The Olympians: When They Were Young

Anyone that makes it to the Olympic Games has to start somewhere. Gymnasts typically begin at a very young age. Watching these videos puts into perspective the amount of work, dedication and sacrifice that these gymnasts go through to make it to the Olympics.

A very young Aliya Mustafina and future Olympic Champion

1/ Nastia Liukin (USA), 2002 
Here is 2008 Olympic all-around champion on beam at the 2002 Woga Classic (aged 12). She already has some impressive skills, including her acro series, side-sommie and front tuck (with some form issues). The basis of her choreography is there. Think of the number of beam routines that she must have performed in her lifetime! Her Olympic beam routines were quite literally years in the making.

2002 Woga Classic, Nastia Liukin

2/ Cheng Fei (CHI), 2003

The Chinese star competed at the 2004 and the 2008 Olympics, where she lead her team to gold for the first time in Olympic history. She was an especially powerful gymnast and her strengths were floor and vault (most unusual for a Chinese gymnast). Here she is on beam at a Japanese junior meet at age 15, where she shows some pretty amazing skills!

Japanese junior international competition, Cheng Fei

3/ Aly Raisman (USA), 2007

Here is a 12 year-old Raisman competing on floor 5 years before she won gold at the Olympics. Interestingly the routine reminds me of some of her Dancing with the Stars performances! Of course the tumbling is excellent, and even at this age she was incredibly comfortable on floor and loved performing for a crowd.

Parkettes Junior Invitational, Aly Raisman

4/ Aliya Mustafina (RUS), 2006

Here is Aliya, around 11 years old on floor. As graceful and precise as ever, she showed promise back then. She went on to become the 2010 World Champion and won 3 Olympic medals in 2012, including gold on the uneven bars.

2006 Friendship Classic, Aliya Mustafina

5/ Larisa Iordache (ROM), 2009

The level of difficulty that the Romanian juniors have on beam will never cease to amaze me. Clearly Iordache was destined for great things at age 12.

Topgym 2008, Larisa Iordache

6/ Kyla Ross (USA), 2009

The youngest member of the Fierce Five has always been a strong beam worker. Here is her beam routine from the 2009 US Junior Nationals (aged 12). Three years later, she helped the US Team take gold at the Olympics.

Prelims, 2009 US Junior Nationals, Kyla Ross

7/ Viktoria Komova (RUS), 2008

Back in 2008, aged 12, Viktoria performed a very difficult acro series on beam- flic, layout step-out, arabian. She has since removed this combination from here routine. Her beam work has always been lovely to watch!

Viktoria Komova on beam at the 2008 Voronin Cup

Post by Imogen Browne (follow on Twitter @Iflip4GymBlog)

Peaking at the Olympic Games

One of the greatest struggles for coaches is to train their gymnasts so that they peak at the right moment. Think Nastia Liukin in the 2005-2008 cycle. She emerged onto the scene as reigning Junior US Champion and won the senior title in 2005, and went on to perform very well at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne (2nd AA and 1st UB). An ankle injury took her out of all-around contention at the 2006 World Championships, where she only competed on bars. She struggled in 2007 with this injury and with the emergence of young Shawn Johnson, who blitzed the field in 2007 and 2008. But perhaps for Nastia, the shift of the spotlight was a blessing. She was able to regain her skills quietly in the background, and focus on her strengths (beam and bars). She did manage to beat Shawn at the American Cup (largely due to Shawn's fall on her new Amanar). But I don't think anyone expected the brilliant performances that she would pull out in Beijing, which was why it was all the more thrilling.

Nastia's debut senior competition- the 2005 American Cup

Nastia's all-around performances in Beijing that won her the gold medal

Love her or hate her, you've got to admit that her performances were near flawless that day. She performed with such confidence, looking back it is no suprise that she took the title. I do believe that Shawn was the better athlete (more consistent), but in the end it's about who does the best on the day of the competition. 

In 2011, we saw a young Gabby Douglas, a new senior compete for Chow's alongside Shawn Johnson, who was making her first comeback attempt. Gabby's power and athletic ability were obvious, but nervy performances meant that she finished way down in the standings. Marta obviously saw great potential in this young lady, and she made the Worlds Team to Tokyo, where with a much improved performance placed 5th in the qualifications behind team mates Jordyn Wieber and Aly Rasiman, and qualified to the bars final.

Gabby's very rookie performance on beam at the 2011 US Nationals

Gabby's World Championship experience obviously did wonders for her confidence and she came back very strong in 2012, with impressive routines on all four apparatuses (including an Amanar on vault). She ALMOST took the Nationals title over Jordyn Wieber and raised many eyebrows. The transformation was astonishing, people were starting to believe that Gabby could win the Olympic all-around competition. It seems like Coach Chow worked his magic with her as well, and Gabby sailed her way through the Olympics all-around final to take the title over Russia's top qualifier Viktoria Komova, and team-mate Aly Raisman, who faltered on beam.

