TONIGHT

It starts. You heard me right, not 08-08-08, but tonight.
At 11:00PM Central Time, Men's Podium Training will be broadcasted on the NBCOlympics website. Thursday at 12:30AM Central Time will be the Women's Podium Training.
Unfortunally, it's only the rotations in which the USA are participating in.

So, tonight: you can be watching these teams training in preperation for the competition that starts this weekend.

Italy
Spain
USA
Mixed Group 2 (Alexander Shatilov, Daniel Keatings, Louis Smith, Anton Fokin, Jorge Hugo Giraldo)
Mixed Group 3 (Leszek Blanik, Claudio Capelli, Christoph Schaerer, Epke Zonderland)
Mixed Group 6 (Mohammad Serour, Vlasios Maras, Iilia Giorgadze, Nashwan Al Hazari)

And Thursday, these WAG teams will be training.

USA
Italy
Great Britian
Japan.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=167368.html#live+mens+gymnastics+tonight

My Predicitons for Beijing.

Since all the gymnasts competing in the Olympics have been announced, I would like to add my predicitions for every WAG event in Beijing. Type Beijing, for some reason it's very fun: Beijing, Beijing, Beijing. Okay, here we go :]

Team Competition
1. China
2. United States of America
3. Russia
4. Romania
5. Brazil
6. France
7. Ukraine
8. Japan
9. Australia
10. Great Britian
11. Italy
12. Germany

China and the USA have been the two teams to watch for at these Olympics. They both have gold and silver locked up unless a disaster happens (say, Kramarenko last year). China is going in with over a point in A-Score advantage, along with the home-crowd advantage. Amazing stuff happens in your homecrowd, just like the USA team in Atlanta 1996. I'm giving them the favour over the USA right now.

Third and fourth place are going to be fought between Russia and Romania. Romania's been weakening ever since the addition of the new code-of-points. In 2006, they placed fourth as a team and last year they placed third after Russia took themselves completely out of the running. Also, Steliana Nistor, one of Romania's key gymnasts, was wearing a back-brace as she warmed up beam at the Meditteranean Cup a few weeks ago. Romania is known for pulling amazing competitions out of thin air, but I don't think it'll be enough for a medal this time.

Brazil's team has been looking stronger and stronger since their explosion onto the gymnastics scene in 2001. They placed fifth last year in Stuttgart, and key members like Daiane Dos Santos and Lais Souza have recovered from their injuries last year. Along with other members: Daniele Hypolito, Ana Claudia Silva, Jade Barbosa, and Ethiene Franco, the team has been upgrading so much (and staying consistant) with a few more upgrades planned for Beijing.

France looked strong at the 2008 European Championships, grabbing the bronze medal in the team event. Ukraine has always been a very strong team, but their inconsistancy has kept them from medaling (Ukraine was the third placed team after qualifications in 2006). They're collective goal these Olympics is too make the team finals again after being short last year in Stuttgart.

And Japan (this is where a slight bias comes in :] ). Japan has also been looking strong all year, with all-around high scores on beam and floor. They don't have standouts on very many events A-Score wise (with the exception of Koko Tsurumi on beam and Mayu Kuroda on bars), but their overall level has improved greatly since last years worlds.

All - Around
1. Yang Yilin
2. Chellsie Memmel
3. Jiang Yuyuan

Both the Chinese gymnasts have been looking great all this year. Jiang Yuyuan (as of now) has the highest A-Score total of any gymnast, but she has the pressure of being "the all-arounder" for China, and she's inconsistant on beam. Yang Yilin doesn't have the pressure of being "the all-arounder" but China knows she's their best chance for an AA medal. When China announces their teams, they announce in order of importance, and in this announcement, Yang Yilin was second after Cheng Fei.

Chellsie Memmel is like Yang Yilin in the sense that they both don't have as much pressure as their teammates. Chellsie is liked and scored well by internation judges, and adding in a few of Shawn's skills that don't look like they will be credited in Beijing (the Amanar vault and the Whip+Triple as the main concerns) and Nastia's inconsistancy on bars and floor, having Chellsie, who's consistant and has intelligant upgrades, it isn't that far of a chance to be able to compete in the final. And with her consistancy, a medal is likely for her. The only thing that may stop this chance is if Marta Karolyi doesn't put Chellsie up on vault in prelims.

