perfect 10

Ok, so you’ve read the first post about the good stuff from the recent World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Now on to…

THE BAD

• The US Women’s leotards. Who picks these things? They look like some weird cross between the leotards of the early 80s (note the neckline) and an Adidas running shoe. I wasn’t a fan of the all white leos of the early 90s but even those would be better than what the poor US women have been sporting of late.

• Cheng Fei’s current Floor music. She is an absolutely exquisite performer on Floor but this just doesn’t really showcase her abilities as a dancer. She was flawless on Floor in the Team Finals but it just wasn’t as enchanting as her performances in the past (2004 Olympics). I hope she has something new next year.
• Vanessa Ferrari’s Comaneci salto on the Bars. Did she make it even once in Stuttgart?
• Speaking of Vanessa Ferrari… although she really hung in there (and nabbed a bronze in the All Around) with her injured foot and she deserves to be commended for that, she just seemed a little tired in Stuttgart. She probably was. I hope she returns to full health for Beijing next Summer. She is an amazing athlete.
• I know that many of you will disagree with me on this one but I would say that Ksenia Semenova’s Bar win in Event Finals would belong on this list. I know that her difficulty was out of this world and that she had the highest difficulty in the field but I don’t think her routine was overall superior to Nastia Liukin’s. I know Nastia is American and you may disregard my opinion because you think I’m a sore loser but you can’t deny that Nastia swings a mean set of Bars and that she is world class. You can’t beat her lines and amplitude. They both had a step on the dismount… I would have given it to Nastia.
• This goes without saying. Ekaterina Kramarenko’s Vault in the Team Finals. I’ve known from my very first competition as a 6-year-old Level IV USGF gymnast that you can run past the board and vault but that you cannot touch the horse. She must have just had a complete mental lapse. We’ve all been there. It was heartbreaking to watch.
• This may seem strange to you but I’m going to add Li Shanshan’s fall on her full turn in the Beam Event Finals to this list. I know I listed this on the good list as well but I really think it belongs on BOTH lists. Although I stand by all I said about it on the good list, it’s still only a full turn. And at the World Championships, nobody should be falling on a full turn.
• The Australian Women’s Team performance overall. They have been steadily moving up the ranks but in Stuttgart they were only 11th. I was eagerly expecting both Hollie Dykes and Dasha Joura to be in contention for All Around gold but they did not perform to the best of their abilities by a long shot. I hope they are back in the game in ‘08.

Those are some of my thoughts. What did you think belongs on this list?
Coming soon: 2007 World Championships Review, Part 3 - The Outrageous