Only four gymnasts competed all around in the senior competition, and only two scored above 50, so the all around results here don’t mean much. Still, congratulations to Mackenzie Brannan, who has been an elite for years and has been steadily improving. Her gymnastics is very clean, but it won’t be enough to make an Olympic team. Depending on who retires post-London, she may be able to make a national team before college.

Sankova semi-justified the decision to send Kysla and Kononenko to the test event. Her score was in between theirs from the test event, and certainly was not remarkable. She had a pretty beam routine, but she needs to learn how to hit routines. She is a typical Ukrainian. Enough said.

Briley Casanova performed a new double layout on floor, and should be able to make it to VISAs this year with a hit bars and beam routines. The national team seems out of reach, but she will do well at Michigan.

Rebecca Bross, obviously, was the big story at the competition. It appears that her routines were only exhibitions, but they still showed that she is 100% in the mix this year. She fell on both events, but showed full difficulty. The fall on the toe-on Khorkina seemed like a little bit of a fluke. The same can not be said for the fall on the Patterson, which she has not landed in competition since world event finals in 2010. They should seriously consider replacing it with a double tuck. If Rebecca is competing well, I don’t think that there is any way that she will not make that Olympic team. Her bars are the best that the US has to offer right now, hands down. Her handstands are always a .1 deduction or less. The same cannot be said for anyone else in the world, even Komova. Her beam may seem inconsistent, but she is a fighter. She is also valuable on floor. Better than Maroney, and she has beaten Raisman multiple times in the past. We’ll see. I really hope that she makes it, despite feeling indifferent about her in 2009.

Junior Results

Katelyn Ohashi easily won the junior competition, but it was nowhere near perfect for the current US junior national champion. She fell on bars, and on floor, the judges probably downgraded all of her D dance elements, as well as the front double full, taking her difficulty score down from 6.0 to 5.4. Her beam was obviously spectacular. She wants an Amanar, but I don’t see it happening, at least not this year.

Madison Kocian competed for the first time since Jesolo last year. She looks great on bars, good on beam, and okay on vault and floor. She seems to have grown a lot since 2011, which makes her look pretty on bars but could be the reason for watered down vault and floor. Overall, it looks like she will be in contention for some medals at nationals this year.

Simone Biles was in many ways the star of this competition. She just missed out on the national team last year, and has since improved on vault, beam and floor. She competed her Amanar here, earning a gigantic 16.15, and also won floor with absolutely gorgeous tumbling. Bars is still a huge weakness for her. I really hope that she can put together a decent, Aly Raisman-esque routine (yeah, it probably isn’t good when the goal is Raisman-esque bars), because her other events show loads of potential.

Peyton Ernst had a great competition on vault, where she debuted a double twisting yurchenko, and beam, finishing second on both events. She has been to two VISA championships so far, but she has never made the national team. She could do it this year- with hit bars and floor routines, she can score close to Biles due to her weak bars.

Polina Shchennikova, who reminds everyone of Nastia, had an okay competition. She has beautiful presentation and form, but it remains to be seen if she can develop the power, difficulty and consistency to compete with the top gymnasts in the country. I think that there is a chance. Her bars have improved a great deal (she would have scored in the mid 14s without a fall), and she looked steadier on beam than she has in the past.

Vasylieva is also the typical Ukrainian. She hit one event, bars. She should be at junior europeans this year, and she should be fighting for the bars title with the Russians mainly due to her 6.2 difficulty score.

The other athletes from Texas Dreams, Macy Toronjo and Nica Hults, did not compete all around. Toronjo really needs to improve those scores if she wants to make nationals this year. Hults, meanwhile, showed that she is capable of a 14 on more than one event. I bet she wished that she had scored a 14 instead of a 9.85 on bars at the qualifier earlier in the day, which would have easily qualified her to classics, but oh well.

I quit gymnastics in 2008, and although I have returned, I think that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made (so consider me biased when I get to her retirement). The way I see it now, if I didn’t quit then, I either would have quit a few days, weeks or months later, or I would have been miserable. I literally hadn’t improved in years, and I was afraid of trying anything new. I am happy when I am doing gymnastics now, but back then, I wasn’t. It was like a chore for me.

I watched the olympics that summer, of course, but after that, gymnastics was 100% out of my life for about a year, except for the occasional cartwheel. I have to admit that I did not miss it one bit.

I sort of followed 2009 worlds. I can’t say that I was surprised to see Ana Porgras from Romania as the #2 all around qualifier, or the top qualifier to beam finals. She blended in with the many other unfamiliar names on the list. I remember recognizing the Americans, and maybe a few of the Chinese Olympians when I saw them (not by name), but that was it. My small amount of knowledge told me that Romanians are good at gymnastics, and that was all that I needed to know.

The first world final that I watched live was 2009 world floor finals. I opened the live stream right after Jessica Gil Ortiz of Colombia landed her double front on her head. Jessica left the arena on a stretcher, and Rebecca Bross was the next gymnast on the floor. I had read a little bit about Rebecca, and seen her nationals performances, with the NBC commentators hyping her up in the background, but as a new fan, I simply did not get Rebecca Bross. Her routine did absolutely nothing for me. I was disappointed.

The next gymnast on the floor was Ana Porgras. I will admit to having no technical knowledge about the sport at that point, but I fell in love with her and gymnastics during that routine. It was gorgeous. Her turns were pretty, and she landed her tumbling well, with the exception of a near OOB landing on her second pass. When the score came up, I was shocked. How could her beautiful performance tie her with Rebecca’s lackluster performance? How on earth could they “downgrade” her turns?

It didn’t matter what the result was, after that, I was obsessed. I started watching performances of Romanians from years ago, and I loved them. I read a comment on a video of Ana that she reminded someone of Aurelia Dobre, and Dobre became my favorite gymnast for awhile. Sometime between Worlds and Europeans, I stopped being a huge Romania fan. That’s not to say that I did not still like them as a team, because I certainly did, but something, maybe seeing Komova for the first time, stopped my obsession (I disliked Wieber overall in 2009, even though I liked some of her qualities). I began to see many of the flaws in Romanian gymnastics, but I still loved Ana. She was the shining star of the gymnastics world, at least in the senior division. I’m sure I calculated thousands of times that she would have won the bronze if she had a double twisting yurchenko or hadn’t fallen on beam, or the gold if both had occurred. I saw a lot of potential in her, and I wanted her to be the 2012 Olympic All Around Champion (I didn’t really get bars scoring, and thought that a DTY, the normal vault for the top all arounders at the time, was a possibility).

By the time Europeans arrived, Ana was injured. She had a sore ankle, and could only compete on bars and beam. The first time I watched the meet, I just watched the routines. I saw that she looked hurt after dismounting bars, but I did not see anything past the dismount itself on beam. When I did see it, I was upset and impressed. It proved that Ana Porgras was a team player, and that she had left her inconsistencies of the previous year behind her.

