Rio 2016 Olympic MAG/WAG Event Finals & Final Thoughts PART 2

Uneven Bars Results
1. Aliya Mustafina 15.900
2. Madison Kocian 15.833
3. Sophie Scheder 15.566

Aliya Mustafina is the Queen of uneven bars. She is the 2x Olympic champion on this event. I am really happy she won! Madison Kocian in 2nd and I think this was her best routine. And Sophie Scheder! Wow I forgot that she was in this finals. I have always knew about her and even blogged about how much I liked her routines. I wasn't expecting her to medal at the Olympics. This is a great win for her.

MAG Vault Results
1. Ri Se Gwang AVG 15.691
2. Denis Abliazin AVG 15.516
3. Kenzo Shirai AVG 15.449

Man this finals was exciting to watch. Two new crazy vaults were performed. Igor Radivilov was 2nd to perform and he attempted a 3/1 front tuck! This guy is crazy gutsy. He was awarded the full 7.0 difficulty but I read he will not get it named after him since he fell. Then there was Kenzo Shirai. After his disappointing floor finals he came back with a crazy 7/2 (3.5) Yurchenko! I am happy Kenzo was able to medal individually. He also had the highest execution in this finals. Ri Se Gwang is another fearless competitor. He is truly the champion because he did two vaults that is named after himself. His vaults may not look pretty but they are crazy difficult. I'm happy he won. Then there's Abliazin who maybe could have won if he stuck his Ri vault. I think he could of but who knows. In this case it's still nice to see him medal for team Russia.

Balance Beam Results
1. Sanne Wevers 15.466
2. Laurie Hernandez 15.333
3. Simone Biles 14.733

As always this was a nerve wrecking event to watch. Simone could have won this event but she grasped the beam and almost fell from front tuck. I was so nervous. In the end she was able to win 3rd. Laurie had a chance to win after Wevers but her execution and difficulty was not quite enough and she had to settle for 2nd. Then there is Sanne Wevers! I absolutely love her beam routine. Very unique and beautiful with all the difficult turns. The judges took quite a long time for her score and when it came out I clapped in happiness. I think it was the suspense that made it all exciting. Sometimes Wevers is inconsistent but this was her year. So happy for her. In a lot of ways this was probably my favourite win of this Olympic gymnastics.

Parallel Bars Results  
1. Oleg Verniaiev 16.041
2. Danell Leyva 15.900
3. David Belyavskiy 15.783

Again I was disappointed with the Chinese guys Deng Shudi and You Hao. Deng was shaky and lost lots in execution. You Hao was doing really well up until his difficult double front 1/2 out. So close he was but it was not meant to be. It's also clear to see which style the judges like. Danell performed very well and stuck his landing. I'm happy he won after from being an alternate. Belyavskiy won 3rd. His routine is nice and its awesome how he got 3rd in such a difficult finals. Never giving up and fighting is the name of this sport. Then there's Verniaiev. He had an error issue with handstand but his routine has good difficulty and execution through out to make him win. It also didn't hurt that he was a major favourite to win this event. I'm happy he can leave with a gold medal from these games.

WAG Floor Exercise Results 
1. Simone Biles 15.966!
2. Aly Raisman 15.500
3. Amy Tinkler 14.933

This was another good finals. I really enjoyed watching Wang Yan on floor. I think she was low balled on this event. She deserved a better score. Through out this competition I have been impressed with Wang. She hit all her routines through out the games. Very impressive. Amy Tinkler was a nice surprised. How nice that Great Britain won an individual medal on the WAG side. If it wasn't Claudia Fragapane to qualify and medal it was a nice surprise to see Tinkler do it. Aly Raisman was simply amazing. I really like her on this event. This is her forte. This is her event. Her third pass sticking a DLO gah. She was not able to defend her 2012 title because Simone Biles was also amazing. Biles difficulty is out of this world! Such difficult tumbling and very energetic routine. Simone Biles won her 4th gold on this event in Rio. Wow.

High Bar Results 
1. Fabian Hambuchen 15.766
2. Danell Leyva 15.500
3. Nile Wilson 15.466  

This is always an event to look forward to. I'm disappointed that Kohei fell in qualification but there were great guys in this final. Sadly Zonderland was not able to defend his title. His friendly rival friend Fabian Hambuchen was first up and killed his routine. It was a thrilling and exciting routine. This was his last time to compete as he is retiring. What an amazing way to end his competitive gymnastics career with an Olympic gold medal! He now has all the collected medals of bronze from 2008, silver from 2012 and now Gold. That's cool. Danell Leyva was also amazing to see on bars. It's nice to see him medal again. Some people are calling him the silver prince. Nile Wilson fought and did a great job to place 3rd. Never give up because you never know what can happen. It's great that Great Britain has been winning several individual medals. That is a success for their program.