Gabby's MUCH improved floor routine from the 2012 US Nationals

Gabby and Chow share a moment after the all-around final in London

Both Nastia and Gabby did not experience the same hype as Shawn and Jordyn leading up to the Games. You have got to wonder if that helped them in any way.  

Article by Imogen Browne (Follow on twitter @Iflip4gymblog)

Fav Floor Routines Part Two: Athens 2004-Beijing 2008

The second part of this blog covers floor routines from the 2004 Olympic Games held in Athens to the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing. Again, it was so hard to pick these so I hope you enjoy them! Feel free to comment if you feel there are any more worth a mention.

Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 2004 Olympic Games, AA Final
Svetlana Khorkina (or Sveta) was one of the greats of Russian gymnastics. The Olympic Games in Athens was her third and her swansong, as she battled America's Carly Patterson for the Olympic all-around title. She was a favourite leading into the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but a hugely controversial technical error with the vault height on the first rotation meant that her competition was ruined. Khorkina was a passionate, ferocious and steely competitor, which earned her nicknames such as 'diva' and 'Queen Khorkina'. Her dance flows beautifully and she uses her height to her advantage and accentuates her long lines. Almost effortlessly, she engrosses the audience in her performance. I remember watching this routine as a kid, couldn't take my eyes off her. She showed innovation and originality by using a different end pose for both the individual and team competition.

Queen Khorkina perfoms in the all-around final at the 2004 Olympics in Sydney. She finished a close second to America's Carly Patterson

Cheng Fei (CHI) 2004 Olympic Games Team Final
The young Chinese star was a phenomonal tumbler from the get-go. Her opening pass of a double-twisting double sommersault gets a ridiculous amount of air- still one of the best I have ever seen. As with all Chinese gymnasts, she is incredibly precise with all of her movements. She also gets amazing height on her leaps for someone so small! The huge smile at the end is genuine and excellent to see, she understands the significance of competing in something like the Olympic Games and wants the world to see how proud she is to be there. She goes on to be one of the best floor workers over the next quad, and leads the Chinese team to their first Olympic Team title on home soil in Beijing, 2008.

Cheng competes in the Team Final in Athens, 2004

Alicia Sacramone (USA) 2008 US Olympic Trials, Day Two
American gymnast and 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone was another great floor worker of this quad. Her routines were sassy and oozed her personality. Check out her awesome arabian double sommersault. A mature competitor by 2008, you can see the concentration in her eyes as she performs (although she does celebrate with a smile after a stuck tumbling pass!). Alicia was a lock for the Olympic Team, with strong routines to offer on beam, floor and vault. Unfortunately, her Olympic performances were not what she had hoped for. On a side note, Aly Raisman, 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist on floor trained at the same gym (Brestyan's), pretty damn good coaching I say!

Alicia competes in the US Olympic Trials, 2008. This competition would have been more nerve-wracking than the Olympics themselves

Nastia Liukin (USA) 2008 Olympic Games, AA Final
Oh Nastia, where to start? Anastasia Liukin, is about as close to gymnastics royalty as you can get. Her father, Valeri Liukin competed in the Olympics for Russia and her mother, Anna Liukin was a famous rhythmic gymnast (also for Russia). She inherited her father's power and determination and her mother's flexibility and grace. Her floor routines have always been balletic and equisite. She managed to pull everything together to take the all-around title in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She had the competition of her life, finishing with another one of her marvellous floor routines. Only wish WOGA would stop recycling their poses!

Nastia wins bronze in the floor event final at the 2008 Olympic Games

Yang Yilin (CHI) 2008 Olympic Games, AA Final
China's Yang Yilin took the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games behind silver medalist Shawn Johnson of the USA. A unique choice of music for the young Chinese girl suits her well. The rather tall yet elegant gymnast has very dramatic, yet effective choreography. I felt that her routine helped to intensify the mood during the last rotation of the competition. Yilin was an excellent twister, all of her tumbles were very precise, a joy to watch!

Yang Yilin creates suspense in the final rotation of the Women's AA final in Beijing, 2008

Anna Pavlova (RUS) 2008 Olympic Games, AA Final
Performed to 'Exodus', the routine from the Russian Anna Pavlova has to be one of the most beautiful pieces of gymnastics of all time. Her double straight sommersault is perfect, the dance flows beautifully and shows off her amazing flexibility. She combines power and elegance incredibly well. I remember reading somewhere that she was upset with the music choice and was not sure if she would feel comfortable performing her Olympic routine to it. You cannot tell at all by watching this routine. Unfortunately, Anna always seemed to end up in fourth place and I feel as though she has never really recieved the acknowledgement that she deserves!

Anna Pavlova of Russia performs to 'Exodus' in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Stay tunned for part three, which will cover routines from 2009-present!

Fav Floor Routines Part 1- Golden Oldies

Article by Imogen Browne (@ImogenMireille)