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Ohhh Kyla, well she didn’t say umm as much as she usually does in interviews.
Please lord let her have good upgrades because this girl can be a good AA. Scam will more interesting to watch if Lexie is chosen as the second choice
Also is it me or is the Karolyi camp at least on the outside starting to look like roundlake after the fall of the Soviet union? In different videos in the past year of the training camp and the place is looking like it needs a renovation asap.
The Karolyi camp is looking rough….but it doesn’t make sense to put money into it at this point. Bela and Marta won’t be around that much longer and then USAG can move the program camps to Colorado Springs where they belong.
Thats who I thought it was also, except Kyla made that silly comment that everyone is new except EBee….I was positive it was Sabrina. Good for her being at camp. I didnt see Sarah Finnegan though….any other gage folks?
I think Kyla was thinking more along the lines of Ebee and her being the only olympic contenders left, which would be somewhat true, with Sarah not returning to camps yet and even though Brenna and Sabrina made it to trials they were never really considered front runners. We all know Kyla’s not the most articulated on camera so she probably hadn’t really thought about what she was saying.
Also I really hope that Sabrina’s move to GAGE will help her improve and start contending for teams again this year. She seemed to be a bit stuck last year for whatever reasons, so hopefully the new environment and teammates who are at the same level as she is will help. Plus I do think GAGE is a good fit for her skill wise too, although they might have the problem of three seniors all with the same strengths on beam/floor (Maddie/Sarah/Sabrina). It will be interesting to see who comes out on top, especially since Maddie and Sarah do not seem to be in full training right now.
I think it’s that god awful gymnova equipment color. Go back and watch some Athens and Beijing videos. The arenas were so bright and cheery. Then go watch some Worlds 2009 and London 2012, yuck. Whoever thought of those color combinations, I just don’t know what they were thinking.
Hahaha it’s so true about Lexie and McKayla! They have the most intense bitch-faces you’ve ever seen, but when they actually talk, they both seem really nice.
Ha, I remember the first time my husband saw McKayla on TV. His first comment was, “Boy, she looks arrogant and unfriendly.” He couldn’t believe it when I told him she was 100% opposite of that in interviews and, as far as I know, in real life. Of course, it’s a little hard to be all smiley and friendly when you are in the middle of a competition and need to be completely focused on your next routine.
Ugh I think the ultimate bitch face is Nastia. I can take Maroney – I never thought she looked like an a-hole; more like focused. I remember the first time I saw Nastia in competition I was thinking “man, she looks like she hates life.”
Maroney’s face has a permanently cheeky look..I don’t think it’s arrogant, moreso mischievous. I knew she was Irish from her features before I knew her name. And she is, somewhat. Same for Bridget Sloan..cheeky cast to her features too. it’s just the Irish in them..not even joking..
I always thought McKayla just looked focused not bitchy during competitions but I had already seen a few of her interviews before the first time I saw her in a competition. I think the fact that I already had knowledge of her actual personality (that she was in fact nice not bitchy) influenced my perception of her competition countenance. My husband on the other hand had no preconceived notion of her personality when he first saw her in competition and his reaction was, “Looks snooty and arrogant.” He doesn’t think that now but that was his initial reaction which I think a lot of people have.
I went back and looked at a few of Nastia’s performances at Beijang. You are so right Sanity – the ultimate bitch face. Not only does it look bitchy but it looks like she just walked into a room full of manure, or that she had a bad case of diarrhea. Shawn on the other hand looked so cute and happy. Not fake-looking happy like Mary Lou Retton but genuine happy.
I was at the WOGA Classic Saturday night. You could move around fairly easily so I was able to get up really close for whichever event in the rotation the WOGA gymnasts were doing at the time. Katelyn looked strong on beam. Had one wobble and then took a step sideways on her landing but overall looked good. She seemed fairly strong on bars too although I can’t recall anything specific. My impression I guess was “not bad” but not wowed either. She was weakest on vault. I was sitting in about the second row very close to the table so got a real good view of her vault. It seemed to be a pretty basic vault and she did not get much height. She also took a pretty large step forward on her landing if a recall. Overall, I think she has a lot of potential but she is quite a ways from being Olympic level. Her main disadvantage, which you could say of all the seniors right now, is her age. She turns 16 in about three months meaning she will be 19 in the summer of 2016. That’s not an absolute killer of course but it seems be a disadvantage.
