To be brief, here were my thoughts on the seniors:
To be not as brief, I would say that the biggest surprise amongst the competitors was most likely Gabby, who only missed the title by .2. That's pretty impressive for someone who "ended her career" at last year's Nationals. Had she not fallen on beam, she undoubtedly would have won.
The top 4 were in the order I predicted, but I was surprised at how close they came. I'm keeping my team the same as I had them after Classics (they're the girls circled in Purple), with the same alternates I picked then as well (underlined in Yellow). I'd like to see Alicia & Bridget make the team, but I'm not sure how feasible that really is.
I'm doubting the chances of Brenna Dowell at this point because she still has a broken hand. To be honest, I feel like all that making trials really means for her is that she'll spend two more weeks training and competing with an injury.
Anna Li's a fabulous gymnast but I personally feel like she performed more successfully in NCAA... but this is gymnastics. Anything can happen.
And I'm pretty sure I've said my peace on Nastia, but I'll leave you with this...
I'll post later with my thoughts on specific routines/juniors.
NASTIA is still in the mix whether you like it or not.
ReplyDeleteWow heather... You sound like an 8 year old.... Or like you watch too much sponge bob if you don't like her blog read something else... LOL
DeleteMaybe you should focus more on the positive instead of complaining about Nastia every 5 seconds. People complain about all the attention she gets and will then go on to write about her for the next three weeks.
ReplyDeleteSo much hate for a girl who is just doing gymnastics. You would have thought she killed a bunch of puppies with the way people act towards her
You call a bar routine worse than shayla Worley at Georgia's Elite gymnasticks? We have to talk about how subjectively USAG is taking a name with the worst score to trials to sell tickets and TV commercials at Trials... It's a joke
DeleteFinnegan is not going to make it. She needs a little more time. barring injury, Wieber, Raisman, Douglas are locks. Ross is close to a lock. Fifth member will be Maroney probably. Bar specialist is a possibility instead. I love your blog, but please chill with the Nastia hate. It just comes off as pointlessly mean... And there is enough of that in the gymnastics world. It's just not necessary.
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed with Sarah Finnegan's gymnastics! She could be a surprise team member, similar to Bridget Sloan in 2008. I'm thinking Sarah might be an alternate, though. If she doesn't make it, I hope she sticks around through 2016!!
ReplyDeleteMy team is still the same: Jordyn, Kyla, Aly, McKayla, and Nastia (heehee!) but that's because I'm still such a huge fan of Nastia and I want her on that team! So putting aside what I want and going for what's most probable, I'm thinking Gaby will be on the team, and if Nastia hits a monster routine both days of Nationals, then she could be an alternate. Eeeek, this is so exciting, I can hardly wait for June 28!!!
About the S&S girls: Sloan is annoying and Sacramone is too cool (and too old) for the room.
ReplyDeleteNastia is an Olympic champion. Deal with it. Stop the hate. As far as the dismount, she chose to change her planned dismount because she had to add an element to her routine, and she was exhausted. As she was getting ready to dismount, the announcer said, "I will be surprised if she does her planned dismount." Give her a break. She is 22 years old, beautiful, and AN OLYMPIC CHAMP. Move on already and focus on the awesome team that Marta will be in charge of choosing. Don't be too surprised if Nastia is on that team.
ReplyDeleteNastia interviewed before the competition and indicated that she probably wouldn't do her dismount. She didn't choose to change her planned dismount because she had to add an element. She planned to do a back layout because Martha and co. already informed her they would pass her through to trials before the meet.
DeleteI'm just gonna go ahead and totally back up the Nastia hatin' 100%. She didn't hit her bar routine (the sole reason she would even go) EITHER night. Enough of this diva shit.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with Nastia is this: she punched a ticket to trials based SOLELY on reputation. Today she had a lackluster performance on beam and a horrible bars routine. If she doesn't have the endurance to even complete a dismount, do people honestly think she'll be at 2008-level in 3 weeks? People can surprise you and I may eat my words, but it's highly unlikely. I don't believe she should go to London unless she's nearly at that level.
ReplyDelete"Give her a break. She is 22 years old, beautiful, and an OLYMPIC CHAMP."
Why should we give her a break? Yeah, she was great in Beijing, but that was FOUR YEARS AGO. There are now new girls who have been training these past four years. Nastia just started the comeback trail last october. Her age really has little do with it, there are athletes older than her winning medals (Ponor, Chusovitina of course). She just didn't start training soon enough. Why should she be allowed to continue chasing her dream of a second Olympics when she didn't perform anywhere NEAR Olympic standards? There were many girls who outperformed her who did not receive invitations to trials. They certainly would've benefited from the 3 extra weeks of training, but their names weren't Nastia Liukin, so they don't get the chance to try. Don't even get me started on comparing this situation to Memmel's. I get upset just thinking about it.
Amen to this.
DeleteAnd an Amen again.
Deletei think you mean "said my piece". if you can critique the gymnasts spelling….
ReplyDeleteHOW CAN YOU EVEN WITH NASTIA. She was great four years ago. Fantastic even. She won a medal. NOW SHE IS OUT OF (gymnastics) SHAPE and unable to compete a DISMOUNT. Sorry kids, but I came to watch elite gymnastics, instead I got a girl who can't do a dismount, or a very good bar routine for that matter and another girl wearing the same hideous leotard falling AGAIN on the same dismount I have NEVER seen her land properly (side note, don't think it is her fault, get a new coach and someone who makes you smile). I would have loved to have seen, oh, I don't know ANNA LI? VEGA? BAKER? SLOAN? PRICE?????????? You know, people who train for this more than a week before hand?
ReplyDeleteBekah, loved your coverage and thank you for having this up so quickly! #teamhotpinkgreatcoverage
The thing is, Nastia potentially has a bars routine the USA needs. Though I want her to make the team (Nastia fan here!!), at this point she probably won’t. As long as Gaby keeps hitting her bars routines, I can’t see the selection committee leaving her off the team. But if Nastia hits her routines at Trials and Anna Li doesn’t, she could conceivably make alternate, which would be a safety net just in case Gaby got injured (knock on wood!!).
ReplyDeletehonestly I'm sure Bekah realises that Nastia can do more than a level 7 and she knows that she made trials because she is who she is AND because she can potentially have a 6.6 bars routine. It's not USAG, it's a humouristic blog, and that post is so fucking HILLARIOUS
ReplyDelete(Congrats on predicting Nastia's injury Becca)
Bekah can hate on Nastia all she wants...it's her prerogative. If you don't like it, read another blog, simple as that. Last I checked, the USA still had freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteNastia should just retire... I'm sure they'll make it look good for her :) Did anyone else notice how FAT Steve Penny got!
ReplyDeleteI had a look at the scores of Gabby, Aly, Kyla, Jordyn and McKayla from Nationals and used whichever day scored higher. Because they are all pretty much overscored, it doesn't really matter. Team total is 186.2 Substitute Nastia for Kyla and it becomes 184.35. And it takes a LOT of inflation for using Nastia to make sense, she needs to score 15.3 on one apparatus and the next highest possible score on the other. Impossible. (Team used: Aly, Gabby, Jordyn, Kyla (Nastia), McKayla and assumes using Gabby's FX)
ReplyDeleteI hope USAG is working this out too. Inflated scores or not, it is still taking away from team totals to put her on the team.
Bekah, are you ever going to post your thoughts on the individual routines? I like your commentary- it helps non-gymnastic pros (like me) see what worked and why.
ReplyDelete