Double Throwback Thursday

In the wake of Ross's and Maroney's retirement here are some of their routines that I liked. Admittedly these routines don't feel like 4 years ago to me. Time has really gone by.

CoP - Tip of The Month

The allowed time for WAG floor exercise is 90 seconds (1:30 min). Exceeding the time limit will be 0.1 penalty.

Sometimes I forget that the rules states that the timing will start when the gymnast makes her first movement. Not when the music starts. Here are some examples of gymnasts not starting with their music.

McKayla Maroney
Mai Murakami

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?

Worlds 2013 WAG Day 1 Event Finals Results

VT - Full Results

1) McKayla Maroney USA 15.724 AVG
2) Simone Biles USA 15.595 AVG
3) Hong un Jong PKR 15.483 AVG

Highlights-  Giulia Steingruber was so good. She stuck her FHS 1.5. I think maybe that was the best she had ever done. Her DTY was not too shabby. I kind of wished she could of medaled 3rd but Hong had the difficulty. I was not impressed by Hong she is so dirty in her execution, blah. Obviously the big highlight would be the incredible Americans. They are masters at Amanars. Biles ro-1/2 fwd-1/2 twist is beautiful.

UB - Full Results

1) Huang Huidan CHN (6.6) 15.400

I am absolutely happy for Huang Huidan. I have been a fan of her bar routine for a long time. She was off my radar because I wasn't sure about her consistency but she nailed her routine today. I love her beautiful work with the stalder shaposh's. Very elegant on bars. This is one of my favourite moments of the championships :)

2) Kyla Ross USA (6.4) 15.266

What can I say she is beautiful on bars. She had some flexed feet and leg form issues but she is still nice to watch on bars. Love her inbar stalder work. Nice stuck DLO dismount.

3) Aliya Mustafina (6.5) 15.033

It wasn't meant to be Mustafina's day today. She lost valuable tenths (0.2) by not connecting the Pak to Shap 1/2. She only did 6.5 routine. She had some execution errors with leg and tap form. Still, she is very elegant and beautiful on bars. Well deserved bronze medal.

-Other highlights. Downie was very good on bars until she messed up and fell on a toe element trying to go forward. Germany's Scheder had a nice look to her routine. I haven't paid much attention to Scheder this championships but her inbar stalder work were very nice and beautiful. Poor Yao fell on her Mo salto element. I give her props for doing such a difficult skill. It's crazy that she still got a decent score. Yao's difficulty is just amazing for this new quad.

My Quick Picks For EF Day 1

FX: Shirai

PH: Hongtao

SR: Liu or Zanetti

VT: Maroney

UB: Mustafina or Yao

I don't really have a top three podium but I hope some of these gymnasts medal.

Sandra Izbasa 15.600 ROU '13 National FX Routine

I think the score seems fair enough but I don't think the judges at worlds will give that routine a high 15.6. This was a national competition so of course the scores were adjusted. I hear that Izbasa will retire this year? Well that is what I'm hearing but I'm not sure. It would be nice for her to win a gold medal or just medal on this event at worlds before she retires but I am rooting for Maroney to take the gold. Yes, I said Maroney. I don't have much of an opinion on Izbasa's artistry but I prefer Maroney's FX. I don't particularly like full in acros and 5/2 twists in combination as dismounts. I feel Izbasa could compose her floor routine differently but the way she composes works for her. It's kinda like when I saw Beth Tweddle dismount with 5/2 twists + combo, I just didn't like it. It seems like those kind of passes should be in the middle of a routine. I particularly like Maroney's floor because she is clean. No crossing in twisting acro's, no backhand spring leg separations and she does skills that I prefer. Like double layout and double arabian.

I'm not sure what Izbasa was credit for difficulty but I noticed she took a step on her B+B spinning combo. According to the CoP B+B turn combo does not allow a step. So Izbasa's turning combo should not get 0.1CV.  Either than that I think this routine was well performed and a medal contender for worlds.

