Top Gym results in: Jordyn Wieber wins, Kamerin Moore third

The two star junior gymnasts from Geddert’s Twistars in Michigan took two spots on the podium in the all-around at this weekend’s junior international elite competition in Charleroi, Belgium.

Jordyn Wieber on floor at the 2008 Top Gym Charleroi competition

Unsurprisingly, Jordyn Wieber, the current U.S. junior national champion, took first. She beat her nearest competitor by just shy of four points, finishing with an excellent 59.80! She was the only competitor to score in the 15’s on any apparatus, and she did so on all events but floor (where she competed pretty cleanly up until her double pike, which she landed very low). Wieber then went on to win in two EFs, bars and beam. The girl is pretty amazing. I don’t know much about Geddert’s, but they seem to be doing a good job with her. A while back, people were shrieking all around the Internets because she had an Amanar at the age of 12, but she’s not competing it (she performed a DTY at Top Gym), and they seem to be pacing things well. She currently trains only 25 hours a week.

Actually, I was excited to see pictures of Wieber from this competition — she has grown up a lot and looks great!

And I’m really liking Wieber on bars:

Note: more videos available from DutchFan33 on youtube here and from gymcat67 here.

Kamerin Moore, Wieber’s teammate at Geddert’s, took third to Yvette Moshage’s second. I know nothing about Moshage, a young Dutch gymnast. I have heard, however, that Moore had three falls and still finished third, so that’s excellent news. She then took first on vault and second on floor.

Here is her vault, a very nice 1.5-twisting Yurchenko:

Other participants of note include Romania’s future star (hopefully) Larisa Iordache, who is 11, and her teammate, the excellent Diana Bulimar. Iordache finished a strong fourth, but over a point behind the podium, but then took first on floor. However, Bulimar sprained her ankle in warm-ups and had to withdraw … joining a number of her teammates on the injury list (including Gabriela Dragoi, Ceralesca Patrascu and Ana Porgras, who recently traveled with Daniela Druncea and Sandra Izbasa to the Milan Grand Prix so they could get second opinions from Italian doctors on their injuries, as reported here by Pro Sport).

Results available here.

All-around:

1. Jordyn Wieber (59.80)
2. Yvette Moshage (55.90)
3. Kamerin Moore (55.15)

Vault:

1. Kamerin Moore
2. Jocelyn Kraan
3. Sofiana Makantasi

Uneven bars:

1. Jordyn Wieber
2. Ida Gustafson

Beam:

1. Jordyn Wieber
2. Larisa Iordache
3. Yvette Moshage

Floor:

1. Larisa Iordache
2. Kamerin Moore
3. Jocelyn Kraan

WCF participants step out of the woodwork

Unsurprisingly, China has named Cheng Fei, He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan and Li Shanshan to participate in the 2008 World Cup Final in Madrid. (See here.)

This FIG press release also confirms the participation of Sandra Izbasa, Elena Zamolodchikova and Suzanne Harmes. But it also notes the absence of Anna Pavlova and Oksana Chusovitina. I also assume that Ksenia Semenova won’t be present, but can’t confirm that at this point.

Some thoughts:

Vault:

With Chusovitina (who is ranked first) and Pavlova (ranked third) out, Cheng has the vault nearly locked up unless Zamolodchikova has massively improved since her performance at the DTB Cup. Alicia Sacramone is also up there in this ranking, followed by Jade Barbosa — neither will be there. Hong Un Jong may be the only real competition. And if that’s the case, I think Cheng can assume that this one is in the bag.

Uneven bars:

He is ranked only sixth right now on bars, but she’s the front-runner, with Yang second unless Beth Tweddle shows up. Nastia Liukin will obviously not be there, and I’m pretty sure Semenova is out as well. Dariya Zgoba is ranked high (second) but can’t truly compete against the Chinese start values.

