Favorites of 2012

These are some of my favorite things from 2012. I got into tumblr and used a lot of links from there so make sure to check them out. Also, please don't copy any images and claim them as your own. These images are not my own and the source is posted beneath them. The artists worked very hard so I tried to link to my tumblr or the original poster so you can easily reblog or cite properly. Enjoy!



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1. We can start things off with our all-around champion. One of my favorite quotes of the year is from Gabrielle Douglas and is about the crowd gasping on her uneven bar releases.
"I try to make it so high to impress you guys," she said with a giggle. "I hear people (gasp) and I'm like, 'Calm down, I'm going to catch the bar.'"
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2. Favorite Floor Choreography: The handstand choreography of Anastasia Grishina's routine. Gif here.

3. Favorite Stag Leaps: Favorites goes to Aliya Mustafina for Arabian to stag and Simone Biles for double layout to stag. Biles' makes my jaw drop every time!

4. Gymnast I Fell in Love with in 2012:

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Kyla Ross - I love that Kyla is one of the athletes that you know is capable of sticking her dismount. I love how long her lines are - she has the prettiest bail to handstand on uneven bars and I normally don't enjoy watching that skill. I also love that she connects a lovely switch ring to back tuck on balance beam. Hopefully, she can make the 2013 World team and stay around until Rio.

At Olympic Trials she was the only athlete of the Fierce 5 not to cry but at the Olympics, she was the first one to cry. She even runs to tell Aly after BB to which Aly replies that her goal is to make Kyla cry and Aly laughs when she sees Kyla cry after FX. Other funnies: Kyla cracking up on the podium in Jesolo, and McKayla, Kyla, and Jordyn reacting to something.

Montage Monday: Year in Review Part 2

Montage Monday: Year in Review Continued
* = tweeted by gymnast
** = a favorite video of mine
@ indicates twitter name

Videos That Took The Gymternet by Storm**
1. HuangQiushuangFan / "Mean Girls" : Gymnastics
Funniest Montage

Montage Monday: Year in Review Part 1

The first link will take you to their youtube channel so go subscribe :) The last one is a "highly recommended" either a favorite of mine, the video editor's favorite, or the first video I watched. If a video is embedded, the last link is the link to that video. Some users also have vimeo accounts for videos that were blocked on youtube and the "@" indicates a twitter account. I apologize to any accounts I failed to link to this time around. I'll do this again in 6 months for any links I might have missed and will do more awards.Numbers aren't a ranking, it was just to help organize the categories.
* = tweeted by gymnast
** = a favorite video of mine

The Ones Who Got Me Obsessed With Montages
1. AshleyAkaFlipper2 / AshleyAkaFlipper / vimeo / @Ashley_Flipper
Fierce Five Imagine the Fire** gets Montage of the Year Award - I fell in love with this video because of the way Ashley created such build up to McKayla's vault. There's a real sense of suspense in this video analyzing USA v. Russia in Team Finals even though we know what's going to happen. Along with that vault, I also really liked the way she compared the balance beam routines. Routines were similar enough that the comparison was possible - front tuck to front tuck, side aerial to side aerial. Loved it.

Fierce Five Imagine the Fire from AshleyakaFlipper on Vimeo.


2. iLitter / vimeo / @CSaccullo / Viktoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina - Рядом с тобой / BY YOUR SIDE**
Chris gets the Pushing the Envelope Award not just for this video but his videos for the past year and a half. I feel like he really pushes himself as an artist to try something new - like bobbleheads or overlaying the beam on the Brooklyn Bridge. He also pushes me as a viewer to appreciate things that are different, to look beyond the black and white or sepia tone. This video is a perfect example of that.Chris also has an amazing eye for things - I had no clue Aliya and Vika were holding hands before they got on the podium (and he made a picture of Peng Peng Lee as Captain Canada and eventually made a shield for her that she used recently at UCLA!). I loved the Dragon Ball Z effect and my favorite has to be the Viktoria sheep jump orb at 1:05. Great work.

College Gym 101

The College Gym season is starting next week! I'm participating in the College Fantasy Gymnastics (Big 12) and decided that we can learn about college gymnastics together. I chose a few of my athletes from schools that I didn't know much about. Unfortunately, it is too late to enter the game but hopefully this helps you learn about college gymnastics.

Emily Vidmar	Brigham Young
Megan Whitney	Washington
Katy Nogaki	UC Davis
Nichole Fulton	Northern Illinois
Katy Dodds	Maryland
Caryn Kadous	Auburn
Stephanie McGregor	Oregon State
Anna Willette	Eastern Michigan
Brooke Evans	Ball State

Brigham Young University
Mascot: Cougars
Head Coach: Brad Cattermole, Asst: Dawn Cattermole and Shauna Mertz
Conference: Independent/Salt Lake City Regional
Athletes to Watch: In 2012, Cougars were just shy of making NCAA Regionals as they had a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 194.685 to place 37th when 36 teams qualify. Raquel Willman was selected to compete at regionals along with 2-then seniors. Her favorite event is bars where she boasts a career high 9.875. Look for the return of Megan Bain (VT, BB, FX) and Haylee Rollins who were sidelined due to Achilles and foot injuries, respectively. Watch Raquel Willman compete in the all around (9:33 VT, 29:40 UB, 44:20 BB, 1:22:28 - opens with whip 1/2, punch 1 1/2) here or below. Fun fact: They call her Raq pronounced as Rock.

My Athlete: Emily Vidmar is a freshman is the daughter of 1984 Olympic Champion Peter Vidmar. She last trained at Wildfire Gymnastics - home of Alyssa Pritchett of UCLA and Allyse Inshino of Stanford. Her best event is bars.


