This the third day of gymnastics on GWG, yet a terrible accident had occured. China's Sang Lan damaged her spine during practice for the VT final, she is now partially paralyze. She is conscious after the accident yet she is quite scared. I know that not all of you believe in God, but at this moment pray seems to be the only thing to do, so please pray for her if you can. For further infomation click here for CNN report and here for CBS report.
I am doing this in two parts. the first is my comments and the second is the full start order for EF. OK, exciting night. I got pictures of me with nadia, Blaine, Sean, Dominque, Peter Korman and the Chinese girls. I also got some more of me and my russian friends. I spent the comptetition sitting with Julia Korostileva, Yelena Dolgpolova dn Kuznetsova. they are fantastic friends and I really enjoy tlaking to them. Julia is the translator and I speak very bad russian. I mean I can say the basics. ANyway there was a lot of girl talk that went on and I am sworn to secrecy but I will say that they are fabulous friends and really love each other. Everytime a Russian or Amrican came up we would scream in Russian STOY which means stay. The competition was good, but there were a lot of falls. Federcheencko fell off HB and scratched floor because he was hurt. I think Blaine would have won had he not had trouble of floor and high bar. After the HB he went to the bathroom. I was outside talking t a volunteer and we heard him screaming from the bathrrom. I think he was upset. None the less I think he did well with his rings as awesome as ever. I took notes for you guys during the comp but someone stole them while I was doing my job. SO I am doing the best I can. Roman Zuzula from Ukraine impressed me a lot. He has some potential. So does Tsukahara.TOP
Hi, I just got back from GG's, if you were watching the men's meet at home - YOU WERE ROBBED. It was such a great meet, and you didn't see any of it. Imagine seeing on vault a dbl Tsuk, a Kasamatsu 1* twist, a Yuch dbl twist, a Yurch 1/2on layout Rudi, and many great dbl fronts - well I saw all those and more, they were there, TBS didn't think you should see them. Email and complain. Unlike the girls, the men took this meet really seriously, throwing all their difficulty. There were SEVERAL layout Kovacs, and dbl pikes on pbars, and great ring sequences (Zozulia - O'Neil/inverted cross/Guzoghy/inverted cross), many stuck landings, and really serious competition. Both a Chinese and Bondarenko threw full twisting Tchatchevs, and wonder of wonders, Nemov hit his high bar - Kovacs, pike Kovacs, layout Tkatchev, another kovacs. Townsend attempted a front full/layout front/dbl front pass(sat it down). Luckily, Fedorchenko hit all his cool stuff in premeet - fulltwist Kovacs, tripletwisting dbl layout, dbl front vault, etc. He then proceeded to bomb royally, and had to scratch floor after hurting his shoulder on high bar. But boy is he fun to watch training. Ivankov is so well prepared, intensely coached, and pure in his gymnastics. The pbars(which you missed) were like watching Nurevyev in action - pure clean technique, its like poetry. Bondarenko had a great meet until his problematic front pass on floor (whip/1*/rudi) - I've never seen him hit it well, I wish he didn't have to do it for the bonus it gets. But his pbars were great, he got thru high bar, and was adorable the entire time. But he wears his shorts around his chest like an old man:) Now, the scandal of the meet - the robbing of Zozulia. With the exception of a little roughness on pbars, zozulia was amazing. Clean, pure technique, beautiful toepoint and line, hugely difficult routines, and just hit, hit, hit. A dbl front vault, a layout fullout on floor, beautiful Kovacs work and a dbl.dbl.layout on high bar, and the highest hip level and most beautiful body line in all of the pommel horse. But because Blaine Wilson needs to be in the top three, he gets bumped to 4th. It was painfully obvious that the judges literally SHOVED Blaine onto the podium. His woefully mediocre highbar set suffered from a complete stop on the bar, and only a layout full out with a hop. He then went to floor, where as you saw, he got NO amplitude on anything, had abominable form, non existent line and toepoint in his flairs, and took 4(!) steps outof bounds on his dismount. This display got him a 9.375, outscoring both Zozulia, Ivankov(!), and almost everyone else on the event. It was even more obvious, because if you followed the individual judges scores thruout the event(they were flashed), as the meet went on, those men who could challenge Blaine for a medal got increasingly bizarrer scores from certain judges (for ex, the Chinese on pbars were amazing, certain scores didn't reflect it). It seemed as if by hook or by crook, there was going to be an American on the podium, regardless of the actual gymnastics. It's not a new story, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch. But regardless of that, the meet was great, and well worth the train trip. After the lackluster women's meet, it restored some of my faith in today's gymanstics. And it was the guys. Isn't that nice for a change! Later, EricTOP