Rio 2016 MAG & WAG All-Around Results

MAG Full Results 
1) Kohei Uchimura 92.365
2) Oleg Verniaiev 92.266
3) Max Whitlock 90.641

I finally have time to quickly blog about this. I think I used all my excitement and energy on tumblr.

The MAG AA was exciting! I did saw it live. I had so many emotions. There were points where I gave up and accepted that there would be a new champion. But then when it came to highbar I knew Kohei was able to do it. He is world champion on highbar. He really performed enough for the win. When he perfectly stuck his dbl dbl dismount I knew it was his gold medal. He did all that he could and he really brought it at the last minute. He was not gonna lose his AA streak. Kohei is AMAZING! Winning 8 major consecutive AA titles in a row! In an interview he said this Olympic games will be his last time competing AA. I am going to miss seeing him compete AA but I am still excited to see him compete as a specialist. He is really motivated for Tokyo 2020. Kohei is a hero to many and he is my hero too.

His rivals Oleg Verniaiev and Max Whitlock definitely put pressure on Kohei. Oleg was also amazing. At times I started to accept that he would of won but it was not meant to be. His highbar has always been a weak event for him. He has a huge fan following and for the next quad he can be as dominant as Kohei has been. It'll be exciting to see if he can.



WAG Full Results 
1) Simone Biles 62.198
2) Aly Raisman 60.098
3) Aliya Mustafina 58.665

On the women's side I was only able to watch the first two rotations. I later watched the last two rotations on replay. It was no surprise that Simone Biles won gold. She was amazing. I kept saying ooh and wow when she kept sticking her floor passes. She is an amazing gymnast. She completely dominated the 2016 quad. And she can very much as well do it in the next new up coming quad. This girl is on fire! When I saw Aly and Simone get emotional after their floor routines I started to get emotional too. Usually I am not an American fan but I am slowly becoming one. They both did the best yesterday night. I am happy for them. And then there is Aliya Mustafina. Her strong bar routine and strong competitive mentality helped her to secure the 3rd place. I am happy she can win AA 3rd again at Olympics. Still rooting for a gold medal on bars for her.

   

Aliya Mustafina Rio 2016 QF UB

After her disappointing fall from beam it was nice to see her bars. I've always mentioned that she'll try to get a d-score of 7.0 but 6.8 is nice. It'll be a very competitive bar finals. I really like Mustafina's bar routines. I am counting on her to win bar finals. Very lovely routine. Cheering and rooting for Aliya Mustafina.

Giulia Steingruber (SUI) FX EF European Games Baku 2015

I've finally got to observe and examine the routines of Mustafina and Steingruber. I've read that Mustafina did not get credit for quad turn and Steingruber should of gotten 0.3 oob deduction. IMO Mustafina did complete the quad turn but overall I preferred Steingruber's routine. Looking at her feet I can see the 0.1 oob but not the 0.3 oob. It's not unusual for someone to win with an oob deduction.

At the end of the day the judges also preferred Steingruber's routine. The things that bothered me about Mustafina is her spin combo at the beginning, then she tried to do the Memmel at the end again and was unsuccessful. Too many spins imo. I love spins but in this actual case she did way toooo many. Another thing is her music and choreo. I thought I could like it but I can't. She is still a pretty mover but this routine really takes the cake for background music. It felt like she was not listening to her music. It felt weird. I'm impressed with her new DLO debuts though :). I bet she will have different music come Glasgow. This might have been a testing competition for her.

I love Steingruber's gogean leap and think the straight 3/2 jump was cool.

 

Aliya Mustafina AA UB @ 2015 European Games

Her best score of the night 15.5! I still think she will have a 7.0 routine by Rio :). I believe in Aliya.

 

Mustafina & Komova DLO FX @ Baku 2015 Prelims

Mustafina and Komova both debuted double layouts for the first time. It's exciting to see these new upgrades from them. I suspect that they will get better at performing DLO's as they keep training and consistently compete them.

I was most surprised that Komova did the DLO. I have heard in the past she trained it but I have never seen videos. Mustafina on the other hand. The gymternet has known that she's been training DLO's and in my mind I had suspected that she would one day debut DLO. It was nice to see it here.  Her new floor music is slow pace which will help her with endurance. I'm not sure if I like her routine yet as it's new music and skills. Hopefully it will grow on me.

