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

Event Finalists!

What an upset! No event champions from last year will defent their titles!

VT STANDINGS
1. Maroney USA 15.083
2. Chusovitina GER 14.833
3. Pena DOM 14.466
4. Steingruber SUI 14.299
5. Barbosa BRA 14.266
6. Moreno MEX 14.249
7. Nabiyeva RUS 14.224
8. Phan VIE 14.216
R1. Jo KOR 14.149

UB STANDINGS
1. Komova RUS 15.733
2. Dufournet 15.066
3. Tsurumi JPN 14.933
4. Huang CHN 14.900
5. Nabiyeva RUS 14.883
6. Douglas USA 14.866
7. Wieber USA 14.800
8. Yao CHN 14.566

R1. Tanaka JPN 14.466

BB STANDINGS
1. Komova 15.400
2. Sui 15.400
3. Wieber USA 15.233
4. Yao CHN 15.066
5. Ponor ROM 15.000
6. Raisman USA 14.933
7. Racea ROM 14.733
8. Inshina RUS 14.566
R1. Millousi GRE 14.450
R2. Whelan GBR 14.4

FX STANDINGS
1. Raisman USA 14.833
2. Sui CHN 14.600
3. Wieber USA 14.566
4. Yao CHN 14.533
5. Komova RUS 14.491
6. Ferrari 14.466
7. Tweddle 14.433
8. Bulimar 14.400
R1.  Mitchell AUS 14.391

Liukin targets London (officially!)

After 3 years of yes...no...maybe... 2008 Olympic all around champion Nastia Liukin has announced to the world that she is back in the gym and training full time for London 2012. Recent tweets from Liukin said she was training but didn't specify the goal. Most of us felt the clock was ticking down to London too quickly.

Liukin is back training under her father Valerei - who is once again building her a 'crazy' bar routine (Universal Sports). If Liukin makes it onto the team for London it will likely be for this apparatus. She has stated she is not aiming for the all around (a wise move given the mighty difficulty shown by Komova and Wieber today!) but is focussing on her two better events - Uneven bars and balance beam.

Nastia will also be tweeting from the FIG's official account for the women's all around final this week- keeping an eye in her future competitors perhaps....

Despite the USA's strong showing under difficult circumstances today, A top Liukin bar score would be much welcomed by Martha Karolyi!

The Body Issue

Day 1 of worlds is over and sadly we already have one torn achilles and one ACL injury to count. Both the Alicia Sacramone (USA) and Mariya Livchikova (Ukraine) were injured in training, puttung worlds out the window and their olympic chances at risk (Ukraine have a big task ahead of them just to qualify a team).

In an unusual turn of events, Sacramone is also getting publicity for her body for another reason. The veteran of the USA team posed naked for the ESPN body issue. Sacramone said- we only compete in 25% clothing anyway so it wasn't too hard losing the rest of it! Wishing you a fast recovery Alicia- the gymnastics world is more interesting with you in it!

Romania's Day

The FIG youtube channel is starting to post videos from today's qualification. Here are some of the highlights and hiccups from Romania's qualification.



The general consensus from bloggers and journalists was that whilst not diasterous they were somewhat underwhelming. Reigning beam champion Porgras may well be kept out of her beam finals by the stumble on her leap. A sign of how quickly things can slip away in gymnastics.

Scores after day 1 of qualifying:

Team
1.Romania 227.228
2.Australia 221.846
3.Canada 215.328
4.The Netherlands 212.828

All Around
1.Raluca Haidu (ROU) 56.465
2.Lauren Mitchell (AUS) 56.324
3.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 55.465
4.Ana Porgras (ROU) 54.832
5.Emily Little (AUS) 54.732
6.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 54.731
7.Peng Peng Lee (CAN) 54.632
8.Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) 53.416

Vault

1.Yamilet Peña (DOM) 14.466
2.Alexa Moreno (MEX) 14.249
3.Thian Phan (VIE) 14.216
4.Valeria Maksyuta (ISR) 14.016

Bars
1.Larrissa Miller (AUS) 14.300
2.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 14.166
3.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 13.966
4.Raluca Haidu (ROU) 13.833
5.Peng Peng Lee (CAN) 13.800

Beam
1.Catalina Ponor (ROU) 15.000
2.Amelia Racea (ROU) 14.733
3.Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) 14.450
4.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 14.300

Floor
1.Diana Bulimar (ROU) 14.400
2.Lauren Mitchell (AUS) 14.391
3.Diana Chelaru (ROU) 14.233
4.Elsa García (MEX) 13.966
5.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 13.933

USA's chances take a beating.

In a reminder of the 2003 worlds or the 2008 olympics. The USA gymnastics team has once again found itself struck by last minute injuries. Both Alicia Sacramone and Ali Raisman injured their ankles in this morning's training session. Raisman's injury seems the less serious of the two but Sacramone's injury seems to put her competition status in question.

"She is currently being evaluated and we will provide an update on her condition when we know more information," said Leslie King, vice president of media at USA Gymnastics. Source International Gymnast

The question now is whether to keep the also injured Anna Li on the team in place of Sacramone (Li, a bar specialist is definitely not a replacement for sacramone whose strengths are vault, beam and floor), or whether non-travelling alternate Shawn Johnson can be flown out in time to adjust and get at least one training session in before USA's qualification on Saturday. Sentimentally I would love Shawn to be there, but it's a big ask to get her to overcome jetlag and perform well.

With the USA down Sacramone's high vault score, the consistent looking China could now be favourites to take the team title.

UPDATE - it looks as if the US has chosen neither option, using their 5 remaining healthy gymnasts (Vega, Douglas, Raisman, Maroney & Wieber) on all apparatus in qualification. Sacramone is now out with an achilles injury and the pressure is on this inexperienced team to carry the high expectations of a nation. Only Raisman has competed at worlds before.

I think team gold may now be a step too far. Their new goal may be an all around medal for Wieber, vault for Maroney and perhaps a floor medal for Raisman.

Almost Time.

I've been keeping fairly quiet this week as Gym Examiner, Gymnastics Coaching and The Couch Gymnast have been providing great live coverage direct from the venue in Tokyo. Anything I write would be regurgitated.

The ladies have completed podium training and the general consensus is that USA and China look the most competition ready (but never count Russia & Romania out!) The men's podium training takes place today and tomorrow, followed by 4 days of all-important olympic qualification.

If you haven't already - visit Full Twist for the full and detailed competition schedule.
Fri 7th (WAG) including Romania, Australia, Canada
Sat 8th (WAG) including China, USA, Russia, GB & Japan
Sun 9th (MAG) including USA, Japan, Germany
Mon 10th (MAG) including GB, France, China, Korea, Russia.
In all cases some of the 'favourite' countries are late in the draw meaning nothing can be known for sure until all teams have competed

I'll be back from Friday with my own coverage and analysis....
(Image - Anna Dementyeva - FIG facebook page)

Team North America wins Japan Open

Full results and video coverage will likely be on the way shortly, but the results according to the FSU forum are-

Interesting bit of news though is that last minute replacement Elizaveta Tuktamisheva took the women's competition by storm with two triple-triples and a score of 118.59. Japan lost out mainly due to Miki Ando's disaster on the ice and score of just 88.11, ouch!