Vault Finals
1. Hong Su Jong
2. Cheng Fei
3. Hong Un Jong
4. Alicia Sacramone
5. Oksana Chusovitina
6. Jade Barbosa
7. Carlotta Giovannini
8. Ariella Kaeslin

Rumours of Cheng Fei have not looked pretty for her. She's been growing and it's reported that she's not getting as high as usual on all her skills. This might take away the gold from her. Hong Su Jong got silver last year at Worlds (with some, including myself, thinking she was robbed of gold). Hong Un Jong, Su Jong's twin and teammate placed fourth last year with a watered-down vault (DTY instead of an Amanar).

Bar Finals
1. He Kexin
2. Beth Tweddle
3. Yang Yilin
4. Nastia Liukin
5. Ksenia Semenova
6. Marie-Sophie Hindermann
7. Chellsie Memmel
8. Steliana Nistor

He Kexin has hit every single bar routine this year. And with some of the best form and one of the highest difficulty routines, the gold is practically hers. Beth Tweddle has the highest difficulty right now (7.8), but that won't stop Kexin from overtaking her. Yang Yilin also has 7.7 and her execution is better than Nastia's, which leaves her with bronze.

Beam Finals
1. Li Shanshan
2. Anna Pavlova
3. Alicia Sacramone
4. Nastia Liukin
5. Sandra Izbasa
6. Irina Krasnianska
7. Koko Tsurumi
8. Steliana Nistor

Li Shanshan's hit rate on beam skyrocketed after she took out the Y-Turn. She's hit every routine since changing her turn. And with (possibly) the highest A-Score on beam, she's unstoppable. Anna Pavlova also have the capabilities of a high A-Score, and like Li Shanshan, she's consistant and has nice form. Alicia Sacramone has upped her game here, wanting to make and medal on beam as one of her goals. She scored the same as both Shawn and Nastia (who both had very nice routines) with one with some balance-checks at the recent camp.

Floor Finals
1. Daiane Dos Santos
2. Sandra Izbasa
3. Chellsie Memmel
4. Dasha Joura
5. Alicia Sacramone
6. Jiang Yuyuan
7. Beth Tweddle
8. Jade Barbosa

Daiane dos Santos will likely have the most difficulty in Beijing. With a 6.7 A-Score in her grasp, and Sandra Izbasa's recent downgrading back to her 6.5 routine, a hit routine from Dos Santos could likely mean gold. Sandra Izbasa's clean landings and high difficulty will gain her the bronze, and Chellsie Memmel's recent upgraded 6.5 routine will get her the bronze, but not silver because of Chellsie's slight form issues.

And there they are! My predicitions for Beijing. We only have 12 days until the Olympics! (counting from Monday, July 28th).

If this girl doesn't make beam finals...

in Beijing, I'm going to cry.

Koko Tsurumi - 2007 Toyota Cup EF

The Women Competing At The Olympics

It seems to me that every single WAG gymnast has been announced that's competing in the Olyympics. Keep in mind though that these are nominative rosters and countries have up until 24 hours until the games start to change their team.

Full Teams
USA
Chellsie Memmel, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Sam Peszek, Alicia Sacramone, Bridget Sloan
China
Cheng Fei, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, Deng Linlin
Romania
Sandra Izbasa, Steliana Nistor, Andrea Acatrinei, Anamaria Tamarjan, Andrea Grigore, Gabriela Dragoi
Russia
Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Pavlova, Daria Elizarova, Svetlana Klyukina, Ekaterina Kramerenko
Italy
Vanessa Ferrari, Monica Bergamelli, Carlotta Giovannini, Sara Bradaschia, Lia Parolari, Francesca Benolli
Great Britian
Beth Tweddle, Beckie Downie, Becky Wing, Hannah Whelan, Marissa King, Imogen Cairns
France
Pauline Morel, Marine Petit, Laëtitia Dugain, Cassy Véricel, Marine Debauve, Katheleen Lindor
Brazil
Daiane Dos Santos, Jade Barbosa, Daniele Hypolito, Ana Claudia Silva, Lais Souza, Ethiene Franco
Ukraine
Alina Kozich, Valentina Holenkova, Daria Zgoba, Irina Krasnyanska, Marina Proskurina, Anastasia Koval
Germany
Oksana Chusovitina, Joeline Mobius, Daria Bijak, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Anja Brinker, Katja Abel
Australia
Daria Joura, Shona Morgan, Lauren Mitchell, Ashleigh Brennan, Georgia Bonora, Olivia Vivian
Japan
Kyoko Oshima, Mayu Kuroda, Miki Uemura, Koko Tsurumi, Yuu Minobe, Yuko Shintake