I'm not too convinced with the scoring on floor. I know comparing scores from say this year's European Championships to European Games is kind of moot. Since different judges and maybe different rules but I can't help but compare scores from other competitions from this year and try to understand what the judges are doing. I love Mustafina but in my personal opinion her score should be lower even with the -0.3 deduction. I know I might sound negative and I was not planning to put my opinion about this but it doesn't matter. At least I'm saying what I feel. It's nice to see Mustafina back again though. Team Russia really needs her.

 

Favourite Things of 2014

I might have missed a lot of things but these are the things that quickly came to my mind. This was not a well thought out post.

WAG

VT: Hong Un Jong's EF Nanning

UB: This was kind of hard for me but I will go with Yao Jinnan's Nanning EF. I love how crisp her connected pirouettes are and the stuck DLO. Of course I still like the look of Russians on bars and the unique combos of team Great Britain.

BB: Bai Yawen's Nanning EF. This comes immediately to my mind. I love her lines and clean execution. This will definitely be something I will remember of 2014.

FX: Simone Biles USA Classic floor routine. It's just amazing. Overall this is my favourite routine of 2014 for WAG.

Cool skills: Mustafina's 3/1 Y-Turn, Schaefer's Side-somi 1/2

MAG

FX: Denis Ablyazin & Kenzo Shirai.

PH: Krisztian Berki Nanning EF

SR: Liu Yang Nanning EF

VT: Donnell Whittenburg, Yang Hak Seon & Ri Se Gwang (badass)

PB: Oleg Verniaiev Nanning EF

HB: Kohei Uchimura Nanning EF  

Cool Skills: Bretschneider's 2/1 Kovacs, Shirai's 3/1 DLO

What were your favourite routines, skills or combinations for this year. I would love to know so that I can remember what routines happened this year. Please comment :).

EF Medalists Day 2 || Nanning 2014

Alright this day was filled with some disappointments and excitements. I watched the FIG stream. I still wish it was streamed free for all. As I really hate to use proxy apps but I do what I have to for the love of this sport.

Full HB Results

First off Kohei Uchimura. That HB finals! CASSINA + KOLMAN!!! What a nice surprise. He went all out and increased his difficulty to 7.2. Very nice combo and it made me happy that he did that combo. In a way I missed the tak 1/2 + Kolman but that will be his regular combo. Uchimura is amazing. I can't wait to see the tumblr gifs. He scored 15.725. It wasn't enough to beat beast Zonderland's 7.7 difficulty routine! His routine is insane. Filled with sky high releases. Similar release of Uchimura with Cassia + Kovacs a bit less difficult but still amazing. I like the Kolman + Gaylord. Zonderland is still the best on high bar for 16.225! Croatia's Moznik fought for 3rd for a well deserved 15.000. I know some won't consider this a disappointment but Zhang. Zhang's hand guard broke. It was not meant to be. He would have medalled somewhere on the podium. And Calvo from Columbia fell and that was sad to see. I like his routine.

 Full MAG VT Results 

This finals was disappointing for my friend. She was sad for Yang Hak Seon. But we both agreed that the podium finish was well deserved and good. I felt for Yang. I believe he will get the vault named after him? He did get a score for it. He is still amazing and gutsy for going for it. We already know he can do it. As he already did it at Korean Cup and it was nicely done. It wasn't Yang's day today. His second vault was not much hope too. He landed but fell. He's really courageous for doing these difficult twisting vault. Who would have imagine we'll see these kind of vaults in this day and age? Yang came in 7th. The winner was Ri Se Gwang. It really pains me to see him after the Ri vault but I guess it's worth it when he wins. It's his vault and of course he'll want to compete his own skill. It's an insane vault! He really deserved that title. Really difficult vaults. Radivilov 2nd and Dalton 3rd. They both did good vaults to finish on the podium. Just one quick comment, haha it's quite amusing that Radivilov's Dragulescu travels far.

Full PB Results

This was a nice podium finish. OLEG VERNIAIEV! He finallys leaves this championships happy :). I felt really happy when he won. When his score flashed 16.125 I knew it would take something special for the other guys to overtake him. His routine was beautifully executed. When Leyva competed I knew it wasn't enough but Leyva did a well deserved 2nd 15.933 routine. And then there is Kato :). It's nice to see him in 3rd even if for a bit he was pissy when Leyva went ahead of him :P. That made me laugh. Deng Shudi had the highest difficulty but he lost lots of execution. I was nervous when he competed the Bhavsar but nice that he stuck his dismount. He seemed happy enough that he did all he could do and even later smiled at the camera when he knew it wasn't going to be enough to medal.