Porgras ended up pulling out of bars and beam finals. It was revealed soon after the competition ended that she had broken her ankle. I began to wonder if she would make it to worlds, and thought that if she did, she would definitely not be competing all around.

Photo: Prosport

Imagine my surprise when a few months later, Porgras won the all around and beam finals at Romanian nationals. With the help of Belu and Bitang, Ana looked more confident and sturdy. I no longer felt the need to hold my breath every single time she stepped onto the beam.

The 2010 World Championships once again proved that Ana was the one to watch on the Romanian team. She qualified first for the beam finals, and also made bars finals, ahead of a favorite, Tatiana Nabieva. Despite a few wobbles, Ana managed to win her first and only world title on beam, becoming the first Romanian world champion since Andreea Raducan won two finals in 2001. Romania has had plenty of accomplished gymnasts in the last decade, including Steliana Nistor, Sandra Izbasa, Catalina Ponor, Daniela Sofronie, Oana Ban and Monica Rosu, but Ana is the only world champion. She was also remarkably consistent at worlds, hitting all of her routines, which even Aliya Mustafina didn’t do.

Photo: GYMmedia

2011 started off looking like a promising year for Ana. She changed her bars and beam routines, upgrading both by a few tenths, and although she struggled with her upgrades in competition, I thought that she would be able to make them consistent before worlds. She also showed a double layout and a double twisting yurchenko (with mats below competition height) in training. Once again, however, and injury kept her from competing the all around at Europeans, and even worse, she failed to make event finals on both bars and beam. Her new bars routine was certainly not well received by the judges; although she completed all of her pirouetting elements near handstand and made it through the routine without any gigantic errors, she received a low execution score and a lower than intended difficulty score. Compositional problems made her routine very long and tiring.

Ana made a comeback at Romanian nationals again, and had a good competition, winning the all around for the third year in a row and beam finals, tied with Catalina Ponor. Ana was not quite the beauty that we remembered. There is no way that she could be another Maria Olaru, but she certainly wasn’t the beauty that she once was. Nevertheless, she was still a serious contender. Many people considered her the favorite for the beam title at worlds, but doubted that she would make an impact on bars, myself included. After a few touch-up meets, Ana looked ready for worlds, with one notable exception: she hadn’t landed a bars dismount with less that around a .7 deduction for under-rotation and leg separation since Europeans, and rarely landed them at all.

Prelims at worlds were a disaster, at least for a gymnast of Ana’s calibre. As expected, she was not even close to landing her bars dismount. What we didn’t expect was a fall onto the beam on her switch ring. Beam is typically solid for her, and after seeing her routine in the next two days of competition, it would be fair to call that a fluke. Unfortunately, it was a costly fluke and kept her from having a chance to defend her beam title.

She was her typical self for the next two finals, even landing double layouts off of bars. She contributed the high scores for Romania on bars and beam, and finished sixth all around. She also won the longines prize for elegance. Ana competed in a few post-worlds competitions, and then we heard nothing about her for a month or two.

Photo: Despre Ceasuri

On the morning of January 16, 2012, I opened up my google reader and read that Ana had retired. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. Perhaps all of the signs were there, but I thought that she would stick around for the Olympics. I never thought that she would continue past 2012, but I also have thought of her as a 2012 Olympian since 2009.

I don’t think that one single thing caused her retirement. It’s easy to question her motives when you see photos like this (I’m warning you, you may not want to click on that link!), but I’ll try not to. I truly do not believe that Ana retired so that she could party and go to clubs, I think that she is partying and going to clubs because she retired. One of the things that may have pushed her out was the way that she was treated as a “bubble girl” for the Olympics. Maybe Porgras had a bad worlds, and maybe she wasn’t working as hard as everybody else in the gym, but Bitang’s statement that Izbasa, Iordache and Ponor were the only three certainties to even stay in Izvorani seems a bit harsh (and I’m sure it was supposed to be). Even a weaker Ana was irreplaceable, and she was a forth lock for the Olympic team. That and her injuries probably caused a lack of motivation. It is awful to spend so much time working at something just to realize that you are not getting any better. Ana’s 2011 routines, give or take a few skills, are exactly the same as they were in 2009 with less artistry and originality. I can’t say that Ana will or won’t regret this, but as long as she did retire for the right reasons, think that it was probably the correct decision for her. If she doesn’t love it anymore, she shouldn’t be forced to do it. I would hate to hear years from now that she thinks of her career as a gigantic waste of time. The timing may not be perfect, but she needs a break to re-evaluate and figure out what she wants to do with her life. I wish her luck, and hope that someday, she will look back at her gymnastics career with a sense of pride, not a sense of regret.

Jordyn Wieber all around, 2006 (10/11 years old)- The most adorable and the youngest of the bunch (to be fair, it’s easier to be adorable on floor than it is on vault, bars or beam). You can clearly see her talent- what kind of 11 year old competes a full twisting double layout dismout, a full in on floor and gets 9+ execution scores on beam two days in a row?
Bart Conner: “She hopes to continue gymnastics to the international level, someday dreams of being in the Olympics and she also wants to go to college and compete perhaps in Michigan for Michigan or Michigan State. She’s just ten.”
Shannon Miller: “She’s just ten. She’s got a lot of goals, a lot of big dreams, and the great thing about gymnastics is she can probably follow both of those dreams at the same time, especially with the way you can do special events these days and just compete vault or just compete floor and still do college gymnastics.”
Well, Jordyn has already accomplished one of those dreams, and is well on her way to accomplishing the second. The third won’t be happening, but I think she’s okay with that!

Winning her world all around title in 2011

McKayla Maroney on vault, 2008 (12 years old)- Maroney only performed a full twisting yurchenko here, but look at that crazy height! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much height on a yurchenko full. It’s amazing that she went from a full to an Amanar in a year, but it’s not shocking after seeing this.

Winning her world vault title in 2011

Viktoria Komova on bars, 2007 (12 years old)- This is actually a kind of weird routine for her. A lot of the skills are the same, including the piked stalders (obviously!), the jaeger, the tkachev, the pak and even our least favorite giant 1/2. Surprisingly, though, she competes a gienger, which looks relatively straight and clean (but blurry) and a double layout dismount. The double layout, at least the way she was doing it, never would work with her height now, but the rest does show a lot of promise.

Winning her world bars title in 2011

Sui Lu on beam, 2006 (14 years old)- Almost the same exact routine that she is competing now, with her trademark stability and barani. Impressive performance. I think her dismount here was better than it is now! Lots of height.

Winning her world beam title in 2011

Ksenia Afanasyeva on floor, 2005 (13 years old)- Afanasyeva has clearly matured as a performer, but you can see here that she already has a lot of dance training. She is up on her toes a lot, and hits some really beautiful positions. I kind of like the double twisting tuck jump connected to the double stag jump. I wish the code rewarded stag ring leaps.