Washington
Mascot: Huskies
Head Coach: Joanne Moore, Asst: David McCleary, Elise Ray (Ray does choerography for beam and floor and helps with recruiting)
Conference: Pac-12
My Athlete: Megan Whitney, a senior, transferred to University of Washington (#udub) after competing at Utah her freshman year. She appears to be great on vault and beam but Coach Moore says that Whitney has come a long way on bars after recovering from and injury and may be one of the best for the Huskies this year.

UC Davis
Mascot: Aggies
Head Coach: John Lavallee, Asst: Tamara Ross
Conference: Mountain Pacific
Athletes to Watch: The Aggies had a very young team last year so they are returning with an experienced team - they only lost 1 person in their bars lineup. Their goal this season is to make it to NCAA Regionals as a team. Katie Yamamura (AA, senior), Tiana Montell (AA, sophomore), and Anna Shumaker (vault, junior) have all qualified to regionals as individuals.
My Athlete: Katy Nogaki also trained at Wildfire Gymnastics. She seems to be a great all-arounder but I'm not sure where she falls with this team. Video of her sticking a Yurchenko Full can be found here, 2nd bar routine at 30 seconds here. Katy is a freshman at UC Davis.
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McKayla Maroney Gets Emotional Thanking Coaches

McKayla recently tweeted this video. The "Shaytards" are a family that does daily youtube videos and they have 2 girls that are gymnasts at AOGC and performed at their winter showcase. McKayla Maroney was there and had the chance to say thank you to Artur and Galina. "I can't say thank you enough. They've meant the world to me. And I can't wait to get back here and train again because this is my home... I hope I made you guys proud." The showcase starts at 2:47 and it's amusing to watch. They follow their little girls that are in the recreational class and Level 3. It's crazy to think this was how the Fierce Five started or we could be looking at the future Olympic All-Around Champion! McKayla starts speaking at 5:44.

Best Dressed of the Quad

Winner of Best Dressed of the Quad goes to Russia. They've had a few misses but they've had many hits, and they've managed to stay patriotic as well. Considering their colors are red, white, and blue, quite a few countries could take notice. The source can be found by clicking on the athlete's name.

EDIT 1/1/13 - Post has been reorganized in order of votes - most to least favorite. There was just 1 point separating leotards 1&2, and 1 point separating leotards 3&4!

And the winner is, by just 1 point!
1. 2012 Euros TF

Anastasia Sidorova
I didn't love this leo. It's nice and very elegant and I see why people like it but the mesh ruins it for me. And I think it's the location of the mesh - this very, very deep V-neck. I do see it's appeal since it's simple and classy and the deep purple gives it a more regal feel.


2. 2012 Olympics UB EF

Aliya Mustafina
This was one of my favorite leotards but was definitely my favorite of the Olympic leotards.

3. 2012 Olympics VT EF
Maria Paseka
I flip-flop with this leo. I think it fits everyone really nicely and it's an example of mesh done well. My one problem is that it's a little too dominatrix for me. Something about the way the bust is outlined is a little too much.

4. 2010 Worlds TF

Aliya Mustafina
I really like this leo - the 3/4 length sleeves and the way the design rises to the neck. The only problem is that the mesh makes bra straps visible. Granted, the athletes have other things to worry about, like landing Amanars.

5. 2012 Jesolo

Anna Rodionova
This is one of my favorite leotards of the entire quad. I love that it's patriotic with the red, white, and blue, but I also love the simple, clean lines. There's some asymmetry without it looking tacky. I think this leo inspired the Olympic leotard which is also one of my favorites.

6. 2011 Euros AA
Anna Dementyeva
This leo is from 2011 and Anna Dementyeva has a reason to smile. I like this leo, even the pink version of it. The only problem is that the mesh makes bra straps visible. Granted, the athletes have other things to worry about, like landing Amanars.

Did I leave your favorite Russian leotard of the quad out? Let me know in the comments. Now you get the chance to vote on your favorite leotards. I'll announce the results January 1, 2013.

Merry Christmas Montage Monday Part 2!

Montage Monday continued! Part 1 can be found here.


Aly Raisman - Hall of Fame
Song: Hall of Fame - the Script ft. will.i.am
Made By: E007y
I've become obsessed with this song by The Script and decided to youtube "gymnastics hall of fame" and this montage was the first to pop up. Aly's the perfect athlete for this song and I really love how it features some Olympic moments as well as some of her earlier days - like when she first launched onto the senior scene in 2010. It also opens with this clip: "This is just a future Olympian shirt. Maybe you'll be there someday." I love the part starting at 1:15 "Break all the records they thought never could be broke (making the AA), do it for your people (mom and dad), do it for your pride (Mihai)." I don't think I could say enough positive things about this montage so go watch it!
Watch here or below:

Merry Christmas Montage Monday Part 1!

Now that I'm back home from school and free from finals for a little while, here are a few of the montages that have caught my eye. Next week will likely be a top 10 of 2012. I'm leaning towards doing only happy montages and they will likely be Olympics related. Feel free to acknowledge any youtube users that should be linked.


Jordyn Wieber - Feel Again
Song: Feel Again - One Republic
Made By: AlyRaismanFeels/@Fierce5Gymnasts
This montage was tweeted by both Jordyn Wieber and her mom, Rita Wieber. It has mostly clips of Jordyn at the Olympics with a few clips from her younger years. There are sad moments but it definitely highlights the positives.
Watch here or below:


Gymnastics - You Make Me Smile
Song: You Make Me Smile - Uncle Kracker
Made By: SuperGymmie/@SuperGymmie
It's all in the title. This song will make YOU smile. "Olympic feels" as they say on tumblr - happy Olympic moments of athletes smiling and hugging and congratulating each other. Sure to put you in a good mood. I watched it 50 times after my finals!
Watch here or below: