Nastia Liukin has BAD FORM

Back in May I predicted Shawn Johnson would win the Olympics.

Nastia had no chance … I thought.

Why?

Because of her bad form.

… I hate to pick on Nastia, who I LOVE because of her artistry and amplitude, but she more than anyone else will be in the media spotlight leading up to the Olympics. Over and over and over again even the non-gymnastics savvy are going to see those crossed feet. …

bad gymnastics – crossed legs while twisting

But I was wrong.

Nastia did win the Olympics and deserved the win, despite her double front on floor, her terrible Bar dismount, and frequently crossed legs during twisting.

There’s a video montage called Nastia Liukin deserved the wins? Maybe NOT. (I’m not embedding it because I don’t like the editing. It’s too much of a hack job.)

Don’t forget, Nastia Liukin has GOOD FORM too. She’s one of the best gymnasts in history. The composition on Bars is the most varied ever. Her Geinger the best ever. Her beam routine (up until the dismount) is one of the best in history. Her Olympic vault was perhaps the best Yurchenko 3/2 I have ever seen.

All hail the Olympic Champion.

Thanks TCO. Even though you disagree.

==== UPDATE

Rawles in a comment says it much more succinctly than I:

While I understand that Nastia is always going to take more flack due to her prominence, people’s perpetual gross overexaggeration of the form issues she has is just tiresome. And not only that, but they seem to expect the deductions for those form issues to be proportional to how much people harp on them.

Nastia Liukin does not have bad form. As a holistic evaluation, that is false. What she does have is about three persistent form breaks throughout the entirety of her program. And no matter how many silly YouTube videos or misinformed couch judge comments people make, it won’t stop the cowboyed double fronts from only being a single .3 deduction for the routines in question or the crossed ankles from only being a .1 deduction. People’s inability to grasp the fact that she can swallow these deductions because she does everything else so well baffles me. It’s not a particularly complicated concept. …