50th Post! Olympic Highs and Lows

John Cheng for USA Gym

Hello!

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who stops by my blog. I recently made it over 10,000 hits and the number is growing a lot faster than I expected. I'll attribute it to Olympic Fever! I also have almost 400 followers on twitter (@ArabianPF_blog). Thanks for stopping by, commenting, tweeting, and just making the gymternet a fun place to be :)

As an anniversary post, I'll just do a few of my highs and lows for the Olympics.

Team Canada! Holy smokes! Team Canada made it to 5th in the team finals. That's an amazing feat considering this was also the FIRST time they've made it to team finals. How amazing?! Lows, however, are Victoria Moors not making FX EF and Kristina Vaculik not making AA finals. I'm mad at the judges for Moors on FX because they scored her .5 better in team finals, a score that would have put her 5th in the event finals. Vaculik had a few errors but I'm just glad she finally made it to the Olympics after injury kept her out of Beijing. Dominique Pegg made it to the AA and hit her events - leaving her 12 for 12 at the Olympics! To end on a high note - 2 Canadians, Brittany Rogers and Ellie Black, will be in vault finals tomorrow!


Team USA - I'm thrilled that we won gold. I'm thrilled Gabby won the all around. I'm not happy that 3 per country kept Jordyn Wieber, defending World Champion, out of the running and that a (stupid) tiebreaker kept Aly Raisman from getting bronze. Aly's been saying, "I've been 4th for the last 2 years in a row. I know I can make it to top 3." She had the chance but she didn't make it. It bothers me that Aly definitely had room for improvement - she left out her punch layout and touched the beam. Both of these cost her at least .7 points and a clear shot at bronze. I hope she comes back in floor finals!

Vault - I'm very sad that Giulia Steingruber didn't make VT EF. She fell in prelims on one of her vaults and finished in 9th place, just outside of the top 8 that make it to finals. In my opinion, she had the best chance of challenging the trio - Maroney, Izbasa, and Chusovitna. On a positive note, Steingruber competed in the all around final. From what I saw, she had a great floor routine in qualifications and I recommend that you all check that out at some point!

Uneven Bars are my favorite event. I'm sad that Youna Dufournet didn't make it. She was my hope for France! However, it looks like it will be a true showdown and I'm excited for that! Just to give you an idea of what we have in store:
Elizabeth Tweddle (7.0) - 2006 and 2010 World Uneven Bar Champion, finished 4th place in Beijing, has an exciting routine with 2 moves named after her
He Kexin (7.1) - 2008 Olympic Uneven Bar Gold Medalist, 2009 World Uneven Bar Champion.
Viktoria Komova (7.0) - 2011 World Uneven Bar Champion
Yao Jinnan (6.8) - 2011 World All Around Bronze Medalist
Aliya Mustafina (7.0) - 2010 European Uneven Bar Champion and 2010 World Uneven Bar Silver Medalist
Gabrielle Douglas (6.6) - finalist at 2011 Worlds
Elizabeth Seitz (6.7) - finalist at 2010 Worlds, competes a Def (full twisting Gienger)
Koko Tsurumi (6.6) - 2009 World Bronze Uneven Bar Medalist

Team Russia - I'm sad for the way they performed in  team finals. They were all in tears and yet they still managed to win silver. I'm glad they rested Komova on floor. Her floor routine in the AA was really the best I've ever seen her do. It's like she saved herself for the AA final. It's also an amazing feat to go 2-3 in the all around. We'll get to see the Russians in every event final starting with Maria Paseka on vault.

Low - very low - would be NBC's coverage. You'd think that it would be better since it's not live but, instead, NBC has interspersed gymnastics with swimming. I love watching swimming but I wouldn't mind watching one sport followed by another. I imagine they do this to keep us tortured fans, I mean viewers, to raise their ratings. At least we get some coverage, right?

Overall, I'm excited for the event finals to come. Vault should be exciting. Beth Tweddle will have room for 4th place redemption on uneven bars. Balance Beam and Floor Exercise also promise to be exciting finals.  Feel free to comment or connect with me on twitter (@ArabianPF_blog). I enjoy my conversations with you all and thanks for visiting my site :)

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