Russian World Team Preditctions

Russia Cup has not completed but I have decided to release my predictions for what the team will likely look like. I will definitely be updating based on the performance of gymnasts during this week's remaining days of competition. This year World team will consist of six team members as opposed to the usual five that will take part in the Olympic games. The format is six team members, up to five take part on each apparatus, in the qualification, and four scores count. The team all around is three up three count.

The team will likely be as follows,

World Team: Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Alla Sosnitskaya, Maria Paseka, Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova.

 Alternatives: Anna Rodionova, Tatiana Nabieva?

On vault the team will be anchored by Maria Paseka's very shaky Amanar, two and a half twisting yurchenko. The vault is a mess of a vault but it is something she is landing and the team really needs someone that can anything more difficult than a full twisting yurchenko. Aliya is expected to do a solid double twisting yurchenko that will boost the team's vault scores. Alla Sosnitskaya is a respectable double twisting yurchenko as well but it wouldn't stand up against Afanaseyva's or Grishina's. Maria Kharenkova is likely going to attempt her single twisting yurchenko and Daria Spiridonova might too.

The uneven bars appears to be a much more solid piece for the Russian team and they are likely to have more than three solid routines to choose from. Aliya Mustafina is the lead on this apparatus, she is the defending bronze medalist, and is expected to bring a 6.7 bars routine. The return of Viktoria Komova is going to give Russia a 6.5 plus routine with a good reputation. Daria Spiridonova is likely to be third on bars with her solid 6.4 routine. She did well at the Euros and should try and use some of that success to lead her at the Worlds.

The fourth gymnast that could partake is Kharenkova who was spotted working a 6.1 bars routine. She made a mistake during qualifications of the Russia Cup but could have hit that routine. There is also Maria Paseka who is known to swing bars with a very limited difficulty but should be able to get through a routine.

The beam is a more tricky piece to predict but the top two are almost a given, Kharenkova and Mustafina. Kharenkova has established herself as a specialist on this apparatus and has so far been good enough to make the team. Aliya on the other hand is the reigning world champion on beam and would certainly be performing on this piece. She has a 6.4 routine with the potential for more connection bonuses.

The question really surrounds who will be that third gymnast as the options are limited. Komova seems to be the ideal option and would be great for the team but can she prepare a piece for this apparatus? The other option is Daria Spiridonova, she has good form and has some difficulty but can she hit when the team needs her? The head coach doesn't appear to have said faith in her and will not likely be performing on this piece unless they require her.

On the final piece, the floor, the Russian team has a couple of options and will be determined on the qualifications. Aliya is going to compete this piece and given her good track record on this piece she is good for the team. I only hope that she will be able to perform her high difficult routine at this year's Worlds. Then Maria Paseka, Alla and Maria Paseka will compete for the two final spots. At this point it is a real toss up and the best scores are going to dictate the moves that Russia makes.

Do you agree with my decisions? Leave a comment.

Live Blog of Russian Cup

I am live blogging from watching the live feed of the Russian Cup. The feeds are very bad, they don't show all of the scores and the names of the vaults. The commentators are speaking in Russian and I know very limited words in that language.

FTY=Full Twisting Yurchenko (5.0) DTY= Double (5.8)

OOB=out of bounce.

Floor

Maria Kharenkova on floor mount double arabian, memmel turn, one and a half twist to double piked, whip+whip triple twist, double turn with leg at horizontal, double back tuck dismount - hand down. D-score 6.0.

Vault

Ekaterina Kramarenko performs a clean full twisting yurchenko. Score 14.0.

Maria Kharenkova full twisting yurchenko much cleaner than Kramarenko, for a 14.1.

Aliya Mustafina does a double twisting yurchenko sticks it then takes a step back.

Alla Sosnitskaya looks off on her vault, DTY. Performs a second vault.

Maria Paseka appears to do an Amanar vault or a one and a half twisting yurchenko with a low landing and a step to the side - definitely out of bounce on the step. Does a second vault with a large step back and out of bounce.

Daria Spiridonova does a clean FTY with a very slight step.

Bars

Tatiana Nabieva is seen landing a full in double back dismount with a slight step. Her form looks improved.

Komova does a Komova II to Pak, Komova I, inbar stalder with half turn to layout jaeger, inbar stalder with full turn to tkatchev? and dismounts with a full in double back with a step. She looked very tired after the routine.

Note: She only did two giants before her dismount and she usually does three. Did not do a chow with 1/2 as was previously thought she would do.

Maria Kharenkova inbar stalder, toe-on full to Maloney to pak. She makes a mistake and has to do two handstands - doesn't do a van leeuewen after working it out. In bar half, piked jaeger, full in double back dismount. She did well to stay on the bars and not drop eventhough she was way off vertical. It appears she got 13 or something with thirteen.

Kramarenko does a good clean bar set but doesn't do any of the supposed complicated combinations that she had worked out in podium training. Score is 14.667 d-score 6.0.

Aliya Mustafina does a very clean set almost exactly the same routine she did at the Euros. Toe-on full to van leeuwen, piked release. Stuck full-in dismount. Almost as clean as the routine that won her a silver medal at the Euros. Total score of 15.40 and a d-score of 6.3.

Alla Sosnitskaya does a really clean set but with a few feet separation. Double front dismount was pretty clean and only took a small hop, her shaposhnikova variations were clean. Total score 13.833 d-score was 5.8, the judges were quite hard.

Daria Spiridonova did the same exact routine as her bronze Euro medal winning routine. She did the full difficulty and had a pause after one of her pirouettes but managed to keep a vertical handstand even with that. Almost stuck dismount with the smallest of steps forward but with cleaner form in the air. Total score 14.933 d-score 6.3. She missed a connection and that's why she lost the tenth.

Maria Paseka performed some uncommon connections and one into a very bad form pak salto. Did a very rushed pirouette and seemed to have a pause before her double front dismount with a large step forward. Total score 13.30  d-score 5.9.

Paulina Fedorova had a really bad day on bars with two falls but nice form in her handstands and pak salto. D-score 5.5 and a total score of 11.533.

Beam

Polina Fedorova does a BHS+BHSSO, nice L turn, sheep jump, interesting combinations especially one out of a full turn. Very clean two and a half twist. Nice job. Total score 14.4 d-score 5.7.

Aliya Mustafina double turn, excellent. Arabian stuck cold and into a couple of jumps. Split half to onodi to an aerial? and falls - she could have saved it had she faught. Double back tuck dismount with a step forward. Very impressive even with the fall as she was able to get all her combinations in. Total score14.6 d-score 6.4!

Maria Kharenkova front tuck, BHS+BHS SO + Layout to jumps. Does a front aerial into a sheep jump, aerial to back piked, L-turn to full turn, swith ring leap and a double back piked stuck but low landing. She could have won the world title on this apparatus with the performance she just did, BRAVO! Total score 16.2 d-score 7.0.

Ekaterina Kramarenko did a nice routine but I was so excited with the score of Maria Kharenkova that I didn't see half of it. Total score 13.60 d-score 5.2.

Alla Sosnitskaya layout combination was shaky almost fell, front aerial to jump, side aerial to illusion turn, side somi and a low landed double back tuck. She reminds me of the way that the Italian gymnasts do beam. Total score 14.033?

