Olympic Prep Part 8: Mixed Group 7

Jessica Lopez
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Mixed Group 7 features two favorites from South America. One is my personal favorite, Jessica Gil Ortiz of Colombia, and the other is fan favorite Jessica Lopez of Venezuela. Joining them are athletes representing Austria, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.

Watch for! Jessica Lopez making AA final and potentially sneaking into UB final.

Barbara Gasser, Austria (AUT)
Barbara Gasser placed 35th at the Test Event and will be in London at the age of 22. Gasser vaults a full twisting Yurchenko. On bars, she does a straddled Jaeger. Gasser does a nice leap mount to scale on beam. The rest of her routine has a front tuck-back handspring, front tuck (off 1 leg) to immediate back tuck, L turn, and a Gainer back pike dismount. On floor, she mounts with a double pike, has an L turn, and a double turn with nice choreography and presentation.

D-Scores: VT - 5.0, UB - 5.1, BB - 4.8, FX - 4.4
Routine:Watch her UB routine from the Test Event here or below:





Jessica Gil Ortiz, Colombia (COL)
I cannot tell lies. I love Jessica Gil and wish her the best at the Games. Jessica Gil made it to the floor exercise event finals at the 2009 World Championships but had an unfortunate accident after her second pass that kept her from completing the routine. I was hoping she would pick up where she left off but that was not to be. At the 2011 World Championships, Gil placed 77th in the all around and 12th in vault qualifications. At the 2012 Test Event, she placed 38th to earn her spot in London. Gil has 2 vaults - a 1.5 twisting yurchenko with a 5.3 SV (although she was seen training a double twist here) and a front handspring pike half out with a 5.0 SV. On beam, she jumps from the springboard straight into a split on the beam when she mounts. Her routine also has a switch split-back tuck, a back handspring-layout stepout, and she dismounts with a double tuck. On floor, Gil has a good SV of 5.6 and excellent form. She mounts with a double layout, has a full in tucked, a 1.5-front full, and a double pike dismount.

D-Scores: VT - 5.3/5.0, UB - 5.0, BB - 5.4, FX - 5.6
Routine: Watch her floor routine from the Test Event here or below:


Nastassia Marachkouskaya, Belarus (BLR)
Nastassia Marachkouskaya placed 65th at the Test Event. She is tall for a gymnast at 167 cm/5'6". She vaults an excellent full twisting Yurchenko that gets great height (5.0 SV), and a front handspring pike half out (5.0 SV). On bars, she does a piked Jaeger, pak salto, and a toe-on front pike half out dismount. Beam seems to be her forte where she does a front aerial-back handspring, a switch straddle split, and dismounts with a double pike that she gets around quickly since she's so tall. [Not-so-Fun Fact: Nastassia attended the 2008 Olympics and was 1st reserve for the vault final.]

D-Scores: VT - 5.0/5.0, UB - 4.9, BB - 5.3, FX - 4.8
Routine: Watch her BB routine here or below:


Jessica Lopez, Venezuela (VEN)
Jessica Lopez attended the 2008 Olympics finishing 43rd in the all around and continued working hard into this quad. At the beginning of the quad, JLo was making a name for herself as a threat to uneven bar finals and a rising talent in the all-around, bringing South American gymnastics to the forefront. However, things have not been going as well lately. Lopez has been inconsistent and her struggle at one competition seems to affect her in the following one. She placed 22nd at the Test Event after a very disappointing 24th place finish in the all-around finals at 2011 Worlds. Since then, Jessica, now 26, has been competing on the World Cup stage trying to solidify her routines. If she is consistent, she should have no problem making the all-around final.

Lopez has been vaulting a very clean full twisting Yurchenko in 2012 but can do a double twisting Yurchenko. On UB, she does a high and very straight laid-out Jaeger to rival the best Chinese bar workers. She also does a Tkatchev-in bar Gienger combination, and dismounts with a double front. On beam, she does a front aerial-back handspring-layout stepout combination, a full twisting wolf turn, switch split-side aerial, and dismounts with a 2.5 twist. On floor, she does a nice triple twist, a double pike, a triple turn, whip-double twist-split leap, and a 2.5 twist dismount.

D-Scores: VT - 5.8, UB - 5.3, BB - 5.3, FX - 5.2
Routine: Watch her UB routine from the 2012 Ghent World Cup here or below (14.575)


Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistan (UZB)
Luiza Galiulina placed 52nd at the Test Event. She was present at the 2008 Olympics, just barely 16, where she placed 60th and, like Lopez, continued training into this quadrennium. Galiulina has amazing difficulty on both uneven bars and balance beam. Perhaps she could also sneak into the balance beam finals! Galiulina vaults a front handspring tuck half out (4.8 SV). On bars, she does a hop change to el grip to immediate straddled Jaeger, clear hip full to straddled Tkatchev, and dismounts with a double pike. On beam, she does a double sit spin mount, front pike, front tuck-back handspring-layout stepout, switch split-back tuck, front aerial-side somi (actually connected too!), and dismounts with a double tuck. On floor, she competes a double pike, a double twist punch front, and finishes with a double tuck. As dance elements, she does a very easy double and triple sit spin (Mitchell turn or the can opener ;), and a Memmel turn (double turn with leg at head/double Y turn). Make sure to check out her floor routine too!

D-Scores: VT - 4.8, UB (at 0:49) - 5.9, BB - 5.9, FX - 5.4
Routine: Watch her BB from 2010 Asian Games here or below (at 7:14):



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