With that said, I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel but I will officially be on hiatus for awhile. Perfect10 will stay up but I won’t be posting save for the occasional burst of inspiration and free time that happen to strike at the same moment.

I’ve had some requests from guest writers and I’m happy to entertain those if you are interested in writing an occasional piece but don’t want to start a blog of your own.

So long for now,
Nance

• Jordan Wieber won.  No surprise there.  Didn’t it seem like the whole thing was scripted?   It all seemed a little too predictable, I guess.
• It was definitely a two person race on the women’s side.  Kim Bui of Germany, who came in third behind Wieber & Sloan, was almost 4 points behind the leaders.   Ridiculous.
• Bridget looked absolutely incredible.  She was calm & collected throughout the competition.   Her gymnastics was clean as usual and her tumbling was powerful.   Wow.  I can’t believe she didn’t win.
• That said, I ended up liking Jordan Wieber more than I thought I would.  She certainly seems older than 13, don’t you think?  She was very poised in her interview with Andrea Joyce.
• Speaking of Wieber, though, I can’t stop thinking about her level of difficulty.  While she doesn’t seem to be doing anything that is above her ability, I keep wondering why her coaches have her competing some of her skills.  For example, what’s the logic on competing a 2.5 yurchenko at this point?  So that she can hone and perfect it over the next four years?  I just wonder if that is wise, considering how hard it is to train a vault of that caliber.  She doesn’t need the vault at this point, does she?  Why not compete the double-twisting yurchenko and continue to work the 2.5 onto soft landing surfaces until it is truly needed?  I don’t know.  I go back and forth on this.    What do you think?
• Youna Dufournet’s double pike dismount off Beam was downright scary.  And according to Tim Dagget, she did this repeatedly during practice.   She should not be doing this dismount. The judges should have docked her severely.
• I really liked some of the cool dance elements from the women.  There were some great double turns on Beam (well, the potential for some great ones anyway!) and I really liked that jump 1.5 on Beam from… who was it?
• Did Martha Karolyi get a new haircut?   I thought she was looking less like Donald Trump on Saturday.
• The Men’s competition seemed much more exciting.  At least there were several competitors within range of first place.  And it came down to the last rotation, which is always interesting.
• It would have been great to see David Sender pull out the win after the rough go he had last year.  I was glad he had such a stellar meet.   I am a big fan of Hambuechen, though, so I was pleased to see him end up on top.  He also had a rough go in 2008.  Well done, guys.
• Joey Haggerty looked great as well.  His form is fantastic.
• Where was perennial middle man, Al Trautwig?  We haven’t heard commentary on NBC without him, in what, 10 years?  I liked the new guy but how about bringing back John Tesh!
• Back to Bridget, I really like her lines and overall look (Elfi used the word “lovely” and I couldn’t agree more),  but I think she could add a bit more to her Floor choreography.    Agree?  Disagree?

• I like that there are only 4 tumbling passes allowed this quad for the women.  Hopefully we’ll see a resurgence of choreography and dance.
• Anyone watch the online coverage of the meet?  How was it?

Ok, that’s all for now.  What were your thoughts?  Did you enjoy the competition?  Still seem like a Scam to you?  Sound off below.

]]> http://perfect10.rustyparts.com/2009/02/26/2009-american-cupthings-that-made-me-go-hmmm/feed/ http://perfect10.rustyparts.com/2009/02/20/the-american-cup-other-odds-and-ends/ http://perfect10.rustyparts.com/2009/02/20/the-american-cup-other-odds-and-ends/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:49:14 +0000 nance http://perfect10.rustyparts.com/?p=234 So the American Cup is tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it. As other people point out often enough, it’s a bit of a joke. It gets a lot of hype for such a small, Amerocentric competition.  But I still tend to look forward to it.  It’s a tradition and comes at a dry time in the gymnastics year.

The first Cup of the quadrennium always proves to hold some excitement because it’s just that.  The first Cup of the quadrennium.  It’s a chance to see the up and comers.  A chance to see what might be in store for the next four years.  A time for new faces and new gymnastics.  A time to see what we’ll love and hate in the next Olympic cycle.  Well, from an American perspective anyway. 

