Olympic Prep Part 5: Mixed Group 4

Valeria Maksiuta
source

Mixed Group 4 contains the Tripartite. The other gymnasts are from Ukraine, Portugal, and Israel. [I apologize if this order is incorrect. Information about the tripartite and wild card is contradictory. Since there are 2 gymnasts from Egypt and 2 from Vietnam, I'm not sure if the Olympic Committee will decide to put them in the same rotation and make a new draw.]

Watch for! Valeria Maksiuta on UB. She could make it to EF but if she successfully competes her double front full dismount, it will be named after her!

Do Thi Ngan Thuong, Vietnam (VIE)
Do Thi Ngan Thuong was the first Vietnamese gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 2008 where she placed 59th in the All-Around. However, her athlete accrediation was revoked after the games when she tested positive for furosemide, a banned substance. Do placed 72nd in the all around at the Test Event and was the last gymnast to qualify to the Olympics. She has had 2 vaults but not sure if she will compete them as she competed 2 at the Olympics but only 1 at Worlds and at the Test Event. Her best event seems to be beam where she competed a lovely switch split-back tuck-sheep jump combination at the Test Event. Do has a full in pike and a double pike on floor and a lovely switch ring. She was injured at the Test Event and performed a very basic routine with a 2.9 SV. Let's hope she's healed for the Olympics!

D-Scores: VT - 4.6, UB - 4.2, BB - 4.6, FX - 4.8
Routine: Watch her floor from 2010 Asian Games here or below (13.45).






Nataliya Kononenko, Ukraine (UKR)
Kononenko earned the spot to the Olympics after beating out teammate Angelina Kysla. Konenko placed 39th at the Test Event while Kysla placed 47th. Konenko's best event is uneven bars where she hopes for a bearth into the bar finals. Ukraine has had a lot of trouble maintaining prominence in the gymnastic worlds, one of it's issues being consistencies. Ukraine did so poorly at 2011 Worlds that they didn't even finish in the top 16 teams. Kononeko is now their hope. She did very well recently at the 2012 European championships where she made the finals and earned the bronze medal. Konenko has recently done bar routines with 6.2, 6.4, and 6.7 SV. She will likely need the 6.4 or higher to guarantee entry into the finals. Her bar routine is exciting containing a Ricna (stalder Tkatchev), and a Tkatchev 1/2 to immediate straddled Jaeger. Check it out below!

D-Scores: VT - 4.4, UB - 6.7, BB - 5.5, FX - 4.8
Routine: Watch her bronze medal routine from the 2012 European Championships here or below



Zoi Mafalda Marques de Lima, Portugal (POR)
Zoi Marques de Lima (Zoi Lima on youtube) qualified to London after finishing 67th at the Test Event. She vaults a Yurchenko full and has a piked Jaeger and a toe-on dismount in her bar routine. Zoi mounts floor with a double pike, has a double tuck, and dismounts with a 2.5 twist.

D-Scores: VT - 5.0, UB - 3.9, BB - 4.6, FX - 5.1
Routine: Watch her floor routine below or here



Valeriia Maksiuta, Israel (ISR)
Maksiuta is a displaced Ukrainian who has done very well representing herself and Israel. Her best events are probably vault and balance beam. After qualifying to the Olympics with a 23rd place finish at the Test Event, the Israeli Olympic Committee said that Maksiuta's spot was only secure if she could get top 12 in the All Around or top 6 in Event Finals at Europeans. She got 9th in the unofficial all-around at Europeans and 4th in the vault finals to meet the IOC's requirements. Maksiuta vaults a double twisting yurchenko (5.8 SV) and a front handspring pike full out (5.9). She has a Comaneci salto and a double front full dismount on UB (look at a killer, stuck dismount here). On beam, she does a front aerial-side aerial, a tour-jete half and dismounts with a double pike.

D-Scores: VT - 5.8/5.9, UB - 5.2, BB - 5.9, FX - 5.5
Routine: Watch her on vault here or below. (Watch her much better VT1 from Europeans here).



Check out the others in the series here:
Mixed Group 8 - Laura Svilpaite (LTU), Heem Wei Lim (SIN), Maria Paula Vargas (ESP), Ralitsa Mileva (BUL), Sherine Ahmed El Zeiny (EGY)

Mixed Group 7 - Barbara Gasser (AUT), Jessica Gil Ortiz (COL), Nastassia Marachkouskaya (BLR), Jessica Lopez (VEN), Luiza Galiulina (UZB)

Mixed Group 6 - Jonna Adlerteg (SWE), Vasiliki Millousi (GRE), Valeria Pereyra (ARG), Annika Urvikko (FIN), Heo Seon Mi (KOR)

Mixed Group 5 - Phan Thi Ha Thanh (VIE), Sasa Golob (SLO), Celine Van Gerner (NED), Simona Castro Lazo (CHI), Salma Mahmoud El Said Mohamed (EGY)

Mixed Group 4 - Do Thi Ngan Thuong (VIE), Nataliya Kononenko (UKR), Zoi Mafalda Marques de Lima (POR), Valeriia Maksyuta (ISR)

Mixed Group 3 - Marta Pihan-Kulesza (POL), Tina Erceg (CRO), Giulia Steingruber (SUI), Lorena Quinones Moreno (PUR), Maria Homolova (SVK)

Mixed Group 2 - Elsa Garcia (MEX), Julie Croket Gaelle Mys (BEL), Moldir Azimbay (KAZ), Goksu Uctas (TUR), Ana Sofia Gomez Porras (GUA)

Mixed Group 1 - Kristyna Palesova (CZE), Yamilet Pena Abreu (DOM), Hiu Ying Angel Wong (HKG), Dorina Boczogo (HUN)

[Confusing] Country Codes