Romanian Gymnastics Gala, aka The 2012 Blogger's Awards - part 1

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

Carmen from Romanian Gymnastics Fans - full time supporter and fan-movement organiser

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

Larisa Iordache, Sandra Izbasa, Andreea Iridon, Andreea Munteanu

Best gymnast on Vault: Sandra Izbasa

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Stefania Stanila, Catalina Ponor

Best Gymnast on Uneven Bars: Andreea Iridon, mostly because she can do things like this:

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Sandra Izbasa  

Best Gymnast on Beam: Catalina Ponor

also nominated: Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Andreea Munteanu

Best Gymnast on Floor: Larisa Iordache

also nominated: Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa, Diana Bulimar

Most Consistent Gymnast: Diana Bulimar

also nominated: Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa

Breakthrough Star of 2012: Andreea Iridon

also nominated: Andreea Munteanu, Asiana Peng

Routine of the Year: Catalina Ponor on Floor in the Olympic Event Final
Catalina Ponor, medalie de argint la sol!
   
 Vezi  mai multe  video    din   sport
  

also nominated: Sandra Izbasa VT EF London 2012, Catalina Ponor BB TF London 2012, Sandra Izbasa FX Bucharest friendly meet July 2012

Coach of the Year: Lacramioara Moldovan

Lacramioara Moldovan (right)

also nominated: Mariana Bitang, Octavian Bellu, Adela Popa

Best Junior in the National Team: Andreea Munteanu

also nominated: Stefania Stanila, Anda Butuc, Silvia Zarzu

Best Young Hope: Andreea Iridon

also nominated: Asiana Peng

Best WAG Club: CSS Deva

gymnasts from Deva at 2012 Romanian Nationals

also nominated: Farul Constanta, CSS2 Bucuresti

Fair-play Gymnast of the Year: Diana Bulimar

Larisa Iordache, Octavian Bellu and Diana Bulimar 

also nominated: Aliya Mustafina, Sandra Izbasa

Best International Gymnast of the Year: Aliya Mustafina

Aliya Mustafina

also nominated: Viktoria Komova, Gabrielle Douglas

Read HERE part 2 and HERE part 3.

Romania in the News: November 28th to December 4th of December

Prosport: Anca Grigoras about the reasons why Romanian gymnasts did not compete at Ostrava (HERE) ("they are in a different stage in their preparation", "It was something they applied for months ago", " "It's better so sign up for it in advance and then withdraw then not to do it and regret", you know, the good stuff)

Adevarul: Interview with Catalina Ponor (HERE) "Worlds were disappointing... no.. extremely disappointing" yes, she's said that many times but I guess people just don't have other questions for her, although this interviewer does try to find out a little bit more about Catalina, we must at least give her that.

... and the video version (HERE)

Messagerul Hunedorean: about Alpen Adrian Cup and Top Gym (HERE)

The Couch Gymnast: interview with Nicolae Forminte and Liliana Cosma (HERE)

Cris asks a good question: "Why is everybody leaving?" of the junior team that represented Romania at 2010 Europeans only Diana Bulimar and Larisa Iordache are still training. My question is, is Stoica asking himself these questions?

TVR: a renown Turkish physician has examined the gymnasts at Izvorani (HERE) - includes some training footage.

Libertatea: interview with Marian Dragulescu (HERE) - although libertatea is not AS ridiculous as other times, the interview is still extremely silly: "are you rich?", "what do you think about Marius Berbecar's 0 at worlds?"* and in the chapter "superstitions" we have warming up before competing.

*I am not sure if you are aware but, Marius Berbecar, who is a Romanian gymnast, and a pretty good one too, got a 0 for a vault at worlds. He could not perform the vault so he chose to land safely on his back - the result - a well deserved but far from unheard of - 0 mark. But the Romanian press is so moronic that the episode was presented as THE news from Worlds (maybe "Returning home without medals" was a bit bigger, not sure). I remember even reading something like "From Nadia's 10 to Berbecar's 0, 30 years of Romanian gymnastics". Yes. This is the press we have in Romania.

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 2011 - The videos

Ana Porgras - AA FX, BB, EF VT UB
Catalina Ponor - AA BB FX, EF VT
Amelia Racea- AA FX, BB, EF VT, UB
Raluca Haidu - AA FX, EF VT UB
Diana Bulimar - AA FX, EF VT UB
Diana Trenca - EF UB
Dana Andrei - EF UB, VT
Gabriela Dragoi - EF VT UB
Maria Balea - AA FX,

Special thanks to Serena and Alina for uploading these!

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.

Romanian Gymnasts that turn 16 in 2011

The greatest news is that Diana Bulimar becomes a senior. I hope it's not too late, considering her latest health problems.

Her strengths: she's a good gymnast all around; a double layout and overall great tumbling and leaps on floor; nice form on uneven bars and very difficult beam

Weaknesses: she is not completely recovered after her foot injury; she needs to upgrade on vault

Best Results: third on Uneven Bars in the event finals at 2010 Junior Europeans, second on floor EF at Youth olympic Games 2010

This is the floor routine from the YOG EF:

or here

Madalina Neagu

Best Result: Qualified in the EF on Balance Beam at 2010 Europeans

Strengths: Competitive beam and floor routines; she's the only junior that has a release move in her uneven bars routine (besides Diana Bulimar and Larisa Iordache), nice form on uneven bars, pretty elegant beam worker; she has switch ring leap on beam

Weaknesses: her vault, she has been injured for most of 2009

This is her beam performance at Romanian International 2010:

or here.

