7 p.m.: Am close to the 66,000 character limit for an article on Examiner.com, so I'm creating a new post for the final session of the night, which is here. Thanks for following! Hope these quick hits have been helpful.
6:53 p.m.: All of a sudden it got busy in the gym, basically because the next training groups have come in, including Great Britain and Japan. With the Japanese come several media crews and their cameras and equipment. The Japanese totally have an entourage. They will encompass the final training session of the evening.
Saw a bit of Uzbekistan on beam, whcih was very interesting. 2006 Junior European champion Daria Elizarova has given them a big boost, and looked lovely as ever on beam with some very good choreography. Luisa Galiulina was also excellent.
6:46 p.m.: I asked NBC's Tim Daggett what impressive things he'd seen today. The Chinese on beam, he said. "Unbelieveable."
6:41 p.m.: The Netherlands, which is on floor at the moment, looks...OK. A bit lacking in difficult tumbling, perhaps.
Ukraine on bars is wonderful as always, in spite of falls here and there. Natalia Kononenko, she of the Tkatchev half to immediate Jaeger, is here, although she's wearing a back support and has her knee heavily taped. All the same, she looks good on her best apparatus.
6:17 p.m.: The Italians seem rather...uneven on bars. Seveal team members are having problems here on several different (difficult) skills. In addition, there seems to be a lack of difficult dismounts. This does not really look like their event.
6:07 p.m.: Spain plays it safe. The problem with Spain is not that they have untalented gymnasts. Quite the opposite, in fact. The problem is that their very talented gymnasts rarely do enough difficulty to get into event finals, or to get their team above, say, eighth place in the world. So it is with this team, which has wonderful clean work but simply not enough intricacy in combinations, not enough tough eye-catching skills. But everything they do is done well.
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez's beam mount sequence is pretty eye-catching, though -- a wonderful press handstand to double stag done straight to the beam, not perpendicular as most gymnasts do it.
5:50 p.m.: Mariya Livchikova did a dance through on floor after warming up her tumbling. Didn't actually do tumbling passes, but split leaps instead. Gave a clinic on how to do a good split leap.
Vanessa Ferrari on vault: A thuglike DTY, agree Brigid and Rick. But a DTY no less.
5:44 p.m.: Canadian Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, who is here competing for Spain, did a terrific bar routine. She has some of the best stalders in the world, and they're put on display in this routine -- back stalders, front stalders, a stalder full...and a double layout dismount. Good for Silvia and Spain. Bad for Canada, which OKed letting letting Colussi-Pelaez go.
As I understand it, the way to make the Canadian Olympic team, even if they qualify a team to London, is based on a points system like the much hated 2008 qualification. The system, which gives gymnasts points for results at competitions leading up to the Olympics, is said to be unfair to younger seniors. So perhaps it's no wonder that more than one Canadian has jumped country.
5:38 p.m.: Yana Demyanchuk is dancing to "Assassin's Tango" on floor. Just realized that I haven't heard a "Roxanne" today on either side of the gym. What a difference a year makes.
...oh, wait. The very next piece to play was, you guessed it, "Roxanne" from Yevhenia Cherniy. Still a floor-perfect piece.
5:19 p.m.: Dorina Boczogo of Hungary stands out for her clean execution. The Hungarians do not have European floor finalist Tunde Csillag, who much to the horror of her federation declined to come to Tokyo (radiation fears). She's got some cool stuff, including a double front from an Endo on bars and lovely choreo on beam.
5:14 p.m.: Fashion note! The Italians, always interesting in their choice of leotard, have gone simple today, in blue scoop necked leos with the Italian emblem on the chest. Only Vanessa Ferrari looks different, in a cap-sleeved version of the same.
Worlds wish: I hope Ferrari earns a medal on floor here, as she was rather unfairly denied one last year. And yes, she is now doing her third floor routine of the session.
5:05 p.m.: Mariya Livchikova is a pleasure to watch on balance beam. Her front aerial, front tuck combination is a thing of beauty. Ditto her split handstand step down to Arabian.
