Thoughts on the US olympic team post-Classics

The long drawn-out, much hyped selection process of the US women's gymnastics team for the olympics is underway. Watching footage from Classics last night there were plenty of nervous wobbles (but that's no biggie at this stage, the first day of Nationals last year was a complete splat-fest and out of that came the best world theam the US has had in years) and a few surprises.

The first was the early end to Chellsie Memmel's olympic comeback quest. I, like many felt it was a bit harsh to dismiss her petition based on one wobbly beam routine (particularly as the reports are Memmel showed a decent all around performance in training the day before the event). Realistically she was a very long shot for the olympics, but others have petitioned to Nationals with only a single performance before (Rebecca Bross successfully petitioned in 2009, competing only a bar routine with no diamount after aggravating a leg injury). To deny a former world all around champion and olympian the chance to compete does seem like a harsh and unneccesary decision.

Speaking of Bross, There were no surprises really. She came out and competed virtually the same beam and bar routines she has competed her whole senior career, with the same trouble on her beam dismount (yes, I wish she'd change it too!). She's not out of the running for an olympic spot yet, but she's not at the top of the list either.

The pleasant surprise was that 2008 World All Around champion Nastia Liukin came back with one of the cleanest and most confident beam routines of the day. Yes, we have been talking about Nastia's possible comeback for years now, but to compete without wobbles after 3 years away from competition shows she is really on her game. If the rumours of her high-difficulty bar routine prove to be true, she will indeed be a very realistic team threat.

Like many, I'm playing the predicting the predicting game as to who will make the 5 member team.

It I were Martha Karolyi and I were thinking primarity team gold (plus ideally an AA gold and a few event medals), I would go for.

3 strong, consistent all arounders
   (Currently I'd pick 3 from Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle Douglas, Kyla Ross and Ali Raisman)
1 Vault and floor specialist
    (Most likely McKayla Maroney, Raisman has high floor and vault scores too but no 2nd vault)
1 Beam and Bar specialist
    (It could be an intra- gym battle between Bross and Liukin at this rate) 

Whichever way it goes there'll be some very talented gymnasts who stay home come July 27th.

Great Britain: European Team Champions!

For the first time ever Great Britain have won a team gold medal in major competition. It was a fun but tense experience covering the straight on battle between them and Russia. GB coped with a fall on floor at the start of the competition and a fall from Max Whitlock on high bar in the final straight.

GB looks set for not only a strong performance at London 2012 but a world class future.

2011 Jr European Team Champions
2011 Jr European All Around Gold and Silver
2011 Sr European Team Champions
2011 Unnofical All Around Winner: Dan Purvis

And event finals for all the senior gymnasts tomorrow and Jr gymnasts in EVERY event final

Great job lads!

Figure skating Grand Prix line-up announced.

The ISU has today announced the entries for this year's Grand Prix of Figure Skating.  You can view the full list of entries here.

American Johnny Weir is making his competitive return for the first time since Vancouver 2010.

Ladies
World Champion Carolina Kostner will compete at Cup of China and Trophee Bompard in Paris. She will face off against formwe world champion Miki Ando in both events and also and Russian talent Elizaveta Tuktamisheva in Paris. Mao Asada will skate at Cup of China and NHK trophy. Other final contenders include Adelina Sotnikova (Skate America, Rosetelecom cup), Kanako Murakami (Skate Canada, Rostelecom), Alena Leonova (Skate America, Rostelecom), Ashley Wagner (Skate America, Trophee Bompard) and World jr champ Julia Lipnitskaya (Cup of China, Trophee Bompard). Following disappointing events at the end of last season, Americans Mirai Nagasu and Alissa Czisny have only one assignment each.

Mens
Biggest news of the Men's announcement is that American Johnny Weir is on the list with 2 assignments (Rostelecom, Bompard) but Olympic champ Evan Lysacek is not. Patrick Chan will skate in Canada and Russia along with Nobunari Oda of Japan. Daisuke Takahashi will skate in China and Japan. Others to watch include Michael Brezina, Jeremy Abbott, Javier Fernandez, Arthur Gachinski and Adam Rippon.

