Video links (still more to come):
- Alicia Sacramone, FX (dance through)
- Alicia Sacramone, BB
- Aly Raisman, FX (dance through)
- Aly Raisman/Shawn Johnson/Gabrielle Douglas, BB
- Shawn Johnson, FX (dance through)
- Gabrielle Douglas, FX (dance through)
- Chellsie Memmel, FX (partial dance through)
- Jordyn Wieber, FX (new choreography)
- Amanda Jetter, UB
- Grace McLaughlin, UB
- Rebecca Bross, UB (half set with new transition)
1:59 p.m.: Photos! Gymnastics photographer Greg Long is on hand here in Chicago, and his photos will be uploaded here all day (he's in a back room in the arena now, sorting). The first batch he's transmitted include Shawn Johnson, Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, Mackenzie Caquatto, McKenzie Wofford and Jordyn Wieber. Access them by clicking the image of Shawn Johnson off to the left, or by clicking here.
1:12 p.m.: Another small request from your GymExaminer. I do have a Youtube channel (predictably, it's "GymExaminer") but if you guys like what I do and would like to help me afford to pay my bills (since I'm paid per click on Examiner.com), please watch the embedded Youtube videos on Examiner.com's site (I link to all those through Facebook and will provide a link list later.) Or not. It's your choice. But it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
12:50 p.m.: And now what you've all been waiting for: Alicia Sacramone's new floor routine. Sacramone said she "scoured the internet" after she decided she was really going to do floor, and found this piece, part of which is from the movie "300" about doomed Greek soldiers fighting the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.. This is not the routine she had choreographed in 2009, which she never performed. Enjoy!
12:49 p.m.: McKayla Maroney is working a 3.5 twist on floor. It looks pretty good. FYI.
12:27 p.m.: The answer to the USA's bars woes is obviously right here in Illinois. All three Legacy Elite girls has wonderful, flighty routines with high start values and interesting difficulty.
Anna Li did a Shushunova on bars and a whole bunch of other things and for once, it really was like a kid on a playground, especially since she broke her swing and just jumped off with a big happy smile on her face, like the kid on monkey bars.
Bridgey Caquatto's Church is fantastically high, too!
Alicia Sacramone is doing a bunch of front handspring timers on vault, and every time she goes the girls next to me from Universal go, "Woah...."
12:11 p.m.: And finally, a new floor routine from Aly Raisman! It's the fastest version of "Havila Nagila" that I've ever heard. Frenetic violin playing. It suits Raisman in that it sounds Jewish, but I can't say that she's gotten a handle on her choreography yet. It's new, but the feeling, the deep emotion that Sacramone displayed to perfection just a few minutes ago, is totally absent.
12:05 p.m.: WOW. Alicia Sacramone's floor routine is one of the most beautiful and dramatic pieces of gymnastics I've seen in a long time. It was absolutely wonderful -- a strong, dramatic piece to what sounded basically like Italian opera. Her movements were wonderful -- polished and performed in a way it's impossible for a 13-year-old to perform. If this is what the age limit produces, I want more of this.
I'm now going to take a five-minute hiatus from blogging to upload those routines, which I did video. Stay tuned!
11:59 a.m.: Shawn Johnson on floor: She did a dance through, and it's a tango. Simple movements, simple positions, but it works for Shawn. A much, much more sophisticated routine than she had in 2008, taking into account the dance she learned on "Dancing with the Stars."
Gabrielle Douglas did a dance through afterward. Her music: "We No Speak Americano."
11:53 a.m.: Shawn Johnson on beam looked...pretty close to Shawn Johnson on beam. Despite the growth spurt, despite the traveling and touring and not doing gymnastics, she's come a long way toward being back. Still in the routine: The classic bhs, bhs to layout to two feet, and the switch to gainer to back pike combo. Didn't see a dismount other than a layout, though.