2 Gymnasts
North Korea
Hong Su Jong, Hong Un Jong
Canada
Nansy Damianova, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs
Spain
Lenika De Simone, Laura Campos

1 Gymnast
Czech Republic
Kristina Palesova
Netherlands
Suzanne Harmes
Switzerland
Ariella Kaeslin

Individual Qualifiers
Stefani Bismpikou [Greece]
Nastassia Marachkouiskaya [Belarus]
Adela Sajn [Slovenia]
Dorina Boczogo [Hungary]
Natalia Sanchez [Colombia]
Marisela Cantu [Mexico]
Hyun Joo Jop [South Korea]
Marta Pihan [Poland]
Gaelle Mys [Belgium]
Tina Erceg [Croatia]
Luisa Galiulina [Uzbekistan]
Jessica Lopez [Venuzuela]
Nikolina Tankoucheva [Bulgaria]
Ivana Kovacova [Slovakia]
Sherine El Zeiny [Egypt]
Jelena Zanevskaja [Lithuania]

Wild Card
Do Thi Ngan [Vietnam]

Ridiculous Comments about Gymnastics

This post is slightly rant-ish. No, I won't lie to myself; this is pretty much as rant. I apologize in advance =D



"The way [Chellsie Memmel] holds her hands and wrists should be a deduction."

-International Gymnast Editor Amanda Turner

No, you can't be serious, can you? Sure, Chellsie doesn't have the most artistic routine, but deductions for the placements of her hands? That's ridiculous. I can't believe that comment was actually posted on their site.

"I have nothing against pygmies -- just youngsters who go out of their way to grow no bigger than pygmies. [about gymnasts]"

-LA Times Columnist TJ Simers

Does this statement even deserve a reply? Gymnasts aren't these little three foot creatures wondering around in the forest doing giants on tree branches and flips on mushrooms. And I'm pretty sure they don't try to be short. They grow to the height the majority of their family does, loose about 2-4 inches from gymnastics, and work with what they got. This guy obviously hasn't seen Svetlana Khorkina.

"Female gymnasts are usually washed out for serious competition by the age of 18, if not 16."

-BlogCritics Writer Natalie Bennet

Before we even get to this statement, I would like to add that the title of the article in which this quote came from is called Why Gymnastics Should Be Banned. Banned? The entire sport? Wow. Now, back to this quote. This journalist obviously doesn't know that to compete in world competition, you have to be sixteen (proved by another quote you'll see later). She also doesn't know that at least four of the six gymnasts to be on the USA olympic team will be over eighteen. (Alicia Sacramone, Chellsie Memmel, Nastia Liukin, most likely Jana Bieger). Let's continue with this gem.

"The answer surely is to limit the age of participation - should children of 12 really be competing in Olympics and World Championships?"

-BlogCritic's Writer Natalie Bennet

Now, from this statement alone, you can see the painstaking hours of reasearch this writer put into this article - or lack of research. At this moment, you have to be sixteen to participate in any Olympics or World Championships (Bruno Grandi changed it so there isn't any exceptions, not even for the pre-Olympic worlds. This change starts next quad). The youngest World Champion known (at least to me) is Daniela Silivas, the 1985 Worlds Beam champion, when she was thirteen at the time. Not even twelve! Where did this lady get that number from? I guess only she and whoever visits her little magical world will ever know.

More Announced Teams Compared to My Predictions

April 27, 2008 is when I made these predictions on who I thought will make the Olympic team.
Of the teams that have been announced, the ones I got right are highlighted in blue, the wrong ones are in red. The corrections are made a line below in italics and in green.

