move gyms to really get her difficulty up to scratch, but she screams potential.
Event final potential: Beam medallist, could qualify to floor
Why the fuss? Major player on beam and floor where she has already beat off strong competition before. A mistake cost her a medal in Euros this year on beam however. With upgrades, she is a force to be reckoned with.
Evgeniya Shelgunova, RUS
Russia arguably have 3 stronger juniors in the works, but Evgeniya is a strong, steady worker who could contribute quite a lot, and not just in team situations.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2011 Jesolo, 2011 Spartakaide, 2011 Top Gym
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2nd all-around, 3rd bars. Qualified to 3 event finals. Spartakaide 2011- 5 golds, 2011 Top Gym Champion, 2nd on vault, 2011 EYOF, 3rd on floor
Best event(s): Hmm. Floor and beam
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Clean up her form and execution. She has the consistency and is building on difficulty, but she's a bit sloppy form-wise.
Weak point: Form
All-around potential: Yes, though I do see her being eclipsed not only by current Russian seniors continuing but also by 2014 and 2015 seniors.
Event final potential: Possibly on vault with a second one, and maybe floor finalist.
Why the fuss? Evegeniya is consistent and has decent difficulty. She could well become the workhorse team figure and possibly shine in her own right too.
Stefania Stanila, ROM
Stefania is a welcome addition next year to the much depleted Romanian senior rankings.Not the strongest junior, but a valuable team member.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Cholet, 2012 Jesolo, 2011 Top Gym,
Notable Achievements: Junior European Championships, 2nd on vault, 2012 Cholet Champion, 2011 Top Gym, 3rd on floor
Best events: Floor, vault
Worst event: Bars
Needs to: Work on her consistency and form and get all of her events up to a higher standard.
Weak point: Consistency
All-around potential: Low. She will be outranked by other juniors and continuing seniors.
Event Final potential: Also low. Stefania's greatest asset is being strong in a team situation.
Why the fuss? Arguably Romania's strongest 2013 senior, but will have quite a lot of work to do to keep up with the rest into 2016. Stefania has a lot of potential and should be able to help her team quite a bit.
Elisa Meneghini, ITA
Elisa impressed at Euros this year and shows huge potential. Definitely one of the brightest stars of Italy's future.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Serie A, 2012 Italian Nationals, 2011 Jesolo, 2011 EYOF, 2011 TAM
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European Championships, 4th all-around (with a fall), 3rd on beam. Elisa was the only one to qualify to all 4 event finals. 2012 Italian Nationals, 2nd on beam, 3rd all-around
Best events: Beam, floor
Worst event: Vault, purely for lack of difficulty
Needs to: Upgrade across the board, and improve her consistency. She would have medalled in the AA at Euros had she not fallen off beam, and would have done much better in bars finals without the fall there. Needs to work on her toepoint.
Weak point: Slight consistency issue, and toepoint.
All-around potential: Could be a big threat at worlds. No real weak event, and usually very steady.
Event final potential: Has shown herself to be exceptional on pretty much all events. Could continue qualifying to all. Medals possible on beam and maybe bars.
Why the fuss? Such a high place in a strong AA with a fall, and no weak event! Needs more difficulty and better extension, but she really has what it takes and could definitely shake up a few podiums.
Others to watch: Anna Maria Ocalisan (ROU), Roxana Popa (ESP), Angael Romaeo (GBR), Sophie Scheder (GER), Olesya Sazonova (UKR) and Chantysha Netteb (NED), Maddie Desch (USA) and Peyton Ernst (USA).
2013 Seniors- Ones to Watch
Have to start with the two with the most hype and the greatest sense of 'if only x was born a bit earlier'.
Katelyn Ohashi, USA
Katelyn Ohashi created a storm around her when she unleashed her monster beam set in 2010. She also has fantastic bars, an area USA still need improvement on.
Trains at: WOGA, Texas
Competitions: US Classic 2009-2012, Visa Nationals 2009-2012, Pacific Rim Championships 2012, Jesolo 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2011 Junior National Champion, 2012 Pacific Rim All-around Champion, 2012 Pacific Rim Beam, Floor and Bars Champion, 2012 Junior National Champion on bars, silver beam and floor, 2011 Champion on bars, beam, floor. Katelyn has won the national bars title 3 years in a row.
Best event(s): Bars and beam
Worst event(s): Vault
Needs to: Fix her vault. Has had a scary time with DTY's this year, needs to either get it back safely or a similar difficulty vault to stay as a strong all-arounder. Katelyn showed signs of overtraining at Nationals, so should possibly hold back on upgrades for the moment.
Weak point: Power a bit lacking
All-around potential? Pretty high. Huge with a fixed vault.
Event final potential: Gold on beam and bars
Why the fuss? As well as being a potentially very strong all-arounder, Katelyn has gold medal world/Olympic titles written all over her bars and beam.
Lexie Priessman, USA
Lexie barely falls short of being a 2012 senior. She has created a stir for being a powerhouse in the style of Raisman and Wieber- she has an amanar and a double double on floor.
Trains at: CGA, Cincinnatti
Competitions: US Classic 2009-2012, Visa Nationals 2009-2012, Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup 2010, Japan Junior International 2011, Pacific Rim Championships 2012, Jesolo 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior National Champion, 2012 Junior National Champion on floor, second on vault and bars, 2012 Pacific Rim vault champion, second all-around, 2012 US Classic floor champion, 2011 Japan Junior International Champion, 2010 Supergirl Cup Champion
Best event(s): Vault and floor
Worst event(s): Beam
Needs to: Work big-time on her form, it shows up most noticeably on beam. Presentation and choreography a bit all over the place on floor too. Get a second vault.
Weak point: Form, and flexibility to a lesser extent.
All-around potential? Massive.
Event final potential? Vault medallist with a second vault. High on floor.
Why the fuss? This girl is a powerhouse and with a consistent decent beam could blindside the rest of the competition.
Simone Biles, USA
With a phenomenal amanar under her belt, as well as a difficult floor, Simone looks like a very valuable gymnast for USA's collection.
Trains at: Bannon's Gymnastix
Competitions: US Classic 2011-2012, Visa Nationals 2011-2012
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior National Champion on vault, 3rd place in the all-around, 2012 US Classic Champion, 2012 US Classic Champion on vault
Best event(s): Vault
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Upgrade her floor, a very strong event for her already. She could be a great all-arounder with a decent bars and beam- they need a lot of work. Needs to get and upgrade a second vault, she has plenty of power.
Weak point: In general, not great on non-power events. Lack of finesse.
All-around potential: Yes, not the top one or two but definitely she could be a good one.
Event final potential? Gold on vault, could qualify to floor
Why the fuss? Her amanar is so powerful that she is one of two girls in the world capable of doing a TTY. (Prize for guessing the other). She could quite easily medal in vault, has a strong energetic floor that's valuable and might be able to be a valuable all-arounder too.
Noemi Makra, HUN
Noemi is the great hope of Hungary, and certainly has what it takes to become a great all-arounder, she is the full package gymnast.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Eva Sanyo Memorial, 2011 EYOF, 2010 Top Gym
Notable Achievements: 2011 EYOF champion on bars, highest all-around total at Eva Sanyo, qualified 10th to all-around finals at Euros 2012, and qualified to vault event finals.
Best event(s): Floor, bars
Worst event(s): Only because it lacks difficulty so much- vault
Needs to: UPGRADE. Noemi is the full package, everything she does is such a high standard. She just needs more difficulty.
