Part 4: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ WAG

I don't care what anyone thinks but I think Afanasyeva's Universiade floor exercise AA and Amanar vault was my favourite thing of the year. I could criticize her faults but what's the point? As you can see this blog is kind of an Afan appreciation blog so she would be tops as my favourite :P. I like her AA FX because she almost hits everything.
Afan doing the Amanar was another big deal because who would of thought a female gymnast at her age would be able to do it for the first time? Clearly she worked her ass off to be all kinds of amazing at the Universiade Games. She even upgraded her 2nd vault. I also enjoyed that her tumbles has gotten better. Her DLO and dbl pike have improved immensely. Her European floor gold routine is another favourite of mine. IMO Afan did make the year exciting with her rumoured Amanar. It's often dubbed the Afanar :D.

Another girl that made the year exciting would be Simone Biles. I grew to like her. She ruled this year and she also had some of the best training clips. Seriously if she ever competes the stuff that she showed in training the gymternet would explode. I hope she can at least compete something from her training clips in real competition. I forgot to mention her 2 ff + full in (B+B+G) 0.1SB in my favourite combo section. That is a difficult combo to do. Definitely a favourite combo.

(Source: gymnasticsgifs)

Huang Huidan's UB world's gold. Her bar routine was a long time favourite of mine. She was actually a nice surprise win. She wasn't on most people's radar. She's badass for not wearing grips or even the gauge tapes.

Yao Jinnan's UB routines. Even without the Mo salto (G) I still enjoy her routine here. The Mo salto was also one of those rumoured upgrades that not many believed, including me. But she did it and it was exciting to see.

Sophie Scheder's UB. It's not a flashy bar routine but it's a really beautiful and elegant routine.

Anna Dementyeva's Universiade beam. Dementyeva is a great beam worker. So sad she retired. I wanted her to win beam gold at Universiade. Her team/prelim beam was good. So much difficult work. I liked her onodi + front aerial + Sheep (D+D+D) 0.3CV. It's one of my fav connections. I should have included it into my fav combos but I feel I liker her whole routine so she deserves to be here. She also dismounted to a new dbl pike which was a better choice than her usual sketchy 3/1 twists. McKayla Maroney for defending her vault title. I liked her floor routine too. I wish she could have made floor finals but she was penalized for being overtime. I like her new DLO (F). I like how she and Afan round ups into their 5/2 twists instead of doing bhs.

Larisa Iordache's beam. She does two full in's! She was my pick for beam gold in Antwerp but too bad she couldn't pull it off.

Victoria Moor's FX from American Cup. Even without the Moors II (2/1 DLO) her floor routine is still good. I think she has one of the best Silivas (H) in the world. What were some of your favourite routines from this year?

Tatiana Nabieva's 2013 Russian Cup BB & Some other Random Rant

Here is part 2 of 2013 Russian Cup EF. This channel has the other part. The Russian stream is getting better but still needs a lot of work. Anyway I'm still grateful for coverage.

Latest news on the Russian front is that the WAG team has been announced. Only three names have been confirmed Mustafina, Afanasyeva and Nabieva. The last spot will be decided between Komova and Paseka. I'm still skeptical of what is going on in Russia but at this point it doesn't matter because it's an individual worlds. I think Nabieva is a good gymnast and I don't want to say anything negative so I hope she proves me wrong. Too bad she doesn't transfer her personality to her gymnastics. She seems very bored. She needs more oomph to her gymnastics. Even some of her boring teammates seem to have more vibrant gymnastics than her. I think Nabieva is coming along good but she is still only competitive on bars IMO. I guess it's good she is on the team because the unpredictable Grishina supposedly axed herself off the team by not wanting to compete at nationals due to back pains. I don't know who to believe, Grishina or Rodionenko. Rodionenko basically said Grishina is no longer in contention because Grishina walked out, hmm. Also I hear Dementyeva is not sure if she'll continue gymnastics, it's a shame honestly. I hope no one was bully to get off the team. I know I'm starting drama but somethings don't seem right IMHO.

