I can hardly believe it's 2014 and that we are already half-way through the next Olympic Cycle! It is an exciting year for gymnastics with the Commonwealth Games and the Youth Olympic Games both being held this year. Here is my wishlist for 2014, enjoy!
New Zealand's Jordan Rae, hoping to compete at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
10. Australia sends an entire team to Worlds
I don't know about you, but I was quite disappointed not to see any Aussies at the 2013 World Championships. While they may not be one of the top teams, they have great innovation and style (think Canada) and are fun to watch.
The Aussie girls had a disappointing Olympics and failed to qualify to the team final (credit: The Australian)
9. Stanford makes the top five
Currently ranked #8 I reckon Stanford can do much better! They had a good start to the season, winning over the Georgia Gymdogs.
The 2014 SWG team (credit: SWG Facebook page)
8. No more ACL tears!
I know this isn't really possible, but I am fed up with gymnasts getting this injury, that takes them out for the season. To name a few: Gabby Jupp, Kim Janas, Peng peng Lee, Julie Crocket and Sam Peszek.
7. A Triple Turning Yurchenko in Competition
Will it be Biles, Maroney or someone else?
6. Dowell and Price on the Worlds Team for USA
These girls are both phenomenal gymnasts and should be given the chance to represent the US at Worlds. 2013 does not count for Brenna.
Brenna and Ebee with Kyla, McKayla and Simone (credit: USA Gymnastics)
5. Nush to win beam for UCLA at NCAA's!
I mean, that dismount. Have you seen it?
4. For Russia to get it together!
Russia had a very up and down year, with the illness of Komova, the issues over Grishina, Afan's injury, the dismissal of Pavs, the retirement of Demy and Nabs. I know we can't expect world domination like in 2010, but somebody has to challenge the Americans!
Anna Rodinova- Russia's hopes for the future?
3. For Roxana Popa to win Spain's first AA medal since I don't know when
This girl is looking good, and she's only going to get better!
2. A strong performance from the Kiwi girls at the Commonwealths
This team will be our strongest team ever, things are looking exciting for NZ elite gymnastics!
Some members of the NZ Commonwealth Games squad (credit: CSG gymnastics)
1. That Viktoria Komova transitions gracefully through her growth spurt
The young Russian has grown up since the Olympics (let's hope in terms of maturity also!). Hopefully the extra height will make her even more graceful than she is already.
Anyone else miss this? I sure do!
That's about it. Can't wait to see if these come true!
A handful of Britain's young gymnasts descended on Glasgow last weekend, to take part in the 2013 Espoir competition, a meet held adjoined with the World Cup. All girls competing were either 12 or 13 years old. I was fortunate enough to watch both the all-around competition and the apparatus finals which were held on Friday and Saturday evenings respectively. I did not know much about the competitors, with the exception of Catherine Lyons and Teal Grindle, so I was content to sit back and become familiar with the athletes. I was very impressed with the maturity of the performances of many of the young athletes, and was delighted to see many expressive, confident and creative routines.
All-around competition
1st Catherine Lyons (Europa) 56.20
2nd Teal Grindle (Sapphire) 55.65
3rd Lucy Stanhope (City of Liverpool) 50.25
4th Louise McColgan (Largs) 50.15
5th Latalia Bevan (St. Tydfils) 49.60
6th Claudia Barkes (South Durham) 48.85
7th Alice Kinsella (Park Wrekin) 48.80
8th Maisie Methuen (Phoenix) 48.10
Lyons and Grindle were really a league above everyone else, with the two of them claiming the top two spots on every apparatus. Both girls had falls on bar, but in the end it was Catherine who claimed the top overall score. Nevertheless, it is obvious that these two young talents have a bright future ahead. Catherine has gorgeous lines, dynamic releases on bar and beautiful beam and floor choreography. Teal has already mastered many difficult skills across the board and has clean execution to boot! She is a confident performer and a very determined young lady- after a very nasty fall from bar on the second day she got back up to finish and performed a fantastic full-twisting double back dismount.
