Highlights of London 2012 (And the lowlights)

Hey guys, I just decided to blog today! Anyway, with Rio less than two years away, once again, we begin to think about the highlights (and lowlights) of London 2012.



1. McKayla Maroney Vaults Her Way into history


     Remember that perfect vault that we saw from McKayla Maroney? That sky-high, perfect form, stuck landing vault, I am getting just as excited as Tim Dagget was in London, ok taking a minute to cool down, settle. Ok, So. Where was I? Ok, so the reason why Mac successfully stuck this vault, is because of the air she gets, she finished that final 1/2 twist so early, that Mac was just flying in a pencil down-position, So she had plenty of time to stick it! Ok, the reason why Mac went down in history is because few people can do the Amanar in the World, and Nobody can do it as well as Mac, and certainly no one can stick it! Mac is truly the best vaulter in the World, and with that stuck landing in London, she received a massive 16.233, some believed, including me, that Mac should have gotten a perfect 10 e-score, which would have been a 16.500 score, but as we know,  in today's world of gymnastics, nobody gets a perfect 10, that was so 1900. But Mac received pretty close to it, earning a near-perfect 9.733 E Score.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNG0QJw7-4A

2. Jordyn Wieber loses out on the all around


Like I said, there were some downsides to London. And this, by far, was one of them. Jordyn won the All-Around competition in 2011, in Tokyo, but after some out-of-bounds, some steps on landings, some missed handstands, some wobbles, Jordyn was knocked out of the all around, thanks to the two per country rule, by her own teammates, Alexandra Raisman, and Gabrielle Douglas. Jordyn was devastated. She missed out on her true dream, Olympic All-Around Champion. I cried as Jordyn cried. It was definitely one of the most devastating moments of the Olympic Games.



3. Aliya Mustafina comes home as the most decorated Gymnast, after dealing with a giant ACL injury the year before.

   When I did not see Aliya in the 2011 Worlds, I was devastated. Aliya dominated at the Worlds the year before, I actually wanted to see her dominate in Tokyo as well. I was searching frantically by the Russian team. There's Nabieva, Komova, dah dah dah, and then I heard over my computer, that Aliya had injured herself just months before Worlds. She was competing an Amanar, and she had torn her ACL. As I heard this news, I was freaking out. Would Aliya be able to make it to London. I guess I would find out about 7 months later. And when I saw Aliya greeting the judges I was giddy. And later on, Aliya would win Silver with the Russian Team, Bronze in the all around, bronze in the floor finals, and most importantly, she beat legendary bar worker He Kexin, and won the uneven bars gold. My girl, Aliya, had become the most decorated gymnast ever, less than a year after a potentially-career-ending injury.


 4. Aly Raisman loses her chance of bronze in the all around.

One of the most devastating parts of the Olympic Games, Alexandra Raisman loses her bronze medal thanks to a series of tiebreakers, and the bronze was awarded to Aliya Mustafina of Russia.


5. Aly Raisman tumbles and dances her way into history.

     In floor exercise finals, Alexandra Raisman of the USA gave the floor performance of her life and secured the first floor exercise gold medal for the United States. Aly had a massive 15.600 score. Its no 16.233, but it is hugely impossible to get above a score of 15.600. Aly watched as the other 7 competitors, including 2004 champion Catalina Ponor, and 2008 Olympic Champion, Sandra Izbasa, fell short (Sandra actually fell) And before she knew it, Aly was standing at the top of the podium, hearing the United States background playing in the background, her eyes tearing up, and the United States flag raising the highest. She was surrounded by Catalina Ponor, and the person who had beat her for bronze in the all around earlier that week, Aliya Mustafina.


6. Gabby Fails to get two more medals 

After an amazing win in the all around finals, not to mention the team golds, Gabby had two beautiful gold medals in her possession. And she had the opportunity to win two more, in the bars and beam finals. Children, allow me to take you to the great land of the bars finals. Let's see how Gabby Douglas did after amazing performances by Mustafina and Kexin and Tweddle. Douglas mounted the bars by that bland, grab the high bar, kip up mount. yawn. Anyway, the routine then continued as a nervous routine, there were only a few select handstands that were hit. The rest of them either had leg separation, lousy swings, otherwise known as the lower-back-arch, and didn't get high enough. Gabby missed her chance for bars medals, but she still had beam. A few days later, she went to beam finals, with teammate Aly Raisman. She watched as Aly hit a great great great set, and watched as Viktoria Komova, who won silver in the all around days before,fell off the beam, and then on her dismount. It was finally time for our girl Gabby to mount the beam, she came out solid, with teeny-tiny balance checks along the way. Gabby stared at the balance beam and performed her leap, it was looking so beautiful in the air, but Gabby landed with her foot off the beam, and grasped the beam, in a desperate try to stay on, but she ended up grasping the beam, then falling.  After she watched Aly Raisman earn the bronze, she knew her medal race was over, and for the floor finals, she could relax and watch her teammates compete. Even though her medal race was over, Gabs had no reason to be disappointed, she had two golds in her possession, two golds that she would treasure forever, and of course an amazing experience.


