Nastia misses bars. Lack of endurance and nerves bring her
to grief: doesn’t compete dismount. 13.150. Comes back to smash beam, 15.100.
Jordyn ties Gabby for first. Messy beam and scary-ish vault
but her best bars! Gabby: great bars and good floor, not too bad beam and
vault.
Raisman: another day at the office. Solid, but overscored on
floor (definitely the opinion splitter of the meet).
Maroney: Two wonderful vaults. Good floor, great 3.5 twist
but struggles on 1.5 to double tuck.
Bross: OK bars but sat down Patterson.
Ross: Good
Finnegan: Great, Top Beamer. Stumble on floor, but pretty.
Quick Thoughts
Specialists
I am not Marta, but if I was I would be expecting my
specialist hopefuls to be in the top ranks. Rebecca Bross is being beaten by
two AA workers, Anna Li isn’t cracking top 3 and Nastia Liukin finished last. Bridget Sloanlooked thrilled after her bars routine, which was really rather good.
Can’t fault Nastia Liukin here, she was awesome.
Looked like she had glue on her feet and moved quicker than she has in a long
time. Will it get her to London? No, but it improves her case after bars.
Alicia Sacramone took second place against the odds, looking very competent
with a lovely new sheep jump I would never have assumed would suit her body
type. Rebecca Bross is starting to make her dismount look like it is supposed
to be sat down. With so little time, what chance now?
Mckayla Maroney simply smashed it. Olympic champion
performance, as always. Alicia Sacramone didn’t have the best rudi of her life,
but it was better than expected. Vaulted an FTY for her second, which her coach
didn’t seem happy with.
All Arounders
Gabrielle Douglas is proving that she can be up there with “lock”
Wieber yet again. Great bars; beam and vault could have been better but no
major mistakes. Floor generally good but as everyone seems to be saying, her
music is brittle and somewhat annoying and the dance echoes this. I am all for modern
floor music; ever since her tweet after the 2011 team final (“who run the
world, US girls!” or something similar) I have always though how great she
would be to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo5tIuPiU8
Jordyn Wieber didn’t have the best day of her life, but it
certainly was bad either. Rather it was unexpected. Her worst of the day was
probably beam, which is unusual, and she hit bars about as well as she is
capable. Floor looked great, no DLO yet though.
Sarah Finnegan: Great floor as usual, and top beam. The mount
sequence into the triple spin is wonderful. Who knows whether she will make the
team, but her beam and floor are certainly Olympic worthy.
Alexandra Raisman had her usual solid day for third. As
usual, there were complaints though. Her vault is dramatically lacking in
execution, even though it is traditionally where she held her form the best in
my opinion. I read an opinion the other day on a gym board which sums it up
wonderfully: it is as though she does a DTY with a tucked half twist right
before landing. Floor wise, her tumbling is fantastic. However as a whole I
would be shocked if Raisman attracts the same level of scoring from an
international panel.
Kyla Ross did what was asked, and crucially she posted the
top score on bars.
Tomorrow
Nastia needs to hit bars out of the park.
Bross needs to stand up a Patterson, if not I think it’s
pretty much game over
Jordyn could do with hitting beam like she usually does, same with
vault. Whichever of Douglas and Wieber manages to do this that will decide
who the 2012 National Champion is.
As always, huge gratitude to Nastiafan101 (or whatever the current variation is) for fantastic videos so quickly.
I remember vividly the Qualifications at the 2011 world
championships in Tokyo, when the Olympic AA champion stopped all the
speculation and qualified a huge piece of information: she would indeed be
trying her hand at getting to London for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Cue months of criticism and scepticism. Was it for the
publicity? Was this a well-timed stunt to remain in the headlines of US WAG
gymnastics? The world of gym forums and blogs alike trended a generally
negativity-led retort to a Nastia Liukin they saw as not the beautiful athlete
she had been, but the media machine she had since become.
Fast forward 7 months, whizzing past the countless
interviews, photoshoots, endorsements and gymnastics tours, we finally got what
we were waiting for: cold, hard evidence of what Nastia had been up to and a
real glimpse at her chances of making the team.
And all things considered, all videos watched and all catty
opinions firmly put to bed it is time to say this: I take it all back.
VISA Championships Podium training videos from USAGymnastics.
Nastia looks fantastic. Sometimes you need to see something
before your eyes to realise how much you missed it, and I have to say that from
the first one armed pirouette from podium training at classics, I was pretty
much sold. Liukin’s lines have not suffered from the steady march of time.
Rather, I think in many ways she looks even better: statuesque, in great shape
but not emaciated shape and in general resembling an accomplished, polished
young woman still capable of producing beautifully presented gymnastics.
Sure, there are a few leg separations that weren’t there
before, the Tkatchev is still the same and looking to beam, her switch ring and
2.5 dismount need work. But really, that is a short list considering what a lot
of us expected. Now for some gushing....
THINGS THAT LOOK GREAT
Pirouettes
Slightly less crisp than they have been, but the best
forward giant pirouetting series I have seen in a good while. Liukin’s ability
to maintain that shape and toe point through those skills is still wonderful.
Dismount
Perhaps one of the most maligned gym skills amongst the top competitors
in recent times, and the skill many people hoped to have seen the back of
during this comeback. However, this dismount looks very, very good (check out
the stick). Of course, Nastia was always capable of doing a great job on the
double front half when taken in isolation, and it was clearly the pressure of a
fatiguing jam-packed routine that prevented her from doing this dismount
justice. Yet here is it, preceded by a fair amount of gymnastics, looking very
good.
