Friday, August 17, 2012

On Vacation Till September...



Just Because...


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

2013-2016 WAG Provisional CoP

EDIT: This post is out of date now. A new revised code has been made. My new analysis can be read here: 2013 - 2016 WAG CoP Analysis

The 2013-2016 WAG & MAG CoP has been accepted. I haven't seen the men's code yet but the women's code can be found here, WAG CoP. Even though the CoP has been approved by FIG I think there will be some changes from the provisional one. There is probably another different provisional CoP that all gym fans cannot view. I'm looking forward to the new finalized CoP.

I'm just going to share what I found interesting about the new rules. Most of these stuff are already known so I'm probably going to bore some of you.

Vault: 

This is new, (DVT1 + DVT2)/2 + 10.00 - (VT1 ex deductions + VT2 ex deductions) =Final score. This would mean that Maroney's '12 VT EF would have not medalled in London. EDIT: Maroney would still have medaled.

Many difficult vaults have been downgraded. The Amanar to 6.3, Cheng to 6.4, Rudi to 6.2. The Mustafina (which is actually not named after her but easier to say because it's quicker than saying, round off, 1/2 on, stretched 1/1 twist), this vault could technically also be called the Pavlova etc. Mustafina was not the first gymnast to perform that vault. Anyway, it is downgraded to 6.0.

Uneven Bars: 

There will no longer be any E+E turns for 0.2CV, the Chinese loves to do these connections. The Chinese will find other creative ways to work the code though. The new code will favour release skills + release skills. They are making it harder for gymnasts to rake in the high d-scores. Oh and there is no longer a close bar element with non flight requirement.

Balance Beam: 

Not much has changed. There are new mixed connections. (D) Acro + (A) dance e.g Front Aerial + Split jump = 0.1CV. D+D mixed is rewarded for two tenths, e.g Onodi + Sheep Jump = 0.2CV.

Floor Exercise:

IMO floor has the most interesting changes. There is now an "H" value for a skill being worth eight tenths. The double double tuck is an "H" skill. There is also 0.3CV. For example a C + E (Double salto) indirect will give a gymnast 0.3CV e.g Raisman's 3/2 twists indirect to double arabian. A 3/2 indirect to triple twists will remain 0.2 CV. The code didn't really specify but I'm also pretty sure Ponor's whip + whip indirect Tsuk would be 0.3. Afanasyeva's whip + whip indirect 3/1 twists will remain 0.2CV.

Missing a FWD/SWD & BWD requirement is now 0.3 deduction and not 0.5 anymore. One lunge is accepted but more than one is a 0.1 deduction.  

There is mixed C/D(Salto) + B(dance). This might look even worst than the leap out of tumbles. I just started to warm up to the leaps/jumps out of tumbles because it can be pretty when done well. I just wished that ugly leaps/jumps would be deducted severely or not credited. The C/D + B could be disastrous. Could you imagine double tuck + sheep jump, lol. Or front full twist + full cat leap?

There are also turn connections now. I can envision a lot of ugly turn connections being performed, ugh. The formula are D+B (with step allowed) and B+B. There can be potential for some pretty turns but they will have to be performed nicely. Example double L-turn +  full attitude spin. A cool spin I'll like someone to try is Memmel + illusion turn, something similar to this:


Risky but beautiful. It''ll be interesting to see how the new floor connections will look like. Who will be the first to try the spin combos and who will do the mix combo? Lauren Mitchell? She wasn't the first to work the leaps out of passes but she was the first to popularize it in the '09-'12 code. Many people actually felt that she should have won 2009 Worlds FX.

There will be 0.1 & 0.3 for lack of creative choreography. "Creative choreography, originality of elements and movements means that exercise has been constructed and is performed using new ideas, forms, interpretations and originality, thereby avoiding copying and monotony."  I really like this about the code. Now hopefully they will apply the deductions. Ksenia Afanasyeva has some very original choreo. How long till everyone starts to copy her and the Russians. Russians are notoriously known for the talk to the hand poses. I see Ponor channeling the hand pose, I wonder who inspired her? How long till we see other gymnasts start to do leg choreography? To be fair to Ponor, I see Maria Paseka channeling Ponor's famous 2004 choreo CLICK HERE

(Source: liukin.tumblr)


http://gifsoup.com/view6/2399688/afanasyeva-hand-pose-a.gif 


________________________________________________

Hopefully we'll see some interesting and innovated things from this new CoP. Let the new trends begin.