7. Jordyn Wieber gets over loss in all-around to push her team to gold
Everyone in the gymnastics world was worried that Jordyn Wieber would have a shaky performance because she would be distraught over not getting in the all around, but those thoughts were immediately dispelled. She vaulted. It was right smack on the middle line, the tiniest hop forward. Beautiful. Bars=beautiful, all events=beautiful. Jo helped the team to the gold medal, and she loved it. She finally had an Olympic gold around her neck, it was better than any other gold, because she won it with her team, with her sisters.

8. Viktoria Komova Does Not Have Planned Olympics

     Viktoria Komova was expected to win the golds in all the Finals she entered. We saw a beautiful performance from Vika in qualifications, she qualified into Team Finals, All-Around Finals, Bars Finals and Beam Finals. The night of qualifications, Viktoria was excited because she had the opportunity to sweep the golds. First was team finals, and during the first rotation of Teams, she saw her dreams cracking for team golds after the USA drilled their vaults, and Russia slightly struggled. Viktoria sighed, smiled, and marched to the next rotation. They began to close the USA's gap, and then beam came, and once again, the gold for Russia began to crumble after the Russian girls made many mistakes, and the USA's lead was widened. Viktoria was not in the last rotation, she watched as Mustafina hit her set, and she smiled and clapped,  and after another routine, it was Grishina's turn, and Grishina's set was horrible, Grishina had fallen on one pass, and had bailed out on another, Viktoria started to sob, because she knew that the USA was super strong on floor and Russia had two fallers (Afaneyseva had fallen on her last pass right after Grishina's routine) Viktoria knew that her chances of team gold had disappeared. So, as she listened to the USA Anthem, and watched as Team USA's flag rose higher than hers.

   Next was all around, Viktoria had a hard first rotation, she stepped off the vaulting mat. She watched as the United States girls, once again drilled the vaults. Going into bars, Viktoria stared at the leaderboards, Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman leading over her. She went to bars, and managed to get to second place. She then went to beam, and struggled, maintaining her second place, then floor, Gabby had delivered a great routine. And Viktoria tried to catch up, but failed to She stood in the silver medal, once again, watching Team USA win



  Next for Vika was bars finals, she delivered an average routine, with some weak-legged form, and managed to secure a fifth place finish. But she did get to watch as Aliya Mustafina of Russia, won a gold. One gold for Russia!


   Next was beam, Viktoria had a horrible beam set, filled with balance checks and form errors, and a fall on a skill, and on her Patterson dismount. She went home with two silver medals, and no gold. That was her last final, she was not in the floor final, and she lost her chance at more Olympic Medals

9.  Canada Makes History by getting into the team Finals, and placing fifth

Canada, until 2012, they were not one of the well known gymnastics teams. Except by me. I know Peng Peng Lee and Victoria Moors, and all the other girls. After subdivision 5, the top 8 teams flashed,, and Canada was in there. I was so amazed, and happy that the 2012 Olympic Canadian Team made it! Yay! Even though they had lost their best gymnast, and team captain, Peng Peng Lee to injury, they still were able to make it into team finals, with their honorary team captain, Peng Peng Lee cheering them on. Some teams gold medals are actual gold medals around their necks, but Canada just wanted to get into team finals. That was their gold medal, just being in team finals. But it seemed as if their luck would keep on going. They then placed fifth! Thats right, only two places away from the podium! I am so looking forward to see Canada in Rio, and to see if they can actually get on the medal podium!


10.

