Team Tuesday

The Boys are Back in Town

Before last week it had been 88 years since Great Britain had had a team qualify to the men's Team Final and 100 years since their last team medal. The hopes of the nation were high as the British boys had already taken Gold at the European Championships and were looking stronger by the day. Could Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas, Daniel Purvis, Max Whitlock and Sam Oldham take on the rest of the world and come away with a medal?

I think I have probably watched more men's gymnastics in the past two weeks than I have in the whole of the past two years - and boy was it worth it! All of the men's competitions have been superb, but it was the Brits that I had my eye on. There was no doubt a great deal of pressure on these five men as they went into qualifying. They had only secured a full team place at the London 2012 Test Event in January, missing out on a top eight place at the 2011 World Championships and therefore missing out on automatic qualification. Could this team then prove to the world and the home crowd that they deserved to be one of the top eight teams going through to the final? Team GB were in the first of three subdivisions of qualifying and by the end of their subdivision they were in first place, higher than Korea, France and reigning World and Olympic Champions, China. It was a fantastic start. With two subdivisions to follow, it was going to be along wait to find out where they had placed, but being in the lead at the start gave them an excellent chance of making the finals. After Subdivision 2, only USA had manged to top the score posted by the British boys. This meant that they were guaranteed a place in the final as there were already more than four teams that had qualified below them. After the last subdivision and the end of the men's qualifying, not only had the British boys made the Team Final for the first time in 88 years, they had qualified in third place!

Of course it was not only the Team Final to which the boys were trying qualify. There were also places in the All Around Final and the Apparatus Finals up for grabs. Kristian Thomas and Daniel Purvis had competed brilliantly on all six pieces of apparatus to qualify to the All Around Final in 5th and 10th respectively. Louis Smith had (as expected) qualified to the pommel horse final but so had Max Whitlock after a brilliant routine in qualification. Kristian Thomas also made an individual final, qualifying 5th for vault. An incredibly successful day.

Having made it to the Team Final and made it in 3rd place there was a glimmer of hope that we might be getting our first medal for 100 years. It certainly would not be easy though. Both China and Japan had excellent gymnasts and had underperformed by everybody's standards in qualification. With both of those top teams expected to perform much better in the final, would that leave room on the podium for GB? With the support of the home crowd the GB boys raised their game and raised the roof. They performed routine after routine with confidence and precision, delighting everyone, especially the home crowd in the North Greenwich Arena. They gave their all and performed better than anyone could have hoped for. After the final routines the scoreboard said 2nd - had GB really just won a Silver medal? Unfortunately it was not to be - an inquiry into the score of the last Japanese routine showed that it had been underscored by 0.700, a small amount but one which pushed Britain down into 3rd. Although Silver would have been incredible and beyond all expectations nobody could be disappointed for long. Great Britain had won a team Bronze medal! For a sport where no team had made the final for 88 years that was some achievement and one which was celebrated with pride. It is amazing to see just how far this sport has come on in Britain over the last few years and I fervently hope that it continues to do so.

A Bronze medal for the team - and the medals did not stop there. The pommel horse was the final with the most British interest and expectation, with not one but two members of GB represented. Could Louis Smith improve on his Bronze from Beijing in 2008 and how would 19 year old Max Whitlock cope with his first Olympic final? I have to admit to knowing very little about the pommel horse (sorry Louis and Max!) but I was certainly impressed with the routines from both the British boys. Max gave a really confident performance, looking calm and at ease throughout. Louis, one of the favourites to take the title, must have been nervous as he walked up to the horse but he gave the performance of his life. Clean and confident throughout and with a flourish on his dismount we were all desperately hoping it would be enough to beat the current leader and pommel horse expert, Krisztian Berki. The score came in and was exactly the same as Berki's score but under the tie breaking rules of execution over difficulty, Berki got the Gold and Louis got the Silver. This meant that not only had Louis improved on his Bronze medal of four years ago, Max Whitlock finished just behind him to take 3rd place - Silver and Bronze for GB!

