Although it may not have been the best day in the history of gymnastics commentary, it's interesting and entertaining.
Nadia calls Produnova's bars "nothing special". Of course Isarescu is "conservative" but clean :)
She seems to like Viktoria Karpenko much better... until she calls her "robotic" - on beam.
Bart is not much nicer either. "look at her bangs, is that like an airfoil?" referring to Karpenko's hairstile while doing a Shushunova on floor.
I liked the fact that they show a little bit of the juniors, with Stroescu and Cojocar dominating the event finals. And you are not going to believe what was Pavlova's specialty. Uneven bars junior champ!
Part 1: bars final, with Produnova, Martinez, Isarescu, Khorkina, Karpenko
Nadia is openly bored with Khorkina's routine "Not only she can close her eyes and see her routine, I can close my eyes and see her routine" bwahahahaha
Part 2: Vaults by Moya, Zamo and Amanar, Karpenko and Khorkina on beam
I did believe that Raducan was technically better than Ludivine Furnon but really, the French gave one of the most impressive performances I have EVER seen in an event final.
part 5 - and a very energetic take on Carmen by Produnova:
this was what went through my head when i read this: this is the third nomination and 2nd Bloggers Award for Bea. She has also been nominated in 2011 for .... (If only I hadn't been one of the judges LOL)
I think that the Review of the 2013-2016 Code of Points was the top article - the thing is Oana and Mihai co-wrote it so they couldn't vote themselves on first place, could they? As per why all the articles nominated were written by the members of the jury... No comment :) Let's go on:
Best Event of 2012 (in Romania): July 2012 Friendly Meet (ROU - GER - FRA - ITA)
Best Aerobic Gymnast: Valentin Mavrodineanu
Best Rhythmic Gymnast: Alexandra Piscupescu
Most Emotional Moment of the Year: Sandra Izbasa's joy when discovering she has won the Olympic Gold tied with the 4 Nathional Anthems we had to listen to during 2012 Euros
Emotional moment of the year
also nominated: Catalina Ponor on the FX podium at the Olympics and Viktoria Komova's FX routine and the wait for the All Around final results in London 2012
Biggest Surprise at the Olymics: Gold on Vault for Sandra Izbasa
also nominated: Sandra's 5th place finish in the AA competition, Jordyn Wieber not qualifying for the All Around final, Aliya Mustafina's Bronze in the All Around
Most Desired Accomplishment (prior to the Olympics) come true: Romania medaling in the WAG Team Finals
London 2012 - bronze medal
also nominated: Beth's Olympic Medal, Gold on UB for Aliya Mustafina, Kohei Uchimura winning the MAG All Around
Gymnastics No Ceiling Award: goes to Bellu and Bitang for not giving up and always wanting "the best" for Romanian Gymnastics
The "specialist" bloggers and honorary guardians of Romanian Gymnastics have again joined powers to find the best of Romanian gymnastics - gymnasts, coaches and moments. Because 2012 was the year of the Olympics, you will notice special categories that were introduced for the event of the year.
So, I give you the members of the jury:
Mihai from Fangymnastics - mastermind, logistics manager and nominee
Alina from Tare and gimnastica.net - activist, journalist and benefactor
Oana from Puzzle - pretty much the most knowledgeable person in Romanian WAG
and myself (the oracle of The Couch Gymnast as Brigid candidly named me)
As you will notice, one of the most positive things was that while the WAG team had a very strong core, in 2012 more young gymnasts were noticed and rose at the top in some of the categories.
On the not so bright side, the Romanian gymnastics is made of a handful of people. Especially in MAG the unanimity we reached, in the Olympic year nonetheless, is not a good sign.
And can I say YAY for Lacramioara Moldovan winning "WAG coach of the year"? What a lovely lady!
Each blogger gets to award a special "prize" to someone that he/she found worth mentioning outside the categories already presented. If I had to give a special thanks to someone this year, those would be Bellu and Bitang, for refusing to lose hope and continuing to fight for the reconstruction of Romanian gymnastics.
So here are the categories and their winners:
in Women's Artistic Gymnastics:
Best All Around Gymnast: Larisa Iordache
also nominated: Sandra Izbasa, Andreea Iridon, Andreea Munteanu