Quick Thoughts on P&G Championships Day 2 WAG (USA Nationals)

- Things started off  well with my favourite Maroney doing a wonderful floor routine. She scored a nice score of 15.250 with difficulty of 6.1. Her leaps are iffy but I enjoyed this routine. She was so close to that OOB on her double pike. I think I have posted way too many Marney floor on my blog but here is another one from tonight.

-Ross's uneven bars as Al put it, "You don't need to know anything about gymnastics, but that was gorgeous." I couldn't agree more. I'm one of those few fans who think Ross has a chance at medalling on bars in Antwerp. I know she will have to face 2 Russians and 2 Chinese but she could pull it off and who knows she could surprisingly win gold.

-During the end things got really dramatic when Biles messed up her toe-on skill. Ross needed a 15.45 to win over Biles but it wasn't enough. I was actually surprised at Ross's 15.25 beam score but I can see where the judges didn't deduct. It's crazy to think that Kyla could have gotten 15.45 for the win. She did win the second day of AA but the combined scores of day 1 & 2 had her in 2nd overall. The results.

Overall I think Biles is the one to beat for AA worlds but this does not mean she is my favourite to win.

Quick Thoughts On 2013 P&G Championships Day 1 WAG (USA Nationals)

- First, I love how USAG uploads videos so fast to youtube. Thank you to them.

-There were lots of nice double layouts being thrown out on floor. I really like that skill.

-I really dislike how NBC is using that colour triangle thing for their scoring system. And they still do that max and deduction system. Why are they trying to be so different? Is it really hard for them to be normal? Why can't they just use D-score and E-score?

-I was really impressed by Ross's DTY. Tim Daggat said he didn't know where the deductions came from but hello her leg separations in preflight gave some tenths away.

-No one stood out artistically on floor except maybe for Maroney. I dig her style but I always fear she will go out of bounds.

-The Amanars that Maroney and Biles did had huge 0.3 deductions in landings. Biles had a nice second vault.

-Biles beam was watered down (no 2 ff + layout) and a little shaky but her dismount in connection was insane and stuck.

Thoughts on 2013 U.S. Classics

The thing that I was most impressed from the Americans was their difficulty. I think they didn't try to peak or tried to hit all of their routines. I could be wrong though. A lot of them had some problems with their routines but it's not a major issue because this is not an event for them to be at their all time best.

Simone Biles did a cool DLO with a 1/2 twist out. I wonder what the FIG would rate it. Simone should just do DLO 1/1 because she can probably do that skill easily and it's a H. I think she's doing the DLO with 1/2 twist out just to get it named after her if she makes the USA team and successfully competes it in Antwerp. IMO the DLO 1/2 twist out should stay an F. IMO it's easier than the Dos Santos II (Arabian DLO), which is a G. Since FIG has "H" skills IMHO the Dos Santos II should have been rated H too, especially if the DLO 1/2 becomes G. Speaking of the Dos Santos II, Kennedy Baker does it. Edit: Kennedy pikes the Arabian skill. At first it looked laid out.

Kyla Ross won this meet and I was most impressed by her bar routine and her stuck DTY in podium training. I can tell she is working really hard to up her difficulty. I liked that she worked hard on her Van Leeuwen (toe-shap 1/2). She used to have leg sep but now she doesn't and it looks nice.

Maroney is still great on vault. That's not a surprise. I think her new floor routine is okay. I like the DLO but it went out of bounds. I think the middle section of her floor routine music (around 0:41 sec) is funny because it's something my parents would listen to. You know that weird old music tune, it's like an old folk love song. Actually a lot of her other previous floor music has that old feeling music. It's funny in a good way.

Other things that stood out were the difficulty the Americans were doing on floor. Some of the gymnasts were doing two H skills in their routines. I thought Lexie Priessman had interesting music compared to her old music choices. Mykayla Skinner does the DLO 2/1 twists and what's crazy is that she does the dbl dbl tucked as her third pass. One thing that the Americans did a lot was the tucked stand spins on floor and beam, yuck. Also they love to do leaps + tuck/pike backs connections on beam. It gets too boring and Simone Biles rarely gets those skills connected. IMO she should take those out of her routine. She does it once at this competition but earlier in the competition season she was doing more of them and not getting them connected. 