This really has been an amazing Olympics for the GB team. To make the team finals and take a Bronze medal, to have two gymnasts in the all around final, to have three gymnasts in apparatus finals and to take a Silver and a Bronze medal on the pommel horse is such a massive achievement. I could not be more proud of the team right now, they have done so much not only for themselves but for the future of the sport. I hope they continue to go from strength to strength - and I promise to keep watching!

Magic Moments Monday

Flying high

Today was the much anticipated uneven bars final, where everyone in Britain (and many people elsewhere in the world) were desperately hoping that Beth Tweddle could take her much longed for Olympic medal. Getting a medal would not be easy though, the final saw one of the strongest bars line ups we have seen for a long time:
He Kexin - 2008 Olympic bars champion
Viktoria Komova - reigning World & European bars champion
Elisabeth Seitz - 2012 World Cup Gold medallist on bars
Yao Jinnan - 2011 World Cup Gold medallist on bars
Beth Tweddle - two time World Champion on bars
Aliya Mustafina - 2010 Silver medallist on bars and 2010 all around World Champion
Koko Tsurumi - 2009 Silver medallist on bars
Gabby Douglas - National bars champion and Olympic all around champion

With such an amazing start list it was set to be a fantastic final and it certainly did not disappoint. I think what impressed me the most was that it was a well contested final with no falls from any of the gymnasts and only a couple of major errors. At the end of the day you knew that whoever came out with the Gold had truly earned it.

I think I was more nervous for this final than I have been for the rest of this Olympic Games put together! I was so desperate for Beth to not only perform well but to achieve the one medal she is missing from her collection - an Olympic medal. I could barely watch as she stepped up to the bars yet also I could not tear my eyes away. More than anything I just wanted her to go through her routine cleanly and be able to finish her third and final Olympics on a high note. I think I may have stopped breathing for the entire minute or so that Beth was on the bars, yet I need not have worried. She hit all of her connections beautifully and performed them cleanly. With only her dismount to go it had been a great routine, but on her new and very difficult double twisting double back dismount she had a couple of large steps back on landing. They were not enough to cause a major problem and she went into 2nd place, but it certainly kept us on the edge of our seats as the final gymnasts performed their routines. After an interminable wait the final score was posted and Beth had got the Bronze medal! Her wait was over and she had achieved her dream. Beth now has an Olympic medal to go with the many World, European and Commonwealth medals she already has to her name. It could not have been more deserved. Beth has been a true ambassador for gymnastics in Britain and has paved the way for many more future medals in the sport. To win an Olympic medal in front of a home crowd was a just reward.

There was also another gymnast I was watching very closely. Aliya Mustafina had done what many people believed to be impossible and returned to competitive gymnastics less than 18 months after suffering a torn ACL in her left knee. Not only that but she was showing signs of her former brilliance, taking the Bronze medal in the all around competition. I was delighted for this beautifully talented gymnast despite ruing the fact that if it were not for the injury she could have achieved so much more. Bars is her strongest event and I always knew that she could easily contend for the Gold medal. I also knew that if Beth did not take the Gold it was this gymnast who I would love to see succeed. And succeed she did. She hit an almost flawless bars routine, swinging through her difficult routine with ease and elegance. I really am delighted that she has an Olympic Gold medal, she thoroughly deserves it.

Although these two routines were the pure magic moments for me today, there were many other fantastic routines besides. With everybody going well it really was a final of the highest quality. He Kexin put in a fantastic performance to take the silver medal and Elisabeth Seitz wowed with a spectacular full twisting Gienger release. All eight finalists gave a worthy performance. For the full results of the bars final click here.

Sunday Surprise

Every cloud has a silver lining

Today saw the first of the women's apparatus finals with eight of the World's best vaulters fighting it out for the medals. Over the last couple of years there has only been one girl to beat - McKayla Maroney. She has shown again and again that she is the best vaulter in the world, coming into these finals as the reigning World Champion on vault and qualifying to the finals in first place - almost 0.500 ahead of the second place qualifier. Everybody was saying that it was her title for the taking and that nobody could beat her. It would also be America's first Olympic vault title. That seems an awful lot of pressure on the shoulders of a 16 year old.

