Weekend of Nasty Gymnasm…

Alright. I’m with Rhonda Fahn. Hearing Georgia not making NCAAs gives me a nasty grimace. The Team of God has been bullying their way under heaven’s guidance all season, overscoring themselves and getting pissed while not getting the special treatment. Looking ahead, even a god heavenly CGAer like Cassie Whitcomb ditched her friendship with Shayla and jumped ship to UCLA. It will take a lot more convincing, after this season, to lure either Bridget Sloan or Kayla Williams, especially when they see the entitled WOGA duo getting the same treatment. UGA has, in a way, made Shayla Worley a saint with actual work ethics compared to the rest of the team.

UCLA and Florida are the only two teams in NCAA with actual style. UCLA has added a lot more difficulty into their beam routines and is not backing down after their previous meltdowns. That kind of commitment to quality is what will win them the championship. NCAA will likely go UCLA-Florida-Oklahoma, with all SEC teams sinking ships. My evil inner self has always compared SEC gymnastics to trashy southern culture and deems them to have no place in a sport of aesthetic value.

Paris World Cup went as I predicted. On bars Youna threw the def and went behind Tweddle, who trailed behind He Kexin. There are only two female gymnasts out there who you can count on to be more or less consistent: Beth Tweddle on floor and He Kexin on bars. They are the only two people who know for a fact that if they hit, they will win on their respective event. Racking up unreal difficulty has only one advantage. Domination is the ultimate source of confidence. Same can not be said about Wu Liufang on bars and Huang Qiushuang on all events.

In 2006 Beth won over Li Ya multiple times when both hit clean routines with Li Ya leading six tenths or so in A score. China is focusing exclusively on pirouetting angles and it showed. HKX’s pirouettes are not as fluid as Yang Yilin, but they are undeductable. With this streak, China will rack up huge points on bars in team finals.

Speaking of, Aliya Mustafina is not in shape. Her ankles are obviously hurt but without her, the Russian team will again sure to lose to Romania at Euros like they did in 2008. As always, the Romanian team is less distracted and more determined, with little resource they have. Raluca Haidu has gotten a DTY as expected, and they have a dream beam lineup of Chelaru, Racea and Porgras, when Russia might have to put Ekaterina Kurbatova on all four events if Aliya can not vault or do floor. The Russians can not stay healthy and they have some sort of a weight problem. This team is not on a Soviet diet for sure. Aliya looks bigger than a 26 year old Millousi (who is hot!). I might add that the only Russian gymnast who was never plagued by injury was the skeleton Queen. 

At last, a NED-BEL-SUI tri meet was held this weekend. I gotta say this. Ariella’s floor routine is divine and more genius than any Valorie Kondos routine.

@2 years ago with 2 notes
#Aliya Mustafina #Beth Tweddle #He Kexin #Shayla Worley #UGA #Wu Liufang #Areilla Kaislin 

Aliya Mustafina is on the growth spurt crack. The Russian juniors are historically easier to break than glasses. By the time they turned senior, the Robert Pattinson-loving, ever-so-playful-on-facebook Tatiana Nabieva is more injured than not, Anna Dementieva has not been seen since last summer. Yet with Tatiana Solovyieva and Valeria Svidorova going to Cottubus, the class of 2010 still holds the highest survival rate of all former Russian juniors. Aliya Mustafina had a weak showing and a chunkier body at Moscow Regionals, but this time of the year isn’t exactly indicative of what’s going to happen in the competition season. She did show a very interesting uneven bars routine with a potential 6.6 D score:

Van LeuWeen E

Piked Stalder half - piked jaeger DD +0.1

Piked Stalder full - Tkatchev - pak EDD +0.3

Toe-shoot B

Toe-on full - the “Mustafina” (full twisting double tuck half out) DE +0.2

3E5D 0.6 CV = 6.6

Her dismount looked like an accident, courtesy of Nabieva’s Triple Twisting Yurchenko “accident”. With a bit cleaning-up, which is not so piece of cake considering Russians typically have tiny icky form issues on bars, the girl does have a chance of medal at this year’s Worlds. The routine is a few miles ahead of Bross and Porgras, though still behind world’s best — He, Tweddle, Tsurumi, and China’s newbie Wu Liufang.

@2 years ago
#Aliya Mustafina 
Weekend of Nasty Gymnasm…

Alright. I’m with Rhonda Fahn. Hearing Georgia not making NCAAs gives me a nasty grimace. The Team of God has been bullying their way under heaven’s guidance all season, overscoring themselves and getting pissed while not getting the special treatment. Looking ahead, even a god heavenly CGAer like Cassie Whitcomb ditched her friendship with Shayla and jumped ship to UCLA. It will take a lot more convincing, after this season, to lure either Bridget Sloan or Kayla Williams, especially when they see the entitled WOGA duo getting the same treatment. UGA has, in a way, made Shayla Worley a saint with actual work ethics compared to the rest of the team.

UCLA and Florida are the only two teams in NCAA with actual style. UCLA has added a lot more difficulty into their beam routines and is not backing down after their previous meltdowns. That kind of commitment to quality is what will win them the championship. NCAA will likely go UCLA-Florida-Oklahoma, with all SEC teams sinking ships. My evil inner self has always compared SEC gymnastics to trashy southern culture and deems them to have no place in a sport of aesthetic value.

Paris World Cup went as I predicted. On bars Youna threw the def and went behind Tweddle, who trailed behind He Kexin. There are only two female gymnasts out there who you can count on to be more or less consistent: Beth Tweddle on floor and He Kexin on bars. They are the only two people who know for a fact that if they hit, they will win on their respective event. Racking up unreal difficulty has only one advantage. Domination is the ultimate source of confidence. Same can not be said about Wu Liufang on bars and Huang Qiushuang on all events.

In 2006 Beth won over Li Ya multiple times when both hit clean routines with Li Ya leading six tenths or so in A score. China is focusing exclusively on pirouetting angles and it showed. HKX’s pirouettes are not as fluid as Yang Yilin, but they are undeductable. With this streak, China will rack up huge points on bars in team finals.

Speaking of, Aliya Mustafina is not in shape. Her ankles are obviously hurt but without her, the Russian team will again sure to lose to Romania at Euros like they did in 2008. As always, the Romanian team is less distracted and more determined, with little resource they have. Raluca Haidu has gotten a DTY as expected, and they have a dream beam lineup of Chelaru, Racea and Porgras, when Russia might have to put Ekaterina Kurbatova on all four events if Aliya can not vault or do floor. The Russians can not stay healthy and they have some sort of a weight problem. This team is not on a Soviet diet for sure. Aliya looks bigger than a 26 year old Millousi (who is hot!). I might add that the only Russian gymnast who was never plagued by injury was the skeleton Queen. 

At last, a NED-BEL-SUI tri meet was held this weekend. I gotta say this. Ariella’s floor routine is divine and more genius than any Valorie Kondos routine.

2 years ago
#Aliya Mustafina #Beth Tweddle #He Kexin #Shayla Worley #UGA #Wu Liufang #Areilla Kaislin 
2 years ago
#Aliya Mustafina