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The final is a completely different ball game.

Commenter TCO and Andrew Thornton on Gymnast.com have both calculated the Finals Team Score based on the Preliminary performances:

read more – Meet Analysis – Women’s Team Prelims – Gymnast.com

The medal winning teams almost certainly are Russia (Bronze), USA and China fighting it out for the Gold.

I’m still confident the Americans will win. Though I have to praise China. Their less experienced team looked very relaxed in Prelims. And I was impressed they were using “visualization” prior to routines.

It’s going to be exciting.

USA Athletes Qualifying to Finals:

* All-Around: Shawn Johnson & Nastia Liukin
* Vault: Alicia Sacramone
* Uneven Bars: Nastia Liukin
* Balance Beam: Shawn Johnson & Nastia Liukin
* Floor Exercise: Shawn Johnson & Nastia Liukin

Shame Shawn did not do a second vault. She would have a good chance to medal if she had one.

(via Steve McCain on Gymnast.com)

I was hoping Daria Joura would win a Floor medal with her wonderfully artistic routine.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

IT all ended in tears for Australia’s great gymnastics hope Daria “Dasha” Joura last night as she crashed out in the qualification round.

As the star of the women’s team, Joura was considered a genuine hope to make history by winning Australia’s first individual gymnastics medal.

But her chances were cruelled when she hurt her ankle during the floor routine, hobbling her for the rest of the day.

The Siberian-born 18-year-old bravely continued and her contribution was crucial in securing Australia a place in the team final.

But Joura’s hopes of individual glory faded every time she landed on her weakening ankle.

“She jammed her ankle and it just got weaker and more unstable as the comp went on,” Australian coach Peggy Liddick said. …

The Daily Telegraph

Were there more ankle injuries than usual this Olympics?

I heard the Floor Exercise mat was “hard”.

I think so.

This looks like the end of a long, wonderful Olympic Team medal run for Romania. Russia looked much stronger in prelims finishing 3rd as a team. Romania finished 4th. (team results)

… World uneven bars champion Ksenia Semyonova led Russia, earning the team’s top mark (16.475 on bars).

Veteran Anna Pavlova competed two solid vaults and is a lock to compete in vault finals, where she is the defending bronze medalist. She took the team’s top score on balance beam, 15.825, right ahead of Semyonova and Afanasyeva, who tied with 15.775. (Afanasyeva is ranked ahead of her teammate because of a tiebreak.)

Yekaterina Kramarenko took the team’s top score on floor exercise (15.150; 1 1/2 to triple full; piked full-in) and the second highest on uneven bars (15.550).

Russia’s only major breaks were falls on beam in the third rotation from 2004 Olympian Lyudmila Grebenkova (double turn) and Kramarenko (punch front). …

Solid Effort Lands Russians in Third – International Gymnast

The Chinese Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team easily “won” the team preliminary competition.

… “Whoa, it sounds like they were pretty amazing, but team finals is another day, with even more pressure than today,” said Nastia Liukin, who qualified for the all-around and for the final in every discipline but the vault for the United States. “It’s going to come down to who can handle that pressure the best.” …

Despite Unexpected Slip, Chinese Women Are in Control – NY Times

There’s no need for the Americans to panic. Despite the injury to Samantha Peszek, it will still be a close contest in the “Sudden Victory”, 3up-3count Team Final.

China is in a somewhat better position in terms of qualifying apparatus finalists. But Shawn and Nastia finished 1-2 in qualifying for the AA.

This is one of the great battles in Olympic gymnastics history.

The Gymnut posted some analysis.

Deng Linlin competes on the balance beam. (Photo credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

See more photos on NBCOlympics.com

Stu Cram informed me that Kyle’s first vault (the ‘Shewfelt’) had the highest B score of everyone in the preliminary qualifying meet: 9.75

I’ll post the video as soon as I get my hands on it.

China easily finished ahead of the USA in Prelims. But that really doesn’t matter. Team Finals will be much closer.

Prelims for the top teams are all about qualifying to Finals. There were MANY problems in Beijing. But the All-around contenders will be much as predicted.

