Gabby Douglas who lives in Des Moines, Iowa, won tonight's Trials, securing her spot on the 5 person squad. After tonight's performance, Gabby will likely be put up on vault, bars and possibly floor. She, like Jordyn, will also likely end up in the All Around final and if she qualifies, the Uneven Bars finals. Gabby is coached by Liang Chow, who coached 2008 Olympian Shawn Johnson.
The newcomer to the team, Kyla Ross, is a first year senior with something to prove. At only 15 years old, Kyla is one of the USA's strongest bar workers and will most likely contribute to the team on beam. Kyla's only weakness is her lack of international experience in comparison to the other girls on the team, although she hasn't let it stop her before. Kyla trains at Gym-Max in Costa Mesa, CA.
The fifth member on the team (which was the biggest one up for grabs this evening), went to McKayla Maroney, who is the reigning world vault champion. She'll likely only go up on Vault (and compete in the Vault final), although her floor routine could help the USA. McKayla trains at All Olympia Gymnastics Academy in Los Angeles, CA.
Alternates are Elizabeth Price, Sarah Finnegan and Anna Li.
I'd love to answer your twitter question about Gabby's FX but I don't have a twitter account so I'll post a random post here. If her floor will not be received well internationally for the music choice I imagine Wieber's will not either. I know in USA pepole may not get it but most europeans have a hard time taking seriously someone who uses a eurovision song
ReplyDeleteI don't think the music is the issue. Choreography and style are key. McKayla's floor is elegant and beautifully choreographed, her style will be well received in London. I think how they preform and score in prelims will deciede who competes in team final.
DeleteIs Wieber's music from Eurovision? I watch Eurovision every year and I didn't notice, so I doubt it'll be a problem for the judges (who are from all over the world, not just Europe, and may well even come from the more-than-half of Europe that takes the Contest very seriously indeed).
DeleteIt won for Ukraine in 2004. But I don't see how it makes a difference where she got it from. Look at Komova and Mustafina's 2012 music- absolutely shockingly bad. Wieber's is a crowd-pleaser, and suits her.
DeleteGabby's FX has no choreography to speak of.
ReplyDeleteYes, by contrast to Gabby, Jordyn's floor is quite crafty. It draws you in and she masks her lack of artistry very well. Gabby's is laughable. McKayla would score higher. I'd imagine if she cannot hit the third pass in bounds in camp(let's not forget she missed a whole week of training before Trials and she CAN hit it in comp) consistently then she will be made take out the 1 and a half and either whip into the double tuck or stick a jump on the end. It IS a brilliant routine and will outscore Gabby's on a stage where Gabby isn't being thrown impossible scores.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, you seem to show up a lot of places with a negative post about Gabby. So sad that you seem angry and ugly ALL the time. What an amazing amount of wasted energy. Gabby does a great job and she and Jordyn and Aly will anchor the team.
DeleteNope. I hate Gabby's choreo and wish it was better, playing to her strengths- Jordyn's and Aly's does and they are no graceful dancers either. Her choreo IS laughable, should have stressed that rather than it looking like I meant the whole floor in general- I absolutely love the rest of her floor. It is true that it may well get slaughtered in London for lack of artistry and in that case, McKayla's is absolutely worth going up in its place as hers IS artistic while still being a 6.0 SV.
DeleteI also hate the huge scores Gabby gets. But that is not her fault or her doing. It may well set her up to have her confidence crushed in London, which is obviously a very bad thing. She has huge difficulty, and is a great gymnast. It's just the fact that although others were quite overscored- she was MORE overscored.
I really enjoy her gymnastics- which I have said, several times. If overscoring is being debated, then obviously I am going to focus on that.If she hits beam, it's fantastic. Her standing full twist is the best I've seen since Priakhina. I do NOT enjoy seeing her make mistakes, it worries me that she won't do what she's capable of in London under much bigger pressure. Her bars are great. Her vault is improving, certainly it now rivals Jordyn's and had beaten Aly and Kyla's efforts out of the park. I only wish it could be more secure as her block isn't the best. Her floor tumbling has also much improved. It is a shame about her choreo and a shame that she can be a headcase. She has a great energy about her and is fun to watch. If she hits then she absolutely deserves the second AA place in London. I can despise awful choreo all I want and can lament overscoring without taking away from the accomplishments of a great gymnast. People still love Aly while complaining about her form, why is this any different?
