Sandra Izbasa, who a year ago days ago saw his career threatened due to a partial rupture of the Achilles tendon in his right leg, returned in force and has evolved delighted to three devices. Olympic champion ground was marked with 14.400 on vault, 14.800 on beam and 15.150 on the ground, declaring himself satisfied with her progress.
“It was very nice. The atmosphere was great. I am pleased with my progress …
American Rebecca Bross vs Russian Aliya Mustafina. The two gymnasts most likely to win the 2010 World Gymnastics Championships.
Spanny Tampson:
… then there’s beam. Good old beam, who separates the winners from the losers. However, what if the two gymnasts in question are EXACTLY THE SAME on beam?
Take Bross and Mustafina. People argue that Bross has no artistry, while Musty is the pillar of Russian beauty. People marvel that Bross is the pinnacle of consistency, while Musty is hit or miss. Execution, form, fall, stick, BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Hasn’t anyone else noticed that they do essentially the same routine? …
Aunt Joyce wrote up a super detailed assessment of the 10 time NCAA Champion team that failed to qualify to team finals last season.
I found it a bit optimistic.
… Expect the team to make it back to NCAAs and if they have a really good year, they could finish 4th, 5th or 6th. A 3rd place finish would likely be the best they could ever hope for.
… To kick-off the launch of American Gymnast Premier, I’m giving away a FREE 1-year membership to the program – no strings attached! Just briefly state how winning this free membership would benefit your gymnastics and/or cheerleading program in the “comments” area of this blog post and we’ll select one lucky winner based on all the comments.
American Gymnast Premier will go live Tuesday, Sep 21, 2010 at 1:00pm E.S.T. We’ll announce the winner of the 1-year free membership just prior to the program going live. Since the program will be brand new, and we want to make sure everything runs smoothly for our new AG Premier members, we are going to limit the number of subscribers to 100 members.
The program is available worldwide. But the contest is U.S.A. only.
Winner gets one year Premier level discounts on all purchases with American Gymnast (e.g. chalk), full access to Gymnastics on Demand, AG Premier Affiliate program, customized ‘shop’ page for their web site, and receive all internet marketing tutorials specific to gymnastics and cheerleading businesses.
Beatrice Gheorghisor attended the Romanian Championships this weekend, posting on her blog Gymnastics – No Ceiling.
Read Bea’s detailed commentary on the Romanian girls with forecasts on who will be selected for World Championships 2010:
… Ana Porgras is getting better and better but she is a very fragile gymnast. They said she was going to take things slowly and she will only compete on only 2 events at the Worlds. This will not happen. She keeps getting better scores on floor than Diana Chelaru (a supposed specialist), so she will do floor on the TF, there’s no doubt MOREOVER she keeps earning higher scores than Amelia Racea all around, so she will be used all around as well. It might be really sad to watch because at this pace she is not going to make it to 2011 Worlds …
Note the single step back into the corner for each tumbling pass, rather than the even uglier waddle back used by most girls. (Why don’t judges deduct that more?)
The Romanian women are looking much better at this stage of the quadrennial than expected. But with such a small pool of elite gymnasts, they need be very, very cautious.
After all, these World Championships are not important. The goal should be World’s 2011 and the Olympics.
Floor: Flavius Koczi
Pommel Horse: Flavius Koczi
Rings: Robert Stanescu
Vault: Flavius Koczi
P-barrs: Marius Berbecar
High Bar: Andrei Muntean
If you think the USA has problems competing with Russia and China, on Bars … imagine how the Romanian coaches are feeling.
Mustafina (6.7 D-score), Nabieva (6.8 D-score) … Romania, not so much.
Blythe is projecting Nabieva to beat He Kexin on Bars at Worlds, … if she can hit that routine. Nabieva has problems with consistency, though. He Kexin does not.
One of the top American Juniors posted to her Facebook page:
Well, yesterday was my last day at Excalibur Gymnastics. I am going to miss my teammates sooooo much!!!!!!! I love you guys soooo much!!!! ??? – To my home gurls: You will always be in my heart!!!
…I’m checking out other gyms. I will let ya know once I get settled.
… I wouldn’t forget to thank my coaches for all they have done : ) …
One of the top American Juniors posted to her Facebook page:
