First of all, I would like to add some updates on the injury of Sang Lan, she is not likely to walk again according to doctors. This is probably the saddest thing that can happen to a gymnast. I pray that a maricle would happen. For further details please visit the new articles at CNN and CBS The two are basically the same, but one may have more info than the other. And here is another one on the official website of GWG it is not as detailed, but you can check it out anyway. I am kind of in a mix emotion right now and I am sure we all are so if you want to talk about it E-mail me.
Today what you missed (and also saw) BEAM Kuznetsova - I'm so glad they showed this in the coverage, she was absolutely incredible. She has superior carriage and posture, and her choreography and rhythm is the most interesting and individual I have seen since baby Bogie. In person it was mesmerizing, and she was royally screwed to be left out of the medals. Mc Laugh - I really like this girl, her quite beauty and compitence, and she does RO layout on/ff/ff, rulfova, russian/ russian Furnon, and a dbl pike. Great flexibility, basics, but I thougtht it was lacking in personality and presence, so was not pleased when she was placed above Kuzn.She was being coached here by Peggy Liddick, who has cut that hair. Good. Ling - You saw it. It's superior in every way. She was Chinese and screwed up. Funny note, the USA judge gave her a 9.45 out of a 9.8 start with a fall, a major break, a step, and no leap series. But it was the right thing to do, she is totally awesome;) Kovaleva - Stunningly beautiful physically, nailed in one touch her front/wolf mount, ff/lay/ff, 3/4Furnon, 1/2 Furnon, and PIKED barani and front handsp front tuck. Then fell on barani and front series. Oh well.... Teslenko - you saw it, the set she's been doing for years, the best russian leap currently being done, beautiful feet and legs, 2 slight wobbles, RO/ff/dbl tuck dismount. We like her alot. Amanar - abismal, I stopped counting the wobbles and balance checks. Ugly leaps, no rhythm, hop on dismount. She did add a jump to Chen. She scored 9.6 for this useless waste of several minutes, the mind reels.... Ungureanu - Belu has not completely robbed her of her cool yet, RO Pike mount with wobble, decent body movement for a Romanian, a Chen out of a jump, gainer ff/ff/dbl pike. Should NOT have out scored Kuz. Maloney - You saw it, it wasn't even good for her, the only acceptable section was her dismount. Tonight we slowed it down and confirmed everything we thought in real time - Her execution throughout is EGREGIOUSLY bad. Did NOT complete fulltwist wolf, off axis on her rulfova, landed her 2foot layout completely bent over, terrible choreography(especially in comparison to what we had been watching for the last 1/2 hour), and unextended, ugly leaps.But she didn't fall, and we are in America, so we get a gold medal. Now don't we all feel good about ourselves? Rings - You saw most of it, although tv doesn't completely convey the amount of swing some guys got on their strength holds. As Bart said, it should have been Ivankov, and I would have put Blaine over Lamorte with both out of the medals, but we're in Long Island folks, and Chris did a good job, so that's what you get. For such a teeny guy, Bonda is amazingly impressive on rings in person. Vault - Great, the right guy one, although they originally listed his Kasamatsu-full as a 9.6 vault. They realized their mistake and raised his score accordingly. Chris Young had a bad fall in warmup, but stood up both his vaults - handsp dbl front and Kasamatsu 1/2. Neither were impressive. Townsend sat down dbl front, and did a good layout rudi. Romania - great Kasamatsu 1 1/2, great layout rudi. They can really vault. Rios - incredibly tight, clean Kas 1 1/2, great layout rudi.This guy is a GREAT gymnast, see him when you can. Krykov - you saw it, the US judge had his dbl front at 9.6. Yeah, that was objective. Nemov - you saw it. Floor - Vanessa - The mount was gnarly, the choreography good and with potential to get better, she rocked, it worked. Prod - She wanted this; was really hyper before competing. SHE PERFORMED, and was BY FAR the best floor performer there. I love her flexibility, and the perfect way she can use it and keep her upper body in line. But oh, the dbl pike, she did the same thing in 1 touch, it was sad to see, they have GOT to teach her any