Just Because...


Jordyn Wieber's floor routine is artistic. I like how she is smiling in her routine. She also has some very unique and original choreography. All gif Source - starkofwinterfell.tumblr

Monday, August 13, 2012

Afanasyeva's '12 Olympic Floor Final Routine


Not a bad routine except for the out of bounds. In fact on the BBC slow motion feed she didn't even go out of bounds on the double layout. The BBC commentators even noted that she might have not been out of bounds on the double layout, she got deducted for it though. Regardless, it was not a medal worthy performance with the 1/1 twist being completely out of bounds. In a recent interview about her gymnastic future career she stated that if everyone went perfect in the Olympic floor finals she could have only place as high as second place. This clearly means that she thinks no one could of touched Raisman if Raisman went perfect. It's going to be hard for a lot of gymnasts to beat Raisman in the new quad. Raisman will benefit a lot from the new floor rules.

Russian Floor Divas

This montage was made by HuangQiushuangFan. HuangQiushuangFan said, "nobody does it quite like Russia." You are absolutely right HuangQiushuangFan.



Saturday, August 11, 2012

NBC Olympic Commentators are Dicks

Saw this video via: jovialgymfan.tumblr 

I haven't seen the full NBC coverage of gymnastics yet but from viewing short gymnastics video clips I can say that they butchered the scoring system.

I see that they do this, Max difficulty: 16.500 - Deductions: 1.500 = 15.000. Ok technically it gives you the correct score but who came up with this idea? I really hate NBC!

The correct way is Difficulty 6.5 + Execution 8.5 = 15.000. Every country did it this way and this is the FIG way in the rule book. All Americans must be very confuse at the scoring system, thanks to NBC. They just make gymnastics more confusing.

Friday, August 10, 2012

New Mustafina/Alexandrov Video Interview

I wished I knew Russian fluently. My goal in life is to understand Russian & Mandarin fluently :). I'm almost there :D.

Here is a new interview with Aliya Mustafina and her personal coach Alexander Alexandrov.


According to the Russian press all Russian Olympic gold medalists will get a new Audi A8 worth 3 million 950 thousand rubles. That's an upgrade from her other teammates. I hope she knows how to drive :D. Also she will most likely be banking in a lot of cash. This will help her for her future training and new life outside of gymnastics. She deserves it all.

New Uchimura Documentary

There is a new blog on tumblr that is dedicated to Kohei Uchimura: supermura.tumblr.com

I just saw a new documentary from that tumblr. I'll post the first part here and then you guys can watch the rest on tumblr CLICK HERE

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Afanasyeva Returns To Russia

Afanasyeva returns to Russia. She is greeted by friends, family, fans and media. Her best friend Ksenia Semenova is very happy to see her :).  Source

The silver that Afanasyeva won with her teammates got her a brand new Audi A7 Sportback car worth  2 million 390 thousand rubles, roughly around $75,000 USD. Source




Just Because...

Two beautiful headcases, Anastasia Grishina & Ksenia Afanasyeva.


Поздравляем России

Поздравляем Ксения Афанасьева, Анастасия Гришина, Виктория Комова, Алия Мустафина и Мария Пасека

Congratulations to Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina and Maria Paseka 2nd place team. One of the most artistic team at the Olympic games. Thank you for showing us that artistry still exists in gymnastics. Also congratulations to all the coaches and choreographers of the Russian team for making a wonderful team. It was fun watching the Russian team. There were some disappointments but on the bright side, everyone got a medal. Please keep up the tradition of elegance & artistry. You know what they say, ...second the best!


Ksenia Afanasyeva, Not Sure About Retiring

Afanasyeva is not sure if she will retire from gymnastics.