Winning her world floor title in 2011

Click on the scores to see a video of the routine. More links will be added if more videos are uploaded. Enjoy!

Photo: FIG

Italy, France and Canada seem like near-locks to qualify (I shouldn’t say these things), and I am happy with that. Italy has a gorgeous team and France has many great individuals who I would hate to not see in London. Canada is my #1 favorite- maybe it is because Canada is my second home (I wanted to become a citizen a few years ago…), but I love their gymnastics. Almost all of their girls have a star quality, and I would never want to have to predict who of Victoria Moors, Peng Peng Lee and Kristina Vaculik will compete in London.

I don’t care much about that fourth spot. Part of me wants Korea to pull an upset like the Italian men did today. Their girls are elegant and spectacular on bars and beam. They are also one of the best vault teams competing. On paper, they are one of the top 4, if not the top team in London, but as we saw in Tokyo, they don’t do well under pressure. Either way, Korea is certainly a team that is on it’s way up in international gymnastics. The same goes for Spain, which made many team finals in the early 2000s only to fizzle out prior to the 2008 Olympics. They looked good for the most part during podium training. Half off the team is extremely powerful, performing double twisting yurchenkos on vault, and half of the team is elegant and artistic, with leaps and choreography to die for. They had a rough time on bars, however, where they had trouble making it through their routines and had many form breaks.

There are many familiar faces on the Brazilian team, including Daiane Dos Santos, Jade Barbosa and Daniele Hypolito. For that reason alone, I want them to qualify. It would be so much easier for me to write them off if Barbosa hadn’t had that stumble and failed to medal on vault in Tokyo (not that I think it was a failure!). Now, they can only send one woman or a team to London, and judging by the fact that Barbosa is a serious medal contender, she is the top choice. Denying Hypolito a trip to her fourth Olympics after steady improvement and great results this quadrennium, however, does not seem fair.

Those look like the serious contenders to me, but there are two other teams in London: The Netherlands and Belgium. The Netherlands has had some unlucky injuries to crucial team members between Tokyo and London. Their performance at worlds was lackluster, especially compared to their spectacular performance at home in Rotterdam, where they finished 9th in prelims. They are competing in London with a young, inexperienced and talented team. The surprising double twisting yurchenko from Wyomi Masela will help, but they are going to need more than that to make it to the Olympics. They are going to need hit routines and a whole lot of luck.

I think that this is also interesting to look at. Teams have changed and routines have been upgraded, but looking at the top 4 difficulty scores from 2011 worlds for each team certainly says something about potential.

My favorite individuals make it

Photo: FIG

Yes, that is a horrible header (isn’t that obvious)), but the list is too long! I want Jessica Lopez, Ana Sofia Gomez, Yamilet Pena (just for fun), Livchikova Nataliya Kononenko, Valeria Maksiuta, A Mexican (I love both of them!), Valeria Pereyra, Dorina Boczogo, Jonna Adlerteg, Daria Elizarova (or Luiza Galiulina), Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Giulia Steingruber and Vasiliki Millousi to compete at the Olympics. The good thing is that all of them should make it. The bad thing is that one moment could end their olympic dream. They all need to be on today, and they need to stay healthy between now and the Olympic games. In a way, though, these girls have it easy. Most of them will know tomorrow if they are going to the Olympics. A few can still be switched out for one other teammate, but they are not going to be going through the selection process that gymnasts from teams that are in London but do not qualify will have to go through.

In reality, almost all of the gymnasts competing will qualify. It’s a kind of silly process. At the end of the night, with only one gymnast per country counting, there will be 37 individuals in the race. I calculated, and this is not definite, that 34 gymnasts will qualify as individuals. One of the competitors, Heldsinger, already has a spot locked up because she is from Africa. I think that leaves about two gymnasts out. One if one of them gets the wild card. Again, don’t quote this, but it is what I am getting when I do the math.

Grishina wins the all around, Yao and Sui look better than they did in podium training, Tunney makes herself a contender

With Yao Jinnan out of the all around (which I think isn’t a real competition with medals awarded, but whatever), I think that it would be pretty pathetic if Grishina didn’t win the all around. She has scored high 59s in the past, and nobody else at the test event has come close to that. I’m not sure that there have even been any 57s. Of course, I don’t want this to be a “I fell all over the place but I’m still better than you” win, I want it to be a “I hit and that is why I won” win. It’s pretty obvious that someone is the class of the field when I predict them as the winner in seconds but cannot think of one gymnast who I think will be second (okay, maybe Lopez).

Yao Jinnan and Sui Lu were the other two really exciting names to see on the nominative roster. Unfortunately, they did not look like they were quite ready during podium training. Yao was landing vaults on her head. Remember her beautiful DTY from Tokyo? They are not competing all around, so my hope is that they qualify for and medal on their specialties, bars and beam for Yao and beam and floor for Sui.

Rebecca Tunney could be the one to upset the veterans on the British team in 2012. I have had the team of Tweddle, Downie, Francis, Whelan and Pinches in my head for awhile, but Tunney has a double twisting yurchenko and is a good all arounder. A strong performance here will help her case.

No injuries!

This depresses and inspires me. Fokin hurt his knee on vault, and limped off the podium. He proceeded to compete two events, and was actually on track to qualify until he got to floor. He gave a gutsy performance on floor, but he could not tumble and ended up with a 7.166. I really don’t know much about Fokin, with the exception of his medal record, but now I want to send a “send Fokin to the Olympics” petition to the IOC.

It would be so, so heartbreaking to see somebody go down with an injury and have in knock them out of the all around. For that reason, I think that it may be a good idea in the future to give 5 individual spots (random number) to gymnasts who do not qualify at the test event but have better scores than the bottom 50% of gymnasts who qualify at the test event from worlds (if the test event is even a qualifying meet in the future). I know that gymnastics is all about what you do when it counts, but sometimes I wish that it wasn’t.

Next time I post, the olympic picture will be much clearer. Good luck to each and every one of the gymnasts competing tomorrow!

Please keep in mind that I did not know the name of all of the gymnasts, so I had to use quick hits, the start list, and previous routines to identify them. Feel free to comment if you see something that is incorrect!

There were also some bloggers in the arena doing quick hits. Check out The Gymnastics Examiner’s quick hits, part 1 and part 2, The All Around’s quick hits and GymPower’s quick hits (in Dutch on twitter).

