Just Because...

Today there is a snowstorm warning and it's supposed to feel like -40 Celsius! So I thought here is Yulia Belokobylskaya 2011 team final floor routine. I like this routine and the music. The music is by Edvin Marton called Ice Symphony. Hopefully there will be no power outages today like the ice storm before Christmas 2013.

Just Because... Xiao Qin PH 2007

I can never get tired of this routine.

 

Just Because...Ksenia Semenova FX

In the first video I think it was the first time Semenova debuted her new DLO. I really liked her style and presentation on floor. I think she always had some of the best low floor choreography. In the second video her 2010 Rotterdam floor music could have been cut better but the clubbed to death music part was really elegant and the choreo between 1:03-1:25 was gorgeous.

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

Part 3: Favourite Things From This Quad

Sui Lu and Ksenia Afanasyeva. Most gym fans consider these two gymnasts "headcases" or basically inconsistent gymnasts. Usually falling and making silly little mistakes. It's not completely a bad thing to be considered a headcase. Most of the time headcases are the type of gymnasts you want to see succeed because they deserve to be recognize for their beautiful gymnastics. They are like the underdogs that you are rooting for. Sometimes I want to give up on these type of gymnasts but it's fun rooting for them. When they hit their routines it can be a special moment.

It was amazing how Sui Lu transformed into this consistent gymnast in 2011. She totally rocked in the WC event finals. Her beam was near perfect. It amazed me how confident she was. When she went to compete FX I was shocked at her upgrade. I was not expecting a stag out of the triple. She lost the gold to Afanasyeva but she proved that she can be an artistic and solid gymnast.

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.

Part 1: Favourite Things From This Quad

It's that time of year again when gym fans starts to blog about their favourite gym moments of the year. I'm going to blog about my favourite moments of the quad, '09-'12. I might have missed some moments but these are some moments I can think of off the top of my head. It's been a crazy quad. I am really happy that I was able to see it all unfold. There were so many disappointments and happiness. I'll start off with 2009-2010.

One moment that comes to my mind was when Koko Tsurumi won 3rd AA in London 2009. Her clean execution was refreshing. I'm glad that Tsurumi was able to win medals at a world championship (WC). I really liked her beam and her very beautiful Ono pirouettes on bars. She even won 2nd in UB 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.

   

Just Because...Cheng Fei

She is one of my top favourite gymnast. I was re-watching 2006 world championships last night and was reminded of how magnificent Cheng Fei was. Her gold floor routine was perfect in my eyes. So much better then today's standards. It is true that most floor exercises from the past were more innovative and difficult. The only floor exercises I can think of that was truly unique this quad was Raisman's first tumbling pass, 3/2 twist indirect to Arabian dbl tuck + front layout (okay the layout after the dbl Arabian is original, not so much the other parts) and Ellie Black's 5/2 twist indirect to 3/1 twist. There are probably some more unique passes from this quad but those were the only two that really came to my mind.

Here is Cheng Fei's 2006 world's gold medal floor routine. One of my all time favourite floor routine, heck I  don't really have an all time favourite floor routine list. I just love this routine. Her last pass Tsuk dbl pike is quite amazing. Most gymnasts nowadays don't even do full in dismounts.

And watch her 2006 gold vault final, just because...

Afanasyeva's Complete 2008 All-Around Routines (prelims)

In the spirit of the Olympics I am going to embed Ksenia Afanasyeva's 2008 AA prelim routines.

