Olympic Qualifiers

Happy New Years Eve Everyone! (Day to some people!)
The olympics are this year! 08-08-08!
To celebrate, here is the list of official Olympic qualifiers, excluding wild-cards since they haven't been chosen yet.

Full Teams
USA
China
Romania
Russia
Italy
Great Britian
France
Brazil
Ukraine
Germany
Australia
Japan

2 Gymnasts
North Korea
Canada
Spain

1 Gymnast
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Switzerland

Individual Gymnasts
Stefani Bismpikou [Greece]
Nastassia Marachkouiskaya [Belarus]
Veranica Wagner [Sweden]
Dorina Boczogo [Hungary]
Natalia Sanchez [Colombia]
Marisela Cantu [Mexico]
Hyun Joo Jop [South Korea]
Marta Pihan [Poland]
Gaelle Mys [Belgium]
Tina Erceg [Croatia]
Annamari Maaranen [Finland]
Jessica Lopez [Venuzuela]
Nikolina Tankoucheva [Bulgaria]
Vered Finkel [Isreal]
Sherine El Zeiny [Egypt]
Jelena Zanevskaja [Lithuania]

New Montage!

Hey everyone!
I just finished making my first montage in a loong time. It is of the floor exercise, everything wonderful about it. =]
The song is "Fly High (Voodoo&SeranoRMX)" by Ayumi Hamasaki. I really hope you enjoy it, I spent a lot of time on it, especially because Windows Movie Maker was acting up when I first started it.

Thanks for watching =]

Sloan Fever!

Lately, there has been a craze going on about Bridget Sloan.
She was named alternate to the 2007 Worlds Team, but nobody really noticed her until the Good Luck Beijing Event. I totally blanked on her when making the "USA Pickle" post, so she deserves a post.

She can really do good in Beijing, especially being the 3rd floor worker;

She has nice bars, but needs to upgrade her combinations for her to be in Team Finals for bars. If she works on that, she could possibly be the missing puzzle piece USA has been looking for.

Random Scores from Worlds.

So I was looking through the scores from qualifying at these years Worlds and found a few things that you might like.

Floor Exericse
-Shayla Worley scored a 14.650, was the 3rd best floor worker from the USA, and made it to 11th place, only 1 spot away from being a reserve.
-World Champion Shawn Johnson qualified 4th with a 15.150, .1 lower than in the finals.
-Cheng Fei, Alicia Sacramone, and Beth Tweddle all scored either the same or higher in qualifying on floor than Shawn Johnson did in event finals.
-Daria Joura and Shawn Johnson were given the same A-Scores in qualifying, same as Lauren Mitchell (6.100)
-Daiane Dos Santos was the highest qualifier from Brazil.
-The Lowest Score to make event finals was Jiang Yuyuan with a 14.750. Gymnasts Steliana Nistor, Yulia Lozhecko, and Daria Joura scored higher than that in the All-Around competition.

Uneven Bars
-In qualifications, Beth Tweddle qualified 3rd and Yang Yilin 4th. In finals, those switched.
-Three gymnasts qualified to the last spot of the final, but Hong Su Jong made it because she had the highest B-Score of the three [other two were Cha Yong Hwa and Daria Zgoba]
-Cha Yong Hwa had the highest A-Score on uneven bars in the competition with a 7.4
-The Lowest score in qualification to make the finals was Hong Su Jong's 15.525. Anja Brinker scored higher than this in the All-Around.

Balance Beam
-Lauren Mitchell qualified 11th, with the Top 8 going to the finals. But, because of the 2-Per Country rule, Sandra Izbasa, Alicia Sacramone, and Shayla Worley were all bumped out of the Top 8.
-Xiao Sha and Li Shanshan were the only 2 gymnasts who had A-Scores over 7.0
-The Lowest score in qualification to make the finals was 15.450 by Isabelle Severino and Lauren Mitchell. Vanessa Ferrari, Xiao Sha, and Yulia Lozhecko all scored higher than that in the AA Competition.

USA's Pickle.

Okay
So the USA is preparing for the Olympics, like all countries. They have 4 great gymnasts, who barring injury, will make the team *knock on wood*

Nastia Liukin - UB, BB
Shawn Johnson - VT, BB, FX
Alicia Sacramone - VT, FX
Shayla Worley - UB, BB

But, if you can count, you can see that the USA needs 1 more vaulter, 1 more floor worker, and 1 more bar worker.

The USA has plenty of gymnasts who can come just for vault. Peszek, Hong, Trani, Stageberg all have DTYs and can fill in for the team on that position. Hell, Worley has been working on a DTY and can end the need for a vault specialist. I'm not worried on that.

But, the bad part is on the Uneven Bars. Liukin and Worley are by far the best from the USA on this event, but thats where it ends. Johnson has a very mediocre routine compared to the rest of her events, except the Ray [double twisting double layout] dismount. The only two gymnasts that I think can come fill in on this spot would either be Jana Bieger or Darlene Hill. I feel at the moment that Memmel hasn't got enough of her skills back for this spot, but if she continues to work on her injury, she can.

And then, out pops the floor exericse. Shawn and Alicia are reigning Gold and Silver medalists respectivaly, but there really isn't anyone else that level. I would think the best bet would be either Jana Bieger or Chellsie Memmel. Both have the capabilites to score well on floor and post a low 15.

So then, after all that hubbub, here is my projected team for Beijing.

VT : Worley, Johnson, Sacramone
UB : Bieger, Worley, Liukin
BB : Worley, Liukin, Johnson
FX : Memmel, Johnson, Sacramone

ALT : Darlene Hill, Ivana Hong

Darlene could cover UB or FX if neccesary, Sacramone would cover for beam, Hong could cover for vault as she is probably the cleanest vaulter with a DTY from USA.

A Christmas Gift

Here
as my Christmas gift
I will delightfully share a video of my favorite junior in the world right now.
My favorite new favorite
Its the wonderful Peng Peng Lee [CAN]

She is the next Yvonne Tousek, Kate Richardson on the floor and beam. It seems weird, but every hugely great Canadian is good on both floor and beam, haha. Think about it, its true.

But, Peng Peng Lee has great routines, and is very promising for the 2008-2012 quad. If she stays pretty much uninjured, I think she will have a very successful career ahead of her.

Lets Start Out With...

Chellsie Memmel
Yes, Chellsie Memmel.
The great American gymnast who won the 2005 World Championships All Around.
Is back.
With a phloof.
Most of everyone has already seen this
But if you haven't, I warn you its not for the faint-hearted.
Her new floor routine;

Its pretty much horrible. I apologize in advance if your ears were bleeding.
Anyway, its Marta to the rescue! She is making Chellsie get a new routine, because "it didn't get the reaction we wanted." I'm guessing she was expecting something good?

And seriously, Antiona Markov (i think thats her name, I'm too lazy to look), what happened?
Remember when you choreographed Allyse Ishino and Courtney Kupets' routines?
Remember how totally rad they were
Think back to those days
And actually choreograph something good for Chellsie. She is a phenomenal gymnast, and she deserves more than "I Love Rock & Roll" and arm-waving.

Why hello there

This would be the first post of my [Penguin888] new blog of gymnastics.
Choosing a title was very hard. Don't give me crap because I do like Stick It.

And, if you don't know what blogging is, I will basically be posting random opinions on the graceful sport of gymnastics. I don't really care if you don't agree with my opinions, as they are my opinions. =]

Merry Christmas Eve;
-Justin