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!

What I expect for team: Russia

Russia, as a team, had a hard Olympics in 2012, getting whooped by team USA. But, Rio is a whole new Olympics! I expect Russia to come out there fiery and exploding. But, rumors have been spread about Mustafina retiring, which would be good for the USA, but horrible for Russia! I expect Russia to learn the Amanar Vaults, and I hope that the Russians won't put Grishina in their floor lineup, same goes for Ksenia Afaneyseva, because both of them fell! Also, they can't afford balance checks, they need to get their range of balance under control.

Sarah Finnegan: Dynamic

  We saw Finnegan at the 2012 Trials, she had an amazing floor routine, with Dynamic floor routines, on both nights of competition. She was amazing! But the problem with her was, she had just turned senior, and needed more time. I have seen her in previous competitions, where she has been strong, steady, and amazing. I fully expect to see Finnegan in Rio in 2016. If you go to the trials one quad, and don't make it, you are likely to make it to the 2016 trials, just because of how much raw potential you had. I am excited for Finnegan, as she continues this journey.

Rebecca Bross: From the Podium to the Stands

Rebecca Bross......... She was an amazing gymnast. In 2010, she dominated the competition, winning Nationals, and then the American Cup. She dominated. She then went on to Worlds, where she won four medals. And then she returned to the sport, in 2011 for Nationals. She had trouble in night one, falling off the balance beam twice, falling on floor once, landing out of bounds on floor once. And on bars, where she had missed handstands, and the fall on the dismount. On Beam, she was attempting the Patterson Dismount, the Double Front, but fell, almost hitting her head on the beam. Night two went worse, she started on bars, more missed handstand, and a  grip error. On beam, she fell off the beam, both on a skill and on the Patterson Dismount. Then on floor, two falls, three out of bounds. But on vault, thats what really sucked. She was doing the double twisting Yurchenko, but she was twisting into the ground! She did not get enough amplitude, and was twisting when she hit the ground, resulting in the injury, a dislocated kneecap. Bross would have series of surgeries, that would not result in her coming back until 2012. But, when she came back, she was still struggling. At Visas, she fell on both of her events, beam and bars, those were the only two she was competing in, and then at Trials, she fell on beam, and on bars, resulting her to fall in the rankings, and because of this, Marta decided to not include her in the discussions, not even in the alternate discussion. So, from the podium to the stands, that is Rebecca Bross's devastating story.

Nastia Liukin: What went wrong in 2012?

  Nastia Liukin, 2008 Olympic All-Around Champ, wanted to try to go to London back in 2012. But, some things went wrong, cutting Nastia from the team. But, for all you people who know squat about gymnastics and are always asking this question: What went wrong? I will tell you what went wrong in the events


2012 Classic: Nastia was dressed to impress Marta, but she only competed on beam, and had a shaky routine, not impressing Marta, because she was only competing on one event, and it was not at its prime



2012 Nationals: Luckily, Nastia added bars, or was it lucky? Because, at the Visas, Nastia competed on bars, and had a huge struggle with her Pak Salto transition. She lost the combination, had to take extra spins around the bar, exhausting her, and making her do a simple, elementary dismount.


2012 US Trials: On Beam, Nastia stumbled on her side summie, making her lose balance, stumble around the beam for 20 seconds, and making her rush to catch up in the routine. On bars, Nastia missed handstand, and her legs folded, and because Nastia is not a power gymnast, she does not have as much endurance as that of a power gymnast, so Nastia had trouble handling the dismount, and not to mention that she fell on a Jaegar, and on her dismount.

McKayla Maroney: Her Events

     McKayla Maroney is known for her amazing vaulting skills, but she is also known for the "McKayla Maroney Not Impressed" but, what about her other events? How are beam, bars, and floor going for Mac? Here's what I see during her routines

Vault: Well, the vaulting is pretty much perfect, great height, stellar form, great landings, the only thing that I would suggest Mac would do would try to control her landings, which, I admit, is hard to do when you have as much power as a lion and more speed than a cheetah.


Floor: This is also a strong event for Maroney because of her power in vault, but one thing that isn't used in vault? Facial Expression and artistry.


Beam: Mac is actually good at artistry on this event (Mostly because they don't have to put a lot of artistry into this code of points) But, what she struggles with is confidence on the beam, beam is the make it or break it event on the women's side. When she does her standing back tuck on beam, she's not as confident as she is on the vault, or when she goes for her double back off the beam, she is not as comfortable sticking it as she would be sticking the Amañar.


Bars: Mac actually has a lot of potential on this event, her height on her vault helping her here, but its just a matter of concentration. Mac, I believe, has a hard time concentrating on handstands and releases.





    So there are Mac's events!