To end this post on a somewhat positive note. Nabieva had a rather nice beam routine. I like it because she has potential and I could talk about her bars but we already know she is good there. She has the beam skills she just needs to be less cautious. She's lacking spark and aggressiveness for what could be a very good beam. I hope her AA quest works out for her. I put the whole part 2 up since I can't find a single clip of Nabieva's beam routine. Skip to around 1:06:13

Front Tuck 1/2 (F)
Switch Leap + L-turn (C+C) 0.1
RO + Layout (E) 0.1
Y-turn (C)
Aerial Cartwheel (D)
2/1 Spin (D)
Dbl Tuck (D)

3.2 + 0.2CV= 3.4 + 2.5CR= 5.9 D-scores if she gets everything credit. Not shabby and she won this event.

Just Because...Anna Dementyeva's Beam Connection

(Source: frangymnasticsfan)

I think this beam connection is very nice. Onodi + Front Aerial + Sheep Jump (D+D+D) 0.3CV.

Thoughts on WAG Russian TF Universiade 2013

I've only watched the Russian team because only subdivision 4 had live feed and there wasn't really much to comment about the other teams. The Russian gymnasts won with a comfortable lead of 175.5. Japan 2nd and Germany 3rd. The live feed wasn't great but at least I got to see some gymnastics. The audio for the commentators was hard to hear as the background crowd noise drowned the commentary. I did my best to hear what they said.

Please note these are unofficial results and I will post the official results soon. I also didn't edit this post so some things might not make sense.

The floor rotation started out good enough. There were some mistakes but some beautiful stuff.

-Tatiana Nabieva started on floor. It's been a while since she has competed and it's nice to see her. She had lovely new floor rouitne and I like her music choice. She opened up with 3/1 twists, second pass 5/2 twists + 1/2 twist. All her spins were single L-turn and Y-turn. The only major error was her huge out of bounds on the double pike dismount. Good start for her.

-Aliya Mustafina did the the same tumblings as usual but no stag on the double arabian and only a layout front on the 5/2 twists. She changed her third pass to 3/1 twists and her dismount to double tuck. I like it that way. She did a new spin combo single L-turn + Memmel, very nice. I saw on the screen she got a score of 13.75.

-Ksenia Afanasyeva debuted her new floor rouitne. I'll be honest maybe she wasn't fully committed to the routine and the music was soft which I didn't really like the new routine but the bias in me will wait to see it more to see if I like it. I have to say that her composition steps on the floor is always the same. What I mean is she always uses the same areas of the floor to move from place to place (I hope that made sense). I didn't really see any great moment of choreography. I think it is true that artistry is being sacrifice for difficulty, sad. But she still has an elegant way of moving around and  I do like the dramatic low floor choreography after her stuck double pike. In terms of the skills and tumbles she did the same things, nothing new and she had some errors a hop on DLO and a very nerve wreaking front layout, she almost fell. I saw she got 14.750 at first it seems high but she has high difficulty and I will have to see the routine again to understand the 14.750.

The broadcast did not show Anna Dementyeva

On vault there was limited showing of the Russians. Mustafina had a stuck DTY for 14.950. They only showed Nabieva's 2nd vault RO 1/2 on front pike 1/2. Afanasyeva did 2 vaults but they only showed her 15.000 DTY with a step back. The broadcast completely skipped Maria Paseka's vaults.

UB:

-They skipped Dementyeva's routine

- Nabieva did a lovely routine. She is considered a bars specialists. I love her work and she seems so happy to be competing again. She did toe 1/1 + shap + pak, stalder 1/1 + VLW, toe 1/2 + jaeger, and Tsuk dismount. Good score for 14.400.

-Mustafina did her same 6.3 routine. She looked good enough. She does seems a little tired on this event now and I hope she can upgrade her routine but I think she will because 6.3 might not be good enough for world championships. She scores 15.000 so that's means she got 8.7 execution.

- No Afanasyeva broadcast view but heard the commentators saying she fell, ouch. I heard she got a low score of 12.55 eek.

Then when it came to beam they completely missed everyone but Dementyeva and half of Tatiana's routine. Tatiana did okay for a low difficult beam routine. She waited a bit long going into her dismount but she landed it to her feet.