Beam:

I think at this point, I might consider calling this for Cheng too. Pavlova, Johnson and Liukin are among the top eight, and won’t be there. Steliana Nistor is also out, and wouldn’t have taken first anyway, in all likelihood. Catalina Ponor, who is currently ranked first, hasn’t shown up in international competition in a while, so I don’t know what kind of shape she is in. Cheng’s biggest competition is likely to come from other Chinese women, and notably Li.

Floor:

This will likely be the most interesting battle, and it will probably play out among Cheng, Izbasa and — to a lesser extent — Jiang. Harmes is ranked tenth on floor, but I don’t think she has a chance at the podium with these players, unless we see a major mistake. Zamolodchikova could also theoretically compete on floor, but only if she’s in much better shape by mid-December.

Grebenkova out for WCF, Lozhecko back in the game

A new article from Pro Sport announces more bad news (and brief good news) for Russian gymnastics.

Alexander Kiryashov has said that Liudmila Grebenkova-Ezhova will not compete in the World Cup Final in Madrid in December. Why? Ironically, a knee injury.

Liudmila Grebenkova at the 2008 Olympics

Grebenkova was qualified in 13th place on beam. This leaves the Russians with few people for the WCF — Anna Pavlova (qualified on beam and vault) is out with torn knee ligaments suffered at the DTB Cup earlier this month; and Ksenia Semenova (qualified on bars and beam) has an elbow injury. Elena Zamolodchikova (qualified on vault and floor) is back — she was at the DTB Cup — but not performing at the highest level.

Enter Yulia Lozhecko.

Yulia Lozhecko at last year's World Championships

According to this same article, Lozhecko has experienced “psychological problems” after not being selected for the Olympic team. But things are going better, according to Kiryashov. She has been training again at Round Lake since November 6th and her chances of attending the WCF are “more realistic” now that Grebenkova cannot attend.

The whole thing is a little ironic given that Lozhecko is actually ranked 12th to Grebenkova’s 13th on beam, but so national gymnastics politics goes. I’d be very happy to see Lozhecko at this year’s WCF, and given her 12th-place ranking, she should have no trouble qualifying. (Pavlova, ranked above her, is out. Nistor is retired, Liukin and Johnson will undoubtedly not attend, etc.)

For the record, Semenova is ranked 23rd on beam, with Ksenia Afanasyeva 26th. Other than Zamolodchikova and Pavlova, the Russians have no one in the top thirty on vault. Irina Isayeva is the only Russian other than Semenova who is in the top thirty on bars. Zamolodchikova is ranked 14th on floor, with Ekaterina Kramarenko tied for 29th.

UPDATE: Pavlova not sure she’ll be able to return

Anna Pavlova underwent surgery last Thursday in Moscow, and reported to her Web site administrator that it went well. However, as hinted early on by the German media (Pavlova herself would not confirm it until she was diagnosed in Moscow), she did tear two ligaments in her knee.

Tearing a cruciate ligament often requires a six-month recovery period, so there is no way Pavlova will be able to compete in the World Cup Finals in Madrid in December, or even at the early events next year (I’m guessing the American Cup would be a stretch).

UPDATE 6:01 p.m.: Unfortunately, Pavlova told All Sport today that she is not confident about a return to gymnastics:

“I hope, of course, that I’ll be able to return to gymnastics, but I don’t have full confidence in that yet.”

For coverage (in Russian) see here (from Live Sport) and here (from All Sport).

Pavlova is still at the hospital, and says she is waiting to see how her body will react to the procedure. She has not discussed a return to training, and says (as I predicted) that it will not be for at least six months.

My montage of Pavlova’s career, which includes the 2.5-twist beam dismount at this year’s DTB Cup, where she injured her knee, is below. I’m still *hoping* I can update it someday.

For those who don’t know, Pavlova has a (new) Web site.

Shout-out to He and others on “30 Rock”

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) to Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), who is considering “dating” a rich agoraphobe named Gavin Volure (played hilariously by the good ole’ Steve Martin):

“You’re gonna work this thing like a Chinese gymnast: wear something tight, force a smile, and lie about your age ….”

If you don’t watch this show, incidentally, you probably should.

