Alicia Sacramone
Country: USA
Years As Elite: 2003-2012
Biggest Accomplishments: 2008 Olympic Medalist (Silver in team ), 2010 World Team Silver medalist, and vault champion.
Best Event: Vault. She can also put good scores in on floor, and can do a good beam set
Weak Event: Bars. We never really saw Alicia compete bars
Year Retired: 2012, right after Trials
Quick Notes: Alicia didn't have the best Olympics, she fell on beam and floor in team finals, and did not get gold on vault, this forced her into retirement, but she realized that wasn't helping anything, and that she wanted to end her career on a high note, so she came back, won the vault title in 2010, and she carried on to 2012, where she made it to the Trials Process but did not make the actual team
Reason Of Retirement: Alicia realized that she ended her career on a high note, and she was sad that she did not make the London Team,but she loved that she had a Vault Title, and she wanted to leave it at that.
Her Legacy: Alicia is most known for the way she came back after her disappointing Olympics, and came back successfully! Alicia inspired many gymnasts to come back, like Shawn Johnson, Chellsie Memmel, and Nastia Liukin. She also inspired many young gymnasts out there, telling the
Cheng Fei
Country: China
Years As Elite: 2004-2012
Biggest Accomplishments: 2004 and 2008 Olympic Team Member, Gold with the 2008 Olympic Team, multiple word-stage vault gold medals, and a bronze in 2008). She got a vault named after her (Round-off half on, 1 1/2 twists off)
Best Event: Vault, can also do a great floor routine
Worst Event: Even though it isn't known, based on performance history, it seems like bars would be Cheng's Worst Event
Year Retired: 2012, she sustained an injury, and was not able to make the team, she quit soon afterwards
Quick Notes: Fei has a vault named after her. She is considered one of the best Vaulters in history. Even though Cheng never had a gold medal at the Games, she has multiple World-Stage medals.
Reason of Retirement: Cheng sustained an injury to her Achille's Tendon in 2012, making it so that she couldn't contend for China's team, and she knew she could not hold out another cycle, so she retired, taking her many gold medals and her Olympic bronze with her.
Her Legacy: Cheng proved that China can be powerful, and inspired many young Chinese gymnasts to try and be powerful.
Beth Tweddle
Country: Great Britain
Years As Elite: 2001-2012
Biggest Accomplishment: 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympian, she won the bronze on bars in front of a home crowd In London 2012, as well as winning a plethora of golds on bars and floor over the span of her career.
Best Event: Bars, and she's also good at floor
Worst Event: We've only really seen Beth compete on the bars and the floor, we've really never seen Beth All-Around
Year Retired: 2012, right after the Games
Quick Notes: Beth was one of the best British gymnasts, and one of the best bar workers on all time. She has many daring releases in her routine that makes her deserving of all the golds she won.
Reason of Retirement: Beth knew that she couldn't continue in gymnastics forever. The only reason why she kept going after Beijing was so that she could compete in front of a home crowd. She did so, and won a bronze! Beth wanted to end her career on a high note, and she definitely did so.
Her Legacy: I think that Beth started a line of great British bar workers, being followed in that line by gymnasts like Ruby Harrold and Becky Downie.
Daiane Dos Santos:
Country: Brazil
Years as Elite: 2004-2012
Biggest Accomplishment: She has gotten two moves named after her on floor, and has scooped up many gold medals in various competitions on the event. She won the World Title in 2003
Best Event: Floor
Worst Event: We've really only seen her on floor, and sometimes on vault. She is not an all-around athlete, but judging by the power she has, the worst event would be bars. But thats just guessing on the power. Power and bars often don't mix, with the exception of Beth Tweddle.
Year Retired: Right after the Games in 2012
Quick Notes: Daiane has two moves named after her on the floor exercised, the double arabian fronts in both pike and layout. It is also to be noted that she won the 2003 World Title on Floor, and in doing so, became the first Brazillian World Champion, and became their best female gymnast.
Reason of Retirement: It was unclear, Dos Santos instantly dropped off the map. It is a little weird because she had a great shot for making the Rio Team, she was pretty much a lock. But If I were to guess, it would be that she just decided she was done.
Her Legacy: Daiane inspired many Brazillian gymnasts, and left her mark on the gymnastics world as a whole.
Dasha Joura
Country: Australia
Years As Elite: 2001-2012
Biggest Accomplishment: Making the Beijing Team, winning floor at a World Cup
Best Event: She is a good all-arounder but excells at floor
Worst Event: Vault
Year Retired: 2012
Quick Notes: Dasha is known for her bubbly personality and style
Reason of Retirement: It was pretty unclear, but it may be that she had an injury and could not go to London, and decided to retire afterwards.
Her Legacy: Dasha was one of the best Australian Gymnasts in history.
Deng LinLin
Country: China
Years As Elite: 2008-2012
Biggest Accomplishment: 2008 and 2012 Olympian, in 2008 she helped China win their first evver Team title, and in 2012, she won the beam gold medal. She was also the captain of the 2012 Olympic Team.
Best Event: Beam
Worst Event: We really only know Deng as a beam specialist. Her Beam makes you say "Dang Deng!"
Year Retired: 2012
Quick Notes: Deng has been promising on the balance beam since we first saw her in competition in 2004. She was the captain of the 2012 Team because of her experience
Reason of Retirement: Deng ended her stellar career on a high note: She was the Team Captain of Team China, and indivdually, she won beam. That's a great way to wrap up a career!
Her Legacy: Deng continued the line of great beam workers, and regained China's dominance on the event at the Olympics, proving that they are still, beam queens.
Nastia Liukin
Country: USA
Years As Elite: 2005-2012
Biggest Accomplishment: 2005 Uneven and Balance Beam World Champion 2007 Balance Beam world champion, and of course 2008 Olympic Champion.
Best Event: Bars, she is also good on beam
Worst Event: Vault
Year Retired: 2012 after Trials
Quick Notes: Nastia is known for her exquiste form and style, especially on the uneven bars. She has move named after her on the beam, and in 2010, before her comeback, Nastia got a competition, called the Nastia Liukin Cup, A meet for level 10s. Even though Nastia did not make the 2012 Team, she cannot be disappointed in her career as a gymnast. She has had mass success and can call herself the Queen Of Gymnastics.
Reason Of Retirement: Nastia had a disappointing performance at Classics, face planting on her release move. She knew it was time to retire and go onto other things. But like I said, she can not be disappointed. She has World and Olympic Medals! She has a huge fan base, and is one of the most loved/appreciated gymnasts in history.
Her Legacy: The legacy that Nastia left was pretty big. So big that I can't even describe it. Nastia inspired so many young gymnasts out there, its incredible. Nastia proved that you don't have to be a World AA Champ to be an Olympic AA. After Shawn came onto the scene, Nastia was pushed into silver, all the time, but she finally did it, she finally won.
These are some of the gymnasts who have left legacies in the sport, in my opinion, as I think of more, they will be added to the list
No comments:
Post a Comment