Gymnastics News #21 - Tumbling on to Tokyo

[Rob]

Didn't she say in her 2003 press conference after winning Worlds AA that Carly Patterson didn't worry her for 2004 because Carly had the type of body that would "run" to fat?

 

[Winnipeg]

Not a flattering picture of Khorkina.

SHe always was a sour graper too.

 

[hirshey girl]

https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=20823&prog=
U.S Worlds Team
Jade Carey
Ashton Locklear
Morgan Hurd
Ragan Smith
I am really surprised that Jordan Chiles did not make it. I thought for sure that she had a spot secured.

 

[bardtoob]

I am really surprised that Jordan Chiles did not make it. I thought for sure that she had a spot secured.

She just couldn't pull off those Wolf-Kinos at camp, I guess

 

[Fridge_Break]

Interesting selection with Morgan. She looked really solid in the camp videos posted on the USA Gym YouTube channel, but so did Jordan (and Trinity). I'm thinking that after a really rocky National Championships, they might be thinking an individual Worlds selection might be a good idea to see how she competes on the big stage so that they have an idea if she can be dependable in a team format in future years.

 

[Aceon6]

I'm thinking that after a really rocky National Championships, they might be thinking an individual Worlds selection might be a good idea to see how she competes on the big stage so that they have an idea if she can be dependable in a team format in future years.

Um, that's kind of a shitty reason to be named, but with no team championship to worry about, it could be the thinking.

 

[pollyanna]

Yay for Morgan! I am sorry for Chiles, but perhaps Morgan really kicked arse at camp.

 

[Erin]

USA Gymnastics has videos of camp:
https://m.youtube.com/user/usagymnasticsorg

Heavily edited videos, so who knows what mistakes were edited out, but still exciting to have something, which we have never had before. I haven't watched them all, but a few observations of what I have watched:
-- Locklear didn't upgrade her bar routine
-- No second vault for Chiles unless it was edited out
-- Carey hit both vaults and the Amanar looked much better than at Nationals
-- Hurd looked very solid across all four events - my guess from her selection is she finished second all-around to Smith
-- Thomas upgraded her vault to a Yurchenko one and a half

 

[Rob]

Marta was very partial to the power gymnasts, but I think Valery likes the "international look" with the nice lines.

 

[Deleted member 40371]

Aliya is back training, only three months after giving birth.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZRoPOYFvv9/

 

[OnyxRose81]

Marta was very partial to the power gymnasts, but I think Valery likes the "international look" with the nice lines.

Marta was partial to the people who didn't break and didn't fall, and those tended to be gymnasts the power gymnasts.

 

[mattiecat13]

For anyone who has the Olympic Channel, on October 3 & 4 they are showing women's gymnastics team finals and all-around competitions from the Summer Olympics between 1988 and 2016.

 

[caseyedwards]

Aliya is back training, only three months after giving birth.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZRoPOYFvv9/

She is committed!!

 

[rhapsody]

Marta was partial to the people who didn't break and didn't fall, and those tended to be gymnasts the power gymnasts.

First of all, I find that whole "international look" thing such BS.

And second, I agree with you. One just has to look at how favorably Marta treated Nastia and Kyla (for good reason).

 

[dramagrrl]

First of all, I find that whole "international look" thing such BS.

And second, I agree with you. One just has to look at how favorably Marta treated Nastia and Kyla (for good reason).

But Nastia and Kyla were the opposite of power gymnasts.

 

[just tuned in]

I recall a time when Marta said that she preferred gymnasts with "international lines." But that was under 10.0.

("International lines" is a funny way to say "long legs to torso ratio." Of course there are and have been successful non-American gymnasts with bulkier bodies, for example, Elana Shushonova.)

Bela and Marta both like "sturdy" gymnasts, and I think one can have the "international look (i.e., long legs to torso ratio) and still be "sturdy."

I like "international lines" -- as do many forum posters here.

 

[Aceon6]

I recall a time when Marta said that she preferred gymnasts with "international lines." But that was under 10.0.

("International lines" is a funny way to say "long legs to torso ratio." Of course there are and have been successful non-American gymnasts with bulkier bodies, for example, Elana Shushonova.)

Bela and Marta both like "sturdy" gymnasts, and I think one can have the "international look (i.e., long legs to torso ratio) and still be "sturdy."

I like "international lines" -- as do many forum posters here.

Speaking as someone who has a long leg to torso ratio, it's hell on the knees, ankles and hips. If alignment is even a fraction off... bye bye tendon.