McKayla had already shown just exactly what she was capable of in terms of vaulting, both in the qualification and the team final. The difficulty of both her vaults is amongst the highest in the field and her execution is second to none. In qualification her execution scores were 9.400 for the first vault and 9.600 for the second. When you consider how difficult it is for anyone to get an execution score well into the 9.000s these days that is quite an achievement. In the team final she performed the most amazing Amanar vault that I, or anyone else, had ever seen. She scored a total of 16.233 with an absolutely unheard of 9.733 for execution. And still people were saying that she was underscored with many believing that her execution score should have been a perfect 10.000.

In today's final, McKayla was the 7th of eight finalists to vault. Although there had been some superb vaulting already (including from Oksana Chusovitina in her 6th and final Olympics) it was McKayla's spectacular vaulting we were all waiting to see. Just the memories of her previous vaults seem to make the other finalists seem lacking in comparison. McKayla's first vault was her favoured Amanar - the Yurchenko vault with 2.5 twists. Although it was performed incredibly cleanly, as always, she was uncharacteristically out of line and landed in the red area of the mat giving her a 0.3 penalty. When her exceptional execution score of 9.666 was taken into account alongside the penalty she was awarded 15.866, a higher score than anybody had posted so far. Her second vault, the round off, half turn on and full twist off had been looking so good in training. She was only one vault away from being practically unbeatable - even by Romania's Sandra Izbasa who was always going to be strong challenger and would be the last one up to vault. But today it was not to be. The gymnastics world looked on in shock as McKayla came over the vault and sat it down. Everybody was simply speechless. Bekah (of Get A Grip Gym Blog) has done the research and found out that in the whole of her competitive career McKayla has landed 58/60 of her vaults and has only failed to land a vault properly twice, once today and once back in 2009 (click here for details). Not bad statistics but such a shame for McKayla that it happened today.

I was devastated as I am sure McKayla must have been. The scores came in and despite her fall, her excellent execution in flight gave her a score of 14.300 for her second vault. This gave her a total of 15.083 and put her in the lead with only one gymnast to go. Sandra Izbasa was the last gymnast to vault and has vast experience and plenty of vault medals to her name. She performed her vaults really well and took the Gold medal. Although I was still upset that the Gold was not going to McKayla, it started to sink in just what an achievement McKayla had made - she had fallen on her second vault, giving her a 1.000 deduction, and landed on the red in her first vault, giving her a 0.300 deduction yet she finished in 2nd and only 0.108 behind the Gold medal winner. She may not have won the Gold medal today but I truly believe she is the best vaulter in the world.

I am really pleased for Sandra Izbasa, she vaulted well and kept her nerve, and deserved the Gold medal today. McKayla herself said afterwards "I really didn't deserve to win a gold medal if I fall on my butt, I'm not disappointed about the silver, I’m disappointed about my performance." But every cloud has a silver lining - quite literally in this case! McKayla came away with the Silver medal, but next time I am sure it will be Gold again.

So Close Saturday

Mind over matter

It has been a long time since 2008 when Hannah Whelan was the baby of the team in Beijing. She has been a regular member of the team for the last four years and has brought some great achievements to British gymnastics. Hannah has been a core member of the British team since the last Olympic Games and has gone from strength to strength. She has been a regular in the all around competitions in both European and World Championships and finished a fantastic 9th place all around at the 2011 World Championships. At the 2012 European Championships she qualified to the beam and floor finals where she managed to take the Bronze on both apparatus. So what would the 2012 Olympic Games hold for Hannah?

Qualification
Great Britain started on beam and Hannah was third up for the team. With the qualifications being for a place in the team final as well as the all around there was a lot at stake. She made a good start but unfortunately came off the beam on her difficult combination of free cartwheel to layout. She got straight back on and finished her routine with very few mistakes and a good if somewhat low dismount. Although this was not a major problem for the team with four gymnasts up on each piece and the top three results counting, how would this affect her chances in the all around? Hannah definitely has the difficulty, but having a mistake on the first apparatus puts a great deal of pressure on for the remainder of the competition. Next was floor, where Hannah was again up third for the team. She gave a fantastic performance, full of energy and with great tumbling. There was no chance of Hannah giving in to pressure! Next was vault and a big moment for Hannah. She had been training a double twisting Yurchenko, an upgrade from the 1.5 twists she usually performs. More pressure again to compete this new vault at such an important time, but she performed it brilliantly, just slightly off line and with one hop forwards. She was clearly delighted to have competed her new vault so well. The last piece was bars, not known as being one of Hannah's strongest pieces, but she gave a good performance to round out her competition. At the end of the day not only did GB make the team final but Hannah held off the pressure to make it to the all around final with the 17th highest score of the day.