Aliya got a nice score of 15.200 but no live coverage of her routine :( boo.

The highlight for me was Dementyeva's beam. She looked fierce up there. She debuted a nice double pike worth E and even though it's lower in difficulty to her 3/1 twists dismount the pike works better. She got a score of 15.300. Her beam set was, roll on mount, switch ring, onodi + front aerial + sheep jump (very beautiful connection), Aerial cartwheel + leap series, RO + layout, full turn, split ring, dbl pike dismount. Nice work from Dementyeva.

- Afanasyeva's routine was not showed but I heard she had a solid routine for a 14.200.

Overall I think the Russians did good and it was nice to see Nabieva back with her expressive attitude :D. It wasn't tough competition for the Russians but I'm happy they won on home soil.

Team Russia's 2013 Universiade Teams Announced

The team members will be Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Tatiana Nabieva, Anna Dementyeva and Maria Paseka. Source 

I read somewhere that the eligible age is 17 so technically some of the competitors don't have to be in University/College. I'm not 100% sure about this though.

It's nice to see Tatiana Nabieva and Anna Dementyeva on the team. Here is another article where Valentina Rodionenko talks about the MAG & WAG team.

This is just my fun speculation of how the team will be used. The format will be like the Olympics 5-4-3 but if I'm not mistaken the qualifying round will also be the team finals. So 4 gymnasts up and 3 scores count for team finals. The first gymnast I name will be the score that they will most likely want to discard.

Here's my line up, just for fun speculation :)

VT: Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka
UB: Ksenia Afanasyeva, Maria Paseka, Tatiana Nabieva, Aliya Mustafina
BB: Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Dementyeva, Aliya Mustafina (this one was tricky because Paseka and Nabieva are pretty useless on beam and floor so all these three gymnasts scores must count)
FX: Anna Dementyeva, Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva

It is interesting to note that Valentina did say Nabieva restored AA but doesn't have a second vault so she could contribute on beam and floor in qualification.

Thoughts on 2013 Russian Championships

These are just my opinions and impressions of this meet. I'm basing it on the live feed videos and interviews that I have read. This event was to determine which 4 WAG gymnasts would make it to the European Championships. The full WAG results AA EF.

Grishina, Mustafina, Shelgunova

My impressions of this meet is that it was basically a practice meet for the top gymnasts. They weren't all at their best shape and peak. My theory is that Mustafina worked really hard on her new beam routine and wasn't too worried about getting her other events. With time she will work to get her other events up to par. She was pulled out of day 2 event finals to rest her knee. This is good that Mustafina is gaining more confidence on beam. Her DTY vault is still great as always. Her bar set is still great. Even if it's a watered down routine, in my opinion she doesn't have to worry about upping her difficulty for this year. If she wants to make it to Rio I think she still has time to figure out a new bar routine mid quad. I think it's a smart idea that she is focusing on beam. For floor she might surprise us with some upgrades but for this competition she looked tired and rusty on this event. I don't think she was ready to compete floor at this event and she'll be ready by Europeans. Mustafina is the new Russian all around champion with 59.850.  Russia really needs to keep this girl healthy and safe.

Anastasia Grishina did well enough winning AA 2nd and gold on UB. She does need to get her DTY consistent though. She crashed it in team finals. It seems she is a bit weak in terms of endurance. It's really hard for her to finish up a floor routine without crashing or staying in the corner for a long time. It seems she just needs a lot of repetition and practice to get consistent. Apparently she was feeling fatigue for day 2 event finals so she scratched that finals. I think it's a shame because it seems she is not a strong enough gymnast. Most likely her coaches just wanted to keep her safe and free from injuries as she is most likely to be the 2nd AA for Europeans Championships.