Daria Spiridonova does a y-turn to full turn, side aerial, aerial? to sheep jump, onodi, switch ring leap, nice jump combination, nice form on a her BHS+BHSSO+BHSSO but loses balance. Dismount was much nicer a double back tuck slight step. Total score 14.233 d-score 5.7.

That concludes the competition. I missed the floor portion of the competition except for Maria Kharenkova's routine.

Notes from the event: The federation has switched to digital scoring system since the Russian Championships earlier this year. I miss seeing the kids running around collecting the scores and handing them into the head judge and then manually entering the score into the boards.

Russian Cup: Pre-Podium Training Training?

Russian Cup is this week and it appears as though the gymnasts were given a day of podium training before the official podium training. Luckily for us The Couch Gymnast had a reporter in Penza and reported on some very interesting tidbits. With that said this appears to be a much more interesting Russian Cup than last year's almost no show by any of the top Russian gymnasts.

The reporter saw Viktoria Komova but did not witness her training but rather talking to Andrei Rodionenko. There shouldn't be anything read into it because it isn't the official podium training and this is the same gym that the Russian Nationals were held for the previous couple of years. I wouldn't make it a big deal until something otherwise makes it one.

The other major gymnast, Aliya Mustafina, appears to be taking Russian Cup more serious than was lead on. Valentina Rodionenko had previously said that Aliya was the only gymnast that was going to receive a bye for this event and it seemed like she wouldn't even show up until last week and now she might even do more than a bars set.

Even more appears to be going on as it was revealed that Aliya has put an arabian, on beam, back into her routine. She had been missing a lot of the connections in her routine lately and could do with the extra bonus that an arabian is worth but is a big risk. There appears to be other little changes in her routine which could be a test for potential World routines.

Maria Kharenkova was mentioned as performing solid sets on beam which isn't a surprise given that it's her signature piece. Alla Sosnitskaya is still having issues with her beam routine but is adding interesting combinations. The biggest surprise was the mention of Ekaterina Kramarenko, the vault flop girl. She hasn't been seen much since the 2008 Olympics but could be making a comeback. She was mentioned as having added a Pak salto to a Van Leeuwen or something of the sort. If that was true then she is really going for it on bars.

I'm really interested in seeing the action start on wednesday. It is guaranteed to be a fun-filled week of gymnastics.

via The Couch Gymnast - for the full in-depth rundown.

Vika in Penza with some awesome looking pants.

Gymnastics News: The Comeback of Anastasia Sidorova

Anastasia Sidorova's comeback appears to be much more serious than I previously thought. Anastasia was back in the gym training some basic elements last time we saw her but now she has moved on to more serious moves. The most impressive of all is that she has almost gotten her triple twist back although a bit helicoptered legs there. Form is quite lacking in some of the Russian gymnasts of that generation but not so much in the newer gymnasts.

Anastasia has a decent looking two and half twist, a double back tucked, double back piked and a full twisting yurchenko. Her FTY is back and it's good compared to some of the gymnast I saw last week at the Youth Olympic Games. It should definitely not be long until she has a full difficulty routine up on floor but not for this year's Worlds.

Below are some videos of her training said elements. She does look a bit labored doing them but I'm sure all the time has something to do with that.

Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube.

Updated Projected World Team for The US

Andy Thornton from American Gymnast has updated his projections for the US team and they are what we were all thinking but will Marta do it? The team he has selected has the gymnasts with the best D-scores and the gymnasts that the people really want to see at Worlds. The gymnasts are as follows,

If this team is selected there would be one slight issue, they are taking a big risk for a big reward. The team could bring home the most medals every by a US national team or they could have a splatter fest and not even bring home a gold in the team event. While the latter scenario sounds highly improbable and one fall wouldn't make a difference but a few would definitely make it happen. 

Andy's line up on each event is as follows, 

The lineup on vault would only have one Amanar (two and a half twisting yurchenko) vault with a d-score of 6.3. The other vaults would be a Cheng (round off half twist onto the board double twisting off) with a 6.4 d-score and a double twisting yurchenko valued at a 5.8. The difficulty would be lower than expected but with the strong vaulting it shouldn't make a big difference for the US team. Simone will definitely get a big number and that should make up for the weaker valued vault. 

The uneven bars is where the US would be taking the biggest risk and would rely on athletes that are seemingly being consistent. Kocian and Locklear have done as good as they possibly could these two past events and could bring big numbers to the team's score. The problem with these gymnasts is that they could face an unappreciative international judging panel. I can think of Anastasia Grishina and her big low 15s and then showing up to the Olympics and being unable to break 15. That could happen at these Worlds and would be a devastating blow to a team that has two bars specialists. 

The lineup on beam is a major strong point for the US team, they have the reigning Silver and Bronze medalist on beam and shouldn't have too much troubles on this apparatus. Their third gymnast on this apparatus is being billed as a potential event medalist with her current routine. I wouldn't go that far but all three are very capable beam workers and shouldn't come as a surprise if any medal.

The floor rotation is a whole different story, I've been saying the team title will be won or lost on floor for a while now and I mean it. The US team has capable gymnasts but they will have a hard time figuring out the best lineup for this rotation. Biles is a lock for this event but the other three options are risky when they go for their full difficulty routines. Skinner is capable of big elements but can easily flop if something goes wrong, Ross has low difficulty and if she goes for higher she will open herself up to mistakes. The Baumann option is hard to analyze given that I don't know what she's capable of doing and is definitely not a Skinner or a Biles. 

I'm not sure how the Worlds is going to go for the US national team but it promises to be a very interesting affair. My team would be much more different than this as I would go with a team that would for sure win Gold by focusing on their strengths and trying to minimize the weak points. I would stick with Dowell because an Amanar will for sure break 15.0 but a bars routine might not. 

What do you guys think are you digging this lineup? If you don't agree comment either on my blow or over at American Gymnast .

Brenna Dowell's Uneven Bars

Expected World national team member Brenna Dowell put down a really massive D-score at day one of the US nationals. Brenna's D-score was 6.7, which is puts her up there with the likes of Becca Downie, Yao Jinnan and Shang Chunsong. I would add Aliya Mustafina to that mix but she hasn't performed her 6.7 set since last year's worlds.

Brenna's form is not up to par with the likes of Locklear or the Chinese and Russian gymnasts but her D-score allows her to score a competitive number. The judges will definitely take note of the high risk and uniqueness of her combinations. I particularly like the release into the Ezhova transition to the low bar. It brings me back memories of Beth Tweddle's massively competitive uneven bars routine from London.

The judges credited her with a 6.7 D-score and a generous 8.7 E-score for a total of 15.40. While the judges were generous she is sure to receive at least 15 points at an international event. Does this mean that Marta is for sure going to take Brenna to Worlds?

Below is the video of her routine, do you guys spot the deductions? There were plenty to spot.

Via Gymnastics Coaching

Gymnastics News: Seda Tutkhalyan Wins YOG and Gowey Injured

The representative of the Russian Federation at the Youth Olympic Games, Seda Tutkhalyan, pulled out a very competitive win. The competition had almost turned into a runaway when Seda hit her first three rotations but turned out to be close when she fell on her last tumbling pass. The Brazilian gymnast, Flavia Saraiva, made it close after she hit her last two apparatus in a very impressive manner. The gymnast I thought would pull it out, Elissa Downie of the UK, ended up having two shaky performances dropping her to third. She had one too many wobbles on beam and a fall on her first tumbling pass.