Team Final
Britain were again starting on beam for the team final. With the '3-up-3-count' rule in place for the final there really would be no room for error. Hannah was the last one up for the team on beam and having just seen a fall from team mate Jenni Pinches she will have known that she had to give a good performance. She managed to put the memories of qualifying behind her with a really steady routine, but had a few steps back on the dismount. It was a good steady start for Hannah and beam was over with! Floor was next where Hannah gave yet another expressive and vibrant routine and some excellent tumbling. Only performing on three of the four apparatus in the team final there was then a wait for Hannah before bars where she was up first for the team. She gave a good performance and helped the team to a historic 6th place finish.

All Around
Hannah was part of the third highest qualifying group meaning she would once again be starting her competition on beam. She was the very first gymnast to compete on beam and gave a very steady routine, with only a couple of wobbles and a much better dismount than we had seen previously. A great start. Then on to floor and yet another expressive and thoroughly enjoyable routine with fantastic tumbling and a nailed double pike to finish. Vault was next and yet again Hannah was going to perform her new vault, they DTY. Unfortunately for Hannah it was this piece where things went wrong. After giving such a great performance in the team final it was not to be this time. She fell on landing and the judges made the decision that her feet did not land on the mat first and therefore scored her a 0.000. It must have been absolutely devastating to see that score and know that there was no way back. The tears were evident and everybody seemed in shock at the score. With one more piece to go it would have been easy to give up but that is something that Hannah refused to do. She went on and gave a fantastic bars routine to an amazingly encouraging and supportive audience. She competed that last piece under circumstances which required the utmost courage and determination and she showed the crowd and the whole of the gymnastics world exactly what she was made of. It was by no means the result that Hannah would have wanted but she made a whole nation proud.

The 24th place finish for Hannah is by no means a reflection of this fantastic gymnast. Unfortunately the all around competition was the last we will see of Hannah this Olympics as she did not qualify to any of the event finals, but she has a lot more to give and I am sure that we will be seeing her compete for many years to come.

Friday Favourites

New Kid on the Block

It has been a phenomenal senior year debut for Great Britain's Rebecca Tunney. In her first year of senior competition, she has competed at the London 2012 Test Event and qualified to the bars final, competed at the European Championships, qualified to the European floor final, posted the highest all around score at all three of the British Olympic Trials, become All Around British Champion, become a member of the 2012 Olympic Team, helped that team to qualify to the finals and finish a historic 6th, qualified individually to the all around final and finished 13th at the all around final of the Olympic Games! Not bad for a 15 year old!

Coming into the Olympics, Team GB's youngest member had had an amazing run of success. She stormed onto the senior squad, starting the year well at the London 2012 Test Event in January. This was a great opportunity for the young gymnast to perform not only in front of a home crowd but also in the very arena the Olympics would be held in. Rebecca performed brilliantly in her first senior competition, not the slightest bit intimidated or daunted by the huge arena and the roars of the crowd. It was a great first step towards her Olympic dream.

By the time the Olympics arrived, Rebecca had proved over and over again that she was ready for her biggest challenge yet. The baby of the team was ready to go out and prove herself once more on the world's biggest stage. In qualifying, Britain started on beam where Rebecca was the last one up for the team. She gave a great, steady performance, seeming completely undaunted by the task ahead of her. She moved confidently on the apparatus through all her moves and finished with a great double pike dismount. Then it was on to floor where she was up second. She performed her floor routine with her trademark smile that we've all come to love. On vault she was up last for the team and gave a great DTY, landing right in the middle and just taking a step out to the side. Bars was the last piece and is one of Rebecca's best pieces of apparatus. She gave a wonderful performance to round out her qualifying competition and stuck her dismount brilliantly. It had been a perfect first day of competition for Rebecca and as she posted the 15th highest all around score she qualified easily for the all around final.