Maria Paseka

Perhaps another reason for letting Grishina off the hook was to give competitive competition for Dementyeva, Afanasyeva and especially for new senior Evgeniya Shelgunova. This was particularly a weak day 2 event finals, well actually day 1 was pretty weak as well. With no Mustafina and Grishina it was a competition to see who would be the other gymnasts to compete with them at Europeans. In day 1 EF, Maria Paseka won vault with a decent enough Amanar. She is in the mix for contending for a European spot. Valentina Rodionenko stated that the team will be Mustafina, Grishina and Paseka. The others must prove themselves worthy, mainly Dementyeva, Afanasyeva and Shelgunova. I still think the team is undecided between Paseka, Afanasyeva and Shelgunova.

On day 2 EF Dementyeva pretty much lost her spot. She fell on her 3/1 dismount off beam and had problems on floor, she botched her Memmel badly and fell. Afanasyeva still proved that she is relevant to team Russia. Like Mustafina, Afanasyeva is doing some interesting new beam combinations. She stayed on beam and looked good enough. Her beam was obviously a work in progress routine. She still did 6 acro skills in her routine so that tells me that this is her chance to just practice and not take this event so seriously. Her routine consisted of Kochetkova + split leap 1/1, truly impressive! Also Onodi + side somi + 1 1/4 spin! The 1 1/4 spin was unexpected for me. This routine is a risky routine but hopefully she'll get it down and figure out which skills she'll use and leave out. I'm guessing she most likely did not get credit for all her connections as her beam score was low 13.775, no D-scores posted. It's encouraging that Afanasyeva is working up the courage to do these combinations.

Goryunova, Afanasyeva, Polyan

Her floor was alright. Could have been much better. She is still the top Russian to have the highest floor difficulty. I think it's a bit sad for Russia but it does give Afanasyeva a better chance at making European and world teams. Her double layout is still sky high and powerful. She had some issues with her difficult whip + whip + 3/1 twists. Her spins are beautiful but at the end of her routine she went out of bounds on her double pike. Actually a lot of the gymnasts went out of bounds on their double pikes, hmm. Afanasyeva scored a low 13.600 and still won! It's great that Afanasyeva is still committed to continuing. It seems she will only get better on beam and floor with more work and time. Oh and she can still do a decent DTY which is good for her and Russia.

New Russian senior Shelgunova may have some bad form and execution faults but she is a steady and consistent competitor. She did a good job of staying on beam and doing an okay floor routine. She won beam with 14.050 and also won 3rd AA. Beam final scores were low but Grishina and Mustafina could have posted huge scores if they competed in EF.

Overall I was impressed most with Mustafina's and Afanasyeva's upgraded beam routines. It's great that Paseka can still do the Amanar, although it still looks scary with bad execution. Russia is not at full strength and they don't have the depth of USA so it's encouraging to see the Russian Olympians competing and getting back into the groove of things. It's early in the season so most of them will hopefully get better when the real competitions are on. I haven't forgotten about the talented Komova who is sitting out due to back injury. Hopefully she will be ready for worlds.

I think the Russian coaches still have a lot of decisions to make for the European team. Some things are still not clear. If they bring Shelgunova she could make AA finals if her other teammates falter but most likely that might not happen and she doesn't have much difficulty to contend for EF medals. So will the Russians just bring her for qualification? Or will they take Afanasyeva who could win a floor medal. Will Paseka still be able to do the Amanar in April for Europeans? As we all know she is not great on any other events. Paseka's bars is okay but if they have Grishina and Mustafina on the team Paseka's bars will not be received well by the judges. So basically she is a one event woman. I think Russia still has some internal competition. Also there are some up and coming world cup events. Afanasyeva and Paseka to the French Cup. Grishina, Shelgunova and Dementyeva to Cottbus Cup. Looks like Aliya will just compete at internal events.

Call me bias but I hope Afanasyeva makes it to European Championships. She missed 3 European Championships in a row, due to injuries or getting back in shape from injuries. Maybe this is her chance again? But on the other hand I feel Afanasyeva has been given many chances and maybe it's best for Russia to give other girls chances. I say maybe Shelgunova does need the experience and Paseka should be rewarded for her Amanar. I think Universiade will be perfect for Afanasyeva. Maybe Afanasyeva missing a lot of Europeans will be a blessing in disguise. Maybe she'll make it to worlds? I hope so.