DID NASTIA DO IT RIGHT?
In the linked article above, I referenced how Nastia
announced her comeback when her compatriot comeback queens were in the gym
working hard. At the time they seemed like the girls taking the right route.
But with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps camp Liukin had it right all along.
We have watched the other Beijing Olympians drop like flies after achieving
shortlived second winds of success. Perhaps timing her second peak exactly for
London was the best strategy anyone could have hoped for.
Whatever the weather, and whatever the team, I can happily
admit an end to any scepticism on my part. I think Nastia has come across
fabulously in recent interviews, and these podium training videos are a
testament to the hard work that has gone on behind closed doors.
Whether this spells a second trip to the games is unclear,
but no matter what happens I am grateful to have seen Nastia Liukin on her best
apparatus again, and eagerly anticipate her performance this weekend.
Rules are rules, but it seems few of us are ready to bid farewell to Chellsie Memmel quite yet...
It is never good when an unbelievable journey isn’t graced
with an unbelievable ending. We learned that with LOST, we saw it again with
Desperate Housewives, and this weekend in Chicago the rollercoaster that is
Chellsie Memmel was stopped without one last trip around the tracks.
I would be shocked if anyone reading this didn’t already
know the circumstances, but for clarity...
In the excitement of watching small scale US domestic
competitions like the Classic to see how people are progressing and keep our
beady eyes peeled for upgrades, we can often forget that they have a specific
purpose. The US Classic is a qualifier to the VISA National Championships later
in the sporting year.
Now, Chellsie Memmel, although she is a superstar in the
fans eyes, has not competed internationally since the Beijing Olympics.
Therefore she needed to use this competition not only as a practice (like it
was for Wieber, Douglas, Raisman etc due to being on last year’s world team)
but she needed to fulfil certain requirements in order to qualify.
For event specialists, this basement level requirement is a
score of 14.000 on the apparatus of choice. As Chellsie opted to compete only
on beam, this is the score she would have needed in order to advance to
Nationals. As we all know, this did not come to pass. Falls on two major skills
cost Chellsie dearly, and she posted the lowest beam score of the competition.
Not the easiest watch. Shame about the Arabian - Korbut connection, I like the idea
As a result, Chellsie’s petition to Nationals has been
denied (similarly to the Dominique Moceanu situation in 2006, and therefore
feelings of sympathy might explain Moceanu’s heated tweeting on the topic) and
she becomes the first top name gymnast to be officially out of the Olympic
selection process. As of this weekend, Chellsie’s gymnastics career is over.
It just doesn’t feel right: like a giant blazing fire being
blown out by a breeze. There is an overwhelming sense that the Memmel saga
deserves more of a bang than this damp fizzling out.
WHY I AGREE WITH THE DECISION
Rules are rules
It cannot be denied
that a big part of the reason the online fans are so up in arms about this
decision is due to Chellsie’s popularity. People see her as a fighter, a
likeable character who has always seemed to be a determined,
charismatic athlete; and more importantly,
a team player.
Memmel deserves this appreciation. No doubt about that, and
it pretty much sums up the way I feel about her as an athlete. She always
appeared to always try her best to get the job done, but faced a
greater than average share of setbacks and bad luck along the way. Of the top
USA WAG competitors this decade, I would say she is probably the one with the
most underdog appeal. People root for her more universally than many of her compatriots,
because we have watched her hit walls so many times and we all want her to get
her slice of good luck.
BUT, imagine if it was Nastia Liukin who had fallen from the
beam twice and posted the lowest score. If she was granted a trip to nationals,
people would not be sympathetic. They would say she was undeserving and in it
for the fame. However, Nastia DID hit. She scored the 14.000+ she needed and
pretty much smashed it. Sure her connections were a bit off, but they always
were anyway.
Switch ring less than great, but on the whole pretty impressive
This is why we have frameworks like these qualification
rules in life: they give a structure to certain events and prevent unfair
biases stemming from subjective likes and dislikes. It does not help in this
situation that gossip in previous years has been that Chellsie is not favoured
by Marta, allowing many of us to get hotheaded and claim this is a personal
attack based on personal opinions. When all the information is viewed from a
cold, non emotional standpoint it simply boils down to this: Memmel knew what
had to happen, and sadly she couldn’t make it happen on this occasion.
Transparency
In what may seem like a contradiction to the above, in the
end it will pretty much be Marta’s decision who goes to London. Although I just
now advocated following rules to the letter, if Marta really thought Chellsie
has a shot at a spot on her dream team, she would have found a way to get her
through to Nationals. So in a way, although it may have been a simple case of
rule following, this could have been Marta’s way of saying “you are not going
to be on my team, so save yourself the stress and call it a day here”. At least
it is honest.
Health
Not to make assumptions about Memmel in any way, but if her
general portrayal is anything to go by it would seem that her determination and
fighting spirit got her to where she is, and not necessarily her health. Given
that she wouldn’t make the Olympic team (obviously that is my opinion, but I am
pretty sure most people would concur) maybe it IS a good thing for her to stop
before something else happens.
WHY I HATE THE DECISION
The Pan-Ams issue
Shawn Johnson does not have to qualify because she attended
the Pan American games last year. Chellsie was named to this team but withdrew.
Now, it could be argued that being deemed good enough to represent the USA
internationally last year should earn Memmel a ticket to Nationals even though
she didn’t actually go.
Was this all about
London?
If Chellsie was only continuing to try for a London team
spot, then this might be less of an issue as mentioned above. However, perhaps
she would have been just fine with bowing out after a good show at nationals
and another go in front of her fans?