Weak point: Lack of difficulty.
All-around potential: Certainly, especially at Euros. She could make quite a mark at Worlds and maybe even Olympics if she brings her difficulty up to scratch.
Event final potential: Hard to tell, her difficulty is too low at this stage.
Why the fuss? Such great execution, and she does not have a weak event. As I say so many times here, with more difficulty she is a major contender. Remarkable considering she is from outside the top 4.
Gabby Jupp, GBR
Gabby heralds the exciting new age of British gymnastics. She is strong and consistent, showing a nice mix of power and execution.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 British Championships, 2012 English Championships, 2011 Gymnix, 2011 British Championships, 2011 Junior France/Great Britain, 2010 Espoir (Hopes)
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European third on floor, fifth in all-around, 2012 Junior British Champion, 2012 Junior British Champion on bars, 3rd on vault, 2012 English Champion, 2012 English Champion on vault, beam and floor, 2011 Junior British Champion on beam, 2nd all-around, floor and vault, 2010 Espoir Champion on beam, third on floor
Best event(s): Beam and floor
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Clean up her bars and upgrade across the board.
Weak point: I don't really see one besides some issues on bars.
All-around potential: Yes, she could quite easily go one better than Rebecca Tunney and really challenge the top 4 countries. May have to move gyms to really get her difficulty up to scratch, but she screams potential.
Event final potential: Beam medallist, could qualify to floor
Why the fuss? Major player on beam and floor where she has already beat off strong competition before. A mistake cost her a medal in Euros this year on beam however. With upgrades, she is a force to be reckoned with.
Evgeniya Shelgunova, RUS
Russia arguably have 3 stronger juniors in the works, but Evgeniya is a strong, steady worker who could contribute quite a lot, and not just in team situations.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2011 Jesolo, 2011 Spartakaide, 2011 Top Gym
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2nd all-around, 3rd bars. Qualified to 3 event finals. Spartakaide 2011- 5 golds, 2011 Top Gym Champion, 2nd on vault, 2011 EYOF, 3rd on floor
Best event(s): Hmm. Floor and beam
Worst event(s): Bars
Needs to: Clean up her form and execution. She has the consistency and is building on difficulty, but she's a bit sloppy form-wise.
Weak point: Form
All-around potential: Yes, though I do see her being eclipsed not only by current Russian seniors continuing but also by 2014 and 2015 seniors.
Event final potential: Possibly on vault with a second one, and maybe floor finalist.
Why the fuss? Evegeniya is consistent and has decent difficulty. She could well become the workhorse team figure and possibly shine in her own right too.
Stefania Stanila, ROM
Stefania is a welcome addition next year to the much depleted Romanian senior rankings.Not the strongest junior, but a valuable team member.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Cholet, 2012 Jesolo, 2011 Top Gym,
Notable Achievements: Junior European Championships, 2nd on vault, 2012 Cholet Champion, 2011 Top Gym, 3rd on floor
Best events: Floor, vault
Worst event: Bars
Needs to: Work on her consistency and form and get all of her events up to a higher standard.
Weak point: Consistency
All-around potential: Low. She will be outranked by other juniors and continuing seniors.
Event Final potential: Also low. Stefania's greatest asset is being strong in a team situation.
Why the fuss? Arguably Romania's strongest 2013 senior, but will have quite a lot of work to do to keep up with the rest into 2016. Stefania has a lot of potential and should be able to help her team quite a bit.
Elisa Meneghini, ITA
Elisa impressed at Euros this year and shows huge potential. Definitely one of the brightest stars of Italy's future.
Competitions: 2012 Junior European Championships, 2012 Serie A, 2012 Italian Nationals, 2011 Jesolo, 2011 EYOF, 2011 TAM
Notable Achievements: 2012 Junior European Championships, 4th all-around (with a fall), 3rd on beam. Elisa was the only one to qualify to all 4 event finals. 2012 Italian Nationals, 2nd on beam, 3rd all-around
Best events: Beam, floor
Worst event: Vault, purely for lack of difficulty
Needs to: Upgrade across the board, and improve her consistency. She would have medalled in the AA at Euros had she not fallen off beam, and would have done much better in bars finals without the fall there. Needs to work on her toepoint.
Weak point: Slight consistency issue, and toepoint.
All-around potential: Could be a big threat at worlds. No real weak event, and usually very steady.
Event final potential: Has shown herself to be exceptional on pretty much all events. Could continue qualifying to all. Medals possible on beam and maybe bars.
Why the fuss? Such a high place in a strong AA with a fall, and no weak event! Needs more difficulty and better extension, but she really has what it takes and could definitely shake up a few podiums.
Others to watch: Anna Maria Ocalisan (ROU), Roxana Popa (ESP), Angael Romaeo (GBR), Sophie Scheder (GER), Olesya Sazonova (UKR) and Chantysha Netteb (NED), Maddie Desch (USA) and Peyton Ernst (USA).
Saturday, 20 October 2012
1983 Worlds EF in HD and "news"
I thought I'd share this, and it's not too long. I LOVE seeing an old competition in high quality, and this is perfect. Check out Boriana Stoyanova's leotard! I am in love with it. This video contains Natalia Yurchenko (getting injured..), Boriana Stoyanova, Olga Bicherova, Ecaterina Szabo, Lavinia Agache, Maxi Gnauck, Olga Mostepanova and Hana Ricna.
This is of course extra interesting because it is the worlds before the Olympics boycotted by the Soviet bloc. Not only were the Soviet Union not in attendance the following year, but neither were Bulgaria, Eastern Germany and other states who all had fabulous gymnasts. The idea that Mary Lou Retton would have been able to take AA gold had 84 been fully attended is almost laughable. Olga Mostepanova would have swept the board without a shadow of a doubt. Check out the results from the Friendship Games, where she scored 12 perfect 10's. Friendship Games She scored 10's on every event in the all-around. I know, I know- what about overscoring seeing as she was the favoured gymnast of the Soviet team who couldn't compete in the actual Olympics? But I don't think any of them were undeserved, she was absolutely at her exceptional peak at that time. And WHAT a Soviet team, there's no way they wouldn't have taken team gold either. I do find the boycott annoying still, just for the waste of massive talent that were denied their chance. Anyway, back to drooling over her beam. HD is amazing of course, yet it has a tendency to pick up not so obvious flaws from the traditional bad quality of the same routines- like Maxi Gnauck's flexed feet on bars for instance. Vault scores are slightly hilarious too, with 9.9's and 9.95's being handed out for loss of leg form, seriously deep landings and steps. Still, wonderful gymnasts at these worlds.
And yes, there is no real news to speak of. It appears that nobody was added to camp at the National Camp that is just over. Waiting until January when it's a total neccessity. Don't see any good in drawing it out that long but anyway. Kim Bui of Germany has been added to the line-up of the Stuttgart World Cup, which also contains Elizabeth Price, Vanessa Ferrari, Larisa Iordache, Rebecca Tunney and Victoria Moors. Excellent stuff. Still one place left though. The dream is Mai Murakami but I think Anastasia Sidorova is more likely. Elizabeth price will also comepte at the Glasgow World Cup, also in December. I haven't heard anything about the rest of its lineup though. UPDATE: Glasgow roster released here. It is pretty much the same at this stage, not a surprise as they are so close together both in time and in location. The Price V Iordache battle which I assume will take place as long as Iordache is healthy will be very interesting. It's a very strong field otherwise also. I am now finally employed so won't be posting quite so frequently I'd imagine..but it means I can't go to either, and they are so close to me! Damn...
