Aliya's Injury Update

Aliya has torn her Mencius.This isn't super serious because Bridget Sloan tore her Meniscus in March of 2008 and still made the Olympic team, so Aliya still has plenty of time to get healthy and regain her composure. Here is her vault, which is still great by the way!!!

So SAD! I hope her a speedy recovery and that she can come back stronger than ever!

All Around Results

These results honestly don't matter to me, everybody can just move down one place. Aliya Mustafina is the true European all around Champion! But here they are, and the scores are LOW!

1	DEMENTYEVA Anna	RUS	13.600	14.250	15.150	14.475	57.475
2	SEITZ Elisabeth	GER	14.625	14.725	13.625	13.725	56.700
3	RACEA Elena Amelia	ROU	14.400	13.825	14.550	13.825	56.600
4	CHELARU Diana Maria	ROU	14.350	13.450	13.975	14.550	56.325
5	FERLITO Carlotta	ITA	13.875	13.175	14.875	13.900	55.825
6	FERRARI Vanessa	ITA	13.875	13.900	13.750	13.950	55.475
7	VAN GERNER Celine	NED	13.525	14.375	13.750	13.800	55.450
8	KAESLIN Ariella	SUI	14.750	13.625	14.150	12.850	55.375
9	STEINGRUBER Giulia	SUI	15.375	13.325	12.875	13.450	55.025
10	BREVET Marine	FRA	13.525	13.350	14.025	13.775	54.675
11	PIHAN-KULESZA Marta	POL	13.575	13.025	14.225	13.700	54.525
12	CROKET Julie	BEL	14.000	13.050	13.075	14.175	54.300
13	WHELAN Hannah	GBR	13.525	12.850	13.950	13.850	54.175
14	VANWALLEGHEM Aagje	BEL	13.775	13.150	13.150	13.500	53.575
15	MILLOUSI Vasiliki	GRE	12.700	13.725	13.975	13.125	53.525
16	FRANCIS Danusia	GBR	13.500	13.125	13.400	13.350	53.375
17	BOCZOGO Dorina	HUN	13.500	13.075	13.175	12.850	52.600
18	BISMPIKOU Stefani	GRE	13.200	12.925	13.575	12.525	52.225
19	SIKULOVA Jana	CZE	13.650	13.750	11.975	12.700	52.075
20	WAGNER Veronica	SWE	13.600	11.850	13.525	12.775	51.750
21	MOSHAGE Yvette	NED	13.275	13.000	12.475	12.775	51.525
22	MAKSIUTA Valeriia	ISR	13.925	11.950	11.575	12.125	49.575
23	ADLERTEG Jonna	SWE	13.200	13.350	10.275	12.675	49.500
24	MUSTAFINA Aliya	RUS	15.375				15.375

I will start to post videos soon!

Swiss Camp Vidoes

You can see videos of the Swiss gymnasts at http://www.youtube.com/user/maddie1976ch

Includes all of the routines from most of the Swiss gymnasts!



European Championship Results

06 Apr 2011, Posted by admin in Uncategorized, 2 Comments.

Europeans Qualifications wrap-up

The results of the women’s qualification competition show some very exciting finishes.

The All Around

Aliya Mustafina’s near 3 point lead over her nearest competitor, Anna Dementyeva only confirms most gym fans thoughts, that this title is hers to lose.  That said, she would probably have to faceplant on at least three apparatus for that to even happen! What is perhaps far more surprising is the entry of Diana Chelaru, who had a good clean all around competition in third place.  I, for one had expected to see Amelia Racea among the top AA contenders after qualifications and, of course Ana Porgras.  But the two event scratch from Porgras and the two-event falls from Amelia Racea put paid to that.

Diana Chelaru, the Romanian who has blossomed most since her appearance at the 2009 European Championships in Milan has been known for her ability to hit floor and vault on a good day.  She is een known for strong beam sets and passable bars.  It just hasn’t been often we have seen it all happen at once.  Congratulations to her for such a fine result.

Another awesome result is Elisabeth Seitz in 4th place after qualifications.  She is truly one of the most improved and exciting gymnasts out there over the last year and I think she has become a fan favorite because of this. Her DTY has sealed the deal on her being able to make herself known in AA competitions. Another very welcome presence is the exciting Belgian gymnast Julie Croket.  TCG has been following Julie Croket for a number of year due to her energetic and charismatic gymnastics.  It is wonderful to see such a terrific result after she had such a difficult time at Worlds last year.  Carlotta Ferlito has proved her mettle once again by qualifying sixth into the AA competition in her first year out as a senior.  She just pipped her team mate and senior, Vanessa Ferrari.  The Italians did very well in this meet, with four of their girls making it into the top 24.  Of the British, Hannah Whelan and Danusia Francis triumphed.  Jenni Pinches had some stumbles, while Francis used her excellent from and performance quality to take the AA spot over her team mate.

Here is the list of qualifiers.  Sadly, new German star Nadine Jarosch is only second reserve for AA, following Gabriel Janik of Poland.