Legacy
Chellsie is one of the faces of noughties US gymnastics and,
as discussed, a huge favourite with the fans. Sure, the rules are not made to
be broken, but surely in certain circumstances room can be made for the long
time contributors? Even if just for the sake of making Nationals a better
competition for the fans to watch.
Further, and I appreciate I am about to enter dangerously
subjective and speculative territory here, but WHY did Chellsie have shoulder
problems anyway? Was it indeed because she put her health and individual
competitive record on the line by slogging it out for the team effort in 2006?
Perhaps if Memmel was the kind of person to shy away from giving a team meet
everything she had, she would have a stack more world medals and a much shorter
health bill.
-Chellsie will forever be a double individual world champion
-Chellsie will forever be a USA gymnastics legend
-Chellsie will forever be the girl who repeatedly
stunned commentators, fans, bloggers and the world with her ability to bounce
back and look amazing again
Nothing like proving the gruesome threesome wrong
Whenever I think of Chellsie Memmel I am instantly reminded
of this: one day, 3 stuck dismounts and two stuck double pikes. Memmel was
always a pleasure to watch and her contributions will be sorely missed.
While the individuality and subjectivity of gymnastics is
one of the sport’s greatest assets, with it comes an imbalance of excellence
amongst its competitors. In running, whoever runs the fastest wins. In javelin,
whoever throws the furthest wins. In gymnastics, though, there is a diversity
of talent so great that gold and silver medallists on a discipline can resemble
competitors in different sports.
The result is this: there is rarely one competitor who has
it all. There may never have been a gymnast who was without weaknesses that
were (or are) better performed by other competitors. In avoidance of writing a
dull Euros anticipation, and to satisfy a desire to write something a bit
flippant and fun, I got to thinking about “building” perfect gymnasts from the
components of real life competitors (don’t worry, this doesn’t involve any
hypothetical dismemberment).
If you could combine favourites to fill in their weaknesses,
who would you put together?
Jordyn Wieber's power
with Li Xuan’s leaps and lines and Lilia Podkopayeva’s forward acrobatic
ability
I love Jordyn Wieber. Her power is really impressive and on
the whole, her form is good too. In Tokyo, Christine Still remarked of Wieber:
“she seems to have so much time in the air on her leaps”. Youtube commenters
seemed to take issue with this, possibly because Jordyn is not a classic
graceful gymnast with whom leaps are most associated, but she does have the
ability to generate a lot of height from nowhere which makes her leaps pretty
impressive.
However, she doesn’t have the classical grace and
flexibility that many others have had. Liu Xuan competed some of my favourite
beam leaps of all time: amazing flexibility, grace and poise without being as
waifish as other competitors. A dash of Liu Xuan into Wieber’s beam leaps would
take her beam work from great to exceptional, in my humble opinion.
This is too beautiful for any caption to do it justice.
With a very secure Amanar vault, a history of top shelf bars
dismounts and a double double on floor, Jordyn is not what you would call
acrobatically challenged. She does, however, famously struggle with forward
acrobatic elements. This weakness goes some way to explain her lack of second
vault and the reason for no forward giant work in her bars set. Indeed, her
only regularly competed forwards acrobatic skill is a punch front layout from a
2.5 twist on floor: an element that has been far the most inconsistent piece of
gymnastics in her repertoire.
One of Lilia’s many outstanding talents was a plethora of
forward acrobatic skills; not least on floor, where to this day her forward
tumbling series look the most solid and secure. With even a hint of Lilia’s
forwards ability Jordyn would have many more secure skills to choose from.
Ali Raisman’s difficulty
and solidity with Anna Pavlova’s dance and execution
A few years ago everyone seemed to be pretty fond of Raisman.
She had some exciting skills, a nice attitude, but most of all a stunning
consistency (on all but bars) that made her appear far more experienced than
she actually was. Sadly, a lot of the internet community has gone a bit cool on
Raisman recently, most likely because of Jana Bieger syndrome: upgrading
difficulty before mastering execution, something which turns a lot of old
school gymnastics fans right off. Despite this, the fact remains that Raisman
performs some fantastic gymnastics very solidly and cleanly.
Conversely, Anna Pavlova is a gymnast who seems to be
universally loved (or at least pretty universally non-hated). Her career is one marred
by inconsistency and a lack of difficulty, but characterised by amazing
attention to detail. Her presentation and dance are frequently cited as the
amongst the best of modern times, with her Beijing floor routine frequently
used as an example of artistry over difficulty. If Raisman could perform her
skills with the execution and poise of Pavlova, she would be a formidable
competitor. She can keep her own twisting form, though.
A blast from the
past: Mo Huilan with Gina Gogean’s consistency
Mo Huilan is up there with Cheng Fei for the most well known
and well celebrated Chinese WAG gymnasts; but unlike Cheng, Mo never really
capitalized on her potential. Sure, she won a vault silver in 1996 and the beam
title in 1995. However, here was a gymnast whose routines on bars, beam and
vault were not only good: they would have contended for gold. Mo could have
left Atlanta with an AA medal and three EF medals. But she didn’t. Why? Because
she was always held back by inconsistency.
Gina Gogean’s career tells a very different story. The
statistics tell is that Gina is one of the most successful female gymnasts of
all time (she has 20 world and Olympic medals in her cabinet), however, you
would struggle to find many fans who would list Gina amongst their all time
favourites. Why? Because Gina’s medals were won through a rock solid
consistency and an amazing ability to perform in the most stressful of situations, not for their originality or ingenuity.
