Sunday, June 24, 2012

Aly Raisman & McKayla Maroney 2012 UB Olympic Champions?!

In the past 24 hours, I've read the following things from gymnastics fans or bloggers: 
-"Aly is great on bars and beam!"
-"[Kyla's] strongest events : Floor and Vault."
-"Maroney should be great on bars."
-A tweeter putting Nastia in her Olympic floor lineup

I'm starting to get frustrated, friends. So, instead of screaming and banging my head against the wall, I've decided I'll attempt to help clear up whatever confusion is going on.

Some of the following post is my opinion, but let's talk facts for a second. Aly is NOT great on bars, Kyla is NOT strongest on floor and Maroney will NOT be great on bars. Those are just facts! The US is looking for the 3 highest scorers on each event. I'm sharing with you the highest scores on each event for each Trials qualifiers, although that doesn't take consistency into account.

VAULT- 
To be honest, competing on vault for the US in team finals isn't much of an option unless you've got an Amanar or a Rudi.

Girls whose vaults are CERTAINLY team finals worthy: Maroney, Wieber & Raisman.

Girls whose vaults MAY be team finals worthy: Douglas, Price, Ross & Sacramone.

Below is a list of the HIGHEST scores posted in 2012 by Trials Qualifiers.
1. Maroney - 16.15  (Nationals Day 1)
2T. Wieber - 16.1 (American Cup)
2T. Raisman - 16.1 (American Cup)
4. Douglas - 15.866 (American Cup)
5. Price - 15.8 (Nationals Day 1)
6. Ross - 15.55 (Jesolo)
7. Sacramone - 15.5 (Nationals Day 2)
8. Finnegan - 15.0 (Nationals Day 1)
9. Baker - 14.8 (Nationals Day 2)
10. Dowell - 14.7 (Nationals Day 2)
11. Vega - 14.5 (Nationals Day 2)
12. Sloan - 14.15 (Nationals Day 2)
Liukin, Li, Bross no longer compete Vault.

BARS- 
Bars is trickier, because fewer of the team "locks" are super strong on bars.


Girls whose bars are CERTAINLY team finals worthy: Dougals, Li, Ross, Bross & Sloan.

Girls whose bars MAY be team finals worthy: Wieber, Price & Liukin (if Nastia can show what people are expecting her to). 

Below is a list of the HIGHEST scores posted in 2012 by Trials Qualifiers. 

1. Douglas - 15.85 (Nationals Day 2)
2. Li - 15.55 (Nationals Day 2)
3. Ross - 15.5 (Nationals Day 1)
4. Bross - 15.3 (US Classic)
5. Sloan - 15.1(Nationals Day 1)
6. Wieber - 15.05 (Nationals Day 1)
7. Price - 14.95 (Nationals Day 1)
8. Baker - 14.85 (Nationals Day 1)
9. Dowell - 14.6 (Jesolo)
10. Raisman - 14.45 (Jesolo)
11. Vega - 14.4 (Nationals Day 2)
12. Finnegan - 14.15 (Jesolo)
13. Maroney - 13.95 (Jesolo)
14. Liukin - 13.65 (Nationals Day 2)
Sacramone does not compete this event.

BEAM 
The US is looking stronger and stronger on beam and should have plenty of coverage on that event, regardless of who is on the team.

Girls whose beam sets are CERTAINLY team finals worthy: Ross, Raisman & Finnegan.

Girls whose beam sets MAY be team finals worthy: Wieber (her high is MUCH higher than her average), Sacramone, Liukin.

Below is a list of the HIGHEST scores posted in 2012 by Trials Qualifiers. 
1. Wieber -  15.7 (Pac Rim AA)
2. Ross - 15.5 (Jesolo)
3. Raisman - 15.45 (Nationals Day 2) 
4. Finnegan - 15.35 (Nationals Day 1) 
5. Sacramone - 15.2 (Nationals Day 1) 
6T. Liukin - 15.1 (Nationals Day 1)
6T. Douglas - 15.1 (American Cup)
8. Maroney - 14.55 (Nationals Day 1)
9. Vega - 14.4 (Nationals Day 2) 
10. Baker - 14.3 (US Classic) 
11. Price - 14.3 (Nationals Day 1) 
12. Bross - 14.15 (Jesolo) 
13. Li - 13.9 (US Classic) 
14. Dowell - 13.9 (Nationals Day 2) 
15. Sloan - 13.85 (Nationals Day 2)


FLOOR
Girls whose floor routines are CERTAINLY team finals worthy: Raisman, Douglas, Wieber & Finnegan.