It was an FTY. It was reported as being clean and high, but then that was from the footage, not from being there! Nastia had the same disadvantage, I’m hoping Katelyn can be at Nastia’s 2008 level in 2016 and not Bross in 2012. I’m wondering if she is better off concentrating on UB/BB to complement the others? Her bars were ripped apart for having a Healy with terrible technique and being very overscored- it’s clear on the video of it. That’s so cool you got to move around!
I had probably the best view you could have of the vault – literally eye level directly across from where the judge was sitting. (Interesting there was only one judge with helper at each event – I guess they couldn’t afford more.) My impression was that Katelyn’s vault was clean but not that high, and she took a step on the landing. However, I will be the first to admit I am no expert. I do note she only scored a 14.3 although that was good enough for second.
BTW, that was the first elite-level gymnastics meet I’ve ever attended personally. I’m guessing there were five to seven thousand spectators. It was the perfect size crowd for seeing an elite meet for the first time – just enough to seem somewhat “big time” but still plenty of empty seats to move around and get up close. The worst part of gymnastics meets is that you can either stay in one place and see all the competitors do a particular event, or you can move around and see one group of competitors do all their events but miss the others. I chose to follow the WOGA gymnast (there were probably about seven or eight total), which meant I missed seeing a lot of the other gymnasts compete which was too bad.
Hmm 14.3 is very high for a FTY with a step all the same. Yeah I’m jealous because although I’m delighted I’ll be at this year’s worlds and 2015 there will be no moving at all and they will be my first two competitions. It was so tough to pick a section!
She had trouble with the DTY at nationals this year while injured, but she’s actually performed it pretty well in the past (Pacific Rim comes to mind). As an AAer, it’s possible she could make up the difference between a DTY and an amanar on beam alone. If she regains the dismount she competed in 2011, her D-score is going to be crazy high.
I agree. The other girls can make up on vault in a team final atmosphere. What Ohashi’s got going for her are her beam/bars…not sure if she does an awesome floor; haven’t seen it in awhile.
In fact, if Katelyn can manage the DTY that’s more than good enough. She might have to do what Nastia did and do the 1.5 if she can’t manage the 2 twists.
Floor was blocked off for VIPs and I didn’t want to only have a good view of beam/bars so..vault. Its stand is lower than the rest and dead centre. I picked beam for beam ef but its quite high up compared to the other 2 days.
From my experience you should watch that section by floor. I sat there at worlds a few years ago the entire time and my original seat was further up. The first two rows were like 1500 bucks and they wouldn’t let anyone else sit there so I sat a few rows up and they originally reserved that seat for the girl protecting the first two rows but she sat in the first two rows and I had the most amazing seat I never paid for.
A lot of those seats are not reserved for specific people which means you won’t be questioned. Some are reserved. The worst thing they could do is make you move. The early rounds you will have more opportunity for the better seats by the floor.
I’m happy enough being directly opposite floor, in the first 12 rows for AA and EF Day 1, can’t remember exactly. I wasn’t able to go for the whole week for prelims sadly. Hoping to do that for Glasgow, depends.
“I don’t hate beam but I don’t love it”
WOW didn’t expect that from her! haha I guess this is one of those times where what you’re good at isn’t necessarily your favorite. Maybe she’ll change her mind when she wins a beam title at worlds… (:
Also, Katelyn posted on her instagram that UCLA is her dream school! I wonder if that means she wants to compete for them as well?
Nero– totally agree about the podium colors! I almost feel bad for the London Olympians– the stills of them is not as nice as the backgrounds for Beijing (who thought rainbow would turn out so well?!) and Athens. I hope to not see a background in pink for a very long time.
I remember Gabby saying beam was her favorite too and thinking that was odd considering she falls off of it more often than not.
I hated all that pink. I can’t help but feel like Nastia was somehow behind it, given her FIG status that they never really seemed to take away from her even though she was COMPETING.
I find it hard to believe that beam is really any gymnast’s “favorite” event. Maybe best event but not favorite. The funniest line was when Letterman said that beam should be banned and McKayla said, “I tend to agree with you.”
I feel like life as Nastia is quite nice! People just love her. She could be the next Nellie Kim (not that everybody loves Nellie, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nastia holds a high position in the gymnastics world one day!).
lol I always think that if any event HAD to be banned, it should be vault since it seems to cause the most injuries. And why don’t you think beam is anybody’s favorite? I’ve never done gymnastics but I’d be most scared of vault, hands down!! Or maybe a bars dismount. Basically anything with lots of speed and amplitude. Beam seems the least scary to train. Minus the whole 4in or 10cm thing that we are reminded of during each competition…
I think for me bars would be the scariest. Things go so fast and you can get dizzy and there’s release moves…there’s the possibility of face planting it like Nastia…on national TV…
Vault is kind of like the high dive in a way. If you hit the water/landing matt just a bit “off” you can really hurt yourself. And meanwhile you have to do all these crazy things in the air and take off of some bouncy thing (diving board/springboard).