Original article: CLICK HERE & Translated article: CLICK HERE

I will be sad if she retires but it would be completely understandable. She will be 21 this year and being over 20 in women's elite gymnastic is considered old. The rules will change and she will have to adapt to a new code. She's been under two elite code already so a third one can be possible. She could stop training uneven bars. I can most likely see her compete domestically and then completely retire. Whatever she decides to do I'll always be a fan and a supporter of hers. I wish her all the best of luck.

   (Source: starkofwinterfell)




Monday, August 6, 2012

Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 3

I'm really excited about this finals. The gentlemen will compete on parallel bars and high bar. The ladies will be on beam and floor exercise. The event finals will begin live at 9:00 AM EDT. Good luck to all the ladies and gentlemen. Start list: CLICK HERE  

The competition will start in about 6min I'm watching it live here: BBC

EDIT 1:

FULL RESULTS
1) Feng Zhe (CHN) Very high difficulty 7.0. Good clean stuff.
2) Marcel Nguyen (GER) Good difficulty 6.8 and difficult Tsuk dismount.
3) Hamilton Sabot (FRA) Good 6.7 difficulty and very clean routine.

EDIT 2: FULL RESULTS

This was a weird competition. Too many mistakes. Thank you China for being awesome. Afanasyeva showed GOOD SPORTS-MANSHIP. Ponor wining third is a travesty. I was rooting for Raisman to take 3rd. What a shame! Ponor was too wobbly and had many many execution faults. This will be one of the most controversial event finals. Congrats to the daredevil Deng Linlin, you rock. I thought Sui should have won but hey China 1-2, cheer up Sui.

1) Deng Linlin (CHN)
2) Sui Lu (CHN)
3) Catalina Ponor (ROM)
3) Aly Raisman (USA)

Edit 3: Raisman in 3rd Catalina in 4th. WTF this final was crazy. What is wrong with the judges! Get it right the first time!

EDIT 4: Oh god Sui Lu is such a DIVA!

EDIT 5: What an AMAZING high bar final! One of the best in history. Zonderland finally gets a well deserved gold medal. Hambuechen really stepped it up I'm happy for his silver. Zou in 3rd.

1) Epke Zonderland 2) Fabian Hambuechen 3) Zou Kai FINAL RESULTS

EDIT 6:

1)ALY RAISMAN. She is so powerful and such a phenomenal tumbler. Powerful gymnastics is just as beautiful as artistic and elegant gymnastics. Raisman may not be elegant but her attitude and determination is beautiful. She is a class act. She has such a difficult routine it's crazy. She finally gets a well deserved GOLD! It's really easy to like Raisman as a person. She seems like such a nice girl. Congratulation Aly Raisman :)

2) Ponor did a wonderful job. She had two stuck landing on DLO and dbl Pike. She really fought out there for a medal. I may not like her routine but she deserved this silver. She's freaking 24! Cool.

3) ALIYA MUSTAFINA! I somehow knew she could do it. She is a born champion. She just knows how to compete. I'm happy she got this. We at least got to see grace and elegance on medal. Mustafina is boss and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her in the next quad.

6) Afanasyeva. Once a headcase, always a headcase. I knew it was coming. She majorly went out of bounds on her third pass. She stuck her triple full from connections though :D. It wasn't meant to be Afan. She's still a wonderful gymnast.

8) Izbasa - I was rooting for her to take gold if Afan couldn't do it. She failed on her last pass. Everything else was going good though. It was really unexpected. Hey she has a vault gold LOL and she still has her 2008 floor gold.

FULL RESULTS

Old VS New, Afanasyeva's Floor Music 2012

The siren parts in Afanasyeva's new floor routine is quite an iconic sound. Here is the old version


New Kill Bill version (If you don't like loud music, please lower the volume before listening)

 

The majority of Afan's floor music is by Bajofondo - Grand Guignol. It's a very beautiful piece of music.