 

[just tuned in]

@Aceon6 , thanks. I am more of the "power" type. Still have lots of ankle sprains.

It would be interesting if someone did a study of female gymnasts, their body types, and the kind if injuries they tend to suffer.

 

[Rob]

She is committed!!

She's the new Chussy!


I recall one of the team finals (2010?) when an announcer said that the Russian team had the nickname "the Americano" for Nabieva, because she was more solid than the rest.

 

[Erin]

Podium training started at Worlds - four of the five subdivisions have gone so far and the last one with the USA, China, Japan, and Brazil is up in less than half an hour.

Several videos have popped up of podium training, including some interviews, and a few sites are live-blogging. A few highlights so far:

Great Britain: Love Frags floor routine, wish she had better form on her tumbling. Kinsella was kind of struggling on most events from the clips I saw, but still had a very positive interview after. Tinkler looked all right aside from a bars fall but is reportedly ill. Also love Georgia-Mae Fenton's bar routine, she is doing a stalder Tkatchev-half (a new skill that Nina Derwael is also doing) into a Yezhova.

Russia: Elena Eremina looked very good. Angelika Melnikova OTOH was a total mess, I think she fell about 5 times on the 1 minute clip I saw of beam. She apparently has a minor injury. That said, I'm not sure if it means a lot...Russian practices don't always bear any correlation to competition. Paseka is doing the Cheng and Amanar. Her Cheng is its usual scary mess, if not more so than normal. Didn't see anything of Iliankova.

Canada: Shallon Olsen has her Amanar back and has upgraded her second vault to a Cheng, so she now has the difficulty with the best in the world. The Cheng is messy but no messier than Paseka's and we see where that has gotten her. Brooklyn Moors looked amazing on floor and Ellie Black looked solid on beam. Isabela Onyshko has a muscle strain so team Canada has moved their lineup around a bit and are having Black and Moors do all-around (instead of Onyshko and Black) and then Onyshko will just do bars & beam with Olsen doing vault & floor. All three Canadians will attempt two vaults, which is kind of cool, although Moors doesn't have the difficulty to get into the final (and someone would get two per countried out even if they did all qualify but I don't see Moors being in contention).

Romania: Iordache has brought back the double twisting double back on floor. She was struggling on beam, fell on three different elements in the clip I saw. Hopefully it was just an off day and she can bring it when it counts. I'd like to see a good comeback for her after such a rough year last year. Ponor upgraded to a super messy full twisting double layout on floor. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should is the expression that comes to mind here.

Haven't seen any clips of the German team but reports were that they were solid. All I've seen of Netherlands is a Sanne Wevers beam routine where she missed a connection or two but otherwise looked better than she has this year. Sounds like Thorsdottir is out of the all-around, as she didn't train vault. Add that to Liu Tingting going out of the all-around (although it sounds like she is likely replaced by teammate Wang Yan) and that's a few bigger all-around losses unfortunately.

This last subdivision should be insane! USA Gymnastics is airing it live on their Youtube channel - hopefully we will be able to see more than just the USA athletes. Guessing at a minimum, we should see whoever is in their rotation with them which is 3 Finnish gymnasts and 1 Cuban. Nothing against them, but I'm more interested to see Brazil, Japan, and China...and Chuso who is also in this subdivision. Not going to get my hopes up too high though.

 

[DimaToe]

So Ponor said in an interview with FloGymnastics that this would be her last world Championships

And (((Romania)))

I still find it hard to believe she has yet to be a world champion.

 

[Erin]

Some thoughts from the last subdivision, mostly USA related since that's who the stream focused on. We did see a bit of China, Japan, and Korea here and there but only pieces and sometimes on split screen which made it hard to see which athlete was even up.

Jade Carey looks like the favorite for vault gold to me at this point, which is interesting because after Nationals, I had doubts about her even being a medal contender. But her Amanar is way cleaner than it was at Nationals/Classics and if she puts it together in competition the same way she did in training (which she did at the Worlds selection camp), I think she has the best combination of execution and difficulty. She also nailed her floor routine and I expect her to contend for a medal there too.

Morgan Hurd looked incredibly solid, at least until some out of bounds on floor. I'm guessing this is the way she looked at camp and why she was selected. Ragan Smith OTOH had more mistakes than we usually see from an American in podium training. She fell on her Downie in her first bars routine (hit it in bar routine #2) and on her punch front in her beam routine. Interesting that since people have been predicting the all-around competition to be a Smith-Iordache showdown, both of them struggled today...maybe the door is open for another contender.