1 576 MUSTAFINA Aliya RUS 59.750 (1)

2 578 DEMENTYEVA Anna RUS 56.900 (2)

3 574 CHELARU Diana Maria ROU 56.350 (3)

4 536 SEITZ Elisabeth GER 55.850 (4)

5 504 CROKET Julie BEL 55.625 (5)

6 554 FERLITO Carlotta ITA 55.375 (7)

7 553 FERRARI Vanessa ITA 55.225 (8)

8 584 KAESLIN Ariella SUI 55.200 (9)

9 585 STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI 54.875 (10)

10 563 VAN GERNER Celine NED 54.675 (11)

11 530 WHELAN Hannah GBR 54.400 (12)

12 503 VANWALLEGHEM Aagje BEL 54.175 (13)

13 537 MILLOUSI Vasiliki GRE 53.925 (14)

14 567 PIHAN­KULESZA Marta POL 53.700 (15)

15 528 FRANCIS Danusia GBR 53.250 (17)

16 588 ADLERTEG Jonna SWE 53.175 (18)

17 525 BREVET Marine FRA 52.725 (20)

18 589 WAGNER Veronica SWE 52.675 (22)

19 543 BOCZOGO Dorina HUN 52.550 (23)

20 513 SIKULOVA Jana CZE 52.475 (24)

21 538 BISMPIKOU Stefani GRE 52.225 (25)

22 575 RACEA Elena Amelia ROU 52.000 (26)

23 561 MOSHAGE Yvette NED 51.925 (27)

24 549 MAKSIUTA Valeriia ISR 51.700 (28)

Event finals

Although she reigned supreme in the All around as expected, Mustafina wasn’t able to perform any near-sweeps of the event finals like she did in Paris last week.  That, of course, didn’t stop her placing in the top three in every single event! The leaders of the event qualifications, however, were beautifully spread across the board.  Swiss gymnast Giulia Steingruber topped vault, followed by Sandra Izbasa.  Izbasa’s upgrades seem to have done the trick for her, rounding her out as Romania’s leg gymnast.  She performed a DTY and a Podkapeyeva.  Aliya Mustafina followed in third with only a DTY.  Clearly her aim was AA.

She did, however, lead Elizabeth Tweddle in the bars finals by .50.  According to Blythe at The Gymnastics Examiner, the World Champion pulled out  a”Stalder full to immediate toe Khorkina II, inbar blind to Jager pike, inbar full to Tkatchev to Pak to half turn to toe shoot ot high, toe full to immediate 1.5 twisting double back with a small step”.    Tweddle, however, made a mistake at the beginning, and should roar back to be truly competitive in finals. She is being chased by Tatiana Nabieva and Elisabeth Seitz. Kim Bui, as per my wishlist is in top five so far on this event.

Mustafina also led beam over her countrywoman Anna Dementyeva, followed by Italian upstart, Carlotta Ferlito.  While Ana Porgras will be much missed in this final, this is an interesting line up, which includes the lovely Preziosa and  the beam star Vasilliki Milousi.  I am not sure anyone can beat Mustafina if she hits, however.

On floor Mustafina clearly made a showing but was bookended in second place by the two Romanians, Izbasa and Chelaru.

There have not been too many upsets in the event finals, bar the missing Porgras.  Another surprise, and one remarked on by Blythe during her live-blog was Amelia Racea’s very low beam score, making her miss finals.  I am looking forward to seeing video of this routine.  Chusovitina’s 5th place finish on vault is also something of a surprise.

Credit goes to The Couch Gymnast!

Link to The Couch Gymnast-

http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/

I will give my own opinions tomorrow.

European Championship Videos

Here is a link to European videos-
http://www.youtube.com/user/Joshly99

And here is a video of Aliya Mustafina on beam.

Beam



European Podium Training Videos

Aliya Mustafina- She is using her tumbling passes from last year, but still has that Spanish music from the American Cup. This routine is so easy for her. Maybe she will do her more difficult tumbles during the actual competition. She has added in a beautiful switch ring leap and attempted a quad turn or Gomez. Once again this is a very easy routine for her and you can tell because she does it beautifully. Her only error was that she opened up to early on her double arabian and took two steps backwards.

Beth Tweddle- O M G! She is looking like quite the mess. She over rotates her double arabian, but lands in a squat and takes three steps forward and goes completely of the floor area. She had the same problem with her double arabian piked, but did controll it and stayed in bounds. Her dance is O.K. I guess, but it's nothing amazing. But her double turn at horizontal is an insult to dancing in gymnastics. And her final pass was a 2.5 punch front lay out and once again steps out of bounds. A very poor routine from our reining European Champion. Will she even make the floor finals???

Claudia Menendez- This girl is the WHOLE package on floor. She is a super powerful tumbler, but has some really nice dance. She may not have the the best split, but she does do a Gomez and makes it  completely round. She opens with a big and clean piked full- in. And then she does a 1.5 to a 2.5 punch front! Then she goes into her dance series. Then she basically walks into a triple full. Will we ever see a 3.5 from her? She is totally capable of it. And to finish, she does a full- in with a lift up spot from her coach. This is a huge routine. Will she be a surprise medalist on floor? I hope so!

