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#WCHNanning2014

In training, China looks weaker than expected. Japan looks great.

As usual, I’ll predict that Japan will win Team. … As usual, many are cautioning me that China always looks bad until it counts. They’ve only lost once at Worlds in the past 20 years, or so. AND they are in China.

Both nations will qualify to the Team final, so prelims priority will be qualifying for AA and Apparatus Finals. Prelim team ranking doesn’t matter.

Japan will win FX as a Team. Be top 3 on Pommels.

China is much stronger on Rings. Much.

Vault is difficult to predict. In a 3-up, 3-count Team final, anyone can fall. Both China and Japan rely on twisting vaults rather than double somersaults, so it’s likely they will be close on this apparatus. If Kohei and Kenzo stick, as they often do, give the edge to Japan.

Conventional wisdom is that China is strongest on P Bars. They are stronger than Japan. But it could be close.

The least impressive event for China is Horizontal Bar. Yet they continue to score well despite low risk routine construction. On the other hand, they had two Kolman releases in podium training. Let’s wait and see if they risk using those in Team.

Japan should be ahead on pipe. The memory of Tokyo 2011 lingers, however. Recall that King Kohei missed Kovacs by a mile in that Team final.

I chatted with Tim Daggett following the Japanese session. Consensus was … the Men’s Team final will be interesting.

Nico linked to this CHN vs JPN rivalry news item.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Posted by Al Fong:

… an ankle sprain one week prior to the P&G Championships took the momentum out of her preparation phase for the selection camp, and the rest is history. Not one to make excuses, she tried valiantly to push forward to vault in spite of her pain. But the ankle simply wouldn’t respond to the demands of the strength and speed needed to make the Amanar vault during the selection camp competition. …

During the 5 days of camp, she made 27 out of 29 bar routines!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Fans are sorry she’s not in Nanning. 😦

I particularly like the dismount giant. Just the opposite of the Russian giant. Brenna literally bounces off the bottom of the tap. And it works.

Update – it looks like Brenna has the Amanar back now (VIDEO posted Sept 29th)

Thanks Cordelia.

It looks to one and all in Nanning that the American girls are unbeatable in Team at Worlds. And Team USA has more true Olympic contenders training back home than any other nation.

These two, for example.

Triple Twist – Buckeye’s Dynamic Duo Aim Towards Rio

#WCHNanning2014

Piibunina has training videos of the Chinese girls up on youku. I assume those are not geoblocked.

We feared they’d be tired and sore having just competed Asian Games. But they look quite fresh. So far. This is a long, long competition.

If you’ve not yet seen it, be sure to read Albert Minguillon’s detailed Women’s World’s analysis. Albert crunches the numbers for The All Around.

via GymFever2012

@theallaround:

Tomas Gonzalez (CHI) in podium training today.

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#WCHNanning2014

Dvora Meyers has been following the American girls podium training. She reports they were particularly sharp today.

Bars is no longer the weak apparatus for Team USA. They do the (near) compulsory Bar routine almost as well as Russia and China. 🙂

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks George.

Region 5 Gymnastics Insider:

In this Workout Wednesday we take a look at a workout with the Level 10’s at Cincinnati Gymnastics. … during their summer camp so it was a modified schedule. In this workout you will see some warm-up conditioning/cardio, bars, floor and beam and a whole lot of great gymnastics.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jason’s Region 5 Insider is something of a Gymnastike partner, but I am certainly happy to link to Jason’s work any time. He operates quite independently of Gymnastike.

This is a particularly well edited WOW.

Not for the first time Down Under, overprotective staff at Peregian Springs State School in Queensland banned handstands and cartwheels on the playground (unless they were supervised) after two children were injured.

Not surprisingly, Principal Gwen Sands was “held up to ridicule by the media“.

It was a bad call.

Unfortunately upset parents at the school launched personal attacks on the Principal via Facebook and Twitter. That’s also wrong. 😦

Thanks George.

Cal Freshman Toni Ann Williams. Super tough skill.

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