On the international side, it’s not often terribly exciting.    Do they just not invite the right folks?  Is it just the wrong time of year?  The commentators make it sound like an international gymnast would give anything for an invitation to such a premiere competition.  Really? Seems unlikely, given that there are usually very few prominent athletes from other countries.   I agree with Blythe over at the The Gymblog.  It would sure be interesting to see the gymnasts she mentioned in this post about the cup.   I’d be interested to know how they come up with the lineup, who’s invited, who accepted, etc.  Anyone know?

So we’ll see how things go tomorrow.  I’m not holding my breath.  But I’ll certainly be watching.

On to some other things…

1. About a month or so before giving birth I was asked to review a leotard for Foxy’s Fitness Fashions.   That proved to be difficult because my belly was too large to fit.  So finally, four months postpartum, I put the leotard on and can give it a fair review.    I was sent this leo.   The fit (all things considered!) was excellent.  It was snug but not too tight.  The fabric had the right amount of give to it and was not itchy.    I personally did not care for the design/colors of the leotard but I realize that I’m not 13 anymore and that my tastes have changed dramatically since that time.    Also, the hole on the backside of the leotard seemed a little large.  It goes pretty far over on the sides.

Here's a close up of the fabric, taken by my husband. I wasn't brave enough to let you all see the full-body shot of me doing my old floor routine in our living room...maybe next time

So I give the leotard a hearty thumbs up and will gladly send it to the first person to answer the question below correctly.   It’s a size 12.

Question: There was a story televised about Martha Karolyi during the 1992 Olympic Games.  During the broadcast, she was referred to as an “ever-watchful” what?

Sidenote: I noticed that the website has matching scrunchies for their leotards and I’m sure they sell a lot of them…but why?  Why do gymnasts (including Olympic gymnasts!) continue to wear scrunchies when the rest of us tossed them out around 1995?   Seriously.

2. While I was on maternity leave from this blog, I did some thinking about my blog.  When I started blogging in April of 2005 I was one of the only gymnastics blogs out there.  But now there are dozens.  And some that are really well done.  So what I’m wondering is this: What do I have to offer?  What is it that you, the reader, are interested in reading about on a blog like this?   In other words, should I keep this up? Or is it time for me to step aside since there are so many others out there?   What do you think?  I’m not looking for accolades here or anything like that. I’m just curious.  What do you think?

The night before going into labor…no, that’s not a martini.  Just a fun glass

With our best friends about an hour after giving birth.

Gryffin…only in the 15th percentile for height at this point - perhaps he has a future as a gymnast!

Vault: Congratulations to Hong Un Jong who was able to capitalize on the mistake of Cheng Fei, the Gold Medal favorite prior to the finals.  A first for North Korea - well done.

Like most everyone else, I was thrilled with Oksana Chusovitina’s silver.  Her form seemed somewhat improved to me and her landings were spot on.  Doesn’t she normally compete a Tsuk 1.5 for her second vault?  That’s what I was expecting anyway and was impressed to see her pull out the double.    I hope she continues on to 2012 as she’s been quoted as saying.  What an amazing feat that would be!

As anyone who has read my blog will know, I am not at all a fan of an athlete falling and yet winning a medal over someone who did not fall.  So I obviously did not agree with places 3 & 4 in the final.  Alicia Sacramone hit two clean vaults.  Yes, they are not as difficult as Cheng Fei’s but Cheng fell on her second vault.  Sacramone should have had the Bronze.   And who didn’t want to Sacramone have success in the final after the rough day she had in the Team Finals?   She deserved to medal here and she didn’t. 

Bars:  Everyone has been going on and on about the bizarre tie-breaker that gave Nastia Liukin the Silver to He Kexin’s Gold.  Yes, it was a strange outcome.  And I thought Nastia’s routine was better that day.  But did anyone else think that Yang Yilin should have taken the Gold?  She nailed her routine, had the same start value as Liukin and He (7.7), and she rocked her dismount.   What were the deductions for?   Regardless, it was a great final.

I also liked seeing Beth Tweddle’s routine.  She seemed a tad rushed throughout but she still hit for 4th place.  With her ridiculously high start value (7.8!) she almost snuck onto the podium.

Beam: Shawn Johnson finally got a gold here.  She hit a near perfect routine and her high A score ultimately put her ahead of Nastia Liukin, who also hit an impeccable set.   It was great to see her come out on top here.   With three silver medals, I thought Shawn was incredibly gracious in defeat all week but as she said herself:

“Of course, when you’re training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold,…”

It was great to see her big smile again and to at last have that elusive gold medal.

