time lapse – World Championships

See how the Ahoy area in Rotterdam fills before the all-round finals on Friday.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(Video: Frans Hoek)

… day 2 event finals wrap-up

The best summing-up of Day 2 Event Finals at Worlds is (once again) on Full Twist.

Chinese coaches getting “grilled” – WHERE are the girls event medals? (Via Ollie Williams.)

Universal Sports to refund for World Championships live feed glitch. The black screen of death. Respect Universal for that. Sooner or later they’ll get the technology working for 95%+ of paying customers.

BEAM Gold – Porgras VIDEO

It’s been a couple of hours since the competition finished. Of course the routines are appearing online.

Click PLAY or watch Ana’s GOLD on YouTube.

Who is DrMtzLizama from Mexico?

… Gracias.

More Beam final routines on Full Twist.

World Championships – highs and lows

The Aussies are over the moon with their first World Gymnastics Champion, Lauren Mitchell.

Couch Gymnast – ATTA GIRL!!!

… Others are still drying their tears.

Tomorrow we must all return to the real world, living to fight another day.

Worlds – Zonderland 2nd on H Bar

Oh, no.

What a shame.

The biggest story in the Netherlands … didn’t happen. Local boy made good only came 2nd when the final competitor, long Zhang from China, nudged him off the top of the podium.

1 ZHANG Chenglong CHN 16.166
2 ZONDERLAND Epke NED 16.033
3 HAMBUECHEN F. GER 15.966
4 BOY Philipp GER 15.833
5 LEYVA Danell USA 15.666
6 BROOKS C. USA 15.383
7 FENG Zhe CHN 15.166
8 UEMATSU Koji JPN 14.000

Zhang is terrific. But I felt Boy, who finished 4th, had the most impressive routine, if not the highest scoring.

UEMATSU was the second most impressive, perhaps. But he fell.

I’ve got to post ALL these routines. A thrilling finale to Worlds.

Gymnastics Examiner – Quick Hits

Epke Zonderland HITS pipe

The wild Dutchman becomes one of the most popular guys in Netherlands, and not only for his 6 pack.

He HIT some crazy routine, even more difficult than I expected. Medal for sure. VIDEO to come soon.

IG: 

Zonderland NED just hit the most amazing routine under the pressure that I think I have ever seen!!! 7.3/16.033 I don’t think anyone can outdo that, and if they do we better have the police help get the judges out of the arena.

… Leyva hit a great routine too, for 2nd place so far. His Dad jumped really high, this time.

Hambuchen, later in the line up, plays it safe. Did not try to connect releases, though it looked like he could have.

Worlds – Mitchell wins Floor

Australian WORLD CHAMPION Lauren Mitchell

Lauren Mitchell of Australia performs on the floor during the women's individual all-around final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam October 22, 2010. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (NETHERLANDS - Tags: SPORT GYMNASTICS)

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my LIVE notes:

Mustafina is Mustafina. Tough to beat anywhere. The World AA Champ sets the score to beat D 5.8 ; E : 8.966 ; 14.766 (had a 14.833 in qualifications)

Sandra Izbasa is so beautiful on Floor. I would love to see her win. … But she landed twice out of bounds, the first time with both feet over the line.

Staying in bounds is a huge factor in deciding what tumbling lines to use.

Afanasyeva (RUS) showed huge tumbling difficulty, but buckled landing double layout. Later fell on double pike. … Things have not gone well for team Russia in finals. They are looking far more vulnerable than they did before Worlds.

HEY. The Ferrari came up BIG in Finals. How fantastic. She hit her routine just about as well as possible. GREAT landings. Give the former world AA champion a medal!

Ferrari

Raisman has the most power of any tumbler at Worlds. She could compete double double instead of a double tuck – what’s with that easy line?

Aly Raisman

Still, it’s the second best routine of the day, so far …

Chelaru finishes with a good routine in the Romanian tradition.

May 02, 2010 - Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom - epa02140495 Diana Maria Chelaru of Romania competing in the Floor Exercise event during the Women's Senior Apparatus Final of the European Gymnastics Championships held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom, 02 May 2010.

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Double tuck? … That’s a weak line, I feel, for the World Championships Final …

Nice routine from Siu Lu.

Last up is Mitchell, wanting a medal after getting 4th on Beam. Gorgeous double Arabian. Nice. A couple of landing deductions. She’s a beautiful gymnast. Go Aussie.

SHE WINS IT.

Not a great Floor final. But better than I expected. They’ll be some discussion over the scores.

Gymnastics Examiner – Quick Hits

Worlds – Feng Zhe wins P Bars

1 FENG Zhe CHN 15.966
2 TENG Haibin CHN 15.616
3 UCHIMURA Kohei JPN 15.500

4 HAMBUECHEN F. GER 15.366
5 UEMATSU Koji JPN 15.233
6 KIERZKOWSKI A. POL 15.200
7 VALEIEV Ildar KAZ 15.183
8 PIASECKY Samuel SVK 15.166

Even though the Parallel Bar routines are like compulsories including:

3 Felge skills in series, Front toss 5/4, Double Pike dismount …

I still LOVE this apparatus in 2010 and this Final. In fact, it was the best final in Rotterdam, after Pommel.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18:  Zhe Feng of China competes in the parallel bars 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.  (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

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The only original skill was Piasecky (Kazakhstan) – Felge to 1-bar handstand. Awesome.

Wait. Piasecky (SVK) used giant to 1-bar. Almost as awesome. His Felge might have had the most amplitude of all.

China still has the routines to beat on this event, but the gap is much closer than in the past.

Fantastic gymnastics.

Congratulations to all of the P Bar finalists.

Gymnastics Examiner – Quick Hits

ticket sales World Gymnastics Championships

Everyone is surprised how well ticket sales have gone here in Rotterdam.

GymMEDIA decided to find out why spectators bought these expensive tickets.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

THE ALL AROUND reports that the Prince and Princess of Holland are here.