2:12 p.m.: Just watched Dufournet go through all her difficulty on beam with no problems at all. Her dismount is bhs, bhs to double full.
Spain is the China of Europe on uneven bars.
2:08 p.m.: The Belgians on vault are rather so-so. They have a good Yurchenko 1.5 from Vanwalleghem and a handspring front tuck full from Croket, as well as an FTY from Mys and what looks like a tucked FTY from someone else. But other teams have more difficulty on this event. That will hurt them.
2:05 p.m.: Angelina Kysla's floor music stops in the middle of her full routine, but she continues on like she doesn't hear it. Same thing happens to Slovakia's Maria Homolova a few routines later. The announcer apologizes to both of them and congratulates them for continuing on. "We're having some technical issues," he says.
1:59 p.m.: So far in this rotation, France is having a few problems on beam, but Dufournet is in the middle of a very nice routine with some very cool combinations. Working like a pro.
Georgia Simpson's floor routine is blues infused with electric guitar. There's even a place in her choreo for her to do a little air guitar! Lovely work.
New floor for Emily Little, more fast-paced than the Aussie harmonica routine she did in Tokyo. This one is more lyrical, with some electric violin and actually...it's the same as Vanwalleghem's! With the guy vocalist breathing and everything!
1:54 p.m.: Spanish stalders. The favorite element of gymnasts from Spain on bars is in full flower. And they're lovely, as always.
1:47 p.m.: France is kind of rocking out on bars. This team looks better than they did in Tokyo. The full routines are being capped with stuck or nearly stuck dismounts. Dufournet's routine is exquisite and difficult, though she did have a few problems with this or that in this session. Lots of cheering and applause as they went through their routines.
1:43 p.m.: I'm pretty impressed by Georgia Simpson on beam as well. She's very square, and has beautiful long lines but a lot of athletic ability as well. Front aerial, bhs, layout to two feet and bhs, bhs to double tuck dismount. Everything done really well.
Emily Little, the other Australian here, is stylistically her opposite, more about power and strength. But both did quite well on beam.
1:41 p.m.: Curly-haired Julie Croket of Belgium has a very crowd pleasing floor routine to a hot Latin beat. She really delivers it, too, putting a lot into the moves and not being afraid to make eye contact with the judges.
1:39 p.m.: Spain on vault is all about the Yurchenko timers -- and then you have the twisting, like the nice DTY just shown by Claudia Menendez. Cuesta, the birthday girl, is doing FTYs.
1:37 p.m.: Interesting floor music from Belgium's Terry Grand'ry -- a very theatrical piece of music, with -- no kidding -- an evil laugh right in the middle. Next up is Vanwalleghem, and right before her first tumbling pass you hear the vocalist take a breath. He does the same thing right before her last tumbling pass. Which is kind of funny, as that's what Vanwalleghem herself is doing right at that point.
1:35 p.m.: Lisa Verschueren does one of my favorite floor routines to music from "Inglorious Basterds". It's very well choreographed, and the fact that any Belgian does anything to "Inglorious Basterds" is kind of amusing given the history of the Germans and Belgians.
1:31 p.m.: Nice to see a stuck double pike from Kononenko off beam. Impressive fall from her teammate Angelina Kysla a couple minutes later -- she does a back pike and falls onto her bottom on the beam, but doesn't actually come off the beam itself.
1:28 p.m.: Bars has been a good event for France during the past several years, and this year is no exception. In addition to Dufournet, who is better known for bars than anything else (except maybe being injured), Brevet swings well, Kuhm looks quite decent and Clara Della Vedova is one this team as a bars specialist more than anything else.
1:25 p.m.: End of rotation one for this group. To recap: France was impressive on vault, aside from the score they'll drop. Spain looked good on floor -- a nice combination of good choreo and tumbling, and such clean, clean gymnastics.
Australia's Georgia Simpson was terrific on bars and seems to be a face to watch. The Belgians, being overseen by former French coach Yves Kieffer, had a OK level of difficulty but some mistakes.
