US Nationals - highs and lows

First and foremost, I wish Rebecca Bross speedy recovery and I hope she will be back in shape and competition ready in spring 2012.

Here is my take on the best and worst from US nationals, leaving Becca out of the discussion:

Vault

Best three were as expected: McKayla Maroney’s Amanar - I don’t believe there is any point in having debates on who has the best Amanar ever but this is as good as it gets, especially the one from Day 2 was up there with her most successful ones; Jordyn Wieber’s Amanar: although not as good at Maroney’s, this vault is very reliable too; Alicia Sacramone’s Rudy (Day 1)- power, amplitude, execution, just the step on the landing which will always be there so we have gotten used to it by now.

Gray area: Gabby Douglas’s DTY (the vault she did at Jeloso), Macko’s DTY – you never know when they can go wrong.

Disappointments: provided that Aly Raisman sticks to the DTY (which looks nice) there are no routines that are thought of as contenders for a TF or a Qualifications scenario and are not decent.

Uneven Bars

Best three were - Wieber - I hate the beginning of that routine. I am far from being an UB “specialist”, so don't mind me, but those kips look labored and she looks as if she is managing all elements with force rather than swing. But it gets the job done.

 Macko (day 2)– Yes, 6.0 SV is not good for an event specialist. Except that Macko is past the event specialist status so as long as she gets the 9.0s and 8.7s for execution  (granted in a home competition) she is guaranteed a high mid 14’s mark at worlds too!

Shawn Johnson - her routine from night one was where she wants to be at this point. She will add more difficulty in the next weeks especially now that she gained so much confidence.

Gray area: Gabby Douglas – I love Gabby Douglas’s bars but on this event too she always seem to have 50/50 chances of success (day 2). 

Memmel: I think Chellsie looks good on UB and I thought she could add 3-4 tenths and make it a nice one. But the shoulder incident in night two indicated the chances of improving are actually slim. (day 1)

Disappointments : Anna Li – It would have been nice but she was doubting herself too much (day 1, day 2).

Bridgey – she seemed Anna Li’s little sister (in terms of nerves and fear of competing) rather than Macko’s :) (day 1, day 2).

Balance beam

Best three: Wieber's - a routine of average D score (at a World scale) but a routine she handles really well. Respect for the way she managed to stay up there on day one! (day 1, day 2) 

Sacramone: Despite having a few wobbles on the second day of competition, Alicia’s beam is still a strong event for her. (day 1, day 2)

Shawn Johnson: Dear SJ, thank you for listening to your instincts and keeping the sheep jump out! Your routine is very enjoyable without it! (day 1, day 2)

Gray area: Memmel, because she is a rock on beam BUT she seems to be taking the “trick - paaaause - trick” to a new level. (day 1, day 2)

Disappointments – no obvious ones. You are disappointed when people don't perform at the level that was expected, but I don't feel it was the case.  Douglas (with her difficulty - at Jeloso) and Anna Li (with her artistry - day 1) do come to mind in this category but it's more about what I wished it could happen and less about their possibilities. 

Floor

Best three: Wieber, again is champion of consistency on floor. And she may not be the most gifted dancer but she does not look embarrassed nor out of place. On the contrary – she manages to show excitement and does not hide the fact that she likes her music; she sells the routine. (day 1, day 2)

Raisman – her major challenge is to stay in bounds on the first pass, which is great and is worth the risk. She too seems comfortable with her music, though not as successful in conveying the feeling of excitement. (day 1, day 2)

Sabrina Vega: I like the music and choreography and she is consistent. (day 2)

Gray area: Sacramone - success is not guaranteed but it does not look like she will not get there in the next 6-8 weeks. I like the music but every time I watch her routine I expect a little more from the choreography. (day 1, day 2)

Maroney: because she is inconsistent. And who does an arabian double front as a last pass anyway? (day 1, day 2)

Chellsie's routine - although she is getting there difficulty wise and has good tumbling, there is not much artistry in it (day 1, day 2).

Disappointments: the overall level on floor was a bit disappointing, as TCG also pointed out, there are simply too many steps taken, OOBs, uncontrolled landings, things that hurt the final score.

Based on this, the US team would be: Wieber, Maroney, Sacramone, Raisman, Macko, Johnson

Alternate: Memmel/Vega

What is your team?

Romania in the news - week 15 - 21 August

Deva are aiming at winning the Senior National title in Onesti, where Romanian Nationals are starting on Friday. The team will be composed of: Raluca Haidu, Diana Trenca, Amelia Racea, Beatrice Margarit and Maria Balea ( source: Mesagerul Hunedorean, article HERE)

Catalina Ponor's birthday was last week, on the 20th. She told Libertatea she will not have much time for partying and that a 24 year old gymnast sees things differently. (Source The Couch Gymnast - from Libertatea; articles: HERE and HERE).

