It's Back! Olympic Alphabet - F is for ...

The Flame.

The stadiums and medals and logos and mascots may change - but the olympic flame will always be a recognised symbol of sporting achievment. The Olympic flame is lit in acient olympia - travels worldwide as a symbol of the games and burns throughout the duration of the games.

This year the Youth Olympic flame was lit for the very first time. 'Lighting the way' for a new generation.



........F is also for Friends and Family

In 2006 Sarah Hughes attended the figure skating competition at the Torino Olympics as the reigning olympic champion. But she wasn't there to aim for a second gold medal- she was there to cheer on her younger sister Emily in her own olympic competition. Pretty good person to have on your side!
Friends and Family are the unsung heroes- usually hidden in the depth of the crowd. Most olympic athletes would agree they wouldn't be olympic athletes without their supporters at home.

Youth Olympic Games

UPDATE : As almost everyone expected - Russia's Viktoria Komova dominated the women's (or is that girls?) qualifying at the Youth Olympics in Singapore. Her impressive AA score of 61.000 would put her up at/near the top at the Senior worlds. Tan Sixin of China put in a respectable collection of scores to qualify 2nd into the all-around final.

The qualifying scores were -

1. Viktoria Komova (RUS) – 61.000
2. Sixin Tan (CHN) – 58.100
3. Carlotta Ferlito (ITA) – 55.750
4. Diana Bulimar (ROU) – 54.700
5. Tess Moonen (NED) – 54.250
6. Gomez Porras (GUA) – 54.050
7. Angela Donald (AUS) – 54.050
8. Madeline Gardiner (CAN) – 53.850
9. Jonna Adlerteg (SWE) – 53.600
10. Natsumi Sasada (JPN) – 53.550
11. Harumy Freitas (BRA) – 53.100
12. Alina Kravchenko (UKR) – 51.400
13. Elisa Haemmerle (AUT) – 51.350
14. Jessica Hogg (GBR) – 51.250
15. Dilnoza Abdusalimova (UZB) – 51.200
16. Kosthia Requena (VEN) – 50.900
17. Maria Vargas (ESP) – 50.650
18. Kyungjin Park (KOR) – 50.450

RussianCup2009 and Mistysakura have posted a number of videos from the qualification on Youtube

Yuya Kamoto of Japan won the Mens qualifying round, ahead of GB's Sam Oldham.

The Scores near the top were.

1. Yuya Kamoto JPN 87.200
2. Sam Oldham GBR 86.850
3. Oleg Stepko UKR 86.800
4. Xiaodong Zhu CHN 86.100
5. Danill Kazakhov RUS 85.400
6. Andrei Muntean ROU 83.800

Meanwhile here are some photos from the Ladies podium training

Diana Bulimar (Romania) & Viktoria Komova (Russia)
Angela Donald (Australia) & Jessica Hogg (Great Britain)

GBR vs ROM event finals

Sunday saw the event finals at the friendly event in Ipswich.

VT
1. Imogen Cairns 13.938
2. Jennifer Pinches 13.938
3. Raluca Haidu 13.638

UB
1. Becky Downie 14.175
2. Danusia Francis 14.100
3. Daniela Andrei 13.600



BB
1. Cerasela Patrascu 14.425
2. Danusia Francis 14.250
3. Diana Trenca 14.200

FX
1. Imogen Cairns 13.975
2. Daniela Andrei 13.925
3. Diana Trenca 13.875



Also as it seems to be the trend at the moment here are my picks for the US world team. This is based on the gymnasts needed for the team final and relies on a healthy and ready Bridget Sloan. If Bridget isn't ready then the US will need another bars worker such as Cassie Whitcome or Mackenzie Caquatto.

Team Members
Rebecca Bross
Mattie Larson
Alicia Sacramone
Kytra Hunter
Bridget Sloan

Team Final Events
VT - Larson, Sacramone, Hunter
UB - Bross, Larson, Sloan
BB- Bross, Sacramone, Sloan/Larson?
FX - Larson, Hunter, Bross/Sloan?

My picks for the AA would be Bross and Larson (but if Sloan is ready it might be cruel to not let her try and defend her title)

Finally - if anyone has been missing it- the Olympic Alphabet will continue from tomorrow!

Yep - still happy!

Congrats go out again to Rebecca Bross and Mattie Larson. 1-2 at the US championships after both completing 2 clean all around competitions in a row.