All-around medalists from the 2013 Glasgow Espoir competition, Catherine, Teal and Lucy
Here is Catherine's bar routine from the all-around final, the height on her geinger is amazing! Score 12.60
Teal's charismatic floor routine from the all-around competition. Score 13.75
Bronze medal winner Lucy Stanhope from City of Liverpool is another strong all-arounder and a very clean and elegant gymnast. See her here in the beam finals. Many of the Espoirs were doing this mount, I am unsure of the difficulty rating, but it certainly looks cool! Also doing very well was Scottish Louise McColgan. Also a very neat gymnast, she is especially fun to watch on floor. You can see her routine here.
Apparatus Finals
Teal warming up on floor
Catherine warming up on beam
Louise McColgan showing great flexibility in her leaps
Bronze medal winner Holly Jones on floor. Holly is another gymnast with gorgeous long lines!
Vault
1st Catherine Lyons 13.95
2nd Teal Grindle 13.65
3rd Maisie Methuen 13.55
Bar
1st= Catherine Lyons and Alice Kinsella 13.00
3rd Teal Grindle 12.7 (fall)
Beam
1st Catherine Lyons 14.90
2nd Lucy Stanhope 13.60
3rd Amelia Montague 13.55
Floor
1st Catherine Lyons 14.75
2nd Teal Grindle 13.70
3rd Holly Jones and Latalia Bevan 13.50
Most of the vaults being performed were piked/ layout yurchenkos, Teal and Catherine both did FTY as their first vaults. Saw a few tsukaharas as well as one handspring front. Most of the girls are too small to be performing difficult vaults, but I'm sure they will come as they get older- they are only 12 and 13!
Overall I was very impressed by the talent on bar. Britain now has a strong reputation for bar, thanks to the likes of Beth Tweddle, Becky Downie and Ruby Harrold who have done very well on the world stage. This batch of Espoirs can definitely follow in their footsteps. Beams were also good, with reasonable difficulty. Catherine had a great routine, for which she was rewarded with a 14.90!
Most impressive of all were the floor routines. All finalists showed very polished routines, there were no major mistakes. These girls already look like professional gymnasts and have real artistic flair! I think that allowing gymnasts at such a young age to compete on a podium (in an arena like the Glasgow World Cup one) is a great experience for them, and really will help to build their confidence for the coming years of senior competition.
Catherine's winning floor routine
Article by Imogen Browne (follow on twitter @Iflip4gymblog)
The 2013 Glasgow World Cup took place this weekend at the Emirates arena, and I was lucky enough to attend! It was tight at the top, where defending champion Elizabeth Price (USA) fell uncharacteristically on her Amanar vault, leaving the door wide open for Larisa Iordache (ROM). A fall from Iordache on her layout 1/1 on beam was not enough to prevent her from taking the title over Price, winning by a margin of 0.6 points. 23-year old Vanessa Ferrari of Italy was again impressive, taking the bronze medal with a respectable total of 56.633.
The fall from Ebee on vault I guess was a lapse in concentration, she normally has no problems with it and had indeed successfully completed an Amanar in warmups. But a lower score of 14.233 compared to Larisa's 14.766 for a clean DTY put her at a disadvantage from the start. The youngest competitior, Spanish Roxana Popa also ran into trouble on vault where she only performed a layout yurchenko instead of a (double twisting?) that she is capable of. Ferlito (ITA) was also clearly injured, she was having problems with on of her ankles in all of the warmup vaults. Asuka Teramoto from Japan debuted a new vault, which she spent much of the general warmup time perfecting. She was the only competitor not to compete a yurchenko.
Ebee's warmup Amanar
Teramoto's vault
Bar
Bar was a disappointing rotation for both of the British girls, Ruby and Raer who both peeled off. Ferlito who was clearly having an off day also fell. Was really nice to see her helping straight afterwards prepare the bars for Vanessa. Both girls also pulled each other's springboards away- they hardly needed a coach on the floor! Iordache again scraped through another routine, Popa and Teramoto were good, but the highlight was definitely Ebee. That girl is so powerful and so strong that she makes it look easy! She was rewarded with a 14.833 for this routine. I reckon she should be in the lineup for bars at the 2014 Team World Championships.