Together, they would make a stellar combination of original,
beautiful and difficult gymnastics performed with a rock hard consistency.
Beth Tweddle with
Jordyn Wieber’s confidence and expression
Beth is a fantastic bar worker, and a brilliant tumbler.
This is known. What is also known is that she has always been lacking in the artistry
and expression department. Unlike previous examples this is not a case of
execution: Beth is a very clean gymnast, with beautiful toe point and good
form. This is a case of musical interpretation and the presentation of
choreography.
I have mentioned before on this blog that Beth should draw
inspiration from people like Chellsie Memmel, whose floor performance at the
2008 Olympic trials is one of the most memorable American routines of all time
(for me, anyway). I say Chellsie specifically because as an athlete, she is not
dissimilar to Beth. Neither Beth nor Chellsie lend themselves easily to classic
graceful expression or balletic precision. However Chellsie never let this get
in the way of her floor routines, whereas Beth always has.
However I used Jordyn Wieber in this example because on
recent reflection, I think that her current routine may be my favourite non
balletic floor routine of all time. With it, she has truly shown that a
gripping, well choreographed routine with great attention to musical detail can
be performed by a “power gymnast” with no classical technique. If it were up to
me, Wieber would medal with her floor routine in London because it is a
highlight of the quad as far as I am concerned.
I think much of Wieber’s floor success probably comes from
embracing her weaknesses and being sure to deliver with confidence. Beth has
never had a floor routine she looked comfortable with, despite her good
tumbling. With a dash of Wieber Beth could be as great on floor as she is on
bars (or at least be closer).
Rebecca Bross’s bars
execution and beam attack with Mckayla Maroney’s twisting form and vaulting
I just had to combine these athletes for an example, because
in many ways I think they will have to combine to make their countries Olympic
team this year. Not as literally as this article postulates, obviously, but to
my mind they will come as a pair if they come at all. Why? Because Maroney
fills in Becca’s gaps, and vice versa. Becca can put up team final worthy beam
and bars (hypothetically) and Maroney can give a showstopping vault and TF
worthy floor - areas Becca is unlikely to get back.
In the more literal sense of the article, Bross has few real
weaknesses but if ever there was one it is her vault. Maroney on the other hand
had one huge strength but this in itself is her weakness, because she may not
be able to provide enough on her own. Together they would have it all.
THE ULTIMATE - Elena Produnova’s forwards power with
Svetlana Khorkina’s grace and UB lines, Ekaterina Lobaznyuk’s floor and beam
acrobatics and Elena Zamolodchikova’s twisting ability.
I should probably start with this: if anyone is sick and tired of reading about the highs and lows of the USA Olympic team selection, I do understand your pain and you should probably look away now. Perhaps look this way and forget all about the bitching and whining and indulge in some classic beauty and artistic interpretation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XInPlh-3a58.
(Sorry, that was mean).
To get back on track, I know this topic is being absolutely done to death at the moment, but it keeps playing on my mind. The more I ponder on it, the more I come to think that the events we will see pan out will have repercussions the world over, and that the current US situation should be watched closely and inform those at the top about key decisions to be made for the future of our favourite sport.
For those that might have been hiding under a rock recently, the situation is this...
The new Olympic format permits 5 member teams in a 5-3-3 format. There are 5 members to each team. Three gymnasts work on each apparatus in the team final, with all scores being counted towards the team totals that decide the first gold medals we will see in London.
As anyone can see, there is not a lot of room on that team. This size itself is not particularly shocking in a team final situation (in Beijing the USA basically had a 5 member team because Sam Peszeck didn’t work beyond qualifications). The problem is that with the focus on team gold, event specialists from powerhouse countries risk getting shut out in the cold. Right now, there are several girls starting to sink in the depth of the USA gymnastics programme.
My problem with this tiny team format is this: it creates a huge bias towards AA and multiple specialist gymnastics in comparison to those that shine on a single event. Sure, it makes perfect sense on paper, but there is no concrete reason to validate this bias. Gold medals are gold medals, be it with the team, in the AA, or in an event final. Yet this system causes specialists from deep programmes to be greatly undervalued in comparison to the all around contributors.
This train of thought has been recently validated by USA team coordinator Marta Karyoli. In a recent interview, the ever opinion-splitting Marta stated that her Olympic team will consist of “3 all arounders and 2 bars specialists”. Cue wild speculation. The USA, as is often the case, is super strong on the power events and somewhat lacking in the bars department. Now we are not talking Romania bad: Jordyn Wieber made the world bars final in 2011 and puts up some not-too-terrible numbers, Rebecca Bross is a great bars worker and then there is the prospect of the much anticipated return of current Olympic AA champ Nastia Liukin. But compared to other events, most notably the vault (where America may now feasibly have more 6.5 vaults than the rest of the world put together) the high number flashers are thin on the ground.
Marta: we would all love to know what she is thinking
So what does this mean? It means, most likely, that a solid but often sloppy AAer like Aly Raisman or a back-in-the-gym for five minutes Nastia Liukin has a greater shot at London than the highest scoring gymnast this quad Mckayla Maroney (don’t mistake this for me getting at Nastia or Aly, it is the principle that is important not the names themselves).
Now let’s compare the situation of an American specialist to a non powerhouse specialist. Beth Tweddle has been walking on to GBR world teams for approaching 10 years now, and not without cause: she is a fantastic gymnast. However, she gets an advantage because her country is not awash with home ground competitors. For those who don’t live in the UK (and google analytics tell me the vast majority of the readers of this blog are not...) gymnastics is not a big deal in the UK. It is barely on the radar of most people. To Brits, the sight of the Olympic Trials packing out giant stadiums is a strange one, because here the average person won’t know a thing about the sport. The day Beth won the floor gold in 2009, she had a small 1 paragraph mention in the back of the newspaper I read over breakfast the next morning. To most UK crowds, gymnastics is something they pop in on every four years, and pop straight back out of.