1:20 p.m.: Awesome barwork from Georgia Simpson of Australia! Wonderful bodyline, good amplitude. Youtube her. Simpson traveled with the Aussies to the 2010 Worlds, but was the alternate. She disappeared in 2011. That was just great. Dismount is only a double pike, but that's the only weak spot.
1:16 p.m.: How do you feel about choreography before the your opening pose on floor? Rick: "A little dance is cute, but...save your energy." Some of the Spanish are doing little dances. But just a little bit. Well-played.
1:09 p.m.: A determined beam routine from 2008 Belgian Olympian Gaelle Mys, capped with a double pike dismount.
Dufournet is just cranking out the Yurchenko 1.5s -- this is her fourth, by my count. They all look the same -- all well done.
France has some good vaults -- Kuhm and Dufournet, for example, and what looks like it will be a decent FTY from Marine Brevet -- but also a couple of handspring front pike halves that are quite weak. It looks like they'll lead off with one of those, then an FTY, then two Yurchenko 1.5s and Kuhm's DTY. Not bad overall.
Happy birthday to Beatriz Cuesta of Spain, who just completed a nice floor routine.
1:07 p.m.: DTYs abound! We've seen a couple of surprising ones so far today. Notably from Wyomi Masela in the morning session. And now one from Kuhm. Wow.
1:04 p.m.: Nice roundoff, layout stepout mount from Belgian veteran Aagje Vanwalleghem to begin her routine. Vanwalleghem, in her early 20s, is so excited about the 2013 Worlds being in Belgium that she's postponing retirement until after that meet so she can close out her career at home. Has trouble with her flight series though.
Love Silvia Colussi-Pelaez's "Carmen" routine, which will lead off Spain on floor. She has tons of style and a wonderful dancer quality on this event, as well as really good choreography and robust tumbling (full in tuck to open, punch front to double tuck second pass.)
1:01 p.m.: The big nouvelle for the French is the ascension of Anne Kuhm to the senior ranks. Kuhm has been one of the top juniors in France for the past couple years.
Oh! A stunning Yurchenko 1.5 from Youna Dufournet! (Bravo, Youna!) It seems like awhile ago that she won World bronze on vault in 2009. But she did.
Lovely easy looking double front dismount from Natalia Kononenko on bars.
12:57 p.m.: And yes, it does begin at precisely 12:57 p.m. The Belgians are in the red and white leotard they wore at Worlds, which was a popular style in the NCAA during the 2011 season. They will begin on beam.
The French, in a pretty blue leotard with white asymmetrical accents and a fair amount of sparkles, are heading to vault, and the Spanish (sporty sleevesless red and white) are on floor. A mixed group, including Portugal, Australia and Ukraine (sleeveless blue and white and yellow) are on bars.
12:55 p.m.: Ten minutes ago there was an announcement that women's podium training would recommence at 12.57 p.m. exactly. Only two minutes to go!
11:30 a.m.: So ends session one of women's podium training. Session two, featuring France, Belgium and Spain, gets underway in just 90 minutes.
11:20 a.m.: Canada is working hard on beam. It's not been a particularly strong event for them in World competitions in the past, but this team definitely does have the stuff to do well here, to qualify for the Olympics, if nothing else. They just need to hit those routines.
Sui Lu is the last woman on floor, redoing her first two tumbling passes a couple of times while Yao Jinnan looks on. She does her 1.5 to Rudi and double pike again as well, seemingly with an emphasis on sticking.
11:17 a.m.: Sui Lu, floor: Nope, no new routine yet, still "Scent of a Woman." And boy has she mastered it! Whip to excellent triple full, tiny hop. 2.5 to front pike. 1.5 to front pike. Switch rings to switch half. Memmel turn. She looks very at ease with this piece. Double pike, low landing. That was a pleasure to watch.
11:15 a.m.: Over on floor, Sui Lu did an easy 2.5 to front layout full. Everyone seems to be waiting for the Chinese floor routines.