Ana Porgras interview (by Curaj Romania) - HERE

Last interview of the Curaj series - Sandra Izbasa HERE

A few articles on Romanian Gymnastics Federation website about the Summer Universiade where the Romanian MAG team have won five medals. This year's big goal is qualifying a full team for London Olympics. (www.romgym.ro; articles here and here)

Fangymnastics have started a series called Beatrice's Journal - written by a former Romanian gymnast who retired from gymnastics at a young age (from what I understand). (source: fangymnastics.com; article HERE )

And Catalina Ponor posted what seems it will be her floor music on her facebook page. It needs a bit of editing because the original piece is over five minutes long, but it suits her well:

Ghent Challenger Cup 2011 - complete list of participants

Summer Universiade - China's Xiao Kangjun wins AA

the medallists from left to right:
Mai Yamagishi, Xiao Kangjun, Alena Polyan 

The favorites of this AA final seemed to be Yana Demyanchuk (European Beam champion in 2009, multiple finalist at worlds and europeans), Xiao Kangjun (because she was the Chinese:P), Alena Polyan of Russia, Jo Hyunjoo of North Koreea (finalist on various events at Worlds) and the two Japanese Mai Yamagishi and  Yu Minobe  (because they had contributed to Japan's victory in team finals).

It was an interesting competition to watch. 

Xiao Kangjun was the leader after the first rotation an maintained her position throughout the competition, with brilliant bars (15.00) and solid beam (14.20). 

Alena Poyan looked very happy with her performances. She seemed fit and competition ready from the beginning; her only weakness were bars where she struggled with the transitions and with hitting handstands. Other than that she was very confident and poised. This may be a long shot but it looks  she would be able to help that depleted Russian team at Worlds in Tokyo. 

Mai Yamagishi and Yu Minobe had similar performances with one notable exception that was the difference between second place and fourth place: Yu's fall on the UB dismount (lovely routine otherwise). They presented low but acceptable FTY's, good uneven bars routines, showed confidence and grace in their beam work.

Yana Demyanchuk did not look like herself yesterday. From the beginning, from her laid out Yurchenko, she was a bit off (12.75), then she fell on UB. I did not see her beam routine but by the score - 13.95 compared to 15.2 in the first day of competition- it incurred a big deduction, probably for another fall.

The surprise of the competition was Kristina Palesova who had one of the highest marks of the day on UB 14.05 and successful, though easy, beam routine (13.65). Low difficulty on floor and VT dropped her on 5th. 

Jo Hyunjoo started well with a 14.05 on vault but she withdrew after a nasty fall on uneven bars.

The complete All Around results are HERE

Romania in the news - week 8 - 14 August

Your weekly fix of all things Romania!

(It's about time Romania had an article a week with links to all noteworthy articles, clips and other goodies published in the last seven days, right?)

- Ecaterina Szabo spoke to Jurnalul National about her bitter experience as a Hungarian native in Communist Romania. Original article HERE and translation by Fangymnastics HERE.

- Andreea Isarescu recently got married and of course her old team mates were there for her on the joyous occasion. Read the article HERE.

- An interview with Catalina Ponor who looks super-slim and determined by Curaj Romania, watch it HERE.

- Also by Curaj Romania, on Facebook, an album of over 50 photos from Izvorani, check it out  HERE.

- World Team prediction Week: Romania - TCG

- The Romanian MAG team won the bronze medal in the team competition at the Summer Universiade. Article HERE.

- From Romanian Gymnastics Federation - the schedule for Romanian nationals - HERE.

- This week's episode of The Medal Factory (one of the best so far!) was about Sabina Cojocar. Read a translation by Fangymnastics HERE.

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

"I wish Mariana many medals

especially on beam" is Octavian Bellu's wish for Mariana Bitang on the 49th birthday.

"I am like a mother... a mother must also love them and tell them when things are not going well" she said to the press who wanted to also find out what presents she had received. She gracefully replied she was aware only of the flowers and there were also some unopened boxes somewhere.

Mariana Bitang was congratulated by the president's wife who also brought presents for the gymnast. The gymnasts sang her happy birthday and said that they needed to regroup and bring home shiny medals (Ponor), and that they love it when Mariana is happy, the atmosphere in the gym is much nicer - Izbasa (why did we have a feeling it was the case :) )

Also a nice present from Ana Porgras watch it here (at 00:40).