USA
Nastia Liukin; Shawn Johnson; Alicia Sacramone; Shayla Worley; Jana Bieger; Chellsie Memmel
CHN
Cheng Fei; Jiang Yuyuan; Yang Yilin; He Kexin; Xiao Sha; Sui Lu
RUS
Yelena Zamolodchikova; Anna Pavlova; Yulia Lozhecko; Liudmilla Grebenkova; Ksenia Semenova; Anna Myzdrikova
ROM
Steliana Nistor, Sandra Izbasa, Gabreila Dragoi, Anamaria Tamarjan, Cerasela Patrascu, Daniela Druncea
Acatrinei, Grigore
UKR
Alina Kozich, Irina Krasnianska, Olga Sherbatykh, Dariya Zgoba, Anastasia Koval, Valentina Holenkova
ITA
Francesca Bennolli, Carlotta Giovannini, ?????, Vanessa Ferrari, Lia Parolari, Monica Bergamelli
FRA
Marine Petit, Cassy Vericel, Pauline Morel, Laetitia Dugain, Kathleen Lindor, ?????
Marine Debauve
JAP
Koko Tsurumi, Miki Uemura, Kyoko Oshima, Keiko Mukumoto, He Xuemei, Mayu Kuroda
Yuko Shintake, Yu Minobe
AUS
Daria Joura, Ashleigh Brennon, Lauren Mitchell, Shona Morgan, Olivia Vivian, Chloe Sims
Georgia Bonora
GER
Oksana Chusovitina, Kim Bui, Joeline Mobius, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Katja Abel, Jenny Brunner
Anja Brinker, Daria Bijak
BRA
Ana Claudia Silva, Daiane Dos Santos, Jade Barbosa, Daniele Hypolito, Lais Souza, Khiuani Dias
Ethiene Franco
GBR
Beth Tweddle, Becky Downie, Hannah Clowes, Marissa King, Imogen Cairns, Laura Jones
Wheelan, Wing
PRK
Hong Su Jong, Hong Un Jong
CAN
Nansy Damianova, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs
ESP
Lenika De Simone, Patricia Moreno
Patricia Moreno has retired since I made these predictions, however the Spanish team has not been announced.
CZE
Kristina Palesova
NED
Suzanne Harmes
SUI
Ariella Kaeslin

Olympic Teams.

Announcements of Olympic Teams have been dwindling in for the last month. So far, this is what (I've been aware off) that has been announced.

JPN: Kyoko Oshima, Koko Tsurumi, Miki Uemura, Mayu Kuroda, Yu Minobe, Yuko Shintake
GER: Oksana Chusovitina, Marie Sophie Hindermann, Daria Bijak, Anja Brinker, Katja Abel, Jolene Mobius
FRA: Marine Petit, Pauline Morel, Laëtitia Dugain, Cassy Véricel, Marine Debauve, Katheleen Lindor
PRK: Hong Su Jong, Hong Un Jong
CAN: Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Nansy Damianova

The Women Going to Olympic Trials

Are (in no particular order)....

1. Shawn Johnson
2. Nastia Liukin
3. Alicia Sacramone
4. Samantha Peszek
5. Jana Bieger
6. Ivana Hong
7. Mackenzie Caquatto
8. Corrie Lothrop
9. Randy Stageberg
10. Britney Ranzy
11. Chellsie Memmel
12. Alaina Johnson
13. Shayla Worley
14. Chelsea Davis
15. Darling Hill
16. Bridget Sloan
17. Mattie Larson
18. Olivia Courtney
19. Amber Trani

Congratulations to all of these gymnasts for their hard work and determination!

USA Olympic Contenders.

allyelite, a member of the WWGym forum created this wonderful montage featuring every single contender for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Team. It's a phenomenal montage, a must-watch.

RAWR::[DDS]

Daiane Dos Santos
made her 2008 debut, first competition after surgery
with the same routine she performed at Worlds last year.
A watered down routine with no double arabian.

So yeah, I'm kinda sad
I'm still hoping she is up to full strength by Beijing.
There are rumours going around saying she'll have the Chusovitina and a Whip + Double Layout by the Olympics (omg, Maloney #2)
I just hope she gets the gold.
Oh, and the last rumour?
That she is training the Produnova vault.