Teams

Italy

Vanessa Ferrari- Floor
Elisabetta Preziosa- Beam, Floor
Carlotta Ferlito- Beam, Floor
Erika Fasana- Floor
Francesca De Agostini- Bars, Beam, Floor
Chiara Gandolfi- Bars, Floor

France

Youna Dufournet- Bars, Beam
Anne Kuhm- Bars, Beam, Floor
Marine Brevet- Bars, Beam
Clara Della Vedova- Bars, Bars (dismount), Beam, Floor
Sophia Serseri- Vault, Beam, Floor
Camille Coudret- Bars (dismount), Beam, Floor

Canada

Peng Peng Lee- Bars 1, Bars 2, Beam, Floor
Kristina Vaculik- Vault, Bars (dismount), Beam, Floor
Talia Chiarelli- Floor
Madeline Gardiner- Floor
Victoria Moors- Bars, Floor
Brittany Rogers- Bars 1, Bars 2, Beam
Mikaela Gerber (likely alternate)- Floor

Spain

Ana Maria Izurieta- Bars, Beam, Floor
Beatriz Cuesta- Bars 1, Bars 2, Bars 3, Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor
Claudia Menendez- Bars, Floor
Silvia Colussi Peleaz- Bars 1, Bars 2, Beam
Maria Paula Vargas- Bars 1, Bars 2, Beam, Floor
Ainhoa Carmona Urbano- Beam, Floor
Cintia Rodriguez (alternate)- Bars, Floor

Netherlands

Wyomi Masela
Lieke Wevers
Lisa Top
Ayla Wilbrink
Marlies Rijekn- Vault
Dianne Teunisse
Noel van Klaveren (alternate)

Brazil

Jade Barbosa- Bars, Beam, Floor
Daniele Hypolito- Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor
Daiane Dos Santos- Vault, Bars, Floor
Adrian Nunes Gomes- Bars, Floor
Bruna Leal- Bars, Beam, Floor
Priscilla Cobello- Beam, Floor
Ethiene Franco (alternate)- Bars, Beam, Floor

Korea

Song Ji Hye- Bars 1, Bars 2, Bars 3, Beam, Floor
Jo Hyunjoo- Floor
Heo Seon Mi- Bars 1, Bars 2, Bars 3, Beam, Floor
Eum Eunhui- Bars, Beam, Floor
Kim Doyoung
Park Ji Yeon- Bars, Beam, Floor

Belgium

Julie Croket- Vault, Floor
Aaje Vanwalleghem- Floor
Gaelle Mys- Floor
Lisa Verschuren- Bars, Floor
Terry Grand’ry- Vault, Floor
Johanna Dejardin- Vault
Eline Vandersteen (alternate)- Floor

Individuals

Need to qualify

Valeria Pereyra (Argentina)- Vault, Vault (timer), Bars, Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor
Barbara Gasser (Austria)- Floor
Nastassia Marachouskaya (Belarus)
Ralitsa Mileva (Bulgaria)- Bars
Simona Castro (Chile)- Vault, Bars 1, Bars 2, Floor
Jessica Gil (Colombia)- Bars, Beam, Floor
Tina Erceg (Croatia)- Floor
Kristyna Palesova (Czech Republic)- Floor
Yamilet Peña (Dominican Republic)- Vault 1, Vault 2, Bars 1, Bars 2, Floor
Annika Urvikko (Finland)- Bars, Beam
Vasiliki Millousi (Greece)- Beam, Floor
Paschalina Mitrakou (Greece)- Floor
Ana Sofía Gomez (Guatemala)- Vault (timer), Bars, Beam, Floor
Luca Diveki (Hungary)
Dorina Boczogo (Hungary)- Vault, Beam, Floor
Angel Wong (Hong Kong)
Valeria Maksyuta (Israel)
Moldir Azimbay (Kazakhstan)
Laura Svilpaite (Lithuania)- Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor
Elsa García (Mexico)- Vault 1, Vault 2, Bars, Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor
Ana Lago (Mexico)- Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor
Jordan Rae (New Zealand)
Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Poland)
Zoi Mafalda Marques De Lima (Portugal)
Lorena Quiñones (Puerto Rico)- Floor
Heem Wei Lim (Singapore)- Beam, Floor
Maria Homolova (Slovakia)
Adela Sajn (Slovenia)- Floor
Sasa Golob (Slovenia)- Floor
Ashleigh Heldsinger (South Africa)
Jonna Adlerteg (Sweden)- Bars, Beam, Floor
Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland)- Beam, Floor
Nadia Mulhauser (Switzerland)
Goksu Uctas (Turkey)
Angelina Kysla (Ukraine)
Nataliya Kononenko (Ukraine)- Floor
Luisa Galiulina (Uzbekistan)- Floor
Daria Elizarova (Uzbekistan)- Floor
Jessica López (Venezuela)- Bars 1, Bars 2, Bars (dismount), Beam, Floor
Ivet Rojas (Venezuela)- Bars, Bars (dismount), Beam, Floor
Thi Ngan Thuong Do (Vietnam)- Beam, Floor

Team already qualified

Yao Jinnan (China)- Bars 1, Bars 2, Bars 3, Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor 1, Floor 2
Sui Lu (China)- Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor 1, Floor 2
Yulia Inshina (Russia)- Beam, Floor
Anastasia Grishina (Russia)- Bars, Beam 1, Beam 2, Floor
Emily Little (Australia)
Georgia Simpson (Australia)- Bars, Beam
Rebecca Tunney (Great Britain)
Jocelyn Hunt (Great Britain)

I will continue to check the two youtube channels that the links above came from, but if you find another channel with videos, please comment below or contact me and I will add them!

Photo: Harry How

Name: Kyla Ross
Country: USA
Notable Results: 1st AA, BB, 2nd VT, UB 2011 Jesolo, 2nd AA, UB, BB, 3rd VT 2011 Jr Nationals, 1st AA, BB, 3rd VT, FX 2010 Junior Nationals, 1st VT, 2nd AA, UB, FX 2010 Pac Rim, 2nd AA 2010 Jesolo, 1st AA 2009 Jr Nationals
Strengths: Kyla is generally a very steady competitor, particularly on beam, where she is capable of outscoring most if not all of the current US seniors. She upgraded to the “must have” Amanar vault this year, and it has gotten better throughout the season. Her bars are clean and have potential for upgrades, despite the fact that they are already more difficult than they look. Every event except for vault looks upgradable.
Weaknesses: Her Amanar still is inconsistent, and has been downgraded once. Her bars have potential, but with the lack of difficulty, she may not be a better choice than someone like Jordyn Wieber on that apparatus. Her floor is good but not great. Her choreography is not incredibly engaging, and her skills are usually well landed and clean in the air, but not difficult enough to get her into a floor lineup.
Videos: Vault (Amanar), Vault (DTY), Bars, Beam, Floor (partial), Floor (old routine) 