Girls whose floor routines MAY be team finals worthy: Vega & Price. 



Below is a list of the HIGHEST scores posted in 2012 by Trials Qualifiers. 
1. Raisman - 15.8 (Nationals Day 2)
2. Douglas - 15.3 (Nationals Day 2)
3. Wieber - 15.25 (Nationals Day 1)
4. Finnegan - 15.2 (US Classic)
5. Vega - 14.85 (US Classic)
6. Price -14.8 (Nationals Day 2)
7T. Ross - 14.6 (Nationals Day 2)
7T. Maroney - 14.6 (Nationals Day 1)
9. Baker - 14.4 (Nationals Day 1)
10. Dowell - 14.35 (Nationals Day 2)
11. Sloan - 13.9 (Nationals Day 2)
Li, Bross & Liukin do NOT compete Floor anymore.


So dearest fellow fans, go back and look what you've written and then look at the facts. Are you making sense? 

12 comments:

  1. only disagree with one thing, Price's amanar is better and more reliable than Raisman's. Raisman's was great at scam but since then it's always underotated, messy and scary. Price has that step to the side and a slight leg separation but her amanar is higher and cleaner than Raisman's, her block is better, she always completes the 2.5 and her landings although not perfect are not scary

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    1. yeah I think this is the only glaring wrong thing in this is that Price is less reliable than Raisman on vault. Raisman's is scary. Right now Douglas looks better than her except for that one baddd vault at pac rim, but she's a much faster twister and always gets it round.

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  2. In an interview at nationals Sacramone said she was training floor and may have it by trials. Is it confirmed that that's not happening?

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  3. Great post!! However, I do believe that Jordyn's beam is more event final worthy than Raismans. Yes.. Aly won beam at Nationals but beam is typically Jordyn's best event. After all, this is the only event (besides AA and Team) where she received a medal at Worlds. She just needs to get a better handle on her new connections. But perhaps I am looking too much at what Jordyn did in 2011 not in 2012 but I personally can't see a beam final without her.

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  4. The people who write things like that are only Olympics gymnastics fans; they follow in the Olympic year and ignore gymnastics for the next three years. Like when people erroneously tweeted the U.S. wouldn't get gold now since Shawn retired, it's obvious those "fans" hadn't watched any gymnastics since August 2008, hahaha.

    I think Jordyn's beam is definitely team finals worthy. I'd be really surprised if she wasn't in the beam lineup!

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  5. Sacramone's vault is more likely to be put up than Raisman's

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    1. She is much less likely than Maroney to make the team at all and you can't have both on the team.

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    2. This is very true, but if McKayla cant bounce back from her concussion, is there suddenly a place on the team for ASac? it would be interesting to see. I personally would love ASac on the team, but I agree, if McKayla is healthy and able she deserves the spot, basically for her vault alone.

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  6. Looks like McKayla is in fighting form! And her vault is pretty much first Day 1, great to knock that out of the park and set herself up for the rest.

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  7. McKayla gained a huge army of fans during the Olympics and I am among them because she is a superb gymnastics artist and person.

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  8. Ummm i fucking hate this blog. All you do is trash Mckayla Maroney. Let me clear something. Aly Raisman SUCKS on vault, i'd rather see douglas, wieber or any other on vault. Also, Mckayla is not a one-event specialist like you say, she's very good on floor as well, maybe even better than other girls like Douglas. Another thing, how can you say that Bross is soo good on bars? She SUCKS! Also, Ross (kyla), is nowhere near good on vault. I know you don't like Maroney, but it may suprise you that she out of ALL the girls, has the most chances of going to the next Olympics. Why? Well she's already practicing the 3 twist Amanar (1st. gymnast to do so). And that vault ALONE will lock her on the team. So stop trashing her

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