Britain after Beth

I've been watching a lot of sport this week- The UK athletics world trials, The swimming world Champs, The Covegirl Classic. If one thing is clear - athletes in all disciplines are focusing their sights firmly on London, with 1 year to the opening ceremonies the starting gun has been fired.

GB's top gymnast Beth Tweddle has re-iterated in recent interviews that she wants to peak and wrap up her successful career at the games. The question is where will her departure leave British gymnastics after the games. 'Queen Elizabeth' at Rewriting Russian Gymnastics made a great comment in her latest post on the Russian team.


A gymnastics team is only as good as its reserves; if a team cannot win without its leading performer, then the chance of leading the sport more than momentarily is pretty poor.

The same stands for the GB team. Their stocks have been rising in the last olympic cycle, largely due to Beth's medal success and leadership. The difficulty will be maintaining this overall success and delivering new stars on the way to Rio 2016.

Hopefully some of the current crop of gymnasts (such as Hannah Whelan) will stick around and lead the younger gymnasts on for a few years. GB has the coaching expertise to develop new talent (albeit focussed in a few main gyms) and plenty of youngsters who could add more difficulty over the next few years.

GB is a long way off contending with the big guns (China, USA, Russia) at the moment but below that are a lot of nations whose positions can shift based on who has an 'off-day'. With enough strong all-around gymnasts and some special talents on individual apparatus, a Beth-less team could still continue to contend.

Where the US keep talking about bars as their 'weak' event. GB's scores could rocket if we could get a crop of strong vaulters capable of something bigger than a full-twisting yurchenko!

We're not there yet, but I think we will be soon...

Team 2012-2016

back row L-R - Lizzie Beddoe, Ruby Harrold, Jess Hogg, Billie Mackenzie, Ruby Straw, Loriah James... 

front row L-R - Amy Sharp, Venus Romaeo, Laura Mitchell and Rebecca Tunney

London 2012 - The Medals

We didn't like the logo, there was a mixed reception to the torch. 

I quite like the medals- mixing traditional with dynamic. Nothing too weird and wonderful!

Larisa Iordache (Romania) EYOF

Videos are arriving almost instantly from the European Youth Olympic Festival. This young Romanian talent is too young to help out her team at Worlds this year but look out for her in London in a years time. She currently leads the all around competition with a score of 57.800. That would have put her 7th at Worlds 2010 and 1st at Europeans 2011.


(Vault), (Beam), (Bars)

London 2012 - 1 year to go!

In 366 days (2012 is a leap year) the games of the XXX Olympiad will be underway. The milestone is being marked by a number of events including Tom Daley making the first diive in the aquatics centre. The medal designs will also be unveiled and there will be a celebration in Trafalgar Sq where the world's athletes will be formally invited to London.

Covergirl Classic on Youtube

Youtube user and regular poster of gymnastics events, Olympicgymnastics2 has posted the full universal sports coverage of the Covergirl Classic from last weekend. Great news for those of us outside of the US who missed out on watching the live feed.



Part 1 (of 7)

Being Martha

It's about that time of year again, the time of year where we all like to put on our predicting hats and guess who Martha Karolyi will give a golden ticket to Worlds! Granted we haven't seen everyone out this season, and even fewer of those who compete all-around, have. But that's all part of the fun, right?

Here is the objective:
Tokyo, October 7th 2011
Six gymnasts required (NB for the olympics it will only be Five!)
Five compete on each apparatus in qualifying, Top four scores count.
The goal- Top 8 finish (ideally much higher) --> Olympic Qualification.


Anyway, if I was picking my world team, this is what it would look like...
(I got a bit carried away with this and had a bash at USA, GB, Russia, Romania and China.

Jordyn Wieber	VT	UB	BB	FX
Rebecca Bross	(VT)	UB	BB	(FX)
Chellsie Memmel	(VT)	(UB)		(FX)
Aly Raisman	VT	(UB)	(BB)	FX
Alicia Sacramone	VT		BB	FX
Another Bar Worker		UB	(BB)

 I haven't yet stuck my neck out and named the last member of the team, that's up to who puts out the best consistent bar routines at Nationals. My smart bet would be Mackenzie Caquatto as she already has worlds experience and is also a decent all-arounder, but it also might be an opportunity for a new face like Gabrielle Douglas or Sabrina Vega. 