The same can be said for Oksana Chusovitina: if she can keep her vaults to the same standard they have been since Beijing, her spot at the games is as good as set in stone.
...and this leads us nicely to the impact of the US selection process on the rest of the world. For some reason it hadn’t clicked with me that every vault world champion this quad has been American. Kayla Williams, Alicia Sacramone, Mckayla Maroney. They have dominated recently and continue to do so. However, with every American gymnast and her dog doing an Amanar now, the second vault is meaningless and so it is feasible that no American makes the vault final this time around. Unless Cheng Fei makes a spectacular return, would this be like handing a gold medal to Chusovitina?
To conclude, I am struggling to find ways to defend this 5 team system. Why? Because I don’t think it is benefitting the athletes nearly as much as it needs to. Through no fault of their own, fantastic event specialists have to divert attention away from their signatures and plough it into their weaker pieces to have a chance of factoring in.
Just a quick note on the American Cup podium training videos that are surfacing.....
It can be confirmed that Gabrielle Douglas and Alexandra Raisman both have Amanar vaults. And they arn't half bad....
Gabby
Jordyn
Who would have expected them both to have such solid looking 2.5 twisters this fast? Maybe some, more astute fans out there, but not me. I have made the foolish mistake recently of not taking Gabrielle Douglas' chance of making the US Olympic team seriously, but with this vault looking as good as this already I think Gabby is now a serious threat: she could be happily put up to vault in a team situation AND be one of the flagship contenders on the Uneven Bars (an apparatus on which she would probably be a world medallist if she had hit in Tokyo EFs). As has recently been the case in women's team finals, your team is only as good as your worst bar worker: therefore a package of high scoring vault and high scoring bars puts Douglas in an extremely enviable position right now.
Douglas' looks good, but Raisman's looks great. Based on this video it seems to be stronger than Jordyn's! What a difference a year makes. Confirmation of this bolsters her chances too: Aly is now super usable on 3 of four events, and will probably be the USA's top floor worker if upgrades go to plan and she can work on her choreo a bit.
The flipside of this good news is a foreboding outlook for Maroney fans: where does this leave Mckayla's Olympic chances? Her Amanar is mind blowing but in a team situation, the few tenths difference between Douglas' vault and hers will not get Mckayla on a plane to London when other apparatus are considered. Further, the planned second vault is irrelevant in this situation as USA rarely if ever appears to take gymnasts on the basis of EF hopes. What this cries out to Mckayla is this: get better on bars and upgrade floor, and do it now if not sooner.
The US Olympic race is hotting up, and it is more exciting than ever.
Post Competition thoughts
I can't remember the last time there was such an exciting three days in gymnastics. I think it is a really great time to be a fan of this sport: I don't think we have had the prospect of such a deep and exciting Olympics for at least 12 years, and the start of the competition season is just building that excitement further.
Firstly: the scoring. It is always terrible, and more terrible than ever. None of these scores seem to add up, and Wieber, as much as I love her, was way overscored on at least 3 events. It is hard to imagine how this keeps happening: the American Cup is an FIG event - there is no excuse for these ridiculous score inflations. It is a bit embarassing for everyone concerned really.
But we all know this so I don't want to harp on about it too much. I guess this year, even with fair scoring, an American gymnast would have got the top WAG spot. In other words, I think that the podium was correct, it was the NUMBERS that were wrong. So very wrong. AT least Iordache was justly awarded a monster beam score, but more on that later.
We all hear them. Most of us hate them. I am most definitely in this latter category.
Usually though I try and just shut up and get over it, but I thought today was a particular example of how terrible those three can be. As usual my thoughts are mainly directed at AL and Tim (thats not to say Elfi is any good, but hers is a more general incompetence with fewer standout moments)
HOW IS IT THAT AL STILL HAS TO ASK THE MOST BASIC OF QUESTIONS?!
I am so sick of the other two having to qualify everything they say through Al's basic understanding. Say what you like about the other two (I certainly will) but at least they have the technical knowledge. Al is still asking questions that would be more symptomatic of a person who started watching gymnastics regularly a month ago.
"what does that mean?" -when Tim said Iordache was improvising) "So, is that good?" - When Leyva's vault score came in. etc.
WHY does a man who has been commentating top level gymnastics competitions for twelve years appear to know nothing about the sport he is paid to talk about? Commentators are supposed to make sport more understandable and accessible for the audience at home, it does not bode well if one of them cannot decide for himself whether a double twisting Tsukahara with 9.4+ execution is good. Al seems to be capable of bringing nothing but fluff.
On the note of people at home: I seriously feel for anyone who watches gymnastics for the first time and has to endure these guys. They just simply don't explain what they mean most of the time, it is so exasperating!
Perfect example: right at the beginning of the broadcast, Tim is talking about Jordyn's vault. True, it was great and one of her best. Obviously Al has to ask why its hard (because he probably can't tell the difference between a Yamashita and an Amanar) which would be a perfect opportunity to educate the less experienced members of the audience with some helpful information. So how does he respond?