11:51 a.m.: Alicia Sacramone's first tumbling run on floor was a pretty killer triple full. Sacramone struggled a little bit on beam. She's even thinner than she was last year at this time, too, which was thinner than she'd ever been before. Her front pike on beam is a little...slow on rotation, I thought. And she had some problems with it.
11:48 a.m.: Mackenzie Caquatto did nothing on floor, so I'm guessing she is not going to perform on that event. She does look more involved now that they've moved to vault, however.
Her sister Bridgette has some floor exercise choreo that looks rather James Bond-y.
Memmel was extremely impressive on floor. Arabian double front pike, by herself, and at two double layouts. Really impressive.
11:45 a.m.: Hey, there's a DTY from Brandie Jay of GKs! Earlier she did a very impressive Yurchenko 1.5.
Technically, Jordyn Wieber did not do a dance through on floor -- but suffice to say she did a dance through without her music. Her new choreography is not terribly fluid, but it is involved -- a lot of quickness, a lot of intense looks and photo-worthy positions.
11:43 a.m.: More new stuff from Rebecca Bross: She's now performing a toe Khorkina II transition on bars, the same thing we see from many of the Russians, and Anna Li.
11:41 a.m.: Chellsie Memmel just did a dance through of a new floor routine! The music has a driving beat, very hard, and Memmel has kept some of her old choreography but has added some nice new positions that really work with her bodyline. It's a million times better than "I Love Rock 'N Roll," which we shall not speak of again.
11:19 a.m.: Aly Raisman is working a Maloney on bars (she hasn't done that before, has she?)
Bridgey Caquatto is quite impressive on beam. I've seen a punch front half from her, well done, as well as a terrfically flighty front aerial, bhs, layout combination.
Jordyn Wieber will only compete on bars and beam here in Chicago. She looks very well on beam, throwing a side somie and a bhs, bhs to 2.5 twist dismount.
On floor, Shawn Johnson worked on beam. She's focusing on a punch front to sheep combination, and her bhs, bhs, layout to two feet. Gabrielle Douglas did what appears to be some new choreography, but nobody did a dance through.
10:44 a.m.: Jaclyn McCartin's flexibility and toepoint stand out as she stretches. She's bendy in a Shayla Worley kind of way. She and Hallie Mossett, of West Coast Elite, are in identical navy tracksuits.
The WOGA girls -- Sophia Lee, Rebecca Bross, Jessica Howe and Grace McLaughlin -- are in pink sweatshirts and pink and black trackshorts. Oh, and white socks. Sacramone and Raisman are in black athletic pants and blue shirts.
10:40 a.m.: First it was Shawn Johnson and Gabrielle Douglas. Then it was Alicia Sacramone and Aly Raisman, horsing around a little on the floor. Now the entire senior class is running in circles on the floor. Martha Karolyi is standing completely at attention, watching sharply with that hawklike gaze. The seniors break into groups and stand in small circles based on gym, stretching out their shoulders. Chellsie Memmel is by herself. Johnson and Douglas face each other. Nobody is talking much. Everyone is focused, and everyone on the sidelines is focused on them.
10:35 a.m.: Katelyn Ohashi on beam: Standing Arabian to bhs! Wow. Awesome. And perfectly done, too. Bhs, bhs to two feet, layout full and falls. Cat leap to switch ring. Onodi. Front aerial, check. Sheep. Tidy full turn, lovely. Switch side quarter. Roundoff, full in pike, small hop. Man....
10:33 a.m.: Lexie Priessman on beam: Attempted the gutsy standing full on beam and fell. But this is training.
10:30 a.m.: Amelia Hundley on beam. Very solid. Needs to work a little on her foot and knee form. But very solid. Did not see the bhs, full twist she has been working in the training gym.
10:23 a.m.: Sarah Finnegan of GAGE on floor (the reigning junior national champ on the event): wonderful Arabian double pike. GAGE, always entertaining in the choice of leotards, is in sparkly sparkly black with pink at the shoulders. Everyone in the gym is in sleeveless.