The United States of Amanar

: D I have to admit the Americans were amazing at London's team finals! When they came out and nailed all their Amanar vaults I just knew it would be their gold medal. They were aggressive and confident. They rocked it that night.

Part 2: Favourite Things From This Quad

Aliya Mustafina in 2010! Oh the memories. She was a BAMF, destined to be a world champion. She lead her teammates to a team gold at the 2010 WC. She was the leader. One of my favourite routines from her was her '10 FX prelim. She stuck pretty much every single tumble and her 3/1 spin was perfect. She immediately became a star in 2010. I even remember making a thread poll titled something like "gymnast of the year" on the IG forum and Mustafina won! LOL 2010 memories, sadly I'm now banned from that board, boo. She's basically my second favourite gymnast of all time. She knows how to compete and doesn't give up easily. I'm happy that she was able to win UB gold at the Olympics after being seriously injured for a year.

Aliya MUSTAFINA UB from javier collados on Vimeo.

NBC Olympic Gymnastic Coverage (video clips)

This is my first time seeing NBC's Olympic gymnastics coverage. Uploader gabrielmcdonough  has been uploading the NBC clips to youtube. They might get deleted so I suggest that people who have never seen the NBC coverage to check them out. Although they are only clips of routines it's still interesting to hear the American commentators perspective (I hate them and I feel sorry for the Americans who have to listen to them and I do realize that the woman commentator is Canadian, she's annoying.) 

I'm still surprised that Maroney fell on her second vault. She was the best female vaulter at the Olympics. The whole female vault finals at the Olympics was UGLY! I have nothing against Izbasa but her vaults were not really impressive, but I'm glad she walked away with the gold medal. I truly believed she won because she never fell. I still think Paseka was lucky to have been credit a Amanar. I just wished that the vault finals could have been more clean. But I do respect that these women work very hard to achieve these vaults.

Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 1, Part 2

The competition will start in about 5 minutes. I'll be watching here live: BBC

EDIT 1: HELL YEAH, Zou Kai! He was on today on floors. Uchimura had tooo many twists but at least they were CLEAN, I'm happy he won silver. No more event finals for Uchimura. Russia's Ablyazin had a pretty sick routine, congrats to him. Floor Results

Women's vault finals was a DIRTY competition. I felt so sorry for the majority of the ladies. Especially for Maroney. What a sad day. I thought she had it. Honestly, I thought she had still won even with the fall but it wasn't meant to be. I'm happy that Izbasa won but I hate to be a downer but she was pretty scrappy and her vaults weren't really pretty. She didn't fall so she deserved her win. I really want to see her step it up in floor finals though. I would be more happy for her on floor if she wins. OK so Maria Paseka's Amanar was not fully rotated and she had huge landing problems but got third, oh well that's the COP. Vault Results

In Pommel Horse finals Smith and Berki tied but Berki won with the better execution. Berki was truly the cleaner gymnast. He floats much better than a heavy and a bit laboured Smith. Congrats to all the medalists.

PH Results

Gymnastics Olympic Event Finals Day 1, Part 1

This competition will start tomorrow at 9:00 AM EDT time. It will feature the men's floor exercise and pommel horse. The women will only have their vault finals.  Each event will only have 8 competitors. The best 8 gymnasts went through a grueling process to qualify to an event. They will vie for a gold medal as a specialists. I love the event finals. 

Floor: can go in anyway. I would love for Kohei Uchimura to do his double triple tuck, yes double triple tuck or known as the Ri jong Song. It's a crazy skill worth 7 tenths. I'm not expecting him to do well if he goes all out. He has already won his most important gold medal (AA) and that's all that counts IMHO.

There is Zou Kai from China. He's not liked much by fans but he will be one of the strongest competitors. He is really good on floor.

Koczi of Romania has good difficulty but way toooooo much twisting combos with even worse form than Zou IMO. He got a pretty good score in prelims.

