Romanian Nationals 2011 - Part three

Balance beam

1 Ana Porgras and Catalina Ponor (tie)
3 Amelia Racea

I think the judges first gave it to Porgras then to Ponor only to make it a tie in the end. Ana had more wobbles but Catalina messed her double spin. Ana had better form but was a bit rushed while Catalina had better rhythm and seemed more confident. I wouldn't have wanted to disappoint any of them so I was glad both of them were happy.

Amelia Racea continues to deliver on beam though she wobbled on her tucked full. 

Gabriela Dragoi also had a good routine. If she adds back her spin combo and a more difficult dismount she can be an option for the team.

Diana Bulimar and Raluca Haidu both fell on artistic elements.

Floor

1 Ana Porgras
2 Catalina Ponor
3 Diana Bulimar

Porgras' DLO brought her the floor National title, even with the slightly bent knees on landing she seems to handle that pass very well. I wonder if they will put her full in back in the routine somewhere. At this point, I doubt anyone knows for sure. Probably are still looking for the most comfortable combo of acrobatic elemets.
Ponor was fantastic, even better than in the first day, though she still  has form issues on the triple twist. She gets closer and closer to sticking those landings.
Didi Bulimar did not have the same fantastic routine she managed to do in qualifications (OOB on the first pass, a double layout). She looked tired after three days of competitions.
I like how Racea's new floor is choreographed, I think it will do wonders for her. (HERE)







More videos on serenenz's channel on youtube.

Romanian Nationals - Part one: All around and Qualifications

It's been a good one...

Ana Porgras won, with a fall on the UB dismount. Her beam routine is not as artistic as it used to be, the choreo is almost all gone but it looks rock solid. The floor on La Boheme is great. There are a few elements of her old choreography in it but as she will compete it, this new routine will have its own "personality" . On vault - only did a FTY, she will probably never be a gymnast to throw DTYs in all competitions but I don't think she will hesitate to show it in a Worlds AA final. On UB - she is back to her old routine and she had improved execution compared to this spring. 

Amelia Racea was second. I think her beam routine is my favorite of the Romanians at the moment because it's not as watered down on choreography and her leaps and jumps are perfection. On floor, they seem to be trying everything to make her dance more. She looks as bored as ever. It's heartbreaking really because she is such an elegant gymnast - to me that this is only a mental thing. On vault - she still has that bent knee on the second flight phase. On uneven bars she looks good, better than last spring. I hope she can add one tow tenths in difficulty on time for worlds.

Raluca Haidu hasn't improved much really. But she had a good AA competition: her beam was good (though watered down), on floor she has the same music - the artistic elements are as good or better than last year but her acro series are not as well executed. Vault was good, comforting that she still has the DTY. her uneven bars set is increased in difficulty which is good but the execution is still not there - gosh she has such nice lines it could be brilliant.

Diana Bulimar came back to competition after more than a year. She was not allowed to step with her injured foot for about four months as we shockingly found out from Cristian Moldovan (who was the commentator along with Alina Alexoi). Diana was up first on beam and though she looked very good, she fell on a front salto. She had the most fantastic floor (5.8 D score) which I didn't manage to see but Moldovan, who was also the coach that accompanied her at last year's YOF, said her artistic leaps and jumps were much improved and that she had worked a lot to solve these issues because she had understood that last year she lost to Tan Sixin because of the artistic part. They did not manage to correct her piked position on handstands on uneven bars but her transitions and dismount are nice. Unfortunately Moldovan said that the incorrect position was something that they also struggled for 3 yeas to correct while she was in the junior team.

Dana Andrei is still beautiful - but not yet the gymnast that can make it to a World championship.

Gabi Dragoi - is still far from what she could become. Uneven bars can still place her in the National team should the circumstances allow it. It's good that she still has four events.

I didn't see much of Diana Trenca - but she doesn't seem changed compared to last year.

Maria Balea fell on uneven bars again, other than that she looked good but tired.

Catalina Ponor showed some exciting gymnastics: beam was very good, better than in 2007 really; her floor routine although with some execution errors, looked solid. And her Yurchenko 1 1/2 was fantastic. The TVR commentator Alina Alexoi said that she landed a DTY on podium training the previous day. 

