Faces for 2011 - an end of year report

About a year ago I wrote a post previewing some of the promising junior gymnasts who would be turning seniors in 2011 and had a chance to rock the international gymnastics scene. Well, here is their end of year report.

Tan Sixin (China)

Grade: B+

Tan was one of the most pleasant surprises at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. In a country known for it's young stars, she was set to shine for China in her first senior year. 2011 was by no means a disaster for Tan, she made the world team in Tokyo and performed well on uneven bars in the pressured team final.  However she was overshadowed somewhat by the successes of Sui Lu and fellow new-senior Yao Jinnan. With her artistry and strong execution (and with the possible fading star of He Kexin) Tan is still very much in the running for a spot on the 2012 olympic team.

Viktoria Komova (Russia)

Grade: A-

Everyone knows of Komova's rocky path through 2011. Following the injury to Aliya Mustafina, the pressure of soviet expectation shifted to the slight shoulders of Komova, who herself was coming back from an ankle injury. She performed admirably, helping a depleted team to world silver and became world champion on bars herself. She will be rueing her 0.033 point loss in the all around though. Look out for a Komova with serious attitude in London!

Jordyn Wieber (USA)

Grade A+

If anyone could say that 2011 was a year of undiluted success, it would be Wieber- American Cup Champion, National Champion, World Champion, Professional Athlete, All she needs now is the title of Olympic Champion in 2012 and the world is her oyster! Mustafina, Komova and others may have something to say about that though...

Diana Bulimar (Romania) 

Grade B+

Romania will be looking very closely at what went wrong for them to come away with zero medals from the 2011 worlds. It wasn't for lack of trying! One of their major chances of a medal came from young bulimar who, whilst inconsistent on several of the other pieces, qualified comfortably to the floor final before having to withdraw from injury. She also in the process got her name in the code of points with her signature leap. Bulimar has a reasonable shot of making the Romanian team in 2012, although her weakness on bars and nagging injuries may be what holds her back.

Laura Mitchell (Great Britain)

Grade: C

She was GB's top junior in 2010 and looked like she would be a useful asset for the senior team in 2011. It never really happened for Mitchell this year aas she was fighting injuries right up to the worlds selection competitions. She'll still be in the running for 2012 but a lack of senior international experience will disadvantage her, and GB also has several strong first year seniors for 2012.

Sabrina Vega (USA)

 Grade A-

2011 was a very successful year for Vega, as well as all the 1st year seniors on the Gold Medal winning machine that was team USA. Vega was strong and consistent at worlds contributing to the team victory on nervy pieces like balance beam. However, with the depth of talent in the USA she is not quite close enough to the top of the all-around rankings to be sure of an olympic spot. The more difficulty and consistency she can build (whilst avoiding injury) the better her chances will be.

Natsumi Sasada (Japan) 

Grade: B-

4th place all around at last year's Youth Olympics. We haven't seen much of Sasada this year. She competed at the Cottbus challenger cup finishing 4th on floor. She was 8th at Japanese nationals and didn't make the cut for the world Championship team. Hopefully we will see more of her in 2012 as she had some great qualities.

Carlotta Ferlito (Italy)

Grade: B+

Ferlito made a smooth transition into Italy's senior ranks this year, qualifying to the European and World teams. In Berlin at Europeans she won a bronze medal on balance beam and placed 7th on floor and all-around. The disappointment of the year came when the Italians finished 9th in Tokyo, so a good performance is vital at the upcoming test event in London.

Special Mention: Yao Jinnan (China) 

Grade: A+

Jinnan wasn't even on my list of new faces a year ago, but she was the pleasant surprise of the year, helping the Chinese team to bronze and also taking home all-around bronze and balance beam silver for herself. She may not be the most consistent gymnast on the chinese team but she has a lovely sparkly quality similar to what we enjoyed from Jiang Yuyuan in Beijing 2008. She competes in January at the test event and with her great talent it would be a shame not to see her back in London next summer.

With the size of the olympic team shrinking, the class of 2011 must prove themselves against the new seniors of the class of 2012 including Anastasia Grishina & Anastasia Sidorova of Russia, Kyla Ross of the USA,  Larisa Iordace of Romania (Pictured below), Venus Romaeo and Rebecca Tunney of GB and many others.

Mao Asada wins national title.

Short programme leader Kanako Murakami suffered jump issues in her free skate in Osaka, Japan today, finishing 6th place in the free skate and 3rd overall. Mao Asada waas able to win her 5th national title less than 3 weeks after the death of her mother. She'll head to worlds as one of the favourites,  even without her triple axel, which she skated without in Osaka.