Other clips, most of the times same images but you can discover interesting things if you watch closely - here and here:

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 2

"Junior" years

This part is about the some of highlights of Larisa’s long junior international career whisch started in 2007 and it continues in 2011…

In 2008, when she was "already" 12 years old Larisa and team mate Diana Bulimar participated in the Top Gym competition in Belgium. Larisa finished the competition 4^th all around (behind Jordyn Wieber, Yvette Moshage and Kamerlin Moore) and had the 4^th highest score on vault, second on beam (0.05 behind Wieber) and 1^st on floor (tie with the American). On uneven bars she had the 14^th score in the competition.

A few weeks later Larisa took part in 2008 Challenge international, a junior competition held in Netherlands, together with team mates Patricia Tiron, Mihaela David, Ana Maria Baicu (all of whom are now retired from gymnastics). She finished the competition 4^th all around behind Corrie Lothrop, Olivia Courtney and Amanda Jetter. She had the highest marks on beam and floor, was third on vault and 9^th on uneven bars.

In 2009 her most notable competitions were:
 the National championships which was the first time she competed on the same “scene” as the Romanian senior gymnasts. Granted 2009 was not a particularly good year for the Romanian national team, Larisa stole the show. Here is her BB routine, when Alina Alexoi, the Romanian National Television commentator is in awe of the discovery.

 (For the ones of you that don't speak Romanian her's a summary: she (the commentator) first says that  Larisa seems sure footed, then is amazed by the tucked full, then she says she doesn't want to make her fall so will refrain from praising her, then she starts again by applauding her leaps, jumps and acro skills only to be shocked by the pirouette and the triple twist Larisa throws in the end.)

in November 2009, Larisa returned to Charleroi for the Top gym competition. It was time for redemption: she won the all round and the beam final. She also competed in the UB final, finishing 7^th.

In 2010, prior to the Euros, Larisa and the other members of the Junior team were allowed to participate in the Romanian International competition (outside the contest). In the first day she had some mistakes in the AA competition, finishing 6^th but the event finals she stole the show from the seniors (once again): she had the second highest total on vault, was 3^rd on UB, 1^st BB (better than first place – Ana Porgras) and 1^st FX (higher score than Diana Chelaru who won the final).

At the Junior Europeans, a few weeks later, in a competition dominated by the Russians, Larisa was among the few gymnasts who were able to challenge them. She contributed to the team’s silver medal and then took bronze AA (behind Komova and Grishina), was second on BB (with an watered down routine) and shared the first place on floor with Anastasia Grishina.

  

Up Next – Larisa’s development in the last year, since she became a member on the Romanian Olympic team. Don’t miss tomorrow’s “newspaper”!

Read the first part here:

Larisa Iordache – The beginning

The Story of Larisa Iordache - Part 1

The beginning

Larisa Performing one of her signature moves - Top Gym 2009
Photo source http://www.gymnasticsunited.com

Born on June 19^th 1996 in Bucharest, Larisa is the “child” of CSS7 Dinamo. You know who else was from Dinamo? I am sure you have heard of this name before: Aurelia Dobre. Larisa’s first coaches at Dinamo were Mariana Silişteanu Câmpeanu, Raluca Suciu Popescu and Vladimir Potop

She comes from a family of athletes: her mother was a handball player who had to give up the sport when her family was unable to financially support her anymore and her father was a football player. Larisa’s brother, who is five years older than her, is also a professional footballer. Unsurprisingly, when she was little Laris also wanted to take up a sport: ballet.

But, as it happens, one day she was spotted by a gymnastics coach while rollerblading in the park. Mariana Silisteanu, the gymnastics coach, seeing the kid’s fearless and poised attitude asked her mother if she wanted to send her do gymnastics. The answer: no.  

Nonetheless she allowed Larisa’s grandmother to take her and check out the gym. It was not love at first sight for the five year old. Still, once she overcame her shyness and tried to do some gymnastics elements, the was won.

In fact, after the “play” hour had ended, she did not want to leave the gym anymore.

As time passed, she wanted to work more and never seemed to be bored of the training. He coaches started teaching her harder and harder elements eventualy starting the training appropriate for a future elite athlete.

By the time she was eight years old she had won her first gold medals at the “Little gymnast” national contest. And she loved it. Whenever she was second or third, that meant her ambition increased, it was only a sign that she had to keep working in order to maintain her status of best gymnast in the team.

At 11 she became a member of the junior national team and moved to Onesti.


Larisa's floor routine - 2007 (same choreo!)



Beam, same competition in 2007



Don't miss the next 4 parts about, among others, her results as a junior and how she ended up in the Romanian olympic team at 14 - I will post them in the following days.