Pairs
Savchenko & Szolkowy will skate in Canada and Paris, whilst main rivals Volososzar & Trankov will compete at Skate America and at Rostelecom Cup in Moscow. Kavaguti & Smirnov will skate in China and Paris. Cup of China will also include a face off between young talents Sui & Han, veterans Pang & Tong and surprise world bronze medallists Takahashi & Tran. There are a few new USA pairings testing the water as well.

Dance
As usual dance fans and critics will be comparing the scores of top two couples Davis & White (Skate America, NHK) and Virtue & Moir (Skate Canada, Rostelecom). The Shibutanis will join their training mates at Rostelecom and NHK. Others to watch are Pechalat & Bourzat (Cup of China, Trophee Bompard), Weaver & Poje (Skate America, Cup of China), Bobrova & Soloviev (Skate America, China) and new Canadian couple Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (Skate Canada, Trophee Bompard)

Next stop: US Classic

With less than 70 days to go now until the games, there seems to be important gymnastics competitions every weekend.

Next weekend the first real step on qualification for the US gymnasts gets underway. World AA Champion Jordyn Wieber leads the field (although she may choose to sit out an event or two as she has nothing more to prove at this point and the Classic is just a warm-up for Nationals in her case.

Others however, will have more to prove. World Vault champion McKayla Maroney will want to remind everyone she is not just a 1 trick pony, with spots on the olympic team slim, being top of the world on one apparatus may not be enough!

American Cup unnoficial champion Gabrielle Douglas just needs to prove she can be consistent, she has the difficulty and artistry that Martha Karolyi will want to put her on the team (so long as Gabby doesn't do anything silly!)

2 time world AA medallist Rebecca Bross and 2011 world team members Alexandra Raisman and Sabrina Vega all know a strong all-around performance will do wonders for their chances of a not-yet-assured olympic berth.

2008 olympians Chellsie Memmel, Bridget Sloan and .....at last..... Nastia Liukin will be hoping to compete with the young guns. Liukin is reportedly just competing beam here, although she will need to unveil an impressive bar routine by Visa's to be in with a realistic shot. UCLA grad and 2011 worlds alternate Anna Li will also be hoping to show she is a contender for the 'bars specialist' spot.

And then into the mix are new challengers Kyla Ross & Sarah Finnegan, amongst others.

The two contenders who are not in the line-up for classic are Alicia Sacramone and Shawn Johnson.  There's been plenty of press about Shawn this week and while her fans love her courage and will to carry on competing for an olympic dream, it seems the dream may be fading at just the wrong time. I still hope against hope we might see her at nationals and trials.

It's tough to know that if they were citizens of any other country in the world, most, if not all of these gymnasts would be guaranteed an olympic spot, but in the incredible talent pool of team-USA, there will be plenty of disappointed gymnasts by the end of the Olympic Trials process.

And in case all that wasn't enough, there's also Canadian Nationals (all disciplines) and MAG Euro's to look forward to this week!

Thoughts on the olympic team after the first trial

Beth Tweddle and new double-European bronze medallist Hannah Whelan sat out the first olympic trial today in Guildford. However, they are safe in the knowledge that their places on the team are assured if injuries don't get the better of them between now and then.

So, based on today's trial, who would the other 3 gymnasts on the team be?

Rebecca Tunney asserted herself as the top all-arounder with a strong performance to score. 56.55

I've said before GB ideally needs 3 all arounders and another gymnast to fill in where Beth won't compete. With Beth's knee injury it is not actually known whether she will compete floor exercise at the games.

The next all-arounders who have definitely thrown their names into the pot are Danusia Francis, Ruby Harrold and Imogen Cairns.

2008 olympian Marissa King also made a respectable return on vault, beam and floor (so exactly the events GB is looking to fill. Her beam score of 12.65 let her down somewhat, falling on a double arabian. King has a month until the second trial to add the rest of her elite difficulty back into the routine.

Nottingham's Becky Downie and Niamh Rippin both made strong cases on 2 events. Downie said on twitter she does have a double-twisting yurchenko in the works, although she didnt compete it today.

So, in terms of team prediction: I'm still not sure! Tunney and Francis have probably earned their spot (particularly if they stay consistent at the next trial) but the final place on the team is still wide open. Jennifer Pinches, Harrold, Downie, Rippin and King will have to fight it out at the British Champs in Liverpool!