If anyone noticed why I didn't call Seda Russian is because it's a very complicated story. I'll give you a brief explanation, Russian is used to describe an ethnic group that lent it's name to the country. The term that is given to Russian nationals is Rossiyane and it doesn't matter where the person is from or ethnicity. Seda's an ethnic Armenian, her father was a Soviet greco-roman wrestler just like Aliya's father. I wonder if that's the new think, daughters of those kinds of athletes make for good gymnasts.

Rachel Gowey, a gymnast expected by most to make the World Championship team is out of contention with an injury. Rachel broke her right ankle while performing her dismount on beam during the podium training to the P&G National Championships. It is quite a surprise for the injury to occur on the beam as that is her best apparatus. Then again dismounts are always the most tricky and the usual spot where gymnasts can injure themselves.

With Rachel being out of contention for the World's team the US national team will have one less good gymnast to choose from. They are going to lose a better than good beam worker and will probably have to change their strategy. The one good thing about the US team is that they have loads of gymnasts to call on and this will likely be a blessing to one young gymnast.

The US team is still the heavy favorite to bring home a gold even with the injury.

Breaking Down: Double Front Tucked With Half Twist Dismount on Parallel Bars

In men's gymnastics the go to dismount on parallel bars is the typical and trusting double back piked but some gymnasts are now doing forward exits for their greater value. I find it quite boring and too cookie cutter when a gymnast performs an easy double piked dismount. That's why when I see junior gymnasts perform forward salto dismounts I get exited for the future of the sport.

The dismount is not named for a gymnast but it is Oleg Verniaiev's signature dismount. The element involves the gymnast performing a double salto in a tucked position rotating forward followed by a half twist. According to the men's CoP, this element is worth an F and is the second highest value that a gymnast can obtain.

The element is grouped with the half twist with double back in tucked position but I have yet to see anyone perform it. I have no idea why they would group these two elements except for that they are worth the same value. They are very different elements and have the half twist in different positions and one is forward and the other is backward. This is just one of those idiosyncrasies of the CoP.

Junior gymnasts that are performing this dismount are Ivan Stretovich and Nikita Nagornyy, both representing Russia. I see a very bright future for the Russian program on parallel bars - other teams watch out!

Below are two videos one of Nikita Nagornyy and then of Ivan Stretovich performing this element in an exquisite manner.

Gymnastics News: YOG, Brazil Training and more!

The Brazilian representative Flavia Saraiva has sat down with the FIG for an interview that has shed light on the changes that have occurred since the arrival of Alexander Alexandrov. Alexander left the Russian national team shortly after the 2012 Olympics after being deposed of his position as national team coach. That's a whole different story and reading some old Rewriting Russian Gymnastics posts will sort you out.

Flavia states that the gymnasts are now training three times a day and they are not given days off - not even holidays! That's insane and almost something out of Bela Karolyi's crazy regime. That method is sure to burn out some gymnasts but can potentially create a star. The reality is that the Brazilian team is a B/C nation when it comes to gymnastics and requires this kind of training to even have a chance of competing with the top teams.

The interview also states that they are training more complicated elements which is nice to hear but not really news. The hard work isn't going to be evident until a few more years and probably around the time of the Olympics. If you are interested in reading the full interview here is the link.

The men and women's qualifiers at the Youth Olympic Games have completed and there haven't been too many surprises. The men had their qualification a couple of says ago and the lead qualifier was a British gymnast Giarni Regini-Moran coming out on top by a few tenths. In second place was Nikita Nagornyy of Russia who had an issue with his first vault causing him to lose a point.

Nikita Nagornyy was a standout for his qualification into all six event finals - the only man to do that in this competition. Giarni Regini-Moran qualified to five event finals a feat he shares with a couple of gymnasts.

For a full list of the results click here.

The women's field is a lot more open as the top five all have a chance at gold. The leader after qualifications is the Russian Seda Tutkhalyan. In second place is the British Ellie Downie who struggled on her uneven bars routine causing her to fall to second place. The other gymnasts are a few tenths below and it is a very wide open race for the gold.

Seda and Ellie both qualified for three event finals, missing out on balance beam and uneven bars respectively.

For a full list of the results click here.

Gymnastics News: Vika Is Back!

Viktoria Komova is back! A video has surfaced online showing the 2011 World Champion on uneven bars performing a full bars set. The video is of a routine that is almost exactly the same as the one she performed at the Russian Nationals with a few exceptions. The video has made its way around the gymnastics blogs but they have all seemed to have missed one small detail, actually a big detail. Vika has dropped her Komova I release and is doing a Chow with 1/2 turn. That is very telling as in a previous post I wrote that she was probably training that element to connect it with from the Pak salto. She has replaced an E element with a much easier E element.

This particular bars set is hovering around a 6.4 and 6.5 D-score. The problem with the set is that she has a very piked jaeger and is probably going to get that element devalued. She probably has a 6.4 D-score at the moment but with the connection of the Pak and Chow 1/2 she could have 6.6 D-score. I don't think this is the bars set she will perform at the Worlds but could be close to it.

She is training bars and beam at the moment and needs a strong performance at Russian Cup later this month to make the team. I will keep my fingers crossed for her to make the team and show the world that she still has it.

Breaking Down | Mustafina Dismount - 1 1/2 Twisting Double Tucked

It has almost been four years since Aliya Mustafina introduced her namesake dismount on uneven bars, a one and a half twisting double back tuck. The weird thing is that a stretched dismount of the same element has not been performed. The problem with that element is that the CoP has no special value for it given that a full twsiting double layout is rated an F and the double double is rated a G. The CoP had the luxury of fitting the Mustafina, an E rated element, in between the D and F.

The fact that the CoP isn't clear, with regards to this element, will prevent it from being encouraged. This is a problem that is a mistake with the CoP and not really with the elements or the gymnasts. I can think of many other elements, particularly on beam, that are more difficult than their half turn less brothers but are still given the same rating.

Check the Aliya Mustafina performing her trademark bars dismount below - she sticks it too.

FIG Rules | UB - Failure to Maintain Stretched Body Posture

The FIG has deductions for failure to maintain stretched body posture in stretched dismounts off the uneven bars. I covered this in the explanation of jumps a few posts back and referenced that the CoP would deduct three tenths for just this type of fault. The FIG repeats just that under the video by marking it (-0.3)

The gymnast in the video attempts to dismount with a simple double layout in the stretched position. On dismount she slightly pikes her form into a position that was clearly not straight. This is a very typical form break when gymnasts do double layouts and it's the risk most gymnast take.

The real funny part about the video is that they picked a Romanian gymnast to call out - they are notoriously weak on the uneven bars. Also that was a different generation and a different CoP that would have overlooked such faults and focused on the landing.

Gymnastics News: Ukrainian Gymnast Attempts Whip to Quad Twist

Recent footage has emerged on Oleg Verniaiev's Instagram account that shows a Ukrainian gymnast trying to perform a whip direct to a quadruple twist! That move is sure to be one of the most dangerous and crazy elements ever attempted on floor. This move makes the triple back tuck look like a junior gymnastics move.