Afanasyeva For 2012 FX Gold Part 2

Imagine if Afanasyeva wore the famous yellow and black jumpsuit by Bruce Lee in the floor finals? I would die of joy if she did. It would be a perfect leo for her. I'm not saying she will wear something like that but it would be a cool idea. Afan has one of the most unique floor routine this entire quad. Not everyone will get it but I think a lot of younger people will. I won't be completely devastated if she doesn't win or medal.
The fact that she made it to another Olympics and deservingly qualified to her best events is mind blowing. I've never thought she could be so consistent and solid on beam. I knew she was beautiful to watch on beam but to hit her beam routines consistently is somewhat rare for her (the Russians never use her on beam in team finals until now). And let's talk about the double layout. It's huge and in your face. Let's not forget about the synchronized swimming choreo too, a lot fans loves that part.
She's my pick for floor gold. I don't have high expectations because I don't want to have any heartbreak meltdown. She will go up first in the finals. This means she will have to do her best and give the judges a first good impression. LET'S GOLD KSENIA AFANASYEVA!






Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 2

This event will feature men's rings and vault. The women's will be the uneven bars. Good luck to all the competitors. I'm watching the BBC live coverage.

Rings: 1) Zanetti 2) Chen 3) Morandi - I'm obviously disappointed for Chen but silver at the Olympics is still awesome. Zanetti did a great job, it was a beautiful style with some very nice difficult strength moves. Congrats Zanetti. Morandi takes a well deserved bronze. RINGS RESULTS


Uneven Bars: 1) MUSTAFINA!!!!!!!!!! 2) He, 3) Tweddle - ALIYA MUSTAFINA DID IT! She finally gets a gold medal for a beautiful routine. She is the boss. I'm very happy with the results. He Kexin proves that she is still one of the best bars worker in the world. I'm very happy for He Kexin :). Beth tweddle had little trouble with her dbl dbl dismount and had to take a huge hop back. Tweddle still did good and should be proud with the bronze. I'm happy for her. This bars finals was one of the best finals. Every single women hit their routine except for Douglas. Great stuff. BAR RESULTS


Vault: 1) YANG HAK SEON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2) Ablyazin 3) Radivilov
Yang's 3/1 FHS could have been landed better but the massive difficulty is insane. 3/1 twists and CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN form. His second vault was even more beautiful 3/1 Tsuk with beautiful stuck landing. This makes me incredibly happy. Congrats to all the medalists. VAULT RESULTS



Sunday, August 5, 2012

Just Because...

Good luck Chen Yibing and Yang Hak Seon.






Good Luck Beth Tweddle!

This whole Olympics has been crazy!!!!!!!! I'm still rooting for Tweddle. It would be a dick move if I just stopped rooting for her. I can't help it. It's so easy to root for her.
Bars final will be very interesting to watch. So many talented ladies. I love Komova and Mustafina on bars. I feel like such a shitty Russian fan because I'd rather Tweddle win, oh well. Now if Tweddle doesn't make it I'll be rooting for the Russians. In fact I want this Tweddle/Mustafina/Komova.
I just hope the bars finals will be a clean competition, please hit ladies.



Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 1, Part 2

The competition will start in about 5 minutes. I'll be watching here live: BBC

EDIT 1: HELL YEAH, Zou Kai! He was on today on floors. Uchimura had tooo many twists but at least they were CLEAN, I'm happy he won silver. No more event finals for Uchimura. Russia's Ablyazin had a pretty sick routine, congrats to him. Floor Results

Women's vault finals was a DIRTY competition. I felt so sorry for the majority of the ladies. Especially for Maroney. What a sad day. I thought she had it. Honestly, I thought she had still won even with the fall but it wasn't meant to be. I'm happy that Izbasa won but I hate to be a downer but she was pretty scrappy and her vaults weren't really pretty. She didn't fall so she deserved her win. I really want to see her step it up in floor finals though. I would be more happy for her on floor if she wins. OK so Maria Paseka's Amanar was not fully rotated and she had huge landing problems but got third, oh well that's the COP. Vault Results

In Pommel Horse finals Smith and Berki tied but Berki won with the better execution. Berki was truly the cleaner gymnast. He floats much better than a heavy and a bit laboured Smith. Congrats to all the medalists.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 1, Part 1

This competition will start tomorrow at 9:00 AM EDT time. It will feature the men's floor exercise and pommel horse. The women will only have their vault finals.  Each event will only have 8 competitors. The best 8 gymnasts went through a grueling process to qualify to an event. They will vie for a gold medal as a specialists. I love the event finals. 

