McKayla Maroney will undoubtedly be on the list of greatest vaulters of all time which includes athletes like Oksana Chusovitna, Cheng Fei, and fellow American Alicia Sacramone. However, as time goes on, it is likely that her position as the greatest vaulter at the moment will be threatened. The more we see slow motions of her Amanar vault, the more we notice the slight break in form and the harder she pushes for the stick, the worse the potential landing errors seem to be.
My biggest issue with calling Maroney the greatest vaulter of all time has very little to do with her Amanar, the vault that made her irreplaceable to the 2012 Olympic team and made her famous around the world for sticking it in team final. It has a lot to do with her 2nd vault, the round off half on, full twist off. This vault is sometimes called a Mustafina although it is not officially named for Aliya Mustafina in the Code of Points nor was she the first one to compete it. Something about that vault always rubbed me the wrong way and the best I could do was describe it as wonky. It wasn't until PQST made some screen caps comparing Maroney's block to Simone's that helped me realize what it was. Simone competes a round off half on, half twist off which is sometimes called a laid out Podkopayeva (who did it piked) or a Lopez.
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THESE PHOTOS
credit: PQST
"Simone has a FAR superior block & technique on the roundoff 1/2 on entry than McKayla. If you look at them head on from behind the table, McKayla’s hands make contact with the table before she completes the 1/2 turn and therefore she blocks with her shoulders at different angles, one hand in front of the other and doesn’t get the height or rotation that she should. Simone, on the other hand, completes the 1/2 turn fully before her hands make contact and push off the table and gets a much cleaner, higher block. Out of the two, I’d say Simone is much more likely to master a good Cheng. The difference in their shoulder angles is pretty remarkable, IMO." - The Pushy Queen of Slut Town (PQST) on tumblr for quotes and screen caps
Cintia Rodriguez
Photo by Cordelia Price (@CordeliaGymFan)
Spain ended up sending 3 athletes to the 2013 World Championships after teammate Maria Paula Vargas was injured. The 3 remaining athletes were Roxana Popa, Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, and Cintia Rodriguez. It's been some time since Spain has been in the spotlight as a team but they're current set of athletes show that they are a force to be reckoned with and will be able to make waves this quadrennium.
Roxana Popa is Romanian born but has grown up in Spain for the majority of her life. She's a strong gymnast who excels on floor exercise, where she qualified to the event final at the 2013 European Championships. Popa also has a strong double twisting Yurchenko and I would not be surprised if we start to hear rumors of an Amanar later in 2014. The first year senior is also very strong on uneven bars with a unique Shaposhnikova to immediate in bar Gienger - she has difficult skills and will be able to get maximum D-score when she irons out a few more connections. She finished the all around finals in 12th place.
VT 5.8/14.8; UB (below) 6.1/13.533; FX 5.9/14.1
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez has quite the international story. She's a dual Canadian-Spanish citizen and has started her freshman year at the University of Florida in the USA and will compete for their gymnastics team this coming season. There has been talk of Colussi-Pelaez for quite some time since she competes the sideways side aerial on beam. Danusia Francis has competed this in NCAA while Colussi-Pelaez has competed it for a few years. She finally had the chance to get it named at Worlds and successfully competed it. Unfortunately, she fell later on beam - a point that would cost her a place in the all around final. She finished qualifications in 31st place.
BB 5.9/12.9
Cintia Rodriguez was featured in an earlier post recapping Worlds. Rick from Gymnastics Coaching mentioned her often in his live tweets because of her beautiful toe point. After Worlds, she is now taking some time to rehab an ongoing foot injury. If you're someone who enjoys good dance training, I think you'll enjoy everything about her floor exercise.
UB 5.4/12.566; FX (below) 4.9/13.1
I remember reading that this was the first time Spain had 2 men in the all around final as well (via Gym Fever?).
Fabian Gonzalez finished the AA in 11th place. FX 6.2/14.8 ; PH (below) 5.9/14.5
Nestor Abad finished the AA in 20th place. Abad attended the 2010 Youth Olympics for Spain. PH 4.9/12.825 ; PB (below) 5.6/13.4
