That’s the consensus of commentaries online.
Aunt Joyce = CoverGirl Classic–Final Thoughts
Stoi – Easy, breezy, beautiful (?), Covergirl.
Tsuk the Pain – The Good, the Bad, and the All Around
Going for Gold – Covergirl – Results and Musings
Double Front – What We Learned from the CoverGirl Classic
Between The Olympics – Covergirl Classic Seniors Results, Videos and Analysis
One highlight is Alicia Sacramone. Barring injury, I see her on the American team for Worlds.
Click PLAY or watch her 3 apparatus on YouTube.
That Floor routine will be ready. No problem.
… Let’s project Team USA assuming Alicia as Captain. You need Bars.
I doubt Marta wants to put CoverGirl Champ Aly Raisman up on Bars. (VIDEO)
Mihai Brestyan:
“It is hard to find in just one gymnast all you need for Bruno Grandi”
The all-arounders with better Bars than Aly (dozens) may end up be selected over Aly for Tokyo. Especially if some Bar specialist (i.e. Anna Li) gets picked.
Despite the lack of artistry of many routines at CoverGirl, I’m still increasingly confident that USA will be Team favourites for Tokyo … and likely the favourites at Olympics 2012.
The competition – China, Russia, Romania – have far less depth. You can see what happened to Russia when they had injuries to 2 key gymnasts. In putting together the jigsaw puzzle of winning team, Marta has far more puzzle pieces to choose between.
Leave a comment if you feel I’m wrong.
13 comments ↓
I think you’re absolutely right about Alicia and Aly. As soon as Asac gets that floor in check Aly’s position on any future team becomes less necessary.
Assuming Becca and Gabby show at least two events at Nationals (and more at camp), then I would think the Worlds team would look something like this:
Asac, Becca, Wieber, Vega OR Memmel (for a steady AAer) seem pretty safe. Then there’s a tossup between Douglas, Maroney, Raisman, and Li.
I lean towards Memmel over Vega, because I’m biased (and Vega lost at CG to Memmel, who had less difficulty). I also think Gabby will get a spot, because she can hit an awesome bars set that will score very well with int’l judges & will likely be able to contribute on other events if necessary. Then Marta has to decide between adding another AAer OR choosing a specialist. She could go with Maroney for another vault score…but Raisman now has an Amanar (even ugly that thing scores better than a DTY internationally)…She could go for another Bars specialist, but what if someone gets hurt (and someone always gets hurt). How would Anna Li fill in the holes on the team? For now…Raisman gets that spot, but I would not be surprised to see her as an alternate this year.
Well I enjoyed it anyway
Maybe it was the fact that it was the first time I saw an American competition live and it was the buzz of staying up late to watch it
Um, no. It’s 2.5 months before Worlds, and the USA does not have their stuff together-yet. Nationals will be a much bigger indicator of what’s going on in USAG. If Nationals is as underwhelming as Covergirl was, the US program is in trouble as far as 2012 goes.
There are two stone lions at the entrance to the New York Public Library in Manhattan. One of them is named Patience and the other Fortitude. Ali Raisman reminds me of Patience. And Rebecca Bross, Fortitude.
If both make the Olympic Team and peak at the Games, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s proverb may very well be prophetic:
“Patience and fortitude conquer all things.”
This meet looked just like I thought it would, so, so , but exciting to see what potential lies ahead. The sad thing is that Kayla Ross is still a year away from her senior debut.
Team projects for Worlds (assuming things get better by Nationals): Bross, Weiber, ASac, Aly, Douglas, Memmel. Alternates: SJ (who’ll likely decline and say she’s “saving herself for 2012″), Vega, Maroney, & Larson if she doesn’t opt to abandon elite and head to UCLA in the next few months.
Bross & Weiber will be the all-arounders. Vaulters could include Aly, Douglas, Asac & the all-arounders, they all are capable of Amanars/huge vaults. Bars, Memmel, Weiber, Bross & Douglas can get it done while an opportunity to test Douglas on a major stage. Beam, Weiber, Bross, Aly and ASac. Floor, Weiber, Bross, Asac, maybe even Memmel.
Good projection. Thanks.
We should have some online betting on the results of Worlds and Olympics.
It’s difficult for me to see any way for the USA to lose in Tokyo. Russia or China just might have enough big guns in time for the 5-4-3 format Olympics.
If Shawn gets an alternate spot, I really hope she doesn’t decline. You never know when an alternate can wind up on the team.
“It’s difficult for me to see any way for the USA to lose in Tokyo. ”
Maybe you need one of Alicia’s little “come to Jesus” chats. Anything can happen, Rick.
Examiner says Douglas has an amanar that she’ll be showing at nationals.
If that’s true, the Gabby is so IN if she stays major injury free. Marta gets the best of both worlds with a VAULT and UB specialist. (I know Gabby’s an AAer but still).
this is not so much a prediction of the worlds team as it is a wish list of who i would just like to see make the team
Asac
Bross
Li
Memmel
Vega
Weiber
Alternate: Gaby or Macko
When Douglas hits 4 for 4 with those Bars, an Amanar, strong tumbling and solid beam at Nationals she stands to knock almost everyone down on the list with the exception of maybe Bross and Weiber. When this happens time to give a nod to Chow.
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