I have no idea why Ashton Locklear is competing beam - her knee is wrapped, she can barely land her dismount on either bars or beam and it seems like a waste of effort to put her up on beam, she should just focus on bars and let Jade Carey do beam. I wondered if Locklear was going to show up with last minute bar upgrades, as we have seen a lot of last minute upgrades, but not in this case. That said, her routine looks very easy and solid and if the nerves get to everyone else in finals, I guess you never know what could happen.

There was a cute moment after of the Finnish gymnasts who rotated with the US getting their picture taken with the US team.

I saw a couple of vaults from Chuso - a handspring layout half and a handspring front full. I don't see her being a contender for a medal here unless she really steps it up or did something amazing that I didn't see.

Wang Yan was heavily spotted on both of her vaults. It's also unclear what is going on with Chinese all-around...Tingting did do a floor dance-through but then Wang Yan did bars, which she wasn't originally going to do. So it appears China just has one all-arounder (Wang Yan) now? Luo Huan doing bars/beam, Liu Tingting doing beam and maybe floor? Fan Yilin doing just bars. The most I saw of them was Luo Huan on beam where she was unfortunately a total mess.

Speaking of all-around contenders who may be out (I'm just full of good news), not sure what is going on with Rebecca Andrade? She definitely didn't do beam or floor, maybe didn't do bars (reports are mixed) and no one has said a word about her on vault. But it doesn't sound promising for her in the all-around or maybe not competing at all? Which is a big disappointment if that's true. I hope she can compete at least vault - she was my pick for gold until I saw how much Carey's vaults have cleaned up and I'd still love to see her medal so that the vault podium can have someone with nice form (Carey's is better than it was but still not great).
ETA: Andrade may be out due to knee pain - medical evaluation tomorrow https://twitter.com/gymcastic/status/914661308297023493

 

[FSfan107]

Hurd did beat Smith at camp. Most of the gymnasts had trouble in PT. I think they just needed to get adjusted to equipment and lighting. Hurd seems to do better at camps than she does competition, but hopefully she changes that here. I'm still expecting Iordache and Smith to be at the top, but I think Hurd could challenge as could Tabea Alt (she looked good in training), Yang Wan, and maybe Eremina. Oh and I was hoping Melnikova would be up there too but I'm having my doubts as she has an ankle injury apparently. Like I'm not trying to take the PT too seriously but she was all over the place. Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos is another one who is pretty solid on all 4 events.

I'm in love with Brooklyn Moors! Her floor is a work of art and I love her beam as well.

Very impressed with Jade Carey. I also like her quiet personality.

 

[Fridge_Break]

Does anyone know if Worlds will be livestreamed anywhere online? I've looked but haven't had much luck yet. I know that the Olympic Channel is supposed to be airing a bunch of coverage, but that unfortunately isn't an option for me at this time.

 

[tuffcaco]

USA Gymnastics will have a live feed. Here's the schedule: http://www.usagymworlds.com/schedule/

The sessions listed in red will be livestreamed here: http://www.usagymworlds.com/live/

 

[Fridge_Break]

USA Gymnastics will have a live feed. Here's the schedule: http://www.usagymworlds.com/schedule/

The sessions listed in red will be livestreamed here: http://www.usagymworlds.com/live/

Wonderful! Thank you!

 

[danafan]

Kohei Uchimura suffered an injury on vault at the world championships qualifying. He competed this next event parallel bars and made it worse and he has scratched. What a devastating way to end his world championship reign

 

[Braulio]

Kohei Uchimura suffered an injury on vault at the world championships qualifying. He competed this next event parallel bars and made it worse and he has scratched. What a devastating way to end his world championship reign

I was watching the qualification for the japanese and was turn of Kohei in P-Bars, he had many break forms and mistakes during the routine but in the landing though stick it but he reacted immedately after it leaving the mat limping, didn't know he injured on vault

This was not the way to end his wining streak indeed

Manrique Larduet of Cuba seems very strong so does Oleg Verniaev, they are 1-2 right now in the AA standings, americans had a decent qualification with Yul Moldauer 3rd in the AA and at the moment they are well positioned in the appaatus finals they might end up with some 3-4 finals.

Mikulak pulled a Mikulak in the High Bar, his only event at worlds and wont qualify

 

[Erin]

What a shame for Uchimura. I was hoping we might see someone challenge him here but I wanted to see him challenged by the competition not by an injury.

I didn't get a chance to watch the men but the third subdivision sounds like it was a disaster for injuries. I hope than something is done to address how things can be made safer for the athletes going forward because this just seems ridiculous.

 

[SamuraiK]

Any links for streams outside US? Pleease