Jade Barbosa happily training in Rio with good news for her wrist

According to this article in Globoesporte, Jade Barbosa is happily training in Rio de Janeiro after leaving what she claims was an abusive atmosphere in Curitiba. She was also recently told by doctors that her wrist has good chances for recovery.

She says:

Technically, it is not different from Curitiba, but I am closer to my family and friends, and that makes all the difference.

Sounds like she really has quite the life now, hanging out with the Hypolito siblings, going to the spa, going shopping.

Daniele Hypolito and Jade Barbosa

I’m happy to hear it. I really like Barbosa, and I’d be very happy to see her back competing soon.

I haven’t really done justice to the Brazilian scandal, but Triple Full has some great stuff on it. Read it here.

IG’s birthday present to me: a retrospective on SJ at the Olympics

It’s no secret, in the Nastia/Shawn rivalry, Shawn Johnson wins for me every time. International Gymnast has a nice retrospective of all of the team competitions at the Olympics here.

Her toes are always pointed.

Some of my favorites:

UPDATED: He Kexin scores big at Milan Grand Prix

While some less-experienced seniors and juniors were off at the Massilia Cup, a number of big players — notably He Kexin, Sandra Izbasa, Lia Parolari and Daniela Druncea — were in Milan for the gymnastics Grand Prix.

From what I’ve heard, He won bars with a massive score (a 17.000 over Lia Parolari’s 14.700), Izbasa won floor, and Parolari won beam. Supposedly the younger Italian gymnasts Serena Lichetta and Andrea La Spada were also present.

There are no official results anywhere, so I’d rather wait to post those, but for now here’s He’s bars. It’s full difficulty. I think it’s better than Beijing, but not as good as Doha. The first Jaeger in her Li Ya combination is molto dynamic , and she sticks the landing (it looks stuck but it’s not from the replay). Still a bit problematic on the low-to-high transition though:

Given the scores, it appears Izbasa may have had a fall on beam (she had a 6.4 start value). She competed floor with a 5.8 start value. Parolari’s start value on floor was, for whatever reason, a 4.9.

He and Izbasa got the only B-scores in the 9’s, on their winning routines.

There are more videos from naomival85 and monagym.

I was glad to hear Druncea is back in competition. For whatever reason, I enjoy her. From youtube, though, it seems that she still has that terrible FX routine. Here she is on bars:

Daniela (Dana) Druncea at the Milan Grand Prix

All results available here.

Bars:

1. He Kexin (17.000)
2. Lia Parolari (14.700)
3. Serena Licchetta (14.300)
4. Andrea La Spada (14.100)
5. Daniela Druncea (12.650)

Beam:

1. Lia Parolari (14.850)
2. Sandra Izbasa (14.650)
3. Andrea La Spada (14.400)
4. Daniela Druncea (14.150)
5. Serena Licchetta (13.750)

Floor:

1. Sandra Izbasa (14.850)
2. Daniela Druncea (14.000)
3. Serena Licchetta (13.750)
4. Lia Parolari (13.600)
5. Andrea La Spada (13.550)

The Chinese dominate and the Romanians disappoint at Massilia

While the rather underwhelming (Coach Rick’s characterization of my reaction to the results) PAGU Individual Event Championships took place in Argentina, with the United States present, everyone else of consequence was over in Europe at the Massilia Cup in France.

The Massilia Cup’s Web site is beyond useless, but I’ve finally gotten my hands on some results. Note that there is both the Open and the Cup. The Open is for all teams who are interested in competing, while the Cup is limited to the official delegations from the top eight countries. The top performers then compete in an all-around known as Top Massilia in which each gymnast competes as many events as she chooses. It’s an EF competition, but for some reason they also compile all-around scores.

