Grading Simone Biles' Performance at the 2014 Worlds

Well as you know if you watched Qualfying, Simone didn't have her best routines, falling on the beam, which reminded me of the 2013 Classics. But I am still giving her an A+ because Simone was a HUGE part of the team gold, and she also won gold in AA (Even though she had great gymnastics, the "Bee Incident" was my favorite part of AA), beam finals, and floor finals. Which meant she defended two of her titles from the previous Worlds, and added two more (Team and Beam), and Simone also medaled silver in the vault finals (I think that was unfair, feel free to comment below). So because Simone WON FIVE MEDALS FOUR OF THEM GOLD! Despite a fall or mistake or two in qualifications, she gets an A+

Simone Biles vs. the bee during the medal ceremony. Thought to be the funniest moment of the World Chammpionships.

Grading Kyla Ross' Performance at the 2014 Worlds

   We always knew Kyla as the girl who had perfect form, and was known for getting near perfect execution every time. But as I watched the 2014 Worlds, I noticed some of that slipping away, Kyla has form mistakes, balance checks, which was unexpected. I quickly got on Instagram on my gymnastics account (Gym lovers, please follow me on Instagram! Its @doubletwistingdoublelayout). And then I finally discovered that it said that Kyla has come down with injury, a back injury. It was devastating because Kyla couldn't do the beautiful things we were accotomed to. And with her watered-down routines, she needs execution. But Kyla did the best she could, which is why I am giving her a B for her performance in Nanning. It wasnt the best routines from Kyla. and she knew it. But she went out there and tried her hardest. And as we saw in team finals, Kyla duplicated what she did in London, and in her own way, helped her team towards gold. Lets admit that Kyla's work in Nanning wasn't close to what she did in Antwerp, or London, but she got a B, she did good with her injuries

Team Talk: Spain

  Well as you know...... Spain is not a full team, they have never sent full women's teams to the Olympics as long as I can remember. But they have a few promising gymnasts who they have sent individually. Such as Roxana Popa Nedelcu. She is a truly promising gymnast. Did you know that Roxana placed in the second ranked group in the 2013-2014 Worlds AA? Also, did you know that a Spanish Female gymnast has never placed as high as Roxana? As you and I both know, Spain does not have a strong gymnastics program, at least for the women. But Roxana, Roxana placed in the second seated group people! If Spain keeps breeding gymnasts like Roxana, I can gurantee you that they will send a full team to the Worlds/Olympics. And I can definitely tell you that Roxana will make it to this 2015 Worlds, and she will be one of the two Spanish gymnasts sent to Rio.

Team Talk: Japan

   So my brother and my mother are making fun of me JUST BECAUSE I like eating at Taco Bell, and since I can't jump out of a car that is going roughly 50 miles per hour, I decided that I need to talk about what I love, gymnastics, to get my mind of this insanity thats going on right now. So lets talk about Team Japan. I will be talking about how they are doing as a team. 

   Japan may not be the best gymnastics program, but I think they have one of the most unique. You see that olden style of gymnastics. And when I say olden-style, I mean that they have amazing artistry in everything they do, they make sure to point their toes, extend every part of their bodies. They do this because they know that they don't have the most difficult routines and they need to rely on execution. This reminds me of Kyla Ross. After a series of injuries, she has had to water down her routines, and had to rely on execution. I think that Japan is on the rise, and right now, is one of the most interesting countries in terms of gymnastics style.

Grading Yang Yilin's Performance At: The 2008 All-Around

So, since I am starting a bunch of new segments nowadays, why not start another called "Grading The Performance" for the first post, I will be grading the performance of China's Yang Yilin at the 2008 all around.

   For the 2008 all-around, I would have to give Yang an A-. The only reason why I did not give her an A, or even an A plus is because of little errors, such as her full turn on beam. I was glad that she could win the bronze in the all-around in '08, but, now I hate to say this because I am an American, but if Yan had not made those tiny errors, she could have bested USA's Shawn Johnson for the silver medal.

Memorable Competitions: 2008 All-Around

Hey guys, I decided to do a new segment called "Memorable Competitions, in which I will write about the competition listed in the header, and for the inaugural post of this segment, I will write about the 2008 Olympic All-Around. one of my favorite, and in my opinion, one of the most thrilling, competitions. In this particular post of "Memorable Competitions, I will be giving you, my readers, a rotation by rotation summary.