Photo: Stefan Wurzer, Gymnastics United

Name: Larisa Iordache
Country: Romania
Notable Results: 1st AA, BB, FX, 2nd VT, BB 2011 EYOF, 1st on all events 2011 ROU vs GBR (juniors), 1st AA, UB, BB, FX 2011 Gym-Festival of Trnava, 1st AA (guest) 2011 French Nationals, 1st FX, 2nd BB, 3rd AA 2010 Junior Europeans
Strengths: Iordache is, like (almost) any Romanian gymnast, a superb vault, beam and floor worker. Additionally, her bars might end up being the best on her team in 2012. She competes routines with difficulty comparable to the 2011 World Champions on beam and floor, and is training two 6.5 vaults (almost definitely the Amanar and Cheng). Larisa is Romania’s only real 2012 AA medal contender.
Weaknesses: Her bars will be great for her team, but will hurt her in an all around final where at least three of the top gymnasts will probably have Amanars, great beam routines, and great floor routines as well. While she has broken into the 14s, some girls can score mid-high 15s. She has a lot of potential for upgrades, but we have not seen many of them in competition. There have been training videos of a double double, 3 1/2 twist and a layout full on beam, but who knows if those will actually be in her routines. I also have not been able to find a video of her DTY vault.
Videos: Vault (yurchenko 1 1/2), Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: gymnet

Name: Anastasia Sidorova
Country: Russia
Notable Results: 2nd FX 2011 Voronin Cup, 1st VT, BB, FX, 2nd AA 2011 Junior Nationals, 2nd BB, FX 2011 Jesolo, 1st AA, BB, FX, 2nd VT 2010 Top Gym, 4th AA (prelims), 3rd FX 2010 Junior Europeans
Strengths: Sidorova is another vault, beam and floor specialist who probably will not touch the bars in London. She is usually a calm and consistent competitor on beam, which is very valuable for the Russian team. Her vault seemed to have gone downhill in the first half of 2011, but has gotten back to it’s usual standard and could possibly be an Amanar by London. She has landed an Amanar in the past (no video).
Weaknesses: A Sidorova/Grishina hybrid (Sidorova’s vault, beam, floor and consistency, Grishina’s bars and beauty) could be Olympic AA champion. Unfortunately, her bars kill her all around score- despite beating Grishina on three events at 2011 nationals, she did not beat her all around. She is also still recovering from an injury sustained while riding a bike this summer.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Stefan Wurzer, Gymnastics United

Name: Anastasia Grishina
Country: Russia
Notable Results: 1st UB, FX, 2nd AA 2010 Junior Europeans, 1st AA, UB, 2nd VT, FX, BB 2011 Junior Nationals, 1st AA 2011 Zakharova Cup, 1st UB 2011 Jesolo, 1st AA, UB, BB, FX 2010 Jesolo
Strengths: At the moment, Grishina looks like a bars specialist with some good all around results. Hopefully, she will be able to step up in the next year and get another event (beam or floor) consistent with high enough difficulty for team finals. If Mustafina is not able to regain her difficulty on vault and floor, Grishina could earn the second all around spot for Russia. She has beautiful form and is one of the most artistic gymnasts of the quadrennium.
Weaknesses: Grishina is literally always injured or sick. This has probably stopped her from progressing the way that I hoped she would in the past year. She is very inconsistent and does not have the difficulty to compete with the top all arounders at the moment. Vault, in particular, has always been very weak for her. I love her gymnastics, but I am worried that she will not be able to live up to her potential.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: weibo.com/gymjiajia

Name: Huang Huidan
Country: China
Notable Results: 2nd UB, 3rd AA, FX, 2010 May Nationals, 1st AA, UB, FX, 2nd BB 2011 Intercity Games, 1st BB, 2nd UB 2011 National Individual Championships, 3rd UB, 6th AA 2011 Wild Rose, 2nd AA 2011 Junior Nationals
Strengths: Huang is a bars and beam specialist with impeccable form and a high level of difficulty. She is artistic and has unique composition on bars and beam.
Weaknesses: Vault and Floor, despite some good results on floor at national competitions. Huang is inconsistent, especially on beam, and has not competed much internationally. At her biggest international competition, she had many mistakes. Her top two events are typical for a chinese gymnast, and we have seen that gymnasts like Huang and Wu Liufang are not guaranteed spots on the Chinese team, even if they are potential world medallists on two events.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Licorice Gallery

Name: Zeng Siqi
Country: China
Notable Results: 1st AA, BB, 2nd UB 2011 Junior Nationals, 2nd BB, FX, 3rd AA 2011 Senior Nationals (May)
Strengths: Zeng is a charismatic, charming little gymnast with a lot of talent. She is great on beam, and with some more difficulty, could be in contention for a floor spot as well. She is one of the gymnasts who could be China’s second all arounder with Yao Jinnan.
Weaknesses: Vault, despite the fact that she has a double twisting yurchenko, is a weakness. She is tiny, and has trouble getting it around. Her bars are also not exceptional, which could hurt her if Sui Lu makes the team as expected and Cheng Fei has a successful return. In that case, she would have to do bars in team finals, and she was scoring 13s with hit routines earlier this year.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Grace Chiu

Name: Victoria Moors
Country: Canada
Notable Results: 1st AA, UB, FX 2011 Junior Nationals, 1st AA, FX 2011 Gymnix, 1st AA, VT, UB, FX 2010 Elite Canada, 1st AA, VT, FX 2011 Combs, 1st FX, 2nd AA 2011 Massilia
Strengths: Moors is going to be the backbone of the Canadian team in 2012. She has one of the team’s only DTYs and a finals-worthy floor routine. She has been consistent in 2011, and looks like a near lock for the team and a likely all around finalist.
Weaknesses: Her bars and beam are not up to par with her vault and floor. They are still great for her team (she can break 14), but they will not help her much as an individual.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Stefan Wurzer, Gymnastics United

Name: Erika Fasana
Country: Italy
Notable Results: 1st AA, FX at Italian Test Event (late 2011), 2nd AA, FX, 3rd VT 2011 EYOF, 1st AA 2011 Junior ITA vs GER vs ROU vs FIN, 3rd AA 2010 Jesolo, 3rd VT, 5th AA, 6th FX 2010 Junior Europeans
Strengths: Fasana is one of Italy’s best all arounders, and competes one of their only double twisting yurchenkos (their only clean one!). She has a lot of interesting skills, including a backhandspring-arabian combination. She is a near-lock for Italy’s teams, and is one of the three likely all arounders on the team.
Weaknesses: I would not exactly call her gymnastics “pretty” on some events. Her beam routine is difficulty, but shaky, and contains many built in deductions.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

via fyeahgymnastics.tumblr.com

Name:  Francesca De Agostini
Country: Italy
Notable Results: 1st BB, 2nd AA, FX at Italian Test Event (late 2011), 3rd AA 2011 Italian Championships, 3rd BB 2011 EYOF, 11th AA 2011 Jesolo, 2nd AA 2011 Junior ITA vs GER vs ROU vs FIN
Strengths: De Agostini has not been the star of the Italian juniors this year, but she is a strong all arounder and will be a great addition to the Italian team. She is particularly strong on beam, where she performs a stylish routine with a decent difficulty level.
Weaknesses: De Agostini’s vault is weak and may keep her from competing all around in major competitions.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: ezechiele.lupo@live.it via gymnet

