Olympics [Prelims]

So, the Olympics have started!

China qualified first into team finals, while counting two major falls: He Kexin on bars, and Jiang Yuyuan on vault. He Kexin fell on her Pak Salto, yet she still qualified into bar finals, but unfortunally goes first in the lineup. Jiang Yuyuan totally bombed her Amanar, but fortunally still qualified for the all-around ahead of Deng Linlin. Yang Yilin was consistant and qualified third into AA finals behind Shawn and Nastia. She also qualified first in bar finals.

USA was a mess. On top of Chellsie Memmel's ankle injury that inhibits her to bars only, Samantha Peszek also injured her ankle and could only compete bars as well. That means that the USA went 4-up, 4-count on bars, beam, and floor. Shawn was strong, the only major issue was her downgrading her rudi to a barani on floor. Nastia was strong as well, qualifying into three finals (floor, beam, and bars). Alicia Sacramone on the other hand was weak, only qualifying into vault finals, after lading totally out of bounds on her fourth pass.

Russia was undoubtebly the strongest I've seen them this quad, easily qualifying third over Romania. Anna Pavlova ended up making three event finals (vault, floor, and beam), Ksenia Semenova made bar finals, Ksenia Afanasyeva made beam finals, and Ekaterina Kramarenko made floor finals. Pavlova and Semenova also qualified in the top 6 in the all-around, and will join Nastia, Shawn, Yang Yilin, and Jiang Yuyuan in the top group.

The highlight for me however was Japan. Japan qualified into their first team finals ever in Olympic history (Japan finished eighth), and also qualified their first event finalist (Koko Tsurumi on beam) in a non-boycotted games since 1964. And as a analysis by Gymnast.com shows, the difference between Japan, France, and Brazil are really close. Gymnast.com took the three highest scores (similar to team finals) and came up with these totals for Brazil, France, and Japan.

Brazil - 176.900
France - 176.325
Japan - 176.125

BTW: Here is Koko Tsurumi's history making beam routine.

TSURUMI - BB
Uploaded by Gymnicestics

You can find full results here: at http://www.nbcolympics.com

Talking about Chinese gangs...(and more pictures)

We should all be familiar with the "Li Ning" sign, the one that Jiang Yuyuan is modeling on the right. Now, what the heck is the girl to the left of Jiang Yuyuan doing? Since Li Ning is like Nike, is that symbol for the Chinese version of Adidias or something? Then there is Zhou Zhuoru (middle bottom, with the shades) who looks like she's holding a plant, being as fierce and fabulous as always.

If I was a Chinese gymnast, I would be Jiang Yuyuan. I would so cute that random strangers would give me free candy on the street: like Sweet Tarts and Yan-Yan! Yums.

So hmmmm.

There is just something about this picture, IDK. Maybe it's the fact that there is a random guy in the background when this is the women's Chinese team. Or the fact that they are all holding 100$ bills. If the Chinese team was a gang, that Jiang Yuyuan would be the cute one walking into the bank and beg the cashier for four, 100$ lollypops. Then there is Cheng Fei in the background, with a tongue the size of Montana. When did that happen?

I wonder how a 100$ lollypop would taste?

The Chinese Team Is...

Cheng Fei
Li Shanshan
Yang Yilin
Jiang Yuyuan
He Kexin
Deng Linlin

1st Alternate : Xiao Sha
2nd Alternate : He Ning
3rd Alternate : Sui Lu

I feel Deng Linlin is a great choice (I still want Xiao Sha, but thats just me), Deng Linlin could help on beam, vault, and possibly floor if neccesary. This team will be the team to beat in Beijing.

Chinese Nationals Conclude::

The team layout for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing significantly changed with the passing of the 2008 Chinese Nationals. Some breakthroughs of the competition inlude Jiang Yuyuan, who debuted her Amanar, a two and one-half twisting yurchenko, and nailed it in both team and all around finals.

Jiang's combined scores in the all around were: VT - 16.100 | UB - 16.150 | BB - 15.750 | FX - 15.600. Jiang won the all around over Yang Yilin, after Yang qualified first in qualifications. She lost the title when she fell off during her new uneven bar routine, valued with a 7.7 A-Score.
The biggest surpise of these Nationals were that of Sui Lu. Her A-Scores of a 6.4 on floor and 7.1 on beam showed through tremendously, as she won event finals on balance beam and tied with Cheng Fei on floor for first.

This "upset" as it may be called rattled things up, displacing other favourites such as Li Shanshan and Xiao Sha for what might be the last spot on the Olympic team.

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