   Even though Shawn and Nastia still thought about the disappointment of team finals, they were able to focus on the biggest competition of their lives: the all-around. This is where the Queen of gymnastics would be crowned, and really, they knew that they were going to go one and two, but the question was, "At the end of the competition, who would be holding the gold medal, and who would be holding the silver?" Well, they would find out at the end of the night. Going into vault, Nastia knew that Shawn would have the lead, because Shawn was performing a vault that is worth 16.500, the 2 1/2 twist, otherwise known as te Amanar, while she was performing a substantially easier vault, a single twist, coming in at a small 15.400. Now even though Shawn had a cross-over step on her landing, she still scored higher than Nastia Liukin, who stuck her less-difficult vault. And then, Yang Yilin, who scored a 15.175, coming ahead of Nastia Liukin, but behind Amanar-Performing Shawn Johnson.

   Coming into bars, Nastia had the advantage. She had an extremely packed routine, with the most difficult, releases, transitions, and of course, pirouettes and handstands. Shawn had a lot less difficult routine, but in hindsight, her difficult dismount helped her. But still, no gymnastics fan anywhere was surprised that Nastia had a lead over copatriot, Shawn Johnson, going into rotation 3, the beam, and after rotation three, Chinese gymnast, had slid into second place, with a bar routine better than Nastia's, then again, what is to be expected? The Chinese are the masters of the uneven bars. 

   Then it was Beam, Nastia got a 16.125 while her copatriot Shawn Johnson was right behind her (more or less) with a 16.050. And of course, Yang Yilin, coming in with a 15.750. 

  It was the final event, floor, and Nastia had just delivered the best routine of her life, scoring a WHOPPING 15.525, and in order to take the gold medal from Nastia, Shawn needed to perform a routine that would get her a little bit over a 16.000, but as we know, she failed to do this, but do you know why? Two reasons: 

1. Getting a 16 on floor is pratically unheard of

2. Shawn didn't have the D score.

So because of those two reasons, Shawn Johnson didn't have a chance of winning the all around, and Yang Yilin also missed out not only on the gold, but on the silver, finishing her night with the floor score of 15.000. 

   So at the end of the night, Nastia placed first with an overall score of 63.325, Shawn coming behind her with an overall score of 62.725, and Yang Yilin coming in 3rd with an overall score of 62.650. I also copied the table that  http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/2008/olympics2008wagaa.html provided.

2008 Olympic Games Beijing Women’s Individual All-Around Final			VT	UB	BB	FX	Total
1	LIUKIN Nastia	USA	15.025	16.650	16.125	15.525	63.325
2	JOHNSON Shawn	USA	15.875	15.275	16.050	15.525	62.725
3	YANG Yilin	CHN	15.175	16.725	15.750	15.000	62.650
4	SEMENOVA Ksenia	RUS	14.750	16.475	15.925	14.775	61.925
5	NISTOR Steliana	ROU	15.025	15.975	15.550	14.500	61.050
6	JIANG Yuyuan	CHN	14.825	15.875	15.425	14.775	60.900
7	PAVLOVA Anna	RUS	15.275	14.525	15.975	15.050	60.825
8	IZBASA Sandra	ROU	15.075	14.300	15.875	15.500	60.750
9	CHUSOVITINA Oksana	GER	15.750	14.900	14.875	14.600	60.125
10	BARBOSA Jade	BRA	15.025	15.075	15.500	13.950	59.550
11	FERRARI Vanessa	ITA	14.700	15.200	15.600	13.950	59.450
12	DOWNIE Becky	GBR	15.025	15.625	14.700	14.100	59.450
13	BONORA Georgia	AUS	14.850	14.625	15.100	14.375	58.950
14	PAROLARI Lia	ITA	13.950	15.350	15.125	14.500	58.925
15	MORGAN Shona	AUS	14.650	14.625	15.100	14.425	58.800
16	HOPFNER-HIBBS Elyse	CAN	14.875	15.425	14.150	13.925	58.375
17	TSURUMI Koko	JPN	14.075	14.950	15.400	13.675	58.100
18	KASLIN Ariella	SUI	15.350	14.275	14.425	13.950	58.000
19	PETIT Marine	FRA	14.725	14.400	14.275	14.575	57.975
20	OSHIMA Kyoko	JPN	14.575	14.675	13.975	14.400	57.625
21	PALESOVA Kristyna	CZE	14.075	15.350	14.650	12.900	56.975
22	SILVA Ana	BRA	14.175	14.175	14.175	14.350	56.875
23	DUGAIN Laetitia	FRA	14.275	14.275	15.225	13.000	56.775
24	MYS Gaelle	BEL	14.000	12.875	13.100	13.975	53.950
Underlined score indicate starting apparatus
Official Results