LADIES (final standings)
1. Mao Asada – 184.07
2. Akiko Suzuki – 179.27
3. Kanako Murakami – 172.69
4. Haruka Imai – 166.67
5. Miu Sato – 163.86
6. Satoko Miyahara – 163.85
7. Risa Shoji – 156.47
8. Yuki Nishino – 156.45
9. Haruna Suzuki – 156.23
10. Kana Muramoto – 154.11
11. Kako Tomotaki – 148.99
12. Satsuki Muramoto – 146.90
13. Miyabi Ohba – 146.83
14. Yuka Kouno – 135.68
15. Shoko Ishikawa – 133.66

World Championships team
MEN - Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Yuzuru Hanyu
LADIES - Mao Asada, Akiko Suzuki, Kanako Murakami
PAIRS - Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran
DANCE - Cathy Reed/Chris Reed
Four Continents Championship team
MEN - Daisuke Takahashi, Tatsuki Machida, Takahito Mura
LADIES - Mao Asada, Kanako Murakami, Haruka Imai
PAIRS - Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran
DANCE - Cathy Reed/Chris Reed
World Junior Championships teamMEN - Keiji Tanaka, Shoma Uno, Ryuju Hino
LADIES - Miu Sato, Satoko Miyahara, Risa Shoji

(Figure Skating Examiner)

Murakami leads Asada,Takahashi wins Japan Nationals

After a somewhat lackluster grand prix season this year, youngster Kanako Murakami has taken the lead after the short programme at Japanese Nationals. 2-time world champion Mao Asada is close behind skating 3 weeks after the death of her mother. Akiko Suzuki stands in 3rd.

Unlike the ever-plighted USA, Consistent international performance by the Japanese means they have 3 men's and 3 women's spots for Worlds. 

Here are the short programme results and videos (courtesy of Figure Skating Examiner)
LADIES (top 15 after the short program)
1. Kanako Murakami – 65.56 VIDEO
2. Mao Asada – 65.40 VIDEO
3. Akiko Suzuki – 59.60 VIDEO
4. Yuki Nishino – 58.52
5. Haruka Imai – 57.82
6. Kana Muramoto – 54.20
7. Miu Sato – 54.14 VIDEO
8. Satsuki Muramoto – 53.16
9. Haruna Suzuki – 53.04 VIDEO
10. Kako Tomotaki – 52.02 VIDEO11. Risa Shoji – 51.50 VIDEO
12. Mutsumi Takayama – 48.48
13. Miyabi Ohba  – 48.26 VIDEO14. Shoko Ishikawa – 47.62
15. Satoko Miyahara – 47.06

In the Men's event Daisuke Takahashi was leading by a country mile after the Men's short programme and despite 3 falls in his free skate was able to hold off Takahiko Kozuka for his 5th national title.
MEN (final standings)
1. Daisuke Takahashi – 254.60
2. Takahiko Kozuka – 250.97
3. Yuzuru Hanyu – 241.91
4. Tatsuki Machida – 213.48
5. Takahito Mura – 204.21
6. Daisuke Murakami – 203.41
7. Keiji Tankaa – 201.45
8. Kento Nakamura – 195.94
9. Shoma Uno – 190.42
10. Ryuju Hino – 188.30

Tearful Mao returns to Japan, vows to compete at Nationals.

In an article from Universal Sports, World Champion Mao Asada has spoken of her grief to return to Japan to find that her mother Kyoko Asada had passed away (aged just 48) whilst she was travelling back from the Grand Prix Final in Canada.

"When I got to Narita and checked my e-mail, I had a text from my father that said, ‘Mom couldn't make it.' I just cried and cried," Asada told Kyodo News.

But the 21-year-old is determined to compete at Nationals in Osaka, which begin on December 23.

"My mother would rejoice that I'm determined to do what I must do as I aim to achieve my dreams for the future,"

We all wish Mao and her sister Mai the very best at this incredibly difficult time. Losing your mother at such a young age is terrible for any person, but to do so in the media spotlight and with the pressure of competing for your country is doubly hard.

Mao has great courage to compete again so soon (memories of the brave Joannie Rochette come to mind). Japanese Nationals are one of the most competitive in the world. Good Luck Mao!

(Images of Mao returning to Japan, and of her mother Kyoko from Daylife.com)

Lord Coe visits the Chinese gymnasts

In this photo from Getty Images, Chairman of the London Olympic Commitee, Sebastian Coe visits with the Chinese gymnasts at their training centre in Beijing as part of a democratic trip to see the preparations of the Chinese for London 2012 and to promote the UK's readiness to take over the torch (so-to-speak) from Beijing 2008.

Coe, himself a 2 time olympic champion in the 1500m said to the athletes:

"Welcome, all of you, to London, We have lots of gymnastics fans in Britain, and you will be great draw there."

Coe said one of his goals is for the London Games to be athlete-centered.

"We have built the best athletes' village for you - athletes are always the most important people," he said.