The events in bold are my picks for the team final, where Team USA want to take advantage of Russian injuries and wrap up their normal pre-olympic team title. The good thing about this team is that it allows for the injury status of Rebecca Bross, If she is fit she could compete all-around but equally she would be a valuable asset on bars and beam only, with Aly Raisman or Chellsie Memmel both potentials for all-around competition.

Next year, as many have said, with one less person on the team Martha will likely have to choose between Aly Raisman's all around potential or Sacramone's shot at an olympic vault gold. Unless Aly's bars steps up several knotches there just isn't room for all of them.

I'll add to this post later with my picks for other teams.
What do you think Martha?

Covergirl - Results and Musings

Aly Raisman may be the USA's version of Hannah Whelan. Not the most virtuoso performer or standout on a single apparatus, but capable of consistently throwing out high all-around scores.

Raisman thought she might have waved goodbye to the all around title in Chicago last night after a disaster on bars, but upgraded strong tumbling and a successful amanar vault gave her the title and likely reminded Martha Karolyi and the fans not to rule her out for the national title in a few weeks time.

Likely the happiest camper though was comeback kid, 2003 World Champion Chellsie Memmel. Whilst the other members of the 2008 olympic team have tentatively dipped their toes in with one or two events, Memmel came back all guns blazing with a complete all-around performance. With all the pre-meet publicity being on Shawn Johnson, Memmel has again amazed us with her longevity in the sport and ability to rise to the occasion.

Third place went to the always lovely but often under-the-radar Sabrina Vega, top of all the debut seniors here. These are the new faces grappling to impress Karolyi and join the big guns in the world team selection battle.

As I mentioned before, Shawn Johnson didn't have the picture perfect return, having stumbled on her bars dismount she then had a wobbly outing on the balance beam, falling on her back layout somersault. Great however to see she still took it as a positive experience and is all the more determined to perform well at Visas in 3 weeks time. In all honesty the worlds this year may be a step too far, but she's a valued presence all the same.

Looking ahead the future is still difficult to predict. Jordyn Wieber is very likely to bring her A-game to the national championships in a few weeks time.  Rebecca Bross is still struggling with her injuries but will not want to be counted out. Mattie Larson and Bridget Sloan have been out of the scene since worlds but should never be counted out, and Chellsie Memmel has tasted success and wants more....

Roll-on Visa Championships!

Covergirl Classic Results

1.	Alexandra Raisman	Brestyan's	6.5	15.100	5.7	12.450	6.2	15.000	6.2	14.700	57.250
2.	Chellsie Memmel	M&M	5.0	14.200	5.6	14.400	6.1	14.700	5.3	13.650	56.950
3.	Sabrina Vega	Dynamic	5.8	14.600	5.7	13.500	6.1	14.500	5.7	14.250	56.850
4.	McKenzie Wofford	Zenith Elite	5.0	13.150	5.9	14.600	6.3	14.800	5.1	13.050	55.600
5.	Sophia Lee	WOGA	5.0	14.100	5.6	13.200	5.6	14.250	5.1	13.400	54.950
6.	Bridgette Caquatto	Legacy Elite	5.0	14.200	6.1	14.900	5.6	13.350	5.5	12.300	54.750
7.	Jessica Howe	WOGA	5.0	13.650	5.3	12.900	5.4	14.300	5.1	13.200	54.050
8.	Casey Jo Magee	Capital	5.0	13.650	4.7	13.200	5.9	14.200	4.8	12.100	53.150
9.	Brandie Jay	GK	5.8	13.800	6.0	14.200	5.2	13.150	5.1	11.650	52.800
10.	Hallie Mossett	West Coast	5.0	14.100	5.0	13.100	5.3	12.900	5.2	12.700	52.800

Sad times...

2 falls for Shawn Johnson and no live feed in the UK for me.

Not the most successful evening then...

Bonne Nuit!