So far …

more AA results

Cheng Fei leads Floor Final qualifiers, so far. And Vault. Alicia will make Vault Finals, as expected. But it looks like Shawn did only one Vault … so will not be eligible for the Final.

Li Shanshan is first on Beam, just ahead of Nastia and Shawn.

Bars may be the most fiercely contested. Ranking so far.

more Apparatus results

Shawn will not make the Final. There are still some very good Bar routines to come. Nastia will … though she fell on her dismount. (And it looked so much improved in podium training.)

He Kexin missed her awesome routine. But will likely still make the Final with that score. Only two gymnasts / nation can qualify to any Final. On bars, it looks like at least 2 will qualify despite falls in prelims. Strange, this new code.

I’m feeling rotten for Brandon and the entire Canadian Team.

Canada’s Brandon O’Neill writes about the injury that cut his performance short in Beijing. O’Neill, the 2005 world silver medalist on floor exercise, was a favorite for an Olympic medal prior to suffering an ankle injury Monday.

Hello everyone. Basically I am writing this note to answer many questions regarding my performance at the Games and what I have experienced. …

read the sad story – O’Neill: ‘I Couldn’t Have Done More’ – International Gymnast

Brandon had been one of my picks to win the Gold medal on FX.

UPDATE: Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-ups for Sunday’s qualification session – NBCOlympics.com

Inside Gymnastics is posting a top 10 highlights of each day. Here’s there list for day 1 of competition, Men’s Prelims:

1. League of Their Own – Simply put, China was head and shoulders above the field in today’s preliminary round, topping second place Japan by more than five points …

2. Two Much Too Handle – Subdivision two featured China, Japan and Russia competing together, often presenting a challenge for fans in deciding who to follow. The three powerhouse programs went 1-2-3 on the day and showcased some amazing gymnastics. Japan was particularly impressive on floor, p-bars and high bar while China was terrific all around, but strongest on pommel horse, rings, vault and p-bars.

3. Jia-Yo! – The home-country crowd showed up …

4. Team USA Rises to the Occasion

5. Textbook Technique – Today’s Code of Points calls for a ridiculous amount of difficulty that often comes with a sacrifice of form, technique and style. In prelims, Japan and China put on a clinic with performances that showcased textbook technique throughout. They’re not just doing ridiculously hard routines; they’re doing them well.

6. Kudos to the Hosts – The organizers and volunteers are well prepared and efficient in their operations, which made for a smooth first day.

7. “Wei” Ahead – Even with a major miscue on p-bars—he sat on the bar during a straddle kip press to handstand—two-time Chinese world all-around champ Yang Wei still led the field by more than a point. …

8. Fanfare – The National Indoor Stadium—which served as the holding pen for the athletes marching Friday’s opening ceremonies—is a great competition venue that provided for an electric environment and a great fan experience overall. …

9. Sasha Steps Up …

10. Tough Tricks – From Marian Dragulescu’s Handspring double front half-out and Yurchenko half on Randi off vaults to Kohei Uchimura’s HUGE releases on high bar (pike Kovacs, tuck Kovacs, Kolmann; all with incredible amplitude and picture-perfect form) and Justin Spring’s peach-full, giant, Diamadov, Belle combo on p-bars, a great display of awe-inspiring gymnastics brought the crowd to a roar time and again today. Other highlights: Fabian Hambuechen’s (Germany) layout double-double on floor; Hiroyuki Tomita’s (Japan) pike double front half out rings dismount; Nikolay Kryukov’s Gaylord release on high bar; Pinheiro Rodrigues’ Victorian to Maltese on rings; Li Xiaopeng’s incredible p-bar set featuring a huge Tippelt; Jonathan Horton’s triple twisting double layout high bar dismount; Jordan Jovtchev’s killer positions on rings – grey hair and all! Inside’s reporters’ said “Wow” out loud on press row today more often than we have in a long time. We applaud these talented athletes and celebrate all of the hard work, long hours in the gym and dedication to a sport that only enjoys the full glow of the spotlight once every four years.

August 9th – Inside Gymnastics