(Article: China Daily)

Lord Coe also visited some of China's elite swimmers and promoted the launch of "Olympic Bicycles" at the British Embassy.

It's good to see Cheng Fei as part of the group, even if, like Shawn Johnson was in her return to training, she seems to be the only one not in a leotard!

JGPF - Pairs results

China's Sui & Han won the junior pairs title in Quebec city this afternoon. The achievment would be great for any up-and-coming junior pair. But these two are no ordinary up-and-coming junior pair. Having already won the junior title 2 years ago, Last year they entered the senior ranks and won bronze at the senior final. They also have two junior world titles and a quad throw and quad twist to their name.

It was perhaps unexpected then that they should stay on the junior circuit this year. They had a sub-par senior grand prix season, finishing 2nd in Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of China finishing outside of a qualifying spot for the senior final.

Here they were a coomfortable 8 points clear of the junior field having thrown everything in their free skate. Their quad salchow throw was given full credit (execution was -1 from most of the judges and +3 from one - go figure!). Their quad twist was downgraded.  The next 3 teams actually had higher element scores than the chinese, but their programme components (and I dare say, a bit of reputation) kept them ahead of the field.  Results.

Maybe I'm getting synical in my old age!
The rest of today includes all the senior short programmes and the junior ladies free skate.

Mao Asada out of Grand Prix Final

2010 World Champion Mao Asada has sadly had to withdraw and fly home early from the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City. Her mother has fallen seriously ill and Mao has flown back to Japan to be with her.

The first alternate for the event is world junior champion Adelina Sotnikova. However the organisers say it is too short notice to call in a substitute at this stage.

Update: Mao's mother Kyoko passed away this morning, aged 48. Condolences to Mao and her family at this difficult time.

A New Look NHL

On December 5, 2011, the NHL (National Hockey League) Board of Governors approved a conference realignment plan that will eliminate the current six-division setup and move into a four-conference structure.

Under the new plan, which is designed to better accommodate the effects of time zone differences, each team will play 36 or 38 intra-conference games, depending on whether it is in a seven- or eight-team conference, and two games (home and road) against each non-conference team.

The four new conferences are generally based on the current divisions, with the two more westerly based ones consisting of teams in the current Western Conference (plus Winnipeg, a new team that has spent this season playing largely in Florida- 2 time zones and thousands of miles away!) and the easterly ones consisting of teams in the current Eastern Conference. The Southeast Division will be broken up, while the Pacific and Northwest divisions merge into one. Each of the other three divisions (currently known as Central, Northeast and Atlantic) will pick up two or three teams resulting from those moves.

The Current Setup (Souce - Wikipedia)

 The new alignment will take effect at the start of the 2012-13 season, pending the approval of the NHL Players Association.The currently unnamed conferences will align as follows:

Anaheim Ducks Calgary Flames Colorado Avalanche Edmonton Oilers Los Angeles Kings Phoenix Coyotes San Jose Sharks Vancouver Canucks

Chicago Blackhawks Columbus Blue Jackets Dallas Stars Detroit Red Wings Minnesota Wild Nashville Predators St. Louis Blues Winnipeg Jets

Boston Bruins Buffalo Sabres Florida Panthers Montreal Canadiens Ottawa Senators Tampa Bay Lightning Toronto Maple Leafs

Carolina Hurricanes New Jersey Devils New York Islanders New York Rangers Philadelphia Flyers Pittsburgh Penguins Washington Capitals

3 Golfers, 2 Cricketers, No Women!

There has been a fair amount of outrage amongst the public and press that amongst the 10 nominees for the British BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, there are no female athletes named.

The shortlist (in alphabetical order) is: Mark Cavendish (cycling), Darren Clarke (golf), Alastair Cook (cricket), Luke Donald (golf), Mo Farah (athletics), Dai Greene (athletics), Amir Khan (boxing), Rory McIlroy (golf), Andy Murray (tennis), Andrew Strauss (cricket).

The nominations list is made up by a panel of sports editors and journalists. Swimmer Rebecca Adlington was just outside the list with 6 votes (1 behind Amir Khan) according to BBC News.

Adlington, Keri-Anne Payne and Chrissie Wellington all won gold medals in their sports this year. British swimmer Payne said: "Are they voting for the people who are most popular? Or who has achieved the most in their sport this year? The line is fuzzy."(Telegraph). Nominee Dai Greene, the World, European and Commonwealth 400m champion, said he thought there should have been a woman on the shortlist.

The last women to recieve the award were Zara Phillips in 2006, Kelly Holmes in 2004 and Paula Radliffe in 2002. There was some discruntlement at the last 2 years winners, journalist AP McCoy (2010) and Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs (2009).

Gymnast Beth Tweddle has twice been nominated but never been that high on the list due mainly to the lack of global popularity for gymnastics. 