The rundown is the gymnast is far from being able to fully execute that combination and could seriously hurt himself trying. The whip and entry are fine but when he goes for the quadruple twist he gets to three and a half and face palms. The quadruple twist has only been in the mens CoP for less than a year, which surely means it's not an easy move to rotate. To see a gymnast already attempting to add it in combination is crazy. The attempt kind of reminds me of when Tatiana Nabieva was attempting an Amanar vault and landed and then did an extra twist - the judges aren't fooled that easily.

In addition Oleg is seen attempting a whip to triple and half twist. He is much closer to nailing his jump but looks like he could hyperextend something in the process.

Analyzing Claudio Fragapane

It has recently come to my attention that the British media is billing Claudia Fragapane as the next floor champion. The British analyst used to be very unbiased back when their teams were horrible but now that their teams are competitive everything is changing. It is sad that things are evolving this way and I hope that they can manage to bring back their fair analyzing for the Olympics because the US analyst are incompetent with actual analyzing of the performances.

Claudio Fragapane is quite the innovator on floor, she has some skills that are hardly ever done on that apparatus and they appear as though she's breakdancing or something of the sort. She is definitely not a typical gymnast or a pixie type gymnast but at the same time her form isn't there either. I saw both of her performances at the Euros and thought that her form could have been better yet the judges didn't overly call her out on that.

She was given a 6.0 D-score and 14.766 E-score on both qualification and team final. She must be commended for sticking almost all of her landings some of which were really complicated. Her first tumbling pass is a full twisting double layout - an H rated element. Followed by a double layout, which is valued at an F. The problem with doing big elements is that in today's gymnastics combinations and bonuses are everything. A gymnast can do two whips into a double arabian with a stag jump out and get the same eight tenths without risking landing deductions.

My real criticism of her is that her toes aren't pointed as much as they should be - Aly Raisman's aren't either and she still won the gold medal. I find that her splits don't really look like they are fully hit but maybe it is just her body that makes it look like it isn't hitting the full split. Then there is the fact that her D-score is only 6.0, that is not nearly as high as it should be if a gymnast intends to win on floor. It is just not going to happen, that D-score needs to be at least 6.3 to challenge some of the big guns like Simone Biles, Larisa Iordache and a healthy Ksenia Afanasyeva.

Check her at the Euros 2014 below. Do you think that she was given too high of an E-score or just about right? I think that it was probably a tenth too high but those sticks make judges forget a lot.

Gymnastics News: Bulimar Out, Tan Sixin Retired, Mexican National Team Named

The race for a team medal at this year's World Championships has just gotten a little bit easier with the announcement that Diana Bulimar is out. Diana's knee gave out according to MCSMaria's blog and was flown to Vienna for immediate treatment. This comes as a shock news especially given that she had recently announced that she had overcome her fear of vault and because she had missed last year's world due to an injury. Diana is now becoming the Romanian Vika Komova - she just can't catch a break.

Without Diana Bulimar on the Romanian team there are very little chances that the team can seriously compete for a medal. The team was already over reliant on Larisa and Diana for the bulk of their scores. Without Diana the team will need to add for apparatus rotations to the team and I don't know where they can find them. On the positive side this will make it that much easier for the Russians and British girls to medal.

Let's wish Diana a quick recovery, which the reports are saying the injury is nothing serious but will definitely keep her out of the Worlds.

With the Youth Olympic Games fast approaching, Triple Twist Gym Blog did a run through of where all the top gymnasts, that were competing there, are now. The most surprising gymnast on that list was Tan Sixin, not for being on the list but for being marked as retired. Tan was not a great all arounder but was a great beam worker something that the Chinese team is not in short supply. She was a reserve for the 2012 Olympic games yet never saw any significant international competition - save for the 2011 Worlds. Sad to see her go so quickly into her career.

The Mexican national team has been named for the Worlds - a bit too early to be naming World teams. The stand outs on the team are definitely veteran Elsa Garcia and Alexa Moreno. Elsa was last seen last summer when she won the silver medal at the Universiade Games in Kazan on the floor apparatus. Alexa Moreno is a even finalist on floor back in 2011 and performed well at the Universiade but did not take home a medal.

It shall be interesting to see if any of these ladies have improved their difficulty levels to challenge for medals. The team is not a medal contender but rather a team that is working with veterans and new additions. In all honesty the team is a good ten to twenty years from becoming a competitive team if the organization gets its things together. In previous years fighting between the coaches and decisions on representatives have caused uproars.

Breaking Down: Gymnastics Turn Combinations on Floor

The current CoP was updated to reward turn combination but not just any turns can gain the connection bonus. The CoP will only reward a very limited kinds of turns and will only give out one tenth bonuses for any turn combination on floor. For those that don't know what a gymnastics turn is then you should check my previous post here.

The CoP states that a turn worth a D or higher connected to a turn worth a B will earn a one tenth bonus. The specific turn being discussed here is a turn that is performed on one leg and not the turn that is performed on a back or another way. The other method of gaining a one tenth bonus is by performing two B elements in connection without a step.

The current queen of turn combinations is Ksenia Afansyeva, she performs two different complex turn combinations. She can perform a double attitude turn, Semenova, into a double turn - a D turn into a B turn. The second combination that Ksenia is capable of performing is a double turn with leg held at horizontal into a single turn with leg held at 180 degrees. Combining a difficult D turn into a B valued turn. Ksenia really attacks this combination turn and almost goes for a double to double combination. The video below will show that she gets a good 1 and a half turn on the second turn.

There are very few other gymnasts that have these turn combinations down but one that is doing them is Maria Kharenkova who does the same horizontal leg turn as Ksenia. I've noticed some of the US gymnasts are doing turn combinations as well but none are really working on anything extraordinary. 

I'm almost certain that I saw Anastasia Grishina training a double turn with leg at horizontal into an illusion turn but I lack the video to proof that. If anyone has any videos of combinations being done please leave a link in the comments and I will update this post. 

Breaking Down: Gymnastics Turns on Floor

Gymnastics turns have evolved rapidly since the elimination of the 10.0 CoP back in 2005-2008 cycle. Back then gymnastics were only ever doing simple double turns and sometimes single complicated turns. The only real exception was Chellsie Memmel, who was performing a double turn with leg held at 90 degrees. It was poorly performed when compared to modern day gymnasts but a complicated turn nonetheless. A turn is a move that is classified as a dance or non-acrobatic element on floor and gymnasts can only count a minimum of 3 non-acrobatic elements in a floor routine - they can do more if they wanted.

The basic turn is a turn on one leg with the option of having the free leg below horizontal. This is the turn that is often performed with ease on the balance beam. The CoP varies with the values it rewards for this particular spin but one single turn is worth an A, double turn a B, triple turn a C and a quad turn an E. There are two gymnasts that are actively attempting the quad turn and they are Aliya Mustafina and Larissa Iordache. Neither of them are consistently hitting the fourth turn but Aliya has gotten 3 and 3/4 way round.

Just thinking about spinning around on one leg four times makes me dizzy. These gymnasts attempt hard elements and then dance their way into a complicated jump.

The turn with leg at horizontal is the turn that I consider to be the most difficult to execute. As the name says it is a turn with the free leg in a horizontal position. The turn has the option of the support leg being straight or bent - so don't assume there is a deduction for bent legs.