There is also the stylish Gonzalez and fan girl favourite Dalton. Uchimura and Zou will go up 1-2 first, so they will both have to be almost perfect and impress the judges.
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Vault: I'm all about Maroney. She must win the vault title. She has IMO the best Amanar in the world. She will have some competition IMO from Izbasa, Paseka and Chusovitina. Yamilet Pena Abreu is also another fierce competitor. She can do a tucked double front vault (Produnova) but she usually falls on it and sometimes doesn't get credit. It will be interesting to see if she can land the Produnova in finals. Also shout out to Black and Rogers from Canada for making the finals.
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Pommel Horse: It will definitely be all about Smith VS Berki. I really don't care about this event. Wouldn't it be cool if Tommasone won? Allez allezTommasone, sorry I couldn't resist.

Start List for tomorrow:  CLICK HERE
I'll be watching live coverage here: BBC

SO PREDICTABLE, THE USA TEAM

I just got back home from the amazing Canada Day fireworks and was able to watch the last few minutes of the USA trials. The team was predictable; Wieber, Douglas, Raisman, Maroney & Ross. Congratulations to all the girls.

Full results: click here

Thoughts on 2012 USA Nationals

Results: CLICK HERE 

USA is looking very EXCELLENT. At this point that Olympic team gold medal is theirs. As much as I like artistry, which the USA lacks in, they have strong and powerful gymnastics. Strong and powerful gymnastics can be just as beautiful as elegance and grace. I am still a fan of Russia but Russia really needs to bring it in London. Oh and the Romanians will not back down. I think USA and Romania has the most mentally stable team and will be the most competitive/aggressive team in London. Russia better be prepared because those two teams will eat them alive if they show any signs of weaknesses.

Of course I do like to criticize though. USA was pretty weak on beam and the scores were a teeny generous on all apparatuses in my opinion. But of course, it was a domestic meet so the scores will be a bit overscored.

Nastia Liukin: Did not have the best showing yet she still made it to trials. I don't see her making the Olympic team. I feel Bross is actually in a better position of making the team before Liukin. Yes, Bross before Liukin.

McKayla Maroney: Apparently she had an concussion from wiping out of her triple full? She will be at trials. I hope she is OK. I need to see her win VT gold in London.

Jordyn Wieber: Blah, I don't really find her interesting. She is a very good gymnast but she doesn't have something that I like, I'm honestly not sure what it is, meh. I would honestly be ok if she won AA gold in London though. My real beef with her is her beam. Her front handspring has no real flight connection into her standing 1/1. Take it out.

Gabby Douglas: She is one of my favourite American gymnast and her bars is one of my favourites this quad. As much as I want Tweddle to win UB gold in London I'm starting to favour Gabby and Mustafina to take the title. USA NEEDS HER BARS. Gabby is inconsistent on beam though and always messes up her layout step out on beam.

Kyla Ross: Hmm, I still like her for bars and beam. She finally got a mini fluff from NBC, lol. I think she will make the team. I'm so happy she does a safe, clean, beautiful DTY. IMO she doesn't need the Amanar to make the team. She scored 15.250 for a DTY on day 2.

Aly Raisman: She is CONSISTENT. Her Amanar is still scary and her bars are still atrocious but she's going to make the team. She really can't do anything about her artistry on BB & FX but that's USA for ya. I can't believe I'm saying this but it's because I'm being objective, if Raisman hits her FX routine and all her other competitors crumbles I would be satisfy with a gold for her on floor. But of course it's iffy to predict the future and I hope she doesn't win FX EF. I'm not sure what's going on with her 3/1 full but she's not getting it fully around and she's not even doing it from connection. Most gymnasts these days are doing their 3/1 full from connections.

Dominique Dawes Interviews McKayla Maroney

Here is a clip of Dawes interviewing the current best female vaulter in the world, McKAYLA MARONEY. Maroney is adorable. She needs to be on the American team. I'm wishing her all the best of luck.