I'm also glad to see that some other older veterans like Pavlova, Myzdrikova, Kramarenko etc are still competing. Pavlova's regional team won gold :)

*photo credits sportgymrus

Some 2013 Russian Championship Routines

Anna Dementyeva - Wins Memorial Joaquim Blume's AA

Anna Dementyeva is slowing coming back. She recently competed in Spain at the Memorial Joaquim Blume Cup. She won AA with 56.600, full results @ IG. She looked A LOT more better than when she competed at the Mexican Cup.

Her vault is still weak. She can decently still perform well on bars. Hopefully she can bring back her full bar difficulty. Her double layout dismount is a big concern for me though. She shouldn't be doing a double layout anymore, she can't handle it. She has grown up a lot and her body cannot handle a DLO dismount. She needs to work hard on finding a new dismount or she's going to have to do "C" dismounts. The DLO will cost her a lot of execution and potential injury problems.

Her balance beam execution is still decent. She still has great lines. I think if she really wants to make it to another worlds she has to get this event consistent. She has the most potential on beam. She just needs to do a lot of repetition. Again though, her 3/1 twists dismount is scary. I wish that her coaches would be more responsible and give her skills that she can perform well. Her 3/1 twists was not close to being completed. Why not just go with a 5/2 twists? Or do the dismount with no combination. I'm scared for the health of some of the Russian gymnasts sometimes.

On floor Dementyeva was okay. I'm still hoping she can improve on this event. She brought back the two whips indirect to 3/1 full and nicely did 5/2 + layout. Her Memmel spin is gorgeous. I liked how someone in the audience gave her a loud whistle for a well done Memmel turn :). She was lacking in the choreography department though. She took out a lot of her choreography :(. I think she will have new floor music and choreography for 2013.

Videos courtesy from Sarah Daunay YouTube You can watch more videos of Dementyeva at her YouTube channel. Or please click to read more after the jump.

Anna Dementyeva's Mexico Open AA Floor

Dementyeva watered down her routine but her dancing style is still nice. I like the way she moves. I really like the spider-man tune too :D.  It's so unique how she can make it work without being cheesy. She is still a very classy gymnast. I'm glad she came in 3rd AA.

Not the best quality video:

Montage - Anna Dementyeva Crazier

In anticipation of the 2nd Mexican Open, here is a Dementyeva montage. I am really curious as to how Dementyeva will do.

 Montage made by SemenovaFan88's

News Roundup

According to New York Post Olympic AA bronze medalist Danell Leyva might join Broadway's Spider-Man show, lol.

Aliya Mustafina will definitely go for Rio 2016. If Mustafina makes it to Rio 2016 she will be 21 at the games and will be turning 22 that year. The article also talks about her University plans. Education seems like a big commitment for her right now. She plans to compete at the Universiade (University) Games in Kazan, Russia. Her next 2012 competition should be the Stuttgart Cup in Germany (Dec. 1-2). Hopefully she will compete :).

Anna Dementyeva is not over yet, YAY! She will be competing at the 2nd Mexico Open (Oct 11-13). This was the same competition where Afanasyeva won the inaugural Mexican Open in 2011. Dementyeva will be joined by Russian MAG David Belyavskiy. Other competitors, Sergio Sasaki (Brazil), Luis Sosa, Yesenia Estrada and Ana Sofia Lake, all from Mexico. Other countries that confirmed their place in the competition are USA, Italy, Australia and Colombia, there is no official roster yet.

According to People Magazine Gabrielle Douglas will write a book called, Grace, Gold and Glory, My Leap of Faith. I think I'll pass. 

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Anna Pavlova. She turned 25 today. She will always be remembered for her elegance and ZERO vault. She should have known better!

Yulia Inshina, The Dark Horse? (My Final Russian Team Prediction)

Can Inshina make the team and be the dark horse? I’m predicting yes. If Inshina does make the team, Russia would be a bit weak but there is still hope for Russia.

The team will be announced around the 8th of July. My ideal team would be Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva and Dementyeva. Realistically I can’t see them winning team gold but they can challenge USA if they have Amanars. Russia is full of secrets and surprises.