Full results at USA Gymnastics.
1. Rebecca Bross, Plano, Texas, 120.300
2. Mattie Larson, Los Angeles, Calif., 117.000
3. Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 115.650
4. Kytra Hunter, Frederick, Md., 114.350
5. Mackenzie Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 113.350
5. Chelsea Davis, Lakeway, Texas, 113.350
7. Samantha Shapiro, Los Angeles, Calif., 112.000
8. Vanessa Zamarripa, Shiloh, Ill., 111.400

New national team family photos


Also on the other side of the pond- Romania narrowly beat GB at the friendly meet in Iswich 165.400pts vs.163.100pts. The big stars (Tweddle and Isbasa) didn't make an appearance after all but Hannah Whelan (GB 55.65) won the all around ahead of Daniela Andrei (ROM 55.60) and Raluca Haidu (ROM 54.900).


And - even further East - the Youth Olympics have started with Gymnastics taking place later this week. It's all go!

Happy Maker

I woke up to some good news this morning.

My 2 favourite US gymnasts hit 4 for 4 last night and are 1-2 at the Visa Championships.


Rebecca Bross started out with her ususal power and better execution than normal on bars (although she couldn't quite stick her dismount for once) she made up for it later by making her beam dismount with room to spare and sticking her vault cold. Bross Finished the night comfortably in first with 60.400.

Mattie Larson reminded us she is well and truely back with a great 4 events. Her floor was beautiful with almost perfect landings on all the tumbling. I would love to see these 2 make the AA final at worlds. Larson finished the night with 58.200.


Alicia Sacramone finished first on vault with an average of 15.350 and second to Bross on beam with 14.850.

I've only been able to watch a few of the hilights on the Universal Sports website, but one person who did not have a great night was Bridget Sloan. Onle competing beam here didn't give her much room to make an impresstion, and she managed to make a poor one with a dismal 13.150. She's going to need some real fight in her to make the world team this year or secure a second olympic spot once the new juniors come up fighting.

Mind you - speaking of Juniors. Shock of the evening was that Jordyn Wieber fell 3 times on beam and appears to have injured her ankles. She may not compete in the finals. With her place on the national team assured and her age keeping her from Worlds, I hope she plays it safe and smart. Kyla Ross leads the junior event

View full results here.

Right - gymnastics break over - back to my vacation!

Meanwhile in the world of Gymnastics

Next week I will be taking a much needed holiday from work, revision and dissertation writing. From a blogging perspective though, I seem to have picked a bad week- it's all happening at the moment.

Youth Olympics kick off in Singapore. A full list of participants is available here. One update is that Jessica Hogg is replacing Laura Mitchell for team GB gymnastics as Mitchell has a fractured ankle.


Other British gymnasts will be facing off against Romania at a friendly event in Ipswich. I'm sad to be missing this one but can't complain as I did see both teams at the Euros recently. IG has reported that olympic floor champ Sandra Izbasa will be returning as part of the romanian team. Hopefully Beth will be there too, giving Izbasa a run for her money on floor.

The Romanian Team has been announced as
Sandra Izbasa, Ana Porgras, Diana Chelaru, Gabriele Dragoi, Ceresela Patrascu Diana Trenca, Dana Andrei
GB has announced their National Squad - but not yet which girls will compete in Ipswich


And the Americans will be fighting it out at the Visa Championships. I'm sure there'll be no shortage of blog reporting on that event, if classic was anything to go by.

The start list for seniors is :-
Georgia Dabritz, Vanessa Zamarippa, Rhaegan Courville, Kytra Hunter,
Lauren Beers, Becca Bross, Samantha Shapiro, Sophina deJesus,
Cassie Whitcomb, Alicia Sacramone, Bridgette Caquatto, Brandie Jay,
Kaitlyn Clark, Sophia Lee, Jaclyn McCartin, Bridget Sloan,
Amanda Jetter, Aly Raisman, Mackenzie Caquatto, Annette Miele,
Morgan Smith, Mattie Larson, Chelsea Davis.

Sam Shapiro is apparently still hoping to compete bars and beam after hyperextending both her knees on her vault at the classic. I haven't heard anything to say Bridget sloan won't be competing all around - she'll be facing stiff competition for her title though, Bross in particular won't want to see another gold slip away.....

A good week.

Last week was a good one for Team GB athletes, looking forward towards 2012.

At the European Championships in Barcelona, Team GB won a total of 19 medals (6 Gold, 7 Silver, 6 Bronze), besting all their previous performances at the event.


Hilights included Mo Farah thrashing the field to win both the 5000m and 10000m titles (apparently easily!) and current queen of GB athletics, Jessica Ennis winning the heptathlon gold. Watch the gold winnning performances here (BBC).

The event took place in the olympic stadium fromt he Barcelona olympics in 1992. These events will prove a useful benchmark from which the boffins at GB athletics can come up with a medal winning strategy ready for the real thing in London.

These championships of course did not include the big names from America or any of the African countries but with 2 years to go many, including Lord Sebastian Coe, believe we are well on our way to great performances at home.