Could Gabs do the Nabs?

Credit: Greg Long/Longshot Photography
Gallery found here

Gabrielle Douglas of the USA was the alternate at the American Cup since Americans Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman officially accepted their spots. At Worlds in 2011, she placed 5th in team qualifications and did not get to compete due to the 2-per country rule. On Saturday, Gabby had her chance to prove what she was made of.

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What if Gabby Douglas, the alternate "won" the American Cup, without scores officially counting? Could happen... She's looking fantastic @gymnastike

This was an interesting thought that later became reality.

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Douglas earned scores of 15.866 on vault, 15.633 on the uneven bars, 15.100 on the beam and 14.700 on the floor." USAG not saying her AA.. @betweentheolympics

USAG likely didn’t say the score because Douglas beat official champion Jordyn Wieber’s 61.032 with a 61.299 (with 2 OOB deductions).

Gabby Douglas attacked the American Cup competition with a new found confidence and grace. "When we won the team title it made me more confident," Douglas said. "I realized, 'Wow, I'm one of the best ones in the world.'" (source)







But, what I really want to talk about is the Flying Squirrel on bars. And some amazing quotes about her height on her release moves that came from the American Cup.

From the same article above, they said “she gets such great height on her release moves she can dust off the ceiling lights.”

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Love @gabrielledoug's bars routine. Believe she touched Jumbotron on one of her release moves. Carries herself with so much confidence now. @nrarmour

Someone else said something along the lines of: I’m pretty sure I could stand on the bar while Gabby’s doing her Tkatchev (if this was you, let me know and I can give you credit). And thus my question was born:

Could Gabs do the Nabs?



At the American Cup, Gabby showed up with a new piked Tkatchev. Her straddled Tkatchev is sky high and causes all of our jaws to drop as we stare in amazement. Now, she and Chow have added another high release move to her uneven bar routine. My one problem with the piked Tkatchev is that she doesn’t seem to travel much in the second part of the release so she has to angle her legs so that she can catch the bar. The picture below and this video has a pretty good view of what I’m talking about: here. You can she when she catches how she has to bring her legs back to the center.




Credit: Greg Long/Longshot Photography
Gallery found here

Spanny once mentioned that maybe Gabby should do a Hindorff and I’m sure that would add to the excitement of her routine. Chow has indicated that she’s doing more upgrades so maybe the Hindorff is one of them but Gabby gets so much height! What if her upgrade was the Nabs – a toe on laid out Tkatchev?

No woman has done a laid out Tkatchev, without the toe-on. What if the Douglas, a laid out Tkatchev, was the new move? I think she can do it! If she had more time, or keeps doing elite after 2012, maybe she could even work on the Liukin - a full twisting laid out Tkatchev. How amazing would that be? A girl can dream, right?