Diana Rusu

Best Result: silver with the Romanian team at 2010 Euros, qualified for the vault finals at 2010 Euros, 3rd AA at 2010 Romanian Nationals

Strengths: floor (great leaps and hight in tumbling passes) and beam

Weaknesses: the uneven bars (her D scores have been in the mid 3s)

or here

Beatris Margarit

Strengths:floor - she is a poweful tumbler and has a competitive D score on this apparatus, consistent on beam

Weaknesses: the uneven bars

Best Result: silver with the team at 2010 Euros

This is her floor from 2010 Nationals in Resita (a month ago):

or here.

Tatiana Geamparoiu

Strengths: floor

Weakness: did not show an Ub routine at 2010 Nationals

International Experience in 2010: Gymnix Junior Cup

This is the floor she showed a month ago at the Nationals:

or here

Ana-Maria Baicu

Strengths: she is lovely on twists on floor; pretty form on leaps on floor and beam; on beam she has the difficulty and much more: lovely arms and spins, great rhythm.

Weaknesses: She did not train at full potential in 2010 due to injury

International Experience in 2010: Gymnix Junior Cup

This is her beam routine from Gymnix Junior Cup

10 of the best performances at the YOG

The gymnastics contest at YOG is now concluded. Some gymnasts have been better than ever offering some nice performances, some unexpected (such as Carlotta Ferlito and Ana Sofia Gomez Porras) and some gymnasts have not been at their best, due to injury or other reasons (Diana Bulimar, Tess Moonen). All in all it has been a nice contest,since we have witnessed with some star making performances and some legendary ones.

I have selected the 10 best routines that no one should miss. Though I was unable to find the exact performance I was referring to, I embeded one from the same event in another day of competition.

10) Ana Sofia Gomez Porras - beam in the EF or here

9) Angela Donald - beam in the EF (this is from qualifications) or here

8) Natsumi Sasada - bars in the AA or here

7) Ferlito - beam from EF (this is from qualifications) or here

6) Tan Sixin - floor (in the EF) (this is from AA) or here

5) Carlota Ferlitto - floor in the AA final or here

4) Voctoria Komova's Amanar from the EF or here

3) Diana Bulimar's floor (from the EF) or here

2) Tan Sixin - beam (from the EF) or here

1) Victoria Komova - uneven bars (from the AA) or here

Diana's floor routine

There are alreay videos on rodolfocrazybrasil's channel. You can see there Vicoria's beam routine as well.

what a birthday for Diana Bulimar!!

Great day for Diana at the YOG, as she managed to capture her first medal, a silver in the floor finals. Diana, who stuck 3 of 4 landings managed her best routine of the year, the same day she turns 15.

The star of the day was Tan Sixin who captured the gold medals in both finals. Here are the medalists:

Beam final:

1. Tan Sixin - 15.55

2. Carlotta Ferlito - 14.825

3. Angela Donald - 14.450

Floor Final:

1. Tan Sixin - 14.525

2. Diana Bulimar - 14.325

3. Victoria Komova- 14.175

Komova has had a rather dissapoining last day: she fell twice off the beam and almost sat her first tumbling pass on floor.

Youth Olympic Games Qualifications - as predictable as they seemed...

Yep,YOG are predictable to a certain extent... I mean we all knew from months ago Komova will win many medals, the question was 5 golds or just 4? After yesterday's qualifications it seems that it will only depend on Tan Sixin, on how she manages to overcome the fact that she's the Chinese hot favorite on beam (we know very well what had happened to most of them...).
But the nice part is Komova will not allow us to get bored because with those scores, can we complain? I mean 61.000 in a competition outside the US internal scams and nationals? That is huge. Komova IS the best gymnast in the world right now; had she been the right age to compete at the worlds, she would have dominated the same way she dominates the YOG. Not only does she have huge difficulty (6.5+6.5+5.9+5.5) but her execution is almost flawless as well (9.2 for her Amanar, 9.1 on UB, 9.25 on BB and 9.05 on FX).

Our Diana Bulimar had a pretty good qualifying round, but too similar to the the Euros... It seems that her beam execution is not getting any better... She qualified fourth for the AA, 5th for VT, 3rd for UB and 3rd for the FX finals. So good, but not great. I personally am a bit perplexed about the way her beam set is pulling her backwards instead of becoming her strenght, because I know she can be great on beam:

This is at YOG:


And this is at Romanian International:

Komova - All Around European Champion (Jr)

Victoria Komova won with a total score of 58.35, followed by her teammate Anastasia Grishina and Larisa Iordache of Romania. Diana Bulimar, who did not have a great UB routine, came 4th.

Larisa Iordache had a slightly better day than in qualifications, with the highest score of the meeting on the BB.

1 721 KOMOVA Victoria RUS VT 14.525 UB15.325 BB14.100 FX14.425 total 58.375

2 723 GRISHINA Anastasia RUS 13.950 15.225 13.400 14.375 /56.950

3 717 IORDACHE L. ROU 13.650 13.150 14.675 14.200/ 55.675

4 716 BULIMAR Diana Laura ROU 13.125 12.575 14.150 14.325/ 54.175

5 686 FASANA Erika ITA 13.925 13.300 12.250 13.450 /52.925

See the complete results here.