Classic - Jr Results

2010 US Junior Champ Kyla Ross took the title in the Junior Ladies event at the Covergirl Classic.

(Photo- Greg Long)
Follow the Senior event on Twitter and blogs with the Couch Gymnast and Gymnastics Examiner who are actually there, as well as Full Twist and yours truely who will be doing the nightshift (UK time) watching in the comfort of our own homes!

Twitter: @Going4GoldBlog
 @Full_Twist
@Double_Front  
@Gymcoaching 
@GymExaminer
The Couch Gymnast on Facebook. 

Sadly the reigning US champ Rebecca Bross pulled out of the competition earlier in the day.Tt doesn't look like that ankle is fully back on form yet.  The All Around title is open for the taking. Smart money would be on Ali Raisman (Jordyn Wieber is due to only do bars and beam) but there is plenty of buzz about the return of Chellsie Memmel, as well as youngsters Gabrielle Douglas/ McKayla Maroney making their senior debuts. 

Can't wait to see Shawn Johnson either!.....

Here are the junior results (USA Gymnastics)
1. Kyla Ross 58.850
2. Lexie Priessman 58.050
3. Katelyn Ohashi 57.950
4. Sarah Finnegan 56.650
5. Brenna Dowell 55.350

USA's big names come out to play this weekend.

Martha Karolyi is very protective of her team USA gymnasts. They generally only appear on the international scene for Worlds and a few other select competitions. For the american girls the bulk of their years competition takes place on home soil, starting this weekend with the Covergirl Classic, the largest qualification/warm-up event for Nationals.

Last year the covergirl classic marked a return to competition for 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone, who translated success at home to a world vault title and banished a few consistency demons along the way. This year it is the turn of Beijing AA silver medallist and beam champion Shawn Johnson to make her anticipated return to competion for the first time in 3 years.

There has been an ongoing saga with the Beijing girls hinting at returns to the competition floor, Spurred on by Sacramone's success in 2010, Johnson will also be joined by Chellsie Memmel, who has been undecided whether or not to leave gymnastics behind in recent years. The only 2008 team member who still keeps the world waiting on her decision to return is leading lady Nastia Liukin. There have been plenty of hints and maybes coming from the Liukin camp, but no solid evidence of a return yet.

However - heres a 'short' list of some of the familiar faces kicking off their season at Covergirl this Saturday.

American Cup champ Jordyn Wieber (pictured - above)
McKayla Maroney - a new senior with a BIG Amanar.
(pictured - right)
2010 US junior champ Kyla Ross
Strong bar-working sisters Brigitte & McKenzie Caquatto,
UCLA grad and NCAA champ Anna Li
Comeback kids Shawn Johnson & Chellsie Memmel
Brestyan's Alicia Sacramone & Ali Raisman
Artistic new senior Sabrina Vega
Cincinnati's Amanda Jetter
Johnson's training mate Garielle Douglas
Reigning US champ Rebecca Bross

With Russia's biggest names still on the mend from injury, the never-ending depth of the Team USA may be a big asset in their quest to win back the world team title this October

Ariella Kaeslin waves goodbye to gymnastics

Full Twist has reported the sad and surprising news that Swiss gymnast Ariella Kaeslin has retired from elite gymnastics. The powerful vaulter who finished 5th in event finals in Beijing, followed this up with European gold and World silver medals on the apparatus. The 23 year old has been a shining light for an ever improving Swiss team and has 3 times been voted Swiss Sportswoman of the year. It will be a great shame not to see her in London.

I have listened to my body and my heart and so made ​​this decision. “The years of total commitment and focus on only the goal to get better, have left their mark, both mentally and physically. (Kaeslin) 

More medals for Liverpool as British Champs Wrap-up.

No-one really expected any different. Beth Tweddle showed her world championship form to easily hold off the competition and win bars and floor gold medals in the event finals, Sunday. Below is the summary of full results from British Gymnastics.

Apparatus finals

Seniors
Vault
The senior vault saw Imogen Cairns take the gold with 13.925. She was closely followed by some impressive work from Danielle Mcnaney representing Hinckley Gymnastics Club with 13.525. Niamh Rippin took the Bronze medal. (13.475)

Bars
Beth Tweddle performed an excellent routine, much to the excitement of the crowd on the bars scoring an impressive 15.200. Hannah Whelan (13.900) and Jenni Pinches (13.500) made it a Liverpool one, two, three, taking Silver and Bronze respectively.