Next was the team competition. With the '3 up 3 count' rule, all the routines in the team final would count towards the final score leaving no room for error. It was a real test of nerve and determination and one which Rebecca rose to superbly. Only performing on two apparatus in the team final, vault and bars, she had to wait until the last two rotations of the competition before she competed. Vault was the first one for her and she competed another fantastic DTY, straight down the middle and just a pace backwards. Then to bars where she posted yet another great score, helping the team to a fantastic 6th place finish. The every score counts rule clearly had no effect on Rebecca!


Then came the all around final. With the European Championships only being a team competition in 2012 this was Rebecca's first major international all around competition as a senior - what a way to start! She had competed so well in qualifying and the team final, did she have enough to do well in the all around competition too? Yes! Rebecca once again was starting on beam, just as GB did in both the qualifying and the team competition. It was a slightly tentative start but she got through the routine cleanly and landed well. Her smile at the end said it all - I started on beam and survived! With what is probably regarded as her weakest apparatus out the way she had made a good start. Floor was next and she gave an amazing performance. Her tumbling was fantastic and all of her landings were practically nailed. It is a youthful and energetic routine and suits her really well. On to vault, and her vaulting just seems to have improved with every competition these Olympics and this was no exception. Her DTY was yet again straight down the middle and this time she virtually nailed the landing. Things were getting better and better and there was still bars to go. It was her last performance of the competition and what a way to end it - she hit an amazing bars routine, worked beautifully throughout and posted a massive 15.000, her highest score of the whole Olympics. Her total score gave her 13th place all around. What a massive achievement in such a momentous competition and all in front of a home crowd.


It really has been a pleasure to watch Rebecca compete, not just at these Olympic Games but throughout the year. She has gone from strength to strength and she really is a star in the making. Unfortunately we will not be seeing any more of her at these Olympics as she did not qualify to any of the finals, though she is 3rd reserve for the bars final. However, I have absolutely no doubt that we will be seeing much more of Rebecca for many years to come.

Thursday's Thoughts

London 2012 Olympic All Around Final

Every four years gymnastics fans all over the world wait anxiously to see who will take the crown of All Around Olympic Champion for the next four years. Anxiety was high today with so little separating the top contenders for the title. Whether a USA supporter or a fan of the Russians, desperate for Gabby to take Gold or cheering for Viktoria to be champion, an Aly admirer or an Aliya enthusiast, everyone was bound to be on the edge of their seat. With only 0.666 separating the top four qualifiers it was always going to be close.

The top four of Viktoria Komova, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Aliya Mustafina were going round in Olympic order (ie starting on vault) along with Deng Linlin and Vanessa Ferrari. Challenges from the groups starting elsewhere were most likely to come from Larisa Iordache, Huang Qiushuang and Sandra Izbasa who were all starting on bars.

Rotation 1
The top four contenders started off with some amazing vaulting. We saw three Amanars and a DTY (from aliya Mustafina) which got the girls off to a good start. Gabby Douglas who was up first and Aly Raisman, up second, both posted incredibly high scores, despite errors on landing from both of them. Viktoria Komova was next and took a big step to the side and off the mat, leaving her with a score that was almost 0.500 lower than either American. The two American girls will have been glad to post high scores on this apparatus, especially Aly, as the Russians' strongest apparatus, bars, was up next. Over on bars in this rotation it was a quiet but efficient start from the two Romanians, Larisa Iordache and Sandra Izbasa, bars being a real weak piece for the whole Romanian team, but Huang Qiushuang used what is a strong piece for her to her advantage and posted a great opening score on bars. Deng Linlin and Vanessa Ferrari who were also vaulting made a steady but less specatacular start than the top four. By the end of Rotation 1, the scores were:
1) Douglas 2) Raisman 3) Komova 4) Mustafina 5) Seitz 6) Qiushuang 7) Linlin 8) Ferlito

