Gymnastics Coaching.com

Congratulations.

original – flickr

… The U.S. women finished second after Alicia Sacramone fell off the beam and then took another fall on floor.

“Nobody else really made a mistake so it’s kind of my fault. If I could change it I would.” Alicia Sacramone tearfully told NBC’s Andrea Joyce immediately following the competition. …

… At the world championships last year, it was up to Alicia Sacramone to rally her teammates after a rough beam rotation. This time around it was the other way around after Sacramone fell off beam and left the American team trailing China by a full point.

But Sacramone, the team captain, couldn’t recover from the devastating fall on beam and went on to fall on floor, an event that she’s a specialist on. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson hit solid routines, but the damage had been done.

Shawn Johnson said about Sacramone, “She is the strongest person I know and we all love her.” …

China grabs gold; U.S. silver – NBC Olympics

Alicia Sacramone is one of the great personalities in gymnastics.

But an American win at the Olympics was not to be. This was China’s year.

I don’t blame Alicia.

So pronounces difficulty plus execution.

I’m deflated after the Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team competition. Not deflated that China won — they deserved it — rather deflated that the USA did not make more of a run at them.

Sadly, one of my favourite gymnasts is going to take a lot of heat. What a shame. I’m feeling badly for Alicia Sacramone right now.

Sadly, many fans of the USA will turn their frustration back to the Age Falsification accusations. Especially the latest revelation: that 2000 Chinese Olympic medalist Yang Yun admitted last year on Chinese TV that she was only age-14 in Sydney. And she very nearly won the All-around there.

I posted the details on Gymnast.com:

… International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Bruno Grandi says he may investigate whether Yang Yun was really 14 at the Sydney Olympics.

Yang won the Bronze medal on bars and a Bronze in the Team Final. And is the girlfriend of multiple world champion and favorite to win the Olympics in 2008, Yang Wei. …

read more – 2000 Olympic gymnast Yang Yun underage?

Personally I would like to see the F.I.G. age requirement eliminated. Eliminated until such time that age can be accurately confirmed. Why have a rule that cannot be enforced?

China won the Team competition at the Olympics. Even if they did have underage girls on their team. I’m against any kind of retroactive penalty on these gymnasts, should those accusations be confirmed.

source – Gymbrooke Sports News

Future sanctions against the Chinese Gymnastics Administration would be appropriate, certainly. That’s what happened to North Korea when they were caught falsifying age documentation in the past.

photo – Grace Chiu

Congratulations to China. They easily defeated a much more experienced team.

1. China 188.900
2. USA 186.525
3. Romania 181.525

The days when pundits assume “Chinese gymnasts collapse under pressure” are ended. The Chinese women are now physically, technically AND psychologically the best team in the world.

All hail.

From International Gymnast:

The Chinese women danced to their first Olympic gymnastics team title Wednesday in Beijing, defeating the world champion American team and the defending champion Romania.

China trailed the U.S. after the first rotation on vault, but pulled ahead with a spectacular display on the uneven bars. Even a fall by captain Cheng Fei from beam (tucked full) in the third rotation couldn’t stop China’s momentum, and teammates Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan followed with near perfect sets. Cheng closed on floor exercise, as expected, to clinch the gold for China by a margin of 2.375.

Runner-up in Athens, the American took silver again. The team began with a strong effort on vault and uneven bars (meet-high 16.900 for Nastia Liukin). Like Cheng, team captain Alicia Sacramone fell on beam (piked front mount), and then also fell on floor exercise (Arabian double front). All three Americans went out of bounds on floor exercise.

Afterward, American coach Marta Karolyi greeted the Chinese gymnasts, telling them, “Congratulations, you deserved it.”

A consistent effort put helped Romania win the bronze by .9 over the favored Russians, who struggled on balance beam and floor exercise. …

Chinese Women Claim First Olympic Team Title – IG

China leads USA by 1.0 with only Floor remaining.

live results – NBC Olympics

The Romanians hanging in for Bronze, so far.

Will you be watching tonight?

It’s going to be thrilling.

Vault: Bridget Sloan, Shawn Johnson, Alicia Sacramone
Uneven bars: Chellsie Memmel, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin
Balance beam: Alicia Sacramone, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson
Floor exercise: Alicia Sacramone, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson

via Gymnast.com

Expect the girls to be psyched after the Men’s “Miracle on Mat” Bronze Medal last night.

He Kexin will be competing bars for China. There’s no way she’ll fall two meets in a row.

International Gymnast has famed bar innovator Li Ya blogging for them.