At least on beam the furthest you can fall is the highest you can physically jump. And thank goodness it’s not solid wood anymore. Now THAT would hurt like a bitch.
I was not a gymnast so I really don’t know which events are considered the “scariest” or “least favorite” by the gymnasts. However, I guess I said I don’t think beam is a favorite among very many because almost none of the gymnasts, not even the very best on beam, appear to be truly truly confident on that event like they do a lot of times on the other events. At least it seems that way to me. They always have a bit of a nervous look on their face like they are just hoping to get through it without screwing up. I don’t see that nearly as much in the other events. Of course it might be that you see the nerves much more on beam because everything happens so slowly in comparison to the other events.
I agree though that vault and bars are probably the “scariest” events if by scariest you mean the most dangerous. Whenever there is a really serious injury where a gymnast is paralyzed it seems to usually involve one of those two events. The idea of doing a back flip on beam though is pretty darn scary if you ask me.
Oh, I did equate “scariest” with “least favorite.” oops! Yeah, I agree with you then. Beam is definitely the girl’s version of pommel horse! It definitely requires the most mental ability above all, which is why d-scores and beam finalists are so hard to predict for this. I think this is also why I often don’t think the beam champion for a given competition is necessarily the best beam worker at the competition.
ohh bless kyla for being so nice, normal and focused! im glad she wants to be focused back on AA now. i wonder if her peers (the new seniors/final year juniors) treat her just the same as always or if they are a little in awe of her that she has been able to accomplish already what their all aiming for (olympic games).
katelyn seems like a sweet kid. they all do actually, lexie and simone included. the US is really lucky to have such a talented bunch.
So excited to see what Kyla can do this year. though the thing she does with one leg on at a time on her toe on skills on bars bugs me a little bit, I hope she changes it soon.
And was I the only one who LOL’d when katelyn said “I don’t hate beam, but I don’t love it.” I wouldn’t be too fond of it either if I was training such difficult skills so early. As much as I agree that she is way over scored too often, I really hope she can last this quad because I really want to see how she matures in her gymnastics.
I can’t lie, I love Kyla – “umms” and “likes” and all. I hope she can be the next Shannon Miller and have a longer career. If she can get new skills and upgrade she’d be the one to beat.
Katelyn seems sweet too. She lacks the power of some of the others but maybe that will play itself out. If US is super strong in vault (which they are) she can likely make the Olympics focusing on the other three events. Especially bars. I haven’t seen her recent bar routines; does she have the potential to get the difficulty of the Russians?
Her bars look like a struggle at the moment. Lots of people are saying that’s due to her trying to adjust to her growth. Her pirouettes are nice, except the Healy which is atrocious and needs to go. She’ll need to focus more on dynamic release/release or release/transition combos anyway to rack up her start value..not pirouettes. It looks like Kyla is doing the release/transition bit nicely in her video. Anyway, Katelyn has huge potential on bars, just isn’t showing it yet.
I think the USA should start having the girls’ bars go the route of Beth Tweedle. Since they can’t take girls out of the womb and have them start learning pirouettes maybe they should start having them do harder release moves and dismounts. When was the last American to do a def? And Anna Li learned the Shusanova after college right? Beth isn’t a twig and was able to learn the tucked double double dismount.
They will need to, to rack up high scores. China have already got going on release combinations. One and only American to do a Def was Morgan Evans. I.need.counter kims and mo saltos. The Chinese and North Koreans have the best chance to do the crazy releases now (old codes pretty much had a built in deduction for them) with their stature.
I don’t know what you all think but I’m pretty impressed with Aly’s delivery in her Flippin’ Awesome videos. She still sounds pretty monotone when she gives interview but she is light years ahead of where she was just a few months before the Olympics.
Thats not Bross, as for the quality of Kylas gymnastics, you dont know how many reps she had done on skills before they filmed her. She could have been near the end of her workout on bars or done and they asked her to go back. Or shes just showing skills and isnt polished yet. Its still better than Nastia last year at trials.
Bravo excalibur. Great cartwheel teaching. Im sure Randi Stageburg and the numerous other top NCAA gymnasts and their parents are so grateful their daughers excellent cartwheeling skills got them a free education…. in college…. Gabby has to go back to training she has no money. Her mom ate it all …
Its a friendly meet between Romania USA Spain and Germany. Takes place 1 week after jesolo. Or before. So prob same lineup. Tokyo is different again…loving all the international assignments.