Silvia Zarzu and Stefanie Stanila of Romania both competed at a gala in France yesterday. Stanila turns senior next year, Zarzu in 2014. Both are definitely ones to watch. Zarzu in particular is one of my favourite juniors, I hope she is able to get her bars to an acceptable level because she looks well capable of a good vault and already has stellar beam and floor sets. (My other favourite juniors are Rebeca Andrade, Eythora Thorsdottir, Maria Kharenkova, Madalina Blendea, Bailie Key, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles, Maria Bondareva, Lu Jiaqi and Angel Romaeo). Here is Silvia's beam, (can't embed it) nothing else up yet. Extremely solid set, she's very comfortable up there. Hopefully she can get more flow to her movements in time, I doubt upgrades would be an issue.
Silvia Zarzu beam
Monday, 15 October 2012
Medals with a fall
You would think, given the furore over McKayla Maroney's vault silver and Mustafina's tying for third (and eventually winning) in the AA, that these gymnasts had somehow cheated and deductions had not been applied properly. Given the open-ended scoring, relying on the gymnast's own difficulty, medals with falls were literally impossible in the old perfect 10 system- despite the deductions for a fall being much less. The current COP has sought to offset this by upping the fall deduction to a full point. It was 0.8 last quad. But there have been several medals with a fall since the new scoring, 2006, and possibly even before then. Certainly there are more than most people think, yet only a few inspire uproar!
2012
McKayla Maroney, Vault Event Final- Silver
McKayla's fall on her second vault took a full point off in the execution score. However, vault is easier than other event finals to bounce back from, because the fall deduction averages to 0.5 when the two vaults are averaged. McKayla had the highest difficulty and there was extremely little to deduct in the second vault except for the fall and lack of height. Interestingly enough, had she landed her amanar in bounds (she received an 0.3 deduction for not doing so)- she would have taken gold. Her medal is testimony to what an excellent vaulter she is, and also how weak the rest of the vault field was. If a girl with a fall and an out of bounds can beat you, then something is wrong. Izbasa's vaults were extremely weak for a gold winner, and Paseka's should have received a boatload of deductions, not least for not being fully around.
Yamilet Pena and Janine Berger both qualified to vault finals with a fall.
Aliya Mustafina, AA- Bronze
This is a bit of an odd one, because she did NOT win bronze with a fall. She tied for bronze with a fall. The medal was determined by her and Raisman's top 3 scores, so the beam of both was dropped. Therefore her beam had nothing to do with how the medal was determined- so it wasn't won with a fall. Nevertheless, Aly had a huge mistake on beam so she couldn't drop her weak bars. So she was left with counting a weak event. Mustafina did not count any weak event, and had 7.0 bars. Not a gigantic surprise there. Only 4 gymnasts were capable of vying for a medal. Mustafina was able to be one of those 4. In what world are Sandra Izbasa, Deng Linlin and Huang Qiushuang top AA-ers?
2011
Yao Jinnan, AA- Bronze
Yes, this one flies well under the radar. Yao fell off beam and would have ended the eternal Komova V Wieber controversy by beating them both had she stayed on. She was still able to score a 13.933 for an excellent beam, which was well able to beat Raisman's disaster of a time on bars where she received a 12.9. This was another fairly weak field, with Ana Porgras dropping well down due to her FTY and Huang Qiushuang once again being a bit of a headcase.
2010
Rebecca Bross, AA- Bronze
Rebecca also fell off beam. She received an extremely high score- 14.1, which was an overscore given the rest of the routine, which was not perfect. However, Huang Qiushuang whow as 4th had a bit of a nightmare on floor so the placement is probably correct. Another win with a fall that is totally blanked.
2009
Rebecca Bross, AA- Silver
Rebecca missed her tuck full in her last pass and put her hands down- which is technically a fall, and received an extremely low 12.875 for it. She had very high difficulty and only lost to Bridget Sloan by half a tenth, in yet another example of a desperately weak field.
2008
Cheng Fei, Vault Event Final- Bronze
This is the other medal with a fall that people remember, not just because of the fall but because she still managed to beat Alicia Sacramone, who vaulted cleanly. The reason behind this was that Cheng Fei had so much more difficulty than Alicia that the fall made very little difference. The difference in difficulty in Cheng's favour is 0.45. The fall (worth 0.8 in this code) averaged to 0.4.Alicia hopped on her landings and great as her form is, Cheng's is second to none. Controversial- but understandable.
Nastia Liukin and He Kexin both qualified into the uneven bars final despite falls in prelims because of their extremely high difficulty.
2007
Jade Barbosa, AA- Bronze (tie)
Jade brought a full-in pike to her knees and touched the floor with her hands, receiving a score of 14.00. Her high difficulty across her events still brought her up higher than 4th and 5th place finishers, Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin. Her beam and vault really sealed the deal, and the high bars scores of the other 2 were no match.
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- bronze (tie)
Vanessa fell on her Comaneci on bars, literally a few seconds in. Similar to Barbosa, her high difficulty was enough to keep her ahead of Liukin and Yang.
Li Shanshan, Beam Event Final- Silver (tie, no bronze awarded)
Li's beam was so flawless (fall aside) and so difficult- 0.6 and 0.7 more than the other medal winners, that this result was pretty much a no-brainer. She would have received a monster 16.7 without the fall and would have wiped the floor with Nastia and Steliana easily.
2006
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- Gold
The only gold medal with a fall! Vanessa fell off beam, and still received a generous 14.9 (15.7 without the fall). She exploded onto the scene these championships, and coupled with ehr high difficulty was just about able to steal the scene from Jana Bieger, who also had very high difficulty. Her bars won the day for her, as Jana was weak there. This still does evoke controversy, but Vanessa was still clearly the better gymnast that day. Sandra Izbasa who came third had such a low bars score I thought she had fallen too. But nope, just very sloppy.
So, 10 falls taking medals (or tying for bronze, as the case may be before tiebreakers) since the introduction of the new code. And at least four qualifying into event finals with a fall. Bear in mind this is only covering the major competitions- Worlds and Olympics. Clearly it is more common than what the average fan thinks, yet the majority of the above are not remembered and not talked about! It's a shame to lambast some with falls and ignore the rest. It is possible there are falls with medals in the old perfect 10 code, and I will investigate that- though it is much harder then of course. If anyone knows of any, let me know!
2012
McKayla Maroney, Vault Event Final- Silver
McKayla's fall on her second vault took a full point off in the execution score. However, vault is easier than other event finals to bounce back from, because the fall deduction averages to 0.5 when the two vaults are averaged. McKayla had the highest difficulty and there was extremely little to deduct in the second vault except for the fall and lack of height. Interestingly enough, had she landed her amanar in bounds (she received an 0.3 deduction for not doing so)- she would have taken gold. Her medal is testimony to what an excellent vaulter she is, and also how weak the rest of the vault field was. If a girl with a fall and an out of bounds can beat you, then something is wrong. Izbasa's vaults were extremely weak for a gold winner, and Paseka's should have received a boatload of deductions, not least for not being fully around.
Yamilet Pena and Janine Berger both qualified to vault finals with a fall.