The real difficulty with this turn is that one is carrying their free leg around for a turn or a double. There is no option to have your hand holding it up like there is in some of the other turns. The other problem with this particular turn is that the gymnasts tend to elevate it more than horizontal or drop it below horizontal. It is a very finicky turn.

This particular turn has two options in the CoP so far, a single turn worth a B and a double turn worth a massive D. I'm sure there will be a triple turn in this position sooner or later. I haven't heard anyone actually training it though. Ksenia Semenova and Maria Kharenkova are the two gymnasts that perform this turn and both connect it to a B element for a bonus.

The turn is at the 29 second mark in the video.

The third turn is a turn with the leg held at 180 degrees. The turn must be performed with the free leg held upward in a 180 degree position throughout  the turn. This turn has acquired the name Memmel turn because the double turn is named after Chellsie Memmel. This is a turn that every Russian gymnast seems to want to attempt with quite a few actually completing it. With so many Russians successfully competing it it is almost the Russian turn in my books.

The CoP has a single turn, in this position, worth a B and a double worth out of a D. The triple turn is provisionally valued out of an E. The FIG came out with that because Aliya Mustafina submitted it but was not able to complete it at the 2013 Worlds. I'm sure that Aliya, Anna Rodionova or some other Russian gymnast will perform it in a competition by the end of this cycle.

The fourth turn is an attitude turn, it is commonly called that because the free leg is held in a position associated with attitude - that's what I found online. The turn is executed with the free leg held back in attitude - knee of free leg at horizontal throughout but bent upwards. It is quite difficult to explain how this turn works unless you see the actual picture or a video. 

The single attitude turn is worth out of a B and the double is worth out of a D. The double is named after Ksenia Semenova, the 2007 World Champion on uneven bars. The only person performing it is Ksenia Afanasyeva, a gymnast from the same town as Semenova and trained by the same coach. This turn appears to have a certain technique that is hard to pick up and is the least performed in double but is more seen in a single turn.

The next turn is a seldom performed and it is a scorpion turn. I believe it is called that because the gymnast holds their leg in a way that looks very much like a scorpion. The CoP stipulates that the gymnast must hold their free leg backward and upward throughout the turn. The single turn is worth a B. It is a very difficult turn to execute and thus is hardly done yet not rewarded sufficiently for a gymnast to attempt it.

The only gymnast that I have seen perform this turn on the floor was Anna Pavlova back in 2008. After watching her performance a few times I almost thing that she was going for a double scorpion turn but couldn't get the force to rotate it.

The illusion turn is an actual turn even though its name makes it sound like it isn't actually one. This particular turn is more typically performed on the balance beam but is gaining a presence on the floor with the updates to the CoP. The code stipulates that the gymnasts must perform the turn through standing split without touching the floor with their hand or hands. Halfway into the turn the gymnast will have one leg at 180 degrees.

If the thought of doing one of those turns sounded difficult then doing two in a row should be even more difficult but that's now what the CoP says. A single illusion turn is worth out of a B and a double out of a C - yes, a C! That's a sure way to kill anyone actually training the move, maybe the FIG things that it's a dangerous move and needs to not be rewarded.

The tuck turn is making a comeback with Simone Biles performing it and in the recent past by the Australian Lauren Mitchell. The tuck turn begins in a tuck stand with the free leg either bent or held at a horizontal position. If the gymnast does two turns held at horizontal then it is worth a D  and a triple an E but if they do a double with the free leg bent then it's worth a B. A single of either version is worth a sad A.

Below is a video from YouTube that shows all of the turns in the CoP. Thanks to MostepanovaFan for making such a great video.

Opinion: Russia Needs Maria Paseka

Maria at the Olympics.

The sorry state of Russian gymnastics, at the current time, means that Russia needs Maria Paseka more than anything now. Maria Paseka is far from being an elegant and polished gymnast but what she lacks in execution she makes up in difficulty. As many of you might remember that she trains the very difficult Amanar vault and while she isn't consistent with it, it is a risk the Russian national team needs for now. Russia took the risk at the 2012 Olympics and it paid off when Maria came home with a Bronze medal on vault.

Maria is the Russian gymnast that blew up Twitter with her looks. During Team Final men and women were captivated by her beauty and tweeted their admiration. Sadly for her she was only able to barely land her Amanar vault keeping her team in contention.

Maria is back in training and this time she is working on a second vault, a Rudi vault. The Rudi is a difficult vault to explain so I shall leave that for another day. It is the vault popularized by Alicia Sacramone who was known for performing it throughout her career. It is worth above 6.0 which makes it a very rewarding vault if a gymnast can land it. Below is an video of Maria training it and it appears as though she is very close to landing it on regular surface.

Vaulting isn't just the reason that the Russian team needs Maria, it is the floor that she could be critical. The Russians have a very weak floor lineup, with Aliya and Vika coming out of surgeries they are likely going to be absent from floor. Ksenia Afanasyeva is definitely out of Worlds and that leaves very few options. They have two promising new faces in Alla Sosnitskaya and Maria Kharenkova but both are fresh and need more time to upgrade their floor routines to compete with the international stars.

This is where Maria comes in, she was shown training some of the hardest tumbling passes in recent videos. She does a double layout stretched with ease, a double arabian tucked with command and can land an arabian double piked! I can't think of any other Russian who has ever trained that tumbling pass. On top of that she has dance elements that are good - a double turn with leg held at 90°.

The potential is there and if she can convert on vault and floor at the Russian Cup she is sure to make the Russian national team for Worlds. Do you guys agree with my opinion? Let me know and if you disagree tell me why.

-Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube.

Analyzing Predictions for The US World Championship Team

Andy Thornton, a writer for American Gymnast,  has come out with a list of his predictions for the US women's national team for the World's. I decided that to analyze his choices and see what potential D-score they could perform at the World's. Andy's predicted team is as follows,

Projected Six-Member Team: Simone Biles, Kyla Ross,  Rachel Gowey, Madison Kocian, MyKayla Skinner Brenna Dowell

Alternatives: Maggie Nichols and Amelia Hundley 

As a fan of gymnastics and as someone that generally knows most of the gymnasts, I had to scratch my head because I hadn't heard of some of these athletes. I looked on YouTube and found their D-scores and some of their performances so far this year. Last week's US Classic revealed a lot and that is probably where Andy is basing his predictions off of. Below is a table showing how he predicts the rotation assignments will be.

The easiest rotation to predict is vault, the US team has a strong batch of gymnasts all capable performing 6.3 vaults or higher. The vault that will be done the most is going to be the Amanar - two and a half twisting yurchenko. The only exception on the team is going to be Skinner's Cheng vault that starts out of a 6.4. The problem with her vault is that she scores much lower than the other gymnasts performing an Amanar. She scored 15.00 compared to high 15's for the others.

Biles is going to perform an Amanar, D-score 6.3. Skinner will do a Cheng, D-score 6.4. Dowell will likely be the third vaulter on the team, that's my opinion not Andy's. She did a mediocre to good vault as opposed to the sat down Amanar that Gowey did. She will do an Amanar as well, D-score 6.3.

Note: Skinner runs the risk of being given a zero if both her hands don't touch the vaulting horse. She has the tendency of only pushing off with one hand. It is an odd technique that so far has worked for her but a recipe for disaster.