Tokyo is another world cup like SCAM or the two meets that Ebee went to in the fall. USAG retweeted a tweet that Ebee is cleared to resume full training. Will be interesting to see how quickly she can get back into the mix.
Unlike the men’s team, Marta tends to not send gymnasts to events unless the US can dominate them. Will be interesting to see if the US follows through and sends someone and who it will be.
I find it slightly ironic/odd that people claim these international meets are great for experience but Marta doesn’t give her gymnasts many international assignments and yet USAG is indubitably triumphs in consistency (among other things like team finals and vault and whatnot lol).
Apparently Sarah Finnegan is going to be at camp. Can you imagine an American Cup with Kyla Ross and Sarah Finnegan with Simone Biles doing exhibition! One can dream. Assuming that this camp will also decide teams for Jesolo/Germany though, hopefully we’ll get to see Sarah at some of those.
According to usagymnastics website it’s from the 23rd to 26th February. I don’t really know why I like Biles, I guess because she has an amazing amanar and hopefully will get a second vault soon and her bars have improved a lot. I also love watching her floor with the height she gets on her tumbling and she has quite good form for a power gymnast with her build.
February 18, 2013 at 2:41 am |
Ohhh Kyla, well she didn’t say umm as much as she usually does in interviews.
Please lord let her have good upgrades because this girl can be a good AA. Scam will more interesting to watch if Lexie is chosen as the second choice
Also is it me or is the Karolyi camp at least on the outside starting to look like roundlake after the fall of the Soviet union? In different videos in the past year of the training camp and the place is looking like it needs a renovation asap.
February 18, 2013 at 6:18 am |
I really hope Kyla has upgrades and I wouldn’t mind seeing Lexie if she is chosen it would be interesting to see her new floor routine
February 18, 2013 at 10:47 am |
The Karolyi camp is looking rough….but it doesn’t make sense to put money into it at this point. Bela and Marta won’t be around that much longer and then USAG can move the program camps to Colorado Springs where they belong.
February 18, 2013 at 2:57 pm
USAG has bought into the Karolyi Ranch
February 18, 2013 at 3:15 am |
Who is that next to Kyla 37 seconds in? ….Texas just looks desolate in the winter. LOL
February 18, 2013 at 12:01 pm |
That’s Sabrina Vega
February 18, 2013 at 9:26 pm |
I think it’s Sabrina Vega.
February 18, 2013 at 9:50 pm |
Im 99.9% sure its Sabrina Vega!
February 19, 2013 at 3:24 am |
Thats who I thought it was also, except Kyla made that silly comment that everyone is new except EBee….I was positive it was Sabrina. Good for her being at camp. I didnt see Sarah Finnegan though….any other gage folks?
February 19, 2013 at 2:34 pm
I see Brenna Dowell in the lineup in one of the videos. I think Desch and Finnegan are rehabbing still.
February 19, 2013 at 3:32 pm
I think Kyla was thinking more along the lines of Ebee and her being the only olympic contenders left, which would be somewhat true, with Sarah not returning to camps yet and even though Brenna and Sabrina made it to trials they were never really considered front runners. We all know Kyla’s not the most articulated on camera so she probably hadn’t really thought about what she was saying.
Also I really hope that Sabrina’s move to GAGE will help her improve and start contending for teams again this year. She seemed to be a bit stuck last year for whatever reasons, so hopefully the new environment and teammates who are at the same level as she is will help. Plus I do think GAGE is a good fit for her skill wise too, although they might have the problem of three seniors all with the same strengths on beam/floor (Maddie/Sarah/Sabrina). It will be interesting to see who comes out on top, especially since Maddie and Sarah do not seem to be in full training right now.
February 18, 2013 at 3:38 am |
Don’t forget Ohashi!
I think it’s that god awful gymnova equipment color. Go back and watch some Athens and Beijing videos. The arenas were so bright and cheery. Then go watch some Worlds 2009 and London 2012, yuck. Whoever thought of those color combinations, I just don’t know what they were thinking.
February 18, 2013 at 3:56 am |
oooh USAG’s youtube has uploaded some more with Simone Biles and Lexie, so I’m sure they’ll be uploading more with some of the other girls.
Poor Lexie suffers from a Maroney face. Meaning she looks like she would be some snotty stuck up brat but she actually seems very nice.
And Simone, what a QT!!!! Might be my new favorite
February 18, 2013 at 7:33 am
I stan for Biles. If Mack ditches gym for acting she’s my pick for hitting the TTY.