Name: Murakami Mai
Country: Japan
Notable Results: 1st FX 2011 Japanese Nationals, 11th AA 2010 Jesolo, 2nd FX 2010 Junior Asian Games, 2nd FX, 8th AA (competing as an exhibition) 2009 Japanese Junior International
Strengths: Murakami has some of the hardest skills in the code of points on beam and floor. She has a star quality and opposite strengths from many of her teammates.
Weaknesses: Her bars will hurt her in an all around situation and she often does not compete all of the difficult skills that made her stand out in the first place. When she does compete them, they are often far from perfect. We really have not seen much of her in the past two years.
Videos: Vault (part of a montage, 2009), Bars, Beam (2009), Beam (quad turn), Floor

Photo: Lisa's Website

Name: Lisa Top
Country: Netherlands
Notable Results: 1st AA (and all event finals!) 2011 Junior Nationals, 2nd AA 2011 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup, 10th AA 2011 EYOF, 18th AA 2011 Massilia, 7th AA, FX 2010 Junior Europeans
Strengths: Lisa will be a great addition to the Dutch team as an all arounder in 2012, especially with all of the injuries that they need to overcome to qualify to the Olympics. I like her a lot on floor, where she is very powerful but knows how to control her landings. She has an original bars dismount, a half in double tuck from reverse grip (the twist is much earlier than it would be on a double front 1/2 out).
Weaknesses: Even with the addition of Top, the Dutch team will be weaker in London than it was in Tokyo. Lisa Top may be the girl who earns an Olympic berth for her injured teammate, Celine Van Gerner, and not be a factor to actually compete in the games. While she is a strong all arounder with good execution, she has low difficulty on vault and bars.
Video: All Events, December 2011

Photo: Thomas Schreyer

Name: Anne Kuhm
Country: France
Notable Results: 6th AA, 7th BB 2011 Massilia, 5th AA 2010 Junior Europeans, 1st AA 2011 Junior Nationals, 2nd AA 2010 ROU vs FRA vs GBR
Strengths: Kuhm is a great all arounder, possibly the best in France at the moment. She is a clean gymnast with pretty lines, and a good competitor. My favorite event to watch her on is beam.
Weaknesses: Kuhm has limited international experience and low difficulty on every event compared to the top all arounders in the world. If France does not qualify a team to London, she may stay at home so that an event specialist has the opportunity to compete.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Alan Edwards

Name: Ruby Harrold
Country: Great Britain
Notable Results: 1st AA 2010 Coupe Avenir, 1st VT 2010 British Championships
Strengths: Rebecca is one of the only British gymnasts to attempt a double twisting yurchenko in this quadrennium, which could make a difference in team finals. She is also strong on bars.
Weaknesses: She does not seem to have the consistency that she needs to overcome the gymnasts who have been making world teams for the past few years for Great Britain. They may not want to risk putting her on the team if it could keep them out of team finals at home.
Videos: Montage- 2010 Junior Europeans, Bars, Floor

Photo: Augsburger-Allgemeine

Name: Janine Berger
Country: Germany
Notable Results: 1st VT 2011 EYOF, 7th AA 2011 Trofeo di Lugano, 5th VT, 16th AA 2010 Junior Europeans
Strengths: VAULT. Her Rudi and full twisting tsukahara would pretty much make her a sure thing for vault finals, and if she manages to add another twist to her tsukahara, she would be in contention for a medal.
Weaknesses: Everything else. Believe it or not, Germany is already the third best vault team in the world (they were 3rd in prelims and finals). Janine’s relative weakness on the other events may keep her off of the team, which must be going for team finals once again after a 6th place finish last year. Overall, she needs to clean up her gymnastics.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: USA Gymnastics

Name: Sarah Finnegan
Country: USA
Notable Results: 3rd AA, BB, FX, 5th UB 2011 Junior Nationals, 1st FX, 4th BB, 6th AA 2010 Junior Nationals, 3rd BB 2010 Pan American Championships,
Strengths: Sarah is a clean, beautiful gymnast. She has emerged as one of the top US juniors this year ahead of girls like Lexie Priessman, who have more difficulty and bigger skills. She was undefeated on floor for about a year with her artistic and difficult routine. She also has a lot of difficulty on beam.
Weaknesses: She would be a lock for many teams, but for the US, she needs to improve on every event and get help from other contenders with more experience and difficulty to have a shot at making the team. There is really no event that makes her a “must have” gymnast for team USA, and her lowest scores are usually on bars, where team USA needs the most help.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Name: Luo Peiru
Country: China
Notable Results: 1st UB 2011 National Individual Championships, 2nd VT, UB, 4th AA 2011 Intercity Games, 3rd VT 2011 Junior Nationals
Strengths: One of the best double twisting yurchenkos in China and a strong bars routine with unusual releases for a Chinese gymnast.
Weaknesses: Luo has never competed internationally before and is just starting to emerge nationally. We should remember, though, that Yao Jinnan never competed internationally before 2011. Luo, at the moment, is not a contender on beam or floor, which could hurt her when comparing her to somebody like Huang Qiushuang, who is also very good on vault and bars, but has better beam and floor routines.
Videos: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor

Photo: Nahira Hernández

Name: Valeria Pereyra
Country: Argentina
Notable Results: 1st AA 2011 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup, 1st AA 2011 Junior South American Championships, 1st UB, 3rd AA 2011 Senior South American Championships, 2nd AA 2011 Olympic Hopes Cup, 1st AA 2011 Puerto Rico Cup (Junior Division), 1st AA 2011 Junior Argentinean Nationals
Strengths: She is very clean, and look a little bit like an NCAA gymnast (this is my way of saying that she should do NCAA gymnastics in the future). She is not fighting anybody from her country for a spot- it’s all up to her. She has a good amount of difficulty on floor.
Weaknesses: She is not incredibly consistent all around, and although she certainly could be in contention for a spot in all around finals at the Olympics, she could not make it with a flawed performance. Of course, I am getting ahead of myself, because she has not even qualified for the Olympics yet.
Videos: All events, November 2011

Name: Ji Hye Sung
Country: Korea
Notable Results: 1st BB, 2nd UB, 3rd AA, FX, 4th VT 2011 Japanese Junior International
Strengths: She has incredible form, similar to most Chinese and Japanese gymnasts. There is a lot of difficulty in her bars and beam routines, and I love the stalders that she performs out of her pak salto.
Weaknesses: She is inconsistent and does not have much experience. The Korean women were both a pleasant surprise and a disappointment in Tokyo, and she may have similar results in London (at the test event and/or at the Olympics). Her vault will not stand out on her team, which was 6th on vault in Tokyo.
Videos: All events, September 2011

Other gymnasts born in 1996 competing at the test event include  Terri Grand’ry (Belgium), Johanna Dejardin (Belgium), Rebecca Tunney (Great Britain),  Lorena Quinones Moreno (Puerto Rico) and Nadia Muelhauser (Switzerland).