Li Ya is the only Chinese woman to have two skills on the uneven bars named after her in the Code of Points: the Jaeger ½ + Jaeger release-release combination, named the “Li Ya salto,” which China’s He Kexin now uses as her signature skill on bars; and the “Li Ya dismount,” (half-in, front-out piked) which will be performed in Beijing only by world uneven bars champion Ksenia Semyonova of Russia. In 2006 Li first debuted the “Li Ya salto” on the World Cup circuit, and to date Li and He remain the only two gymnasts to successfully perform that combination in competition. Li is also known for her unique, graceful style on balance beam, an event on which she won the 2006 World Cup Final title.

On the Chinese national team, Li, He and another 2008 Olympian for China, Li Shanshan, all trained in the same group, under coaches Liu Guicheng and He Hua.

Li Ya – 2003 World Championships – more photos

Her preview of the showdown between the USA and her beloved team is one of the best and most honest I’ve read:

… Personally, I’m a big fan of Nastia Liukin’s bars. Unfortunately, the top two American bar workers [Liukin and Chellsie Memmel] both faltered in prelims, but Liukin is lucky like He Kexin in that she still qualified to finals. She has a 7.7 A-score, just like He Kexin and Yang Yilin. It’s always been a hope of mine to compete head-to-head with Liukin in a bars final. That match played out many times in my head, but unfortunately it didn’t happen in reality. To me, Liukin is an original. Her quality of execution and body lines are first-class, but her routine composition is also dynamic and interesting — such a rich variety of skills and connections all smoothly stringed together. She has her own unique style and represents a whole different direction of developing difficulty on bars under the new Code of Points. …

Praise from Li Ya is praise indeed. Nastia does have the most complex, interesting routine ever.

… Women’s team final will be one fierce battle till the last second for sure. China has a clear lead in A-scores, while Team USA has more seasoned competitors and traditionally higher consistency. It’s really impossible to say who has the overall edge. …

Click through to read the entire blog post. An excellent overview.

Click PLAY or watch the Li Ya release combination on YouTube

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I was wondering if one of the other coaches might replace Miles after Morgan withdrew.

Here’s what happened:

… Avery, the head coach at Ohio State, is the personal coach of the Hamms. Avery had offered to step down from his position as assistant coach of the U.S. team in Beijing, following Morgan’s withdrawal Thursday. The team requested he stay, however.

“I certainly wanted to, for myself, to step down, but these guys said ‘We want you on the floor,” he said. “And that’s why without, an athlete on the floor, I went out on the floor with these guys. They wanted me as a part of that family on the floor. And so I went out there with them and everything came to fruition. It was absolutely amazing.”

Avery formerly coached Bhavsar, who attended Ohio State. …

Avery: Family Focus Put U.S. on Podium

This was the 4th Olympics with Miles Avery as one of the coaches. The USA finished 2nd in 2004, 3rd in 2008.

Blythe posted the Most/Least Impressive performances on her Gymblog. I enjoyed her earlier post too: Chinese men: Gold!

International Gymnast posted a nice recap:

The Chinese men marched to the gold medal Monday at the Olympic team final in Beijing.

Japan earned the silver, 7.25 points behind the Olympic hosts, while the American team won the battle for the bronze.

As expected, China blitzed the competition, taking the top team score on five of the six events. After a slow start on floor exercise, the team was untouchable. World champions Xiao Qin (16.100 on pommel horse) and Chen Yibing (16.575 on still rings) were superb on their respective specialities. On vault, Yang Wei scored 16.600 for a near-stuck Tsuk triple full, and Li Xiaopeng took 16.775 for his namesake vault (Yurchenko half on, Randi).

In the fifth rotation, Huang Xu took the top mark for China on parallel bars with a 16.475, followed by Li at 16.450. China held such a high lead that by the end of the sixth rotation, team anchor Zou Kai needed only 8.75 to secure the gold on high bar. A routine with a stuck dismount delivered 15.975 and the gold medal. The Chinese team, which included three veterans of the gold medal team from the 2000 Olympics, were moved to tears after the victory. …

IG – Chinese Men Win First Gymnastics Gold

In many ways, the “Athlete of the Meet” was Jonathan Horton. He nailed 5 routines to lead the USA to a Bronze.

more Horton photos – NBC Olympics

As expected, there was no “meltdown” in the Team Final this Olympics … as we saw in 2004.

Congratulations China. That was an awesome, dominant performance.

(L-R) The Chinese team … celebrate winning the gold medal. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Photos: China wins Men’s Gymnastics Team gold at Beijing Olympics