Full BB Results 


This finals was a disappointment. Well I'm glad Biles took the title because it was well deserved. I'm crowning her the Queen of this championships. 4 GOLD medal wins. What an incredible athlete. My favourite part of her routine is the the dismount. Really difficult 2 ff into full in tuck. I really enjoyed watching fan favourite Bai Yawen's routine. She was on today. Very lovely dance elements, loved the slow mo replays. I hope tumblr people gif those.

Okay so now for the interesting bits. Mustafina's routine. Everything was going well. She missed her connections from switch leap and majorly failed to connect the acrobatic requirement. She lost 5 tenths for that mistake. Not arguing anything there. Yet still managed to medal. I'm not happy about that. Teramoto really deserved that bronze medal. The judges rejected her inquiry. The judges were really cruel to not give credit for the 3/1 twists dismount.

This is what Teramoto's beam got:

2/1 Turn (D)
Onodi (D)
Leap series
2 ff + LOSO 0.1SB
Front Aerial (D)
Side Somi (D)
Johnson Leap (C)
Switch Leap (C)
Aerial Cartwheel (D)
5/2 Dismount (D)

3.0 + 0.1SB = 3.1 + 2.5CR = 5.6 D-score.

I agree with everything except the dismount. Her feet was all the way around IMO. Judges needs to be consistent when crediting twists. If she had been credited with 3/1 twists she would have been given 5.8 to lead for 3rd. They rejected her inquiry quickly. Well when I thought about it, it might of been harsh to discredit Mustafina's acrobatic series too. So in many ways everything worked out. Seeing the replay made me more calm. The results seems legit enough. I just felt the judges are harsh on WAG twists and in the past they always gave credit to undeserving gymnasts incomplete twisting. Teramoto should have been credited. I just felt this final was lackluster. Thanks to Bai Yawen beam or else this finals would have been boring for me.



Full WAG FX 

What can I say? Biles was ahead of everyone. Her difficulty is amazing. And she really deserved that medal without any doubts 15.333. She is a very strong and athletic gymnast. Nice to see Iorchace get 2nd 14.800. Good for her :). The moment for 3rd was Mustafina's routine 14.733. Nice to see her make her floor more exciting with the 2 whips. Generally she is an artistic gymnast. But I didn't like her overall routine, in terms of music and choreography. It lacked something that she used to have in her past floor routines. This one was kind of boring and those socks! Those socks are not really elegant :P. But I'm happy that Mustafina fans can celebrate and be happy for her 3rd place finish.

Overall I felt this world Championships was nice. It's nice to see full teams competing. If anything Kohei Uchimura winning his 5th AA tittle really made the difference for me. I'm glad I was able to watch this whole competition. It was all worth it to wake up at insane times. It's all over and now I can relive it all in replay. Well I hope all the replay become available without the proxy restrictions. Thanks to my gym fan for skyping with me during worlds. You know who you are and it was fun :) Now it's time to celebrate Canadian thanksgiving gobble gobble.
  

EF Medalists Day 1 || Nanning 2014

I watched this live on FIG feed. I managed to stay alive during all the event finals. By the time it was over I was struggling to blog about it on here. I even had to save this post as a draft. Perhaps last night I should have not been blogging on tumblr :P. This is pretty much a half ass post. I'm gonna try to remember everything from early last night.

MAG FX Full Results 

This final was okay. I think the floor routine I liked the most was Hypolito. Very unique combinations. He came in 3rd for 15.700. Ablyazin came in 1st 15.750. He did a good job. Not his best in terms of landings but his routine had all the nice tricks. I really enjoy a nice DDLO. Disappointed for Kenzo Shirai but even he knew he didn't do enough to win. He went out of bounds again and he wasn't as crisp on his landings this time. What's interesting is that he almost won if it weren't for that out of bounds or perhaps the small little hops on landings. Shirai came in 2nd 15.733. Other guys, Jake Dalton and Korea's Kim Hansol were clean guys. Very nice to see that. Dalton's 3/1 full dismount is always nice and clean. What else? There was Zapata from Spain who rebounded out of something and flew high. I missed what that was. Later I'm gonna go replay it. Perhaps we'll see a gif of it :)

WAG VT Full Results

Hong Un Jong of N. Korea took the gold. Her Amanar has improved a lot. Her Cheng vault was good enough for 1st. At first I wasn't sure if she'll be able to win because Biles had two cleanly executed vaults. The tension was building after Biles finished her second vault. The judges just didn't give her a high enough execution to win. This time I felt Biles had a superior Amanar to Hong's. She had a small hop forward like always but the height and aggression on it was amazing. She really put her energy into it. Skinner came in 3rd. Her Cheng was cleanly done except for the one handed technique. It still bothers me a lot but it obviously doesn't for the judges. The guy commentator said it was beautiful vault. While I do agree to some level I just can't say it since she doesn't block with both hands. Still yeah it's clean enough.