Yao on floor: Still doing "West Side Story"...triple full to open, all the way around. 1.5 to 2.5. Good Memmel turn. Crashed double pike though.
11:11 a.m.: Great beam set from Vaculik. Lovely Rulfova, excellent dismount, not much in the way of checks and wobbles. Rogers follows up with a solid routine of her own.
11:08 p.m.: Lee on beam was all fight. The only questionable element in her routine is her front tuck half, which she does about 100 percent of the time and makes about 50 percent of the time in competition. This time she makes it. Nice powerful double pike to end. A lot of the time I worry that a gymnast will not have what it takes to get the double pike around due to weak punch off the beam or whatever. Not her. Kyle: "That's a big routine." Yup.
11:07 a.m.: Laura Svilpaite's floor is a very pretty tango. First pass is 1.5 to punch front to single stag. The roundoff, double pike. Last pass is double tuck, crashed.
11:01 a.m.: Ivet Rojas of Venezuela's floor routine is a really lovely piece of Spanish guitar. No accompaniment, just the guitar.
Gardiner on beam: Falls on Onodi.
Lopez on floor: Keeping her 2011 routine here. Triple full, pause, split jump. Wonderful dance.
Wow -- Masela did a DTY on vault. The Dutch all clap. Tsuk full from van Klaveren.
Two falls on beam from Moors, and hands down on the double tuck dismount. Rough go for her, but this is just the training, after all. New senior nerves, maybe.
10:57 a.m.: I've written before about the decline of perfection on vault, in particularly about sticking landings. When a gymnast does stick, as Lisa Top just did with a handspring front pike, she doesn't seem to take much time to work it or emphasize it, but generally just looks surprised. Top adds a half twist ot her handspring front pike on the second go-round.
10:56 a.m.: In this rotation: Sui Lu on floor! Might she do her new routine?
10:53 a.m.: The Chinese do beam with a white pad at the end, which cushons them for dismounts and tumbling landings. Svilpaite, also on beam, barely gets her double full dismount around. She is a lovely, lovely gymnast, would be phenomenal in the NCAA, but her level is not terribly high.
10:49 a.m.: That's about the third decent DTY from Sofi Gomez of Guatemala. She doesn't stick, there's a bit of leg form, but at least they're not scary.
Lee on bars was so smooth! Terrific work. Chiarelli also looks improved on this event. Yes, she's a Brestyan's gymnast at heart, and she's never going to make world finals, but there is something to be said for substantial improvement.
Nice tidy work from Gardiner as well, who is doing a double front dismount.
10:47 a.m.: A note about the equipment here. It's obvious that the gymnasts were getting more bounce off the floor/vault in Tokyo, which makes me even more concerned about Pena attempting this vault here. If she couldn't get it around in Tokyo, she likely won't in London. She just did a handspring front tuck full. She does not have the height to do a handspring double front. She just doesn't.
10:44 a.m.: Hmm...Yao Jinnan appears to have taken out her standing full on beam in favor of a standing back tuck. She too may be playing it a little safe for this meet.
Pena just did a handspring front that looked like she couldn't decide whether to go for a double or not. At the last minute she doesn't and falls forward awkwardly onto her head/neck after doing a handspring front. Everyone who watched that winced. That looks like the sort of thing that could cause whiplash.
10:40 a.m.: I like Wyomi Masela's floor routine, which suits her style well. Little Lisa Top tumbles quite well also.
On bars, Kristina Vaculik has one of the most beautiful Geingers currently being done.
Oh no -- Pena's started doing front handspring timers. Rick and I groan simultaneously.
Nice Yurchenko 1.5 from Gil, btw.
10:38 a.m.: One of the reasons Brittany Rogers made this Canadian team was obviously that she could contribute the bar routine she just did. It's impressive and hard. Hands down on her Arabian double front dismount, but the interior, including Ricna, was quite good.
10:32 a.m.: The World beam champion is solid, solid, solid up there. Focused and calm, just like in Tokyo. Everything is right on.
