Olympic Beam final preview

Spencer’s predictions:

Simone Biles (USA)

Tier II
Murakami Mai (JPN)
Jordan Chiles or Sunisa Lee or Jade Carey or MyKayla Skinner (USA)
Angelina Melnikova (RUS)
Viktoria Listunova (RUS)
Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova (GBR)
Vanessa Ferrari (ITA)
Ou Yushan (CHN)
Flavia Saraiva (BRA)
Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos (FRA)
Rebeca Andrade (BRA)

Read more on Balance Beam Situation.

Click PLAY or watch Viktoria Listunova on YouTube.

Kara Eaker tested positive

Starting Sunday Kara began 8-14 days of isolation.

Her father says she’s had no symptoms, so far.

One additional alternate is considered a close contact, and is quarantining in her room until she tests negative. Leanne Wong said at Olympic trials that she had not been vaccinated. Kara, Kayla DiCello & Emma Malabuyo indicated they had been.

U.S. alternates have been training alongside the team, a poor decision. Obviously.

https://twitter.com/anythingym/status/1417112941804072970

Olympic vlogs

Of the social media I’ve seen from Tokyo, so far I’m most enjoying video posted by Alec Yoder and Rhys Mcclenaghan. Both very well edited.

Subscribe to both.

Rhys debunks some #FakeNews. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/McClenaghanRhys/status/1416567768938291203

Click PLAY or watch Rhys’ from July 17 on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Alec’s from July 18th on YouTube.

Nadia 45 years later

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

related – Opinion: Nadia Comaneci has ‘perfect’ way to celebrate 45th anniversary of first 10.0

“Golden” – USA Elite documentary

The final episode in the 6-part series arrives July 21st.

It airs on PeacockTV.com. Free for those who appear to be in the USA and who have a U.S. zip code.

EXCELLENT.

The best recent documentary I can recall.

A real time look at changing Elite culture. For the better, I’d say.

Simply having Camp open to the video crew is a credit to Tom Forster and USAG. This is the kind of transparency we’ve always wanted.

I LOVE seeing regular training rather than only Instagram highlights. It’s mostly a grind. Golden shows that accurately.

I love seeing family life. Konnor’s problems, for example, and her family’s support.

I love seeing OTHER issues in their lives. Morgan’s social activism, for example.

Golden is not perfect.

Episode 3 should have explained to viewers the logic of selecting Gabby Douglas for Rio. It’s what I would have recommended. Instead, editors made it look like McKayla was personally unselected.

I was pleased they showed how misses are COMMON in training. But did we need to see DOZENS of Bar release misses? Also, I felt too many REALLY bad falls were included. Some of those could have been edited better or left out entirely.

“Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts” follows Rio gold medalist Laurie Hernandez, 2017 World all-around champion Morgan Hurd, 2019 World Championships team members Sunisa Lee and MyKayla Skinner and first-year senior gymnast Konnor McClain.

The series, with hour-long episodes, follows the gymnasts over a five-month period as they train to vie for four Olympic spots …

NBC

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.