Rotation 2
Aly Raisman was first up on bars and she knew she would have to work incredibly hard on this piece to stay in touch with the other top three. Not her best piece she nevertheless attacked it with as much determination as we have come to expect from her, though she had a couple of falters in the middle. Viktoria Komova was up next and really showed her proficiency on this apparatus. She was beautiful throughout and was looking determined to put her vault disappointment behind her and challenge for the title. Meanwhile, Larisa Iordache was performing on beam but had a very uncharacteristic mistake near the beginning of her routine and was lucky to stay on. She held it together and finished with a beautiful triple twist dismount but things were already not looking too good for her. Vanessa Ferrari and Deng Linlin did solid bars routines, and Sandra Izbasa and Huang Qiushuang both looked great on beam. Then came Aliya Mustafina on bars. It was an amazing routine. She not only went for broke with difficulty but she executed each move so elegantly and beautifully. It was a lovely, fluid routine with a great 1.5 twisting double back dismount. Gabby Douglas was next and will have known she would have to hit her routine after the spectacular routines from the Russians. She once again lived up to her nickname of 'The Flying Squirrel', soaring through her routine and not reacting in the slightest to the pressure from the Russians. By the end of Rotation 2, and half way through the competition, the scores were:
1) Douglas 2) Komova 3) Mustafina 4) Raisman 5) Qiushuang 6) Iordache 7) Linlin 8) Seitz


Rotation 3
So on to Rotation 3 and that would mean beam for the top qualifiers. With Viktoria Komova and Gabby Douglas both having shown inconsistencies on this apparatus in the past this was likely to be a very exciting rotation. Viktoria Komova was up first. The big question was, would she buckle under the pressure or set the bar for the others to follow? She gave a wonderful routine, elegant and flowing, with a huge double arabian dismount and only a couple of wobbles throughout. The pressure was on. Aliya Mustafina was the next of the top four to go and she started beautifully but came off the beam on her arabian somersault. I was devastated at this point. Part of me was desperately clinging on to the hope that Aliya would be able to regain her former glory and take the all around title but with that fall her hopes, along with mine, were dashed. She got back on and completed the routine as brilliantly as she had started it, but the damage was done. With one fall on beam from from one of the top contenders, would Gabby Douglas be able to hold her nerve? She not only held her nerve but gave a phenomenal performance, sticking almost every landing and posting the highest beam score of the Olympic competition to date. She was going to be a tough one to beat! Aly Raisman, the 'rock' of the USA team was next on beam. She started the way she always does, steady and determined, but then seemingly from out of nowhere she faltered on her piked front somersault and put her hands on the beam, counting a fall. If there was one thing I was really not expecting in this competition it was a fall from Aly. It really seemed to unsettle her and little wobbles began to show after almost every move. You could see the nerves beginning to show, but she brought them under control for yet another fabulous double arabian dismount. All of a sudden things were not looking so good for two of the top four. Elsewhere, Larisa Iordache struggled slightly on floor, but Vanessa Ferrari and Deng Linlin had excellent beam routines and Sandra Izbasa was fantastic as always on floor. After Rotation 4 the scores were:
1) Douglas 2) Komova 3) Mustafina 4) Linlin 5) Raisman 6) Izbasa 7) Qiushuang 8) Ferrari