To everyone's immense relief, Pena appears to have abandoned her handspring double front in favor of a Yurchenko 1.5.
10:29 a.m.: We get our first look at Sui Lu in this rotation. She appears to be all business, going through her beam routine on the side of the podium as she waits her turn. It appears Sui will not do vault or bars here.
10:20 a.m.: Fashion notes! It's a mix of sleeveless and competition formal in here this morning. Yao Jinnan is in full competition regalia, in the red and yellow "armor" leo that the Chinese women have worn in serious international competition lately.
Yamilet Pena is in sleeveless sky blue and white that really stands out against her skin. Simona Castro of Chile (and Denver) is in long sleeved red with a smattering of sparkles on the bodice and a lacy black "V" neck in the back.
The Dutch are in the aforementioned long sleeved red leos, and the Canadians in sleeveless black. Jessica Lopez is in sleeveless black with a silver design down one side of the bodice. She looks on concernedly as her coach Nilson Savage jumps in to save teammate Ivet Rojas on a double front dismount gone slightly awry on bars.
Jessica Gil of Colombia is in a lovely long sleeved blue leotard with a rhinestone design that runs diagonally down the bodice. Love that one.
10:16 a.m.: Teunisse's beam dismount is an unusual cartwheel to gainer 1.5 twist. She also does beam in socks. Noel van Klaveren was very impressive on this event: bhs to layout to two feet, good form and right on, and a 2.5 twist dismount. Very good stuff. The new Dutch seniors are impressing.
10:13 a.m.: The Canadians are coming around on vault. Rogers put a DTY to her feet, and Chiarelli's looked good. One reason Chiarelli was made the alternate in Tokyo at the last minute was that she struggled with that vault in podium training in Japan, but she does not seem to be having that problem here.
Moors's DTY is not fully rotated, however, and she won't receive credit for it if she does it that way in competition.
10:09 a.m.: Jessica Gil of Colombia is really turning it on on floor. Her passes: Double layout. Full in tuck. Was that a 2.5 to front layout full? (Maybe it was just 1.5 to front layout full). Fast paced music.
The lovely Laura Svilpaite of Lithuania warmed up several handspring front pikes on vault (decent, but not great) and is now on bars. Sadly, she's regressed a bit from when she was a very promising junior sensation, often struggling with elements that shouldn't be that hard at this level.
Yao Jinnan on bars appears to have added a stalder Khorkina II transition from low to high. She didn't do that in Tokyo, did she? Beautiful stuck double layout. Everything right to handstand. Wonderful.
10:02 a.m.: Gomez Porras's knee is taped up. She just did a nice triple full and with the help of her coach, she's doing full in tucks on floor.
On vault, the Canadians don't mess around. Brittany Rogers and Victoria Moors have already done DTYs. Rogers didn't stand hers up, and Moors was a little short, but both are close.
Decent FTY on vault from Gardiner. Yamilet Pena has a very Latin American theme going on floor, and some fun choreo. She makes a few mistakes, notably falling on her opening double Arabian, but the sense I get is that she's Flared out FTY from Peng Peng Lee on vault.
Wonderful routine from Jessica Lopez on uneven bars! Great amplitude, everything to handstand, beautiful double front dismount.
9:57 a.m.: The fact that Mikaela Gerber did floor after everyone else signals that she will be the alternate for the Canadians. Brittany Rogers did not do floor either.
9:54 a.m.: A name to remember. Dianne Teunisse of the Netherlands was the star performer of their bars rotation, IMO. She's young, she has great swing, and she looks fresh. The Dutch need that right now.
9:50 a.m.: Ana Sofia Gomez Porras of Guatemala on beam: strong work. Good bhs, bhs to 2.5 dismount.
Yao did another DTY on vault, which went to her knees instead of her head. Improvement.
9:48 a.m.: Vaculik is struggling with her 1.5 to 2.5 on floor. Her "set" isn't very good, meaning she twists without really lifting into the air, and it messes with her landing. She's not getting the 2.5 quite around either.