Sidorova is out of contention. Dementyeva has not been confirmed to be back on the team so my real objective team is Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva and Paseka. I think Mustafina, Komova and Grishina are all official locks. The fourth member should be Afanasyeva but her injury is questionable. The only reason she’ll be off the team is because of not recovering in time. I would be disappointed if she’s left off the team but I must remain positive, I’m bracing myself for whatever happens. I hope she makes the team and will peak well enough for the games. Paseka could make the team because she did land an Amanar at the Russian Cup but she wasn’t consistent enough. She could be able to do it in London, who knows. Nabieva could also make the team. Basically what I’m saying is that there are three locks and two spots left. The last two spots are up for grabs between Afanasyeva, Paseka, Nabieva and Inshina. Any of them can make up the final two spots.

My biggest prediction is that YULIA INSHINA will make the team (even though I didn't include her in my objective team prediction).  I know it sounds crazy but I have a feeling she’s going to be in London as an actual member, not an alternate (she could be an alternate though). I realize I’m talking crazy (contradicting myself) but anything is possible. Awhile ago I did a post on Inshina CLICK HERE and for some reason she must be a popular gymnast because that post is my 4th most viewed post.

I wish all the Russian gymnasts the best of luck and I hope the Russian coaches makes the best choices. The suspense is killing me.

Rumours Rumours/USA Trials Podium Training

-Rumours has it that Anastasia Sidorova is out of contention to make the Russian Olympic team, she is injured. Anna Dementyeva has apparently been invited back. Oh the drama.  You can read all the rumours at TheCouchGymnast.com

-Nastia Liukin IMO is not looking too hot at the USA's Olympic trials. She looks very labour on bars and is still heavily spotted by her dad. Her Pak Salto still looks scary. Her beam routine is ok, wonky leaps and she sets up too long for her dismount. Call me a hater, she's not going to make the USA team. If I'm wrong I'll be very shock and embarrass. She is still or was a wonderful gymnast. She was the rightful AA winner in Beijing. Whether you agree with this or not, she makes gymnastics look beautiful.
Kyla Ross's Amanar - I think this was the best I've seen from her but the landing looked scary. I also embedded her BB. She's lovely on beam but I wish there was something more, she is boring just like the majority of the American gymnasts.

Showing Some Anna Dementyeva Love

She didn't make the cut to Russia's Olympic training squad. I hope this will not be the last we hear from the hardworking Anna Dementyeva. She has been a very important gymnast to Russia this quad. She was the workhorse the lead off gymnast. She was the 2011 European AA champion. She should have at least been named to the Olympic training squad. 

Dementyeva's best quality was her smile. She would always be smiling no matter what. It was easy to root for this underdog gymnast. I'm glad she was able to enjoy some fame. Her 2010-2011 floor exercise was one of my favourite routine this quad. The music was perfect for her. She had a unique bar routine for a Russian. She did hop 1/1 + tkatchev (really pretty combo) and actually did a bail for bars transfer instead of the boring overused pak salto that almost all the Russian gymnasts do (yawn). Her floor consisted of an cool whip + whip + bhs + 3/1 full, and at one point she was dismounting with a full-in dbl tuck. Anna was a gymnast who was able to upgrade quickly but crashed quickly too. She has been battling injuries this year but still manages to have respectable bars and beam scores. I hope she will still continue and contribute to team Russia in the next quad (2013-2016). If not I will never forgot this determine hardworking gymnast. Anna is one of my favourite Russian gymnast.

Russian Preliminary Olympic Team Announced

The top 8 male and female members that are in running for the Russian Olympic team are:

Men: Dennis Ablyazin, Alexander Balandin, David Belyavsky, Emin Garibov, Konstantin Pluzhnikov, Nikita Ignatyev, Sergey Khorokhordina, Igor Pakhomenko.

Women: Ksenia Afanasyeva, Viktoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina, Anastasia Grishina, Tatiana Nabieva, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Sidorova and Yulia Inshina.