Sheppard on bars: The routine seems to be this: Shaposhnikova to bail to toe stalder to Ray, then clear hip to Tkatchev to full turn to blind to front giant to double front. She did the full routine three times in training, sticking the double front thr third time.
Spain is on vault. Young Claudia Menendez has a great DTY, and the rest of the team looks very clean on this event. Spain's problem has never been sloppy gymnastics, just getting enough difficulty to really contend.
5:00 p.m.: Yana Demyanchuk, her left knee heavily wrapped, struggled with her roundoff, tucked full on floor. A smart strategy for her might be to do the layout in prelims and add in the full if she makes it to event finals.
4:54 p.m.: Ferrari's new floor. This time it's a violin piece for the 2006 World Champion, who has grown enromously as an artist and performer since 2008. Ferrari's way of conditioning in 2010 was to do three floor routines back to back to back, but that doesn't seem to be the case here so far.
4:52 p.m.: Ukraine, Italy and Hungary. Ukraine, in their usual sky blue sleeveless leotards, are working out on beam, while the Hungarian team is on bars and Italy is on floor. I'm very interested to see Texan Austin Sheppard (who competes for Hungary) on this event, as she has hinted that she has a new original skill in her routione.
4:48 p.m.: Videos! Anne Phillips is starting to upload videos of today's podium training, and already has several of the U.S. Check those out here.
4:46 p.m.: Props to Ashleigh Brennan of Australia, who looks totally fit and in control of her gymnastics here. Her floor is very nice (full in, front layout to front full to single stag third pass) and she's one of the steadiest on beam.
4:35 p.m.: Seeing some nice tumbling on floor from the Aussies, particularly the powerful Emily Little (great half in half out) and Lauren Mitchell, who appears to be getting a handle on her whip to Arabian double.
4:22 p.m.: Komova on vault: DTY. But a really good DTY. Barring a fall from Wieber, Komova probably needs an Amanar to challenge for the top spot in the all-around. But based on that DTY, it doesn't seem impossible that she might do one.
4:17 p.m.: Aussies in the arena. Spent a few minutes watching the Australian team work out on beam. This team has two first-time Worlds competitors in Mary Anne Monckton and Georgia Rose Brown, and both look to be adapting to this climate very well, particularly Monckton, who was all power and drive on beam (very nice double pike dismount).
3:07 p.m.: The Russians each did one full floor routine (or close to a full floor routine) and then did half routines to music with their first two tumbling passes. Anna Dementyeva's new screen siren routine is very difficult, but I can't help feel that her music is a little too flashy/dramatic for her. It would be better for an exhibition. My opinion only, though.
4:03 p.m.: The Canadian day in review. As provided by Rick, who watched more of it than I did: Beam went well. Floor went decently well. Vault was odd because everyone except Peng Peng Lee and Talia Chiarelli did Yurchenko fulls, while many of them should be doing 1.5s. (They may be save the harder stuff for the podium, which is bouncier. Could be a very smart decision.) Bars was more of a struggle. Kristina Vaculik and Lee have very difficult sets, but Canada is also carrying a double pike dismount, a double tuck dismount and a layout 1.5, which will make it hard to attain very high scores.
3:49 p.m.: Just saw Komova do a 1.5 through to a double Arabian. OK, she sat it down, but she is definitely capable of doing that in the meet. Nice triple full too.
3:47 p.m.: Afanasyeva's new floor routine suits her style quite well. As for Yulia Belokobylskaya, I'd call hers a lateral move -- the same style she showed at the 2011 Euros, but different music.
3:28 p.m.: If you have to fall, you can at least point your toes doing it. Just like Ksenia Afanasyeva, who was launched backward after overrotating her double pike off beam just now. As she shot backward onto her bottom, I couldn't help but notice that her toes were perfectly pointed in the air.
3:22 p.m.: Choreography award. Check out this routine from Lisa Verscheuen of Belgium. I love it because it's unique and actually designed to the music. It reminds me of something Lilia Podkopayeva might have done back in the day.
