The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 4

Routines and elements

Vault

"Repertoire": over the last 12 months, Larisa has been competing Yurchenko vaults: FTY, Yurchenco 1 1/2, DTY. In 2009 she competed a round-off half on tuck at nationals.

Can she improve? Yes. If her execution of twisting elements in general is a good indication she seems capable of a TTY, let alone an Amanar.

Best scores: Larisa has received very good execution scores for her DTY, most notably at the French nationals (9.6) and at Gym Festival in Trnava (around 9). However, at EYOF, in July 2011 her E scores were around 8.6 for the same vault. Unfortunately I was unable to find footage of any of the routines but the images from previous competitions show that she is a clean vaulter in general.

On the downside: she has only competed easier vaults so far. With the level, on this event, of the best all around gymnasts in the world she needs a 6+ vault.

Memorable routines: her Yurchenko 1 1/2 at Schiltigheim (October 2010) and at Nationals (September 2010)

Uneven Bars

Repertoire: stalder + stalder with counter motion to high bar, Maloney + clear hip circle, giant 1½ + piked Jaeger, sole circle 1/1+ Tkachev+ Pak salto, stalder with counter motion to high bar, full twisting double piked, full twisting double tuck.

What will she add next? Probably in the next period she will focus on re-arranging elements in order to get more bonus points. The targeted dismount probably is a double twisting double back.

Best scores: Larisa's best UB scores were received recently at Gym Festival (June 2011): 14.9 in the AA competition and 14.25 in EF. In the most recent competition, EYOF, her high score on this event was 14.25 (all-around competition).

Weakness:her E scores on this event can fluctuate greatly, between mid 7s and high 8s, the problems being bent arms, bent knees, poor handstands.

Memorable routines: At Gym Festival 2011 in Trabzon (qualifications)

Balance beam

Skills: flic-flac + tucked full, double turn, switch leap ½, aerial walkover+ flic-flac + layout stepout, front picked + back tuck, side somi, split jump + sissone, switch leap+ back tuck, round-off+ flic-flac+ triple twist;

She has experimented with an L turn (in competition) and a layout to two feet (I've only seen that in training);

Can she upgrade? Yes, by adding an artistic element of D or higher value. She could also add the layout to two feet somewhere in existing routine or by inserting a new series (round-off +layout to two feet for instance);

Highest marks: 15.6 in EF at Gym Festival, 15.5 in qualification et EYOF;

Weaknesses:  she doesn't really have a weakness on this event. Her D scores have fluctuated between 6.5 and 6.7, since September 2010. Execution-wise she constantly scores above 8.5;

Watch this! her BB at Trnava and at EYOF.

Floor

Range of skills: passes - whip to triple twist, full in tuck, 2 ½ twist+  front tuck + front tuck, double tuck

artistic elements: triple turn, quadruple turn, double L turn, Johnson, split leap 1 ½, switch leap + switch leap with full turn;

what elements to expect in the future: 3 1/2 twist, Silivas;

Highest scores: 14.85 at Gym festival, 14.60 at EYOF;

Problems on floor: sometimes she has problems with the quadruple turn, her leaps are not credited all the time;

Must see: her routine at 2010 Nationals and at Gym Festival 2011 .

Ok friends, it seems that we are done with part four. It's been a long one! And it represented, for me, the nitty gritty I am not always good at. Now more than ever if you have anything to add, corrections etc. please leave a comment - it is appreciated!

You can read the first three parts here:

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 1

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 2

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 3

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 3

Training with the seniors

new team mates (Larisa is second from right to left between Raluca Haidu and
Diana Chelaru)

In September 2010, before Romanian Nationals, it was announced that Larisa Iordache had been transferred to the “Olympic team”. In other words she had started to train with the seniors under Bellu and Bitang. The head coaches, whom had taken over the preparation of the national team in June 2010, had as main goal building a competitive team for London 2012. Bringing Larisa over (at only 14) was among the measures to achieve that.

At the Nationals, in the junior competition, Larisa won gold medals in the all around and on all the event finals. The story becomes “boring” after this:

- October 2010, Larisa was sent, together with seniors Dana Andrei and Diana Trenca and junior Maria Balea to an international competition in Schiltigheim. She again dominated, winning the all around with a total score of 58 points and all apparatus finals (on vault it was a tie with France’s Elodie Perez).

- May 2011: she is sent, along with other team mates in much need of gaining competition experience (Haidu, Andrei, Trenca)  at the French Nationals. Wins AA, VT, BB and FX

- June 2011 – Gym Festival (Trnava) wins AA, UB, BB, FX

- a couple of weeks later: Great Britain vs Romania (friendly meet between the junior teams). Larisa wins AA and gets the highest scores across the board

So here we are, in July 2011 at the European Youth Olympic Festival  - Trabzon 2011. For the first time I was nervous for her: this was the big meet of the year and this was the first time since april 2010 when she was supposted to be competing against those Russian Juniors, especially Anastasia Grishina and Anastasia Sidorova. Add to that Bellu’s statements that this was the meet which had to put Larisa in the spotlight, to make a reputation for herself. I say reality check time seasoned with a bit of a killer pressure from head coach.

But the Russians had once again managed the impossible and Grishina and Sidorova were left home to mend some new minor injuries aquired out of the gym.

With one challenge out of the way – thing that I bet did NOT make the coaches nor Larisa as happy as some may think - the battle now was with herself: competing three days in a row all around without having a major mistake.  

The final result speaks for itself in a way: 3 silver medals (team, VT and UB) and 3 gold medals (AA, BB, FX). By "in a way" I meant that in the all around the margin was of about 2 poins so even with a fall, she couldn’t have lost that title. 

On top of those medals, Larisa came back victorious: international press (meaning mainly us bloggers LOL) were raving about her and most importantly, she stayed on the apparatus, "on her feet", until the last routine, for three days in a row. Not bad, I say.

We have seen in parts 2 and 3 of my rants about Larisa Iordache how she beautifully developed, since 2008, on the international scene. Up next, in part 4, I will take a look at her routines and the skills she has competed during these years but also ask the big question: is she capable of more?

The story of Larisa Iordache – Part 1

The story of Larisa Iordache – Part 2