"it has that extra half twist"
As opposed to what? Have you been discussing a DTY? NO. Do you know that your audience knows you are comparing the Amanar to a DTY? NO. Is there indeed any reason to justify explaining why an Amanar is difficult in that manner? NO. They spend zero time explaining skills yet waste entire broadcasts yacking about how the American Cup has a tradition for deciding who wins the Olympics, which gets fluffed up at every given opportunity. Even if that was true (which is clearly isn't - it happens that American's have won at the last two Olympics and the top American ALWAYS wins the American cup anyway), it is self indulgent and an utter waste of time to go on about it that much. Why do they have to wheel out Carly and Nastia to talk about how great the cup is? The people seeing that are already watching it!
As usual their actual coverage itself was biased and lacking. With only a handful of competitors it would be easy to show a lot more routines than they actually do.
NICER THOUGHTS
I (like everyone else, as far as I can tell) was absolutely blown away by Gabby Douglas. Great performance, she must be so happy. My favourite part of the entire competition.......BOUNCE
Now THAT is how to jump out of a tumble line. Nice to get these reminders of how things that get code-whored all the time can still be fantastic (and the leap out of her double arabian was nice and high too).
Raisman's floor is looking great too. I don't know if it is just me but I think her expression is getting just a little better. And what about that first pass - INSANE. Absolutely love it, so original and difficult and I have never seen that much air on a layout punch.
Jordyn Wieber debuted a new combination on beam: front handspring stepout-standing full-back handspring. Now in theory I think that is fantastic. If it could be combined quickly I think it could be stunning and super original. Sadly though it is likely never to be so. This just continues the ongoing issues of what gets credited as a flight series on beam: the back with a full into back handspring combination was controversial enough amongst fans. It will be interesting to see what judges and spectators do with this new addition.
Pan Ams were a real post-worlds treat, and somewhat eased the misery of the annual anticlimax (when worlds are over and you realise you have another YEAR to wait, although thankfully next year is an OLYMPIC one). But what did the Pan Ams show us? I thought I would give a brief breakdown of what I think it told us about each of the three main US competitors.
SJ is coming under a lot of fire from many fans. Not making the world team, having what is said to be an unreliable knee and not having floor back yet have provided lots of fuel for people who consider Shawn less than favourably.
Her performance here didn’t exactly do much to dispel people who already thought she was finished. She fell from her signature apparatus twice, firstly on her standing full and secondly (and surprisingly) on her switch split. Her vault was fine, but nothing to write home about.
Her bars, however, were good. In fact, she has even gone on to scoop a silver medal in the event finals. At first, I was surprised. But when I thought about this initial reaction, I began to wonder why.
Shawn has become tarred over the years as a bad bar worker. But what are the reasons for this? Sure, she didn’t have the most difficult of routines back in her heyday, but this (I think) was more of a bad coaching decision rather than anything specific to her as an athlete. I have actually always been quite fond of her bars. They are RELIABLE. She always hits and her execution is some of the very best. Perhaps always going up alongside Nastia made everyone think she wasn’t up to the job, but let’s not forget that she was in fact in the 3 up 3 count bars lineup for the US team in 2008. You don’t end up in that spot by being a bad bar worker.
AND she is upgrading. Nothing too dramatic, but she has a few weiler kips in her routine now, and word is that she might throw in a shaposhnikova some time soon. All in all, I think her bars are pretty impressive, and that some of the reasons she was viewed poorly on this apparatus is due to comparisons with Nastia and also as a victim of her own success (she was so bloody good on all the other apparatus that bars seemed comparatively bad).
Bars
Bit of an error at the top, but on the whole a good effort.
Beam
This competition showed that Shawn can still hit a good bar set under pressure.
As for her beam: who cares? Sure she has had a few falls, but she is upgrading here too. She could have done a back tuck in this routine and got through OK, but she is trying and showing a clear intention for upgrade. I think the switch split fall should be totally discounted because it is so uncharacteristic - her mind was probably somewhere else. Basically, there are plenty of positives to focus on: she has most of her 2008 skills back and she looks a lot more solid on her arial. Things are not bad here.
Vault is fine, nothing to write home about but she is still clearly powerful. Bross would have killed for that DTY 2 months ago.
To summarize, Shawn is still Shawn, she just needs time to tidy up. And she DOES have time, in my opinion. I think she is exactly the kind of athlete who you cannot count out until the very last minute (although is Nastia’s comeback works then she will be really squeezed to impress on floor and vault).
I have to admit that I really didn’t like Bridget in 2008/2009. I found her really boring and I failed to have any faith in her as a world champion. I thought she epitomized “weak field” and went onto my boring world champions pile alongside Olaru and Ferrari.
But I was wrong. I grew to really like Bridget with time and as I learnt more about gymnastics I gained a lot of respect for her. I especially grew to enjoy her floor: her piked full in has to be my favourite of the decade and her 1.5 to triple was really nice too.
I also liked her bars. She changed the routine up a lot and I respect a gymnast with a good variety of skills. Some combinations, such as the full pirouette into a DLO, were great even thought they didn’t stick around for very long. I loved how she kept working to improve her routines: one thing I hate in a bar routine is stop and start bar work. I would far rather see a tkatchev connected to or from something than a series of stop and start high bar releases.
Sadly the foot injury confined her to two events, but I think a lot of what we saw was positive. One serious point though is that she looked worn out. Everything seemed a bit laboured. I hope this was due to the foot injury (which sounds mean - I of course don’t “want” her to have a painful injury but at least that would mean her fatigue would be temporary: if it is just the way she is now I can’t see her faring well given the stresses that the Olympic road would bring).