PH Full Results

This event started off with Keatings. He had the highest difficulty but had too many issues. Too bad for him. I really liked the elegant and long lines of Tommasone. He came in 3rd 15.600. I didn't catch much of Ude but it seems he was good enough for 2nd, good for him 15.783. Berki came in 1st 16.033. He is still a world class pommels worker. Very nice routine. I'm still trying to get the hang of the pommel codes :).




UB Full Results

Mustafina kicked off this event. Her difficulty was just too low. And the judges weren't forgiving to her form breaks. She's a great gymnast and I know there are many disappointed fans that wanted to see her medal but everything was not in her favour. She is a big girl and can accept the results. We all know she can do a harder routine. Perhaps this world championships was not to rush difficulty but to mainly focus on team finals. We'll never know. In any case Spiridonova got 3rd 15.283. How good for her? Her routine is based out of 6.4 and she had slightly better escore. How dare she beat Mustafina :P Nah just joking her routine was better. I hope this gives Spiridonova more confidence going into the next world championships and perhaps the Olympics. Please stay healthy! Downie had an exciting release filled routine but her execution really hurt her. The Chinese were in a league of their own. Yao 6.9 and Huang 6.8 Dscores! Just too much advantage for them. Chinese will always find ways to be on top of bars difficulty. It's gonna be hard for other nations to get close to those Dscores but it can happen. I'm happy Yao finally got a gold medal 15.633 and what about Huang 15.566. Badass for not wearing grips. Not even those small dinky tape ones. Badass. Very old school gymnast.



SR Full Results

It was a battle between Liu and Zanetti. Last year Liu qualified first and disappointingly finished 4th. This year he was out for blood and came on top. Very strong and cleanly executed routine 15.933. Zanetti was not quite on today but managed 2nd 15.733. There will be a battle in Rio. You Hao put in an inquiry and so his Dscore raised to 7.0, the highest in the competition. Ablyazin was on fire today. He tied with You Hao for 3rd 15.700. Let's see what Ablyazin can do in VT finals.

Overall day one event finals was nice. I can't wait for day two. Hwaaaaaah I'm tired. Next quad wolds needs to be in N. America. At least the Olympics will be in Rio so the times will be sane for us North American people. Well for us east coasters that is :P.     

Simone Biles Golden In WAG AA || Nanning 2014

Full Results

This was another nice competition. I'm happy for all the medalists. I'm most happy for Iordache. She improved a lot. I watched the FIG stream. I never saw Iordache on bars but knowing how she performed on bars in the past I'm not surprised at the good bar score she got. Sometimes she's on sometimes she's off but she was on today. Her beam is good as always. Her difficulty dropped a bit because not everything was credited. Her vault was good as usual. Her floor was a bit nerve wrecking but she kept herself composed and even upgraded her last pass to full in pike. There were no doubt that she would medal. I think she will be the story of WAG this championships. Well I found myself feeling happy for her.

Biles took gold. She did a great job today. It must feel great to win 2 consecutive AA titles in a row. Teammate Kyla Ross came in 3rd. It's not that I am surprised she got 3rd it's that in gymnastics you never know what can happen. It was sad to see Mustafina fall on her dbl Arabian mount but it is what it is. She is capable of more difficulty so hopefully next year we can see more improvements from her. It's not over yet. Mustafina can still get gold on beam or medal on the events she qualified for. Anything can happen. Good luck and congratulations to everyone.   

Quick 2014 MAG/WAG AA Wishes & Predictions

MAG Wish

1) Kohei Uchimura (JPN)
2) Yusuke Tanaka (JPN)
3) Oleg Verniaiev (UKR)

Prediction

1) Kohei Uchimura (JPN)
2) Deng Shudi (CHN) {he has the highest Dscores}
3) Nikolai Kuksenkov (RUS)

WAG Wish

1) Simone Biles (USA)
2) Aliya Mustafina (RUS)
3) Yao Jinnan (CHN)

Prediction

1) Aliya Mustafina (RUS)
2) Simone Biles (USA)
3) Larisa Iordache (ROU)

USA Wins Team WAG Gold || Nanning 2014

Full Results

1) USA 179.280
2) China 172.587
3) Russia 171.462

I watched live on Chinese feed. It's no surprise the mighty strong USA won. I enjoyed their strong difficult floor routines by Skinner and Biles. Yeah yeah I said Skinner :P. At least she woke me up because she does hard stuff that keeps me watching. I wonder what Ross's beam inquiry was about? Say what you want about Ross but she was the only one from USA that I liked on beam. I honestly do not understand how they scored so close to Chinese beam? My favourite part of team finals was China's beam, especially Huang Huidan's.

