No one can touch him. He is the ultimate master. He combines difficulty with great execution like no other all-around gymnast. In my opinion Uchimura doesn't have any rivals. It's going to be hard for anyone to beat him in the all-around finals. Almost all the gymnastics experts expects him to take the AA gold medal, there is no arguing or denying this.
Uchimura dominating the AA finals will be one of the highlights I am waiting to see happen at the Olympics. I will be crushed if he does not win. He is working on some upgrades so his d-scores will be higher than when it was in Tokyo world championships.
Some of my favourite BB mounts are the press to handstand variations. Dorina Boczogo does these variations on one arm. Of course she wasn't the first to do one arm mounts but she is currently the only gymnast I can think of that does it in elite.
Her current injury status is unknown. Supposedly she is still not 100% with her wrists. But really, no gymnasts are really 100% injury free. There will always be something nagging on a gymnast’s body. Sidorova did compete at Voronin Cup in December ’11 and at the most recent Moscow Championships. She was supposed to compete at the London test event in January but was not prepared enough or was resting her wrists. She is known for her consistency on VT, BB & FX. She supposedly had an Amanar vault but there are no videos to back this up. Her DTY is good so the thought of her being capable of doing an Amanar is possible.
There are a lot of fans who wants to see Sidorova on the Russian’s Olympic team. I can see her on it but I am not completely sold on her yet. If she can remain consistent throughout the next big competitions or have an Amanar she will no doubt be on the team. Another possibility could be that she would be relegated to the dreaded alternate spot if her consistency does not improve. We have in the past seen very good up and coming gymnasts touted to make an Olympic team only to be relegated as an alternate.
Sidorova’s most recent competitions (Voronin Cup & Moscow Championships) were rough for her. I know that she is not 100% or it’s early in the season but we have seen her better before. Her consistency has dropped a bit and she seems to be unsure about herself lately. Her DTY is still good, her bar difficulty is too low, her BB and FX is still her strongest events. Sidorova seems to be maxed out with upgrades but anything is possible as Dementyeva and Grishina proved this by - upgrading quickly.
Here are Anastasia's D-Scores. Her BB & FX are from her most recent competition at the Moscow Championships. Her VT & UB are from earlier competitions.
_____________________________________________________________________________
VT: DTY 5.8 & capable/rumoured Amanar 6.5
UB
Sole Circle + Inbar + Sole 1/1 + Tkatchev + Pak (C+D+D+D+D) 0.2CV
Stalder + Sole Shoot to HB (C)
Sole 1/2 (C)
Dbl Front (D)
2.9 + 0.2 = 3.1 + 2.5CR = 5.6 D-Score
-- This was the best video I could find for her UB. Sometimes she even performs her UB in lower difficulty of 5.2-5.3 etc. She doesn't have a consistent UB routine. UB is her weakest event.
Bwd 3/2 Twists indirect to 3/1 Twists (C+E) 0.2
Full In Pike (E)
Dbl Spin (B)
Gogean (D) *attempted, so downgrade to (C) but I’m going to count the D value.
Bwd 5/2 Twists + Stag leap (D+A) 0.1
Front Aerial (CR for fwd elements)
Switch Ring + Johnson 1/2 (C/C)
Dbl Pike (D)
The first time I saw Myzdrikova was on FX at the 2009 world championships. She was the first qualifier to floor finals. She was amazing. Her tumbles were unique and refreshing at that time. Her whip + double Arabian was stuck and with PERFECT form. Her double arabian is one of the best arabians I have ever seen. It's even better than the male gymnasts. She is so tucked and precise, it's BEAUTIFUL. Her other unique tumble was the triple twist + back tuck. She is one of Russia's best floor workers this quad. Unfortunately she has been battling some injuries and cannot do a decent bar routine so she never really got the chance to shine as a popular Russian gymnast. She lacks a little bit of artistry but I can watch her 2009 WC floor and still be amazed by her tumbles. If I had a top 10 favourite list for Russian gymnasts, Myzdrikova would be on my list.
I am very grateful to all the bloggers/youtubers and many forum users for giving valuable updates/vids on the Moscow Championships. I have been too busy to follow the competition or engage in forum discussions. Life gets busy and sometimes I wonder how some people have so much time on their hands to blog or post on forums? I'm finding it really hard to keep on blogging & forum posting lately. I'm gonna go into lurking mode for few months or so.
The other event that was going on was Elite Canada. I should follow Canadian gymnastics more :) I feel like a cheap Canadian (*^.^*) I really don't know anything about current Canadian gymnastics.
At the Moscow Championships I was excited to hear that Komova did her double Arabian dismount in combination! This would boost her BB d-score to around 6.5. I think she finally ditched the double turn. Also she didn't do L-turn + front aerial for connections this time. I'm thinking she will stop trying to connect it because it is giving her problems.
Grishina did a double double tuck on bars! If she can get this routine consistent by London time she will be on the team. It's crazy how much she has upgraded her bar routine. Since I'm a nerd I'm going to do a d-score breakdown of her bar routine.
Sole 1/1 + VLW (D+E) 0.2
Inbar 1/2 + P. Jaeger (D+D) 0.1
Inbar 1/1 + P. Tkatchev + Pak (E+E+D) 0.4
Sole Shoot to HB
Dbl dbl tuck (F)
3.7 + 0.7 = 4.4 + 2.5CR = 6.9 D-Score
And of course I have to talk about Afanasyeva. She changed her choreography a bit so this may mean she will have new floor music and choreography. It's early in the season and she's not at her peak best but her double pike is getting better. Her spins are more controlled now. She didn't get them quite around but she didn't seem to be trying to get them around either. I'm thinking she can master them when it really counts. I think the Russian girls are getting more use to and better on the Gymnova equipments.
I think USA has this one. They are consistent, consistent, consistent and have Amanars, Amanars, Amanars. Russia lacks these qualities right now. If Russia has Amanars at the Olympics, will they have consistency and mental toughness? It's hard to say how Russia will be like, they are very unpredictable, oh Russia. I just want them to fight with a burning passion at the Olympic games. I want them to prove to the world that they can win and it's just not all hype.
If I were to bet money on who will win I would place my bets on USA though. I also think we should not forget about China, they actually have the potential to challenge USA and Russia. Oh and never count out the Romanians, NEVER.
During the Olympic games my eyes will mostly be glued on to and cheering for team Russia.
...to the Olympic games. She is tenacious and a competitive fighter. Her dream, "I hope to win a gold medal in London Olympics." She said this 3 years ago when she got injured at worlds 2009 in London. I know I'm setting myself up for some possible disappointments but I am confident she will make it to the Olympics. What kind of fan would I be if I didn't support her if her chances are very good? I will support her no matter what. She fought her way to this far in her career she will not give it up. Her goal is to make it to London and win a gold medal. She can help the team win gold with her experience as an Olympian.
