Live blog: 2011 French International, finals

FInal results!

Flight four: Men's parallel bars, women's beam:

Flight three: Men's vault, women's bars:

3:31 p.m.: Fashion revelation! I have just realized that Mustafina's turquoise and black leo is a green with black sparkly mesh sleeves version of this. Other fashion revelation of the afternoon: Like the Japanese men, the French guys have taken to wearing these long long warmup coats that kind of look like robes boxers come to the ring wearing. The Japanese have them in red, the French men in blue.

3:19 p.m.: 2004 Olympic bars champion Emilie Lepennec is presenting the medals here, and Tomas Gonzalez looks very happy to receive his floor gold from her. 

Diana Chelaru is all smiles on the medal podium for vault.

Flight two: Men's rings, women's vault:

Flight one: Men's floor and men's pommel horse:

Note: There is a moment of recognition for the Japanese, when the flag of Japan and Koji Yamamuro come forward on the floor to be recognized. A somber hymn plays, and "At the moment, we are all Japanese, struck by what has happened," the annoucer says as part of a prepared statement. Yamamuro and his coaches get a standing ovation that lasts for nearly a minute. It is very moving. 

Thomas Bouhail, FX: Front double full to front layout half, stuck. Double double tucked, small hop back. Whip to tucked Thomas. 2.5 to front tuck full. Layout Thomas. Very clean so far. Flair sequence to breakdance move on his elbows like Alexei Nemov used to do. 2.5 twist with a hop is not much of an exclamation point to this routine, but it was clean and well done. 15.233.

Saso Bertoncelj, PH: Really nice packed routine, a hit for the man from Slovenia. The only thing I saw was a tiny little leg separation about halfway through. Bertoncelj is really happy with this routine -- pumps his fist after dismounting. 15.5.

Tomas Gonzalez, FX: High double double tuck, stuck. Front double full to front tuck full. 2.5 to front layout full. The crowd gasps at his splits. Whip to tucked Thomas, perfect. Layout Thomas. Back extension roll half turn. Triple full to end. Great landing, twist all the way around, Gonzalez pumps both his fists as soon as he lands. Great routine! 15.466.

Prashanth Sellathurai, PH: Comes off halfway through, and then falls a second time after getting a bit off doing some circles between the pommels. His routine is really hard, and he did it exceptionally well in prelims. The French give him big applause anyway. 13.8.

Flavius Koczi, FX: Front layout full to front 1 3/4. 1.5? or 2.5 to front double full. Tucked Thomas makes the crowd gasp. 2.5 to front piked half (had to pike his body to get it around). Stuck triple full, very nice. 15.266.

Cyril Tommasone, PH: Tommasone uncharacteristically waves to the crowd as his name is announced. He holds the pommels for a good 10 seconds before beginning, very deep in concentration (and also looking a trifle nervous, I thought). He had little need to be -- the routine was exceptional aside from a very, very small struggle going up to the handstand on his dismount. He's great on this event -- a potential world finalist -- and I wouldn't be surprised to see this score surpass Bertoncelj's. It doesn't, however -- 15.333.

Gael da Silva, FX: This guy has a chance to take the title. He is clean and powerful and very precise. A very pleasant gymnast to watch. Front double full to Rudi, stuck. Whip to layout Thomas. 2.5 to punch front -- was off landing the 2.5 and muscled the punch front around. Tucked Thomas. Russians. Press to planche handstand. Flashbulbs are popping everywhere in the stands. Full in tucked, small step back. Da Silva waves to the crowd. 14.8.

Louis Smith, PH: Two scissor to handstands right off the bat in this routine. Well done and so far so good..Russians on the end, circles back and forth on the horse and a 2.5 pirouetting dismount. I think I'd give it him. 15.7.

So, the results: 

Men's floor: 1. Gonzalez 2. Koczi 3. Bouhail 4. Da Silva

Men's pommel: 1. Smith 2. Bertoncelj 3. Tommasone 4. Sellathurai

2:23 p.m.: Those interested in having a gander at Tina Erceg's leotard from yesterday's qualification round can click the image just off to the left, below Marine Brevet, which will take you to "The Look of the French International" photo gallery. Erceg is the gymnast who wore the famous (or infamous, depending on your sense of style) "suit" leotard at the 2009 World Championships. Here, she has surpassed herself.

2:20 p.m.: The excitement is building as more and more spectators take their places, the crowd does the wave and the annoucement is made that there are only 10 minutes to go! Like yesterday's qualification, there will be five flights, beginning with men's floor and pommel horse, followed by men's rings and women's vault, followed by a 25 minute break, followed by everything else.

2:13 p.m.: And what about beam? It will be the most hotly contested event of the finals. All four finalists -- Porgras, Dementyeva, Mustafina and Mitchell, made beam finals in Rotterdam. All are capable of winning the event, and all made little mistakes during qualification. This one seems pretty open.