Who would you pick? -please comment!

Liverpool take British team title again.

Without their two top gymnast, Beth Tweddle and Hannah Whelan, The City of Liverpool gymnastics club has defended their British Team title in Guildford.

Full Results: Gymdata

Team Result

1   - 162.200 - Liverpool

2   - 160.900 - The Academy

3   - 160.300 - Notts

4   - 159.400 - Heathrow A

5   - 151.700 - Horsham

6   - 148.000 - Park Wrekin A

7   - 145.850 - South Durham

8   - 144.950 - Dynamo

9   - 141.850 - Europa

10   - 141.050 - Heathrow B

11   - 139.300 - Pipers Vale

12   - 136.200 - Tolworth

13   - 130.550 - Park Wrekin B

14   - 126.900 - Wetherby

 Top senior all-arounders from today (Unnoficial- I might have missed someone!)

1. Rebecca Tunney 56.55

2. Danusia Francis 55.1

3. Ruby Harrold 54.8

4. Imogen Cairns 53.4

5. Jennifer Pinches 52.85

6. Nicole Hibbert 52.7 

7. Jocelyn Hunt 52.5

Event top scorers

Vault

1     14.850  -  Ruby Harrold (The Academy)

2     14.750  -  Rebecca Tunney (Liverpool)
3     14.600  -  Marissa King (Huntington)

4     14.500  -  Nicole Hibbert (Heathrow)

5     14.300  -  Niamh Rippin (Notts)

6     14.200  -  Imogen Cairns (The Academy)

7=   14.000  -  Danusia Francis (Heathrow)

7=   14.000  -  Elissa Downie (Notts)

9    13.900  -  Rebecca Downie (Notts)

Bars

1     14.700  -  Rebecca Tunney (Liverpool)

2     14.450  -  Rebecca Downie (Notts)

3     14.250  -  Ruby Harrold (The Academy)

4=   13.350  -  Danusia Francis (Heathrow)

4=   13.350  -  Elissa Downie (Notts)

6     13.200  -  Jocelyn Hunt (Horsham)

Beam

1     14.400  -  Rebecca Downie (Notts)

2     14.200  -  Danusia Francis (Heathrow)

3     13.700  -  Niamh Rippin (Notts)

4     13.650  -  Georgina Hockenhull (Park Wrekin)

5=   13.600  -  Abbie Caig (Liverpool)

5=   13.600  -  Rebecca Tunney (Liverpool)

7     13.500  -  Ruby Harrold (The Academy)

8     13.400  -  Jocelyn Hunt (Horsham)

Floor

1     13.550  -  Danusia Francis (Heathrow)

2     13.500  -  Rebecca Tunney (Liverpool)

3=   13.350  -  Jennifer Pinches (Liverpool)

3=   13.350  -  Imogen Cairns (The Academy)

5=   13.300  -  Elissa Downie (Notts)

5=   13.300  -  Niamh Rippin (Notts)

7     13.050  -  Imogen Chan (The Academy)

British Teams - Results and videos

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@Going4GoldBlog

The competition is taking place throughout the day in 3 sessions. Results are available on Gymdata and British gymnastics will be updating results on their youtube account. I'll try to update throughout the day as new results and videos of the main players come up.

After the second of 2 subdivisions, the team from Notts (pictured) lead by a large margin. Their tea, includes olympic contenders Becky Downie and Niamh Rippin

1   - 160.300 - Notts

2   - 151.700 - Horsham

3   - 148.000 - Park Wrekin A

4   - 145.850 - South Durham

5   - 141.850 - Europa

6   - 141.050 - Heathrow B

7   - 139.300 - Pipers Vale

8   - 136.200 - Tolworth

9   - 130.550 - Park Wrekin B

10   - 126.900 - Wetherby

Teams still to come are Wetherby, Dynamo, Liverpool, Heathrow A and The Academy.

Marissa King has made her individual effort with a strong 14.60 on vault and also 13.15 on floor and 12.65 balance beam. It will be vault that would get her on the team but a consistent beam routine would have done her a lot of favours.....

More to come, check back soon!