Aliya Mustafina, AA- Bronze
This is a bit of an odd one, because she did NOT win bronze with a fall. She tied for bronze with a fall. The medal was determined by her and Raisman's top 3 scores, so the beam of both was dropped. Therefore her beam had nothing to do with how the medal was determined- so it wasn't won with a fall. Nevertheless, Aly had a huge mistake on beam so she couldn't drop her weak bars. So she was left with counting a weak event. Mustafina did not count any weak event, and had 7.0 bars. Not a gigantic surprise there. Only 4 gymnasts were capable of vying for a medal. Mustafina was able to be one of those 4. In what world are Sandra Izbasa, Deng Linlin and Huang Qiushuang top AA-ers?
2011
Yao Jinnan, AA- Bronze
Yes, this one flies well under the radar. Yao fell off beam and would have ended the eternal Komova V Wieber controversy by beating them both had she stayed on. She was still able to score a 13.933 for an excellent beam, which was well able to beat Raisman's disaster of a time on bars where she received a 12.9. This was another fairly weak field, with Ana Porgras dropping well down due to her FTY and Huang Qiushuang once again being a bit of a headcase.
2010
Rebecca Bross, AA- Bronze
Rebecca also fell off beam. She received an extremely high score- 14.1, which was an overscore given the rest of the routine, which was not perfect. However, Huang Qiushuang whow as 4th had a bit of a nightmare on floor so the placement is probably correct. Another win with a fall that is totally blanked.
2009
Rebecca Bross, AA- Silver
Rebecca missed her tuck full in her last pass and put her hands down- which is technically a fall, and received an extremely low 12.875 for it. She had very high difficulty and only lost to Bridget Sloan by half a tenth, in yet another example of a desperately weak field.
2008
Cheng Fei, Vault Event Final- Bronze
This is the other medal with a fall that people remember, not just because of the fall but because she still managed to beat Alicia Sacramone, who vaulted cleanly. The reason behind this was that Cheng Fei had so much more difficulty than Alicia that the fall made very little difference. The difference in difficulty in Cheng's favour is 0.45. The fall (worth 0.8 in this code) averaged to 0.4.Alicia hopped on her landings and great as her form is, Cheng's is second to none. Controversial- but understandable.
Nastia Liukin and He Kexin both qualified into the uneven bars final despite falls in prelims because of their extremely high difficulty.
2007
Jade Barbosa, AA- Bronze (tie)
Jade brought a full-in pike to her knees and touched the floor with her hands, receiving a score of 14.00. Her high difficulty across her events still brought her up higher than 4th and 5th place finishers, Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin. Her beam and vault really sealed the deal, and the high bars scores of the other 2 were no match.
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- bronze (tie)
Vanessa fell on her Comaneci on bars, literally a few seconds in. Similar to Barbosa, her high difficulty was enough to keep her ahead of Liukin and Yang.
Li Shanshan, Beam Event Final- Silver (tie, no bronze awarded)
Li's beam was so flawless (fall aside) and so difficult- 0.6 and 0.7 more than the other medal winners, that this result was pretty much a no-brainer. She would have received a monster 16.7 without the fall and would have wiped the floor with Nastia and Steliana easily.
2006
Vanessa Ferrari, AA- Gold
The only gold medal with a fall! Vanessa fell off beam, and still received a generous 14.9 (15.7 without the fall). She exploded onto the scene these championships, and coupled with ehr high difficulty was just about able to steal the scene from Jana Bieger, who also had very high difficulty. Her bars won the day for her, as Jana was weak there. This still does evoke controversy, but Vanessa was still clearly the better gymnast that day. Sandra Izbasa who came third had such a low bars score I thought she had fallen too. But nope, just very sloppy.
So, 10 falls taking medals (or tying for bronze, as the case may be before tiebreakers) since the introduction of the new code. And at least four qualifying into event finals with a fall. Bear in mind this is only covering the major competitions- Worlds and Olympics. Clearly it is more common than what the average fan thinks, yet the majority of the above are not remembered and not talked about! It's a shame to lambast some with falls and ignore the rest. It is possible there are falls with medals in the old perfect 10 code, and I will investigate that- though it is much harder then of course. If anyone knows of any, let me know!
News
It appears that Sabrina Vega has moved to GAGE. She is as of now training at GAGE and although twitter exploded with the news that this is a permanent move etc., there is another train of thought that maybe she is just training there temporarily in preparation for the Kansas City stop of the Kellogg's Tour. We'll see. Sabrina's longtime coach is probably my favourite Romanian ever, Teodora Ungureanu. Sabrina has nice presentation and choreography and is lovely on beam and floor in particular. However, she desperately needs more difficulty if she wants to contend in the elite scene in the new quad, so a gym change is not exactly surprising if that is what has happened.
Stuttgart World Cup roster is out! See here Larisa Iordache, Vanessa Ferrari, Victoria Moors, Elizabeth Price, Elizabeth Seitz and Rebecca Tunney make for an AMAZING floor lineup. Hopefully none of those pull out. Larisa will I'm sure only compete if she is fully healthy and not in pain. The two empty spots will be interesting too I'm sure but Russia have effectively ruled out any of their Olympians competing. Maybe Anastasia Sidorova or Yulia Inshina might be in line for a spot though. I'd like to see representatives from Asia and South America. Mai Murakami and Jessica Gil Ortiz would be my picks. The men's lineup is equally impressive as it stands at the moment. The competition takes place 1-2 December and consists only of all-around, no qualifications. If back to her best and depending on who fills the other two spaces, Larisa should win. If she's still a bit off, then Price should be able to take it.
Diana Chelaru has left the national training centre and returned home to her local club to train. It has been stated that she is unsure of whether or not she wishes to continue. It is sad to see Romania lose talent, or in this case potentially lose it depending on Diana's decision, especially when they are not bursting with top gymnasts. Diana's pet piece is floor, on which she has won world medals as well as team medals in general. Hopefully she makes whatever decision is right for her.
Dityatin Cup results are out. For Juniors, Alexandra Yazydzhan of Russia took first in the AA. Kim Janas of Germany took second and Mariana Oliviera of Brazil was third. Senior AA results don't seem to be available yet. Ekaterina Kramarenko won bars EF with 14.5, Anastasia Cheong of Russia won floor with 13.9, Alina Sotnikova took first on vault with 13.813 and Anna Pavlova won beam with 14.275. Anna also took second on vault with 13.313 and second on floor with 13.725. Those scores are not that high and the competition was not not what you'd call deep, but still a great outing for Anna. Hoping to see videos of her especially. Evgeniya Shelgunova of Russia was second on beam with a 13.75. In the more junior category (2013 seems to count as senior), Kim Janas of Germany was first on floor and second on vault. Alexandra Yazydzhan, the AA champion, was first on bars and beam. Not sure about the senior AA yet as no PDF is opening from that page, but all in all it seems like a bit of a Russian domination.
Danusia Francis, former British gymnast (check out her great beam and floor) and current UCLA 1st year has a (newspaper hosted) blog. The first one is here. It's not very interesting and is just talking about how she came to be there. Future ones discussing training and of course competing will I'm sure be more worthwhile. She is a very sparkly gymnast and is just as exciting as new teammate Peng Peng Lee.