Ebee rocking bars
Beam
Good routines from both British girls here, although sadly not the difficulty to bring in the big marks. Iordache received the top score here, 14.10 even with the fall on the layout 1/1. I guess the difficulty and the 'wow' factor is worth the risk for her. She also seems to have trouble with this pass when there is no twist, so why not chuck it in? Price and Ferrari were also impressive here.
Clean and stylish routine from Ruby, but lacking in difficulty to bring in the big numbers. Great experience for her though, and the crowd loved it!
Another professional and confident performance from Ferrari, she just keeps getting better!
Floor
The excitement was high in the last rotation, with Men's high bar running simultaneously. The audience was very involved and clapped many of the gymnasts through their routines. I would like to give a special mention to Ferrari. I like her floor routine and I enjoy watching videos. But at the top of the stands I was captivated by her! She really performs the routine, which makes a difference to some other gymnasts who just go through the motions. She was captivating! Also worth a mention is Larisa's artistic routine, where the leaps and tumbling stand out. I also love the choreography and all of the smiles! Ebee was her usual impressive self with dynamic tumbling and powerful dance. Popa is also very expressive for such a young gymnast and has great tumbling. I'm so pleased for her success this year and am looking forwards to seeing her grow over the next quad.
Roxana (in a fabulous leotard) on floor
Larisa tumbling, smiling and leaping her way to gold
Vanessa's impressive floor performance and a well deserved bronze medal!
Results
1. IORDACHE, Larisa (ROM) 57.932
2. PRICE, Elizabeth (USA) 57.365
3. FERRARI, Vanessa (ITA) 56.633
4. TERAMOTO, Asuka (JAP) 54.866
5. POPA NEDELCU, Roxana (ESP) 54.532
6. FERLITO, Carlotta (ITA) 51.866
7. HARROLD, Ruby (GBR) 51.432
8. THEAKER, Raer (GBR) 50.632
The biggest congratulations has to go to Iordache, who has had a grueling month of back-to-back competitions and managed to put it all together to win in Glasgow. She did have a disappointing fall on beam, but her overall difficulty and consistency prevailed in the end- well done Larisa!
Was pleased to see Ebee up there as well, it hasn't been an easy year for her, having to recover from injuries to both hips. Expect her to be back in full force for 2014!
Also to Ferrari- what a competitor! Although it seems as though she is at then end of her career, she seems to be getting better and better- such an inpiration! We hope to see her continue, Italy needs her consistency and leadership.
To top things off, I was lucky enough to meet Beth Tweddle, my favourite (sorry everyone else) British Olympian! We were stoked.
Shona, Beth and I after the competition
Article by Imogen Browne (Follow on twitter @ImogenMireille)
Roxana Popa is a Romanian born first year senior who made her debut competing for Spain at the European Championships and the World Championships this year. She showed promise as a Junior and competed well at the 2012 Junior European Championships, where she qualified to the vault and all-around final (11th place).
Romanian-born Popa competes for Spain (credit: FIG)
Roxana was one of the standout rookie gymnasts at the 2013 World Championships held last month in Antwerp, Belgium. She was particularly impressive on bars where she has a strong swing and and floor where she shows much class and charisma for a young gymnast. She finished in 12th position with 53.366 behind Italy's Carlota Ferlito and Canada's Victoria Moors. Not bad at all for a first year senior!
