Team Japan MAG Wins Rio 2016 Olympics

Full Results
1) Japan 274.094
2) Russia 271.453
3) China 271.122

It was a thrilling and intense competition. I am very happy Team Japan won since 2004 Athens. They have been wanting this for so long. Of course all teams dream of winning gold and Russia was close to winning. They were amazing yesterday too. They hit all their routines and did the best they have ever did. And after 16 years later they made the podium again with a new team for silver medal. In honesty I never thought Russia would have medal so it was exciting to see. China was able to win bronze. As of late they have not been doing the best but if they have not made some costly errors they could have been close or maybe won. But China has been lacking consistency and difficulty in some apparatus during this quad. It'll be interesting to see how they develop their program for the future. I'm happy China was able to medal. I'm happy about this whole finals.

Polina Fedorova FX Gold @ Universiade 2015

Underrated Russian gymnast Fedorova won the floor exercise. I love her well controlled spins. Good routine.

Team Russia - Montpellier 2015 Montage

By: RUSGymnastics

Ksenia Afanasyeva Gold FX @ 2015 European Championships

6.3 + 8.433 = 14.733 I'm very happy she won. I find that her best floor routines are always underscored. Yes she won and I'm no expert but her floor e-scores are always confusing.

Overall I enjoyed this European Championships. I liked that the live stream worked for everyone and no vpn extensions :).

 

Maria Paseka VT Gold @ 2015 European Championships

There is now proof that she can do the Cheng vault. A bit messy but she did it. Paseka is improving a lot. Well deserved gold medal.

 

Maria Kharenkova AA - BB & FX @ 2015 European Championships

Kharenkova is growing on me. The more she competes the more I see that she is getting better. She came in 2nd AA.

Thanks to susanw1984 videos.

Happy 20th Birthday Viktoria Komova

One of my favourite bar routine from her, London 2012 team finals.

 

Happy 23rd Birthday Ksenia Afanasyeva || A Master List of Gymnastic Skills She Competed

Vault

• 2/1 Yurchenko || 5.8
• Amanar || 6.3
• RO- ff -1/2 on layout 1/2 || 5.6

Uneven Bars

• Van Leeuwen (E) {first Russian to compete this skill}
• Jaeger (D)
• Tkatchev (D)
• Pak Salto (D)
• Toe 1/1 (D)
• Tsuk Tuck Dismount (D)
• Maloney (D)
• Bail to handstand (D)

Notable Connections

• Tkatchev + Pak Salto 
• Toe 1/1 + Tsuk Dismount
• Toe1/1 + Van Leeuwen
• Maloney + Pak Salto
• Maloney + Bail to hstd + Stalder shoot to HB

Just Because...

Anastasia Sidorova's 2012 Russian Cup floor routine. I quite like this routine. She was originally one of the most likely gymnast to make the Russian London 2012 team. She was rumoured to have an Amanar. Unfortunately she got injured.

 

2014 WAG Russian Championships April 2-6

Usually this meet is used to determine the European team. According to most of the Russian media all of the 2012 Olympian members should be competing.

Recently on tumblr I did a post about when was the last time we saw the 5 Olympians. So I thought I would share it here on this blog. It's hard to let go of the 2012 team and move forward with the new seniors but this is just to show how I'm excited to see the return of some of the Olympians. Hopefully they will all show up.

Russia still has new hope in Kharenkova, Rodionova, Shelgunova, Sosnitskaya, Fedorova etc. Russia will still be one of the top contenders for Europeans.

I won't have high expectations for the gymnasts at this meet. They shouldn't be so perfect early in the season. I'm wishing everyone good health and for them to do the best that they can do.

I'm most intrigue in seeing how Komova has been progressing. I won't have high expectations but it would be nice to just see her back in competition. It's been too long. I'm not sure if I can follow this competition as I might be busy but I'm sure there will be lots of Russian fans posting up to date information. The official website for results is sportgymrus.ru.

If all of the 2012 Olympian shows up it will be the first time since we saw (compete):

Komova in 1 year and 8 months at the 2012 Olympic Games! Favourite routine was 2012 AA FX.

Grishina in 10 months at the 2013 Anadia Cup where she won uneven bars gold.

Afanasyeva in 9 months at 2013 Universiade Games. Favourite routine was AA FX.

Paseka in 8 months at 2013 Russian Cup where her best result was on uneven bars 2nd.

Mustafina in 4 months at the 2013 Stuttgart World Cup on beam in team finals.