other back tumbling pass. Ungureanu - I really like the way she eats space, and her diver arms on her twists are way cool, but this floor worked better in it's original form, as Aurelia Dobre's (who is here, by the way). But she is a great floor worker, easily the best of the Romanians. Teslenko - Beautiful, clean, could use more choreography, and biffed her whip to dbl pike. Good triple twist dismount. Khorkina - Oh well, the leo was great, and she was great in the dance (her goofiness was endearing). I hope she got to go to the REAL NYC while she was here. Amanar - She tumbled. You know what it was. Mc Laugh. - Ran out of gas on 2 1/2 and triple twist. Pretty generic movement, no expression. great potential, though. Due to GG screwup on their part, I'm not going to tomarrow nite. I've seen all these guy except Taskinnen on pbars and high bar, and I'm going to rhythmic the next day. So I'll watch it with you guys on tv tomarrow. off to bed... ericTop
Ok, some notes from podium training yesterday... - Vanessa was rocking her floor routine and her whip, double pike was being bested by only Zeena who STUCK (two feet) two consecutive whip, double pikes in practice...Nessa looked extremely good. - Jamie Dantzcher hit three consecutive flip flop fulls, and no falls on beam! I was almost tempted to go over there and clone her performance in podium training for the competition..she looked great on beam. - Elise Ray's toe point in person is only bested by one girl I can think of, and that is Sonia Fraguas of Spain...she is the epitomy of perfection in her lines and up close it is almost unreal. A world medal on bars would not surprise me. her and Dominique Dawes are great friends, as well as, teammates. - Maloney was consistent for the most part, but her leg breaks on her layout on beam is really apparent close up, I am surprised recently the judges have overlooked that...however, she is trying to make her moves more crisp. - Korostelova is surprisingly tall if she is the red head that I saw...her athleticism is apparent, but it took me a while to place her....Kuznetsova is so small, I had truthfully had to ask if Zamolodchikova was in the competition...I had no idea she was that small, but I was sitting right beside the bars for podium training and her split leg giants to split double lay is SOO exciting! I was not expecting it and I know I stood there for like 5 minutes looking retarded afterward, Brian had seen it before and just started laughing! She is unbelievable. - Produnova was ROCKING floor yesterday, but even on her simple back layouts, she does not lift her arms...in person, I understand why she did not win in Lausanne...her double pike does not get off the floor at all. - Also while on Produnova, I dont know if this got on TV, but while Bondarenko was on high bar during the men's AA, if you hear some outragous screams after each kovacs and his dismount, THAT IS PRODUNOVA! I had to turn who the heck was screaming and it was Produnova and after Bond finished she jumped like 5 feet in the air! I wonder if there is something going on there, what would Grosheva say, tsk, tsk j/j. - Amanda Borden was talking to Maloney quite a bit and she is extremely beautifu up close, she looked really professional and is a knockout beauty! RobTop
- Balance Beam 1. Kristin Maloney (USA) 9.775 2. Olga Teslenko (UKR) 9.725 3. Corina Ungureanu (ROM) 9.700 4. Zeena McLaughlin (AUS) 9.675 5. Eugenia Kuznetsova (RUS) 9.650 6. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.600 7. Jie Ling (CHN) 9.250 8. Anna Kovaleva (RUS) 8.800 - Floor exercise 1. Vanessa Atler (USA) 9.775 2. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.725 3. Corina Ungureanu (ROM) 9.650 4. Meng Fei (CHN) 9.525 5. Elena Produnova (RUS) 9.250 6. Olga Teslenko (UKR) 9.075 7. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 8.975 8. Zeena McLaughlin (AUS) 8.900 Results Men's Apparatus Finals (Second Day): - Rings 1. Chris Lamorte (USA) 9.700 2. Ivan Ivankov (BLR) 9.675 2. Alexei Bondarenko (RUS) 9.675 4. Blaine Wison (USA) 9.650 5. Szilvester Csollany (HUN) 9.625 6. Xu Huang (CHN) 9.575 7. Roman Zozulia (UKR) 9.525 8. Dimosthenis (GRE) 9.100 - Vault 1. Sergei Fedorchenko (KAZ) 9.650 2. Nikolay Krukov (RUS) 9.600 3. Eric Lopez Rios (CUB) 9.575 4. Vasile Cioana (ROM) 9.562 5. Alexei Nemov (RUS) 9.487 6. Chris Young (USA) 9.450 7. Yufu Lu (CHN) 9.387 8. Sean Townsend (USA) 9.075Top