As a conclusion, Romanians had a good day overall, but the two "problem" events are still lacking. Beam was fantastic with three routines scoring above 15, on floor the coaches and choreographer are trying to find routines that are pleasant to the audience and suit the gymnasts' personalities -way better than in the Puia's era; Vault  was not so good - only two DTYs and a one and a half TY. Uneven bars have improved slightly compared to last year as there are now four routines with around 6.0 D score, but the same execution errors are still there.

Favorite moments of 2010 - Best of Balance Beam

Anna Dementyeva - Worlds qualifications

I had seen Anna Dementyeva a few times before. My impression was that, although she had good difficulty and exquisite lines, she could not hold it together for an entire routine. In the qualifications at the worlds she demonstrated that she can. Maybe next time she will be able to pull it off in the finals as well. 

or watch here 

Aliya Mustafina - Worlds AA

I love uneven bars and beam rotations in team finals and all around competitions. Particularly in Mustafina's case... we all knew that if she had a weaker event, that was the beam. And with so many things going on in this routine, frankly it is difficult not to make mistakes. This is how Aliya showed that she is destined for greatness: 

or here

Ana Porgras Ghent World Cup 

I love this routine for a number of reasons. Although not as difficult as the one she competed at Worlds, this beam set contains virtually no wobbles. The dismount is also nicer.

or here

Gabriela Dragoi - Romanian nationals

The moment I saw this routine was the moment I really believed Gabriela was back and capable of great things:

or watch here

Lauren Mitchell Worlds EF

I remember watching the podium warm-up of the balance beam finalists - an hour before the final. Mitchell was the last one to finish her warm-up. She  had problems with the two footed layout (as she had all week long) but she wouldn't give up on it. I watched her doing it a little better every time: from falls after each one, she corrected it a bit... big wobbles, then smaller wobbles. And then that was it: stuck layout to two feet.

part two of the almost lost pics

Mona Lisa smile:

Happy to be leaving smiles:

Diana Chelaru, on the other hand seems very comfortable:

Amelia Racea reminds me a bit of Gina Gogean. (and I also remember Sarah's take on Gina Gogean's serious face: "I'm a doctor, not smiley face". which I would link but her site is not available at the moment)
I have no idea how Amelia really is... she does seem a bit sad at times.
Even when she won the gold at Euros. See this face on the podium?

After this routine:


Maybe when she manages to overcome all injuries and be the best in the world we will see a big smile. But it's not mandatory... Amelia is a champion, not a smiley face :)

Top Gymnasts in 2010 according to FRG and my (not so thorough) attempt at undestanding the rankings

"At the end of a competitive year marked by many successes, both in artistic gymnastics, and aerobics, major international competitions - the World and European Championships, Youth Olympic Games, World Cup, the Romanian International Championships, National Championships and other top contests - a year of important changes regarding the organization and the preparation of the teams, a year that brought dissatisfaction as well, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation drew the line, denoting, according to tradition, the year's top 10 gymnasts 2010 in artistic gymnastics(women and men) and aerobics in the top rankings ranged Ana Porgras, Flavius Koczi and Mircea Zamfir whose performances this year are quite well known."

Rankings and some facts:

1) Ana Porgras

Most notable results: BB World Champion, 1st on BB in Ghent World Cup, 3rd with the team at Euros, 1st in the AA, 1st on Beam, 3rd on Floor at Romanian Nationals etc.

or watch here

2) Diana Chelaru

Most important results: silver on floor at 2010 Worlds, bronze on floor at Euros, 2nd on Floor at the nationals etc.

or watch here

3) Amelia Racea

Most important results: gold on BB at Euros, 3rd with the team at Euros 2010

or watch here

4) Sandra Izbasa

Most notable results of the year: 1st on Floor at Ghent World Cup, 1st on Vault and Floor at Romanian Nationals, 2nd on BB at Nationals, 2nd at the Arthur Gander Memorial

or watch here

5) Raluca Haidu

Most notable results: 3rd on beam and 3rd with the team at Europeans, 1st AA at Romanian International, 9th all around at the Worlds