Grand Prix Final Qualifiers

Following an eventful grand prix series with plenty of ups and downs, the following skaters have booked spots at the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City.

Websites - Senior Grand Prix, Junior Grand Prix

I'm pleased to see surprise qualifiers such as Fernandez of Spain and Canada's Duhamel & Radford. Like many a skating fan I am overjoyed to see Mao Asada's return to form. Hopefully next year we will see an even more improved Mirai Nagasu earn a spot in the top 6. 

MEN
Patrick Chan - Canada
Daisuke Takahashi - Japan
Jeremy Abbott - USA
Michal Brezina - Czech Republic
Javier Fernandez - Spain
Yuzuru Hanyu - Japan
Substitutes
Song Nan - China
Takahiko Kozuka - Japan
Adam Rippon - USA 

LADIES
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - Russia
Mao Asada - Japan
Carolina Kostner - Italy
Akiko Suzuki - Japan
Alissa Czisny - USA
Alena Leonova - Russia

Substitutes
Adelina Sotnikova - Russia
Mirai Nagasu - USA
Ashley Wagner - USA 

PAIRS
Tatyana Volosozhar & Maksim Trankov - Russia
Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy - Germany
Yuko Kavaguti & Aleksandr Smirnov - Russia
Zhang Dan & Zhang Hao - China
Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran - Japan
Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford - Canada

Substitutes
Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch - Canada
Vera Bazarova & Yuri Lariyonov - Russia
Sui Wenjing & Han Cong - China 

DANCE
Meryl Davis & Charlie White - USA
Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir - Canada
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani - USA
Yekaterina Bobrova & Dmitry Soloviyev - Russia
Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat - France
Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje - Canada

Substitutes
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte - Italy
Yelena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov - Russia
Isabelle Tobias & Deividas Stagniunas - Lithuania

GB trampoline girls earn spot at London 2012

Congratulations to GB's Kat Driscoll for qualifying 7th to the individual final at the World Championships and for the GB girls for qualifying 3rd in the team competition. The result guarantees GB a spot at the London Olympics.

I'll update the full results when they are finalised - Check the official scoring page here.

Missing Kimmie (still)

About this time last year I wrote a post on the former US, World and Four Continents champion Kimmie Meissner. Kimmie was and is one of the best examples of an athlete using fame to do good in the world. Following her world championship she became co-founder of the Cool Kids Campaign, a charity supporting paediatric cancer patients and their families. Kimmie has stayed loyal to all her charity work even as she has grown older and moved out of the skating limelight.

I found this interview with Kimmie online, I'm not sure exactly when it's from but some time in the last 6 months or so. It tells how Kimmie injured her knee, taking her out of the running for the Vancouver olympics- in true Kimmie style she was trying to avoid hurting a small child who got in her way as she was practicing her triple axel jump, Kimmie bailed on the jump, dislocating her kneecap in the process.

After a long recovery period Kimmie is now back into full intensity training, alongside studying and working in a physical therapy office. For the moment she is skating in shows but hasn't ruled out the possibility of skating competitively again.

It may be too much to hope for but I would love to see Kimmie skate again.

Are there any other skaters you would love to see return to competitive ice? (I'm pretty sure Yu-Na Kim is high on a lot of people's lists!)

Trampoline & Tumbling World Champs

The 2011 Trampoline & Tumbling World Championships take place this weekend at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. I myself will be attending to cheer on Britain's best with my university trampolining buddies.

For individual trampoline, these championships will act as the first qualification event for the Olympic Games. To qualify places in London, British gymnasts must either make the final (top 8) at the Worlds (where two places per individual class are available) or failing that go on to the Olympic Test event in January (where just one place is available per class).

British Champion Katherine Driscoll is the current world number one woman, with Bryony Page (8^th) and Emma Smith (10th) joining her in the top ten. British Champion Luke Strong (18 ^th) and James Higgins (20^th) are the top placed men.

Other disciplines (not part of of the olympic games) are synchronised  trampoline, tumbling and the crazy-dangerous looking double mini trampoline. 

International faces to watch include reigning olympic champions in trampoline, He Wenna and Li Chunlong of China (The chinese should have no difficulty at all qualifying a full quota to London 2012, they have also been men's and women's world champions at the last 2 world championships) 

Here is a list of last years results and this years entries.  

The competition will be preceded by the world age group championships (a sort of junior worlds) giving a chance to see the names who will appear beyond 2012. 

Click here for the event website and full media guide.  