Interesting how so many people "dislike" something about Gabby and are so worried about "scoring in London" rather than trust the experts who picked the team. The USAG does understand how international judging works and interestingly enough USA gymnast score similar at home and abroad. So I disagree with what you have said. I have also gone back and looked at Gabby's floor and the reality is that it fits her personality and abilities and works for her. She is a lot like Shawn Johnson in her "artistry", on both Floor and Beam. You issues with over scoring seem to be with Gabby only. Sorry but I do not agree that she is over scored. I think Trials was scored very similar to what we will see in London.
DeleteNope, I readily admit everywhere including my blog that Jordyn and Aly were quite overscored. I even said it here in the comment above. The point is that Gabby was MORE overscored. I have no issue with her being on the team, she is a great gymnast and has the potential to win the AA. Do you seriously think her floor will get a 9.4 execution? That Aly will get a 15.6-8 on floor? That Jordyn will get a 15.35 on bars? That judges in London will ignore Jordyn muscling on bars and ignore Aly's lack of toepoint and somewhat sloppy form? Watch 2011 worlds, scores are way down execution wise (NOT SV- most have higher now, just the e score I'm talking about). Judges in the US at Nationals, Trials etc. actually ignored OOB's, credited non-existent connections and apparently didn't see late turns, handstands, leg seperations and non-180 leaps. The scoring will be noticeably down in London which MAY damage their confidence- especially Gabby as she isn't the steadiest to begin with.
DeleteI loved Shawn, her choreo sucked too but not as badly. Her beam had great tumbling and was far more dependable than Gabby's. I don't remember saying I hate Gabby's beam? If you look around, there aren't many that actually like Gabby's choreo. Clearly it IS an issue. Likewise, everybody is complaining about the blatant overscoring. Other countries don't do this- so why does the US? It is baffling. And why is it selective and not present for every gymnast? Scoring will be a few tenths down for pretty much everything Gabby, Aly and Jordyn too- but Kyla and McKayla weren't very overscored and will score in the same ballpark.
This team is great and will probably win gold. Stop implying I have an agenda against them or Gabby. I hate overscoring and I hate terrible choreo and terrible form. It takes away from the sport. You might be interested to know I don't like Mustafina's twisting on floor, and cringed at Steliana Nistor and Tatiana Nabieva's vaulting and execution. I don't foam at the mouth over the US team. I am delighted with the team picked and very much enjoy watching them perform. You will find extremely nasty comments about Gabby, and others. But just because I am not anonymous, you've singled me out.
Does anyone know how I can watch day 2 of the trials? I missed them. I have cable so I can watch through the nbc site, but even before day 2 started the link for the video wasn't working for me. I watched day 1 through nbc online.
ReplyDeleteA bunch of video snippets are up on YouTube. Someone is bound to upload the competition within the next few weeks. Here are some competition highlights...
Delete-Gabby beats Jordyn.
-Jordyn gets beaten by Gabby (first defeat in a while)
-Aly has a complete emotional breakdown after being named to the team.
-Kyla is the only one that did cry.
-McKayla rocked her Amanar and got a fifteen on beam.
-Nastia falls on her Gienger, DOES THE DISMOUNT, crys, gets standing ovation, does well on beam, gets another ovation. Beautiful way to end her career.
-Bross massively screws up bars, falling 3 times and them quitting, but pulled it together for her beam dismount, and only landed reeaaalllllllyyyyyyy low (not an ass-plant).
Gabby gets more gift per capita then the entire stock exchange in the history of the world. Stop making excuses for the overscoring she gets.
ReplyDeleteSince when is it negative to point out the facts?
Did you really just say then same artistry as Shawn Johnson? If you need any more proof that anon above doesn't know anything about gymnastics that comments seals the deal.
ReplyDeleteCatherine should stop wasting her time with trying to teach reality to an every four year gymnastics fan.