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Here’s the routine I felt was WAY overscored to qualify home boy Epke Zonderland to the H Bar final. If this meet wasn’t hosted in Netherlands, there would have been a dozen routines rank higher.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The only team not to fall during finals was Romania. Congratulations.

They looked great. Crisis, what crisis?

Beatrice Gheorghisor is here in Rotterdam. She posted a summary on the girls in white:

… So the Romanians had a quite ok final, there were some mistakes here and there, but that’s what happens during contests :).

As a friend of mine used to say, with one or two Amanars and one more Ana Porgras in the team – things will be much better. But that just means that there is a lot of work to do. Tokyo 2011 will be a different story. We will not be satisfied with 4th place then. …

read more – Gymnastics – No Ceiling

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Ana is still my #1 pick for the Longines Award. My #2 is the pixie Russian, Dementyeva. LOVE this girl’s personality.

Just after the triumph of the Russian Women’s team last night, comes this bad news:

… coach Boris Pilkin, mastermind behind the career of three-time world champion Svetlana Khorkina, died Thursday in Belgorod. He was 82.

“It’s terrible,” Khorkina told Russian media Thursday. “It’s an untimely loss of this decent and good man.”

read more on International Gymnast

… with the help of her lifelong coach Boris Pilkin, she created new moves to accommodate her height and exploit her strengths. She has an unprecedented 8 moves named after her in the Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points. …

In Rotterdam we are prepping for the Men. I’d say any of the top 6 teams could medal. It’s all about who can HIT under pressure. If they all HIT, it will go CHN, JPN and … USA or Russia.

Rotation 1 (of 6) begins with:

Floor – China & Japan
Pommel – USA & Great Britain
Rings – Russia & Germany
Vault – Korea & France

Full Twist

… AND, if there was a Gymnastics God, we’d have 12 Men’s Teams in Finals, and 8 Women’s Teams. … There are more than twice as many strong mens nations as womens, worldwide.

Click PLAY or watch the FIG preview on YouTube.

Here’s the lineup … released by USA Gymnastics yesterday:

Floor Exercise: Brandon Wynn, Jonathan Horton, Steven Legendre
Pommel Horse: Danell Leyva, Chris Brooks, Chris Cameron
Rings: Chris Cameron, Jonathan Horton, Brandon Wynn
Vault: Chris Brooks, Jonathan Horton, Steven Legendre
Parallel Bars: Chris Brooks, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva
High Bar: Chris Brooks, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva

Gymnastics Examiner

As to my concern whether the too frequent phone calls to judges benefited Russia:

WTC beam supervisor Lyubov Andrianova was on the phone a lot to the D panel judges. But conspiracy theorists might be disappointed. None of the Russians’ beam scores were raised. In fact, two of them were lowered: Mustafina’s from 6.2 to 6.1 and Dementyeva’s from 5.9 to 5.7. Deng Linlin’s D score went down four tenths (6.5 to 6.1) whereas Jiang Yuyuan’s went from 6.2 to 6.0 and back up to 6.2 again before being made official. …

THE ALL AROUND – Notes from Rotterdam, WAG Team Final

From that same post:

… Leaving out the front layout after her 2 ½ twist proved to be … costly for (Mattie) Larson, and probably cost her team the gold. The missing salto resulted in her missing two requirements – the routine had no acro line with two different saltos pass and no front or side salto. She was initially awarded a 5.1 D score, which was lowered to 4.6  …

Finally, check Brigid’s commentary from on the floor of the photo pit last night. Some unique insights, including this one:

…

While Wu Jiani was practical and nervous, either pacing or doing what she could for the girls in terms off massages and finding what they needed, it was Mihai who took the helm with confidence and authority, telling each girl what she needed to hear when the time came. But it was with Alicia and Aly he was most tender, holding Aly by the shoulders with his big bear hands as he told her how great she had been, or giving Alicia what she needed, which was most often, keeping her emotions and power check.

After a nervous vault warm-up, he spoke as she waited like a raging bull at the end of the runway, “Don’t throw yourself at it- just hit it and it will come!” She nodded and did exactly what he said. And exactly what he said happened. And she walked away, nearly in tears from the emotional release, once again bearing the weight of seniority and the knowledge that it was to late. As she was enveloped by her team mates, he turned to her with a pointed fingers and a snarl, “And no tears, we won’t have any tears!”

“Okay,” She shot back with a glare, but did exactly what she was told and instead the team joined together in an embrace. Then he told them, …

“Okay, we pray now.” …

read more and check out her photos on Couch Gymnast.

It was strange not to see Valeri on the Floor with the girls. He’ll be there for the AA Final, I assume.

Here’s the SAVE on Beam. Front pike.

Wow.

All 3 American girls fought to stay on. Respect. … This is why little girls need to fight to stay on Beam in training, from a young age.

I carefully refused to even mention the LIVE online video coverage of the World Gymnastics Championships provided by Universal for $14.99 or less.

When it works, it’s great. But too many paying customers have an experience like Full In Full Out.

By far the best write-up on the American silver medal at Worlds I’ve seen was posted by Aunt Joyce:

… There are competitions and then there are finals where medals are on the line. The 6-3-3 Team Final is similar to All-Around Finals and Event Finals in that those who wish to win gold medals need to not only ‘hit’ their routines or stay on, but they need to find the cojones to go for every handstand, take their releases higher and go after stuck landings. While going after the extra amplitude is daunting, most gymnasts tend to make mistakes when they hold back. …

… The European gymnasts are lucky to have the European Championships to experience a pressure situation similar to World Team Finals. Many other teams are not afforded the same opportunities for such experience. …

Canadian coach Dave Brubaker mentioned that some of his team had never been in an important Team meet. When the Canadian lead-off fell on Beam, and on Bars, it put even more pressure on the middle of the line-up.

… The difference between champions and talented elites other comes down to the ability to handle pressure. While Mattie is a charismatic performer and one of the most popular gymnasts around, she has not proven herself to be able to perform at a level that is necessary to win Team or Individual gold medals at international competitions. …

… Many will want to draw comparisons between Mattie and Alicia Sacramone. Ms, Alicia was once in a bit of a pickle when Martha announced that she was “through with her” after she fell at 2004 Nationals. After accepting an invitation to a World Cup event, Alicia earned herself an unlikely spot at the World Cup Finals, where she earned a gold medal and more importantly, respect in the eyes of Martha Karolyi. By the time Alicia reached the 2008 Olympics, she had only missed one routine of the twenty she had competed at World Championships. She was a proven medal winner and attacked her routines with the intensity of an individual event winner. …

This is nuanced, honest commentary from a real expert – Team Finals: A Reflection

More detail on the high tech camera being used at the World Gymnastics Championships.

… the “spidercam” has been tested over four days of podium training at the Ahoy Arena. The evaluation at the end of this trial period resulted in the unanimous decision of both FIG Technical Committee Presidents Adrian Stoica (MTC) and Nellie Kim (WTC), as well as FIG Secretary General André Gueisbuhler and FIG Television Manager Olivier Strebel to allow the use of the silent flying camera, which is attached to four Kevlar ropes over the Field of Play.

Feedback from coaches and gymnasts was taken into consideration, and since no serious concerns were expressed the green light was given. …

… read more on FIG – Spidercam cuts edge in Gymnastics

The fabulous one qualifies 3rd into H Bar finals with this routine.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.