Schedule

Thursday 17 November
Qualifications:
Trampoline Individual men
Trampoline Individual women

Friday 18 November
Qualifications:
Double Mini Trampoline men
Double Mini Trampoline women
Tumbling men
Tumbling women

Opening Ceremony

Finals:
Trampoline Team Final men
Trampoline Team Final women

Saturday 19 November
Qualifications:
Synchronised men
Synchronised women

Finals:
Double Mini Trampoline Team Final men
Double Mini Trampoline Team Final women
Tumbling Team Final men
Tumbling Team Final women
Synchronised Final women
Trampoline Individual Final men

Sunday 20 November
Finals:
Double Mini Trampoline Final men
Double Mini Trampoline Final women
Tumbling Final men
Tumbling Final women
Synchronised Final men
Trampoline Individual Final women

Closing ceremony

 

Mustafina Back?

7 months after tearing her ACL at the European championships in Berlin, 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina is listed to compete at the DTB World Cup in Stuttgard this weekend. If it is true there has been little publicity of her return. Film snippets of the Russian Camp since the injury have shown her training bars and beam.

Other gymnasts due to compete include Russians Maria Paeska & Alena Polyan, Australia's Lauren Mitchell and Germany's Oksana Chusovitina.

I hope the Russian's are cautious of Mustafina allow her to progress without further injury towards London 2012.

Grand Prix Series - Thoughts at half-way house.

There's been a fair bit of change in the skating world since the delayed world championships in Moscow earlier this year. The new skating season has started with the absense of last years world medallists Pang & Tong, Miki Ando and Yu-Na Kim. Add to that the fact that almost every North American ice dancer or pairs skater seems to be skating with a new partner, and the new season is wide open.

Now 3 events into the Grand Prix series, here's what we've learned.

Russia want to rule in Sotchi
Despite the upset of no Russian ice dancers on the podium at worlds for the first time in God knows how long. Russia looks as strong as ever with contenders in every discipline and plenty of new talent on the way. We've seen the much heralded debut of Tuktamisheva and Sotnikova on the senior stage (sadly they're still too young for worlds this year) Volosozhar & Trankov decimated the field at Skate Canada and a revitalised Kavaguti & Smirnov delivered one of the most beautiful and polished performances of the season so far last week at Cup of China. Russia have the coaching expertise and the financial support to nourish their athletes on the road to a home olympics. The goal: Bring back good old Soviet Dominance!

USA ladies: Contenders again at last? 
It's been 4 years now since the US ladies have managed to secure 3 spots to worlds and 5 since Kimmie Meissner won their last worlds medal. So far 3 different american ladies have medalled on this years series, Alissa Czisny (Gold, SA) Ashley Wagner (Bronze, SC) and Mirai Nagasu (Silver, CoC). Of these, Czisny has the most realistic shot of making the grand prix final, but hopefully all these ladies will perform up to standard at Nationals and the 2 who make it to the Worlds in Nice will secure that much wanted 3rd spot and, without Ando & Kim, challenge for a spot on the medal stand again.

My personal hope is that Mirai can learn to love her Spartacus long programme and really challenge as the season goes on, she has such a painful history of falling short at the big events (not discounting her Olympic success!)


Still on top of the World. 
In the great partner switcheroo, thankfully some things have remained constant, the undisputed dominance of Virtue & Moir and Davis & White. These skaters have raised the standard of ice dance in current times. My hope is for an injury-free path and many more showdowns on the road to 2014.

GB is rebuilding
I had all but given up hope for any success for Great Britain on the international scene this year with the Kerr siblings retirement and Jenna McCorkell's disaster at worlds failing to qualify her for this year's grand prix. Why can the country that produced Torville & Dean and Robin Cousins not produce any contenders? Then Penny Coombes & Nick Buckland finished just 0.58 outside the medals at Cup of China hope springs eternal! They don't have a second event scheduled but it's a great marker for the future.

Raising the standard? 
The series itself has changed somewhat with the opportunity for skaters to compete in 3 events, rather than the usual 2, and for the first time (that I know of) the ISU has set a minimum score cutoff that skaters must earn prior to competing in a Grand Prix event. The scores are calculated as 2/3 the top scores at the 2011 Worlds. Men- 168.60, Ladies- 117.48, Pairs-  130.71, Dance- 111.15. The fields have generally been smaller this year than previous years (10 in Ladies and Men), (8 in Pairs and Dance). The general standard does seem to have risen a bit too, less of the usual splat fest.


Still to come....
Expected contenders we have yet to see include Mao Asada (who has been very much under the radar aside from her own ice shows back in Japan this summer), Brian Joubert (Who missed his first event due to illness), Brandon Mroz (He of the quad Lutz), Thomas Verner, Kiira Korpi, Agnes Zawadski & World Jr medallists Stolbova & Klimpov. It 'aint over til it's over.

Results so far- Skate America, Skate Canada, Cup of China
GP Standings -  Mens, Ladies, Pairs, Ice Dance
Coming up - NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan

Swiss Cup - a different kind of gymnastics competition!

The post worlds period is often a quiet one, with teams regrouping and strategizing for the year ahead. However, that hasn't stopped many of the best countries fielding a team for the Swiss Cup in Zurich.

