The pre-Olympic year proved to be just as exciting as we had hoped, if not more exciting. We had a good group of new seniors that challenged national team members and pushed their respective countries to new heights. We had quite a few comebacks from 2012 Olympians Gabrielle Douglas and Aly Raisman to Catalina Ponor. We had shocks like no other in Romania failing to automatically qualify to Rio and the four-way tie for gold on uneven bars. We also had the rise of new "it" gymnasts in Manrique Larduet and the Dutch WAG team in general. What an exciting year! Here are a few of my favorite competitions below. Don't worry. Worlds will get it's own post.
CANADA WINTER GAMES
Starting the season off, we had the Canada Winter Games with excellent live coverage. the exciting thing was that, again, juniors were not separated from seniors. We got to see the dominance of Canada's (hopeful) new stars for 2016 - Rose-Kaying Woo, Megan Roberts, and Shallon Olsen. These three have been on the watch list for quite some time and this only confirmed their reason for being on it. All 3 gymnasts showed double twisting Yurchenko vaults at this competition. This is exciting for Canada, a top 8 nation despite not having the most difficult vaults. These 3 are in a race against each other and also the current seniors for a place on the Rio Olympic team and the battle started early in the year.
Also, please humor me and watch this routine. I have had it saved in my watch later since February waiting for the appropriate time to share it with you guys. A young gymnast from British Columbia, Ilka Juk has some impressive difficulty and amazing flexibility!
JESOLO
The annual competition in Italy took place in March and marked the comeback of Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas. It also marked the international debut for some of the new seniors, including the USA's Bailie Key who was anticipated to have a solid 2015. Gymnastics seems to be growing in popularity in Italy and makes for a fun and exciting meet. Raisman and Douglas had successful returns to competition.
SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES/EUROPEAN GAMES
June was a fun month (for me) because of both the Southeast Asian Games and the European Games. Both Games had excellent competition along with excellent coverage. European Games had live streams of every event and was an overall excellent production. SEA Games, honestly, I can't remember if they had live coverage but they had an amazing archived feed. They had each event final MAG and WAG. For the individual event finals, they alternated MAG and WAG so you got to see full routines of each with slow motion and scores. It. Was. Amazing. It's still archived now if you check Sport Singapore on YouTube.
Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, a rising star from Malaysia, had an amazing competition. She helped her team to the gold medal and earned her own silver in the all around. The competition continued with multiple medals but Abdul Hadi broke down when she realized she won the gold on floor exercise the final day of competition. She faced a lot of criticism following the competition that as a Muslim gymnast, her leotard was too revealing, but she stayed calm and handled the harsh words with clenched jaw and a smile. Abdul Hadi went on to compete well at worlds and earn herself a spot at the Test Event.
The format of the European Games was of question but with the debut of the competition, I think it worked for the best. European countries were able to send 3 of their top gymnasts as an extra trials for Worlds. It was an international competition with good competitors (Steingruber, Mustafina). It served as an international AA comeback for Viktoria Komova and also served as the "coming out party" for Lieke Wevers. For all the fear we had at the onset of the competition, it ended up being an excellent competition added to the calendar.
PAN AMERICAN GAMES
The Pan American Games proved to be an exciting competition, especially on the men's side. Manrique Larduet, who has been making a name for himself for the last few years, finally made it into the spotlight when he and American Sam Mikulak were battling for the all around title. Mikulak ultimately won that battle but Larduet left the Games with gold on vault, silver on parallel bars and in the all around, and bronze on rings.
In the rhythmic world, this is also where American Laura Zeng started to stake her claim on the international scene. Both Larduet and Zeng went on to have success at their respective World Championships. In addition, Ellie Black was the star of the Games as she won 5 medals at the Pan American Games in her native country.
@ArabianPF_blog Ellie Black & winning 5 medals, Manrique Larduet triple twisting double back HB dismount and all of this close up.
US DOMESTIC SEASON
The US domestic season, as always, proved to be very exciting. Biles asserted her dominance from the start but all around gymnasts 2-5 was up in the air for each day of competition. Rising star Nichols, Olympians Douglas and Raisman, and first year senior Key proved to have an ongoing competition amongst themselves. In addition, we had the question of who this 6th Worlds team member would be - Kocian vs Locklear, Skinner, could Gowey factor in, where is Brenna on UB, would Baumann be useful, and so on and so forth. We all know how it ended but it was still exciting nonetheless.