9:44 a.m.: Great routine from Victoria Moors on floor, with the double double tuck and 1.5 through to triple full second pass. Christine Lee follows with her double layout opener. Small mistake on her 1.5 to double full, but she continues on, no problems.
Kyle thinks that sometimes it's best to have a little mistake in podium training, because then you have something to focus on fixing for the next two days. If it's perfect in podium, he said, you feel like you might have wasted your good one.
Yao has gone back to Yurchenko timers. Over on bars, Lisa Top fell early in her full routine and also fell on her double front dismount. Fall from Marlies Rijken as well. A bit labored on this event, the Dutch.
9:42 a.m.: Man, Yamilet Pena (Ms. Handspring double front on vault) of the Dominican Republic is so aggressive on beam. Such attack! She's absolutely ripped, too.
Oooh -- Yao Jinnan did about six Yurchenko timers and then did a DTY straight to her head. Ouch. She's all right, but that was nowhere close to being where it needed to be. She gets up, unaffected.
9:39 a.m.: Talia Chiarelli, floor: Arabian double front, very well done. Improved presentation on floor. Very improved, actually - she's been hanging out with Dominique Pegg at Bluewater Gymnastics in Ontario, I think. Her legs come apart in her back handsprings, which is a bit unsightly, but there's no doubt about what she brings to this team.
9:37 a.m.: Kristina Vaculik, floor: 1.5 to 2.5, bent legs and falls. Not enough rotation. Double tuck with a step back. Surprising, that fall...like Gardiner, terrific presentation and dance. Strong double pike to end.
9:34 a.m.: Tiny Yao Jinnan is doing Yurchenko timers on vault. Man, she's small! Decent spring on this event though, especially for someone her size.
Gardiner full routine: "Dark Eyes," same routine she used in 2011. Triple full. Double tuck. Lovely presentation, which is really her strong suit. 1.5 to punch front. Low double pike to end.
9:31 a.m.: Lovely double double tuck from Victoria Moors, light spot from the coach. Also saw a nice triple full from Madeline Gardiner as well.
9:28 a.m: And here come the gymnasts! The Dutch, like in Tokyo, are seriously marching from event to event, in long sleeved red leotards. The Canadians run in in black sleeveless leps with red and orange flames. They are on floor, the Dutch on bars. Mixed groups, including China, are on vault and beam.
9:22 a.m.: The gymnasts will be in the arena in five minutes. The anticipation! A few coaches, including Yelena Davydova, are already here.
9:17 a.m.: Kyle Shewfelt on yesterday's men's session: "You don't win podium training."
LONDON, 8:59 a.m. -- Good morning from the 02! Women's podium training will get underway in about 30 minutes, and right off the bat we'll see two very interesting teams: Canada and the Netherlands.
Canada finished 11th at the World Championships, their team has been reshuffled slightly, 2009 World vault finalist Brittany Rogers and new senior Victoria Moors have joined them, and I'd say they have an outside chance of finishing first among the eight teams competing here.
The Netherlands, 13th in Tokyo, have had a run of bad luck at the worst time. The team lost star Celine van Gerner to injury right after the World Championships, and no. 2 Joy Goedkoop is out as well. That leaves Marlies Rijken, a strong all-arounder, to lead a fairly inexperienced team that recently welcomed talented new seniors Lisa Top and Noel van Klaveren. Will that be enough to get the Dutch in the top 12? Hard to say. We'll know more after today.
In addition to the top eight teams in four training sessions stretching through the afternoon and evening, some of the world's top individuals (Yao Jinnan! Anastasia Grishina! Jessica Lopez! Emily Little!) will be training here. I'll do my best to provide to-the-minute updates of everything that's going on. Please check back often, and thank you for following!
The Gymnastics Examiner will be at the 02 Arena in London for the Olympic Test Event all week. Follow the action on Facebook or Twitter, or click "Subscribe" above to recieve the latest gymnastics news and updates via e-mail.
Comments