First off I want to tell yuo all about Sang Lan. It was horrible. I didn't see the fall when it happended but I got to see a replay. It was absolutely terrible. She was going for a handspring vault and missed a hand and landed on her head. When she left the arena she had no feeling at all. But the last word I got was that she had upper body feeling but no lower body. She is at the hospital listed in serious condition. We will know more tomorrow. Now, onto the EF. Floor. 1.Nemov 9.725 He did a 1 1/2 to rudi a double twist to punch 1 3/4 and a double pike. It was good. i know that those of you watching TBS have seen this but I am going to write this for those that don't get cable and our international friends. 2.Thotnton-whip 1 1/2 to rudi, full in. 9.55 3.Bonderenko 9.525 full in, 1 1/2 to rudi and fullin. His outine was clean but it wasn't too difficult. i like him though and he excels on other events. 4.Federchneko- I was thrilled to see him tonight after he hurt himself last night. he did a full twisting double layout a 1 1/2 to rudi and a double layout which he was short on. 5.Chostak-9.25-he ended wiht an arabian double and I wasn't able to catch the rest but he did have bent legs on a few of his flairs. 6.Lu Yufu-9.0 he ended with a double layout which was low, and I think he started with a double twisting double layout. From where I was I thought it was a triple twisting doube. I am not entirely sure. 7.Zozula- front full to double front but he ended with a layout only 8.Townsend-8.45-He has a great set if he can just do it. he does a front full to double front and he stepped out, his second pass is a wirlwind of twisting that he fell on. I know there was a 1 1/2 to rudi to something else but it was a blur. He ended with a full in. Vault 1. ATler Her first was a layout front with a half to a good landing and a 9.65. her second was a great double yurchenko to a 9.675 and average 9.662 2. Dolgopolova Absolutely amazing. The first ten vault I have seen since Atlanta. I think she was robbed and got a 9.675 for a layout podkopayeva Her second was a front layout. and she got a 9.525 for average 9.6 3. Amanar-double yurchenko9.625 and a pike phelps for a 9.55 average 9.587. I was glad to see her penalized for the pike. 4.Olaru-Double yurchenko with ahope for a 9.65 and a phelps(piked) for a 9.575 average. 5.Varga-SHe did a phelps witha pike for a 9.475 and her tucked rudi which is way cool for a 9.650 and a 9.562 average. 6. Kovelava- OK I am goin to interject. i spoke with Yulia Korostileva and she was crying and very upset that she didn't compete. She was pulled for Koveleva and she told me it's because Arkaev favors her. Yulia will not be in any othre events and made the trip to NY for nothing. She was crushed but we watched bars together and we had some fun. Anna did a layout front with a half for s 9.575 and a really ugly phelps for a 9.5 and a 9.537 average 7. Polozkova. i really like her but she didn't have it easy. She did a Yurchenko with a half twist( I can never spell it) for a 9.3 and a layout front with a half. Her avrage was 9.437 UB 1. Khorkina- Beautiful as usual for a 9.825. She did her usual set same as all around. 2. Elisa Ray- at first she was tied with Amanar but there was a strart value mistake. She got a 9.7 and it was great. She did tons of great pirrouette moves and ended with a full twisting double layout. 3. Amanar-Yulia and I both agree that we would have rather seen Ungureanu with the bronze. Amanar did a tkatchev with bent knees before it, a nice geinger and a stuck fullin for a 9,6 4. Ungureanu- She also did a lot of pirrouetting into a nice jaeger and dismounted with a double front with a halk She got a 9.575 5. Dawes Her start value was only a 9.7 so she had virtually no channce. She di her usual mount of Shapashnikva to a hindorff. It was pretty high. She also did a nice uprise to a full pirrouette anda stuck fullout. She received a 9.4 6. Teslenko-Staldet to inverts to yaeger, she also did a geinger. She fell on a transition move(the one from the compulsory in Atlanta) SHe ended with a nice double front. She received a 9.2 7 and 8) It's no wonder the chinese had a hard night. I know they saw Sang Lan's fall and Ling Jie was visibly shaken. Both had the potential to win, but fell Fei on a piked yaeger and Jie on a pirrouette. The audience was behing them and supported them. Alisa P.S. My supervisor just called. Sang Lan has broken neck and paralysis below the legs. They think it may be temporary but they are doing surgery.To the Top
Jump for joy
Super times for Dominique
-By Amanda Borden
All-alone Moceanu claims first major all-around victory