On the junior end, we had the very exciting competition between Hernandez and Foberg that came down to the very last event. Ragan Smith continued to assert herself as a junior to watch in the leadup to Rio. Then we had a few new junior stars in Gabby Perea and Alyona Shchennikova with their impressive uneven bar routines.
@ArabianPF_blog P&G Day 2. Saw the comp live from the 3rd row: watching Simone do that full-in off beam was worth the price of admission.
When I asked the gymternet who had the most successful senior debut, the answers were Fan Yilin, Ellie Downie, Flavia Saraiva, Sae Miyakawa. 2015 served as an interesting year since many of these gymnasts were also the competitors at the Youth Olympic Games. Some were hailed as "the next big thing" and this was the year that monicker was to come to fruition. You can find the list of seniors at the bottom.
Ellie Downie is certainly one of those athletes for which this came true. She had a stellar senior debut, to the point where I forgot this was her first year as a senior by the end of the World Championships. Early on in 2015, Downie was named to Great Britain's team for the 2015 European Championships. She had an amazing meet where she finished 3rd in the all around, a first medal for team Great Britain. Downie also qualified for the vault final as well as the uneven bar final alongside older sister Becky Downie. The success continued after Downie was named to the World Championship team. Downie did not qualify to the all around final due to a fall on bars and again had an error when competing uneven bars in the team final. However, it was Downie's solid DTY that sealed the deal for Team GB as they placed 3rd in the team final. Their first team medal at a World Championships. Downie went on to qualify for the vault final where with 2 cleanly executed vaults, she was able to place 4th amongst some of the top contenders expected to compete at Rio.
What Ellie has done this year is nothing short of amazing. She is one of the juniors that certainly lived up to the fame as a senior. She started the year with a bang and kept going, all that while recovering from an injury that kept her from training at 100% earlier in the year. It's exciting to think what the future might bring for Ellie Downie.
Sae Miyakawa was another Youth Olympian that had a great 2015. She started the season at the WOGA Classic where she placed 6th in the all around and 2nd on vault. Miyakawa continued winning medals throughout the domestic season. She was a member of the Asian Championships team and helped Japan to a team gold while earning a vault silver and floor bronze. Miyakawa's real prowess is on the floor exercise where her passes are out of this world. At the recent Tokyo International, Miyakawa showed a full twisting double layout, front layout full to tucked double front, double double, and double layout dismount. This routine is insane. And apparently she has the potential for 6.8D. Honestly, Sae's the only woman at the moment that I think can nearly match Simone's floor exercise difficulty. It is just out of this world.
I feel like Fan Yilin deserves a special shoutout as she is the only new senior to have a gold medal and it was in the most interesting final we've ever seen! Fan was on track to be a star as a senior but then suffered some injuries prior to her senior debut. She was able to come back with a vengeance with a unique uneven bar dismount (video). Unfortunately, it wasn't credited as expected in international competition so the switch was made to the double layout.
After winning the uneven bar title at Chinese National Championships and coming in 3rd at Asian Championships, Fan competed remarkably well at her first World Championships. She contributed to the team score on both uneven bars and balance beam. Then there was the coveted uneven bar final where Fan was the first up to obtain the miraculous 15.366. Others tried to beat her score with no luck so Fan, along with 3 others, were named the Uneven Bar World Champions. She was the gymnast with the highest D score at 6.9. Fan's mother passed away last year and she hopes that her accomplishment made her mother proud.
A personal favorite goes to Tutya Yilmaz. I first discovered her during the 2013 EYOF where she had some great difficulty but some unfortunate execution errors. She then went to the YOG where she made multiple finals (all around, vault, and floor) but again with execution errors. This time, I remember what exactly intrigued me. Yilmaz had a back handspring layout full connection on beam. Her floor was also reminiscent of Alicia Sacramone - nice dance with clean tumbling. She has both a full in piked and tuck and they're both cleanly executed. At this year's World Championships, Yilmaz placed 44th on beam with a 5.9D and she didn't fall!!! Pretty impressive for a young athlete from an up and coming country. Her all around completition is on the FIG channel and I strongly recommend :)
Boglarka Devai is a new senior for Hungary that has quickly become essential to the success of the team. Often overshadowed by the big names in Dorina Boczogo and Noemi Makra, Hungary would not have achieved their 18th place finish at worlds if not for Devai's fabulous DTY. She received their highest score in TF by nearly 1 point. She also contributed on uneven bars.