Here is a link to amc81's youtube page for the videos. I will talk about more routines as they are posted.

amc81-
http://www.youtube.com/user/amc81

Uneven Bars Videos

Aliya Mustafina

Beth Tweddle

Natalia Kononenko

Elisabeth Seitz

Tatiana Nabieva

Before

Today

Uneven Bars Prediction

There are so many great uneven bar workers in Europe right now, so it's really going to come down to the final to see who medals. But once again, if this one lady shows all of her difficulty and doesn't make a major error, the title is hers. And she is once again Aliya Mustafina. She has been training a 7.1 routine, and this is the second highest D score to He Kexin in this quadrennium. And it's no secret either, we have seen her train it. Now comes the matter of the silver and bronze medals. Really any of the top 8 finalists could possibly win. And even gymnasts that don't qualify to the finals could have medaled if not for mistakes in the qualifying round. And here are some gymnasts that could win a medal. Elisabeth Seitz of Germany, Beth Tweddle of Great Britain, Natalia Kononenko of the Ukraine, and Tatiana Nabieva of Russia. Elisabeth Seitz has looked great this year, and she has scored her highest international score which is 15.0. Beth Tweddle has looked shaky on bars this year so far. Her D score has gone down since last year and she doesn't seem as physically fit. We haven't seen Natalia Kononenko since last years Europeans when she won the bronze on bars. Before her injury, she had a 6.4 start value, but she said that she was upgrading to a 6.8 routine. And finally, Tatiana Nabieva. Her level of difficulty has down quite a lot since last year, and she always changes her routine around so you never now what she will perform. But she is still an exciting performer and you can expect a difficult routine from her, always!

And my prediction is-
1. Aliya Mustafina
2. Beth Tweddle
3. Elisabeth Seitz or Natalia Kononenko

More Vault

Sandra Izbasa

Diana Chelaru

Mariya Livchikova



Renata Toth

European Predictions: Vault

There are many women that can challenge for a medal on this event. But the title will definitely go to one woman if she hits, and she is Aliya Mustafina. It's hers to lose. She has the greatest difficulty by far and you can always count on her to hit. In the vault final at last years worlds, her signature vault, which is a half- on McIntosh, was downgraded to a piked position and from a 6.1 to a 5.7. But when she performed her vault at the Bercy World Cup this year, it was much more open and only a judge on coke would credit it as piked. And her Amanar may not be the most graceful, but she gets lovely lift and always has a controlled landing. So in my book, she's the winner unless something dramatic happens. And in my opinion, there are six other gymnasts that could possibly medal, and the are Tatiana Nabieva of Russia, Sandra Izbasa of Romania, Diana Chelaru of Romania, Oksana Chusovitina of Germany, Mariya Livchikova of the Ukraine, and Claudia Mendez of Spain. Tatiana Nabieva of course has terrible form, but I love her to bits and she has the difficulty. We haven't seen much of Sandra's second vault, but I know it's a lay out Podkopayeva. And her first vault will either be a 1.5 Yurchenko or a double. Diana Chelaru is a good vaulter but doesn't have immense difficulty, but maybe she will throw her Amanar that she has been supposedly training. And we all know that Oksana is a huge vaulter, but I personally want to see her Rudi again! Mariya Livchikova has been on the radar since last year. She is the best vaulter on the Ukrainian team, but can be inconsistant on her double twisting Yurchenko. And she has only a pike front half as a second vault, so she loses difficulty from that. And then there is rooky Claudia Mendez. She has a nice DTY, but her second vault is only a half- on front tuck off, so she doesn't have high difficulty on here second vault. And the eighth spot can go to many people, such a Valeriya Maksuta of Israel, Nadine Yarosch of Germany, or even Renata Toth of Hungary. But we will just have to see how this all plays out!

And my prediction is-
1. Aliya Mustafina
2. Oksana Chusovitina
3. Tatiana Nabieva

Aliya Mustafina

Oksana Chusovitina

Tatiana Nabieva



Junior Russian Championships

Even though Anastasia Grishina had some mistakes in the final, she won the all around title over Anastasia Sidorova who had an outstanding performance. The qualifications and finals added up the total score, and Anastasia Grishina had a better competition on the first day and this is why she won. And Anna Rodionova won the bronze over Kristina Sidorova (no relation to Anastasia Sidorova). And Evgenia Shelgunova won the youth section of the championships. Second was Yulia Chemaryova and the bronze went to Alina Martynova. Fourth and fifth went to Yekaterina Baturina and Anastasia Belova. Below is is link to full results and videos. And we can thank Anastasia Grishina's mother for all the videos!

Results-
http://www.internationalgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2447:-grishina-grabs-russian-junior-championship&catid=5:competition-reports&Itemid=164

Videos-
http://www.youtube.com/user/grishinagan

Doha

This years Doha World Cup wasn't very exciting. There is only one video that I would like to show you, and it is of Peng Peng lee of Canada on beam. She has two falls, but it is in my opinion the most difficult and unique routine of the whole entire meet.

I did want to do an entire post of this competition, but the blog was being kind of weird and wouldn't let me.