Gymnastics - No Ceiling

Wednesday

Team Romania - (Worlds) Qualification Videos - Vault and Bars

Vault

Ana Porgras (13.90/5.0)

Diana Chelaru (14.633/5.8)

Amelia Racea (14.4/5.8)

Raluca Haidu (14.366/5.8)

Catalina Ponor (14.766/5.8)

Uneven Bars
Diana Bulimar (12.433/5.4)

Raluca Haidu (13.833/6.0)

Amelia Racea (13.666)

Ana Porgras (12.666/6.0)

Diana Chelaru (13.533/5.5)

Over-scored... nothing really
Underscored: plenty... absolutely all the vaults. One question: what was wrong with Ana Porgras's vault?
The highlights: Diana Blimar's UB dismount, Pitic nailing all combinations,
My gymnast of the second half: Raluca Haidu.

What did you think of the scores?

Team Romania - (Worlds) Qualifications videos - Beam and Floor

The qualifications videos have finally arrived (thanks to piibuna on youtube). I was extremely curious how harsh were Romania really judged. After seeing the videos, I can say that they were sometimes underscored, rarely over scored and most of the times very fairly scored.

Balance Beam
Amelia Racea (14.733/ 6.1 D)

Diana Bulimar (14.066/6.3)

Catalina Ponor (15.00/6.3)

Ana Porgras (14.4/6.5)

Raluca Haidu (14.533/6.2)

Floor Exercise

Raluca Haidu (13.733/5.5)

Diana Chelaru (14.233/ 5.8)

Ana Porgras (13.866/5.6)

Diana Bulimar (14.4/5.8)

Catalina Ponor (14.2/5.8)

- The most over-scored in this batch was Raluca Haidu's BB;
- The most under-scored was Diana Bulimar's floor;
- The highlights were Raluca's and Amelia's opening passes on BB as well as Diana Bulimar's BB routine (except for the fall);
- My favorite gymnast so far - Diana Bulimar.

Monday

Romania return home without medals

Bellu: "Some drastic measures must be taken... Because this counter performance, for which I take full responsibility, must be left behind. Probably we made a wrong assessment and we were mistaken thinking some of the girls are able to do more and want more. For me the problem that remains is how these girls are doing so well in training and are unable to keep the rhythm during the competition and cannot regroup in order to overcome the mistakes they make.

It is a catastrophic result, let's not revolve around small words. I am waiting for the federation to draw some conclusions, I take responsibility for the failure although it is very difficult considering the amount of work we have put in this. We have a recipe that worked before Sydney and Athens but maybe the girls are made of a different dough. We will return to the gym and we will give up the label that the girls are unable to cope with a harsh training schedule. The ones that can cope with it will remain, the ones who cannot cope will not."

Ana Porgras: "I am glad I managed to focus and have a good (AA) final. I am thinking about London but I know that we must wake up after these Worlds and work hard in the gym. The elegance prize is nice, I feel honored but a medal in the event finals would have been better."

Source: Prosport

Friday

Nelson Savage Interview (Gymnastike.org)

Watch more video of World Gymnastics Championships Tokyo 2011 on gymnastike.org

"...there are a lot of great professionals out there, they know the girls that have passed through, they know the ones that have done quality gymnastics... I expect they will keep the scores the way they started until the and and that is all we can hope for"

Bad day for Romania at Worlds

My heart breaks for these girls...

Photo by Brigid McCarthy

Tuesday

So far so good...

Anna Li
photo credit: Brigid McCarthy

Anna Li is injured and although she is trying to think positive and she says she may compete and keeps pushing, I don't see this happening.

But who's up for USA on bars? Vote here------------------------------>

Aly:

Watch more video of World Gymnastics Championships Tokyo 2011 on gymnastike.org

McKayla:

Watch more video of World Gymnastics Championships Tokyo 2011 on gymnastike.org

Sabrina:

Watch more video of World Gymnastics Championships Tokyo 2011 on gymnastike.org

I am positive Marta will put in TF the top three scores from qualifications, so of course that stage will be decisive. But's let's play this little game :)

Wednesday

Defining success in the pre-Olympic year

For Romania, a successful pre-Olympic World Championship does not necessarily equals winning the most medals. This is a story of building a strong team. Tokyo is not the finish line but merely a part of the process.

I do not expect anything but with my (limited) understanding of this process here are a few of the things I want Romania to achieve in this stage (in no particular order):

The team to go like clockwork in qualifications… Bellu is a master in preparing his teams to compete their best when the big one comes. Simulations of the qualifying competition have been the focus ever since Nationals so they are ready; what’s left is just for the gymnasts to rise to the occasion and make Bellu a happy coach;

Amelia Racea to manage two all around competitions without major errors and to achieve her full potential D score. When 2012 comes, Ama might get the chance to play the steady all arounder for Romania. This is her chance to prove she is mentally strong;

Porgras to shine on floor… Some say this routine looks a lot like her old one, I think she is able to perform it so well that it becomes a separate story;

Two gymnasts in the beam and floor event finals respectively;

Pitic to hit bars… and break the 14.0 barrier every time she competes her bars set;

Ponor to be glued to that beam… not as much as a hair has to move;

A surprise vault... and I will not say more :).

For some, this may seem little after more than a year under B&B. People may be disappointed if they don’t win a team medal and by the looks of it they will have it. I do think there will be the occasional surprises, good and bad. But no achievement will be greater than leaving Tokyo with 7 healthy gymnasts hungry for medals and enthusiastic to make it to London.

What are your hopes for the Romanian team in Tokio? I am really interested to find out how you feel!

Monday

Romania in the News - Week August 30th - September 4th

Ana Porgras - Prosport

Short interview with Ana Porgras after Romanian Nationals - in Prosport (read it HERE)

Marian Dragulescu is back and wants to win the gold medal at the Olympics - an interview by GSP (read it HERE)

Fangymnastics published the second part of Beatrice's journal (read it HERE)
Brigid at The Couch Gymnast wrote a great piece about Catalina Ponor's career (HERE)

An interesting article about former Romanian gymnasts Simona and Camelia Renciu (from the same generation as Ecaterina Szabo) who are currently living and coaching in Luxemburg (HERE)

And Andra000lumi uploaded many videos from Romanian Nationals - from WAG, MAG and juniors- on her youtube channel.