February 18, 2013 at 9:03 am
Hahaha it’s so true about Lexie and McKayla! They have the most intense bitch-faces you’ve ever seen, but when they actually talk, they both seem really nice.
February 18, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Ha, I remember the first time my husband saw McKayla on TV. His first comment was, “Boy, she looks arrogant and unfriendly.” He couldn’t believe it when I told him she was 100% opposite of that in interviews and, as far as I know, in real life. Of course, it’s a little hard to be all smiley and friendly when you are in the middle of a competition and need to be completely focused on your next routine.
February 18, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Ugh I think the ultimate bitch face is Nastia. I can take Maroney – I never thought she looked like an a-hole; more like focused. I remember the first time I saw Nastia in competition I was thinking “man, she looks like she hates life.”
February 18, 2013 at 6:09 pm
Maroney’s face has a permanently cheeky look..I don’t think it’s arrogant, moreso mischievous. I knew she was Irish from her features before I knew her name. And she is, somewhat. Same for Bridget Sloan..cheeky cast to her features too. it’s just the Irish in them..not even joking..
February 18, 2013 at 9:53 pm
I couldn’t focus on a word Lexie said cause all I kept thinking about was how I want to wax/shape her eyebrows better!
February 19, 2013 at 6:48 pm
I always thought McKayla just looked focused not bitchy during competitions but I had already seen a few of her interviews before the first time I saw her in a competition. I think the fact that I already had knowledge of her actual personality (that she was in fact nice not bitchy) influenced my perception of her competition countenance. My husband on the other hand had no preconceived notion of her personality when he first saw her in competition and his reaction was, “Looks snooty and arrogant.” He doesn’t think that now but that was his initial reaction which I think a lot of people have.
I went back and looked at a few of Nastia’s performances at Beijang. You are so right Sanity – the ultimate bitch face. Not only does it look bitchy but it looks like she just walked into a room full of manure, or that she had a bad case of diarrhea. Shawn on the other hand looked so cute and happy. Not fake-looking happy like Mary Lou Retton but genuine happy.
February 18, 2013 at 9:02 am |
Seems like a sweetheart. Her vault worries me, but I hope she does well as a senior.
February 18, 2013 at 4:01 pm
I was at the WOGA Classic Saturday night. You could move around fairly easily so I was able to get up really close for whichever event in the rotation the WOGA gymnasts were doing at the time. Katelyn looked strong on beam. Had one wobble and then took a step sideways on her landing but overall looked good. She seemed fairly strong on bars too although I can’t recall anything specific. My impression I guess was “not bad” but not wowed either. She was weakest on vault. I was sitting in about the second row very close to the table so got a real good view of her vault. It seemed to be a pretty basic vault and she did not get much height. She also took a pretty large step forward on her landing if a recall. Overall, I think she has a lot of potential but she is quite a ways from being Olympic level. Her main disadvantage, which you could say of all the seniors right now, is her age. She turns 16 in about three months meaning she will be 19 in the summer of 2016. That’s not an absolute killer of course but it seems be a disadvantage.
February 18, 2013 at 4:40 pm
It was an FTY. It was reported as being clean and high, but then that was from the footage, not from being there! Nastia had the same disadvantage, I’m hoping Katelyn can be at Nastia’s 2008 level in 2016 and not Bross in 2012. I’m wondering if she is better off concentrating on UB/BB to complement the others? Her bars were ripped apart for having a Healy with terrible technique and being very overscored- it’s clear on the video of it. That’s so cool you got to move around!
February 18, 2013 at 5:27 pm
I had probably the best view you could have of the vault – literally eye level directly across from where the judge was sitting. (Interesting there was only one judge with helper at each event – I guess they couldn’t afford more.) My impression was that Katelyn’s vault was clean but not that high, and she took a step on the landing. However, I will be the first to admit I am no expert. I do note she only scored a 14.3 although that was good enough for second.
BTW, that was the first elite-level gymnastics meet I’ve ever attended personally. I’m guessing there were five to seven thousand spectators. It was the perfect size crowd for seeing an elite meet for the first time – just enough to seem somewhat “big time” but still plenty of empty seats to move around and get up close. The worst part of gymnastics meets is that you can either stay in one place and see all the competitors do a particular event, or you can move around and see one group of competitors do all their events but miss the others. I chose to follow the WOGA gymnast (there were probably about seven or eight total), which meant I missed seeing a lot of the other gymnasts compete which was too bad.