Thoughts on U.S. Classic Gymnastics

Results: CLICK HERE

So many gymnastics stuff to blog about today. I just finished watching U.S Classics online. I'm going to admit I don't know much about classics but it has something to do with qualifying to USA National's. This meet was particularly exciting because Nastia Liukin is back and I also got to see how the Americans are doing. This meet was not so bad considering most of the gymnasts were not peaking and were not giving it 100%. This meet was't suppose to be full of spectacular gymnastics. I think the Americans are being a bit cautious and will take the next meets more serious and will make it more competitive. I still think the Americans are strong as a team and will peak well for the Olympics. The only concern I have about the Americans is ARTISTRY. I know it gets boring talking about their artistry but they really lack it. Their main contenders are the ones who really lacks artistry or are mediocre. The ones that might not make the team are the most artistic.

Nastia Liukin- Considering she hasn't been in the gym for awhile and to comeback and do an ok routine is pretty cool. I thought her score was a bit high though. Her leaps were not pretty and they were wonky. I harshly criticized the Russians on beam and so I will not spare Liukin's beam, she did not deserve 14.9. She really needs to stop dipping her butt down so low, it's not elegant. I do respect Liukin for keeping it real though. When Borden interviewed her she honestly said she would be upset if she didn't make the Olympic team.

Jordyn Wieber- She only did bars and beam. Bars was a bit rough for her. Beam was much better and she was solid. She needs to work on her artistry.

Kyla Ross- She didn't do anything spectacular but she is still a strong contender. Her Amanar is scary though. She has been going out of bounds a lot in recent competitions with her Amanar. She scored very good on bars 15.45. I still like this gymnast but she needs to spend more time at the ballet barre.

Gabrielle Douglas- She was really impressive on bars. USA needs her bars. On beam she was wobbly but if she can hit her routine she can be wonderful. Her FX was ok and she can at least get her 3/1 full around. She really needs to ditch her FX music asap.
McKayla Maroney- She did the Amanar and the Mustafina. She is the best female gymnast in the world on vault. I really hope USA figures out a way to have her on their team.

Alexandra Raisman- She was the AA winner. She is so consistent. I think she will make the USA team. She's not the most aesthetically pleasing gymnast in terms of execution but she stays on and in bounds on the apparatuses. She is so sloppy on bars though and it's not even funny. She really needs to work on her artistry on FX and BB. Her 3/1 full on FX was under-rotated.

Rebecca Bross- Is only going to focus on UB & BB for now on. She forfeited training AA. Her beam was wobbly but still ok except for her under-rotated Patterson dismount. She also desperately needs to work on her beam artistry, ugh.

-I was also annoyed that Tim Daggett said Maroney's Amanar was the #1 most AMAZING piece of skill on a apparatus in Tokyo from both the men's and women's side. I think Yang Hak Seon's 3/1 FHS was the most impressive!

My WAG Favourites For Olympic Gold Medals

Here is my final list of the favourite female gymnasts I want to see win gold at the Olympics. I don't have a 2nd or 3rd place list. My list will change depending on who will actually be at the games. Actually, I might not even care about making changes. I just want the best gymnasts to win, even if they are not my favourite. If any of my favourites ends up just medaling 2nd or 3rd I will still be happy. This is not a prediction list just a favourite dream list. These gymnasts actually have realistic chances of winning gold medals.

I did some long and short write ups about these gymnasts. Please keep in mind that some of the posts are not recent and my opinion then may not be the same as today. Regardless, I am - still favouring them to win gold.

Team: I 'm undecided. I really respect all the teams. My intuition tells me not to be bias because I can see all the good and flaws from each team. May the best team win that night.

All-Around: Viktoria Komova (RUS) click for post link

Vault: Mckayla Maroney (USA) click for post link

Uneven Bars: Beth Tweddle (GBR) click for post

Balance Beam: Sui Lu (CHN) click for post link

Floor Exercise: Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) click for post link

*I didn't include any Romanians. I actually hope they do well at the Olympics and surprise the living daylights out of me.

McKayla Maroney For VT Gold

Maroney is the current world champion on vault. She has the best Amanar in the world. She upgraded her second VT to; round-off, half-on, full-twisting layout (6.1 D-Score). She is one of my favourite American gymnast. I hope she will make the USA team because they have a very deep field  of gymnasts and she might not make the cut. It would be a shame if she does not get to win a gold medal on VT in London.

 (Source: allyoursecrets)