Upon closer examination, the pink at the shoulders is actually a very 1960s pink and gray swirl thing. Hmm. Anyway, Finnegan's full in tuck is quite good and looks very easy. Her teammate Brenna Dowell is doing handspring double fronts on floor. Wonderful form from the GAGE girls, as always.
10:16 a.m.: One of the Parkettes, either Ashley Szafranski or Meredith Sylvia, is an elegant, very long-limbed barworker. Fairly un-Parkette in some ways.
10:11 a.m.: Chow is popular. There was a burst of Romanian-accented chatter to my right at the media table and it was Martha Karolyi enthusiastically greeting Liang Chow, who was grinning as always. Muriel Grossfeld gives him a kiss on the cheek.
Meanwhile, over on balance beam, Kyla Ross is calm as always. Switch ring. Front aerial, bhs, layout stepout. No problems at all.
10:05 a.m.: Everyone is so tan. Right before I left the hotel, an SUV pulled up to the entrance and out got Mackenzie and Bridgette Caquatto. The Caquatti were in identical white "Legacy Elite" football jersey-style t-shirts with "Caquatto" written on the back. I was struck by how tan Mackenzie was -- much more so than she was in Rotterdam. All that Florida sunshine does that to a person, I guess.
9:58 a.m.: Katelyn Ohashi just did a fantastic bar routine, complete with the double-double tuck dismount (doing the two twists on the second flip a la 2004 Olympic bars champion Emilie LePennec. Wonderful swing and form.
Amelia Hundley is up there now, working on stalder stuff: Stalder, toe stalder half...
On floor, Peyton Ernst did a 2.5 twist to front layout.
9:54 a.m.: Mary Lee Tracy, in a bright pink t-shirt with "Faith Shakes Doubt" written in black letters on the back, is giving advice to a tanned Lexie Priessman after Priessman has taken a turn on uneven bars. Kyla Ross, in a black-and-highlighter-yellow leotard, looks good on bars (lots of toe stalderwork) and did a double layout that was just beautiful.
9:50 a.m.: Someone in the pink Texas Dreams leotard is working an Arabian double front pike on floor (piked at the top, a bit of bend in the knees before the landing), but so high. Can't tell who it is though...
NCAA coaches in the house: Sarah Patterson is up in the stands and taking things in. So are a small flock of judges, already in their uniforms.
9:43 a.m.: The junior training is in full swing in the arena. Here's what I see:
-- Mackenzie Brannan of Capital, in black and gray leopard print with red piping, working a Yurchenko 1.5 on vault.
-- Kim Zmeskal-Burdette in gray sweatpants and a bright pink t-shirt that matches her gymnasts's hot pink leos, living through every tumbling pass on floor.
-- That muscular young phenom Simone Biles on bars in periwinkle.
-- The powerful Ariana Guerra on beam.
8:42 a.m.: The CoverGirl Classic...and more! Also happening in Chicago this weekend: The U.S. Challenge, an elite testing-type meet for "Hopes/Jr. Pre-elite" gymnasts who perform compulsory routines. The U.S. Challenge is broken into two sessions: one today that begins at 1 p.m., and one on Sunday morning.
Anyway, I do want to spotlight one young gymnast -- Lauren Navarro from Charter Oak Gymnastics in California (the former home of Vanessa Atler and Jamie Dantzcher). Here's a video of Navarro's work as a level 8. Her gymnastics has a very artistic quality -- she reminds me a bit of Nica Hults, another up-and-coming junior. Nice, no? Navarro will be performing as a "Hopes" gymnast here in Chicago.
8:19 a.m.: One person didn't take the early morning shuttle: Shawn Johnson, who just passed by the hotel restaurant in tandem with her father. Shawn was dressed in fitness gear: a white Nike jacket and stretchy black pants to the knee. She looked like the Shawn of old -- hair in a tight ponytail, falling straight down, a sporty but no-nonsense look. Shawn looked very in shape. And maybe a tiny, tiny bit nervous.
CHICAGO, 7:39 a.m.: One of the joys of being an elite athlete must be the early mornings.
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