Romania qualified 7th but came in 4th. I'm happy for them. They were so close to 3rd with 170.963 for 4th place. I saw Iordache on beam and she was on fire. She scored the highest on beam with 15.5! I'm looking forward to seeing Munteanu's beam. She also scored high with 15.2.

Russia managed to take bronze. I saw Spiridonova and Mustafina on bars and they did good job. I only saw Mustafina on beam and floor she had some mistakes but she handled everything well. They fought to stick their vaults. I only saw Nabieva and Mustafina on vault. They did a really good job. They really needed those scores. They are fighters.

Not everything went well for China, Russia and Romania but they shouldn't be so hard on themselves. They are good teams they just need to hit hit hit their routines and maybe they can put pressure on team USA. They need more difficulty too but it's still mid quad. I think China, Russia and Romania knows what they need to do to improve for Rio. I hope they achieve what they intend to improve on. USA is too strong and of course they know they can't get lazy and expect to think they will always win easily. Congratulations to all the teams.    

Quick Thoughts On WAG Qualifications || Nanning 2014

Full results can be found here.

The only subdivision I saw live was China's. I was busy the other day and I couldn't stay up long enough to watch Romania. It was depressing to watch China on floor. Hopefully they can improve on that for team finals. Yao Jinnan was the top qualifier for bars.

China's uneven bars Dscores are huge. That really gives them an advantage. Huang Huidan and Tan Jiaxin tied but Huang had better execution so she's in for finals. I enjoyed that Tan Jiaxin did the layout dbl dbl dismount. Or also known as the Ray. I can't remember who was the last gymnast to do that skill since Tan. If you know let me know. (edit: Shawn Johnson in 2008)

On beam China did good. Shang put in an inquiry but it got rejected. I have no idea what that was about. China did have a few wobbly issues but generally I enjoy their beam style and difficulty. Beam is a hard event and kudos to all the finalists but I haven't feel wowed by the event finalists. I can only see a few routines from FIG youtube. I'm not sure who I want to win for this event.

Simone was top qualifier for AA, VT, BB, & FX. I'm guessing she fell from bars? I haven't seen her bar routine. I hope she wins AA. Would be nice for her to win 2 consecutive AA title. The only event I kind of dislike her on is beam. Yes I'm allowed to criticize about that. My opinion about it is that I just don't like the look of her on beam, no lines or extension. No beauty.

But damn floor is amazing. Iordache and her will duke it out. Mustafina also made floor finals. She got the 3/1 leg split turn but another girl did it so no named floor element for Mustafina. Maybe she can try for quad leg split turn for next year :P?

Vault finals should be interesting. I much prefer Hong's Amanar to Biles. I get that Cheng vault is difficult for WAG but it's not a pretty vault when done by WAG. It's nice to see that they are doing difficult vaults but none of them are doing them nicely.

Despite China's floor rotation they managed to qualify 2nd for team finals. No surprise that USA is in first and that Russia failed on BB to qualify for 3rd. Poor Romania qualified 7th. Oh and now I remember what happened to Andreea Munteanu on beam? I guess it's not surprising Romania didn't do so well. I still wish the best for them. 

Just Because

Aliya Mustafina's 3/1 Y-Spin + 2/1 turn. Lovely difficult combo. I hope she gets the 3/1-Y named after her in Nanning.

(Source: i-don't-understand-gymnastics)

A Sneak Peak at Afanasyeva's FX || 2014 Russian Championships

Here's a very short clip of what Afan's new choreo/music floor might look like when she gets back her full difficulty. I heard she scored 13.000 and didn't make event finals but she might perform one more time in team finals. This routine was super downgraded as the front 1/1 dismount proves it. Here's to hoping we get to see the whole routine.

 

And Aliya Mustafina's new routine too

 

Komova QF UB - 2014 Russian Championships

She's BACK! Haha sorry about the lame excitement, it's for humour effect. Hopefully it was funny but actually it's really nice to see Komova back in action. She is looking really good. She still has a nice look to her gymnastics. Seeing her bar routine I think she will still be able to bring back the big skills like the piked tkatchev and even the dbl dbl tuck dismount. I mean Tweddle was able to do it at age 27 so there should be no doubt that Komova could regain it back again. I hear she has a new skill on bars. Can't wait to see what it is. It looks like she finally took out the giant 1/2 before the dismount. The cast 1/2 was a bit iffy but it seems she really is not good at that change and honestly I have gotten used to the giant 1/2 that it's not even an issue for me. If it works for her it works for her but if she's intending to do the cast 1/2 hopefully she will improve on it. I heard she scored 15.000 for this routine. Seems reasonable.