Beam
Danusia Francis performed a beautiful clean routine after an unfortunate fall in the all around competition, scoring an impressive 14.700. Hannah Whelan again showed great composure on this apparatus and closely followed with 14.500. Imogen Cairns didn’t have the same skill set but showed great determination and performed a very precise routine for13.450.

Floor
World Champion on the floor, Beth Tweddle, showed great expression in her dance and really performed to the crowd taking the gold with 15.250. Niamh Rippin took the silver with 14.250 with an impressive routine after being out for some time with injury. Jenni Pinches composed herself well after a disappointment on the beam to take the Bronze. (14.150)

Juniors
Vault
A very successful weekend for Raer Theaker saw her take share Vault title with
Gabrielle Jupp both scoring 13.450. A very petite but powerful Claudia Fragapane took away a deserved bronze medal with13.300.

Bars
Rebecca Tunney performed a bar routine with skills on par with many of the more senior gymnasts taking the gold with 13.450. She was closely followed by Ruby Harold (13.250) who with a few small errors looks to have more to give in the future. Raer Theaker secured her second medal of the Championships with a clean routine to take the bronze (12.700).

Beam
Gabrielle Jupp showed great confidence on the beam and some very promising work to take the title with 14.100. Bille Mackenzie, who also took the award for artistry for her work on this apparatus, followed Jupp in the silver with 13.850. Abi Caig not far behind took the bronze with 13.800.

Floor
Rebecca Tunney took her second title of the day on floor, following in her teammate Beth Tweddle’s footsteps with 13.900. Gabrielle Jupp performed some impressive tumbling and wasn’t far behind to score 13.850. Abi Caig seized her second bronze of the finals with 13.550.

Espoirs
Vault
Amy Tinkler proved size isn’t everything on vault when she scored a huge 13.075 for her two vaults. Ellis O’Reilly was equally impressive scoring13.00 only just behind Tinkler, taking the silver. Erin Mclachlan again was very close taking the bronze with 12.975.

Bars

Chantelle Halford took her only medal of the day but a deserved gold on the bars with 12.250 after fulfilling all the requirements. April Maslen followed in silver (12.600)
And Georgina Clements performed a clean routine to her home crowd to take the bronze. (11.450)


Beam
Imogen Chan took one of her two title of the day on beam with some elegane work scoring 13.450. The all-around espoir champion, Rhyannon Jones took the silver with 13.300 and Amy Tinkler added to her medal collection taking the Bronze with 13.150.

Floor
Imogen Chan took her second title on this apparatus, again showing great expression and elegance posting a 13.250. Shannon Archer took the Silver medal after a crowd pleasing routine to the music of Swan Lake with13.050. Followed by Georgina Clements who took her second bronze medal (12.900)

Hannah Whelan Defends National Title

It was a good day for City of Liverpool Gymnastics at the Echo Arena. Hannah Whelan stormed easily to her second straight national title with an internationally respectable score of 56.350. She finished 3 points clear of silver medallist Danushia Francis. Fellow Liverpool gymnast Jenny Pinches took bronze despite falling on both bars and beam.

Whelan followed the Nastia Liukin/Bridget Sloan approach and led the way in BRIGHT pink. Her performances were both clean and stylish, setting her up well for a good all around placement in Tokyo later in the year. World Champ Beth Tweddle competed strong but not faultless performances on 2 events , missing her first handstand on bars and slightly overcooking her first floor landing, but plenty good enough for GB's leading lady.

Commonwealth gold medallist Imogen Cairns put out a good performance on 3 events, being the only big name other than Whelan to stay on the balance beam (!) and hitting her 2 vaults with ease.

Youngsters from the Commonwealth England team Jocelyn Hunt and Charlotte Lindsey also performed well finishing 4th and 5th respectively and made a bid to be included on team GB this October. Scotlands Amy Regan was her usual delightful self on floor.