History Was Made [12.Apr.2008]

He Kexin made history last saturday
At the recent Cottbus World Cup.
Her score on uneven bars
Is the highest score I've ever seen in gymnastics.
If you don't know.
She scored a fabulous;;
16.850

*and sorry this was late, my computer is acting strange :D

Pacific Rim! <3

The Pacific Rim competition was held this weekend (29.Mar - 30.Mar)
And I have to say, I'm very pleased with the results (although some things went south)
Number 1. JANA BIEGER WON BARS! Nastia screwed up, majorily. She fell on her gienger, messed up her Pak Salto for the second night in a row, and landed very low on her double front half out, resulting in a score of 15.225 (A=7.4, B=7.825). Jana then went next with a solid routine, scoring a 15.550. Kristina Vaculik went after Jana and tied with Nastia for the silver medal. This result will GREATLY help Jana on her quest for the Olympic team. In qualifications in Stuttgart, our second highest bar worker scored a 15.000 (Shayla Worley). That puts Jana as one of the top 3 bar workers in the USA right now.
Number 2. DARLENE HILL WON FLOOR! With a 15.425 none-the-less! In second place was Daria Joura (15.300) and in third place was Anna Myzdrikova (15.050). The highest score on floor last year was Cheng Fei's 15.375 in qualifications at Worlds. Darlene Hill scored half a point above that. Both Daria's and Darlene's scores were high enough for Gold in event finals at Worlds (compared to Shawn Johnson's 15.250) The lowest score to get into finals was Jiang Yuyuan's 14.750, which means the top 3 would have made finals last year.
With those two things, I'm very happy =]

Prediction : Floor Finalists in Beijing.

So, I was bored today in school and decided to get a "final cut" -- one that I was happy with -- of the girls I think should/need to compete in the floor finals at Beijing.

I started off my list with naming every single candidate I think that has a realistic shot of making it to floor finals, everyone from Ana Claudia Silva to Beth Tweddle. At that point, I highlighted anyone that I remember making a World, Olympic, or European final on floor. After I was done with that, I narrowed the list to just two per country if they had more (at this time the USA had Memmel, Johnson, Sacramone, Liukin, Bieger, and Worley (since she was close enough in 2007)).

Now that I had my list down to just the top few, I organized them into three catagories. 1) Will Make it even with Mistake 2) Will Make it over others with hit routines 3) Will Make it if someone has an error. This is what I so lovingly declared the Three Tiers.

After the Three Tiers was established, I cropped the list, moving one person here and another one there until I had the three tiers, each with four gymnasts in them.

Tier 1;; Daiane Dos Santos - Cheng Fei - Sandra Izbasa - Shawn Johnson
Tier 2;; Alicia Sacramone - Beth Tweddle - Vanessa Ferrari - Jiang Yuyuan
Tier 3;; Yulia Lozhecko - Alina Kozich - Jade Barbosa - Cassy Vericel

*this list does not include injuries; it is based on their current best ability.
*Jade Barbosa is in Tier 3 because she made medaled at the PanAm games, and never showed her true potential for floor at worlds. She scored a 14.000 in AA with a fall. 14.800 might be enough for her to make finals.

The way the Tiers work is that Tier 1 IMO are locks into the final if they all hit. They still are locks even if they make a small/medium mistake (devauluing a skill; stepping OOB, ect.)

Everyone in Tier 2 is basically a lock. Although if they make a small/medium mistake they might get knocked out by someone else.

And everyone else in Tier 3 has a chance if they hit. Some also might have to depend on other gymnasts mistakes or absentes to be able to make the final.

So what do you think? Do you think the gymnasts I choosed are in the correct placement order, or did you think of someone/something else that I made have forgotten? Please share! =]

The Wonderment that is Hong Su Jong.

Everyone knows the all around 'frontrunners' in Beijing: Johnson, Ferrari, Nistor, Yuyuan, Barbosa, ect. Well, make sure you don't leave out Hong Su Jong in the all around. She could medal in the all around in Beijing with just a few upgrades on a couple of her events.

She already made 2 finals last year, winning silver in Vault and being able to get into the heavely packed bars finals. Her floor is nice, with a full-in tucked, 2.5 punch front tuck, triple twist, and a double pike to finish. If she gets a barani or a layout after the 2.5 and upgrade all her dance skills from b's into C's, she would find herself with a routine 6.0+. And with her form, she could possibly find herself in EF.

And her beam, just like her floor, she would need just a few upgrades and work on her consistantcy and she'll be golden. She might be the dark horse in the all around hunt for a medal.

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]

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.