Maria Kharenkova 2014 Cottbus Beam & Floor

Kharenkova finished 2nd on beam with a credited difficulty of 5.9 + 7.950 execution for total of 13.850, full results. She intended to go for a 6.7 routine but was severely downgraded by 0.8 tenths (She could have been trying to connect aerial cartwheel to switch leap but the -0.8 still makes sense). Really harsh downgrades but her dance elements plus with the connections were most likely the downgrades. I can see slight hesitations in her dance/acro connections. If her 2 ff + layout were downgraded then I think that was a bit harsh since it seemed layout to me. Here is my theory:

-0.1 CV switch leap + pike back
-0.2 CV fwd aerial + sheep
-0.1 DV sheep jump slight open ring (might be a bit harsh)
-0.2 DV switch ring to switch leap (no arch and release of head)
-0.1 CV switch 1/2 + tuck back
-0.1 DV switch 1/2 to C (not sure but I don't want to downgrade the layout CV)

Basically Kharenkova's coaches should not make her do so many dance/acro elements that only gives her connection values but no top 8 counting skills. I'm not a fan of the switch leap variations to back pike/tucks. I think it's safe to say Kharenkova should take out some elements from her routine.

Kharenkova finished 3rd on floor with D 5.6 + E 8.25 -0.1 Penalty = 13.750.

I think overall Kharenkova did a good job with her senior debut. She still has time to figure out her routines.

News Roundup - Komova Making a Comeback & Uchimura Training TTY Again

Yesterday I first saw these news on tumblr. I gotta love tumblr yet sometimes I hate it but I like it more than hate. Okay so Komova is training to make a comeback again. She grew a lot and is looking vibrant and strong. She seems really positive. I hope this will be the year for Komova. She is such a beautiful gymnast. Word on the gymternet is that Mustafina will be taking a break from Round Lake. She will still be training at her home gym but not at Round Lake. Maybe she will miss Europeans? Here is the wonderful uploaders tumblr page lakekrugloye.

On the Japanese front Uchimura is training the TTY again which is named after Kenzo Shirai and Kim Hee Hoon. You can also see snippets of Shirai on pommels and rings. Kameyama, the reigning world gold pommel horse winner can also be seen doing a Kolman on high bar. I got this news from gymfanjapan's tumblr.

December 2013 Update on Ksenia Afanasyeva

Afan Quote: "Life goes on. There will be new competition. Should be treated and prepared."

Key Notes:

• Initially Afan was suppose to be ready to compete by December but her treatments got delayed.
• Afan wants to try for Rio 2016
• It's not necessary for her to rush and get fast recovery as it's better to be treated thoroughly so that she'll be competitive for future competitions.

Other Interesting Notes:

• Afan has been living at Round Lake since 2001
• Afan's grandmother played a huge role in her gymnastics life.  

Source

Just Because...FF + Arabian/Tuck 1/1 Combo

The ff + Arabian beam connection is one of my favourite connections on beam. I think the first gymnast to do this combo was Lobaznyuk? It's a super difficult connection. Currently Anna Rodionova does that combination. Skinner does it too but it's not done well. I also like the ff + tuck 1/1. The Romanians favours the ff + tuck 1/1. I wish more gymnasts would do these cool combinations. Both combinations are worth B+F 0.2CV.

 (Source: gymnasticsgifs)

 (Source: gymnasticsgifs)

(Source: thehappyonefrombeijing)

2013 Massilia Videos/Quick Thoughts

There are lots of videos at piibunina's channel.

Admittedly I haven't seen all the videos but I think one of my favourite routine is from Claudia Fragapane. It's unique.
  I wasn't really impressed by the Russians but it's great to see Ekaterina Kramarenko still competing and looking not too shabby. IMO it's weird how Russia's veterans are still a bit better than the new Russian seniors. The newer Russian generation lacks execution or difficulty. The newer seniors can still improve but I find it hard that when gymnasts like Semenova, Afanasyeva, Komova, Grishina, Mustafina etc at age 16 had superior style than the current new Russian generation. The newer girls are not as polished. Now I know that there is a new code but even back then they still had about the same or more difficulty with better execution. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the other girls like Kharenkova or Kuzmina does. I do like Anna Rodionova but she lacks difficulty and this is what I'm saying. Even in the old codes 2008-2012 her older teammates still had more difficulty compared to her and they had good execution. I know that Rodionova has the ff + Arabian combo but that's about it. I feel Russia is either lacking in difficulty but has good execution or has good difficulty but lack execution, for example Shelgunova. She has good difficulty but really lacks execution. She's already 16 and when most of her veteran teammates were at the same age as Shelgunova they were better than her. I'm not hating on Shelgunova but I just want to point out that she needs a lot of work in her execution.