The official 5 men team and 5 women team will be named no later then July 7th. Source: CLICK HERE

My Thoughts on The Women's Team

No Anna Dementyeva? Are they crazy? Anna Dementyeva is more capable of competing better than Yulia Inshina, in my humble opinion. I'm thinking Anna Dementyeva is not fully healthy and that they have no faith in her. I'm also getting scared that Afanasyeva's injury might be worse than expected but I try to remain optimistic. If the team really is going to be named around the 7th of July Afanasyeva has a lot of healing and work to do. Russia hasn't been healthy lately. The status of Sidorova's injuries aren't really well known also. I think the clear locks are Komova, Mustafina and Grishina. The last two spots will be a battle between the remaining girls. I don't see Yulia Inshina making the team so I would cut her off first for my team prediction. Inshina could prove useful as alternate though. The next two girls I would cut off is Paseka or Nabieva. Paseka's chances of making the team is getting the Amanar, if she can't get it consistently I wouldn't risk having her on the team. Nabieva could fill in but she can only do VT & UB, sadly for her bars is covered and vault is also covered to a lesser extent. I will make a team prediction later on.

2012 Russian Cup EF Beam & Floor

Results: Click Here

Balance Beam Top 3

1) Viktoria Komova (6.3) 15.345
2) Aliya Mustafina (6.1) 15.00
3) Anna Dementyeva (6.4) 14.950

Floor Exercise Top 3

1) Aliya Mustafina (5.9) 14.750
2) Viktoria Komova (5.8) 14.300
3) Anastasia Sidorova (5.8) 14.150

2012 Russian Cup Team Finals & Prelims

Hmm, I'm not sure where to begin? I guess results first (translated): CLICK HERE

Top 3 AA Prelims (VT + UB + BB + FX)

1) Aliya Mustafina 14.667 + 15.834 + 14.667 + 14.167 = 59.335
2) Viktoria Komova 14.800 + 16.134 + 14.000 + 14.300 = 59.234
3) Ksenia Afanasyeva 13.267 + 13.634 + 14.467 + 14.067 = 55.435

-My sources are coming from Nora at The Allaround Forum. She was in Penza, Russia.

Viktoria Komova did an upgraded bar routine and scored 16.134! She added the piked tkatchev and dbl dbl dismount. This would mean that her D-score would be at 7.0 and her execution was 9.134.  Unfortunately she fell off beam. She would have scored a 15.000 and would have been leading AA with a total of 60.234. 

Maria Paseka finally did an Amanar for a score of 15.800. Many fans are celebrating that she will be on the team but I beg to differ. She will now have to be able to hit it consistently throughout the competition. One time does not mean anything.

Ksenia Afanasyeva had new floor music and apparently it was nice. She mounted a dbl tuck instead of the DLO. She's protecting herself.

Anastasia Grishina was nowhere in sight. She apparently has a leg something? Was suppose to do only bars but there is no results to be found. I hope the coaches are just protecting her and decided she didn't need this competition. I also hope she's alright.

Aliya Mustafina hit all events. Seems like she is still doing her mediocre beam routine, Front aerial + flic flac, ugh. Her bars were monstrous though 15.834 She didn't do the Mustafina dismount though.

Anna Dementyeva got the highest beam score, but did not do well enough on FX & VT. I like Dementyeva and she still has a chance to be on the Russian team.

The Russians Are Coming

This week the Russian Cup (Nationals) will be taking place from June 12-17. It's not clear if we will see some upgrades but some things are known.

Tatiana Nabieva is back in the house. She was seen training in a new video and Alexandrov had said that she has almost resolved her weight issues.

Ksenia Afanasyeva is worried about her minor ankle injury. In a news clip she is considered one of the locks for the Olympic team. Alexandrov said that she will not show her full program at the Russian Cup. She is now doing acrobatics again. Afanasyeva will unveil her new choreographed floor routine. I'm excited for this. I'm glad the Russians are taking it easy on her. She is an older gymnast so she needs to rest more so that she can be in optimum form in London.