3:18 p.m.: Belgium's Julie Croket has a new floor routine, I believe, to a fast-paced Latin number. Bound to be a crowd-pleaser.
3:15 p.m.: After another fall on beam, Komova's demeanor has changed from sorrowful to irritated. She gets back up and does a standing Arabian and nails it. But she's also giving up very easily when stuff isn't perfect, as she just did on her full turn with leg up. Dementyeva doesn't do that.
3:11 p.m.: Afanasyeva beam: Falls on both her standing Arabian and her bhs, layout to two feet. But don't worry, Russia fans: this is what they did last year, too.
3:08 p.m.: Alyona Polyan does a cool mount: an interpretation of the Silivas. Komova again: Bhs, layout, layout with back leg bent so much she looked like she was impersonating Chelle Stack.
It's easy to see why Dementyeva is considered the team workhorse. The girl simply never quits -- her body is never slack, and she gives the impression that she's "on" all the time. She's not flawless on beam (wobbles) but she always appears to be giving 110 percent.
3:03 p.m.: I'm beginning to think that the true Russian champions are the ones who have the most problems in training. It's a problem if something's not a problem for this team when they're not competing.
Take Komova, who began doing a full beam set only to jump off on her bhs, layout stepout series, then abort her dismount. She looks dejected and has sat down on the mat next to the beam. Her coach is talking to her. Body languages indicates a few tears.
2:54 p.m.: Fashion notes! Requested by commenter April. So far nothing's been completely ghastly, which is a nice change. The Chinese, whose session I caught the very tail end of a few hours ago, were in sleeveless shocking pink and black and white, which they wore last year too. The Russian look today is sleeveless silver, with pink stripes down the hips and black piping and a v-neck. The Swiss are colorful and complicated as usual, with a sleeveless mix of red, highlighter yellow and purple that they've also worn in several meets.
Canada is in a simple shimmery lavender look, also sleeveless. while the Belgians are doing their thing in a burgundyish leo with some salmon pink vetrical detailing, which is a bit suspect IMO.
The Americans were of course in red, white and blue, sleeveless. And bright blue t-shirts with "USA" in big white letters. The same was worn by Martha Karolyi (the t-shirt, not the leotard.)
2:49 p.m.: Yulia Belokobylskaya, a girl with good coaching but little natural swing, is having a problems on bars. Dementyeva is powering along reasonably well -- just stuck a double layout, as a matter of fact.
Viktoria Komova, set to make her much-anticipated Worlds debut, is excellent on this event, even though she just missed a layout Jaeger on bars. The only thing that's not to love about Komova on this event is the composition of her routine, which includes an infuriating half turn just before her dismount, which looks like a mistake.
Ksenia Afanasyeva: Tkatchev to immediate Pak. Nice.
2:42 p.m.: Things are different this year. The biggest story of podium training at last year's World Championships was how badly the Russian women did, before going out and doing a whole lot better in the competition. Russia has started this training session on bars, and the team doesn't exactly look bad. Nabieva is doing her work, and Yulia Inshina has a serviceable routine (Jaeger, Pak, stuff like that). Komova has a few small form breaks here and there and Anna Dementyeva, though she looks tidy as ever, is having a few small; problems as well. Nothing horrific, though.
2:38 p.m.: The Swiss have some people who can tumble. Strong double pikes, front double fulls, stuff like that. Impressive. They look well conditioned on this event. This team was 16th at last year's World Championships, and though the loss of Kaeslin means they are projected to place lower, they certainly don't seem to have given up. In addition to Steingruber's improvement, the team is bolstered by first year senior Sara Catanzaro, a girl with excellent form and international class skills, and Yasmin Zimmerman, a veteran elite.
2:34 p.m.: I mean no disrespect to the Belgians, but the team does not seem to be using its time wisely on beam. They are (and have been for the past 10 minutes) doing the simplest exercises, led by two team members who are standing on the floor by the beams and demonstrating what to do. We're talking about switch leap timers here (timers!), straight handstands (handstands!) and straight jumps (straight jumps!) What in the world...
