The best wrap-up report I’ve seen as yet was posted by Anne on Gymnastike:
Dragalescu did not crash his second vault this competition. He cranked a half-on, Front Layout with 2 1/2 twist. He just might be the greatest vaulter of all time. Him… or Scherbo.
For his first vault, Marian launched his trademark vault, handspring double front with a half twist out, aka the Dragulescu. This vault was competed by nearly all of the vault finalists, but performed the best by Dragulescu who earned 9.550 exectution. His second vault had the highest start value of the competition at a 7.2. There was a lot of hype surrounding Ri Se Gwang of North Korea, but you just never know what he is going to do. Today he threw 2 scary vaults, the first was a piked Dragulescu which he landed on his head. ouch.
… Crowd favorite Beth Tweddle was the first competitor up, and hit her insanely difficult floor set. To the delight of the crowd, her score held throughout the competition. …
For me, the highlight result of the entire World Gymnastics Championships was Lauren who trains at the Western Australia Institute of Sport in Perth, Australia.
I wrote this post during the preliminary competitition. But resisted posting it until after the Final:
=== The talented 17yr-old Danell qualified to Horizontal Bar Finals at World’s. Congratulations.
But will his Dad cause an incident on international TV?
Danell Leyva is coached by his father, Yin Alvarez (pictured) whose reactions to well-performed routines (heck, sometimes even so-so routines!) are well known in the USA, but they’ve now hit the Worlds stage. He almost sent nearby gymnasts scattering at the end of Levya’s routine, throwing his famous fist punches in the air and side skipping the entire length of the men’s high bar to greet Levya after a job well done. The drama wasn’t missed on the observant British crowd, and injected some genuine smiles into what was a long day. Imagine the reaction if Levya wins a medal in Sunday’s apparatus finals! …
You cannot tell me Zou Kai is better on High Bar than Uchimura. Never has an athlete been more over rewarded than Zou Kai on this apparatus. This is embarassing for our sport.
In fact, horizontal bar is the least interesting apparatus right now, men and women.
The judging regulations are to blame. Why doesn’t the FIG devalue Rybalko?
We need to go back to rewarding connected release moves. And taking more deduction for glaring form breaks on Kolman.
The newest code does seem to be rewarding great leaps.
Elisabetta Preziosa of Italy competes in the beam event during the Apparatus Finals on the sixth day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2009 at the at O2 Arena on October 18, 2009 in London, England.
Wang Guanyin edged out team mate Feng Zhe as China underlined their mastery on the parallel bars by completing a 1-2 finish at the world gymnastics championships on Sunday. …
With just two finals left, China had won five gold medals at the O2 Arena which will stage the gymnastics competition in the London 2012 Games.
Wang Guanyin of China in action in the men’s parallel bars final, during the World Gymnastics Championships at the O2 Arena in London, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.
LONDON (Reuters) – Marian Dragulescu grabbed gold on the vault to claim his second title at the world gymnastics championships on Sunday. …
As soon as Dragulescu nailed his second vault — an ambitious Yurchenko half-on with 1-1/2 twist2 1/2 twist — he punched the air in delight and held up his index fingers to the crowd as if to say, “That’s why I’m number one.”
Victory increased the 28-year-old’s haul of world titles to eight.
Deng Linlin of China competes in the balance beam event during the second day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2009 at O2 Arena on October 14, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Danell Leyva is coached by his father, Yin Alvarez (pictured) whose reactions to well-performed routines (heck, sometimes even so-so routines!) are well known in the USA, but they’ve now hit the Worlds stage. He almost sent nearby gymnasts scattering at the end of Levya’s routine, throwing his famous fist punches in the air and side skipping the entire length of the men’s high bar to greet Levya after a job well done. The drama wasn’t missed on the observant British crowd, and injected some genuine smiles into what was a long day. Imagine the reaction if Levya wins a medal in Sunday’s apparatus finals! …