The Swiss Cup is a mixed pair competition (one female and one male gymnast from each country) the  competition is divided into a preliminary, semi-final and final round with the 10-pair field being reduced to 8 after 2 apparatus and only 4 for the final event.

The finalists were Romania (Ana Porgras/Flavius Koczi), Switzerland (Giulia Steingruber/Claudio Capelli), Germany (Elizabeth Seitz/Fabian Hambuchen) and Russia (Anna Dementyeva/Nikita Ignatyev).

Romania's Ana Porgras and Russia's Nikita Ignatyev won the Arthur Gander memorial cup (also in Switzerland) earlier this week, where athletes compete on their top 3 apparatus. Most of the gymnasts made it a two-stop trip.

In the end it was the home team of Steingruber and Capelli who won the day, making it Switzerland's first victory at the Swiss Cup. They were helped by Steingruber's two strong vaults. Porgras's first beam outing was the highest ladies score of the day.

Here are the scores of the finalists (source- International Gymnast)

the other teams competing were-
5. Kim Bui/ Sebastian Krimmer (Germany 2)
6. Jo Hyunjoo/Yang Hak Seon (Korea)
7. Angelina Kysla/ Nikolai Kuksenkov (Ukraine)
8. Jessica Diacci/Pascal Bucher (Switzerland 2)
9. Lizzie Beddoe/Ruslan Panteleymonov (GB)
10. Jessica Mattoni/ Paolo Principi (Italy)

Tokyo 2011 - Closing Thoughts

Work and placements have had me snowed under the last week so this is going to be a few of my own subjective (and possibly biased thoughts) on the worlds in Tokyo rather than delayed reporting of results.

Consistency wins the day (sometimes) 

No-one could doubt that the USA team was the dominant force at these world championships, with all 5 active members doing their job marveously to win the team title. They were error free for the whole team qualification and team final- showing what a young and 'inexperienced' team can do with the right training. Such a contrast from day 1 of the US nationals this year where everyone was falling and we doubted that from that hot mess a team could be fielded to cope with the demands of the high pressure '3-up-3-count' team competition. Martha - we salute you!

The only other team to compete cleanly in the team final was Great Britain, another team who had a long selection process with many pre-world competitions. Even I criticised this process as asking for injury but it seems to have worked. The GB girls can focus on training with a team spot to London 2012 already in the bag. Shame we couldn't say the same for the boys!

That said, consistency doesn't count for everything or Great Britain would have a silver medal around their necks right now. China had (I think) 3 falls in finals and still managed to beat out Romania for the bronze medal. There has been plenty of bashing of the current scoring system this week and even calls to go back to the 'Perfect 10'. I wouldn't go that far - I think difficulty and innovation should be rewarded otherwise it opens the door to subjectivity and staleness. Yes, the demand for high levels of difficulty can sometimes be blamed for injuries (case in point- Aliya Mustafina), but careful coaching should be able to guard against this and there are rewards for doing what you can do and doing it well.

The All Around Arguement

The lasting memory and possible sore point of these championships will be the 0.033 point victory of Jordyn Wieber over Viktoria Komova. That's less than the deduction for a toe out of place!

Yes, I thought she'd won too. I think we all did. And it was devistating to watch the diminuitive Komova so disappointed after her narrow defeat. Maybe it was simply her own disappointment, but you get the feeling the tiny 16 year old felt the weight of Russian expectation on her as well. It's tough to live up to the reputation of Mustafina, who won so dominantly and easily last year, particularly when you yourself are coming back from an injury and not quite at full form.

Komova and Mustafina will both be back with a vengeance next year (touch wood, injuries aside) and who knows, If Wieber is 2012's Shawn Johnson, One of the russian's could well be 2012's Nastia Liukin and pip her to the post with a class performance. Still, Wieber deserves her dues, she has been the strongest most consistent gymnast in the world this season and fully deserves to call herself a world champion.

Reputation counts for nothing...
...If you can't hit! There were no repeat champions in the ladies event this year. The second day of event finals particularly was, I feel, a testament to good judging and the gymnast who hits on the day getting the reward. Few of us would have picked Ksenia Afansyeva as the world floor champion before the competition started. No-one would have thought Romania would go a whole world championships without a medal of any colour. Another blogger said that the sport was in need of 'celebrities', but gymnastics is not a show. It is a sport and the best athlete on the day should win the race.

Watch out for China.

We don't see a great deal from China throughout the year, but they usually find a way to come out and surprise us. This year that surprise was in the consistency and quality of Yao Jinnan and Sui Lu, who have been quietly training at home and came here fairly unheralded to take home 4 individual medals between them. China may not be the unstoppable force that they were in Beijing and their team performance her was far from faultless. But you can bet they have a regimented training programme to ready themselves for the olympics next Summer and we'll be seeing a lot of them in the O2 arena next August.