Floor: can go in anyway. I would love for Kohei Uchimura to do his double triple tuck, yes double triple tuck or known as the Ri jong Song. It's a crazy skill worth 7 tenths. I'm not expecting him to do well if he goes all out. He has already won his most important gold medal (AA) and that's all that counts IMHO.

There is Zou Kai from China. He's not liked much by fans but he will be one of the strongest competitors. He is really good on floor.

Koczi of Romania has good difficulty but way toooooo much twisting combos with even worse form than Zou IMO. He got a pretty good score in prelims.

There is also the stylish Gonzalez and fan girl favourite Dalton. Uchimura and Zou will go up 1-2 first, so they will both have to be almost perfect and impress the judges.
_______________________

Vault: I'm all about Maroney. She must win the vault title. She has IMO the best Amanar in the world. She will have some competition IMO from Izbasa, Paseka and Chusovitina. Yamilet Pena Abreu is also another fierce competitor. She can do a tucked double front vault (Produnova) but she usually falls on it and sometimes doesn't get credit. It will be interesting to see if she can land the Produnova in finals. Also shout out to Black and Rogers from Canada for making the finals.
_______________________

Pommel Horse: It will definitely be all about Smith VS Berki. I really don't care about this event. Wouldn't it be cool if Tommasone won? Allez allezTommasone, sorry I couldn't resist.

Start List for tomorrow:  CLICK HERE
I'll be watching live coverage here: BBC

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Women's Olympic All-Around Finals

I'll be watching BBC coverage. Competition starts live in about 18min at 11:30 AM EDT. I'm not heavily invested in this competition. I'll be cheering for Komova and Douglas. Mustafina is a sentimental favourite so I'll be watching out for her too. Oh and then there is Iordache. I'm hoping she can stay up there too. She hasn't had the best Olympic experience so far. As for Deng and Huang I have no hope, I just want them to hit. If they both hit, they're already winners in my book. Good luck to all the ladies and pleaseeeeeee make it a clean competition.

EDIT 1: GABBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well deserved GOLD! This is amazing. You are the best. You are 1# Olympic AA Gold. So happy right now.

So disappointed for Komova. Just wasn't enough. She should be happy because of the silver. What I liked about her tonight was that she fought for her floor. Even she knew it wasn't enough. The judges made the right decisions.

Aliya freakin' Mustafina is BOSS! She still got 3rd with a fall. I am happy for her.

Tonight there was inspiration and history in the making.

Results: CLICK HERE

I'm going to watch the live medal ceremony. It's on right now  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/p00w2zwy

EDIT 2: Yeah, Huang and Deng hit, lol. Good job girls.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Just Because

Good luck Gabby!

 


Men's Olympic All-Around Finals

The competition will begin at 11:30 AM EDT. I will be watching two streams at the same time :-D. CTV & BBC I'll put one on mute though :). There is also this stream http://tvpc.com/Channel.php?ChannelID=3 but it will be interrupted for local news and then you'll have to find another different link.

My favourite to win is Kohei Uchimura but I'm not going to have any high expectations. He hasn't lived up to all the hype and he seems to have lost his magic touch. He will have major competition. I hope he will have a clean competition and no falls for him. He can still win with probably two falls but it just wouldn't look good. I'm still rooting for him though. LET'S GO KOHEI!

EDIT 1: What a thrilling finals. Uchimura wins with one fall. I had hope that he didn't fall with a win but that's the C.O.P. and it also proves just how incredible Uchimura is. He has been crowned World Champion AA three straight times in a row. Now he has the 4th AA Gold medal as an Olympic one. He will be in the record books as one of the greatest gymnast of all time. Too bad for his teammate Tanaka. He was a last minute replacement gymnasts for the AA. He did well for a guy who wasn't expecting to do AA. He was so close to 2nd but fell on the pommel horse.

I am actually more happy for Marcel Nguyen. Who would of thought he was going to get 2nd? He was really the surprise of the day. Very inspirational stuff. Nguyen had always been in the shadow of his more famous teammates, but now he is shining. Congrats to Nguyen.

Also shout out to Leyva. He has work so hard for this. He will definitely be fighting for a gold medal in the event finals. HB gold medal? It could be his.

Full results: CLICK HERE