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… I’m abandoning the blog. Off to see TOTEM in Amsterdam  with Cirque casting friends and some of the lady judges.

Will update end-of-day when the chalk dust settles.

Since he competed back in the perfect 10 era, we’ll take it.

This is actually the 14th World Championships for Espen, the eldest here, age-41.

THE ALL AROUND reports his daughters are cheering for him from the stands.

What I love about this World Championships is seeing all the smaller nations getting a chance to share the big stage.

… Irish Gymnastics is getting some coverage

Great interview on Gymnastike.

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

related – Couch Gymnast – Renmore Gymnastics, Ireland, Interview with Ariel Edesses

So far.

Most of the top teams have competed now. Team prelim rank pretty much as predicted.

1 CHN 362.482
2 JPN 361.400
3 USA 357.092
4 GBR 357.033
5 RUS 355.076
6 KOR 352.042
7 FRA 350.284
8 ROU 350.134

I could see Russia moving up to 4th in Team Finals. And France hurting (if they qualify) now that they’ve lost Caranobe to injury.

1 UCHIMURA Kohei JPN 92.231

2 LU Bo CHN 89.639
3 HORTON Jonathan USA 89.598
4 PURVIS Daniel GBR 89.498
5 YOO Won Chul KOR 89.423
6 KOCZI Flavius ROU 89.398
7 KHOROKHORDIN S. RUS 89.241
8 TENG Haibin CHN 89.181

Who gets to stand next to Uchimura on the podium? … Whoever has a good day. It’s wide open though I’m personally betting on Horton to be second. The inconsistent one has got it figured out.

Facebook: 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships by Grace Chiu GraceClick

There’s some prize money at this meet, by the way.

UPDATE: 5th as a team, so far.

China leads World Gymnastics Championships with 362.482.

Full team results (PDF), so far.

… And we have no idea what China is keeping in reserve. For example, their 5th man on rings didn’t need to compete after the superb performance of the first 4 competitors.

For all we know they many have left better gymnasts at home, planning to surprise when they show at Worlds 2011.

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Russia is the last team that could possibly challenge. They’re looking GOOD on Parallel Bars … meaning low start score routines with very nice execution. Sadly, that doesn’t win in 2010.

A good example is David Belyavsky on Horizontal bar. Uchimura clean. But the start score will be too low.

On Floor Russia is the only other team aside from GBR that takes pains to try to STICK landings. Respect.

WOW. They are killing on Pommels, the strongest team, so far. Hit 5 for 5. My old coach Physical Ed Vincent would love Russia. He always told us that Pommel was the most important discipline. Then the all-around. Then school.

Vault last rotation. Hit (9.5E). Hit. Hit. Very clean.

Anton Golotsutskov nearly sticks Tsuk double pike. And nearly sticks a (slightly early twisting Dragalescu. Two 7.0 vaults. We’ll see the Olympic Bronze medalist in Finals.

Russia will likely finish lower than JPN, USA and GBR. … Perhaps even lower than that. But personally I’m a big fan of team Russia. They should win the EXECUTION World Championships. Or finish 2nd to GBR.

Rings starts well. Cherkasov sticks triple tuck, the first I’ve seen at this meet.

… OK, China will probably win that too, despite errors.

Not everything. David Belyavsky RUS is my leading candidate for the Men’s Longine Prize. Him and Romanian Ana Progras.
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Update: Brazil has been quietly hitting a lot of routines today. They were somewhat written off since injured Diego Hypolito is not here.

Gonzalez from Chile mounted Floor with double double layout. Nice. And dismounted triple twist STICK like a knife in a plank. Awesome. … He’s sitting in 8th right now, will likely get bumped from finals.

We’ve never seen a Chinese team like this before.

Stronger on Rings than Pommel.

… What happened to the old truism that the Asian body type is good for swing, but not for Ring strength? … That’s bunkum. Every guy in their line-up pulled up out of strength holds. FANTASTIC.

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

… oh, that’s why China is so weak on Horizontal Bar.

The strategy is to WIN Pommel and P Bars, where they can build a bigger gap between themselves and the rest of the world.

… They are looking vincible. Lu Bo had a fall. … Chen Yibing some pretty big form breaks.

Teng Haibin is a POMMEL GOD, yet had to save a near fall.

Zhang Chenglong HITS a ‘perfect’ pommel routine. 14.336 … But only a 5.4 difficulty score. The judges were far too severe in Execution deductions.

NO CHINESE IN POMMEL FINALS !!! …

That must be a first EVER.

None in Floor finals either, but that’s no first. It often a surprisingly weak apparatus for them.

Note: One Chinese gymnast took a 0.5 overtime deduction on Floor. … That’s a surprising mistake for a defending Olympic champion team.

Who was the last GREAT Chinese gymnast on Horizontal Bar.

Tong Fei?

Their first two competitors in prelims had weak routines, well done.

But I’m thinking Zhang Chenglong has shown the BEST FORM of any competitor with a highish start score here in Rotterdam.

Here’s a routine from 2009 very similar to what he did in prelims here.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Not a superb set. But at least he can keep his feet together on Rybalko.

Date changes for 2 major events:

March 18-20th, 2011 – KYLE SHEWFELT FESTIVAL OF GYMNASTICS, University of Calgary

March 24-27, 2011 – WILD ROSE, Edmonton

Both will be great. They’ve gone back-to-back weekends to accommodate groups that want to do both events.

I’m expecting gymnastics salvation here at the World Gymnastics Championships.

High start scores. AND beautiful execution. (… Day 1 was too much like “College Gymnastics” for me. Hacky.)

Inside Gymnastics has a nice overview of Day 1:

Highlight of the Day – VAULT

Gripe of the Day – fist pump at the end of the routine

Favorite Performances of the Day – Spirited U.S. Effort

That kind of thing. … Click through to read more.

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

THE INSIDE SCOOP: OUR TAKE ON MEN’S QUALIFICATION DAY 1

Teams that hit GREAT: #1 GBR, #2 USA, #3 … Canada, perhaps