Here she is on bars at Worlds
Here is her qualification floor routine from Worlds
Roxana is a very strong gymnast, which is clear from her bar work and her powerful vaulting and tumbling. She is also a strong all-arounder and is a great hope for Spain (who qualified strong teams to the Olympic finals in 2000 and 2004). It is lovely to see another Spanish gymnast achieving good results on the World stage. We hope to see you at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Roxana, keep up the great work! Also see her responses to The Couch Gymnast's 15 Questions here Article by Imogen Browne (Follow me on Twitter @IFlip4GymBlog)
The Gymsports National Championships were held in Napier, New Zealand last week, where we got a chance to see how the elites are progressing. Five girls, all from Christchurch School of Gymnastics competed in the Junior section: Charlotte Sullivan, Hanna Malloch, Mackenzie Slee, Courtney McGregor and Millie Williamson
The all-around competition was close, with less than 0.1 between 1st and 2nd, and just over a point between the top three. 1st- Charlotte Sullivan, 47.533 2nd- Millie Williamson, 47.460 3rd- Courtney McGregor, 46.433 4th- Mackenzie Slee, 45.677 5th- Hanna Malloch, 44.167 All girls scored 13+ on vault and were generally stronger on floor and beam than bars. Millie did extremely well in the event finals, taking home 3 of the 4 possible golds (BB (1st=), UB and FX). Courtney was 1st on vault, 2nd on floor and third on bars. Charlotte was 1st on beam and 3rd on bars, Mackenzie 2nd on vault and bars and Hanna 3rd on floor. Vault 1st- Courtney McGregor 13.450 2nd- Mackenzie Slee 13.15
Bar 1st- Millie Williamson 11.500 2nd- Mackenzie Slee 11.067 3rd- Charlotte Sullivan 10.867 Beam 1st= Charlotte Sullivan 12.500 1st= Millie Williamson 12.500 3rd- Corurtney McGregor 12.45 Floor 1st- Millie Williamson 13.433 2nd- Courtney McGregor 13.10 3rd- Hanna Malloch 12.87 Overall a great effort for the juniors, they are looking very good, with both new skills and higher scores as they look forwards to the Commonwealth Games next year in Glasgow. It is great to see them adding more difficulty to their routines, they have plenty of time to iron out the mistakes! Here is Courtney on floor, trying out a double arabian as her opening tumbling pass. She also tries some daring release moves on bar and overall has great swing- a lot of potential there!
Courtney McGregor on floor, competing for Christchurch (3rd AA)
Courtney trying out some newer skills on bars
The girls also competed in the Australian Nationals earlier this year, presumably to gain some competitive experience. They produced good results there, Mackenzie 3rd on vault, Charlotte 3rd on bars and floor.
Millie's lovely floor from the all-around finals at the 2013 Australian Nationals
Charlotte's beam routine from the all-around
And Charlotte on bar, where she shows good difficulty and a great double layout dismount!
Hanna shows off her lines on floor (AYOF 2013- couldn't find a more recent video!)
And finally watch Mackenzie's floor from the Australian nationals here
The gymnastics World Championships only happen once every year, and the gymternet always explodes with live hits, blogging, tweeting, you name it! This year is no exception, where competition is in the beautiful city of Antwerp, Belgium. Although I am not there to see the action myself, much information from numerous bloggers is available; The Couch Gymnast, the Gymnastics Examiner- Blythe Lawrence and Gymnastike among many! Thanks in advance for the great work that you always do! Here I have outlined some of the highlights from the Qualifications round.
9- Chuso (Oksana Chusovitina- GER) On Vault
Ok, this woman is amazing. She has been competing at the international level since before most of her fellow competitors were born, and she's still producing vaults like these to qualify for World Championships vault finals- respect.
Chuso, the gymnastics legend! Qualified 6th into the VT final
8- Mustafina's Bars (RUS)
Aliya, the most decorated gymnast of the Russian Olympic Team in London had a very rough qualifying round (although somehow managed to qualify for BB final with a very sub-par routine). She somewhat redeemed herself on bars by pulling off this excellent routine, complete with a daring new transition from low to high bars. Let us hope that she gets it together for the AA final. I have faith that she will, because she is Mustafina.
I could watch her on bars all day. Qualified 5th into the final
7- Ellie Black's Floor (CAN)
Really enjoyed this Canadian's floor routine, a very polished performance with great expression, music and tumbling to match. Thankfully we will get to see it again in the finals, Ellie qualified in 8th place! Team-mate Victoria Moors sadly faltered on her new I-rated (read: impossibly difficult) double-twisting double layout, and did not advance to finals. We will see both Ellie and Victoria in the AA finals.
6- Iordache on Beam (ROM)
Come on, you know you love her! After an extremely long wait on the podium, Iordache went up and rocked this beam routine. I love watching Romanians on beam, you can really relax and enjoy the routine! She is one of my favourites both for the AA and the beam and floor finals. I wonder if she will add a full-twist to her layout for finals...