In this beam routine she is going for 6.7. Good difficulty but bad execution. Hopefully she'll improve or take out some skills/connections.

Ro + Layout (E) 0.1CV
Switch leap + Switch leap 1/2 (D) 0.1
Aerial cartwheel + loso (D) 0.2
Front Aerial + Sheep jump (D+D) 0.2
Front tuck + wolf jump (D) 0.1
Full turn
Switch Ring (E)
Dbl Pike (E)

3.5 + 0.7CV = 4.2 + 2.5CR = 6.7 D-Score

Anna Rodionova Worlds BB Training

Love the ff + Arabian combo for 0.2CV

Ekaterina Kramarenko 1st UB Osijek Cup

It's good to see Kramarenko back and getting international assignments. For those of you who do not know who she is, she was on Russia's 2008 Beijing Olympic team and of course she was the girl with the infamous vault incident in 2007. Kramarenko did a good bar routine here.

D5.8 + E8.625 = 14.425
 

Happy 22nd Birthday Ksenia Afanasyeva

Today Ksenia turns 22. In gymnastics age that is considered old but in reality she is still young. With many older gymnasts still continuing I hope ksenia can still be competitive in the new quad. An interesting fact is that Ksenia was born on Friday the 13th and today is Friday the 13th 2013. Ksenia will miss this year's world championships due to a recent ankle surgery. According to the Russians she should be ready to be back in December.

Ksenia's year started off with her doing a gala called From London to Rio.

She competed at Russian Championships and showed some very interesting new beam connections. She did Onodi + side somi + 1 -1/4 spin and Kochetkova + split leap 1/1! Very cool ideas.  

She then had to compete at a French Cup to prove her place on a Russian European team as her spot was not guaranteed. At the French Cup she was controversially given a forward compositional requirement that she did not do in prelims. She still advanced to floor finals and won gold. Click to watch. It was early in the season and she seemed to have really improved on her tumbles. Her DLO was powerful and her double pike dismount looked better than ever. She became a more improved gymnast. She was more powerful than ever. Unfortunately she had some problems with her new beam routine and eventually had to take out some of her cool ideas.

Ksenia eventually made the Russian European team. This was a special event for Ksenia since it was in front of her home country and it was her first time at an European championships since 4 years ago in 2009. She missed many Europeans due to injuries. For once she was now healthy and ready to win medals. She shocked the gymnastics world when there were rumours she could do the Amanar vault. I have to admit I was skeptical of this Amanar rumour. I couldn't believe it but when there were reports of her doing the amanar during podium training the rumours became true but still there were no videos of her doing the Amanar. During prelims she revealed a 6.4 difficult floor routine that made news. Interesting it wasn't her tumbles that were upgraded but it was her turns. I love her spinning connections. Ksenia only made floor finals where she won gold in front of a home crowd. Her routine had beautiful powerful tumbles mixed with beautiful dance elements. Click here to watch. Her season was beginning to look very good. Ksenia even decided to train early for Universiade. She was so positive and worked really hard for Universiade. She also posted a video of her training the H element 1/1 DLO and she is rumoured to be able to do 7/2 (3.5) twists.

At the Universiade Games in Kazan, Ksenia revealed new music for her floor routine. Her routine had mixed reviews but Ksenia was still elegant and beautiful on floor. She started off okay in AA but then had a very shaky nervous beam routine. She proceeded to have one of the best floor routine of her life clinching herself a silver medal in the AA. I personally liked her AA floor routine. It is one of my favourite routine of the year. She nearly stuck every tumble. It was a magical performance and probably a special night for Ksenia. She unfortunately didn't have the best floor routine in event finals but she was able to win gold with high difficulty. My highlight of the Universiade gymnastics was Ksenia's Amanar vault. She stunned the gymnastics community with her ability to win vault finals with a new Amanar and second vault. At age 21 Ksenia was able to upgrade two of her vaults. She was especially brave and courageous for doing the Amanar vault. All of her early hard work paid off.
She was looking like a lock for Antwerp until she suddenly had ankle surgery. I just want to say that Ksenia brought some excitement to the beginning of the season and it's very disappointing that she will miss worlds. She had a very big shot at floor gold and medaling on vault. I hope she will be back and stronger next year. Happy birthday Ksenia!

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.

Some 2013 Russian Cup National Routines

Maria Paseka's and Tatiana Nabieva's new floor routines. Maria debuts new DLO! She got lost a bit but this was a very new routine for her. More videos here Leksy566.