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High score, so far.

Nope. She actually scored 14.333, only 4th of the Chinese. (WOW) … The top 2 will almost certainly make finals: Deng Liinlin 15,100, Huang Qiushuang 14,466

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

I’ll post the BEST routine videos as they come online. That should be soon.

I apologize for doubting you.

Vault:

Deng Linlin: Yurchenko 1.5 with steps forward.

Yang Yilin: DTY with a small step to the side. Nicely done. A thousand times better than training.

Jiang Yuyuan: Great DTY, just a tiny hop forward. Oh China, just when we begin to doubt you…

Huang Qiushuang: DTY, very good, with little hop forward. Hey, we’re going to see a second vault from her! Piked Podkopayeva, low landing and it seems she touched a hand down, barely.

He Kexin: Does a touch. …

read more on the Gymnastics Examiner LIVE blog

He Kexin, of course, has the high score on Bars, so far. (16.066) She’d only vault in an emergency. But she did do Floor. Wow. This after training much less on that apparatus than her teammates:

Blythe:

He Kexin: Fascinating to see her not on bars. “Bolero” is the music. 2.5 to front layout, nice. Stuck double tuck. Switch, Tourjete half. Cheated her turn a bit. Double full. Nearly stuck double pike. Well well well. Big applause. High fives from her teammates. 13.933.

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

China’s final team score is 233.778. … Since they hit vault, that will be tough to beat. A 14.611 average for the top 4 scores.

… Correct me if I’ve got any of that wrong.

Winning prelims is sometimes the kiss of death, of course. China doesn’t care so long as they qualify to 3-up, 3-count Team Finals.

Longines gave us media a browser plug-in so that we can see LIVE SCORING.

… That would be awesome. But it crashes my Firefox browser on a Mac.

Happily we have THE ALL AROUND. They (somehow) are providing live WAG scores for everyone online.

Leave that window open on your computer.

CHINA is on Bars, first apparatus, first qualifying round. Killing.

International Gymnast magazine on Facebook:

Jiang 15.20—–Jiang—14.683 Both of thest scores are TOO LOW! I do not have the confidence that the judges with stay with their standard of judging

It sucks to draw the first qualifying flight. Even for China.

He Kexin 16,066 – 7.2 start – 8,866 execution

Beth Tweddle and Aliya Mustafina simultaneously rocked bars in training. …

Click PLAY or watch the training footage on Gymnastike.

http://videoplayer.flocasts.org/player.swf

I still don’t like the tap over the low bar for most girls. It’s simply too deductible, even when it works biomechanically.

Why would GBR and RUS be on Bars at the same time?

… That was Beth’s first touch. She never does less than a half routine. RESPECT.

(via Aunt Joyce)

This good story gets better.

The surprised double Gold medalist from Commonwealth Games is now on the GBR line-up.

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

I hope she’s like world jet setter Grace Chiu (first Facebook photos) who told us: “I don’t believe in jet lag.”

… And look who else got off the plane from Delhi.

That’s Tandoori Chicken, some sort of weird mascot. (I’ll try to throw him in the stew pot here.)

For Great Britain, seems Danusia Francis has withdrawn. She was taken off the 2010 European Championships team, too, due to injury. Shame.

(via Full Twist)

The best 4 days of gymnastics are just starting here in Rotterdam. We will see everyone.

Women’s qualification
SUNDAY, OCT. 17
MONDAY, OCT. 18

Men’s qualification
TUESDAY, OCT. 19
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20

There are dozens of sites following the action. I’ll try to link to the best.

What are the BIG story lines:

Andrew Thornton: Women’s Competition

Russians favored to win their first ever world team title
Bross vs. Mustafina
American women attempt to defend world title
Spectacular comebacks
Romanians rejuvenated

… read details on American Gymnast

Blythe Lawrence:

Russian revival: men’s and women’s teams
The number of World Champions who will not defend their titles, no matter what
Kohei Uchimura … injured?
Can Jonathan Horton step up?
Ukrainian Men looking good
A tight women’s team competition
Watch these countries…Venezuela, Mexico (women), Greece (men)
Watch these gymnasts…Horton, Hambuechen, Zonderland, Belyavskiy, Yibing, Mingyong, Fahrig (men)

details on Gymnastics Examiner

Some of the best story lines are yet to be revealed. We’ll have some fantastic routines from unexpected athletes on the Men’s side.