All Hail Kohei(enough said!)

Next Stop, London
The next big event on the artistic gymnastics calendar will be the test event in the Olympic venue, 7-19 January 2012. Out of the 8 teams in each discipline, 4 will qualify a full team to the Olympics.

On the women's side those teams are Italy, France, Canada, Spain, Holland, Brazil, Korea and Belgium. Italy definitely should have the strength to qualify and it would be strange to see Brazil not there at the olympics (they and France were the teams that pipped GB into the team final in Beijing). I sentimentally would like to see Canada qualify. Rather like GB they seem to practice safe, good quality gymnastics and hold onto their talent for longer than other countries. If Spain continue to improve at the rate they have in the last 12 month, who knows- they could be winning team medals by next August!!

On the men's side the teams yet to qualify are France, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy and Belarus. To be honest I don't really care so long as the GB boys qualify! They won't really contend for team medals, but they would have done a darn sight better than Romania had they made team finals in Tokyo. The GB men's team has come a long long way since 2008 and did not quite live up to potential in Japan but give them a chance and they should impress infront of a home crowd next Summer.

Anyway- if you stuck with all that - thanks and feel free to comment below. Here are the full worlds results and, to get you in the mood, the schedule for January's qualifying event.

07 January , 2012	Arrival Day for MAG and WAG
08 - 09 January 2012	MAG and WAG Training and Podium Training
10 January 2012	WAG Qualification
11 January 2012	MAG Qualification - Arrival Day for TRA
12 January 2012	TRA Training and Podium Training TRA Qualification - Men’s Floor Final - Women’s Vault Final Men’s Pommel Horse Final - Women’s Uneven Bars Final
13 January 2012	Trampoline Final (Men) - Men’s Rings Final                Trampoline Final (Women) - Men’s Vault Final Men’s Parallel Bars Final - Women’s Beam Final Men’s High Bar Final - Women’s Floor Final
14 January 2012	Departure Day for MAG, WAG, and TRA - Arrival Day for RG
15 January 2012	RG Training and Podium Training
16 - 17 January 2012	RG Qualification
18 January 2012	RG Individual and Groups Finals
19 January 2012	Departure Day RG

Women's All Around

It's a showdown many have been hoping for all year, seen as a trailer for next year's olympic all around final in London. The power of Jordyn Wieber vs the style of Viktoria Komova...

The USA have looked unflappable all week. Wieber is well trained, well coached and seemingly ready take on the world. Like Mustafina last year she just seems to be in no doubt that she will hit everything. Whilst the americans never like to rest on their laurels, Coach John Geddert has set his student up for success.

Komova on the other hand has had mixed fortunes in Tokyo, rough training sessions and a fall on beam in the team final, by the end of her floor exercise the diminuitive russian looked tired . But she pulled enough out the hat to lead qualification and a day of rest and careful rehab and she should be ready to defend a russian all around gold.

Also, from the inconsistency of the Chinese camp rose a new, stylish, accurate young talent, Yao Jinnan. She will be facing off against more American firepower in the form of Alexandra Raisman for a first all around medal. Veterans ofn Rotterdam, Ksenia Afanaseva and Huang Quishang close out the top group. Many, including myself would love to see the elegant but so often Afanaseva gain some individual recognition after being such a rock for the team.

The field is deep this year. I'm hoping for Jessica Lopez and Hannah Whelan to compete to their potential and strike at the top ten.

Full Twist has posted the full starting orders, here is the list for the first rotation. Click the image to enlarge.

USA dominate team final- GB finish 5th!

Martha will be wanting to shake off the team USA curse. For the past 2 olympics team USA have dominated the pre-olympic worlds and fallen short one year later to gain silver in Athens and in Beijing. Well the young and 'inexperienced' american girls have done it again, they were dominant and consistent right from the word go - clocking up magnificent difficulty with business-like consistency.

Russia were still very confident in second, but the young Komova made their one major error falling off beam and looking, dare I say it, rather tired on floor. China held on to bronze narrowly ahead of Romania. I dared to hope for an upset there with China making several errors, but it wasn't to be. Romania will squeak back on to the podium soon, I'm sure.

The GB girls shook off their nerves from qualification and competed with only very minor errors to finish 5th, their highest result ever. Congratulations to the GB girls - What a lift on the way to London :-D

WOMEN'S TEAM FINAL:
1. United States 179.411
2. Russia 175.329
3. China 172.820
4. Romania 172.412
5. Great Britain 169.670
6. Germany 168.479
7. Japan 167.122
8. Australia 166.439

I'll be back with more commentary later. Sadly it's back to the grindstone first.

GB men miss out on olympic spot

The British men had a tough outing in the second day of men's qualifying.