Not exactly news, but I was waiting for Dityatin Cup results that are still not forthcoming. Brenna Dowell won the Mexican Open, Essenia Estrada of Mexico was second and Anna Dementyeva of Russia was third. Brenna, despite being quite sloppy, convincingly won due to her high difficulty. Her opening pass on floor, a front double pike is awesome. Demy was hampered not only by her scary FTY, but also by a fall on beam. Coming only third is not going to do her case any good for future Euros/possibly Worlds teams any good, unless she vastly ups her difficulty- her bars were lovely, but so weak in difficulty. Alexa Moreno of Mexico performed a piked Deltchev and a double arabian piked! Great stuff. The gala performed after is also available on youtube. Highlights are Anna Dementyeva's charming floor routine, and Daniel Purvis of GB's pommel routine wearing a kilt. Brenna did a sort of ballet class barre routine using the beam, which was puzzling given how unsuited she is to ballet work. Jessica Gil Ortiz and Jorga Giraldo swapped apparatus, competing on the parallel bars and beam respectively. Here is the whole competition in 4 parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And the gala and award ceremony: here.
At the Eva Sanyo Memorial, Team Russia (Anastasia Sidorova, Anastasia Dmitrieva and Maria Kharenkova- senior, junior, junior) took the team title by about 16 points. The other teams were mostly Hungarian. Maria Kharenkova beat Anastasia Sidorova for highest AA total..but Hungarian junior Noemi Makra beat them both! She is going to be an interesting senior. Sidorova took vault and beam in event finals, Dorina Boczogo of Hungary took bars and Maryna Kostivchenko of Ukraine took floor.
McKayla Maroney will be on crutches for another 8 weeks. The boot for her toe will be for another 5 weeks, and the stabiliser for her other leg another few weeks after that. As expected, she is just appearing at the end of the tour shows and waving, and signing autographs. Kyla Ross is headed to camp! Hopefully with some planned upgrades in tow if she wants to compete at SCAM and be seen as an all-around threat next year. Elizabeth Price and Kennedy Baker are also headed, along with the vast majority of juniors. As before, it is expected that some juniors will be named to the National Team. The major suspects for this would be Nica Hults, Nia Dennis, Arianna Guerra, Alexis Buecler, Laurie Hernandez and Polina Schennikova.
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Analysis of EF performance by AA medallists
Our reigning Olympic all-around champion, Gabby Douglas, has received a boatload of criticism for not winning any medals in event finals, the first not to do so. This is to look at previous AA medal winners, both World and Olympic, and see what their performances have been. Allowances have to be made for the rising difficulty and the increase in event specialists who have more time to devote to their event, but there are still gymnasts capable of taking the AA and doing extremely well in event finals. It seems that people forget that who they believe is the rightful champion, Viktoria Komova, also tanked in event finals. Personally I think it was astonishing to see Gabby peak at the right time. Anyway, on with the results, in reverse chronological order. Q for qualified in, F for finished in. Qualification results where available (read: easy to find). World Championships where the AA was not contested will be skipped of course. I have picked 1987 World Championships as the start point. This is because they were the first major competition with no boycotting or extremely shady dealings (1985) in a while, had high difficulty and were far enough back to get a good idea. I don't want to go back much further, into the 60's and 70's because difficulty was so much lower then and I think it skews the ability of gymnasts to excel in every event. Team medals are not included. Analysis is at the bottom.
2012. Olympic Games, London.
AA
1. Gabby Douglas, USA.
Q- beam (3rd), bars (6th). F- bars (8th), beam (7th). NO MEDALS
2. Viktoria Komova, RUS.
Q- beam (2nd), bars (3rd). F- bars (5th), beam (8th). NO MEDALS
3. Aliya Mustafina, RUS.
Q- floor (8th), bars (5th). F- bars (1st), floor (3rd). 2 MEDALS
2011 World Championships, Tokyo
AA
1. Jordyn Wieber, USA.
Q- bars (7th), beam (3rd), floor (3rd). F- bars (4th), beam (3rd), floor (6th). 1 MEDAL
2. Viktoria Komova, RUS.
Q- bars (1st), beam (1st). F- bars (1st), beam (8th). 1 MEDAL
3. Yao Jinnan, CHN
Q- beam (4th), floor (4th). F- beam (2nd), floor (4th). 1 MEDAL
2010 World Championships, Rotterdam
AA
1. Aliya Mustafina, RUS
Q- vault (1st), beam (6th), floor (1st), bars (4th). F- vault (2nd), beam (7th), bars (2nd), floor (2nd)
3 MEDALS
2. Jiang Yuyuan, CHN.
Did not qualify to any event finals. NO MEDALS
3. Rebecca Bross, USA
Q- bars (7th), beam (2nd). F- bars (3rd), beam (2nd). 2 MEDALS
2009 World Championships, London
AA
1. Bridget Sloan, USA
F- bars (6th) NO MEDALS
2. Rebecca Bross, USA
F- bars (3rd), floor (5th). 1 MEDAL
3. Koko Tsurumi, JPN
F- beam (6th), bars (2nd). 1 MEDAL
2008 Olympics, Beijing
AA
1. Nastia Liukin, USA
Q- floor (4th), bars (5th), beam (2nd). F- floor (3rd), bars (2nd), beam (2nd). 3 MEDALS
2. Shawn Johnson, USA
Q- floor (3rd), beam (3rd). F- floor (2nd), beam (1st) 2 MEDALS
3. Yang Yilin, CHN
Q- bars (1st). F- bars (3rd). 1 MEDAL
2007 World Championships, Stuttgart
AA
1. Shawn Johnson, USA
Q- beam (3rd), F- beam (8th), floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Steliana Nistor, ROU
Q- bars (5th), beam (4th) F- bars (6th),beam (2nd) 1 MEDAL
3. Jade Barbosa, BRA
F- vault (5th), Q- beam (6th), F- beam (7th) NO MEDALS
3. Vanessa Ferrari, ITA
Q- bars (6th), F- bars (8th), floor (6th) NO MEDALS
2006 World Championships, Aarhus
AA
1. Vanessa Ferrari, ITA
Q- bars (4th), beam (8th), F- bars (3rd), beam (6th), floor (3rd) 2 MEDALS
2. Jana Bieger, USA
Q- bars (6th, but fell foul of 2 pc. Replaced Memmel, 2nd). F- bars (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Sandra Izbasa, ROU
Q- beam (3rd),F- vault (8th), beam (2nd), floor (6th) 1 MEDAL
2005 World Championships, Melbourne
AA
1. Chellsie Memmel, USA
Q- bars (2nd), beam (7th) F- bars (2nd), beam (2nd) 2 MEDALS