Canadian gymnast Sydney Townsend gets the award for best comeback. She had a strong 2014 at the Youth Olympic Games but then struggled at the start of 2015. She then took the bulk of the competitive season off to rehab and it paid off. Though still not at 100%, Townsend was a crucial member for the 2015 team contributing on vault and floor exercise. I'm looking forward for what 2016 will bring for her.
Some seniors that were on my "watch list." Make sure to check out the New Senior page.
Senior in 2015 (born in 1999) - YOG eligible Belarus
Natallia Yakubava Belgium
Rune Hermans Brazil
Rebecca Andrade - injured
Milena Theodoro
Flavia Saraiva Canada
Sydney Laird
Audrey Rousseau
Sydney Soloski
Sydney Townsend China
Deng Yalan
Fan Yilin
Hong Ke
Liu Jinru
Liu Ying
Qin Chang
Wang Yan
Yuan Xiaoyang
Zhu Xiaofang Czech Republic
Veronika Cenkova France
Camille Bahl
Loan His Germany
Antonia Alicke
Kim Janas - injured
Pauline Tratz Great Britain
Georgina Clements
Ellie Downie
Rhyannon Jones
Aasha Kimpton - retired
April Maslen
Tyesha Mattis - injured
Amy Tinkler Hungary
Boglarka Devai Italy
Iosra Abdelaziz - injured
Joana Favaretto
Chiara Imeraj
Alice Linguerri Japan
Sae Miyakawa Mexico
Carla Cornejo
Stephanie Hernandez
Cinthia Ruiz
Karla Vielma New Zealand
Millie Williamson Netherlands
Wendy de Jong
Isa Maassen Philippines
Ava Verdeflor Romania
Madalina Alexandrea Blendea
Andreea Iridon
Laura Jurca Russia
Maria Bondareva
Anastasiia Dmitrieva
Daria Mikhailova
Seda Tutkhalyan Singapore
Nadine Joy Nathan Switzerland
Gaia Nesurini Turkey
Tutya Yilmaz USA
Vanasia Bradley - injured
Nadia Cho - injured
Nia Dennis
Bailie Key
Taylor Lawson
Abigail Matthews
Lauren Navarro
Marissa Oakley
Lexy Ramler
Megan Skaggs
Alexis Vasquez - retired from elite
Who were some of your favorite first year seniors?
If you haven't seen it, I have a College Commits page for the next few classes but already need room for the class of 2019 and potentially 2020. I figure I'll start making a table with the current freshman and this will eventually grow to include the entire roster... eventually. This is the top 20-ish schools. The number of schools will grow with time. Make sure to check the Commits page!
Azteca Opinion recently published a 15 minute video documentary on Mexican gymnasts Elsa Garcia and Ana Lago on Vidas Aspasionantes (Exciting Lives). In 2012, both Garcia and Lago went to the Test Event with Garcia earning the Olympic nomination with a higher all around score. They have both been at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships where Mexico finished 21st. Again, 2 gymnasts will be named to the Test Event and only 1 will get the spot for the Olympics. They have both had trials and tribulations including an ACL tear for Lago and a current knee injury for Elsa Garcia after hyperextending her knee at this year's World Championships.
I am forever thankful to aliyamustafina on tumblr for translating the interview. Any notes are in parentheses.
(In case above link does not work, here is a link to the twitter)
At the beginning they thank TV Azteca for going to Monterrey, where they consider
it’s home in Mexico for gymnastics.
Elsa: Hello, I am Elsa García and I am an Olympic gymnast who has have attended to
four Centro American Games, three Pan-American Games and one Olympic Games. I
have won approximately 15 Centro American medals, three Pan-American medals,
12 World Cup medals and in 2009 I was awarded during Worlds with the Longines
prize for elegance.
