Catalina Ponor's 2016 Doha World Cup BB EF

She's back in time for the Olympic year. Romania really needs her. I like her confident and aggressive style. In my opinion the difficulty is a bit lacking to contend for a gold in Rio but anything can happen in this crazy sport. Sometimes execution and consistency can outweigh a more difficult D-score. Not a fan of the switch ring leap but everything else is good. She still makes gymnastics interesting to watch. Good luck to her and team Romania.

D5.9 + E8.75 = 14.65

  

Flashback Friday - Romania's 2004 TF FX Rotation

This is my favourite Olympic floor exercise rotation for the team gold.

Catalina Ponor's New 2015 Floor Routine

Finally got to see it. Even though it's bad video quality I like her routine. Nothing has really changed (like the 3/1 twists:P) but it's nice to see her again.

Just Because...Catalina Ponor's 2012 European BB QF

I'm hearing she is considering a comeback if everything goes well. I hope she can make it. I really like her switch leap + Omelianchik combination.

 

Top Beam E-Scores From London 2012 Team Finals

These are some of my favourite beam routines from London. These beam routines all had execution scores over 9.0. I enjoyed the commentary for Afan's beam routine. I especially like the slow motion replays of her skills. She is precise on her leaps and I like how aggressive she does the split leap 1/1. Hopefully Afan can get back to this level of consistency on beam. Her E-score 9.033:
Catalina Ponor got the highest E-score of 9.116. Last year I said this was one of my favourite beam routine of the 09-12 quad. I like how she is aggressive and she truly connects everything. Her dbl pike dismount is really nice. We rarely see well performed dbl pikes like that:

Then there is Kyla Ross. Many people consider her boring and I can see why but I really enjoy her routines. She is so clean and precise. I mean how can a switch ring + back tuck be boring? Too bad she doesn't do it anymore, plus the bonus is only one tenth. She is also very consistent which is always a good thing. I wished she had made EF on beam over Raisman. Too bad that Ross got pushed out of EF because of the 2 per country rule. Her E-score 9.033:

Catalina Ponor @ 2013 Mexico Gala Gimnastica Internacional

There was another gala in Mexico. This one was highlighted by Ponor. Here are some fun videos.

From London To Rio Gala Montage

Here is the montage of the gala, From London To Rio. It features many stars like Ponor, Izbasa, Afanasyeva, Pavlova, Paseka and so on. It's a teaser montage and I believe the show will be fully available on the 12th of February. I'm happy that this came out today especially on a snowstorm like today. Enjoy!

News Roundup - Komova injured?

-I just read a new article that talks about how Komova might miss this year's European and Russian Championships. She is having some kind of back problem and will have a proper diagnosis within 2-3 days. I hope it will not be serious. Hopefully she will be fine for worlds in October. Source 

-There will be a gala competition in France called From London to Rio. The list of gymnasts are pretty impressive. It will include artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline gymnasts.

MAG - David Belyavskiy, Emin Garibov, Alexander Klochkov, Vyacheslav Veselov,
WAG- Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Maria Paseka, Anna Pavlova(!)

Gala starts February 1-2 Official Website 

Part 4: Favourite Things From This Quad

Alright this is the final part. I won't do much explaining tonight. I might have missed some of my favourite moments. There were so many great gymnastics this quad. If you guys have any favourites please comment. Here are some honourable mentions:

Kohei Uchimura 2011 WC FX EF. Also for being the king of the quad. Four time AA gold medalists in a row! Now that's history for gymnastics.

Chen Yibing 2011 WC SR EF

Just Because...Catalina Ponor's 2004 Floor

I really like Ponor's 2004 floor routine. I think the music and choreo was perfect for her. I didn't like her 2012 floor routine because the music was honestly lame and her choreography was weak and overly sexualized that it didn't feel artistic, just cheap looking.

What is this??? (Source: echoesinthewind)

Now you all might think I'm a hater but I'm not. I guess I'm just a harsh critic. There's just something about her 2012 floor music and choreography that screamed amateur. But her tumbling was exceptional and I am a fan of Ponor. I loved how she stuck her DLO and dbl pike. What a pro.

In 2012 she had nothing to prove to anyone. She was already a triple Olympic gold medalists. I was very happy that she could still be competing for Romania at her age. She came back to help her team. I'm glad she won bronze with her teammates in London. She also did a good executed floor routine for 2nd place in London (I wish fans would stop saying she deserved gold, she did not deserved gold). I was disappointed that she had major mistakes in beam finals. She could have won gold but it wasn't meant to be.

I think her most famous piece of choreography has to be this:

(Source: gifwatermark)

I've seen so many gymnasts try to emulate it. It will always be Catalina's special choreography.

   

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:

(Source: dance-moms.tumblr)

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: starkofwinterfell.tumblr)

(Source: liukin.tumblr)

(Source: starkofwinterfell.tumblr)

 

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

Quick Thoughts on 2012 European Event Finals

The Romanians dominated EF. Izbasa, Ponor and Iordache were golden. Izbasa won on VT with a DTY and tucky ro-1/2 on front 1/1 twist or unofficially known as the Mustafina. Iordache took gold on FX, she is a NEW STAR. Komova easily won UB but had a million wobbles on beam and sat down her Patterson dismount. Komova went all out with her dismount! Grishina fell off beam, damn. Grishina at least won 2nd on bars.
Beam finals was a splat-fest yet comical. I laughed during beam finals, not in a rude way but it was comical to watch. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Three gymnasts fell on their dismounts after Iordache's routine. The expressions on Ponor's, Iordache's and her coach's face said it all. They all couldn't believe the splat-fests and were trying to be respectful by not bursting out in laughter.

 Komova's GOLD UB

For more EF videos go to ArtisticGymnastics1 YouTube Channel