2. Nastia Liukin, USA
Q- bars (1st), beam (6th) F- bars (1st), beam (1st), floor (2nd) 3 MEDALS
3. Monette Russo, AUS
Q- bars (7th), beam (3rd), F- bars (7th), beam (5th), floor (5th) NO MEDALS
2004 Olympics, Athens
AA
1. Carly Patterson, USA
Q- beam (2nd), F- beam (2nd) 1 MEDAL
2. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
Q- bars (1st), F- bars (8th) NO MEDALS
3. Zhang Nan, CHN
Q- beam (8th), F- beam (6th) NO MEDALS
2003 World Championships, Anaheim
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
2. Carly Patterson, USA
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
3. Zhang Nan, CHN
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
(2002- no AA)
2001 World Championships, Ghent
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- vault (1st), bars (1st), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
2. Natalia Ziganchina, RUS
NO MEDALS
3. Andreea Raducan, ROU
F- vault (3rd), floor (1st), beam (1st) 3 MEDALS
2000 Olympics Games, Sydney (adding in Raducan as 1st, using Olaru and Xuan in their final placements)
AA
1. Andreea Raducan, ROU
Q- vault (2nd), floor (3rd), F- floor (6th), vault (2nd) 1 MEDAL
1. Simona Amanar, ROU
Q- vault (4th), floor (1st), F- floor (3rd), vault (6th) 1 MEDAL
2. Maria Olaru, ROU
Q- beam (1st), F- beam (6th) NO MEDALS
3. Liu Xuan, CHN
Q- beam (7th), F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
1999 World Championships, Tianjin
AA
1. Maria Olaru, ROU
F- vault (3rd) 1 MEDAL
2. Viktoria Karpenko, UKR
NO MEDALS
3. Elena Zamolodchikova, RUS
F- vault (1st) 1 MEDAL
1997 World Championships, Lausanne
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- bars (1st), floor (1st), beam (1st) 3 MEDALS
2. Simona Amanar, ROU
F- vault (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Elena Produnova, RUS
F- floor (3rd) 1 MEDAL
1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta
AA
1. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR
Q- bars (2nd), beam (3rd), floor (2nd), F- bars (5th), beam (2nd), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
2. Gina Gogean, ROU
Q- vault (3rd), beam (7th), floor (6th), F- vault (2nd), beam (3rd), floor (7th) 2 MEDALS
3. Simona Amanar, ROU
Q- vault (1st), bars (1st), floor (3rd), F- vault (1st), bars (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
Q- bars (7th), beam (7th but replaced by Marinescu for final) F- bars (8th) NO MEDALS
1995 World Championships, Sabae
AA
1. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR
F- vault (1st), bars (2nd), beam (2nd), floor (7th) 3 MEDALS
2. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- vault (5th), bars (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
F- bars (5th) NO MEDALS
1994 World Championships, Brisbane
AA
1. Shannon Miller, USA
F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
F- vault (3rd), floor (2nd) 1 MEDAL
3. Dina Kotchetkova, RUS
F- bars (3rd), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
1993 World Championships, Birmingham
AA
1. Shannon Miller, USA
F- bars (1st), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
2. Gina Gogean, ROU
F- vault (4th), beam (3rd), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Tatiana Lysenko, UKR
NO MEDALS
1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona
AA
1. Tatiana Gutsu, EUN
Q- bars (1st), floor (5th),F- bars (2nd), floor (3rd) 2 MEDALS
2. Shannon Miller, USA
Q- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (3rd), floor (8th, below 3 ties) F- vault (6th), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
Q- vault (4th), bars (3rd), beam (8th), floor (3rd), F- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (8th), floor (1st)
3 MEDALS
1991 World Championships, Indianapolis
AA
1. Kim Zmeskal, USA
F- floor (3rd) 1 MEDAL
2. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Cristina Bontas, ROU
F- floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
1989 World Championships, Stuttgart
AA
1. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Natalia Laschenova, URS
NO MEDALS
3. Olga Strazheva, URS
F- bars (3rd) 1 MEDAL
1988 Olympic Games, Seoul
AA
1. Elena Shushunova, URS
F- vault (8th), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (7th) 2 MEDALS
2. Daniela Silivas, ROM
F- vault (3rd), bars (1st), beam (1st), floor (1st) 4 MEDALS
3. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- vault (1st), bars (5th), beam (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
1987 World Championships, Rotterdam
AA
1. Aurelia Dobre, ROU
F- vault (3rd), beam (1st), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
2. Elena Shushunova, URS
F- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (1st) 4 MEDALS
3. Daniela Silivas, ROU
F- bars (1st), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
ANALYSIS
Clearly, gymnastics is still able to produce excellent all-arounders who are able to collect plenty of event final medals, despite the rise of event specialists which the likes of Silivas, Miller and co. did not have to contend with. Aliya Mustafina and Nastia Liukin prove this point, especially as Mustafina is still active. Gabby Douglas is quite clearly not alone in failing to garner an EF medal, and of course, may yet do so in the future. The poor record of the 2001-2004 quad is a sight to behold, and confirms how weak a period that was. It's reassuring to see that all is not lost and that we are and will continue to gymnasts sweeping medal tables.
2012. Olympic Games, London.
AA
1. Gabby Douglas, USA.
Q- beam (3rd), bars (6th). F- bars (8th), beam (7th). NO MEDALS
2. Viktoria Komova, RUS.
Q- beam (2nd), bars (3rd). F- bars (5th), beam (8th). NO MEDALS
3. Aliya Mustafina, RUS.
Q- floor (8th), bars (5th). F- bars (1st), floor (3rd). 2 MEDALS
2011 World Championships, Tokyo
AA
1. Jordyn Wieber, USA.
Q- bars (7th), beam (3rd), floor (3rd). F- bars (4th), beam (3rd), floor (6th). 1 MEDAL
2. Viktoria Komova, RUS.
Q- bars (1st), beam (1st). F- bars (1st), beam (8th). 1 MEDAL
3. Yao Jinnan, CHN
Q- beam (4th), floor (4th). F- beam (2nd), floor (4th). 1 MEDAL
2010 World Championships, Rotterdam
AA
1. Aliya Mustafina, RUS
Q- vault (1st), beam (6th), floor (1st), bars (4th). F- vault (2nd), beam (7th), bars (2nd), floor (2nd)