Having said that though, her bars were still good. I love that toe on forward giant on the low bar and it looks better now that when she first competed it. Her floor wasn’t half bad, either. Her double pike is still one of the best in the world and the girl can still do a front double (once would have been fine Bridget).
Bars
Floor
First pass is missing, allegedly a 1.5 to triple as in the past. The second pass should have been a 2.5.
I think, although she didn’t make as much of a splash as she perhaps would have liked, this appearance was mainly positive. I don’t think we have seen the last of her yet, but I also think it will take something serious on bars for her to be in big time contention. Nice to have her back, though.
I am super happy for her that she managed to take the all around. This title must be a real boost for her and I hope she is really pleased and proud of herself.
Everything looked pretty solid, but there are some built-in gripes. Probably just me being picky, but as mentioned about I hate a load of release-kip-release messing around on the high bar. Also, staggered toe-ons are just not nice, and she catches with SUCH bent arms on her releases (the below video shows this really well). Having said that she got EF gold so well done her.
In terms of the future, and looking to the Olympics, I doubt Caquatto will be anything of a threat. I don’t think this is a defeat though: expectation and goals are surely different for all gymnasts and I doubt that Bridget thinks she would make the team any more than I do. I think she will make a fantastic college gymnast and should take this win and move forward with that.
Firstly, huge congratulations to the USA women’s team. What a performance. For a team with such a lack of experience, with only a single team member with past world level competitions under her belt, this was a fantastic achievement. The highlight for me was Maroney. Not only is that vault spectacular, but her floor is fast becoming my favourite of the American’s too. She is such a stylish, talented athlete and one who I hope continues to upgrade for next year.
Also very proud of the Brits! A brilliant fifth place finish to shake off any disappointments of qualifying. Well, almost any. The definite highlight was Beth’s bars. I would actually go as far as to say that her routine today was the best I have ever seen her perform. Aside from a slightly baggy one arm pirouette the routine was flawless, and that connection at the beginning is breathtakingly good. Receiving the high score of the day must have been a really good boost for Beth and perhaps compensate a little for not making the bars finals.
I found the Russian’s and the Chinese a little disappointing to watch. This of course does not include some fantastic highlights such as Sui Lu’s beautiful beam set (the well deserved highest beam score of the meet so far and my personal favourite for beam gold), but Quishang’s bars fall and Tan Sixin’s mess ups were not good to watch.
Komova surprised me. Who knows whether she was tired or stressed out or what, but her performance today was really not up to her qualifications standards. Let’s hope she gets it together by the AA so she can try her best to hold off Jordyn Wieber (I would be perfectly happy for either to win, but I am really hoping for it to be down to the last tenth, and that neither makes any major errors).
Catalina Ponor was an absolute treat to watch. Something about seeing her on the competition floor just seems right. Her beam was great, I am loving the roundoff layout, and the good old onodi combination is back in action. On floor I think her music and choreo are great and if she can just clean up her legs a bit it would make for a truly world class routine.
So, Jordyn ends the day not only as a world gold medallist but also as the frontrunner. I hope she can hold it together. More exciting news from today is that Alicia Sacramone will be presented with a gold medal as a member of this world team, and will therefore become the most decorated female gymnast in American history. If Alicia had remained healthy, the American’s would still have won gold but would have won it by an even greater margin. Alicia is hugely deserving of this accolade.
So, qualifications are over and now the real excitement begins. There has already been plenty of drama and eventfulness in Tokyo, and who knows what more is to come. Biggest surprises and upsets for me so far were the bars qualification (quite a few spills and as a result the two latest world champions will not be competing for gold) and also the hugely sad exit of multiple time world champion Alicia Sacramone, after an Achilles injury sustained whilst performing a double Arabian in training. Alicia is a real star and will be sorely missed not only by the American team but by her huge global fan base. I wish her the speediest of recoveries.
But we must look on to the excitement that is to come in the next few days. With that in mind I am going to do a quick roundup of the qualifying lists and carry out some giddy speculation of the imminent individual finals.
All Around
As expected, the all around qualifications were topped by Wieber and Komova, both of whom were within a whisker of each other (just over a tenth) and clear of the third highest qualifier by a full point. I was a little surprised at the order of their qualifications: I thought that with Komova having been delicate recently she may have felt the pressure a bit giving Wieber the edge, but as we can see she pipped her to the post coming in at the top of the AA standings. However this is clearly going to be a tense, exciting and very closely fought battle and the smallest of errors could decide who takes home the big prize. I think this is the first time in a long time that the two front runners were so closely matched and that us fans were treated to such a tense race.
Yao Jinnan came in third, with some cracking performances including this beauty:
Shades of Mo Huilan right there.She really is a lovely gymnast and I am pleased to see her qualify so well.
Raisman took fourth place, filling the slot for the second American all arounder, as expected. Its a real shame she can’t do anything about that bars set because with a slightly beefed up score she would have such better chances of making a splash in the AA finals. I am rooting for her though, because I feel like this is probably her last chance in the second AA spot (I don’t rate her chances of having this position in London) so it would be great for her to sneak in a bronze (but I realize this would take a brilliant performance and some help from the others).
Worth mentioning (despite her not qualifying) is Gabby Douglas, who finished in 5th place just below Raisman. This is a really impressive achievement for such an inexperienced gymnast, and one who had been labelled as something of a headcase due to her performance at this year’s VISA champs among others. Qualifying in 5th in her first world championships should provide her with a much deserved energy and confidence boost to take on into the next stages. Well done Gabby!