Jennifer Khwela of South Africa seems to be improving her Yurchenko 1.5. It looks better every time she does it.

2:03 p.m.: The French have turned out in force for this meet. The stands at Bercy are already almost packed, and there's still half an hour to go before the meet begins. They look like they could get rowdy, too.

As for the athletes, they have cleared the floor or retreated to the training gym to make last minute preparations.

Floor note: One thing it was really nice to see yesterday were tons of smiles on floor, notably from formerly stoic Diana Chelaru and Anna Dementyeva, who seems to have come into her own a bit more since being the baby of the Russian team last season (winning the Russian all-around title, even amidst a very thin field, will do that for you, I suppose.)

Chelaru's floor may have little-girl choreography but I like her routine. And the crowd eats it up. Still, routine of the day on the event was to the (deserving) leader, Sandra Izbasa. It was the best performance she's given since winning the Olympic title on the event three years ago.

1:56 p.m.: Unlike the women, the guys don't do that much in warmups, so there's a bit less to report on. Thomas Bouhail and Flavious Koczi both looked quite good on floor -- I think Flavius has improved his form a bit on his triple full, but we'll see how all that twisting goes in competition.

Epke Zonderland, shoulders taped within an inch of his life, did a couple clean Kovacses on high bar and that was all. The dogfight for the high bar title will not be between Zonderland and current World champion Zhang Chenglong, who did not qualify for the final, but between Zonderland and Leyva. And Leyva in general is cleaner on this event. To beat him, Zonderland will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat the way he did in event finals in Rotterdam.

1:37 p.m: Both Ana Porgras and Lauren Mitchell seemed a little off their games yesterday, and so far in warmups I'm seenig much the same thing. Mitchell just seems tired -- she's done her flight series on beam twice now, and just isn't pulling her body around the way she could if she had another couple good nights of sleep, I think.

Porgras's problem is a little harder to define. She doesn't look tired, and she's not falling the way Mitchell is, yet...perhaps she's just fine-tuning things. This is her first competition of the year, the way the American Cup was Mustafina's.

Mustafina's left ankle is wrapped. Nabieva just did a timer on vault. Given that she had problems with the Amanar in training, I wonder if she'll throw it here? If Mustafina is only doing a piked Omelianchik second vault, as she did in training, Nabieva shouldn't need to take out the Amanar to beat her. But if Mustafina does opt for her own Amanar, that would change things for Nabieva.

1:25 p.m.: Fashion notes! Aliya Mustafina is wearing the same green and black leotard she sported in prelims, while Nabieva is in the aforementioned black. Dementyeva is in a black leotard with red and orange bits (think what Lauren Mitchell wore at World Cup meets late last year, but instead of blue and green, red and orange). Mitchell and the Romanians are wearing warmup leotards. 

Huang Qiushuang, the lone female qualifier from China for these event finals, is in a shiny white long sleeved number with a partly purple bodice and turquoise accents. It's pretty.

Alas, there will be no fashion hysterics like those caused by Tina Erceg of Croatia yesterday, alas! A photo of Erceg's leotard, which really belongs in The Couch Gymnast's fashion police lineup, will be posted shortly...

1:16 p.m.: Game faces on. The athletes have come into the arena and begun warming up. Everyone looks sharp. Elisabeth Seitz and Tatiana Nabieva, who is in the same black leotard she wore during all-around finals in Rotterdam, are both calm and very clean on bars. Ditto Anna Dementyeva on beam and floor, where she's currently working.

PARIS, 12:55 p.m.: I was put in the mood for gymnastics today (oh, who am I kidding? I am always in the mood for gymnastics!) on the metro to the Bercy by a group of 10-12 year old girls who got on a few stops away from the arena. They were decked out for "la gym" with signs, tricolor pompoms and the French flag painted on their cheeks.

One girl had streaked red, white and blue eye shadow on her eyelids so that when she blinks you see the French flag. They sang a little song that basically went "If you love gymnastics, clap your hands" followed of course by hand claps. There is so much support and genuine excitement surrounding this event!

Inside the Palais Omnisports, however, it is the calm before the storm of French supporters arrive, and Danell Leyva and Yin Alvarez are having a serious moment. Yin is standing at the edge of the floor mat addressing his stepson, who qualified in first place for high bar finals.

The scene is much like you'd expect at a National team camp -- Danell is standing literally at attention on the floor, and Yin, so exuberant in competition, is speaking seriously, talking about swing, I think, occassionally making an arm movement. Yin finishes his speech, and Danell sits down and begins stretching.

Welcome to Examiner.com's live blog coverage of the finals of the 2011 French International. I'll be sitting here all afternoon updating this post, so please click by often. Thanks for following!

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