Going to Nationals was so much fun. I met Rick, Lauren, Spanny, Chalk It Up, and Cordelia. I took pictures with Olympians (and their dads) but most importantly, I got to see amazing gymnastics right in front of me.
Around Molly Frack - Alex Naddour, Ivana M Hong, Danell Leyva
Valeri Liukin
You're all probably wondering how I got Valeri Liukin's autograph. We were leaving after the announcement of the senior national team and the moment we joined the wave of people walking towards the exit, I spotted him. I exclaimed, "Oh my God, Valeri!" but in a whisper because I didn't want to be that girl. Chalk It Up asked where but I ran behind him. "Valeri?" No response. "Valeri?" and I tapped his shoulder. He looked at me and I asked if I could have his autograph. He did that Valeri smirk and nodded but we had to keep walking. I couldn't find my marker so Chalk It Up caught up and gave him her marker and autograph book. Then, I gave him mine. By then, we were approaching the entrance where there would be even more people so he only got to write his name. He's one of those that signs and writes it. But whatever. I touched Valeri's shoulder. He smirked at me. And all is good in the world. We said thank you and he ran off. These ladies behind us told us we were lucky. Yes, very lucky indeed!
More WOGA - After the junior session, we were walking to the other side so that we could better see them present the athletes. Chalk It Up spotted Lexie Priessman talking to Katelyn Ohashi and Rebecca Bross and both agreed to give us their autographs. We both already had Lexie's so here begins the tail of us becoming Lexie's autograph bff.
Now, we'll go back in chronological order
The picture is from My Crazy World of Graphics. Pretty sure she also runs The Magnificent "USA, Russia & Romania".
Today was Day 1 of the P&G Gymnastics Championships. It proved to be an exciting day although no blanket statements can be made as we wait for the finals on Saturday. I am lucky enough to be in Hartford and have tickets for the Junior and Senior WAG Finals on Saturday and the Senior MAG Finals on Sunday.
Today, I went to the XL Center to get a feel of what was going on. Yes, I wanted autographs but I also wanted to see where I could park, how bad the lines were, etc. It's a pretty cool place! I saw that podium with Rebecca Bross on it and there's one with Gabby Douglas closer to the entrance.
After I parked my car, I started walking towards the XL Center. I heard this guy and immediately turned. He turned to look at me and then I shyly asked for his autograph. It was Yin Alverez and he actually signs "Yeessoooo!" I had a chance to ask him about Jessica Gil of Colombia who trains at his gym and his wife is usually the coach on the floor with her. Gil qualified to the 2009 floor finals but had a scary fall. Since then, I haven't really been able to find anything about her. I asked Yin if I could ask him a question and he said of course. I asked if Jessica was still training at his gym. He looked at me and said, "You know Jessica?" His look was kind of quizzical. He was probably expecting 50 million questions about Dannell but, nope, I asked about Jessica. I mean, I'll see Danell tomorrow! I feel like I haven't seen Jessica in years!
This was a very long and drawn out way of saying that Yin answered. Jessica is recovering from knee surgery and is slowly getting back into things.
Of course, I have no idea what that means, so I'll try to find out more. Knee surgery? ACL? Meniscus? Knee cap? She's still in rehab? She's tumbling? She's going to Worlds? I need more info, Yin!
Then, I went inside. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a sea of juniors for me to run to for autographs. Instead, I didn't see anyone. Actually, that's a lie because I ran into Annia Hatch. It's a funny thing asking people for their autographs. They know what you're about to ask so it makes you feel just a little more welcome. A little. It's still pretty awkward. When Annia signed with the Olympic rings, I think it hit me that I was actually in a very amazing place.
I walked on. And now I was expecting my sea of juniors. I kept reading people's t-shirts trying to figure out who was from what gym but I had no real leads. I saw some Stanford boys walk by but none were Josh Dixon. I went to the side area - that might be the US Congress? They had a ton of gymnastics equipment and had people trying things out. It was cool. There were the little square trampolines, some beams, a few stability balls and other things. Seemed like fun and a good workout. They actually had you try out the different pieces of equipment and corrected your technique and such.
On my way out, I saw Nica Hults. Nica is extremely sweet and her face lit up when I asked for her autograph. She was with a friend that had an "Air Maroney" t-shirt on. She was super nice and signed all 3 of the photos I had. As I walked away I heard her friend ask, "Do you think a lot more people are recognizing you this year?"
It's been almost a month since I last wrote a post. Life happens. Actually, school happens and tests happen. But that's all done now (hopefully) and so we start a new chapter! More posts will be coming your way so I figured this Montage Monday will be some of my favorite montages from meets I didn't get to blog about - mainly European Youth Olympic Festival, Universiade, and US Secret Classic.
First off, I had a playlist going of montages I liked throughout July 2013. You can check that out HERE. There are some gems in there including montages of gymnasts we don't usually see like Brenna Dowell and Carlotta Ferlito.