Additional gymnasts who were not named to the test event (if possible) or have smaller chances of making their teams who were born in 1996 include Maria Balea (Romania), Elizabeth Price (USA), MyKayla Skinner (USA), Brenna Dowell (USA), Kiana Winston (USA), Kennedy Baker (USA), Anna Rodionova (Russia), Kristina Sidorova (Russia), Doriane Thobie (France), Zhou Qiaohong (China), Li Yiting (China), Shang Chunsong (China), Krystina Sankova (Ukraine), Natalie Vaculik (Canada) and Sabrina Gill (Canada).

Yamagishi, Beam
Switch Ring (stuck), front tuck off one foot, side somi, split jumps, aerial bhs loso, L turn, switch leap back tuck, korbut, ro double pike

Lee, Beam
3 flairs to start! double turn-full turn, switch leap-side aerial (wobble), bhs loso, front tuck, barani (wobble), illusion (big wobble), split jumps, ro 2/1

Afanasyeva, Beam
side aerial to two feet, aerial bhs back pike, leap with full turn, switch leap split jump, L turn-full turn, onodi, side somi (should have bene connected, I think), ro-double pike (low and step forward)
Best beam I’ve seen from her in awhile, just one little wobble and the low chest on the double pike. Smart to take out the Arabian for this meet!

Estrada, Beam
I remember liking this routine at pan ams. double wolf turn (wobble), switch leap-back pike (wobble), split jump wolf jump, front aerial-back tuck, side aerial (huge wobble and falls), side somi, switch leap with 1/2 turn, front tuck (looked cowboyed), ro-double pike (many steps back, but saves it)

Little, Beam

front tuck, wolf turn (well, she is Australian…), front aerial (small check) bhs loso, switch leap-back tuck, switch side, ro-double pike (stuck!)

Escobar, Beam
front tuck (small wobble), long pause before BHS loso (big wobble), jumps, switch leap-back tuck (wobble), full turn, forward roll (I like that!), switch side, long pause before back pike, front layout full with a big hop

Gerber, Beam
pretty press mount!, wolf turn (popular at this competition!), aerial-back pike, bhs loso, switch leap-back tuck (small wobble), jumps, side somi, bhs bhs double tuck (very cowboyed)
Much better for her today!

Lee, Floor
full in (nearly stuck), 1 1/2 through to double full, nice leap series, switch 1/2, triple turn, front layout full-stag jump, good stuck double pike, nice choreography throughout

Afanasyeva, Floor
whip-whip-bhs-triple, double tuck, sort of connected to a split jump, gorgeous double attitude turn!!, leap series, 1 1/2-1/1 (stuck), double L (not rotated), double pike (stuck) 14.9!!

Estrada, Floor
double front, 1 1/2+front layout+split jump, leap series, switch side 1/2, double tuck (large hop back OOB), switch leap 1/2 turn, short on double pike, big step forward

Yamagishi, Floor

stuck double tuck, 2 1/2 twist-stag jump, leap series, triple turn, 1 1/2-1/1, L turn, stuck double pike, throws her head back and arches her back

The Anastasias*

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been imagining Anastasia Grishina and Anastasia Sidorova as large contributers on the Russian olympic team for awhile. Their recent results, however, show that they are not improving in the lead-up to the olympics. In fact, their recent scores are very, very low for them.

They are both coming back from injuries which kept them out of the European Youth Olympic Festival this summer. EYOF is typically one of the competitions where European stars are born. Viktoria Komova won in 2009, prior to her Junior European and Youth Olympic Games success, and Larisa Iordache, who is an irreplaceable member of the Romanian team (that isn’t just hype), dominated in 2011.

The first routine of Grishina’s that I saw was her spectacular beam routine at the 2009 Junior Russian Championships. It really was nearly perfect, and I still believe that if she had performed that routine in beam finals at worlds, she would have won. Prior to the Junior European Championships, Grishina competed at the Jesolo Grand Prix, where she showed upgraded routines and won by nearly three points. She received the top score on 3 out of the 4 events, and as an added bonus, got the highest non-He Kexin international score on bars of the quadrennium, 15.9.

This set the stage for the Junior European showdown. Komova vs. Grishina. Grishina was the underdog, but managed to beat a shaky Komova in prelims. In the all around final, both of them had somewhat rough competitions. Grishina’s fall off of beam, however, cost her over 1.6 points and the title. She went on to win two golds in event finals, one on bars and one on floor.

If you asked me if a star emerged at the competition, however, I would point to Sidorova. We knew that Komova and Grishina were going to dominate, but we did expect to see Sidorova right up there with them on three events. She had shown her vault prowess at Jesolo, where she scored 14.9 on a double twisting yurchenko, but her other events were down in the 13s. She failed to make vault finals at Junior Europeans, finishing third in prelims behind Komova and Paseka, and just barely made floor finals in third place ahead of Paseka and Komova, who stepped out of bounds with both feet during her routine. She won the bronze medal in finals, behind the duo of Grishina and Iordache. On beam, where we expected to see Komova, Grishina and Iordache on the podium (yes, we expected that on almost every event), Sidorova stepped up. She qualified first with the routine of her life. In finals, she fell, but still, her prelims performance was a highlight of the championships.

Sidorova also would have earned my title for most improved from January to December of 2010. She learned how to hit beam, worked on her flexibility, improved her difficulty, and became a more mature performer. She even competed an Amanar that nobody has seen. She won all around title after all around title, beating athletes from around the world, even with her weak bars.

Grishina sat at home with a back injury.

They both competed in Jesolo in 2011, and had slightly disappointing meets. Grishina showed many upgrades, but lost her perfect form and fell twice. Sidorova had a better competition, but her vault was not what it was in 2010 and her bars kept her behind Grishina. This was also the case at the Russian nationals in April; Sidorova won three event finals and Grishina won the all around and bars. Grishina competed once more, and then both of them disappeared for months with injuries. Note to coaches: do not let your athletes ride bikes until the olympics are over.

Grishina competed at the Massilia Cup, and Nabieva beat her in the all around. Nabieva has not competed beam and floor all year, so that sentence means something. She really did not fall that much, she was just underwhelming everywhere. Watered down routines and uncharacteristic mistakes left her with a 54.0 all around.Let’s have a look at where Grishina stands right now, in terms of 2012 team finals:

• Vault was never going to happen
• She is a headcase on beam, and finished behind Komova even though she technically stayed on
• Her floor needs to be redesigned

That makes her a bars specialist, which means that she needs to beat Nabieva on bars. She did not do that here. Score (haters vs. Grishina): 0-4.