Afanasyeva placed 6th AA in prelims. Afanasyeva was a victim of the two per country rule. She would have been in the top group for AA finals. Afanasyeva is a pretty good all-arounder. Her gymnastics has deteriorate a bit because of age and tons of injuries. Despite all of these set backs she can still decently do AA. In 2008 she was Russia's National AA Champ. At this year's Russian Championships she should have won 1st AA over Mustafina. Even the coaches made bold statements that they made sure the judges gave Mustafina the win. I'm not the only one who questioned the placing, many other gym fans felt Mustafina was not ready yet and didn't deserve the win over Afanasyeva (note Komova did not compete). Regardless of this, Mustafina was coming back from injuries and the small victory was a good thing for her. The Russians wanted to give Mustafina back her self-confident (They were quoted saying they didn't want to crush her dreams/feelings). I'm pretty sure Afanasyeva didn't care too much, they are all friends and Afanasyeva has been quoted saying that she doesn't want any of her teammates feeling depress because she knows how it feels. Afanasyeva will not do AA in London, she will focus on beam and floor. She will still train vault and bars but not intensely.

Russia will have three all-arounders. Komova, Mustafina and Grishina. The most likely two to qualify will be Komova and Mustafina. Grishina will most likely be the victim of the two per country rule.

Please check out a great interview article on Afanasyeva at the wonderful blog rewritingrussiangymnastics

Japan For Team Gold 2012

My favourite team to win the men's gymnastics team finals is JAPAN. A lot of MAG fans are favouring Japan to take the team title. They will have competition from China, USA, Great Britain and many other great countries like Russia and Germany. Japan last won the Olympic team gold in Athens 2004. One of my favourite gymnast Hiroyuki Tomita helped his team to victory. Watch his amazing performance from 2004. I want this for Japan in London.

The Ugly Duckling

One of my childhood and still favourite fairy tale is The Ugly Duckling. In a way I think Afanasyeva is considered an Ugly Duckling story. I must admit when I first saw her in Beijing I didn’t really notice her or paid attention to her. I remembered watching Deng Linlin’s beam routine in TF and kept on thinking who is using that kind of floor music? I thought it was unique and was curious to see how a gymnast would perform to that kind of music Afanasyeva's FX music. Then it was BB EF and all I could remember from Afanasyeva was a lot of missed connections but I thought her hand waves were beautifully done. Then when YouTube videos surfaced of Afanasyeva’s prelim routines I finally got to see her routines and liked them. What made my ultimate decision of being a fan of Afanasyeva was that I wasn’t expecting her to move elegantly, gracefully and with good posture/carriage. She looked quite masculine in my opinion but when she performed her floor routine I was hooked on/ drawn in.

She has long been known as a “headcase" but finally last year in Tokyo she got herself together and finally won a gold medal for herself. She has now proven herself to be a team leader/veteran for Russia's 2012 Olympic team. She may not be a "lock" for the team but I wish her all the best in the new year. She has a chance and with her new found confidence her goal of London 2012 is looking realistic/positive. She is a one of a kind gymnast. There is no denying that she is one of the most artistic gymnast of this generation. She is an Ugly Duckling story.

Plot Summary of The Ugly Duckling Via Wikipedia "The story is beloved around the world as a tale about personal transformation for the better"

When the tale begins, a mother duck's eggs hatch. One of the little birds is perceived by the duck’s surroundings as a homely little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse from the other birds and animals on the farm. He wanders sadly from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He then finds a home with an old woman but her cat and hen tease him mercilessly and again he sets off on his own. He sees a flock of migrating wild swans; he is delighted and excited but he cannot join them for he is too young and cannot fly. Winter arrives. A farmer finds and carries the freezing little bird home, but the foundling is frightened by the farmer’s noisy children and flees the house. He spends a miserable winter alone in the outdoors mostly hiding in a cave on the lake that partly freezes over. When spring arrives a flock of swans descends on the now thawing lake. The ugly duckling, now having fully grown and matured cannot endure a life of solitude and hardship any more and decides to throw himself at the flock of swans deciding that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness and misery. He is shocked when the swans welcome and accept him, only to realize by looking at his reflection in the water that he has grown into one of them. The flock takes to the air and the ugly duckling spreads his beautiful large wings and takes flight with the rest of his new family.

The Ugly Duckling in Russian Part 1

Part 2