| Michael O'Leary |
-No major injuries. *Knock on wood*. This has become a "who's the best of the best" instead of who can survive the bullshit.
-I love that girls are all in National Team Leos.
-The USA is deeeeeeeeep. I'm so glad.
On individual gymnasts: (in no particular order whatsoever.)
Elizabeth Price has given me second thoughts on calling all Parkettes "skill chuckers". That Amanar is fierce as is the Double Double. She'll be a great alternate.
The videos of Sarah Finnegan weren't particularly impressive to me, but maybe that's because I've watched her routines so many times. I'm interested to see how she'll compete. She's another potentially great alternate.
Sabrina Vega's gymnastics is just so pretty. I wish we could give her Aly Raisman's consistency & difficulty.
I can't get over Rebecca Bross's feet. Still. I love her natural swing though. She did land her Patterson in training, but I'm not holding my breath for a clean dismount in competition. I STILL think that it's too much of a risk for a Team Final.
Gabrielle Douglas looks fierce as ever, but her ankle looks super taped. Was it that taped at Nationals? The slowmo Amanar is not to be missed.
Nastia looks about 0% more ready than she did at Nationals podium training. If it's the Olympic Trials and you can't do a full bar routine with out an enormous amount of spotting, I'm doubting you. (The ring leap was better, though.)
McKayla is impressing me. People were worried that she wouldn't compete at Trials but she looks as good as she did at Nationals, if not better.
Anna Li's bars are fantastic, but I can't imagine Marta taking someone who literally can only go up on one event, no matter what.
Kyla's Amanar is back and looks decent. I wonder if she'll compete it and if she does if she can compete it consistently. Bars & Beam are as solid as usual. I only put her floor on for 4 seconds to see if she had changed music. ... She hadn't.
Aly Raisman is proving herself as more and more of a lock. Honey child does not fall. You can't hate that.
 |
| USA Gymnastics |
Brenna Dowell looks sad throughout. I'm waiting for her to call the news and do an Ivana Hong like news story. You remember she has a broken hand, right? She looks like she's adding a wolf jump after her front double pike though. So that's fun.
Bridget Sloan is being spotted quite a bit on bars, and USAG didn't post a full routine from her. But then again, it was similar in at Nationals, and she performed satisfactorily there.
USAG only posted Alicia Sacramone's beam which looked clean, but I'm more interested in her Vault. I can't see a FTY as her second vault being a strong enough case for her.
Kennedy Baker wasn't in podium training today, so that was kind of a bummer. She arrived in San Jose late Tuesday evening.
What is wrong with Bross's feet? She has some of the best toe point in the field. I'm not into picking on kids' deformities. Bross can't go back and change the knock knees she was born with. I think it's admirable she looks as good as she does while having to overcome her knock knees. I mean, how can someone say "Ew" about her feet while giving Raisman, who can't even point her toes, a free pass? Bross is still a great bar worker. And she looks better since Nationals. Her beam dismount is really squatty but otherwise she's doing some great work on bars and beam. I consider the writer of this blog to be extremely knowledgable about the sport, so I was just a little surprised that we're still picking on this girl for having a condition since birth that cannot be helped. Please don't take this the wrong way, I think your blog is excellent and oftentimes very educational for the casual gym fan.
ReplyDeleteEverything that you're saying is completely fair. I definitely respect her as a gymnast and particularly as a bar worker. I edited my thoughts a bit above to better reflect my feelings. :)
DeleteI'm going to support Bekah here- even if Bross has the best toe point, for me it DOESN'T matter! The feet are only an extension of the line from the hip to the ankle. Bross sickling her feet breaks that line at the ankle, so the eyes don't get to the toes.
DeleteFurthermore, it isn't just not pretty, it's actually downright dangerous. It's another injury simply waiting to happen.
Fortunately for Bross, the judges view the routine from the side, so they don't see the sickled feet.
Raisman does point her foot, which does extend through the ankle (excepting on bars...). Aly also can't have the level of toe point as some people- she doesn't have the foot type for it! But I don't worship the toe point as much as extending through the ankle anyway.
I think you're bored of Jordyn, because she has been on top for three years. You'd be going crazy, if she showed up this year or made huge improvements. Like everyone else with Sarah, Gabby, & now Elizabeth.
ReplyDeleteI still remember when Jordyn, showed up at 2009 American Cup, & blew me away. Try and remember that feeling. As much as I love Gabby. I still want Jordyn to win. She seems to always be taking so much crap. Even when she wins. Did you read the article. Predicting Jordyn would finish 4th at the Olympics. I hope they go 1 2 at the Olympics. Let Mustafina & Komova fight for the bronze;)
Kyla's Amanar was better than ok. It looked great. Now let's see if she can do it more than once.
ReplyDeleteAs pretty as Sabrina's gymnastics is, let's be honest Sarah kicks the rest of the girls butts in that department. I don't thinks it's possible for her routines to not be impressive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, nice summing up! The five 'locks and almost locks' making great cases for themselves, nobody else really making enough of a splash to change that. McKayla looking fabulous- please nail third pass. Alternates is way more up in the air- Finnegan, Price, Bross, Sloan, Sacramone and Li all in the mix. It does not look like Nastia can bring two awesome routines to the table, beam I predict will be really good, but bars is the important once and it looks like she just hasn't the endurance to do it perfectly and fling a dismount in.
ReplyDeleteI can barely watch Bross's bars routine because of the sickled feet. It creeps me out! I don't care how high her scores are if the judges sat at the end instead of the side they would feel differently.
ReplyDelete