February 18, 2013 at 6:15 pm
Hmm 14.3 is very high for a FTY with a step all the same. Yeah I’m jealous because although I’m delighted I’ll be at this year’s worlds and 2015 there will be no moving at all and they will be my first two competitions. It was so tough to pick a section!
February 18, 2013 at 10:32 pm
Which section did you end up picking> I like floor because I like being front and center for the award ceremonies
February 18, 2013 at 9:34 pm
She had trouble with the DTY at nationals this year while injured, but she’s actually performed it pretty well in the past (Pacific Rim comes to mind). As an AAer, it’s possible she could make up the difference between a DTY and an amanar on beam alone. If she regains the dismount she competed in 2011, her D-score is going to be crazy high.
February 18, 2013 at 9:40 pm
I agree. The other girls can make up on vault in a team final atmosphere. What Ohashi’s got going for her are her beam/bars…not sure if she does an awesome floor; haven’t seen it in awhile.
In fact, if Katelyn can manage the DTY that’s more than good enough. She might have to do what Nastia did and do the 1.5 if she can’t manage the 2 twists.
February 19, 2013 at 2:38 am
Floor was blocked off for VIPs and I didn’t want to only have a good view of beam/bars so..vault. Its stand is lower than the rest and dead centre. I picked beam for beam ef but its quite high up compared to the other 2 days.
February 19, 2013 at 2:54 am
From my experience you should watch that section by floor. I sat there at worlds a few years ago the entire time and my original seat was further up. The first two rows were like 1500 bucks and they wouldn’t let anyone else sit there so I sat a few rows up and they originally reserved that seat for the girl protecting the first two rows but she sat in the first two rows and I had the most amazing seat I never paid for.
A lot of those seats are not reserved for specific people which means you won’t be questioned. Some are reserved. The worst thing they could do is make you move. The early rounds you will have more opportunity for the better seats by the floor.
Good Luck.
February 19, 2013 at 1:43 pm
I’m happy enough being directly opposite floor, in the first 12 rows for AA and EF Day 1, can’t remember exactly. I wasn’t able to go for the whole week for prelims sadly. Hoping to do that for Glasgow, depends.
February 20, 2013 at 4:30 am |
“I don’t hate beam but I don’t love it”
WOW didn’t expect that from her! haha I guess this is one of those times where what you’re good at isn’t necessarily your favorite. Maybe she’ll change her mind when she wins a beam title at worlds… (:
Also, Katelyn posted on her instagram that UCLA is her dream school! I wonder if that means she wants to compete for them as well?
Nero– totally agree about the podium colors! I almost feel bad for the London Olympians– the stills of them is not as nice as the backgrounds for Beijing (who thought rainbow would turn out so well?!) and Athens. I hope to not see a background in pink for a very long time.
February 20, 2013 at 4:00 pm
I remember Gabby saying beam was her favorite too and thinking that was odd considering she falls off of it more often than not.
I hated all that pink. I can’t help but feel like Nastia was somehow behind it, given her FIG status that they never really seemed to take away from her even though she was COMPETING.
February 20, 2013 at 8:26 pm
I find it hard to believe that beam is really any gymnast’s “favorite” event. Maybe best event but not favorite. The funniest line was when Letterman said that beam should be banned and McKayla said, “I tend to agree with you.”
February 21, 2013 at 6:42 am
I feel like life as Nastia is quite nice! People just love her. She could be the next Nellie Kim (not that everybody loves Nellie, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nastia holds a high position in the gymnastics world one day!).
lol I always think that if any event HAD to be banned, it should be vault since it seems to cause the most injuries. And why don’t you think beam is anybody’s favorite? I’ve never done gymnastics but I’d be most scared of vault, hands down!! Or maybe a bars dismount. Basically anything with lots of speed and amplitude. Beam seems the least scary to train. Minus the whole 4in or 10cm thing that we are reminded of during each competition…
February 21, 2013 at 8:04 pm
I think for me bars would be the scariest. Things go so fast and you can get dizzy and there’s release moves…there’s the possibility of face planting it like Nastia…on national TV…
Vault is kind of like the high dive in a way. If you hit the water/landing matt just a bit “off” you can really hurt yourself. And meanwhile you have to do all these crazy things in the air and take off of some bouncy thing (diving board/springboard).
At least on beam the furthest you can fall is the highest you can physically jump. And thank goodness it’s not solid wood anymore. Now THAT would hurt like a bitch.
February 21, 2013 at 8:54 am
i think we’ll all hoping nastia isn’t the next nellie kim, lol.
