Author: Rick Mc

Nobody but me seems to be griping about the American loss at the World Gymnastics Championships. The girls, including team leader Alicia, are taking it in stride.

Sacramone, who is competing in her fourth World Championships, said, “The silver feels good. Obviously we wanted gold – we always do – but the girls did a really good job. We had a little mistake here and there but I was happy we pulled it together. We went out there and did the best we could. …

…
“This was a very dramatic competition,” said Martha Karolyi, the women’s national team coordinator. “I think the girls did a good job. They were not quite as solid on the beam as they were the other day, but they stayed on. We hit bars and the vault was excellent so I feel good except we had a mistake on floor and we could not make up for that.” …

USAG via email

A touching highlight edit by FIG is already posted.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… it was an honour to have cheered these amazing young women.

Russia had 3 falls. China 3 falls. USA 1 fall.

So how did Russia win? … It seemed impossible watching the meet that Russia could give up 2 pts in falls to the States. And still win.

Answer = FLOOR. … With the fall and tumbling connection miss of Mattie Larson, team USA gave up 2.333 on Floor.

Brigid posted this photo of Mustafina.

Do not think for a minute you will take my gold!!!

Bross is a tough competitor. But Mustafina is even tougher. … What kind of an all-around final are we going to see!

… I’m still not convinced that the USA lost. There are far too many phone calls from Nellie Kim to apparatus Head Judges for my liking. Is she intervening in evaluation?

I don’t like it. Slow motion review can reveal anything you want it to reveal.

I’ll await some video analysis before I concede that Russia did win the World Championships 2010.

… On the other hand, I don’t see how they can lose Worlds in 2011. Russia has far more talent than any other team today.

related:

• Andy Thornton – Crazy Women’s Team Final Ends In Historic Moment

• Blythe Lawrence – Rotterdam report: Russian women take 2010 World team title

Fantastic Gymnastics meet. Far more falls than I expected.

Somehow RUSSIA wins their first World Championships.

Russia 175.397
USA 175.196
China 174.781

In my opinion the USA was easily the best team tonight. … I need to see a detailed break down of the scores.

Show time.

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End of rotation #1 the top 4 teams all HIT. China looked quite good on Vault. (We cannot compare the team scores as the Vault number is so much higher than any other apparatus.)

… the bad news. Two of the Aussie girls fell on Beam. Laurne Mitchell … sob.

rotation 2 – two of the Chinese make mistakes on Bar warm-up, including He Kexin. They won’t miss in the meet.

Gak. Jiang misses Pak in the competition. China drops to 3rd, at this point. They can’t afford to count a fall.

Double Gak. Gymnast #2 for China, Huang, falls on kip after Pak. I can’t believe this. (Long conference with Nellie Kim and judges reviewing the video. )

As Romania hit bars, they just might move into the top 3. The Romanian Beam is so solid. Confident.

He Kexin HIT and STICK. … I held my breath during the Pak.

USA on Beam. Raisman solid. Aggressive. But nearly fell. Strong Patterson dismount.

Dementeyva FALLS on Yurchenko. Yikes.

Alicia hits front pike on Beam mount. Fantastic.  Redemption. … But later nearly falls on front pike. Whew.

Killer Bar routine from Mustafina. STICK. Second highest score after He Kexin. … Unfortunately it’s OVER for

Double Yikes. The ticking time bomb, Nabieva, fell twice on Bars. … Can Russia afford to keep her on the A team? … I swear Rodionenko and Alexandrov are getting greyer by the day.

Awesome. Mattie Larson HITS double layout after falling on it in warm-up. … Blast. Then missed the punch out of the backward layout 2 ½ … AND fell on double pike dismount. Disaster.

All of the top 3 teams have had falls now. Russia 3. China 2. USA 1. … If I haven’t lost count. … Those who HATE the sudden victory format are going to go on a rampage.

I still love it.

Raisman has so much POWER tumbling. It’s scary. HITS. … I don’t see how the USA can lose this thing now.

… I’ll QUIT this terribly erratic LIVE blogging and just watch the Finals …

I saw Team Romania shopping in the mall yesterday. And was struck at how happy they were, as a group.

Brigid has seen much more of them than I:

… The Romanians were clap happy tonight! They have been wonderfully cheery in training all around, and I see nothing but jokes and warmth between the coaches and the girls.

Sandra was in top clown form. She mucked up a pass, landing awkwardly and decided to flop sideways onto the ground in this sort of melodramatic swoon and lie there, playing dead for a minute. Everyone cracked up. Ceresela was in stitches and even Octavian and Lili were laughing. …

That’s from a very entertaining and lengthy update on Couch Gymnast – PRE-TEAM TRAINING NOTES (OR ESSAY)

The beautiful Sandra Izbasa.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js

Click PLAY or watch Dana Kunze gainer 172ft (52.4m).

That was later beaten. The current record is 53.9m (177 ft) by Oliver Favre.

Terminal velocity is achieved from around 1,880ft (573m) so there’s room to UP the record, if you’ve got the guts for that impact.

Thanks Mike.

Excitement is building, just a few hours before the Women’s TEAM Final. There’s a lot of pressure on the top 3 teams: CHN, RUS, USA.

How would you like to be Alicia Sacramone, just before mounting Beam?

Alicia’s the bomb. She can handle it if anyone can. … In fact, that fall is a big part of the reason she made the comeback. Redemption, baby.

Click PLAY or watch Spanny Tampson’s take on what you need in the BIG SHOW.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Cirque is the world’s biggest employer of acrobats. They are here at the World Championships. (A pairs balancing act will be performing at the closing ceremonies.)

As an occasional consultant to casting, Cirque was kind enough to invite me along last night to see TOTEM, a new show, currently playing in Amsterdam. (Review coming soon.)

If you are in Rotterdam and want to chat about future opportunities for your athletes, message either of the casting scouts here in town.

Look for PHILIPPE AGOGUÉ from France (Facebook).

Or STACY CLARK from Montreal (Facebook).

For more general information click through the Cirque link atop any page of Gymnastics Coaching. (Atop any gymnastics page on the internet, for that matter.)

This company hires dozens of new performers every month.

That’s the title of an excellent post by Amanda Turner on IG –
Mustafina: Don’t Congratulate Us Yet.

Team Russia could easily self-destruct. It’s happened before.

Sudden Victory is what I call the 3-up, 3-count Team Final format. … But it’s just as accurately called Sudden Defeat.

Still … you can bet the mortgage that the top 3 teams tonight will be USA, CHN, RUS. … Whomever HITS best will be atop the podium.

Mustafina’s in the zone right now. Magic. I doubt she’ll miss. … But as many have noted, her form twisting is a mess.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js

… Perhaps the Women’s NCAA should adopt a 3-up, 3-count Team Finals format. Eight teams would reach the final. There would be a far greater chance of upsets.