The uneven bars is by far the weakest rotation for the US national team and the hardest to predict. The strongest gymnast on this apparatus, Kyla Ross, was coming off an injury and watered down her routine. She left out an inbar stalder with a half turn and could thus had a few tenths less than she would have otherwise. She will likely have a routine of 6.6 for the World's - that's what she had last year when she won the silver medal on this apparatus.

The other two team members will likely carry a D-score of around 6.3. It is really hard to tell what they are holding back on but that seems to be the difficulty these three gymnasts are toping at. Biles and Kocian are my picks for this rotation based on their consistency so far.

The balance beam is unpredictable because gymnasts are rewarded various D-score based on hit connections. Kyla Ross is fluctuating from a 6.1 when she hits all her connections to 5.7 when she doesn't. Her routine hasn't been evaluated by international judges and can't really be predicted so far - remember Jordyn Wieber's varying D-score from 2012. We can assume 6.1 for the purposes of this assessment.

Simone Biles is the real star of the balance beam for the team when she hits. She is quite consistent but lacks that finishing touch on this apparatus. That really doesn't take much away from her given that she does some of the biggest moves on the beam. She's going for a 6.3 D-score. Her form is what's going to do her if her lack of connections don't.

Gowey is a beam specialist in my book, she does some of her most complex work on this apparatus and is only good on the others. She was given a 6.3 D-score on this piece and didn't even throw down some of the biggest moves like Simone. Her form will certainly be called out at World's but at national events expect her to receive massive scores.

The floor, I predict that the World title will be won and lost on floor. That goes for all the other national teams as well. The floor received the most drastic overhaul since the last cycle and gymnasts who aren't Simone Biles and Ksenia Afanasyeva have all failed to crack the15.00 mark multiple times at an international event since the beginning of the current cycle.

Simone Biles, if from what I'm lead to believe, from the US scoring system, has a 6.6 D-score. That is crazy for a gymnast that lacks many of the connected dance elements like a Ksenia. The scary thing about this gymnast is that she sticks most of her jumps and they aren't easy ones. The bad part is that she doesn't get called out for poor toe-point and form on some of her leap-spins.

Skinner on the other hand has the difficulty but lacks the form and consistency that Biles has. If the US team puts her on the lineup they are going to be taking a big risk that could pay off or cost them the gold. The mistake would need to be massive but it is still a risk nonetheless. She has a D-score that hovers around 6.3 and is bolstered by her double twisting double layout - the Moors. That element is worth nine tenths but her form is very piked that she could easily see more deductions than points.

The team will likely go with Ross for the third spot, she has upgraded her floor routine this season. At the US Classic she didn't under-rotate any of her jumps - something that she was having problems with in 2013. Her new first tumbling pass is a whip to double arabian. She appeared to have some minor issues with the landing and was hovering the line - not a good sign if she wants to add a stag jump to it. Her D-score is hovering at 5.7 but could easily be pushed to 5.8.

The run-down is that these numbers are points higher than any other national team the US team will be facing against. It is safe to say that the team could win with one fall but would open the door to another team with two falls. There won't be any other team that will have three Amanars on vault - there just isn't any nation training it like the US.

These predictions are quite solid by Andy and utilize the best gymnast available in the right places. Now to see if Marta will actually do this or go experimental. Only time will tell!

FIG Rules | WAG Code of Points - BB - Devaluation of Element #5.513 (D)

The FIG has a YouTube channel these days and has been uploading videos showing some of it's devaluations. The element number 5.513 has been by far the element every gymnast has added to their balance beam routine - almost every. Element 5.513 is a salto backward stretched with both legs together, also commonly referred to as a layout on beam. It is valued in the CoP's as an E element but will be devalued to a D element if the gymnasts is deemed to deviated from the requirements of the element.

The move was emblematic of the Chinese gymnasts in the 90s and performed by almost every nation now. The emergence of the layout on beam can surely be attributed to the modification of the CoP after the 2012 Olympic games. The newest CoP added a whole new method of determining connection values and series bonuses that weren't around before. Before a gymnast that wanted to win a beam title needed to either have a highly valued element or an extremely complicated routine, an arabian or a full-twisting back tuck. The complexity used to fall on the judges hands as the rules weren't very clear on what a connection was, which lead to many controversial 'fantom' tenths being rewarded - best case of this was Nastia Liukin's balance beam routine in the 2008 All Around final.


In FIG's video release they show a lot of gymnasts that have legs separated going into the jump and don't float down but rather pull their body's down in a piked form. The gymnasts are clearly 'cheating' the jump and are making it easier for themselves to land. A gymnast should try and get as most height and let the jump float on down instead of forcing it down. If you take a look at all of the examples you will see just how evident it is.

The sad thing is that there are only a handful of gymnast out there that are performing the element how it is supposed to be done. I can think of Maria Kharenkova, Angelina Melnikova and Anastasia Grishina but not many others.

Example of a well executed layout at around the 22 second mark the element is being performed.

Gymnast Update: Anastasia Sidorova Back in Training!

Russian gymnast Anastasia Sidorova is back in training after failing to make the 2012 Russian Olympic team. Anastasia S. was pegged by many to make the team but was removed from real contention because of a bike accident. I'll describe the accident, she was riding a bicycle and apparently broke her wrists when her bike stopped. A gymnast is really really limited without the use of their wrists - they can train bars with a broken leg but not with broken wrists. She was able to make a run at a spot at trials but didn't have an amanar vault, had a weak beam set and her floor exercise was very watered down from when she was Russian champion on floor.

The videos being filtered of her are just recently out - within three hours of this post. She appears to be at her home gym and is training on vault. The video shows that she is the in the early phase of her comeback and is almost at the same point as Aliya Mustafina is. She does the basic yurchenko layout, then the full twisting yurchenko and then attempts a double twisting yurchenko. She does not successfully get the double twist in but I'm sure she can get it after more training.

I find this news to be a positive light because this particular gymnast is very talented and was on my predicted 2012 Russian national team. With that said I don't know if she has what it takes to make the 2016 team. The team is very light and needs top caliber gymnasts to supplant the aging talents but can she do it? I have hope that she can make a successful comeback and at least make a world team.  

Via Alyssia Spaan on Youtube - She always scores the best video!

Gymnastics News: Yao Jinnan Bars Routine

Yao Jinnan has been the gymnast who has been training more uneven bars routines since the 2012 Olympics. As many Olympic viewers may remember she finished fourth during the uneven bars finals due to a low D-score. Last year she was dead set on learning the Mo salto, a very dangerous bars release that is highly rated, which is named the Gaylord in the men's field. It's a really nice move to see but ends in a dead swing and is just very dangerous. That experiment didn't last long as she fell a few times trying to perform it and ultimately dropped it from her exercises.

Pak Salto picture via Examiner

This year she has had two sets, one with very complex combinations that add releases on top of releases. I saw her performing it in an empty arena - apparently Chinese fans aren't really interested in seeing B events or they do it in closed arenas. Either way she has dropped that routine again and has dropped a new routine on us.