European Youth Olympic Festival
EYOF took place in Utrecht, Netherlands. The format was 3 members on the team with 2 athletes competing and 2 scores counting. We saw the showdown of the future starts of Romania vs. Russia but we also got a preview of what Great Britain will bring to the table, not only in WAG but also in MAG. Sports2Visuals, the same group that produces The Hard Way to Success documentaries, was there with some high definition footage and some great montages too. These 2 were my favorite. I thought they gave the best variety of gymnasts along with some great reactions of coaches and the crowd. For those of you that are still getting into MAG, make sure to watch the second one!
Team Competition Women
Apparatus Finals Men & Women
The Universiade Games proved to be an excellent preview for the gymnasts we might see in the 2013 Vault Finals. Of the 8 finalists, there were 6 with a chance of earning a medal. Maria Paseka delivered her cleanest Amanar vault yet and Russian teammate Ksenia Afansyeva surprised us further with another Amanar and somewhat better execution. We saw the 2008 Olympic Vault Champion Hong Un Jong return to competition and land two of the hardest vaults being competed.
You can watch the entire VT EF here or below:
In recent years, vault has been one of the best chances at a medal for countries outside of the Big 4 - USA, Russia, Romania, and China. However, the Big 4 has caught on and will return to the World Championships with more athletes competing 2 vaults. Afansyeva is an addition to Paseka for Russia, and Alla Sosnitskaya is waiting in the wings. Olympic Champion Sandra Izbasa is now joined by teammate Larisa Iordache. There are multiple Americans training 2 vaults alongside silver medalist McKayla Maroney. This includes Simone Biles, Elizabeth Price, Lexie Priessman, and Mykayla Skinner. While we haven't seen Priessman and Price's second vaults, Skinner proves to be competitive with the high difficulty combination of an Amanar and a Cheng. It will be interesting to see who makes the Worlds team and who continues to train 2 vaults throughout the quadrennium since it takes valuable time from training on the other events - most important for strong all-arounders like Larisa Iordache.
Here's a list of the vaulters with a chance of making finals at the 2013 World Championships. For those who have mocked vault finals previously, this is shaping up to be a very competitive final!
Alexa Moreno (MEX) via El Economista
The XXVII Universiade Games in Kazan, Russia are to be held this weekend - a combination of the words Olympiad and University as all athletes are currently registered in university. Gymnastics starts on Sunday, Jun 7 with the women's team competition which also serves as qualification to event finals.
Russia
Questions have been raised as to whether or not Aliya Mustafina will compete due to an illness that kept her out of training for the past week but knowing her, she will. I'm most excited to see what Tatiana Nabieva and Anna Dementyeva have to offer. Nabieva has been out for quite some time seeming to deal with ill-timed injuries and the body changes that tend to come with time off from the sport. Anna Dementyeva seems to be on the better side of the Rodionenkos after they removed her from the final group of gymnasts eligible for the Olympics. Later in 2012, she regained their trust by competing at a few international meets and doing fairly well. She'll be doing the all-around and just imagine what would happen if she comes out on top! Ksenia Afansyeva will be doing the all around but the more interesting facts are that she is listed as doing 2 vaults and will be debuting her new floor routine.
Mexico
Elsa Garcia and Alexa Moreno should make their respective all-around and vault finals easily. I'm curious to see where the Mexican team places in comparison to some of these other teams. It will give us an idea of how they might do at the next team World Championships in 2014 even though lots will change between then and now. I'm particularly curious to see where Moreno lands in the vault final because vault at this years world championships may prove to be one of the most exciting and hardest to qualify!
South Korea
The other team I'm excited to see is Korea. During Worlds 2011, many were raving about the Korean team during training before the meet. Unfortunately, they seemed to implode during the actual meet and hardly made an impression. I'm hoping we get to see video of the excellent bar work, clean beam, and well choreographed floor routines that were once raved about.
North Korea
Chim Gym has PRK listed but without any names. If we see anyone, we might get an idea of who may get the spot to Worlds (North Korea has only reserved a place for one gymnast). I'm hoping we see one of their vaulters since rumors of triple twisting Yurchenkos have been around for year. This will be good international experience and exposure since PRK was only recently allowed to compete internationally again after an FIG suspension.
Overall, I'm excited to see the final placements. For example, where does a healthy Ellie Black fall compared to Russia's two all-arounders? How about Elsa Garcia, Yu Minobe of Japan or Great Britain's Hannah Whelan? Where will vaulters like Alexa Moreno place compared to Olympic finalist Ellie Black and Olympic Bronze Medalist Maria Paseka? German Lisa Katherina Hill has been making quite a name for herself on bars so where will she fall in a field consisting of Russian Olympians competing on home turf? Fellow German Kim Bui had great performances at the recent Anadia Cup but just missed the medals mostly due to D-score disparities. Will she medal this weekend?
List of competitors: here
Make sure to follow @ArabianPF_blog on twitter for info on live streams - ESPN3 (US only) should be showing it, as well as the FISU website. Stay tuned for updates!
Who are you most excited to see?
