Year: 2016

Simone, Gabby, Laurie, Maddie and Aly

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Why I Hate the F Word

Miss Val:

This past year the UCLA Gymnastics team set a goal to win the National Championship. We finished 5th.

It doesn’t equate to failure. It means we didn’t perform well enough to earn enough points to take first place.

Facts: We finished higher than we’d been ranked all year. We hit 48 for 48 routines at the NCAA championships. We stuck more landings in those two meets than we did all season. We reached the pinnacle of Coach Wooden’s pyramid of Success – Competitive Greatness: “to be able to be your best when your best is needed.” …

Why I Hate the F Word

Miss Val

why Gabby will do the AA in Rio

Lauren Hopkins:

… Gabby was fifth at nationals last year and yet did the all-around – ahem, and won the world silver all-around medal – because she was a lock for a bars spot just like she is this year.

With Madison likely going up only on bars, it means the other four will all do vault, beam, and floor in qualifications, so Gabby getting a bars spot in addition to those three events automatically makes her an all-arounder. It’s literally that simple. …

You Asked, The Gymternet Answered

In a recent interview Kyle Shewfelt projected Simone, Gabby and Laurie in the AA. Aly to compete only 3 apparatus. That’s the most likely final decision … assuming all 4 are healthy and ready for prelims.

Russian gymnasts cleared for Rio

Russian artistic gymnasts – all clean, cleared to compete in Rio! Breaking news – injury alert

Click through to see some injury updates.

Rio 2016

(via papaliukin)

Chinese gamble in Rio

Most are projecting Team China to finish 2nd to the USA. But don’t bet the mortgage.

Spencer – Projected Olympic lineups:

Vault – (Shang) Tan, Mao, Wang
Bars – (Wang) Tan, Shang, Fan
Beam – (No one?) Wang, Fan, Shang
Floor – (Tan) Mao, Wang, Shang

The gigantic concern when looking at these Chinese lineups is that none of those fourth routines are usable replacements in the team final. The group set to go in TF is extremely talented and has very high scoring potential, but they all MUST be 100% healthy and deliver because there are exactly zero built-in backups. China is very much helped by the 5-3-3 format, but one more injury would send this whole house of cards crashing to the ground. This team would give Martha a thousand panic attacks. …

Balance Beam Situation – OLYMPIC PREVIEW — TEAM CHINA

SHANG