  So, the 2008 AA was a memorable competition, No?

Who Had the Worst Olympics on Team USA

So, I've only done this with one team, which is Russia. And I loved doing it. That was almost a year ago, and as I do this one, I will write about USA's, who had the worst Olympics.

   Now even though Alexandra Raisman missed out on medaling in the all around, she cannot be nominated for this, because she won two golds, and a bronze, to me, that is a very successful Olympics. And someone else who cannot be nominated is Gabby Douglas, sure she missed out on medaling in bars, and of course she fell in beam finals, but she also has team gold, and ALL AROUND GOLD! So lets just say that Gabby had a very successful Olympics

   I also don't like to consider Kyla Ross for this position because of the fact that she was a first year senior, and the experience was enough, not to mention winning the team gold medal. So now, I believe its down to McKayla Maroney, who fell in the vault finals, McKayla was the number one girl coming into the competition, the favorite, and Jordyn Wieber, who was eliminated from the all around, after teammates Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas, made it in before her, and much like McKayla, she was favored to win, and Jordyn was also in the floor finals, and had the chance to win there, but thanks to a pesky injury, did not. Lets talk about both McKayla Maroney, and Jordyn Wieber's disappointing Olympics, and then lets decide, ok?

   McKayla Maroney...... best vaulter in the world, was expected to win the event finals. I take you to the magical world of 2012 London Vault Finals, where Mac delivered a Yurchenko 2 1/2, that resembled the one that she performed in the Team Finals, just nights before. After an amazing vault, McKayla Maroney walked to the end of the vaulting runway, with a smile, she told herself "You need to stick your next vault", and she went for it. The first vault, that was performed, the Amanar, some around the World said that it should be renamed "The Maroney" because she does it even better than the inventoo of the vault, Simona Amanar. But after falling on her second vault, still scoring a  14.300, with only Izbasa left to go, she waited in eager participation. She watched as Izbasa hit both her vaults. During the medal ceremony, she held the "McKayla Maroney not Impressed" but it is told, 30 minutes later, it hit Maroney like a full-speeding train, that she hadn't won the gold, and tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Ok, lets talk about Jordyn next......... She won gold at the 2011 Tokyo Worlds in the all around, but as she came to London, and performed in the Qualifiers, she had tiny mistakes, like balance checks, out of bounds, and form deductions. This all added up in the end, and thanks to the two per country rule, it knocked her out of the all around, falling behind teammate, Gabby Douglas. This was a devastating blow for Wieber fans everywhere. Thanks to the two per country rule, Jordyn was not able to particiapte in the all around.  And by the time floor finals rolled around, Jordyn had a stress fracture in her leg, and she was not able to perform to the best of her abilities, and placed 7th, devastating.

  Even though Jordyn and McKayla were ecstatic to win the team gold medals, they wanted to prove something individually, which both of them fell short of doing. But I believe, since Jordyn's devastation forced her to quit, and that McKayla's is fueling her to keep going, that Jordyn had the most devastating Olympics out of the USA Team.

Team Focus: Team USA

So in this segment, I will be writing about specific teams as mentioned in the title section above. Anyway, this is about team USA, where I will be doing a combonation of "Their Events" which is basically "Her Events", but talking about how the event goes for the whole team, and I will also be grading their performances in competitions I saw them in. Ok, right now I am pretty much confusing myself as I write this, and I am probably confusing you as well, so I"ll just write it now

 USA's Events

Vault: 

This is where the USA shines. Team USA has the hardest vaults, including a couple perfect Amanars, A Rudi, A Cheng, and a couple of Yurchenko Doubles. USA is great on this event, we have the hardest vaults in the World, and often, some of the best executed.