Most of the video quality are not the best because of the live stream. I'm grateful for the Russian fans who recorded the live feed as this competition is too early for me to watch. I haven't check the results but based on pictures Mustafina won AA. For results you guys can check the official website. And for the full coverage you guys can check out luchinho84 youtube.  

Komova II + Pak Salto (E+D) 0.2
Komova (E)
Inbar 1/2 + Layout Jaeger (D+E) 0.1
Inbar 1/1 + Tkatchev (E+D) 0.1
Tsuk (D)

3.6 + 0.4CV + 2.5CR = 6.5 D-score

2014 WAG Russian Championships April 2-6

Usually this meet is used to determine the European team. According to most of the Russian media all of the 2012 Olympian members should be competing.

Recently on tumblr I did a post about when was the last time we saw the 5 Olympians. So I thought I would share it here on this blog. It's hard to let go of the 2012 team and move forward with the new seniors but this is just to show how I'm excited to see the return of some of the Olympians. Hopefully they will all show up.

Russia still has new hope in Kharenkova, Rodionova, Shelgunova, Sosnitskaya, Fedorova etc. Russia will still be one of the top contenders for Europeans.

I won't have high expectations for the gymnasts at this meet. They shouldn't be so perfect early in the season. I'm wishing everyone good health and for them to do the best that they can do.

I'm most intrigue in seeing how Komova has been progressing. I won't have high expectations but it would be nice to just see her back in competition. It's been too long. I'm not sure if I can follow this competition as I might be busy but I'm sure there will be lots of Russian fans posting up to date information. The official website for results is sportgymrus.ru.

If all of the 2012 Olympian shows up it will be the first time since we saw (compete):

Komova in 1 year and 8 months at the 2012 Olympic Games! Favourite routine was 2012 AA FX.

Grishina in 10 months at the 2013 Anadia Cup where she won uneven bars gold.

Afanasyeva in 9 months at 2013 Universiade Games. Favourite routine was AA FX.

Paseka in 8 months at 2013 Russian Cup where her best result was on uneven bars 2nd.

Mustafina in 4 months at the 2013 Stuttgart World Cup on beam in team finals.

News Roundup - Komova Making a Comeback & Uchimura Training TTY Again

Yesterday I first saw these news on tumblr. I gotta love tumblr yet sometimes I hate it but I like it more than hate. Okay so Komova is training to make a comeback again. She grew a lot and is looking vibrant and strong. She seems really positive. I hope this will be the year for Komova. She is such a beautiful gymnast. Word on the gymternet is that Mustafina will be taking a break from Round Lake. She will still be training at her home gym but not at Round Lake. Maybe she will miss Europeans? Here is the wonderful uploaders tumblr page lakekrugloye.

On the Japanese front Uchimura is training the TTY again which is named after Kenzo Shirai and Kim Hee Hoon. You can also see snippets of Shirai on pommels and rings. Kameyama, the reigning world gold pommel horse winner can also be seen doing a Kolman on high bar. I got this news from gymfanjapan's tumblr.

Part 5: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ Honourable Mentions/Miscellaneous

Alright so this is the last part of my series. Even though this is a honourable mentions/miscellaneous post these are still some of my favourite moments. Some of these choices came from anon comments in my comment sections. Without those comments I would have forgotten about these gymnasts or would have never knew about those routines.

In no particular order:

Yusuke Tanaka's Kolman + Rybalko (F+D) 0.1CV.

Jossimar Calvo Moreno PB dismount & HB routine. He was also submitting the dbl dbl  dismount off the end of pbars. I actually didn't notice that until someone mentioned it in the comment section.

Kristian Thomas VT, Nguyen Ha Thanh VT, Fabian Hambuchen HB, Kohei Kameyama PH I liked his reaction when he found out he was first, Lin Chaopan PB really good routine, Zhang Hongtao PH, Matvei Petrov PH, Aleksandr Balandin SR, Liu Yang SR, Pham Phuoc Hung PB, Scott Morgan FX,  

Sam Mikulak seems like a cool guy. He was one of those guys that could challenge Uchimura. Unfortunately he messed up HB AA. He was so close to finishing 2nd.