Yao's new routine involves easier combinations and has cleaner lines - I would go out on a limb and say it will be the one that she does at the Olympics. The opening set is that which I said would be Viktoria Komova's first set, Komova II to Pak Salto to Chow with a half turn. That combination has two E elements, a D element and four tenths of combination bonuses. Then she performs four pirouettes and a release in combination. Dismounting with a full-twisting double back in a layout position - rated an F.

That performance is a very complicated uneven bars set but will ultimately get a lot of deductions because judges are very strict on pirouettes. She will also be performing nine elements meaning that the judges can find more deductions than not. That is the risk that a gymnast takes when they want a higher D-score from combining elements. The bars set is clearly a 7.0 D-score meriting routine but will be worthy of a Gold medal at the Olympics - only time will tell.

Via Gymnastics Coaching

Simply Grishina!

Nastia performing a switch ring leap.

After the previous post, the injury update, I stumbled upon a recent video of Anastasia Grishina training. She is sporting a bandage over her left knee and will probably have to wear a bandage for the rest of her competitive career. I think it is meant to provide support and to cover up the thick scar that probably resulted from the surgery - think Rebecca Bross type.

Anastasia is performing a simple layout on a tumbling track - clearly nothing intense. The video shows that she is on track to make a comeback but the video makes it clear she is not training at a competitive level. I didn't expect much and I'm not disappointed with the video, I'm just happy she's healthy and back in training.

For those that don't know much about Anastasia, keep reading for my short and sweet bio of her. Nastia, as she is sometimes called, was a promising Junior who defeated Viktoria Komova on two apparatuses at the Junior Euros. She is known for her great toe-point and artistry as well as for having the best twisting form in the Russian team. To say she was a promising gymnast would be an understatement and a dishonor. Unluckily for her, she was assigned a coach that simply lacked the capacity to turn her into a champion. Her coach steered her into working hard tumbling passes on floor, a double twisting double back tucked, while neglecting her best apparatus - the uneven bars. She had performed a double twisting double back tuck off bars, an F rated dismount, but didn't attempt it at London. Ultimately her coach was reassigned and she was given a more uneven bars oriented coach.

If Nastia Grishina had better coaching her potential would have meant that Russia would have had three of the best gymnasts in the world on their team. Sadly for Russia the cards were not lined up for them and it wasn't meant to be. But thinking of Nastia reminds me of what could have been and what didn't happen. Since the Olympics she has been battling injuries and Valentina - I'll talk about her later.

P.S.: I would have posted the video in the previous post but didn't find it in time for that post. I also didn't want to mess with the previous post because it would have gotten to long for my taste. To be honest it is surprising that the video hasn't made it to all of the gymnastics blogs yet. I guess you saw it here first!

Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube

Gymnastics News: Injury Update

Sam Oldham, British team member and 2012 bronze medalist, suffered a bad injury while performing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sam was attempting a new vault, a Dragulescu - it is a handspring double font vault with a half turn out. The vault is a favorite of the Ukrainian men's national team, specifically performed by Oleg Verniaiev and Igor Radivilov.

It is one of those vaults that really requires a lot of air to complete that last half turn or else you could snap your ankles back. At the 2014 European Championships, I believed that Oleg Verniaiev would for sure injure himself on that vault. He was heavily taped and it was very scary to watch. Luckily for Oleg he ran extremely fast giving him bigger air. I think that the FIG needs to downgrade the vault to discourage men who shouldn't be performing from attempting it.

Sam Oldham performed the vault and from eyewitness reports landed it but shortly afterwards fell to the floor in pain. It is like that Kerry Stroug moment in 1996. The news coming out is that he has torn some ligaments and his chances of competing at the World Championships are in serious doubts. His scores aren't impressive but he fills in at spots where the British team is weak.

I won't really talk about Men's gymnastics all that often but I do want to leave my opinion on the matter of this injury. It is in my opinion that the Great Britain team, in their attempt to catch up to the two top teams, the Chinese and Japanese, are pushing new skills without fully preparing them. The team only recently lost their gold medal at the Euros to the Russians and know they need higher D-scores if they plan on medaling. I would like to end on this note, Max Whitlock was training the triple twisting yurchenko for over a year before he performed it in competition. I have serious doubts that Sam prepared it for that long.

Video below is of Oleg Verniaiev - he looks like he's in pain after performing the vault. First picture is from Gymnastics Coaching and the second one is from Cambridge News.

Russian gymnasts have too many athletes injured and/or recovering from injuries, surgeries, etc. The latest news coming out of Lake Krugloye (Round Lake) is that Viktoria Komova is back to training beam, previously was only training uneven bars. She had a surgery, not required but recommended, on a problematic ankle that was continuously getting aggravated. Let's hope for the best because Vika needs to be performing her lovely gymnastics. Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has an fully translated interview for those that are interested here.

Gymnasts like Aliya Mustafina and Anastasia Grishina are back in training - the latter only at her home gym. It is really unlikely that Grishina will be going to the World's for political reasons while Mustafina has a bye from Russian Cup. With the emergence of new bars workers Grishina is being pushed and will need to have a good beam and floor set to challenge for a spot.

Video of Grishina's injury - she looked like she had enough air and great form but probably didn't have enough air. 

Evgeniya Shelgunova and Emin Garibov are both still out of training due to surgeries and/or injuries. It is quite sad not to see Evgeniya as she has only been a senior for about a year and a half now and has been injured for about half of that time. She was rumored to have been training an amanar before her injury. Coincidentally both are said to have shoulder issues, Emin for sure but she possibly.

US Gymnasts seem to be all good with the exception of McKayla Maroney and Bailie Key. Maroney opted for a surgery that would clear her for an Olympic run. I would classify her move as similar to Komova's but more necessary than not. Bailie Key is recovering from a mysterious minor surgery. The information being filtered out is shady at best. It is like news on Ohashi, nothing much.

Gymnastics News: U.S. Classic 2014 | National Scoring

The unofficial start of the gymnastics season in the United States is the U.S. Classic. It is the first real tournament of the season that gathers all of the top gymnasts from the US in one competition, which features Senior and Junior gymnasts. The U.S. Classic is a yearly event sponsored by Secret, a deodorant for women - a bit on point, and almost always held in Chicago.

The big deal about this event this year is that the US gymnastics federation has altered the scoring system to award bonuses for certain things. Other countries that are notorious for having bonuses in national competitions are the Chinese. The bonus system is intended to reward gymnasts for doing certain things the federation wants being done. The one bonus that I am certain of is that they are giving a one tenth bonus for stuck landings. As many of you might know there is a big deal being made of stuck landings and team GB, Great Britain, is focusing on this one particular thing.

The scores at US national competitions were always bloated and never really expected to be achieved at international competitions. This time around the bloating has gotten even worse - I think it's to the point that the US federation is going to need to deal with it. Before the scores were believable abroad and could be taken as earned but this time they are like a rigged score. Execution scores above 9.0 in the first competition of the season aren't realistic considering that most gymnasts never even get to that point after serious training and with perfect routines.

Ashton Locklear is the perfect example of over-scoring at this tournament. Ashton was awarded with a D-score of 6.6 and an E-score of 9.1 giving her a final score of 15.70. Ashton is the unofficial champion on uneven bars this year at the US Classic beating out World's medalist Kyla Ross.