Very confident performance from Larisa on beam- top qualifier to the beam final
5- Best Newcomer- Roxana Popa (ESP)
Roxana Popa, a Romanian-born gymnast who cpmpetes for Spain has been on the radar for a while as a Junior gymnast. She delivered today to qualify in 10th position for the all-around final. I'm pretty sure this is the highest a Spanish gymnast has finished for a while, she is a great hope for the country! I particularly enjoyed her floor routine, where she shows a real flourish for matching her dance with the music. Tumbling is pretty great too!
Popa's great floor routine today, contributing to a good all-around finish
4- McKayla Maroney is back (USA)
An unsual choice for the US to compete McKayla Maroney as an all-arounder, nevertheless she did well apart from a fall on beam. Interesting to see her on other apparatuses besides vault, which she is still amazing at by the way. I am sure that she will successfully defend her World Championships title on vault this year.
Freaking incredible. Do the triple already! Top qualifier to vault final (only final due to the 3 per country rule)
3- Duo from Great Britian in Bars Final!- Ruby Harrold and Becky Downie
These two gymnasts from GB have both had trouble with their bar routines this year, but both pulled out excellent routines to qualify for the bars final! This is a great achievement for Team GB and we wish both girls all the best for finals!
Becky on bars (4th place qualifier)
Ruby qualified in 7th place, love her unique transitions!
2- Izbasa (ROM) and Yao (CHI) doing what they do best
Beautiful music, beautiful choreography and beautiful tumbling from Romanian veteran Sandra Izbasa. She will be looking to medal on floor after a disappointing mistake during the 2012 Olympic Games on floor. She is a real treat to watch on this event, and this very well may be the last we see of her :(
So elegant, so Sandra, love it!
What would a World Championships be without the Chinese on bars? Beautiful routine from Yao Jinnan (3rd qualifier to all-around), who qualified in first place AND is capable of adding the Mo salto to her routine (wonder if we will see it in competition?). Would love to see her win the bars title in Antwerp.
1- Simone Biles- A name to remember (USA)
This bubbly first-year senior powerhouse from the US will be World Champion on Thursday if she hits 4/4, which she is certainly capable of doing. She also qualified to ALL FOUR event finals. Think Shawn Johnson in 2007, she is hands-down the best gymnast in the World right now. Go Simone!
Best event of the day for Simone was floor, it's going to make for an exciting all-around final (floor competed last)
Should be a good World Championships!
Article by Imogen Browne (Follow on Twitter @IFlip4GymBlog)
Team USA today announced that only three athletes, Kyla Ross, Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney would compete on all four events in the qualifications early next week. Nothing was said of the fourth team member, Brenna Dowell, who is now 'the alternate'. This is certainly a shocking heartbreaking decision for Brenna, who was clearly expecting to have a chance to compete. Watch her emotional interview with gymnastike here
Sadly we won't be seeing Brenna on bars in Antwerp
The World Championships this year is an individual affair, with no team competition to take place. Each country is allowed to put up three athletes on each event, a maximum of two can qualify for the finals. Simone and Kyla are obviously locks for the all-around. Current World Champion McKayla Maroney is somewhat a specialist on the power events, whereas Brenna is strong everywhere, especially on bars.
Maroney has been named as the 3rd all-around athlete, despite clear weaknesses on bars and beam. I am happy that she has the chance to see how she stacks up at an international competition, but am really scratching my head over the decision to put her into the all-around, when Dowell has a really good shot at qualifying for the bars final. Maroney could still compete on vault and floor. What's more, Maroney is unlikely to qualify for the all-around final if Biles and Ross hit.
Why would Marta pass up the opportunity to give Brenna some valuable World-stage experience, when Maroney has already had bucketloads? If it was always the intention that Brenna was to be an alternate, why get her hopes up and name her to the team in the first place? Many US athletes could have filled the fourth spot on the team, but Brenna showed the consistency and determination required. Imagine all of those months of hard training, all of that sacrifice, the joy of making the team, only to then to find out that you have traveled halfway across the world to be an alternate. It's just plain cruel and Brenna deserves more than that. I bet her coaches are fuming, I would be too. Brenna will be an excellent team player over the next quad, she has great execution and can produce good routines on any apparatus. Let's hope 2014 will be her year.
Article by Imogen Browne (Follow on Twitter @Iflip4gymblog)
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