2:29 p.m.: Alyona Polyan is not training bars for Russia, leaving Nabieva the tallest gymnast on the Russian squad. Like the Americans, the Russians lined up in front of Alexander Alexandrov to receive instructions right after their general stretch. It was all very serious.
2:26 p.m.: Also got a quick look at Houry Gebeshian on bars, training a full twisting double tuck dismount. Gebeshian, who finished her senior year at Iowa in 2011, is Armenia's only competitor here.
2:15 p.m.: Such lovely choreography from team Canada on floor! Saw a wonderful dance through from Dominique Pegg (remember that she competed a double layout at the Japan Cup here in July) and a gorgeous performance from Madeline Gardiner, who does one of the most well-choreographed routines to "Dark Eyes" ever.
Also strong tumbling from Mikaela Gerber, who threw a 1.5 to triple full.
2:07 p.m.: Also stretching alongside the Russians are the Swiss, the Belgians (who, according to Brigid, were avidly filming the U.S. team on bars) and Bulgaria's Ralitsa Mileva, a tall and elegant gymnast. Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber, who is likely to take the reins of this team now that Ariella Kaeslin has retired, is wearing a back stabilizer band just above her hips.
2:02 p.m.: The Russians showed up wearing silver sleeveless leos (this year may be a bit more about modesty) and are presently grouped in a large oval on floor, doing what appear to be identical stretches as the Americans did earlier.
Hair note: Ksenia Afanasyeva is now blonde.
1:59 p.m.: Seems like Canada has a nice mix going on beam. They have the elegance and skills of Madeline Gardinerand Kristina Vaculik, and the power of Talia Chiarelli (very nice double pike off just now) and Peng Peng Lee.
1:50 p.m.: Tatiana Nabieva just walked by, and she really looks older! Last year she was still a tad baby faced. No more. Guess being a World champion matures you.
1:50 p.m.: Colombia on floor has recorded a lot of falls and a lot of underrotations so far. A little scary.
1:45 p.m.: The U.S. women are standing before Martha Karolyi for the daily debriefing after some stretching by beam. One thing to note seems to be that Sabrina Vega has taken out her pike Tkatchev on bars.
1:43 p.m.: Madeline Gardiner (correction, not Kristina Vaculik) looks just incredible on beam. She's doing a bhs, layout to two feet (excellent) and change leg side aerial (terrific). Dominique Pegg also looks quite on point on this event.
1:36 p.m.: Just saw a fantastic bar routine from Gabrielle Douglas. Beautiful everything, stuck full in tuck dismount in combination. Just did the whole thing again, too, and it was exactly the same. Good for her! Let us pray for the same thing in the actual meet.
Canada on beam: Christine (Peng Peng) Lee's barani on beam is just excellent. Well done here.
The Brazilians are having all kinds of problems on vault. Mostly they're trying Yurchenko 1.5s. Nothing is being stood up except for the occassional handspring punch front.
1:33 p.m.: Let's play, "What is Jordyn Wieber's bars dismount going to be?" She just did a routine capped with a stuck double layout, but my guess is that she'll throw either a full twisting double lay or the double double tuck she did earlier this season. She takes a form break on the double double, generally landing with her chest at her knees, but the double double is with an F (or maybe it's a G, don't remember) in the code of points. The full twisting double layout is not worth as much in difficulty.
1:32 p.m.: From my vantage point, I can see the Canadian team (in the other gym) working on balance beam. After the Americans are done on bars, I'll go sit where I can see their floor more closely.
On vault, Daniele Hypolito is having problems with her Yurchenko 1.5. Daiane dos Santos is not, however.
1:25 p.m.: One of the girls from Colombia (not Jessica Gil) is doing a really nice running front double full dismount off beam. So cool.
1:22 p.m.: This just in: Russia has arrived for their session. More to come.
1:20 p.m.: As Wieber is in the air for her Amanar, John Geddert yells "Bend!" to her. She does. Good landing. He seems to do this every time. Maroney for the redemption: much better. Small step back.