Viktoria Komova & Aliya Mustafina are training normal now and are doing all four apparatuses. Mustafina and Komova are training the Amanar into the pit. I hope this will be the first time we get to see Komova and Mustafina compete against each other for the AA title. They both need to have a friendly competitive rivalry.

Anastasia Grishina is also starting to feel sore in the legs according to Alexandrov. Hopefully it does not develop into something serious.

The google translated article can be read here: CLICK HERE

Anastasia Sidorova has been battling some injuries. I hope she will have a good showing. Her chances of making the team is not secure anymore.

Maria Paseka has to show us why she is useful to team Russia. She is unusable on beam and floor. Her only hope of making the team is to have the Amanar. Now would be the time to show it. Paseka is no Maroney. 

New Training Video - Dementyeva is looking fit. I wish her the best. She has been an important gymnast for Russia this quad. Tatiana Nabieva training on bars. Don't forget to read the descriptions for the video:

Beth Tweddle Minor Injury & New Russian Training Video

Ah my favourite for the Olympic gold medal on bars just had knee surgery. Why are all my favourites getting injured or sick? Kohei Uchimura better be safe. Click here for the mini article of Tweddle and the British European squad. I pray for Tweddle and hope she will recovery well and fight for that UB title.

And now to the main event. I'm not sure how new this video clip is but KSENIA AFANASYEVA is training in this clip. She is just getting more beautiful everyday. You can hardly see her but she's in there. I know I talk a lot about Afanasyeva but she is the main girl that got me into being a crazy gym fan. While everyone talks about the other Russian superstars I'll talk about Afanasyeva. I don't even know what's going on with her lately. Will she all of a sudden be at the European championships? We'll see. I also spot Anna Dementyeva. I hope everything will work out for her. She has been a big part of Russian gymnastics this quad. Mustafina and Komova are looking in great shape. I can't wait to see how Komova's new floor routine will look like. I hope her new floor music will grow on me. Komova is my favourite to win the Olympic all-around title. Ok enough with my blabbing and here is the new training video.
Edit-This video is indeed old. It was at least 3 weeks old. There was another video clip of Mustafina 3 weeks ago with the same gymnasts and outfits. The video link is here Aliya Mustafina ready for London Olympics 2012

Quick Thoughts on Russia at the SUI-GBR-RUS Tri-Meet

Thanks to maddie1976ch's youtube channel that I got to see the Russian gymnastic team performed this weekend at a Switzerland - Britain - Russia tri-meet. The members at this meet were Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Dementyeva, Sidorova and Paseka. They took gold as the top team.

The Russians were obviously not in top shape and form. They were not peaked and some were recovering from injuries but I still wasn't impress with some of the gymnasts. The scores should not be taken seriously (click here for results) because it was not a FIG competition. Beam scores were in the 15.000 range when really should have scored between 14.500-14.900 range. Russia had visible execution problems and I hope they can get it all sorted out by the Olympic games. Now, you're probably thinking why I'm being so negative to one of my favourite team, well they did not deserve some of the scores especially on BB.

My Russian Olympic team prediction of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva and Sidorova are still the same from after seeing the videos of this tri-meet. Now, I know Afanasyeva did not compete and has a minor injury but she will have time to recover. She is a strong competitor. Based on the tri-meet the Russian gymnasts were having a lot of problems on floor and the world gold medalist on floor Afanasyeva is clearly still their leader on this event. Dementyeva scored well on beam but with missed connections, shaky and other execution faults, she will have to look more improved to make the team. Paseka didn't prove anything well worth it and she will not make the cut on my prediction list. I still think Sidorova can make the team she wasn't completely 100%  free from her knee injury. I don't have much to say about Komova because she didn't compete on all events and just had a minor surgery. Komova did do decent routines but was a bit overscored on bars and a bit on beam. Komova had new floor music but did not compete floor. I don't like her new floor music. Click here to hear new floor music.The team leader Mustafina did well but will have to be even better in London. She is doing well considering coming back from a serious injury. And then there is Grishina who did a water down UB, hit VT, fell on beam and two out of bounds on floor. She will still most likely make the Olympic team.

Komova on UB D-6.7 E-9.15 = 15.850