Rio 2016 Olympic MAG/WAG Event Finals & Final Thoughts PART 1

Artistic Gymnastics at the Olympic games has come to an end. It felt like it went by quickly. There were lots of happiness and disappointments. But for the most part I am satisfy with how everything went.

Team China came out with no individual medals but two team bronze medals for MAG/WAG is something to be proud of. Their program is still one of the top level powerhouses. China would have liked to win individual medals but most of them did not performed to their best abilities, especially the men. I do believe the Chinese WAG scores have been low balled through out the competition but I also believe that everyone deserved their placings. Also disappointed with Team Japan individually but they got the coveted MAG Team Gold and AA. 

I am liking that team Great Britain and Russia won many individual medals. I was not having much expectations for MAG Russia but they really proved themselves. I think this was one of the interesting and exciting things to see at the Olympics.

At the Olympic level it is the best competition to win but also as gymnastics fans we know more beyond what we see at the Olympics. We know the true beauty and work of these gymnasts. Olympic games does not necessarily define a gymnast. The Olympic games doesn't always showcase all the best gymnasts in the world. All these gymnasts are winners for competing in such a tough sport. Sometimes we don't agree about placings because we are so passionate and knowledgeable. But when the results are sealed and done there is not much we can do.

Somewhere there is a new gymnastics fan because they watched the Olympic games. In time, hopefully they realize it's not always about winning and placings. In my opinion it's also about marveling about the beautiful strong powerful skills and performances that they do. Watching your favourite win is an added bonus. Everyone is bias for whatever reasons. But we also need to find a way to feel stress free. We should try to see the beauty in everything.

MAG FX Results 
1. Max Whitlock 15.633
2. Diego Hypolito 15.533
3. Arthur Nory 15.433

The only surprise about this podium was Arthur Nory. I'm a bit confused about his name as I've always been calling him Nory. In this sport you just got to do the best and things can work out. I am happy for Nory. I am more happy for Hypolito. He had so many disappointments in past Olympics that this silver probably feels like a gold to him. His routine is full of multiple saltos which makes his routine exciting to watch. Then there's Max Whitlock. He is also a twisting machine like Kenzo. There is no surprise he won. He has scored very good on this event in the past. I am disappointed that Kenzo did not do the best he could but that's how this sport is. You just never know what is going to happen.

PH Results
1. Max Whitlock 15.966
2. Louis Smith 15.833
3. Alex Naddour 15.700

It was going to be a battle with teammates Whitlock and Smith. I thought Smith was actually going to win but Whitlock's difficulty outdid Smith's routine. I really like French man Tommasone but he had a few small errors and America's Alex Naddour was able to do his best routine to go over him. Gah I just like Tommasone elegance.

WAG VT Results     
1.Simone Biles AVG 15.966
2. Maria Paseka AVG 15.253
3. Giulia Steingruber 15.216

Well this final was intense because these women attempted some very difficult vaults. Chusovitina and Dipa Karmakar both did Produnova vaults. It's nice to see Karmakar place 4th for India. And lets talk about HONG UN JONG! She attempted the triple twisting yurchenko vault! She has guts and is badass. She fell and was not awarded TTY but it was still exciting to watch. I know safety is important but all these women were walking off being bosses. Maria Paseka does not have beautiful vaults but I am happy that she successfully medal because that was her only event she competed in Rio. When it came to Simone Biles I was rooting for her so hard because her vaults are so beautiful to watch. I'm happy she won. And Steingruber medal in 3rd is great for her and Switzerland. Her vaults are always powerful. This was a nice medal for her since later on she had a disappointing floor finals.

Still Rings Results  
1. Eleftherios Petrounias 16.000
2. Arthur Zanetti 15.766
3. Denis Abliazin 15.700

The strengths of these men are incredible. It really makes me motivated to work out. I was disappointed with the Chinese men. It really makes me miss great Chen Yibing who I still believe was robbed in 2012. Denis did a commendable job on rings he always has been a good rings worker. Zanetti was last up so he knew what he had to do for the win but his routine was not as crisp and precise as Petrounias. The lord of the Rings was rightfully Petrounias.

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.

 

Giulia Steingruber AA Floor @ 2015 European Championships

I completely missed this competition but know that Steingruber won AA. I like her Gogean leap. Very nice floor work.

 

Giulia Steingruber VT & FX @ 2015 European Championships Prelims

Worlds 2013 WAG Floor Results

Full Results

1) Simone Biles USA (6.5) 15.000

I like her routine for the difficulty. Her DLO 1/2 out is impressive, now named the Biles :) Her opening pass dbl dbl tuck had huge bounce back and ending dismount had hop back. This was not her best floor routine but considering how much she performed this week I would say it's still an impressive routine. 6.5 very high difficulty.

2) Vanessa Ferrari ITA (6.2) 14.633

She had hop fwd on her dbl dbl tuck but everything else looked good enough. She finally gets a medal on floor. She is really good at sticking her tumbles.

3) Larisa Iordache ROU (6.1) 14.600

I never thought I would say this but I enjoyed this routine the most. She has improved on her artistry. I think the music was awesome for her. My favourite part of her choreography was when she dances and then goes low to the floor for choreo. Also her ending pose reminds me of Afan's Kill Bill ending pose :) very similar.

Other highlights - Mai Murakami did good I like her stuck DLO. I was hoping Sandra Izbasa could hit her routine and maybe beat Biles, which was possible. Sadly she had a very wonky stag jump after her 3/1 twists and she went all out by adding 1/1 twist to her dismount combo but fell :( I'm still not sure what the status is with Izbasa. Will she retire or not? I hope not but if she does she has achieved a lot in this sport and she can leave with happy memories. She always looks positive after her mistakes, she still smiled and I like seeing that.

This final had 4 girls doing the dbl dbl tuck! Steingruber did 1/1 DLO. The difficulty of this final was high.

Giulia Steingruber's 2013 European FX EF

When I saw Giulia's floor exercise during 2013 European AA finals I was immediately amazed by her full twisting double layout. She debuted this skill at this competition. What a nice upgrade. I was so amazed by it that I didn't even realized that her second pass was a double layout. I really like how she is a powerful gymnast. Here is her event final routine.

(Source: podkopayevas)