or watch here

6) Gabriela Dragoi

3rd on BB at Romanian Nationals, 4th with the Team at Worlds

or watch here

7) Diana Bulimar

Notable results: 2nd on FX at Youth Olympic Games, 3rd on UB and 2nd with the team at Jr Euros

or watch here

8) Larisa Iordache

Notable Results: gold on FX, bronze AA and silver with the team at Jr. Euros, 1st AA and in all EF's at Jr. Nationals

or watch here

9) Cerasela Patrascu

4th with the team at Worlds, 3rd on Vault, 2nd on UB at Romanian Nationals

or watch here

10) Dana Andrei

Most notable results: 3rd on UB at Romanian Nationals

or watch here

So, according to FRG, 1st place in the World Cup beats Jr. European Gold AND Youth Olympic silver... wich is surprising for me. I would have had Ana, Diana and Amelia on first 3 spots as well... on 4th maybe Diana Bulimar (for her YOG silver), 5th Larisa Iordache (because of her Gold at Euros), 6th Raluca Haidu, 7th Sandra Izbasa, 8th Gabriela Dragoi, 9th Cerasela Patrascu and 10th Dana Andrei.

Cera and Gabi really mean business

(image from Prosport)

wooooow Cerasela Patrascu and Gabi Dragoi are training 4 apparatuses. This is what Octavian Bellu says in this press release (on Fangymnastics via Romanian Gymnastics Federation).

I would have never hoped to see them in such a good shape, training on all four events.

I've read before that for a gymnast to make the team, the essential condition was for her to be able to contribute on at least three events. The next step is to see Gabi and Cera competing at Euros in Berlin, if not at the upcoming Worlds. I know that their D scores are not as good as the other's for the moment... but they are both good at uneven bars and balance beam which are the best rewarded events, both of them being capable of routines with high difficulty (around 6.0) . The team that could use two gymnasts like that.

Via Fangymnastics

and Romanian Gymnastics Federation

First training under Belu, Bitang and Grigoras

Interesting pictures can be found in Prosport:

It must be weird for Sandra to have new coaches, although she says she's not nervous at all (read it in Prosport)

Hmm.. I wonder who that is, next to Gabi Dragoi...
Ana Porgras: her leg is still in a cast, unfortunately

Ana Porgras Photos - Romanian Nationals (part 1)

Ana Porgras - Warming up for UB

Ana Porgras, Gabriela Dragoi and Cerasela Patrascu

Ana Porgras- Before BB

Ana Porgras

Ana Porgras, Cerasela Patrascu

Ana Porgras, Liliana Cosma

Part 2: Beam final

The first Group of BB finalists

What a treat! Ok, there were still a few falls and wobbles here and there, but the girls looked rather good.

Ana Maria Tamarjan: after in training she fell off the beam tens of times (after every aerial walkover or front piked, as i mentioned in my previous post) in competition she managed to pull off a good routine. She had one major balance check after the switch ring leap and probably she wasn't given the element ( I mean it wasn't counted for the D score) but overall she looked strong. Her score was 15.2- to finish second, but the best part about the performance was that she showed confidence and was dominating the beam, looked in control, much more so than in the first day.

Ana Tamarjan, concentrating for her BB routine

Ana Porgras: so, she fell (again, as she had done in day one), but she is stunning, breathtaking, even at such an young age. What impresses me the most is the originality of the skills and the choreo. My hope is that this failure on the favourite aparatus at the Nationals, will only make her more eager to succeed and have clean routines at the worlds and not shake her confidence. Score: 14.4

Ana Porgras had some explanations to do after her routine

Amelia Racea: bb is not her favourite event, but she won. Because she is clean, frank and concentrated. She reminds people of Lavinia Milosovici, another well known hard worker, who didn't like beam. Milo used to say, (the same way Amelia will when she'll become the captain of the team Romania )"It's me, Mr Belu, with my ugly nodous knees that saves the situation.". Here, it was Amelia, with her quiet, yet bold performance that took the title, with a score of 15.400

Gabriela Dragoi: I was glad to see her looking ok on BB as well as on UB. Not much an improved performance compared to the Europeans in April (!!, must be really annoying for her too), but given the circumstances and precarious health, she looked more confident (and the girl even medalled) . Score: 14.60

Two good friends: Gabriela Dragoi and Cerasela Patrascu