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.
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