That score is very generous for a routine that is being performed for the very first time in a major competition. Let's break down the errors in the routine: there is a slight miss in completing a vertical handstand, feet come apart in the first pirouette, feet come apart in the pak salto, feet come apart in the second transition to the low bar and slight form issues on her dismount. All of the errors that I noticed could face a one tenth deduction and up to a three tenth depending on how significant they were. With that said if a gymnast has a big time name the judges are more willing to ignore some errors but Ashton is not a veteran.

I believe it is better to be harsh on gymnasts when they are starting up so that they work on errors, however minor, and perfect their form. If a gymnast is given the scores they need then they aren't going to feel motivated to improve. That is just a personal opinion and should not to be taken as fact.

To put this '15.7' routine in perspective, Daria Spiridonova performed a 6.4 D-score routine at the European Championships, which had international judges and was only able to score 15.066 for a near perfect routine. I would like to make it clear that I am not comparing a national event to an international event but rather demonstrating how far from reality the US national scoring system has gotten.

Below is a video of Ashton Locklear's uneven bars routine - can you spot the errors?
- Via GymnasticsCoaching

Daria Spiridonova's uneven bars routine from Team Final at the 2014 European Championship. 

Breaking Down | Vault Groups/ Entries

The CoP has separated every vault entry into five groups dependent on how the gymnast enters the jump from the horse. The vault board is sometimes referred to as a horse - it is a relic from when the old vaulting board was flatter and basically a pommel horse without pommels. It is necessary to know about entries because during vault finals the women must perform two separate vaults from two different families, entries. Plus if you know the entry of the vault then you will more likely know which vault is being performed. Let's go!

Group 1
The group one vaults are by far the least valued vaults and probably the easiest - to some. They are classified as a vault without a salto. As you have learned from a previous post - a salto is referencing a double tuck, double pike, double stretched and so on. This vault can be with out without longitudinal axis turn in the first and/or the second phase.

Note: The first phase is when the gymnast has hit the springboard and is about to hit the horse. The second phase is after they have left the horse and are coming down.

Group 2
The second group is from a handspring entry in a forward style and can be with or without a full turn onto the horse, first phase. Then requires a salto forward or backward with or without a longitudinal axis turn in the landing phase, second phase. A vault like this could be one that is a handspring entry and then a double tucked forward. That's the Produnova vault, the most difficult vault ever performed by a woman.

Group 3
Like the second group the third group also has a handspring entry but includes either a quarter or half turn in the entry phase, first phase. This is called a Tsukahara entry but is rarely referenced in the women's field. The vault requires a salto backward with or without a longitudinal axis in the second phase, after the horse.

Group 4
The most performed vaults come from group four and are usually referred to as Yurchenko entries. The Yurchenko vault is named after Natalia Yurchenko and it is a round-off entry. The round-off can have no turn or a three quarter turn in the first phase. Then a salto backward is performed with or without longitudinal axis turn in the second phase.

Many of you might remember this vault as the one that McKayla Maroney performed in the Team Final at the Olympics London. It is named the Amanar vault after Simona Amanar of Romania.

Group 5
Like group four, group five has a round-off entry but includes a half turn in the first phase. Then it launches salto forward or backward with or without a longitudinal axis turn in the second phase. It is a very specific type of round-off entry that means a gymnast has to perform a 180° turn onto the horse to fit this group.

The most famous vault in this group is the Cheng vault. It is named after the famous Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei. It is a round-off half on and then stretched with a full turn and a half off.

Produnova Vault - it's a bit cowboyed but most men that perform it are just as bad.

The Amanar Vault - the almost perfect vault that Maroney dropped in Team Final. In slow motion!

Routine Speculation: Viktoria Komova

With an injured ankle and an operation on the table, Viktoria, or Vika as she is most commonly called, leaked a video of her training bars. The very interesting thing is that she was training a move that she has never performed on bars in competition. The move she was training is sometimes referred to as a Chow, referencing Amy Chow.

The skill involves the gymnast enter facing outward, perform a stalder backward through handstand with flight to hang on high bar. The skill is a transition from low bar to high bar and falls under the category of a Shaposhnikova variation. The name is referencing a gymnast from the 1980 Olympics that performed the skill for the very first time.

The speculation is that Vika Komova is going to drop her second low bar to high bar transition, Komova II, for a 'Chow' with a half turn. The move is popularly performed by Aliya Mustafina and Yao Jinnan. It is a skill valued at an E and is much easier to perform than a Komova II, which is really an F skill but for CoP restrictions is only valued at an E. The CoP limits transitions to a maximum value of an E - an unwritten rule of sorts.

If Vika were to keep her exact same uneven bars routine the same as 2012 and add the 'Chow' with a half she would have a 7.0 D-score. That is a very dangerous D-score and would definitely help her chances of competing for an all around gold medal.

Please tell me if you think that's what Vika is training. If you have some inside news that I don't know then please tell me about it and I'll update the post.

Video
The video below shows her performing the 'Chow' without the half turn. The video was probably taken from Vika's instagram account and posted on Alyssia Spaan's YouTube Account.

Breaking Down | Positions - Tucked, Piked and Stretched/Layout

Every jump/salto has a position a gymnast's legs are in and that position is what determines the difficulty value awarded. The positions that exist in gymnastics are: tuck, pike and stretch and mostly called layout. The tuck is generally considered the easiest to perform and stretch is the most difficult to perform. The CoP has specific angles that each position must be within to be awarded credit as that type of style.

Tuck
The tucked position requires that the hip and knee angle be less than 90°. That means you are between straight and 90°, imagine yourself with your bent knees on the floor and the rest of your body straight. That position is the most easiest and probably the most commonly performed by less experienced gymnasts.

The diagram below will show exactly how the position should look according to the CoP.

Left -.10 for 90° angle and right -.10 plus cowboying deduction.

Deductions, the code is very strict these days and will deduct one tenth if you are in the squatting position. It will deduct three tenths if performed in a 135° angle, a less than pikes position with bent knees. The judges will also deduct if the gymnast 'cowboys' the jump, that means their knees aren't touching but rather open like if they were riding a horse. Pretty harsh but once you realize this you will understand why gymnasts  rarely crack 9.0 in execution.

Pike
The piked position is one in which the legs have less than a 90° hip angle. The knees aren't bent and they are at a greater than 135°. If you see the diagram below you'll recognize it very easily.

I find that a piked jump receives less deductions although they have the same deduction possibilities. They are a tenth if 90° hip angle and three tenths if greater than 90° hip angle. That means that the judges want to see a pikes position that has the legs closer to the body than not.

Stretch

The stretched position is by far the hardest position to perform and the most deducted out of all the positions. The requirement for this position is that the body is in alignment, straight at 180° when vertical. 

While the deductions only include a one tenth deduction if body alignment is out of sync by more than 10°. In actuality the judges find deductions in this position for leg separation, lack of pointed toes, bent knees, etc. It is very easy to find something wrong with a layout position and that is very evident in the scores for the people performing the move.

Note: D-Panel is in reference to the judges that are evaluating the gymnasts' performance on the difficulty level. The E-Panel refers to the judges that are evaluating the gymnasts' execution of the elements. 

Video

The video below shows a piked backflip in action. If you notice the gymnast is at a less than 90° hip angle which means she will not incur any deductions for hip angle position.

Back Somersaults - Gymnastics (Slow motion)