Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2014
International Gymnast Focus: Marta Pihan-Kulesza
Poland. Before the 2012 Olympics, I never knew that they had a gymnastics federation. But as I was watching Subdivison 2 of the London Summer Olympics, as Poland's Marta Pihan-Kulesza mounted the balance beam, I knew. I watched her as she threw all these skills that I never seen such artistry, such grace. She was lacking in the power department, something this Polish 27 year old phenom could easily fix. I have recently started following Marta's career as a gymnast, watching her routines from her earliest days as a gymnast (Thats right, her JO days). Even as a little 5 year old, Marta was amazing. I always was excited to see her routines, it seemed like Marta added difficulty and new stunts every competition, which in Poland were only like 2 weeks apart. I wish Marta would continue to compete, and hopefully make the beam final there, and maybe even medal like she did at Euros. I wish she would do that, because she can make history for Poland Gymnastics, being an Olympic medalist for the first time.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)