Ana: Hello, I am Ana Lago and I am a gymnast. Everyone knows me as “Fany” and I
am Centro American medalist. I am floor champion from Pan-American Games in
Guadalajara 2011 and also won bronze as a team during those games. I’ve been two
times to Worlds. And we are looking for the qualification to the next Olympic Games.
Reporter: Hello I am Antonio Rosique. The Olympic Games haven’t been the same
after one July night in 1976 the Romanian Nadia Comaneci got for the first time the
perfect 10. Nadia turned into an Olympics symbol; her grace and charm captivated
the entire World. Millions of girls began to practice gymnastics following the
inspirational image from this prodigious Romanian athlete. Today in “VIdas
Apasionantes” we are going to enter to this “tiny” yet extremely demanding world
where dominating the body and defying the gravity happens. We are going to enter
to the heart of the Mexican gymnastics where a bunch of girls grow, train and dream
to achieve the perfection just like once, Nadia Comaneci did.
Elsa: I started doing gymnastics when I was 3 years old and probably same as most
athletes, I was very energetic and I couldn’t stand still. My parents said I needed to
canalize all my energy into something so they got me into gymnastics.
Coach: If I could describe Elsa in just a few words I would say Elsa is gymnastics
and she is Mexico.
Elsa: My mom went to “El Regio” (Elsa’s and Ana’s gym) to sign me in. She spoke
with the coaches and she told them she just wanted me to have fun and not feel
stressed or pressured and they agreed but after time it was me who wanted more
and more.
6.0/14.525
Coach: Chances are that someday someone else will beat Elsa but then they’ll have
to remain as the best gymnast in Mexico for at least 12 years and win the medals she
has won.
Ana: I’ve always been told I am very funny, charismatic, and happy and that I always
enjoy what I do. I think I haven’t changed much from when I was a kid and I think I
will remain the same way forever.
Coach: Fany’s face is like “dreamy” and it’s also fierce and competitive.
Ana: It’s always very satisfying to teach the younger girls all the things you know,
what you have learnt, your experiences as well as your victories and defeats or talk
to them about your injuries. I also try to teach them that the most important thing is
to enjoy what you are doing.
Coach: Fany is a gymnast who sometimes I have to be breaking because she is always
hungry for more. (He always has to stop her because she is so full of energy)
Interviewer: Mexico has never gotten an Olympic medal in gymnastics and every
day it fights to earn a spot in a sport which is traditionally dominated by Russia,
United States, Romania and China. Mexico has given individual steps through years
trying to get closer to the elite; in Sydney 2000 Denise López got 7th place in the
vault final. In London 2012 Daniel Corral got the 5th spot in Parallel Bars; Elsa
qualified to London 2012 and now Ana Lago is working to make the Olympics as
well.
Ana: It’s my passion; since I was kid gymnastics always grabbed my attention and I
love to be jumping, doing spins, being upside down or that feeling that I’m flying.
Elsa: Gymnastics makes you feel happy, free or you feel that you can fly but also you
get to feel fear, pain, frustration or exhaustion. All those things you can feel them at
the same time in one training.
Ana: To be honest all the apparatuses have made me feel mad at some point. Every
apparatus has certain elements that even though you try and try one day they just
won’t work and you just repeat to yourself that maybe that day the element won’t
happen for you, but maybe during the next training it will and you know you are
going to keep trying and you will give your best in order to get it and then after that
you’ll feel happy with yourself.
Elsa: We realized the past Olympic cycle after we ended up in 17th place (she giggles
nervously and sort of jokes about being super close to making it) that if every girl
scores at least 13.600 in each apparatus we could make it and that has been our
main goal from this Olympic cycle.
5.6/13.85
Coach: It’s not easy to get the 13.600 in each apparatus even though it might sound
that way. Our main focus during this cycle has been paying more attention to “the
order” instead of the monetary resources. Countries who are in the top 10, apart
from keeping order in their programs, they take in account the monetary resources.
Unfortunately we don’t have that much money so we can only focus on keeping our
program ordered.
Ana: I always try to picture everything big, while I am training at the gym I always
try to imagine I’m in a big competition to force myself to deal with the pressure you
get to feel when you compete.
