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