1. Japan 364.191
2. USA 361.583
3. China 358.226
4. Germany 354.132
5. Russia 353.725
6. Korea 351.331
7. Romania 350.900
8. Ukraine 350.434

9. France 349.818

10. Great Britain 348.742

This means GB will join France, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy and Belarus in the second qualification competition at the test event in January. Top 4 teams from there advance to the olympics. GB can be comforted that even with several errors and falls, they are less than 2 points outside the top 8 so qualification shouldn't be too hard and a team final spot in London is still more than possible with the help of a home crowd.

Louis Smith qualified for the pommel horse final (even without all hos difficulty in the routine) and Daniel Purvis qualified 5th to the all around final. Japan's Uchimura leads the qualifying, making 5 event finals, first place in the all around and Japan holding out in first for the team.

All Around qualifiers Click Here. Event Final qualifiers below. 

Japan and Uchimura lead after day 1

Half way through the men's qualification Japan hold the lead over their rivals the USA, Germany and Romania. 2-time world champion Kohei Uchimura leads the all-around standings by a fairly comfortable 1.7 points, with the USA making up 3 of the top five spots so far. 2010 world bronze medallist Jonathan Horton will likely not compete in the all around final, finishing third of the US men.

Defending team champions China and the GB boys qualify tomorrow.

Team Results
1) Japan 364.291
2) USA 361.583
3) Germany 354.132
4) Romania 350.900
5) Ukraine 350.434

Thoughts on qualifying

Ok, like most of the world I am commenting on what I have heard rather than what I have seen of the qualifications- I really hope the BBC (and whichever broadcaster it is where you are) have full coverage of the qualifications next year in London!

The Highlights

• Making the Olympics! (naturally) well done to team GB and all the others for holding their nerve in a close competition - We knew USA, Russia, China and Romania would be going but beyond that the competition was open. Looks like the second qualifying event in London will be a good'un too. 
• USA and Japan - winning the consistency prizes for rising to the pressure and having no falls. USA had to deal with the loss of their team leader (Sacramone) and Japan rose beautifully to the challenge of being the home team.
• The young'uns - Komova, Wieber and Yao lead the all-around in their first worlds. Also Inshina, Bulimar and Douglas for making individual event finals.

The Upsets

• Porgras, Tweddle and Mitchell missing event finals where they are defending world champions
• Jiang Yuyuan missing the all around (none of last years medallists will be back this year)
• He Kexin falling off bars (again)
• Spain, Korea, Canada and Belgium in the running still for olympic team spots (a good upset!) 
• Pena of Dominican Republic on vault (I hope she can land on her feet in finals!)
• Vault in general! Still the weakest event overall for the ladies - but the most exciting for new faces making a name for themselves.

I'm sure there will be more surprises in store before the end of these championships....

Here is Imogen Cairn's opinion, courtesy of Ollie Williams

The Olympians

Team Standings after qualification

1. USA 234.253
2. Russia 231.062
3. China 230.370
4. Romania 227.228 
5. Japan 223.543
6. Australia 221.846
7. Germany 221.163 
8. Great Britain 220.553

Hooray for team GB - 8th is good enough!!
Those fighting for a team spot at the qualifying event in London

9. Italy
10. France
11. Canada

12. Spain
13. The Netherlands
14. Brazil
15. Korea
16. Belgium

and the teams that just missed out

17. Mexico
18. Switzerland
19. Ukraine
20. Hungary
21. Venezuela
22. Uzbekistan
23. Slovenia
24. Greece

All Around Finalists

1. Komova RUS 60.157
2. Wieber USA 60.032
3. Yao CHN 59.031
4. Raisman USA 58.432
(5. Douglas 57.657)
6. Afanasyeva RUS 56.941
7. Huang CHN 56.932
8. Seitz GER 56.732
(9. Vega USA 56.665)
10. Haidu ROM 56.465
11. Tsurumi 56.365
(12. Maroney USA 56.324)
13. Mitchell AUS 56.324
14. Ferrari ITA 56.198
(15. Tan CHN 56.065)
16. Jarosh GER 55.500
17. Whelan GBR 55.465
17. Van Gerner NED 55.500
19. Tanaka JPN 55.432
(20. Jiang CHN 55.074)
(21. Shintake 55.032)

22. Porgras Ana 54.832
23. Little AUS 54.732
(23. Minobe JPN 54.732)
25. Lopez VEN 54.731
26. Izurieta ESP 54.698
27. Lee CAN 54.632
28. Hypolito BRA 54.557
29. Steingruber SUI 54.498
30. Malaussena FRA 54.365
(31. Dementyeva RUS 54.333)
32. Ferlito ITA 54.332

R1. Brevet FRA 54.332
R2. Francis GBR 53.965
R3. Heo KOR 53.932