Elsa: This gym has taken years and years of hard work, shortcomings and
dedication but here we are. (She says this while she cries)
Coach: We call this gym “the tiny house of gymnastics” and keeping it has taken a lot
of work from everyone; you can see pictures of the girls helping to repair the gym or
helping with the construction. It still is very hard and the goal hasn’t been achieved
yet but if we really want to succeed we need to do what all of the successful
countries do.
Ana: Every time we finish a hard training and we end up very exhausted our coach,
the doctors and therapists decide to get us into a pool with cold water and ice. (Both
laugh a little about that)
Elsa: It’s a very risky sport, even though we have mats to protect us when we are
training a new skill there comes a time when you have to do it without all the
protection, just by yourself. In gymnastics, when you land if you weigh 50 kg just to
give an example, then it would be 10 times more so that would be 500kgs for each
landing. Now, if you keep doing repetitions of the elements just like we do during
trainings, then you end up landing around 1 ton per training.
Ana: After my injury I feel my life did change a lot. Now I feel stronger and more of a
warrior, even more than I was before.
Coach: Fany had a very serious injury on her knee and she needed surgery but now
she is back in shape. She is very competitive, hard worker, disciplined and a fighter.
Ana: I always repeat to myself “It’s a bad day not a bad life. Even though it was a
bad day today, that doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be better”.
Elsa: Gymnastics is way bigger than Elsa García. I am just a tiny spot who is in line
helping things to grow. (I think she meant it as in Mexican Gymnastics)
Coach: I am sure if we keep working very hard just like we are right now, we are
going to win an Olympic medal someday.
Ana: I give everything to gymnastics, this is what I love most to do and during each
routine and competition I give the best of me to leave that “tiny grain of sand”.
Very grateful for the translation as well as this video feature. Wishing these athletes the best of luck as head into the Olympic year!
I've been avoiding this list like the plague. I decided that after Rio I wouldn't keep track anymore and I think I just wanted to stop now. But, alas, injuries are part of the sport.
There's been quite a bit of shuffling recently. Roxana Popa is back after an ACL tear and was able to compete UB at Worlds. Sounds like she has been cleared to start vaulting and tumbling again so hopefully we get to see her at the Test Event to try and qualify a spot for Rio. Romania lost Anamaria Ocolisan with an unfortunately timed injury. Ocolisan was quickly becoming one of Romania's top all around gymnasts but got injured in Podium Training prior to the team competition.
Koko Tsurumi has announced her retirement from the sport after struggling with Achilles tendon injuries for much of this quadrennium. She recently made a comeback and competed her last uneven bar routine prior to announcing her retirement. This two time Olympian, 2009 World Championship All Around bronze medalist and 2012 Olympics Uneven Bars Event Finalist will be greatly missed!
Note about the list:
The list consists of national team members that have had some injury that keeps them out of competition. (c) indicates gymnasts that have returned to national team camp or control competition but not yet to a "public" competition.
2015
Name (Country)
Injury
Return to Competition
Ruby Harrold GBR
??? (Mar)
Sep 2015
Axelle Klinckaert BEL
??? (Mar)
May 2015
Teal Grindle GBR
Shoulder injury (Mar)
Nov 2015
Yao Jinnan CHN
Shoulder surgery (Feb)
Ashton Locklear USA
Shoulder surgery (Mar)
Aug 2015
Sabrina Vega USA
Shoulder surgery (Mar)
Jul 2015
Marta Costa ESP
Shoulder surgery (May)
Youna Dufournet FRA
Shoulder surgery (Jun)
Anna Pavlova AZE
Elbow injury (Apr)
retirement
Lisa Ecker AUT
Knee injury (Apr)
Oct 2015
Yesenia Ferrera CUB
Knee injury (May)
Elsa Garcia MEX
Knee injury (Oct)
Giulia Steingruber SUI
Knee injury (Oct)
Chantysha Netteb NED
Knee reoperation (Mar)
Diana Bulimar ROU
Knee surgery (Jun)
Sep 2015
Raer Theaker GBR
Knee surgery (Jun)
Elbow surgery (Nov)
Sep 2015
Alessandra Thompson RSA
Knee surgery (Jun)
Anastasia Grishina RUS
Torn meniscus & broken patella (Apr '14)
ACL tear (Mar)