If I had one concern for the GB girls it would definitely be the lack of consistency. 2 or 3 falls on beam and an under-par day from Tweddle or Whelan could spell disaster for their dreams of qualifying a full team to London 2012. Where's Martha Karolyi when you need her?!

In the Junior event it was more good news for Liverpool with Rebecca Tunney taking gold ahead of Gabrielle Jupp and Abi Caig.

There seems to be a relaxed atmosphere in the GB camp. Despite having the event finals tomorrow most of the gymnasts decamped to Pizza Express after the event!

Results - Senior --- Junior.

Quotes from the Senior & Junior medallists (from British Gymnastics)
Hannah Whelan -
“I’m really pleased with today’s performance, there is still a few harder skills I'm working on but they weren’t quite ready for today’s competition. The atmosphere was really great in the arena and everybody was cheering each other on. To be crowned British Champion again is a huge houour for me - especially in Liverpool with such great support.”

Danusia Francis -
“I was slightly annoyed more than anything when I fell on beam but I tried to shake it all off and get back from there so I’m really pleased. I’ve got a new floor routine which has quite a lot in it so I found it quite hard stamina wise but was happy to finish with the music!”

Jenni Pinches -
"My competition went well. I fell on bars and beam but the rest of my routines went quite well. The last two British Championships haven’t gone great for me due to injury and a bit of disaster on vault, so I’m pleased with today for various reasons. The podiums felt strange; it didn’t feel like the British but in a good way! It will definitely be great experience for the younger gymnasts tomorrow."

Rebecca Tunney-
‘I wasn’t expecting the win at all today so I’m really pleased. I’ve competed on podiums before and always find it such great experience and it was great having the support of my club here in its hometown. All the younger gymnasts from my club were able to watch and were cheering me on it was great. I'm looking forward to watching the senior competition this afternoon and will be cheering on my team mates Hannah, Beth and Jenni.’

Gabrielle Jupp-
‘I was really pleased with how I performed today but probably a bit disappointed with my bars, but I have the European Youth Olympic Festival coming up soon and I'm hoping to hit 54.000 again and put in another good performance. I’m looking forward to relaxing and watching all of the Seniors compete later.’

Abi Caig-
‘I'm really pleased with my performance today, especially that I managed to make bars final which is a big achievement for me. I've always wanted to compete on podiums and now I've done it, in front of my home crowd as well!’

Women's British Championships

The first step to qualifying to Tokyo takes place this weekend at Liverpool's Echo Arena. The bigger than ever British championships has come to the home of British champs Beth Tweddle & Hannah Whelan. For the first time the competition is taking place in a large arena and on a podium, giving even the youngest competitors a taste of what a large international competition would be like. BGTV will have a live stream of all the events.

Saturday - Junior & Senior All Around (and event final qualifying)
Sunday - Espoir, Junior & Senior Event Finals

Last year I attended the champs when they were held in Guildford. This year I'll have to watch from afar, but I hope for the gymnasts that this large venue fills up enough to have a great atmosphere.

Third Time Lucky - Pyeongchang 2018!

The 2018 Winter Olympics have been awarded to Pyeongchang, South Korea. The host city narrowly lost out to Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. Olympic Gold Medallist Yu-Na Kim, a public face of the bid said that she trained harder for the bid presentation in Durban today than she has done for many skating competitions!

Queen Yu-Na's Olympic Bid

Here is the video of Yu-Na Kim's speech in Durban earlier today, her English continues to improve and she has proved a valuable asset to her country's bid.

2018 - The Decision

The IOC will decide tomorrow the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics. The 3 Candidate Cities are Annecy (France), Munich (Germany) & Pyeongchang, South Korea. The three bidding cities will make their final presentations and the winning bid will be announced at 4 pm GMT.

2010 Olymic champion Yu-Na Kim has been one of the main faces of the Pyeongchang bid, facing off against 1988 Champion Katherina Witt, of the Munich Bid.

My sentimental bid would be for Pyeongchang as they have been narrowly beaten off in bids to host the 2010 and 2014 games, however- with the political situation in Korea still somewhat unstable, they may still not be the safe bet. Lets see what tomorrow brings.