3 MEDALS
2. Jiang Yuyuan, CHN.
Did not qualify to any event finals. NO MEDALS
3. Rebecca Bross, USA
Q- bars (7th), beam (2nd). F- bars (3rd), beam (2nd). 2 MEDALS
2009 World Championships, London
AA
1. Bridget Sloan, USA
F- bars (6th) NO MEDALS
2. Rebecca Bross, USA
F- bars (3rd), floor (5th). 1 MEDAL
3. Koko Tsurumi, JPN
F- beam (6th), bars (2nd). 1 MEDAL
2008 Olympics, Beijing
AA
1. Nastia Liukin, USA
Q- floor (4th), bars (5th), beam (2nd). F- floor (3rd), bars (2nd), beam (2nd). 3 MEDALS
2. Shawn Johnson, USA
Q- floor (3rd), beam (3rd). F- floor (2nd), beam (1st) 2 MEDALS
3. Yang Yilin, CHN
Q- bars (1st). F- bars (3rd). 1 MEDAL
2007 World Championships, Stuttgart
AA
1. Shawn Johnson, USA
Q- beam (3rd), F- beam (8th), floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Steliana Nistor, ROU
Q- bars (5th), beam (4th) F- bars (6th),beam (2nd) 1 MEDAL
3. Jade Barbosa, BRA
F- vault (5th), Q- beam (6th), F- beam (7th) NO MEDALS
3. Vanessa Ferrari, ITA
Q- bars (6th), F- bars (8th), floor (6th) NO MEDALS
2006 World Championships, Aarhus
AA
1. Vanessa Ferrari, ITA
Q- bars (4th), beam (8th), F- bars (3rd), beam (6th), floor (3rd) 2 MEDALS
2. Jana Bieger, USA
Q- bars (6th, but fell foul of 2 pc. Replaced Memmel, 2nd). F- bars (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Sandra Izbasa, ROU
Q- beam (3rd),F- vault (8th), beam (2nd), floor (6th) 1 MEDAL
2005 World Championships, Melbourne
AA
1. Chellsie Memmel, USA
Q- bars (2nd), beam (7th) F- bars (2nd), beam (2nd) 2 MEDALS
2. Nastia Liukin, USA
Q- bars (1st), beam (6th) F- bars (1st), beam (1st), floor (2nd) 3 MEDALS
3. Monette Russo, AUS
Q- bars (7th), beam (3rd), F- bars (7th), beam (5th), floor (5th) NO MEDALS
2004 Olympics, Athens
AA
1. Carly Patterson, USA
Q- beam (2nd), F- beam (2nd) 1 MEDAL
2. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
Q- bars (1st), F- bars (8th) NO MEDALS
3. Zhang Nan, CHN
Q- beam (8th), F- beam (6th) NO MEDALS
2003 World Championships, Anaheim
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
2. Carly Patterson, USA
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
3. Zhang Nan, CHN
Did not qualify to any event final NO MEDALS
(2002- no AA)
2001 World Championships, Ghent
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- vault (1st), bars (1st), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
2. Natalia Ziganchina, RUS
NO MEDALS
3. Andreea Raducan, ROU
F- vault (3rd), floor (1st), beam (1st) 3 MEDALS
2000 Olympics Games, Sydney (adding in Raducan as 1st, using Olaru and Xuan in their final placements)
AA
1. Andreea Raducan, ROU
Q- vault (2nd), floor (3rd), F- floor (6th), vault (2nd) 1 MEDAL
1. Simona Amanar, ROU
Q- vault (4th), floor (1st), F- floor (3rd), vault (6th) 1 MEDAL
2. Maria Olaru, ROU
Q- beam (1st), F- beam (6th) NO MEDALS
3. Liu Xuan, CHN
Q- beam (7th), F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
1999 World Championships, Tianjin
AA
1. Maria Olaru, ROU
F- vault (3rd) 1 MEDAL
2. Viktoria Karpenko, UKR
NO MEDALS
3. Elena Zamolodchikova, RUS
F- vault (1st) 1 MEDAL
1997 World Championships, Lausanne
AA
1. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- bars (1st), floor (1st), beam (1st) 3 MEDALS
2. Simona Amanar, ROU
F- vault (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Elena Produnova, RUS
F- floor (3rd) 1 MEDAL
1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta
AA
1. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR
Q- bars (2nd), beam (3rd), floor (2nd), F- bars (5th), beam (2nd), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
2. Gina Gogean, ROU
Q- vault (3rd), beam (7th), floor (6th), F- vault (2nd), beam (3rd), floor (7th) 2 MEDALS
3. Simona Amanar, ROU
Q- vault (1st), bars (1st), floor (3rd), F- vault (1st), bars (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
Q- bars (7th), beam (7th but replaced by Marinescu for final) F- bars (8th) NO MEDALS
1995 World Championships, Sabae
AA
1. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR
F- vault (1st), bars (2nd), beam (2nd), floor (7th) 3 MEDALS
2. Svetlana Khorkina, RUS
F- vault (5th), bars (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
F- bars (5th) NO MEDALS
1994 World Championships, Brisbane
AA
1. Shannon Miller, USA
F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
F- vault (3rd), floor (2nd) 1 MEDAL
3. Dina Kotchetkova, RUS
F- bars (3rd), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
1993 World Championships, Birmingham
AA
1. Shannon Miller, USA
F- bars (1st), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
2. Gina Gogean, ROU
F- vault (4th), beam (3rd), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
3. Tatiana Lysenko, UKR
NO MEDALS
1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona
AA
1. Tatiana Gutsu, EUN
Q- bars (1st), floor (5th),F- bars (2nd), floor (3rd) 2 MEDALS
2. Shannon Miller, USA
Q- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (3rd), floor (8th, below 3 ties) F- vault (6th), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
3. Lavinia Milosovici, ROU
Q- vault (4th), bars (3rd), beam (8th), floor (3rd), F- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (8th), floor (1st)
3 MEDALS
1991 World Championships, Indianapolis
AA
1. Kim Zmeskal, USA
F- floor (3rd) 1 MEDAL
2. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- beam (1st) 1 MEDAL
3. Cristina Bontas, ROU
F- floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
1989 World Championships, Stuttgart
AA
1. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- floor (1st) 1 MEDAL
2. Natalia Laschenova, URS
NO MEDALS
3. Olga Strazheva, URS
F- bars (3rd) 1 MEDAL
1988 Olympic Games, Seoul
AA
1. Elena Shushunova, URS
F- vault (8th), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (7th) 2 MEDALS
2. Daniela Silivas, ROM
F- vault (3rd), bars (1st), beam (1st), floor (1st) 4 MEDALS
3. Svetlana Boginskaya, URS
F- vault (1st), bars (5th), beam (5th), floor (2nd) 2 MEDALS
1987 World Championships, Rotterdam
AA
1. Aurelia Dobre, ROU
F- vault (3rd), beam (1st), floor (3rd) 3 MEDALS
2. Elena Shushunova, URS
F- vault (1st), bars (3rd), beam (2nd), floor (1st) 4 MEDALS
3. Daniela Silivas, ROU
F- bars (1st), floor (1st) 2 MEDALS
ANALYSIS
- There are 24 All-around Champions between 1987 and 2012 inclusive.
- Of these, Gabby Douglas IS the first Olympic champion not to medal in EF.
- 2 World Champions have also managed this feat- Bridget Sloan (2009) and Svetlana Khorkina. (2003)
- Of the other 16 Olympic AA medallists, 5 failed to medal in EF. These are Viktoria Komova, (2012) Svetlana Khorkina, (2004) Zhang Nan, (2004) Maria Olaru (2000) and Lavinia Milosovici. (1996)
- Of the other 33 World AA medallists, 11 failed to medal in EF. These are Jiang Yuyuan (2010), Jade Barbosa, (2007), Vanessa Ferrari (2007), Monette Russo (2005), Carly Patterson (2003), Zhang Nan (2003), Natalia Ziganchina (2001), Viktoria Karpenko (1999), Lavinia Milosovici (1995), Tatiana Lysenko (1993) and Natalia Laschenova (1989).
- 4% of Olympic Champions, or 1/24 failed to medal in EF.
- 12.5% of World Champions, or 2/16 failed to medal in EF.
- 31.25% of Olympic bronze and silver AA medallists, or 5/16 failed to medal in EF.
- 33.333% of World bronze and silver AA medallists, or 11/33 (1/3) failed to medal in EF.
- Of these, 4 medal EF failures took place in the 2009-2012 quad.
- 3 in the 2005-2008 quad.
- 6 in the 2001-2004 quad.
- 2 in the 1997-2000 quad.
- 3 in the 1993-1996 quad.
- 1 in the 1989-1992 quad.
- 31% of all medal EF failures took place in the 2001-2004 quad.
- The worst competition was the 2003 World Championships where all AA medallists failed to medal in EF.
- The second worst was the 2004 Olympic Games where only one medal was managed, by Carly Patterson.
- The best competition was the 1987 World Championships with 9 medals.
- The second best are the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games with 8 medals.
- 13 EF medals were won by AA medallists in the 1989-1992 quad.
- 18 in the 1993-1996 quad.
- 10 in the 1997-2000 quad
- 7 in the 2001-2004 quad
- 18 in the 2005-2008 quad
- 12 in the 2009-2012 quad
- Of the 12 EF medals in the 2009-2012 quad won by AA medallists, 5 or 41.6% were won by Aliya Mustafina, in 2 competitions.