The Chinese dominated, sweeping both all-arounds and both team finals, with Jiang Yuyuan and her teammate Guo Wei winning the Cup (with only two competitors while all of the other teams had three, top two scores count), and Jiang taking gold in the Cup all-around and gold on bars and floor in Top Massilia. To be fair, however, the Chinese had the most experienced team (with Jiang), followed by the Australians, who placed third. The Russians took second, with the graceful Aliya Mustafina replacing Tatiana Nabieva, who was scheduled to compete (no word on what happened), Viktoria Komova (who does a Patterson dismount on beam), and Kristina Goryunova (Goryunova appears to have replaced Anna Demienteva, who was scheduled). Goryunova went on to medal in two EFs in the Top Massilia; Mustafina on one. Russia beat China in team finals on vault, but just barely, and floor by nearly a point, while the Australians actually placed first on beam, but came in only third. The three Russians went 4-5-6 in the all-around, Goryunova, Komova, Mustafina. Mustafina had the highest score on floor of all competitors.

Australian Lauren Mitchell had a good meet, taking second in the all-around in the Cup and first in the all-around in Top Massilia with silvers on two events, and third by team with Ashleigh Brennan and up-and-comer Britt Greeley. (Note: advance word had Emily Little competing on the Cup team and Greeley on the Open team. Not sure what happened.) And despite the scandal brewing at home, the Brazilians placed a respectable fourth. Their highest placement in the all-around was Bruna Leal, ninth, with Ethiene Franco tenth and Khiuna Dias twelfth.

The disappointments come for the French and the Romanians. The French senior team, with Youna Dufournet making her senior debut, placed only fifth, with a fall by Dufournet on bars and on her triple twist on floor. The other French competitors were Laetitia Dugain and Manon Erre (Dugain appears to be replacing Angeline Serre, who was expected to compete). Dufournet placed only eighth in the all-around with low scores on beam and floor. Marine Brevet and Chloé Stanic, two up-and-coming French juniors, actually beat Dugain, who placed a dismal 21st of 23.

But the real trouble is for the Romanians, who came in a dismal sixth despite putting up some of their top new talent — Amelia Racea, Diana Trenca and Claudia Voicu. As I’ve mentioned, the Romanians have a huge problem with vault (Racea does the best one, a FTY), and tend to score in the mid-50’s. Racea posted a reasonable 57.050 with trouble on bars to finish seventh. Voicu placed thirteenth, Trenca eighteenth. Hopefully the move to Deva by many of their top gymnasts of the next generation, including these three, will sort that out. None placed in any EFs.

The podium for the Massilia Cup team competition: China in first, Russia in second, Australia in third

As for the Open, the Canadians overperformed, taking the second and third spots on the team podium and placing Dominique Pegg in third place in the all-around. Pegg was my choice for top Canadian junior. A WOGA team placed fourth, but I don’t know who competed.

The two Chinese girls who placed first and second in the Open, Zhang Yujiao and Kang Xiaojun outscored Pegg by 1.5 and 2 points, respectively. Briley Casanova, a fairly well-known American junior, took fourth. Casanova had the highest score on vault and tied with Kang for the highest score on floor, but took a hit on bars with a 12.750.

As I mentioned, Mitchell placed first in the Top Massilia. Racea placed second — leaving out bars — while Goryunova placed third and Pegg fourth (the highest finish by an Open competitor). The rest of the competitors did not compete three events and I’m not even sure why they do this ranking.

More importantly, the Dutch Wyomi Masela placed first on vault, the best finish of any Dutch competitor. Goryunova took second, just above Dufournet on what some might say is her best event. As I mentioned, Mitchell took silver on three events (bars and beam, her best-scoring events). Jiang, unsurprisingly, dominated her competition on bars and floor. Guo took first on beam and third on floor, cementing the Chinese dominance.

Finally, the audience was also treated to a performance by Nastia Liukin who, however, appears to have used one of her routines from the Tour of Gymnastics Superstars. If I remember correctly, I didn’t enjoy it.

Nastia Liukin at the 2008 Massilia Cup

Full results are available here. That link is weird, so if it doesn’t work, here is the Massilia Cup main page.