February 21, 2013 at 8:55 am
*we’re
February 22, 2013 at 1:34 am
I was not a gymnast so I really don’t know which events are considered the “scariest” or “least favorite” by the gymnasts. However, I guess I said I don’t think beam is a favorite among very many because almost none of the gymnasts, not even the very best on beam, appear to be truly truly confident on that event like they do a lot of times on the other events. At least it seems that way to me. They always have a bit of a nervous look on their face like they are just hoping to get through it without screwing up. I don’t see that nearly as much in the other events. Of course it might be that you see the nerves much more on beam because everything happens so slowly in comparison to the other events.
I agree though that vault and bars are probably the “scariest” events if by scariest you mean the most dangerous. Whenever there is a really serious injury where a gymnast is paralyzed it seems to usually involve one of those two events. The idea of doing a back flip on beam though is pretty darn scary if you ask me.
February 25, 2013 at 2:57 am
Oh, I did equate “scariest” with “least favorite.” oops! Yeah, I agree with you then. Beam is definitely the girl’s version of pommel horse! It definitely requires the most mental ability above all, which is why d-scores and beam finalists are so hard to predict for this. I think this is also why I often don’t think the beam champion for a given competition is necessarily the best beam worker at the competition.
February 18, 2013 at 8:05 am |
ohh bless kyla for being so nice, normal and focused! im glad she wants to be focused back on AA now. i wonder if her peers (the new seniors/final year juniors) treat her just the same as always or if they are a little in awe of her that she has been able to accomplish already what their all aiming for (olympic games).
katelyn seems like a sweet kid. they all do actually, lexie and simone included. the US is really lucky to have such a talented bunch.
February 18, 2013 at 10:15 am |
So excited to see what Kyla can do this year. though the thing she does with one leg on at a time on her toe on skills on bars bugs me a little bit, I hope she changes it soon.
And was I the only one who LOL’d when katelyn said “I don’t hate beam, but I don’t love it.” I wouldn’t be too fond of it either if I was training such difficult skills so early. As much as I agree that she is way over scored too often, I really hope she can last this quad because I really want to see how she matures in her gymnastics.
February 18, 2013 at 5:26 pm |
I can’t lie, I love Kyla – “umms” and “likes” and all. I hope she can be the next Shannon Miller and have a longer career. If she can get new skills and upgrade she’d be the one to beat.
Katelyn seems sweet too. She lacks the power of some of the others but maybe that will play itself out. If US is super strong in vault (which they are) she can likely make the Olympics focusing on the other three events. Especially bars. I haven’t seen her recent bar routines; does she have the potential to get the difficulty of the Russians?
February 18, 2013 at 6:13 pm |
Her bars look like a struggle at the moment. Lots of people are saying that’s due to her trying to adjust to her growth. Her pirouettes are nice, except the Healy which is atrocious and needs to go. She’ll need to focus more on dynamic release/release or release/transition combos anyway to rack up her start value..not pirouettes. It looks like Kyla is doing the release/transition bit nicely in her video. Anyway, Katelyn has huge potential on bars, just isn’t showing it yet.
February 18, 2013 at 6:36 pm |
I agree with you about Kyla….typical teen girl with her “likes” and “umms.” I wish her well. She is a sweetheart!
February 18, 2013 at 6:29 pm |
I think the USA should start having the girls’ bars go the route of Beth Tweedle. Since they can’t take girls out of the womb and have them start learning pirouettes maybe they should start having them do harder release moves and dismounts. When was the last American to do a def? And Anna Li learned the Shusanova after college right? Beth isn’t a twig and was able to learn the tucked double double dismount.
February 18, 2013 at 8:36 pm |
They will need to, to rack up high scores. China have already got going on release combinations. One and only American to do a Def was Morgan Evans. I.need.counter kims and mo saltos. The Chinese and North Koreans have the best chance to do the crazy releases now (old codes pretty much had a built in deduction for them) with their stature.
But Bailie key now has a Downie AND a Church!
February 18, 2013 at 7:33 pm |
I don’t know what you all think but I’m pretty impressed with Aly’s delivery in her Flippin’ Awesome videos. She still sounds pretty monotone when she gives interview but she is light years ahead of where she was just a few months before the Olympics.
February 19, 2013 at 12:30 am |
Is that Rebecca Bross at 1:28-1:30? I had no idea she was still training seriously enough to go to camps…
February 19, 2013 at 12:30 am |
I should add, the gymnast I am asking about is in hot pink on the right side of the screen at the edge of the floor mat.
February 19, 2013 at 12:36 am |
Bross has not been at a camp since before the Olympics
February 19, 2013 at 3:39 am
Yeah I just watched the video on a bigger screen and it’s totally not Bross. Apparently being overtired is making me see things.
