US Nationals: Day 1

Yesterday was the start of the 2008 US Nationals in Boston. Not surprisngly, Shawn Johnson is in first after the prelims, scoring a 16 or above in three different events (Vault: 16.00, Beam: 16.00, Floor: 16.050). As you can tell, Shawn was grossly overscored on all her events.

Shawn Johnson's Vault: Amanar: Score-16.000
Nastia Liukin is second in the all around, starting off with a bad performance on the floor exercise (falling out of bounds on her double front), then regaining her composure on vault with a stuck 1.5 yurchenko. She had the highest score of the night, a 17.050 on the uneven bars. She also had the highest score on beam, with a 16.100. The judges were very generous with her scores also.

Nastia Liukin's Bars: 7.7 A-Score: 17.050
The greatest thing thats happened so far in these Nationals? Chellsie Memmel. She is third in the standings after prelims, with the second best score on both beam (16.050) and the second highest on bars (16.000). She dumped her "I Love Rock n'Roll" routine and returned to her 2005-2006 one, in which she added a piked double arabian. She only vaulted a full twisting yurchenko, which kept her from placing above Nastia or Shawn, but still, Chellsie's became another lock for the Olympic team.
Most of everyone else did not perform their best. Alicia Sacramone was a little off on her beam and floor routine, she didn't even finish her double pike finish on floor before the music ended. Samantha Peszek was fourth after prelims, with no highlights on any events. Jana Bieger is currently fifth, which is great after being lowballed by the judges on all her events. Jana currently has a double layout with a full twist and a double layout in her routine now.
Randy Stageberg was also lowballed, getting only a 14.700 on her double twisting yurchneko. Her teammate, Britney Ranzy, however, is making a splash with her double twisting yurchenko, placing third on vault so far with a 15.050. She is also vaulting a Podkopayeva as her second vault.

Here are a few links to watch more videos:
NBC Olympics
Youtube 1
Youtube 2
Youtube 3

Podium Training Videos

Here are some videos from Podium training last night.
Sam Peszek's Bars

Chellsie Memmel's Bars

Ivana Hong's Bars

Women's US Nationals Stuff! [Wed]

Okay, so podium training started yesterday and has continued through to today. Here are some information and rumours coming through about the girls so far.

Tuesday: June 3 Training

1. Ashley Priess hasn't been seen at Podium Training, and her name has been taken off the official start list for the event. =[
2. Bridget Sloan is looking really good on bars. She has apparently fixed her foot form problem, has great handstands, and has a full twisting double layout dismount.
3. Shayla Worley has been rumoured with a back injury and it's not official whether she'll be competing her not, but she has still praticed at training, her beam looks great and she was doing individual skills on bars: no tumbling so far.
4. Nastia's vaults have gotten better, and her beam and bar sets look solid.
5. Shawn Johnson's new music apparently isn't a Mozart/Beethoven piece, but one that sounds more "hollywood." She did the Amanar twice and looked solid on the other events
6. Ivana Hong's DTY (double twisting yurchenko) looks great, and she also has a double front on floor.
7. Chellsie's working on a 7.2 bar set. She has brought back her Dos Santos on floor and has returned to her 2005-2006 routine.
8. Sam Peszek's vaults looked iffy and troubled. She had a great double double on floor but had trouble with her 5/2 + Layout Full pass.

Wednesday: June 4 Training

1. Shawn Johnson looks strong. Struggled on her switch leap, layout stepout, back pike pass on beam. Just did skills on bars.
2. Alicia Sacramone has the same routine as she has had for the last two years, same tumbling and everything. She just did timers on vault.
3. Chellsie Memmel is looking like a lock for the team. She did her 2006 routine, only with better form. She's hitting everything on all events. She has a Yurchenko 1.5.
4. Shayla Worley looked miserable, not hitting any of her events. She doesn't look like she'll be on the team now.
5. Ivana Hong's DTY's still look great. She is having problems with the double front on floor. She also is missing her connections on beam.
6. Samantha Peszek is looked ragged. She upgraded floor (3/2 through to a Double Pike), but is inconsistant.
7. Amber Trani has her DTY back, very Nistor like.

Japanese Gymnastics! [WAG]

My latest montage; it features some of the greatest Japanese gymnasts in history!
I hope you enjoy!

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.

Moscow and Future Barcelona;

The Moscow World Cup was yesterday.
Here is what happened;;

• Sui Lu bombed floor. She bailed out of her whip + triple, then fell on a 2.5 + tuck full.
• Dasha Joura did okay. She was obviously tired from Australian Nationals and didn't have much endurance for the competition.
• Nobody saw Jade Barbosa's floor routine. She made finals, but didn't medal: she was supposed to debut a 6.5 floor routine here. She was also supposed to debut her Cheng vault, but didn't.
• Deng Linlin won beam and floor. Her and Sui Lu have been switched in just about every single Chinese Olympic prediction now. I'm still hoping Xiao Sha can make it to Beijing.
• Pang Panpan also competed here, but just on bars. She messed up on an Ono-Half in finals, falling to second place behind Semenova.

Now, to Barcelona. He Kexin, Li Shanshan, and Xiao Sha were scheduled to compete, but He Kexin and Xiao Sha dropped out. Gaelle Mys is also scheduled to compete. The competition begins on June 6.

Pictures of the 2008 US Classic