Bars: 

   This, is definitely our weakest events, we often have issues with hitting handstands, and nailing those transitions, although we have had a few greats on this event, such as Nastia Liukin, Rebecca Bross, Kyla Ross,, Gabrielle Douglas, Ashton Locklear, and Madison Kocian......... our uneven bars, as a team, is not perfect.

Beam:

USA's beam is pretty great! We can hit sequences, and we have difficult tumbling skills on beam, which can give us the edge in case of tiebreakers. But, we do have difficulties on our dance sometimes, as we see with the more powerful athletes. But as we saw with Jordyn Wieber, who had a one handed backhandspring layout, and Shawn Johnson, who had a GORGEOUS layout on beam, we can bring power to the table. And lets not forget Carly Patterson, who got one of the hardest dismounts ever named after her, the Double Arabian

Floor: 

Much like vault, team USA has the hardest tumbling passes, and while US athletes struggle with teh artistry, we make it up with the legendary tumbling passes such as Asac's Double Arabian, or Aly's 1 1/2 twist to double arabian punch layout. This is a great event for Team USA, and in my opinion, it will continue to be.

Viktoria Komova: Her Events

Hey guys, lets do a "Her Events" post on Russian Great, Viktoria Komova. Now, as both you and I know, Viktoria is a great gymnast, and those mistakes in London and Tokyo were just that, mistakes. I know that Viktoria is way better than London and Tokyo. Lets analyze her gymnastics, to prove it.

Vault: This is a weak event for Viktoria, weak being the operative word. Like McKayla and all the other American girls competing right now,  Viktoria is capable of performing the Amanar vault, but did not do so in Tokyo or London. But as I tell gym-nots that, they are all like, "Well why didn't Viktoria or whatever her name is, do the harder vault?" and this discussion took nearly an hour and a half, but I know all of you have lives, and can't read this ALL DAY.  And I can't write all day, so I'll give you the Cliff-Notes version. "Basically, gym-not, its because the coaches and Viktoria did not want to risk it. So anyway, all the gymnastics superfans out there know that Viktoria wanted to play it safe so that the team, and herself, would medal. Sure, Viktoria only performs two twists usually, but I have a feeling when she comes back from injuries, she'll be doing an Amanar. But, even if she does a easier vault, you'll see an extended body, perfectly pointed toes, and a stuck landing. The only reason why Viktoria can be perceived as "weak" on this event, is because of the fact that she does not to an Amanar. Yet


Bars: This is an event you will want to watch Viki on. Viktoria extends every limb of her body. She hits every handstands, and has the typical gorgeous, and difficult, Russian bars routine. Now, Vika did make the finals in this event, and she performed great, but thanks to the depth of the field, she was out of the podium. While Viktoria is great on bars, she had to beat her own teammate, Aliya Mustafina, who was  fine-tuning and doing nothing but bars while she was recovering from her injury, and then you have 2008 uneven bars champion,  He Kexin, and then legend Beth Tweddle, who has like a Kajillion connections in her routine, and then in fourth, you have Yao Jinnan, who is another Chinese athlete who only had one mistake in her routine. Now I understand why Viktoria was crushed, but after she examined the extreme depth of the field, I hope that she was proud of herself for placing so high!!!!

Beam: Viktoria is good here too, let me just tell you that she doesn't struggle with form/connection, although I found it interesting that Vika fell on a sheep jump, which is one of her greatest performed skills, Viktoria is great on beam, but she fell in 2011 on a back handspring step out combo in team finals, and then in 2012 she fell on the sheep jump in beam finals, as I mentioned earlier, and on her Patterson dismount.


Floor: Viktoria may not have the greatest tumbling, but having years of ballet training, she has the greatest dance, which is a great part of the routine. Viktoria's floor music in 2011-2012 was Swan Lake, and it was beautiful, and lets not fail to mention the upbeat-pop tune that came in about halfway in the routine. Viktoria has the style on this event, that all Russian greats are known for, that style that you can see, and if you dont know who that gymnast is, or what country she's from, you cacn tell she's Russian, and that ladies and gents, is the balletic style, its just simply beautiful.

   So...... after reading this article, are you still thinking that 2011 Worlds Viki and 2012 Olympics Viki, is actually Viki 365 days a year? No? Thats what I thought