top 24 gymnasts to finals …

Hot off the presses

Mustafina RUS
Bross USA
Raisman USA
Jiang CHN
Huang CHN
Porgras ROM
Mitchell AUS
Nabieva RUS
Kaeslin Switzerland
Haidu ROM
Ferrari ITA
Tanaka JPN
Lopez VEN
Whelan GBR
Seitz GER (… Def on Bars)
Van Gerner NED
Bonora AUS
Hypolito BRA
Malaussena FRA
Fernandez BRA
Tsurumi JPN
Pihan-Kulesza POL
Preziosa ITA
Hibbert GBR

Switzerland’s Ariella Kaeslin also made the Vault final.

Switzerland's Ariella Kaeslin reacts after competing on the vault at the qualifying round of the Gymnastics World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam October 17, 2010. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (NETHERLANDS - Tags: SPORT GYMNASTICS)

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

Alternates:
Vanwalleghem BEL
Vaculik CAN
Brevet FRA
Goedkoop NED

USA Gymnastics finalists

Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas/WOGA, and Alexandra Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, will compete in the all-around finals.

VAULT – Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass./Brestyan’s;

BARSBross and Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind./Sharp’s Gymnastics;

BEAMBross and Sacramone;

FLOORRaisman

Raisman does not have good form, but she did an amazing job today.

Aug. 12, 2010 - Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America - August 12, 2010: ALEXANDRA RAISMAN vaulting during the 2010 VISA Championships women's day one at the XL Center in Hartford,Connecticut.

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

top 24 gymnastics teams …

Russia
China
USA
Romania
GBR
Australia
Italy
Japan
… Wow. Amazing considering their terrible prelims.

Netherlands !!
Brazil
France
Ukraine
Canada
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland

Poland
Spain
Greece
Korea
Mexico
Venezuela
Hungary
… Uzbekistan

OFFICIAL

Alternates: Belarus, Slovenia

Eventually they’ll be available on GymnasticsResults.com

Canada moves on to Worlds 2011

Congratulations!

And a special thanks to Kristina Vaculik for supporting her team in the middle of first term at academically demanding Stanford University.

How did that stupid chicken get in the team photo?

Rebecca Bross – Bars

Here’s a bad camera angle. You can see why I don’t like 1) straight body cast handstand, and 2) tap over the low bar.

Click PLAY or watch her Bars on YouTube.

Note how many of the Russian cast handstands are straddle-ups. It’s far less deductible.

I actually like Rebecca. She’ll probably win the all-around. And I’ll cheer if she does.

BARS rules must be changed

Compare Huang Qiushuang‘s routine on Bars to Beth Tweddle. Beth’s is about 10 times more difficult. Yet they both get a similar start score.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is a complete injustice.

Nellie Kim. Please fix your Code of Points on Bars.

Ana Porgras – BEAM dream

Jenn Isbister of Gymn.ca is here, as always. She is disappointed at everything that’s been lost from Women’s Artistic Gymnastics since the golden age, the late 1980s Soviet teams.

But Ana Porgras is old school Romanian Beam royalty. This compares well with the best routines in history.

Click PLAY or watch Anna on YouTube.

Hey, that routine is posted on the official FIG YouTube channel. Cool.

I’ll admit this is the only routine I’ve seen in Rotterdam that flows.

Anna is still my leading candidate to win the Longines Elegance Prize. … Has she won in the past?

low preflight Yurchenko – Mattie Larson

I’ll send a link to this pic to Kyle Shewfelt. (He never thinks the girls are fast enough on.)

Mattie Larson of the U.S. competes on the vault at the qualifying round of the Gymnastics World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam October 17, 2010. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (NETHERLANDS - Tags: SPORT GYMNASTICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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

Not bad. Korea’s Eum Eunhui:

Korea's Eum Eunhui competes on the vault at the qualifying round of the Gymnastics World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam October 17, 2010. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (NETHERLANDS - Tags: SPORT GYMNASTICS)

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

Of a number of possible techniques, I like LOW on, HIGH off, the body musculature as “preloaded” as possible.

Oksana Chusovitina 10th Worlds

Oksana, age-35, quoted in today’s Worlds DAILY NEWS:

“I’ll retire after the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Then I’m as old as Espen Jansen is now.

However I will perform as an all-around gymnast, I think. That would be a good closure.”

Amanda Turner – Preview: Chusovitina Leads Germany in Session 11

In Rotterdam she hit Beam. But did not do two Vaults to try to qualify to Finals on her best apparatus after messing up the first one.

Germany's Oksana Chusovitina performs on the beam during the women's artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam October 17, 2010. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez (NETHERLANDS - Tags: SPORT GYMNASTICS)

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

Espen Jansen is age-41, but has only competed at 9 World Championships. He cannot retire or Oksana will beat him. Norway actually tried to replace him with younger guys this World Championships, but they still couldn’t defeat him in the trials.

Jessica Lopez – best Venezuelan gymnast ever

So says Pedro Javier Lozada on Facebook based on her excellent competition tonight.

Jessica is 15th AA so far. She’ll qualify for the AA finals.

Brigid says she has one of the best triple twists on Floor out there. And her Team will qualify through to Worlds 2011, too. Gracias.