1:18 p.m.: Maroney did the sort of Amanar that you see occassionally and wonder how she still has a knee to stand on when she gets up. How I hate that vault.
1:12 p.m.: Is it just me...or do all the Americans seem to be coming in a little forward on the horse on vault?
As per usual, Sacramone is not training her Rudi, just doing a monster front handspring, having a cup of tea in the air and rolling out of it. She did the fewest numbers of any American on this event.
Maroney is doing FTY timers. Douglas and Raisman good DTYs. Wieber just did an Amanar with a step forward. Vega, who did a DTY at the CoverGirl Classic, is doing Yurchenko 1.5s.
1:09 p.m.: A full twisting double layout...from Daiane dos Santos on floor! Well well well. The 2003 World floor champ, plagued by so many injuries (and that little ban for banned substance furosemide) this quad, looks very well prepared do business here in Tokyo. Very nice full in tuck, stuck, from Bruna Leal.
1:05 p.m.: Brazil on floor: Jade Barbosa's first double layout is underrotated, and Daiane dos Santos's first Arabian double front pike is overrotated (in fact, she runs out of the pass and keeps running off the floor.) Daniele Hypolito does a pretty killer double layout, but then misses her 2.5 to punch front and sits down.
1 p.m.: A Romanian update. I was focused on the U.S. women and didn't watch the Romanians on floor in the other women's gym, but here's what I do know: They did dance throughs. Raluca Haidu's music is the same as last year -- a "Zorba the Greek" variation. On vault, they mostly did timers, including Ana Porgras, who is said to be doing a DTY.Brigid, who watched the Romanians vault, was not impressed with their form on pre-flights. Diana Chelaru appears weaker than she should, and is likely recovering from some sort of injury.
12:50 p.m.: Corrections for the U.S. women. Maroney redoes her 2.5 to front layout full, twice (still little slips on the landings). Douglas tosses off an Arabian double front and keeps it in bounds. Vega does a full in pike. And sticks it.
12:48 p.m.: Douglas on floor: OOB on Arabian double, but has added a full in tuck as her third pass (she wasn't doing that at Nationals, was she?) Ends with a double tuck to immediate split jump, which could go great or awry in competition. Also seems to have grown into the choreography in this floor routine -- plays it up more here than she did in St. Paul.
12:45 p.m.: Raisman on floor: Very easy looking first pass. Stuck double Arabian second pass (Rick McCharles and I clap for that, objectivity be damned.) Great triple full. She's bouncing straight up out of her last two passes. Darn good tumbling.
12:44 p.m.: Maroney on floor: Kills the 3.5 only to come down on her bottom on her 2.5 to front layout full. Gets a bit of a tap from Artur Akopyan on her 1.5 to double tuck third pass.
12:40 p.m.: Wieber is second in this full floor routine lineup. A hop forward on her 1.5 to triple, but she looks very good with the last two passes. Her choreo is a world better than her old routine's, or maybe just more to the music. Smart of her choreographer Dominic Zito to pick a piece of music with a strong beat that lends itself well to some posing.
Vega on floor: Underrotates her full in pike, looks weak coming out of her 1.5 twist to double tuck. Small problems on 2.5 to front layout also, but gets it back to finish well with a determined double pike. Still, not the routine she wanted.
12:37 p.m.: Raisman has done two of her 1.5 to double Arabian to punch front passes, and they look very good. Douglas is doing very nice Arabian double fronts. I'm continually impressed with the athleticism of Douglas -- she does not seem to be straining to do any of her skills. Not that everyone else is, but she especially is not.
Full routine from Sacramone: Keeps the triple full and double Arabian in bounds (very nice landing on second pass.) Third pass: Stuck punch front to 2.5. So she's ditched the 2.5 to front layout for good, it seems. Excellent landing on the double pike. So far, she looks better than she did in St. Paul...
12:33 p.m.: From the other side of the gym, Brigid McCarthy reports that Jessica Lopez has adopted Aliya Mustafina's"talk to the hand" choreography on beam. Well, if Mustafina can't be here, it's nice to know that at least one of her most famous gestures has been picked up by somebody else.
