Nastia Liukin: Her Events

With Nastia Liukin being an Olympic All-Around Champion, naturally, I have to do a Her Events segment on her.



Vault: Vault was never Nastia's strong event. She only performed the Yurchenko single twist, but as we saw in the All-Around Final, Nastia sticks that vault. I think that Nastia has a secret fear of the vault, just like her teammate Rebecca Bross did after her injury. Nastia did have her fair shares of injury on this event, downgrading her vault one by one. But hey, she won the All-Around right?


Bars: This is where Nastia truly shined in her career, having a astounding 17.2 start value. From her perfect handstands to her high-difficulty-high-flying releasees. And not to mention the dismount. This has always been a strong point for Nastia, even though she flubbed at the 2012 competitions, to get herself back to the Olympics, Nastia will forever be known as the best bar worker in USA history. One of the best in the world, right next to the Chinese and the Russians.


Beam: This is Nastia's second best event, she has a move named after her on this event. She has great artistry, and a decent amount of power on the event.


Floor: Nastia is also good on this event, but not great. She could improve on the power area, but her choreography is amazing.




   In addition to being a great beam worker, a great bar worker, and a typical great all-around gymnast, Nastia is a great cover upper, see this beam routine at the 2006 Nationals, if you haven't seen it already, it is truly a great save.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u483g1-8AYM


    Despite the save, and gripping the beam, Nastia still won the all-around competition, make sure to watch the 2006 Visa Championships, where Nastia won the all-around, the bars competition, naturally, and the beam. She was a phenomenal athlete, and we are going to miss her, but will likely re-watch her competitions which she shined at. Which she won.

What Do I Think About: Simone Biles?

    Simone Biles has all the qualities of the Fierce Five. She has Gabby's Ferocity. Aly's Grace. Jordyn's power. Mac's height. And Kyla's artistry. Which coincidentally, is everything you need in this sport we call gymnastics. Simone Biles is an amazing gymnast, and she is the current National Champion, and the current World Champion, once again taking over one of Jordyn's qualities: Her winning everything she enters trait. Simone has all the necessary components of an Olympic Gymnast, but as we saw at the American cup in 2013, Biles can struggle with confidence when under pressure. She fell off the beam on her back tuck with one twist, which was rather uncharacteristic of Biles, but it can happen, and Biles was coming off a win at the National Championships, and was probably under an enormous amount of pressure to show the World what she can do. But like a twig, Biles snapped under the pressure, giving up the title to her fellow team member, Katelyn Ohashi. But, coming in second in an international competition like this is pretty major for a new senior. But, lets not forget, Simone went from second place, to first, at the World Championships later that year. Which, in fact, gave her more publicity in the gymnastics world, than she would have had if she had won the American Cup.

McKayla Maroney: Record Holder

  As all of us gymnastics fans know, a record in the sport is extremely hard to come by. But, not for Maroney. Despite Mac's devastation in 2012, she came back in 2013, and defended her 2011 vaulting world title, the first woman in HISTORY to defend a vault title! Congratulations to McKayla! She can do anything and everything she puts her mind to. I love McKayla, and she is a great vaulter. She is training the triple twist, which if she makes the team, she can make it to Rio De Janeiro in 2016. I have been watching McKayla do the Amanar since her junior days. Go McKayla! And try to make it a three-peat in 2014. Win vaulting gold again!