As for the bronze medal, I wanted to see it go to Russia’s Anna Pavlova.  Both she and Cheng Fei had small errors in their routines but I preferred Pavlova’s set overall.  They were so close - they had the same difficulty score and their execution scores were only separated by 0.05.  Tough call.  Who did you think should have had the third spot behind the Americans?

Floor: With Sandra Izbasa taking the Gold, Shawn Johnson the Silver, and Nastia Liukin the Bronze, what an incredible Floor final.   I think any one of those 3 could have wound up taking the Gold.   Izbasa had the highest difficulty and Liukin the highest execution score.  It was fun to watch.  And good to see Romania get a gold medal.  Doesn’t quite seem like the Olympics if Romania isn’t in the mix, does it?

It was difficult to see Cheng Fei and Anna Pavlova struggle on this event after they both had trouble on Vault but otherwise it was a good final.

And so that concludes my Olympic blogging… for the most part :)  What did you think of the Women’s Event Finals?  Did you agree with the final placements?

Men’s Floor: Zou Kai was amazing for Gold but I was so hoping to see Diego Hypolito come out on top.  His error on his last pass after a nearly flawless routine was devastating.   He looked absolutely crushed.   Here’s what he was quoted as saying after the competition:

“I don’t know what happened,” Hypolito said. “Everything was fine. I never expected this would happen. It’s an element I’ve been doing for years, and I never get it wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all the Brazilians.”

Anyone know if Hypolito is planning to continue competing after these Games?

Pommel Horse:  I admit I don’t know much about Pommel Horse.  I realize that Xiao Qin was dominant but I still don’t like seeing a routine with a big form break take the Gold.  It seems counter-intuitive somehow.  Bravo for Great Britain & Croatia on the Silver & Bronze.

Rings: Chen Yibing is brilliant.  His dismount, as I mentioned before, is fantastic.  I really like how he flairs out of it.  I was very much disappointed for Jordan Jotchev.   After taking the Silver (instead of the Gold he deserved) in Athens, I wanted to see him on the podium.

Men’s Vault: Didn’t get to see too much here with the NBC broadcast.  I could not believe that Marian Dragulescu basically carbon copied his performance from Athens.  That was unreal.  His first vault, again, was a perfect 10.  No question.  And then he biffs his second vault.  I just couldn’t believe it.    It was nice to see the Chinese Men’s gold medal streak interrupted finally with Leszek Blanik’s gold.

Parallel Bars:  But the streak picked right back up after Vault with Li Xiaopeng taking the title on P-Bars.  It was a well-deserved gold for him.  Great performance.  I also really liked Anton Fokin.  He has such a smooth style and his routine was quite pleasing to the eye.   Is anyone else sick of all the doubles between the bars, though?

High Bar: Poor Fabian Hambuchen.  It was his last chance in Beijing, a chance to make up for all his missteps earlier in the week but he was just not on at this competition.   He did pull out the Bronze but he could easily have challenged for Gold.  I was so impressed that despite his personal disappointments, he still seemed to be genuinely cheering for and encouraging the other men out on the floor.  Impressive.

Zou Kai… hmmm.  Apparently his start value was just unbeatable but his routine was boring.  Except for his excellent full-twisting jaeger his routine seemed unexceptional to me.  Am I airing my ignorance here?  Is there something that I’m missing?

Jonathan Horton: Wow!  What a show!  High flying release moves and a thrilling dismount.  I think a routine like that should take the top spot.  Anyone else think so?  Or am I showing an American bias?

What was your take on the Men’s Event Finals?  Agree with my assessment?  Disagree?

So it seems like we all pretty much knew that the two American women would take the gold & silver if they both hit.   And I knew that no matter which one ended up on top, I would feel pretty sad for the one that took the silver.  Not that silver is bad but either one of them could have wound up on top of the medal stand and both were equally well-prepared and deserving of that top spot.    And I did feel bad for Shawn.  I was thrilled to see Nastia pull through with 4 incredible routines to take the title, but it was hard to watch Shawn come up just a bit short.  Can’t be an easy spot to be in.