No, I have not given up on her. Here is my wishlist for 2012 Grishina:

• Get consistent on bars. And everywhere else.
• Move the toe-on full to the beginning of the routine. Use it before a Shaposhnikova 1/2 variation. This should have happened a long time ago.
• Work on that pak salto
• Try a fabrichnova dismount
• Work on a triple full beam dismount
• Ditch the Memmel on floor and add in a triple turn. Think about upgrading that to a Gomez.
• Work on tumbling double arabian+jump, whip+triple or whip+whip+BHS+triple, and 1 1/2 through to 2 1/2+stag. Do a leap pass as the last pass. Unless you are Jordyn Wieber, a double pike is rarely worth it when you are already doing an extra C dance element.
• Do something about that double L turn. Preferably, it would include a double stag jump.
• Also, do something about that vault.

I have some comic relief to end this list. Grishina was my favorite gymnast in early 2011, and I was sitting in a car doing nothing a for a lot of January. Of course, that lead to me make up routines in my head. I am pretty sure that my made up routines got her to a 26.5+ all around difficulty total. One of them was an Amanar. I hope that what I wrote above is more realistic.

Now for Sidorova. I have less complaints, probably partially because I have not seen videos and partially because Sidorova’s emerging specialty is not something that can be replaced. She competed a full twisting yurchenko this weekend, and Russia needs her to be competing an Amanar this summer. Her bars were her bars. Her floor was okay (14.066), but not worthy of team finals. Even Komova’s all around floor that people like to pick apart got a higher score than that. It was only on beam that Sidorova stood out, with a 15.166. Sidorova, at least, gets a score of 1-3.

Nobody can replace that beam score, though, at least not consistently. That is why Sidorova still looks strong to me. I have a wishlist for her as well, but it is much shorter, and it is less about her making the team than it is about her being super valuable.

• AMANAR AMANAR AMANAR AMANAR
• Jump out of tumbles. This is coming from the judges, not me.
• Make sure that you aren’t using the same floor music as Izbasa
• Is a double layout possible?
• Think about possibilities to get rid of the awkward aerial
• Keep doing what you are doing on beam

I do not think that the Anastasia’s olympic dreams are over. I just think that they have a tough half of a year ahead of them. Afanasyeva and Nabieva both showed at worlds that we should not be counting them out. These girls need to respond.

*I could not find information on who took this photograph, but I could not resist using it. The website that popped up was “123 People.” If you took this photo or know who took it, please contact me, and I will give you credit or remove it if you want me to.

Okay, that is not very likely. But still, I am so, so impressed. Here are a few of my favorites.

Victoria Moors

Photo: Grace Chiu's Facebook

First, we have Victoria Moors. Moors was born in 1996, making her eligible for the 2012 Olympics. I’d say that she is a near lock for Canada’s test event team, and gymnastically, she would definitely be able to compete with Lee and Vaculik for an individual spot if she needed to. Unfortunately, I believe that Canada is using the same points system that they used last quadrennium to pick their Olympians, and from what I understand, that system favored the veterans.

She is extreamly valuable to the team because of her vault, where she competes one of Canada’s only double twisting yurchenkos, and floor, where she competes a difficult routine with the same first two passes as world champion Jordyn Wieber, along with some great choreography. In fact, she could be seen as a dark horse for the Olympics floor finals. I can see her in the all around final as well.

Victoria’s floor routine from a competition in France a few weeks ago

Sabrina Gill

Photo: Grace Chiu's Facebook

Sabrina Gill is Canada’s second 1996 star. Sabrina seems like a more nervous competitor than Victoria to me, but she has a lot of good qualities. I loved her old floor routine (watch it here). I don’t feel the same way about her new routine, which has a lot of very similar choreography to her old routine with underwhelming music, but maybe it will grow on me. Canada has a lot of mid-high 13 floor workers, though. If Sabrina makes the Olympic team, it will probably be for her bars, which can break 14, and her beam, which has broken 15 this year. Her vault, a 1 1/2 twisting yurchenko, is an added bonus for the team.

I really like Sabrina. Sometimes, she is a little bit rough around the edges, but her form is generally good. It kind of reminds me of Mikaela Gerber. She has to gain some consistency if she wants to make for the Olympic team, in my opinion.

Sabrina’s 15.2 beam routine from February

Shallon Olsen

Photo: Gymnastics Canada

Shallon won’t be a senior until 2016 (unless Grandi changes his mind about a certain rule that we all hate), but she is amazing right now. As an eleven year old, Shallon is already competing more difficulty than many of her senior teammates with ease. I’m tempted to say “enjoy it while it lasts!” here, but I do not want to. The fear is that Shallon has peaked, or will peak, too early. They may have accepted the petition for her to compete at the Canada Winter Games this year, but Grandi doesn’t do that. My question (and I have been wondering this for a long time) is the following: Would twelve-year-old Shallon be on your 2012 Canadian Olympic Team, if that was an option?

Skill-wise, Shallon is ready to take on the world. No, I don’t mean that she is ready to win a world title, but she is certainly ready to make a Canadian team for a major event. Things like this beam routine, however, make me worry that she will not have a senior career.

Whatever Shallon’s future is, I think that we can all enjoy her vault from Top Gym a few weeks ago. You don’t see eleven year old breaking 15 on vault everyday. Shallon is one special kid.

Maegan Chant

Photo: Miwa Mori, Eurasia-Sports

Maegan is not eligible for the Olympics, but she doesn’t miss it by quite as many years as Olsen does. She is another strong vault and floor girl (where were these 5.8+ vaults at worlds?). I do not think that she has the WOW factor of Olsen, but she’s got to be a contender for future teams. This is one gymnast who we may see in a meet like Pacific Rims next year.

Chant has a really clean double twisting tsukahara. Who does those nowadays, besides some random Chinese girls? Her floor routine includes a nice double layout and three other double saltos. This girl is a powerhouse. I’m looking forward to seeing how she develops in the next few years

Rick from Gymnastics Coaching recorded all of Maegan’s routines from the all around competition of the Japan Junior International in September, which you can watch below.

Some Others

I also like Natalie Vaculik, especially her really high release moves (click here to watch her bars) and Gabriella Douglas, who was born in 1996 but is not on the National Team, because of her huge aerial-back tuck combo on beam (click here to watch it). That is a combination. The end.

Looking Forward

The Canadian Junior (A) team beat the Russian Junior (1997/8/B) team at the Gymnix International this year. That team included Jordyn Pedersen, along with Moors, Gill and Vaculik. Most of those girls were born in 1996, which means that no, I do not expect Canada to be beating Russia anytime soon (or just anytime in general) in a world level competition. I am excited, however, to see how this team develops in the next few years. The journey for this group of girls begins in a month in London, and I hope to see even the older girls sticking around in elite competition until at least 2014, when they may want to consider NCAA. No matter what, the future is looking bright for Canada.