MyKayla Skinner's Cheng: Terrifying

    MyKayla Skinner has became known for the difficulty level of her vault. MyKayla is one of the only girls in the World to be performing the Cheng vault. It is an incredibly intricate vault, there are many steps to the Cheng. You must do a half turn onto the springboard, half twist onto the vaulting table, and 1 1/2 twists off. So, if I were to describe this vault in two words, it would be intricate, and hard. But just because MyKayla can do the Cheng, doesn't mean she can do it correctly. MyKayla has the nasty  habit of only blocking off with one arm for the Cheng, not only is that a built-in deduction, but is also dangerous. If MyKayla blocks off of only one arm, she can seriously injure her arm. I can not express how many injuries can occur to her because of her blocking, and I do not like it. MyKayla is an athlete who has great potential, but she just needs to be careful. If MyKayla injures her arm on vault, it  could seriously damage her shots at making International Assignments, and Marta, her coaches could make her downgrade her vault. MyKayla needs to properly block off, or this vault will come back and bite her. So MyKayla, if you are reading this, please, please, please, please, please, please try and change your blocking, try blocking with both arms, or else you will break your right arm. So do this for us, MyKayla, not us, do it for yourself. Yourself.  Don't  hurt yourself, and you will get plenty of international assignments

McKayla Maroney: Scandal

    Mac fans ev erywhere you may of heard that she is currently involved in a huge scandal. Gymnasttike, posted nude photos of her on Twitter. I always thought that Gymnastike was a great great gymnastics blog, they, along with Tripletwistgymnastics, inspired me to make this blog that has so many readers. But now? Now I hate them. They have wronged Mac, and let me just tell you, that is not true, this whole scandal, its not true. Absolutely. Not. True. If you are a true McKayla fan, you will be behind her, and post on all Social Media that McKayla Maroney is truly innocent. Many stars have been involved in scandals like this, lets help McKayla's go over smoothly. Gymnastike is responsible. So unfollow Gymnastike on all social media, because it is them that have caused Mac this pain and hardship. We will make Gymnastike unpopular. So if you post a pic of Mac, caption it "Stay Strong Mac" and then hastag it #boycott gymnastike. If you are a true McKayla fan, you will not bash on her. You will support her until this whole thing blows over. So if you want to support her, stand behind her, and don't bash her. McKayla Maroney is truly innocent. It just depends on your fan level to believe her. If you are a minimal fan, you will bash her, but if you are a Mac lover, you will support her until everything blows over. Comment which one you are. a Mac Supporter, or a Mac Basher.








WHAT TO HASHTAG

#staystrongmac

#boycotgymnastike

#Macfan

Claudia Fragapane: Does she have what it takes?

We all know Claudia Fragapane, the four time Commonwealth Games champ from England. She was amazing, winning team gold, vault gold, floor gold, and the all around. She was a great gymnast. And she is on the rise, team England would be insane not to put her on the women's team. Claudia will make it. She will. And she will be one of the two, Brit girls to be in the all around, but as I was watching the CWGs, as a gymnastics aficionado, that her form, was kinda bad, and she was not a power athlete, she was in kind of a void, in between. Claudia did have unique choreo on floor, but that was about it. If Claudia wanted to actually contend for an all-around/event medal, she will need to categorize herself as a gymnast before she can medal at a Worlds or Olympics, dont hate on me for speaking the truth, Claudai Fragapane guys. The CWGs was a weaker field than a World Championships, we don't have any of the top four countries in the field, i.e, USA, Russia, Romania, China, it's just a bunch of mixed groups like Korea, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Israel, and all those other countries that we didn't know had a gymnastics program until now. So, the field isn''t that strong. So even the people with mediocre form, can medal. I do believe Claudia can medal at an International medal, with the top four countries, if  she steps up her form.

Gymnastics News: Aly Raisman

   If you have been a long-time reader of triplewhip, you will know that I am obsessed with Alexandra Raisman, double gold medalist, and one time bronze medalist. Even though Aly didn't have the best bars routine, she was dominant on beam and floor, and could contribute a steady vault. Altogether, Aly was a true all-arounder. After she won her two golds and one bronze, Aly came home and chillaxed. She was originally supposed to come back at Nationals 2014, but Aly, along with her parents, and coach Mihai Brestyan, decided that she needed more time to condition, and train her events. I am sad, that Aly decided to push her comeback back a year, but after getting over the initial sadness, I realized that this really was a great choice by Aly, because, as much as Aly fans hate to admit it, her bars are bad. She lacks proper toe point, and lets face it, she has been out of competition for a year, and she needs to come back with a bang. So, all Aly fans, remember, this is a truly great idea. Aly needs another couple months to continue to train, she can't worry about competitions,  not just yet. She just needs to get back those skills, you know like the Patterson on beam, or the 1 1/2 to double Arabian to punch front layout on floor, you know, all the good stuff. Aly's just not ready for competition, but in 2015, she will be. So look forward to that, Aly Raisman fans, I know I am, and DI may be a little overly-anxious.