Beyond that, here are a few of my general thoughts on the competition…

• It was great to see such a hotly contested competition.  It seems like the past few years of major All Around competitions have been fairly weak.   I particularly liked the fact that none of the top competitors fell.   If you fell, you actually lost a chance at a medal.  Imagine that.
• I personally prefer the style of Ksenia Semenova over that of Yang Yilin but both pulled out top performances in the All Around and the higher A score put Yilin on top.
• Speaking of Semenova, her full-turn on Beam (and double turn on Floor in the same position) is gorgeous, don’t you think?
• Nastia’s vault was perfection.  I’ve not seen it’s equal.
• I didn’t care for the way Al Trautwig quoted Valeri Liukin’s comment about winning gold medals.  It made it sound as if gold is the only thing accepted in their family.  Is it just me or does it seem like the media is out to portray Valeri as this overbearing, pushy coach & father?  We rarely hear anything positive about him.   From all I know of him, he seems like an incredibly kind and considerate man, who has coached his daughter well.    Thoughts?
• I really like Yang Yilin’s combo of backhandspring, back tuck on Beam  Well done.

Now it’s your turn to sound off.  Fill me in on your thoughts.

Ok, enough said about the coverage.  On to the competition. My thoughts…

So Yang Wei finally has his gold.   It’s about time.  And he couldn’t have scripted it any better… to have been thwarted for so long and to finally achieve his lifelong dream in front his home crowd.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  Well done.

I must say, though, that his overall performance was not stellar.  I have been slowly coming around to the new code of points but something sure seems amiss when the Olympic All Around champion can finish SO far in front with a high bar routine like that.  Not to mention his lackluster start on Floor.  Just makes me wonder… I realize his dominance on the other four events but still.  Seems strange.

Speaking of which, how about Kohei Uchimura?  The guy fell off pommels twice!  Again, he was brilliant on the other events but it just doesn’t sit well with me.  He certainly has a brilliant future.  I’m looking forward to seeing him in the next quad.

Bravo to Benoit Caranobe!  I had never even heard of the guy.  It was so fun to see someone totally unknown and unexpected have the meet of his life and win a medal.   I’m excited to see him in the Vault final.

So while the final was a good one, I’m still left with a lot of questions about this code.  What did you all think?  Did you enjoy the final?

Like Rick McCharles over at Gymnastics Coaching, I felt a bit deflated after the Women’s Team Final last night.  China was brilliant and were well-deserving of their gold medal.  But I, too, was hoping it would be a closer race for the title.    This morning I didn’t really feel like blogging about it.  Then my husband sent me the link to an article by Meghan O’Rourke on Slate.

Here are a few excerpts…

The American girls came out onto the floor in shiny red leotards that made them look like Las Vegas showgirls. On average 30 pounds heavier and 3.5 inches taller than the doll-sized Chinese gymnasts, they had the sheen of aging starlets, imbuing the scene with a peculiar Sunset Boulevard feel. From the start, we knew how this would end, with the young outshining the “old.” Briefly, after the Chinese team completed its third rotation, the balance beam, it looked like the Americans had a real shot at the gold: The Chinese team leader, Cheng Fei, had taken a dramatic spill, earning a huge 0.8 deduction. But Alicia Sacramone, the oldest member of the American team, misjudged her mount and, arms windmilling, fell from the beam before she even got on it. It was as metaphorical a fall as it was literal. In the next event, the floor exercise, all three American competitors—Shawn Johnson, Liukin, and Sacramone—stepped out of bounds, as if the equipment were taunting them: You’re too big and old.

It was hard not to see the American girls’ failure to stay inbounds as a kind of Freudian slip—or Freudian step. It was as if, worried that the Chinese might have an unfair advantage, the Americans suddenly became aware of their growing bodies, of the potential for harm, of how easy it is to make a mistake, of how fast time flies and the body stiffens, even for those who can flip through the air and perform ever more complicated release skills on the uneven bars.

And then a little later in the article…

Meanwhile, in other news: Apparently the Romanians are so “Westernized” that they actually “text message” between rotations now. Tim Daggett, NBC’s color commentator, noted this development breathlessly, fingering it as the cause of the Romanians’ dramatic decline in the past four years, practically bemoaning the passing of athletic slavery in Eastern Europe. (Gymnastics truly can bring out the fascistic perfectionist in anyone.)

Click here to read the entire article.

It’s hard to know where to even begin in a critique of this article.  I’m not even entirely sure what it’s about.   So while I further form my thoughts on O’Rourke’s outlandish piece, I thought I would post it and see what you think.   What do you think she’s trying to say with this article?  Is there any validity to her assertions?  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.