QUICK VID: John Orozco shook off a mistake on the first day of competition on the high bar to nail this 15.750 routine in the first rotation of Winter Cup finals!
@Gymnastike
Orozco is proving himself invaluable for the US team as a strong all all-arounder who can also swing horse. 15.35 (6.8/8.95) for today’s PH
Orozco is young, consistent, strong on both Rings and Pommels. And he’s still being cautious with his legs. So far he looks like the U.S. #1 for Olympics.
Glen Ishino: 15.65 on pommel horse, HOLY MACKEREL!!! The breakdown was 6.7, 8.95. That’s the score of the meet in my opinion, significant enough to suddenly put him right in the Olympic mix. He also had a solid 14.4 on floor.
I hadn’t noticed at the time, but Daniel Keatings competed as 1st competitor on each apparatus at London Test Meet.
Did you have to do anything before the London Prepares event to try and overcome your nerves and prepare for the event?
After the disappointment at the World Championships in Tokyo we got some additional help from a psychologist who taught us some techniques to overcome nerves.
What did you think of your performance at the London Prepares event?
I was really pleased with my performance as I went clean on all apparatus, but more so because I was asked to do a specific job for the Team by performing first on every apparatus, to help settle the Team and hopefully get off to a good start. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds and is very uncommon in gymnastics, but it really shows how we have grown as a team since Tokyo as all of our focus was on the Team and the right result for the Team.
Did you and the rest of Team GB celebrate afterwards?
After the competition we were all physically and mentally drained, so we all celebrated by having an early night. I know it’s not rock star like, but we have an even bigger job to do now…
Daniel took more heat than anyone else in Tokyo after the disastrous 9th place team finish. So it was great to see him and Eddie take the podium at the Press Conference following their superb (near perfect) team performance in London. Both are fantastic media spokesmen, getting PLENTY of practice in the run-up to Olympics.
Eddie deflected my question deftly regarding whether his team could afford to carry an event specialist when team size drops to 5 men:
… Eddie van Hoof, the British Gymnastics technical director, said there was “a good chance” that the pommel specialist Louis Smith, who won a bronze medal at the Beijing Games, would have to cover other apparatus in the team competition. On Tuesday, he competed only in the pommel. “We will look at structure and look at Louis to cover other apparatus but also at our best medal chances. Louis is also good at parallel bars and, surprisingly, the rings as well,” said Van Hoof. …
Though the Vault champion did Dragalescu, there weren’t many in the competition. And surprisingly few Yurchenko vaults. (I heard that there had been in the past several of the top gymnasts injured on Yurchenko vault landings. Some coaches don’t like that family.)
Almost every Chinese gymnast in the meet did either Kasamatsu or Handspring vault. Or both if they were trying for Finals. It’s difficult to tell the difference as Chinese coaches teach the vault from “Tinsica” (handspring with 1 hand in advance of the other). … I don’t like it. A vault should be either Tsuk or Handspring — anything in-between should be significantly deducted.
Horizontal Bar was the “weakest” apparatus. Check out the winning routine.
I saw perhaps 90% of the HBar prelim routines, counting only 1 double somersault over the Bar. No Kolman. No Pegan. …
If FIG devalues some of the skills used by Zou Kai and most Chinese, they’ll need scramble to learn new elements. A Chinese official is responsible for Horizontal Bar on the MTC, however. Let’s wait and see what happens with the next Code.
Japan could beat China in a Team Final, 3-up 3-count. But I’d still call China the favourite to win the London Olympics.
Their biggest weakness is lack of a strong AA. Ono suggests that Zhang Chenglong could get on the podium if he improved his Rings. Strategic thinkers, I’ll bet China concedes the AA medals to others, and trys to win Team and as many apparatus medals as possible.
With the smaller team size it’s not likely we’ll see Zou Kai defend his Olympic Floor and H Bar titles … but never say never. He keeps surprising me.
The MAG competition was far stronger than the WAG. And deeper.
With the National team absent, they still had 90+ strong gymnasts competing. And I was told there are perhaps another 150 seniors training who did not qualify.
China is far deeper than Japan, by comparison. Deeper even than USA.
Their B and C teams could contend for Olympic team medals.
