There is definitely a club of people who must go out together after the Olympic Games and get the Olympic rings tattooed somewhere on their body. Members include Jonathan Horton, Nathan Gafuik, Terin Humphrey, Carly Patterson and Venezuela's Jessica Lopez, who looked lovely in a square necked shocking pink leotard this weekend in São João da Madeira, Portugal.
I got my highlight reel from the uploaded videos of DrMtzLizama on Youtube. Thanks, Doc. Some very interesting stuff here.
Romania's Flavius Koczi, always a threat for World and Olympic medals on vault and pommel horse, is a tremendous twister whose floor routine has all the finesse of a Romanian woman circa 1999 who wasn't Andreea Raducan. Koczi is industrious and his routine is ambitious, but gets comparatively little height on his tumbling and displays no style whatsoever. Also, you rarely get to complain about a guy who doesn't flip twice on floor.
Like Koczi, China's Tong Yingjie lacked some fire, even though he through a fairly competitive routine with some form issues. Runner up Diego Hypolito's biggest flaw was that he got a bit lost in the air 90 percent of the way through his closing triple full pass. Hypolito didn't seem to mind what was basically an "oops" mistake, and laughed a bit as he saluted the judges. Worlds or Olympics this is not.
Bonus though for his whip to Arabian double pike opener, which looks as though he could pretty easily add something -- a full twist to that whip or a half twist to the Arabian double.
Flavius Koczi, 2010 World Cup Portugal Event Finals, Floor (1st):
Diego Hypolito, 2010 World Cup Portugal Event Finals, Floor (2nd):
Bouncy Isaac Botella of Spain gets props for his eye-catching opening tumbling run: a front layout with a full twist followed by a full twisting front one and three quarters somersault.
Like most gymnasts who come from "non-gymnastics" countries, Vietnam's Phan Thi Ha Thanh seems to have emerged from nowhere. Phan, who vaulted a 1.5 Yurchenko and an underrotated-but-with-nice-form handpring pike front with a half twist, deserves the accolades she'll get for being Vietnam's first World Cup gymnastics medalist.
But what I noticed were her hands. Phan is one of those gymnasts with gorgeous hands. They're so beuatiful it's even evident as she's hurdling into her roundoff.
Phan Thi Ha Thanh, 2010 World Cup Portugal Event Finals, Vault:
Vault winner Daniele Hypolito looked world class with a clean, well-landed Yurchenko 1.5 and piked Podkopayeva. Hypolito is also one of the few today who do the Pod the way Lilia Podkopayeva herself did it, saving the half twist until the very end.
Daniele Hypolito, 2010 World Cup Portugal Event Finals, Vault:
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