They’ll be unexpected disasters from some of the big names on the Women’s side. (We expect them on the Men’s, especially on Vault.)

But all-in-all I’m thrilled to be following this meet, the most interesting and exciting World Championships in years.

Update … One of the Danish photographers just booked his accommodation in Tokyo for the NEXT World Championships.

Head Coach Bill Ryden demos his expensive and unique in-gym video analysis set-up.

This thing is 9min 40sec. (It could be 2min 30sec with some editing.)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Often the official sources of news at major gymnastics events SUCK. They are slooowwww to post, boring, sanitized. … You know what I mean.

But in Rotterdam, as a gymnastics news aggregator, I find myself linking to FIG and USAG just as often as blogs and specialized sites. 

International Gymnast magazine is doing a great job on Facebook, already. (Inside Gymnastics has yet to much get started.)

Grace Chiu just arrived on a red-eye from Rhythmic Commonwealth Games Championships. She’s my favourite gymnastics photographer though they’ll be hundreds more here by tomorrow. We’ll be swamped with pics.

… Still, Gymnastics Examiner and Couch Gymnast have been my best sources at Worlds, so far. Gymnastike for video. … But old media is closing the gap. They’ve finally figured out that readers want real time, interesting news.

Most surprising is the International Gymnastics Federation. As a politically driven natural monopoly, I would have predicted they would be the very worst source of useful information. But check out their news feed. It is truly excellent.

Kudos to Meike Behrensen, Philippe Silacci and their media team. The FIG is an easy punching bag. But it’s stand up to acknowledge, too, when they are doing things right.

So far Twitter has been near useless for Worlds. I’ve been using the hashtag #gymnastics2010. Not much happening there. USAG will use #2010wc and #USA2010wc once the competition starts. Hopefully one of those will catch on.

What should have happened is that meet organizers would announce the hash tag. But the guy updating the official Worlds website has yet to show up at the venue. I was optimistic about gymnastics2010.com at first, but it’s been a disappointment so far, even though they have Brigid contributing.

Leave a comment if I’ve missed mentioning one of your favourite sites. Some of the National Federations have some super keen contributors here. I’ve probably not even seen their posts.

Kent Koven, USAG Director of New Media, put together another great podium highlights reel, this time the American Men.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

They also posted another great interview with Jon Horton:

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

… “Everyone tells me not only that I act differently, my gymnastics are different — I’m a more confident guy when I’m out there,” adding a moment later, “Maybe it’s just being married and having more responsibility and being away from the college scene where you act like an idiot every single day of your life.

“I am much more focused now. All I have to do is focus on one thing. That’s gymnastics. I don’t have a job. I don’t go to school. I wake up, I go to gymnastics, I go to sleep. That’s it.”

Asked about Horton, Kevin Mazeika, the U.S. men’s national team coordinator, said in a phone interview, “He has moved into the leadership role and taken it on quite well. I think coming from 2008 — these past two years, his life has changed a lot. …

read more – Horton leads the way

I’ve always like Jon Horton. Who wouldn’t?

But I’ve never had faith he can HIT when he needs to. Until now.

Note: Ono No Komachi reminds us that the score I linked for Jon earlier today (91.3) is inflated by the USA bonus system. I never intended that people compare those scores. There are at least a dozen guys who could win this meet.

But I wouldn’t count on Jon falling on Pommels, this time.

Cirque du Soleil casting is here at the World Gymnastics Championships. (Conveniently the new show TOTEM is playing in nearby Amsterdam.)

Online, I see all the acrobatic jobs available. And I’ve never seen one like this:

High-level swinging rings specialist;
Good teamwork skills;
Very good physical fitness, ability to perform five shows a week;
No fear of heights;
Some dancing skills a plus;
Some parkour skills a plus.

details

I was going to recommend Frank Snay, of Navy, .. the winner in the last American Collegiate Flying Rings competition. … But that was 1961. Frank has probably hung up his ring grips, by now.

What about one of the veterans from Muscle Beach, California?

Or auditioning one of the Travelling Rings specialists?