- Of the 18 EF medals in the 2005-2008 quad won by AA medallists, 6 or 33.333% (1/3) were won by Nastia Liukin, in 2 competitions.
- Of the 7 EF medals in the 2001-2004 quad won by AA medallists, 3 each or 42.86% were won by Svetlana Khorkina and Andrea Raducan in 1 competition each. Together they won 86% of all medals available.
- Of the 10 EF medals in the 1997-2000 quad won by AA medallists, 3 or 30% were won by Svetlana Khorkina in 1 competition.
- Of the 18 EF medals in the 1993-1996 quad won by AA medallists, 5 or 27.8% were won by Lilia Podkopayeva and 4 or 22.3% by Gina Gogean in 2 competitions each. Together they won half of all medals available, or 50%.
- Of the 13 EF medals in the 1989-1992 quad won by AA medallists, 3 or 23% were won by Shannon Miller.
- * NOTE: Some of the above won more EF medals in their quad, but medals they won when they didn't place in that AA are NOT counted*
- The highest total of EF medals by any AA medallist is 7, the feat of Svetlana Khorkina.
- Nastia Liukin, Daniela Silivas and Elena Shushunova all managed 6.
Clearly, gymnastics is still able to produce excellent all-arounders who are able to collect plenty of event final medals, despite the rise of event specialists which the likes of Silivas, Miller and co. did not have to contend with. Aliya Mustafina and Nastia Liukin prove this point, especially as Mustafina is still active. Gabby Douglas is quite clearly not alone in failing to garner an EF medal, and of course, may yet do so in the future. The poor record of the 2001-2004 quad is a sight to behold, and confirms how weak a period that was. It's reassuring to see that all is not lost and that we are and will continue to gymnasts sweeping medal tables.
Friday, 12 October 2012
Skills: The Best of. Part 1: Floor Tumbles
As it says in the title. Some of these are more subjective than others, but a few cannot be argued with at all.
Best Double Arabian
Anna Myzdrikova, Russia, 2009 Worlds EF
She stumbled on her third pass and handed her title away, but her other 3 passes were fantastic- one of which is a triple twist tuck back, perfectly done. THIS is amazing, legs glued together and knees at the same height (almost..she does correct it) is incredibly rare. Not to mention how light it is and how she plants the landing beautifully. Stunning. Others with great double arabians are Inna Sckarupa, Alicia Sacramone and Liubov Sheremeta.
Best Double Front
Ivana Hong, USA, 2008 Visa Nationals
This was the easiest, because nobody's compares to this really. Mariya Livchikova came close, but this skill is famous for cowboying and basically everyone else is an offender. Glorious- knees together, feet pointed, light landing.
Best Double Piked Arabian (Dos Santos I)
Chellsie Memmel, USA, 2008 Olympic Trials
This was really hard. Although it's one of the most difficult tumbles, there are still quite a few to choose from. The majority are quite crooked in the air. Chellsie's is also, but she corrects it and as well as being one of the straightest she also has great form in the air and sticks the landing. Most take a hop forward, or if they do stick it, it's ugly. Also, quite a lot land it dangerously low. Others in consideration were Sarah Finnegan and Alicia Sacramone.
Best Triple Full
Cheng Fei, CHN, 2004 Olympics TF
You would think it would be easy to pinpoint people who have a perfect one, and find examples on youtube. It isn't. So many beautifu floor workers with clean tumbling- Pavlova, Komova, Yao, Ukrainians en masse and many others all failed me. You think it's fine until you see it in better quality or on the replay. But Cheng throws out a perfect one, with zero crossing of the ankles. So high, clean and tidy with super perfect form.The only other that came close was Mattie Larson.
Best Double Double (Silivas)
Mai Murakami, JPN, 2010 All Japan Gymnastics Championships
It can be tough to pick out the 'best' because not many have actually done it badly or had a rough landing. (Excusing the 80's originators on their unsuitable floor) It seems to be quite easy to keep form on, but some have better, cleaner tuck positions than others. Mai brings a lightness and grace to such a difficult power move. And what a landing! Others considered for this were Cheng Fei, Larisa Iordache and Jordyn Wieber.
Best Double Layout
Lavinia Milosovici, ROM, 1994 Worlds EF
This is probably the most subjective of all. Countless times I went back and watched noted elegant tumblers with lovely floaty DLO's only to see leg seperations, a lot of piked positions in the second layout, bent knees, sickling of feet, totally flexed feet...urghh. To me, this is about as textbook as it gets. Beautiful. Others who came close were Mary Lou Retton, Mattie Larson and Cristina Bontas.
Part 2 will be a mixture of bars releases, bar and beam dismounts and leaps.
Best Double Arabian
Anna Myzdrikova, Russia, 2009 Worlds EF
She stumbled on her third pass and handed her title away, but her other 3 passes were fantastic- one of which is a triple twist tuck back, perfectly done. THIS is amazing, legs glued together and knees at the same height (almost..she does correct it) is incredibly rare. Not to mention how light it is and how she plants the landing beautifully. Stunning. Others with great double arabians are Inna Sckarupa, Alicia Sacramone and Liubov Sheremeta.
Best Double Front
Ivana Hong, USA, 2008 Visa Nationals
This was the easiest, because nobody's compares to this really. Mariya Livchikova came close, but this skill is famous for cowboying and basically everyone else is an offender. Glorious- knees together, feet pointed, light landing.
Best Double Piked Arabian (Dos Santos I)
Chellsie Memmel, USA, 2008 Olympic Trials
This was really hard. Although it's one of the most difficult tumbles, there are still quite a few to choose from. The majority are quite crooked in the air. Chellsie's is also, but she corrects it and as well as being one of the straightest she also has great form in the air and sticks the landing. Most take a hop forward, or if they do stick it, it's ugly. Also, quite a lot land it dangerously low. Others in consideration were Sarah Finnegan and Alicia Sacramone.
Best Triple Full
Cheng Fei, CHN, 2004 Olympics TF
You would think it would be easy to pinpoint people who have a perfect one, and find examples on youtube. It isn't. So many beautifu floor workers with clean tumbling- Pavlova, Komova, Yao, Ukrainians en masse and many others all failed me. You think it's fine until you see it in better quality or on the replay. But Cheng throws out a perfect one, with zero crossing of the ankles. So high, clean and tidy with super perfect form.The only other that came close was Mattie Larson.
Best Double Double (Silivas)
Mai Murakami, JPN, 2010 All Japan Gymnastics Championships
It can be tough to pick out the 'best' because not many have actually done it badly or had a rough landing. (Excusing the 80's originators on their unsuitable floor) It seems to be quite easy to keep form on, but some have better, cleaner tuck positions than others. Mai brings a lightness and grace to such a difficult power move. And what a landing! Others considered for this were Cheng Fei, Larisa Iordache and Jordyn Wieber.
Best Double Layout
Lavinia Milosovici, ROM, 1994 Worlds EF
This is probably the most subjective of all. Countless times I went back and watched noted elegant tumblers with lovely floaty DLO's only to see leg seperations, a lot of piked positions in the second layout, bent knees, sickling of feet, totally flexed feet...urghh. To me, this is about as textbook as it gets. Beautiful. Others who came close were Mary Lou Retton, Mattie Larson and Cristina Bontas.
Part 2 will be a mixture of bars releases, bar and beam dismounts and leaps.
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