February 19, 2013 at 3:40 pm |
It’s Polina Shchennikova
February 19, 2013 at 3:32 am |
Thats not Bross, as for the quality of Kylas gymnastics, you dont know how many reps she had done on skills before they filmed her. She could have been near the end of her workout on bars or done and they asked her to go back. Or shes just showing skills and isnt polished yet. Its still better than Nastia last year at trials.
February 19, 2013 at 9:43 pm |
I couldn’t focus on a word Lexie said cause all I kept thinking about was how I want to wax/shape her eyebrows better
February 19, 2013 at 9:50 pm
What video are you talking about?
February 20, 2013 at 8:10 am
This Video
February 20, 2013 at 5:09 pm
LOL — those are some eyebrows. Looks like something from a Star Trek movie.
February 19, 2013 at 10:58 pm |
Alicia Sacramone’s mother’s maiden name is Goodwin. I believe her father must have been Jewish. So, Alicia Sacramone is part Jewish like Aly Raisman
February 20, 2013 at 2:06 pm |
Good to see Excalibur get some good press. A new Guiness Book of Records for most people doing a cartwheel was set over the weekend in Virginia Beach.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/oceanfront-cartwheelers-easily-upend-world-record
February 20, 2013 at 2:19 pm |
Since according to Gabby the cartwheel is basically all Excalibur teaches, it’s nice to see them capture the world record for it.
February 20, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Well Gabby is an uneducated idiot!
February 20, 2013 at 4:05 pm |
Bravo excalibur. Great cartwheel teaching. Im sure Randi Stageburg and the numerous other top NCAA gymnasts and their parents are so grateful their daughers excellent cartwheeling skills got them a free education…. in college…. Gabby has to go back to training she has no money. Her mom ate it all …
February 20, 2013 at 5:07 pm |
What is the D level for a cartwheel?
February 20, 2013 at 8:55 pm
A cartwheel is only an A on beam lol. B if it’s a mount and D if it’s an aerial cartwheel
February 20, 2013 at 9:39 pm
LOL I was just joking and didn’t think about cartwheels on beam.
February 21, 2013 at 6:35 am
haha oops! I thought you were serious. (: Well I guess my revised reply is: not high enough to pay for excalibur.
February 21, 2013 at 4:03 pm
February 20, 2013 at 6:05 pm |
at least for now, the us is planning on sending a wag athlete to the tokyo cup
February 20, 2013 at 6:56 pm |
In that video Lexie makes mention of Germany… not sure when that was recorded or if that was the event EBee went to….
February 20, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Its a friendly meet between Romania USA Spain and Germany. Takes place 1 week after jesolo. Or before. So prob same lineup. Tokyo is different again…loving all the international assignments.
February 20, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Tokyo is another world cup like SCAM or the two meets that Ebee went to in the fall. USAG retweeted a tweet that Ebee is cleared to resume full training. Will be interesting to see how quickly she can get back into the mix.
Unlike the men’s team, Marta tends to not send gymnasts to events unless the US can dominate them. Will be interesting to see if the US follows through and sends someone and who it will be.
February 21, 2013 at 7:15 am
I find it slightly ironic/odd that people claim these international meets are great for experience but Marta doesn’t give her gymnasts many international assignments and yet USAG is indubitably triumphs in consistency (among other things like team finals and vault and whatnot lol).
February 23, 2013 at 1:28 am
It’s now a rule that each country that hosts a world cup has to send an athlete to every other world cup.
February 20, 2013 at 10:57 pm |
Apparently Sarah Finnegan is going to be at camp. Can you imagine an American Cup with Kyla Ross and Sarah Finnegan with Simone Biles doing exhibition! One can dream. Assuming that this camp will also decide teams for Jesolo/Germany though, hopefully we’ll get to see Sarah at some of those.
February 20, 2013 at 11:02 pm |
When is camp because the Cup is in 13 days.
February 21, 2013 at 7:01 am
We need some inside information from camp this weekend lol!
February 21, 2013 at 8:57 am
totally! yay for finny going to camp!
February 20, 2013 at 11:03 pm |
I don’t get the Biles hype. She has a great Amanar but I have not seen anything else impressive about her. Maybe I should watch again.
February 20, 2013 at 11:16 pm
According to usagymnastics website it’s from the 23rd to 26th February. I don’t really know why I like Biles, I guess because she has an amazing amanar and hopefully will get a second vault soon and her bars have improved a lot. I also love watching her floor with the height she gets on her tumbling and she has quite good form for a power gymnast with her build.