Ryohei Kato wining 2nd AA. He was my pick to win after Uchimura. I'm really glad he came in 2nd.

 
WAG FX - Mai Murakami, Giulia Steingruber, Larisa Iordache, Jessica Lopez, Sandra Izbasa.

Anna Rodionova was a gymnast that I liked this year. I'm glad Russia decided to send her to Antwerp. I think that was a wise move because she really showcased what Russia is all about, elegance. Some may say her long lines helps illustrates the illusion that she is elegant but it's also her hard work at the ballet barre that makes her elegance aesthetically pleasing to watch. It looks natural unlike some gymnasts who are mimicking. Some gymnasts may have the long lines but they are stiff and they are not fooling me into thinking they are elegant/artistic.

Aliya Mustafina world's BB gold. She finally wins a gold medal at worlds.

Andreea Munteanu BB, she has some of the best leaps in the world. 

UB - Kyla Ross, Rebecca Downie, Shang Chunsong I bet she will improve, Tan Jiaxin I don't like this video angle though. Aliya Mustafina I can't wait to see her full upgraded routine. I feel this is not her fully upgraded routine. Should be interesting to see what she comes up with this quad.

Well this concludes my favourite gymnastics of 2013. These were some of the things that I could remember liking. What were your favourites of the year?

Part 1: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ Combos

Alright so it's that time of year again when bloggers review their favourite gymnastics moments of the year. Here is part 1 of my favourite things, starting with combos. I have to admit that I didn't put a lot of thought into my favoutite list because I wasn't sure if I was going to make one. I haven't seen all the gymnastics routines from this year so it will be hard to not be bias. I mostly focus on seniors so there will rarely be any mentions of juniors. I'm kind of winging these post series. If you guys have any favourite combinations of the year please make a comment. I would love to see what you guys like as it's hard to notice everything. Some combos are old and were performed by other gymnasts of past years but I'm focusing on this year and it's nice to see new gymnasts performing these combos. I hope you all enjoy my favourite gymnastics of 2013 series.

Aliya Mustafina BB: Switch 1/2 Leap + Onodi + Dbl turn (D+D+D) 0.4CV! I really love this combo. It's really unique and innovated.

Aliya Mustafina UB & FX: Stalder 1/1 + Seitz mixed grip + Pak + Stalder Shap 1/2 (D+E+D+E) 0.5CV & 2 Whips indirect to dbl Arabian + stag (A+A+E+A) 0.3CV.

Kohei Uchimura HB: Tak 1/2 + Kolman (D+F) 0.1CV. It's just insane and hard to do that combo. I don't know how he can do it. He's got to be really strong to get that swing into the Kolman. Just incredible.

(Source: supermura)

Sanne Wevers BB: L-turn + 1/1 turn + dbl turn (C+A+D) 0.2CV. She's a master at beam turns. She even has a skill named after her, the dbl L-turn!

Gabriella Douglas (CAN) FX: Quad turn + dbl turn (E+B) 0.1CV. Just amazing and cool.

Ruby Harrold UB: Maloney + Bhardwaj (D+E) 0.2CV & VLW + Zuchold + Toe 1/1 (E+D+D) 0.3CV. Those are some tough and innovated combinations.

Ksenia Afanasyeva FX: Semenova + dbl turn (D+B) 0.1CV. Afan's double attitude spins are too die for. Very ballerina like and it's exclusively unique to her style because we don't see many dbl attitude spins. I love the spin combo it's elegant and a tricky skill to complete.

 (Source: hope-strongerthanfear)

Fabian Hambuchen HB: Straight Tkatchev + Rybalko elgrip + Winkler (D+D+E) 0.2CV. This combo still impresses me. It also doesn't hurt that it's a beautiful combo.

Kenzo Shirai FX: Front 1/1 twist + Front 3/1 twists (C+F) 0.1CV. Kenzo is a twisting combo ninja! That combo amazes me and the front 3/1 is named after him.

Anna Rodionova BB: FF+ Arabian (B+F) 0.2CV. BAMF!!

Zeng Siqi BB: Switch Ring + Sheep Jump (E+D) 0.2CV. It's rare to see two dance elements get 0.2CV. I love the combo.

Danusia Francis BB: Aerial Cartwheel in cross position + 1/1 twist dismount! I'm not sure what the NCAA code gives this combination but this is a banging combo. IMO it's not a pretty combo but it's still unique and daring.

(Source: gymnasticsgifs)

Well those are some of the combos that I can think of. I'm sure there are lots of other combos that I'm forgetting about. What are your favourite combos from this year?