So, given the 2 per country rule the top 8 qualifiers to advance to the AA finals are:
Some additional thoughts include a well done to Hannah Whelan of GBR for finishing in 13th and advancing to the AA. I am hoping that by the time of London she might be able to top Becky Downie’s fantastic 10th place finish from Beijing, although competition is likely to be much stiffer. Also it’s a shame that Ana Porgras and Lauren Mitchell are still struggling to get up there with the AA leaders.
Prediction to win: Komova
WANT to win: Undecided (I love them both!)
Wildcard medal hope: Raisman
Vault final
The apparatus final with a top 8 that I am least familiar with, although I am thrilled to see Maroney out there on top. It really is refreshing to see a vaulter who makes the amanar look PRETTY, someone who is clearly suited to the vault and who doesn’t make you hold your breath every time they start sprinting for the table. A real pleasure and definitely my top favourite for the win, as well as the frontrunner. It is absolutely fantastic to see a top qualifier who also has the highest E scores. A new trend? Let’s hope so.
Old favourite Chusovitina came in second. As usual it would be a great win for the sport if she could get a medal out of this final.
Tatiana Nabieva, the Russian who was part of a small scandal in last years vault finals due to vault downgrading, creeped into 7th place with much less difficult vaults than this time last year. Perhaps she will pull out the difficulty in the finals, but I find them so frightening to watch I would really rather she didn’t.
Interesting notes: if we look at qualification based on 1 vault only we see that Maroney is still on top – she really is a winner in every sense. Chusovitina comes in third with Wieber in second (the second best, but still great, amanar). Interestingly, veteran and Romanian comeback queen Catalina Ponor had the sixth best vault of the day, on an apparatus she is not renowned for.
Prediction to win: Maroney
WANT to win: Maroney (but I am crushed that Alicia isn’t here)
Bars final
I must initially express my utter dismay at Beth’s absolute mare in the qualifier. Seems like she just lost it a bit mentally, which is such a shame because she would have been a dead cert to qualify and probably medal, given the field.
It was also a sad sight to see He Kexin’s performance. Everything seemed laboured and clunky. I was never a big fan but back in 2008, she had this brilliant flourish and energetic presentation to everything. The amplitude on her giants made it look like she was defying gravity and her pirouettes were as light as a feather. But now everything looks so muscled and difficult. The jaeger was less laid out and the dead hang worse than ever. I feel sorry for her not being able to perform the way she used to.
But now to the list of qualifiers. Komova is way out in front. She is Usain bolt heading down the 100m stretch. With an almost 7 tenth advantage, the gold is hers is she just goes clean (and clean is exactly what she is, with the highest E score by a 5 tenth margin).
SMASHED
Really nice to see Dufournet up there with the top qualifiers. She has been trying for years to incorporate difficultly cleanly, and I think she is a great gymnast. I would love to see her medal.
Quishang probably has a chance if she cleans up, given that she has the same D score as the leaders. It’s nice to see two Japanese gymnasts that will get to perform in the final on home soil.
Very impressive of Gabby Douglas to make the final, due to her often feeling the pressure as I mentioned earlier. Would be great to see her come through and she is definitely a sentimental favourite of mine.
Predication to win: Komova
Want to win: Komova
Wildcard medal hope: Douglas.
Beam final
Who topped the qualifier....? You guessed it...Komova! This is getting boring. I jest. Its fantastic to see such a high calibre gymnast that can be both an all around threat AND a threat in multiple individual finals. I hate those drab years after an Olympics with half baked world champions...sorry Bridget, I think you are a nice athlete, but this is the kind of sport I enjoy. Real quality over a large range of disciplines.
Sui Lu is in second. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her beam work. That front with a half just floats through the air beautifully, and that initial front pike to korbut flip is so airy and nice to watch. She has the D score advantage, and so if she can clean up a bit she might sneak into first place in the final.
Wieber also features and is a good contender for bronze, in my opinion. Also, down in fifth, is the great Catalina Ponor. I am rooting for her to medal at next year’s Olympics and break some records. Her latest beam and floor work has blown me away. I would love for her to go through solid in the finals and come away with a medal. A repeat of this please:
Obv that isn't going to happen, but a nice solid clean set would make me very happy.
Interesting things to note here are that 4 Chinese athletes finished in the top 10, which I think is very very impressive. Also I am slightly distressed that Maria Livchikova is nowhere to be seen in this lineup.
Predication to win: Komova
Want to win: Sui Lu
Wildcard medal hope: Ponor
Floor final
Looks like Raisman has got this one, and I am actually happy about that. She is by no means my favourite gymnast, but I think her floor has got better and better over the years and I love how she has brought the double Arabian punch front tumbling pass back from the dead. When I watch it I am instantly reminded of old favourites Viktoria Karpenko and Elena Produnova. So, I love her tumbling. Her presentation isn’t great but I think there has been some improvement, and hopefully that will continue.
In the name of patriotism and old favourites, I would love for Beth Tweddle to get a medal. I am upset that she didn’t get into the bars finals for two reasons. The first being what is already clear, I love her as a British gymnast, but secondly, I think her bar work is actually world class anyway and her release combinations amaze me. Floor I feel a bit differently about. Her tumbling is great, and that double Arabian full out she was training is INSANE. But, her leaps are not the best and her dance is just awful. So basically I find it hard to get completely behind the cause on floor exercise. I want her to medal, but not win.
Prediction to win: Raisman
Want to win: Raisman
Wildcard medal hope: Tweddle
So there we have it. Most of all though, and any petty favouritism aside I would like a clean competition where everyone performs to their best. I can't wait!
All scoresheets features in this post were taken from www.gymnasticsresults.com