12:28 p.m.: Hair note! Jade Barbosa, who looks trimmer than she did in Ghent a few weeks ago, also looks to have lightened her dark hair.
The U.S. has moved to floor. Martha Karolyi is being very encouraging of Gabrielle Douglas, with a "very nice Gabby!" followed up by more words of encouragement.
The U.S. looks powerful on floor. Good, high, energetic tumbling. Stuck 1.5 to double tuck from Maroney just now. Wonderful 2.5 twist from Sacramone. Slightly underrotated 1.5 to triple full from Douglas. Not underrotated 1.5 to triple full from Wieber. Unholy height from Raisman on her Arabian double pike.
12:26 p.m.: The rest of the U.S. team is done on beam, but Maroney is doing a little extra work. Her front pike seems to be giving her problems.
12:18 p.m.: Stuck dismount from Douglas on beam. McKayla Maroney has had some wobbles (and a couple falls) on beam during this training session. Based on the 20 minutes I've watched thusfar, she appears to be the weak link on this event, just not quite as sharp as the other five on this event. That being said, it's very hard to judge a team based on one practice session (or even one night at a U.S. Championships, as it was).
Maroney misses her foot slightly on her roundoff at the end of this full routine and did a single tuck rather than her planned double. Hmm.
Very nice stuff from Bruna Leal of Brazil on bars -- Jaeger from Endo in el-grip, if I saw that correctly...something we're used to seeing the Chinese do.
12:14 p.m.: Jordyn Wieber's not quite connecting her standing full to bhs series on beam, but she's not wobbling on it either. Sacramone continues to look very sharp, taking few wobbles aside from her front pike to standing layout stepout combo, which I'd still say is questionable for competition.
Sabrina Vega's mission here is to erase the step on her double pike dismount. It's improved from nationals, meaning the step is a bit smaller, but it's still there. Which is probably not OK with Martha Karolyi.
12:11 p.m.: Daiane dos Santos on bars: Some form on her hop full to Tkatchev but a double front that was well done and almost stuck. Ana Claudia Silva is a real looker on this event -- her form is downright Ukrainian, which I guess isn't surprising given that she was brought up under Oleg Ostapenko, who has now returned to Brazil to see over the 2012-2016 generation.
12:05 p.m.: One of the things that made Romania great during the 1996-2004 quads was the discipline the team showed. There was no talking between the gymnasts, no hanging out at the chalk bowl, no relaxing. This is what we're seeing with this U.S. team -- it's an incredibly businesslike practice.
Jordyn Wieber and Alicia Sacramone both look extremely good on this event, as does Vega. Anna Li does not appear to be working this event.
12:02 p.m.: Gabrielle Douglas looks somewhat hesitant on her skills on beam during this exercise. It wasn't free of wobbles, but it was nice to see her do a dismount (two bhs through to a double pike) easily and well. Sabrina Vega looks great on this event, which is her favorite and best. On probably any other team on beam, Vega would be on it no question.
11:58 a.m.: Around the gym. Spotted a very nice Comaneci from Tina Erceg of Croatia on bars. A thinner looking He Kexin was conditioning by doing laps around the arena. The Romanians all did dance throughs on floor.
On beam, the U.s. women are doing the opposite of a dance through. Call it a tumble through -- they mount, do their difficulty, including dismount, and get off. No choreography.
TOKYO, 11:30 a.m.: The Yoyogi training hall is buzzing with activity. Teams are separated into four fully equipped gyms all within this large arena. Right now, the U.S. women (in blue t-shirts with "USA" written in large white letters) are beginning their workout. Martha Karolyi, in an idential T-shirt, is supervising. On bars, the girls work cast handstand sets. Gabrielle Douglas makes this look especially easy.
The Gymnastics Examiner will be in Tokyo for the duration of the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships, the first round of qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games. Please check back often for quick hits, interviews, photos and video, and thanks for following! Like The Gymnastics Examiner on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or click the "Subscribe" button above to receive the latest gymnastics news and results via e-mail.
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