I wish I was there. But it sounds like the 2009 Women’s National Gymnastics Championships is … lacking.
Dwight Normile’s take on Day 1 Senior Women:
With such a limited field, there was a definite lack of drama and energy in the air compared with a year ago, when so much was at stake. Nastia Liukin’s return to competition was highly anticipated, but she did not compete on bars, even though she warmed up the event prior to the meet. She did perform on beam, much to the delight of the crowd. Liukin executed with great caution most of her Olympic routine (front aerial, flip-flop, layout; Onodi, sheep jump; side somi; switch ring leap) and even added a side aerial. She dismounted with a roundoff double twist and scored 14.45 (5.6 difficulty).
Rebecca Bross (WOGA)
Nastia’s father and coach, Valeri Liukin, told IG earlier this summer that his daughter would not compete at worlds unless she was ready. And although this routine was clearly not Nastia’s best, it showed enough progress to make London a possibility.
“To be able to compete here (at home) was so cool,” said Liukin, who later explained her one-event showing. “I’m just not ready to perform yet. It’s a step-by-step process.”
Hidden beneath the great expectations was the battle among Sloan, Rebecca Bross and Ivana Hong, each of whom had something to prove. For Sloan, the lone Olympian among the trio, a victory would mean her assumption of the top rank in the country. For Bross, a former junior champion who has been slowed by injuries, a win would confirm her successful jump to the senior ranks. And for Hong, the title would validate her post-Olympic move from Great American to WOGA, as well as a realization of her immense potential. …
read more on International Gymnast – Bross Leads Hong at U.S. Championships
Since the meet is in Texas, I’m surprised the meet is not drawing a bigger live audience.
2009 Visa Championships – Women Day 1 Meet Results (PDF)
11 comments ↓
You know who drew a big audience last night? Shawn Johnson. 10 million people on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Regardless of what one personally thinks of Shawn’s gymnastics she’s exceedingly popular and I think it’s stupid of USAG to just ignore her in an their effort to make Nastia an icon. I’m not saying they should be pushing Nastia, but trying to push Shawn out of the way so it’s only about Nastia is Stupid.
they’re not trying to push shawn out of the way dear. why in the world would usag focus on shawn, someone who has not yet returned to competiton or training in favor of nastia who is back in training and competiton esp. considering nastia is the current olympic AA champ. Its silly to think that they would mention shawn at all given that info. simple as that.
I agree with both of you. I agree this Nastia promotion when she looks so bad is biased but Shawn isn’t training so they can’t promote her.
I watched the championships, and was definitely dissapointed in the lack of energy and fight in the competitors. Elfi & tim both noted that Marta Karolyi has been concerned about her US gymnastics team peaking too early for nationals and then being overworked and burnt out by the time they get to either world’s or the olympics, which makes nationals seem more like one of the training camps or a rehearsal. It definitely takes the steam out of the competition though. The team seems already picked in many ways, and the athletes don’t even seem nervous about competing. I think that leads to less adrenaline and lackluster performances. Bridget Sloan was definitely not as sharp as she looked when she competed at the American Cup or the German or French meets.
p.s. The new code is supposed to be more about artistry, and supposedly that’s why they are hacking away and brutally scoring Kayla Williams, but to me she shows just as much artistry as Sam Peszek or Rebecca Bross. The gymnasts that showed artistry yesterday were Ivana Hong, Cassandra Whitcomb, and Rebecca Clark, but were not necessarily rewarded for their talent.
“Artistry” does not equal “lack of explosive power and balletic body type”…;-).
good point Josh. speaking of explosive power, Jana Bieger’s tumbling still impresses the hell out of me. I didn’t think she looked good at all yesterday in terms of her overall gymnastics aptitude and the look of her performances, but DAMN that girl can tumble big.
Shawn is taking herself out of the game, for now. USAG would like nothing better than to be able to tout the gold AND silver AA medalists from Beijing but since the silver medalist isn’t there, it makes no sense for them to play her up.
I hadn’t even heard Shawn was on Millionaire. I guess I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on at Nationals but since I couldn’t get the online coverage to work last night, I would’ve watched Shawn instead.
Sher, not sure which cable network you have, but Time Warner offers Universal Sports network as part of our basic cable package. I actually watched it on television. It was channel 226 (US) in my area. I’m sure they will replay both the men’s and women’s prelims.
Yeah, I don’t do cable. Every time I get pay tv I end up watching the same crap over and over again. Seems like half the channels are showing reruns of network shows.
I think there wasn’t much of an audience because the Dallas Cowboys had a pregame at home and it being Texas, guess where the people are going to be?
[...] Will a new star emerge? Will someone who was in the shadows of previous stars claim the spotlight? Or will the whole event be, well, uneventful? When it comes to the 2009 Visa National Championships and the state of USA gymnastics, one would [...]
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