Massilia Cup team:

1. China: Jiang Yuyuan, Guo Wei
2. Russia: Aliya Mustafina, Viktoria Komova, Kristina Goryunova
3. Australia: Lauren Mitchell, Ashleigh Brennan, Britt Greeley
4. Brazil: Ana Silva, Khiuna Dias, Bruna Leal
5. France (seniors): Youna Dufournet, Laetitia Dugain, Manon Erre
6. Romania: Amelia Racea, Diana Trenca, Claudia Voicu
7. Netherlands: Joy Goedkoop, Wyomi Masela, Natasja Blind
8. France (juniors): Chloé Stanic, Marine Brevet, Justine Crosato

Massilia Cup all-around:

1. Jiang Yuyuan
2. Lauren Mitchell
3. Guo Wei

Top Massilia vault:

1. Wyomi Masela (NED)
2. Kristina Goryunova (RUS)
3. Youna Dufournet (FRA)

Top Massilia uneven bars:

1. Jiang Yuyuan (CHN)
2. Lauren Mitchell (AUS)
3. Geng Ruo Wei (CHN)

Top Massilia beam:

1. Guo Wei (CHN)
2. Lauren Mitchell (AUS)
3. Kristina Goryunova (RUS)

Top Massilia floor:

1. Jiang Yuyuan (CHN)
2. Aliya Mustafina (RUS)
3. Guo Wei (CHN)

Open team:

1. Shanghai: Zhang Yujiao, Kang Xiaojun, Ruo Wei Geng
2. Canada 1: Dominique Pegg, Rochelle Hurt, Anysia Unick
3. Canada 2: Jessica Dowling, Madeline Gardiner, Caitlyn Keats

Open all-around

1. Zhang Yujiao
2. Kang Xiaojun
3. Dominique Pegg

UPDATED: PAGU results — in shocking news, the Americans dominate

Honestly the Pan American Gymnastics Union event competitions are not that interesting from a U.S. perspective — there were really no other competitive gymnastics nations present except Brazil, but some of the Brazilians were in Europe for the Massilia Cup. Nevertheless, it’s a decent international opportunity for the rising generation of American seniors, and a good chance for us to see them compete against one another.

Rebecca Bross was scheduled to compete at PAGU but withdrew, reportedly because of a knee injury sustained at the most recent training camp. This left the Americans with Corrie Lothrop, Olivia Courtney and Samantha Shapiro. Incidentally, Bridget Sloan and Jana Bieger were both on the training squad for this event, but did not go. As it happens, early on Bridget Sloan announced that she would not be competing for the rest of the year, choosing instead to train for the new Code of Points. Meanwhile, it was initially rumored that Bieger had not been selected, but in fact it turns out that she made the same decision as Sloan. So Marta Karolyi hasn’t totally cast her aside yet.

Lothrop and Shapiro both performed impressively. Lothrop placed first on vault took silver on every other event, proving why Marta thought she was a valuable enough commodity to have as an alternate for the Olympics.

Shapiro competed a pretty massive 15.450-scoring routine on bars, placing her solidly among top U.S. seniors in bars scores. The next-highest score was Lothrop’s, over a point below Shapiro’s. Shapiro then went on to take beam with another very high score (15.775). She seems to have improved her difficulty fairly significantly.

The third American, Olivia Courtney (Shayla Worley’s teammate) also took home two medals: gold on floor (scoring in the low 15’s) and silver on vault.

Corrie Lothrop, Samantha Shapiro and Olivia Courtney at the PAGU Individual Event Championships

Again, of course, this was basically an intrasquad competition with the slight twist of having to fly to Argentina first. But still, it’s nice to see some big scores from the next generation of U.S. gymnasts.

Full results are available here, although the site is down occasionally.

No videos yet.

Vault:

1. Corrie Lothrop (USA)
2. Olivia Courtney (USA)
3. Tarabini Ayelen (ARG)

Uneven bars:

1. Samantha Shapiro (USA)
2. Corrie Lothrop (USA)
3. Juliana Santos (BRA)

Beam:

1. Samantha Shapiro (USA)
2. Corrie Lothrop (USA)

Floor:

1. Olivia Courtney (USA)
2. Corrie Lothrop (USA)