Rotation 4
With only one piece left to go it looked like the fight for the Gold would come down, as expected, to Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova. With Gabby scoring consistently higher than Viktoria on floor throughout the competition she was going to be tough to beat, but Viktoria was definitely out there fighting and as she would be last up on floor, it would all come down to the last performance. Vanessa Ferrari was the first up on floor and gave yet another strong performance on what is her best apparatus. Sandra Izbasa was up on vault and is known as an excellent vaulter. She did well and finished off her competition in style. Deng Linlin was next on floor and gave a fast paced and quirky routine to end her competition well. Huang Qiushuang was finishing on vault and performed a fabulous DTY, almost sticking the landing. Aliya Mustafina was the next one up on floor. It almost impossible to express just how much I love this gymnast. She has grace, style, elegance and fantastic difficulty. I always knew it would be hard for her to come back from injury after just over a year, but she has shown just how fiercely she loves her sport to be back in time not just to compete all around but contend for a medal. It was a gorgeous floor routine and a great way for her to end her all around competition. I could only hope that it would be enough for her to take a medal of some colour. Up next was Gabby Douglas. The pressure was really on now - with one piece to go she would know that it would have to be practically perfect to put pressure on Viktoria Komova who was going up last. It was practically perfect! Her enjoyment showed throughout her routine, grinning from ear to ear as she leapt, spun and tumbled her way through her last piece. She and the crowd were ecstatic as she came off the floor. Aly Raisman was next but would she be able to put the disappointment of the beam behind her and give her trademark great performance on her best piece of apparatus? Of course she would. She gave an exceptional performance, fighting to the end and finishing her competition on a real high note. So now for the last performance of the competition, Viktoria Komova on floor. Viktoria seems to have struggled more on floor than anywhere else this competition so I was not quite sure how much of a challenge we were going to see. I should have known better. She gave one of the best floor performances I have ever seen from her, she was graceful and elegant and absolutely solid on her tumbling. I was amazed and absolutely thrilled to see such a good performance to finish off the competition. It also meant that we really would have to wait until the scores came in to see who was the All Around Champion. The wait seemed interminable and then the score came up. The 2012 Olympic Champion is . . . Gabby Douglas!
The final results were:
1) Douglas 2) Komova 3) Mustafina 4) Raisman 5) Izbasa 6) Linlin 7) Qiushuang 8) Ferrari


Gabby was delighted, Viktoria was heartbroken, Aliya was quietly pleased and Aly was confused. Gabby was the new Olympic Champion with an astounding score of 62.232. Viktoria had missed out the title by a mere 0.259, probably nothing more than the slight mistake she made on vault at the start of the competition. Aliya had won a Bronze medal, just over a year after suffering a torn ACL and also with a fall on beam. Aly had posted the exact same score as Aliya Mustafina yet was listed as 4th, not joint 3rd. Tie breaking rules are always somewhat complicated and controversial in gymnastics, but because Aliya had higher scores in three of the four pieces, she was awarded 3rd place and the Bronze medal while Aly was left down in 4th. So many different emotions on what was always going to be an emotional day.


My thoughts? Gabby performed absolutely spectacularly today and thoroughly deserved the win. I would have loved to have seen Aliya take the Gold, but even without her fall she would not have been able to beat Gabby today and I am so pleased that she came away with a medal. Viktoria really is a beautiful gymnast to watch and really put her heart into her routines today but unfortunately it was not quite enough. I am sure we will see plenty more of her in the future though. I am so disappointed for Aly. It must be devastating to post the third highest score but end up with nothing to show for it. But I know how strong she is and I have no doubt that she will be back out there fighting at the next opportunity. My big disappointment was Larisa Iordache. She has shown so much promise so far in her first senior year but has really underperformed here, probably down to her recent injury. She is another gymnast I have no doubt we will see much more of in the future though.


All in all it has been a thoroughly exciting final, and congratulations to the new Olympic Champion - Gabby Douglas!


For full results of the all around final click here: http://www.london2012.com/gymnastics-artistic/event/women-all-around/phase=gaw024100/doc=results.html

Wednesday Worries

Under pressure

The London 2012 Olympic gymnastics competition is now well under way and so far there have been many twists and turns and ups and downs as the women have battled it out through the qualification rounds and the team final. There are some gymnasts who have excelled themselves so far, such as USA's Aly Raisman, Japan's Asuka Teramoto and the whole of the Canadian team. But for some, things did not go quite to plan. Has the pressure and the expectation been too much? Can they sort things out before the finals and go out and prove themselves?


Larisa Iordache
Larisa has been hailed as the Romanian challenge for the all around title for some time now. A first year senior, she has been impressive throughout her junior career and made her mark as a senior at the 2012 European Championships by posting the highest all around score in qualification and helping her team to take the Gold medal. But just a couple of days before qualification the Romanian team reported that Larisa had an injury. She was suffering from plantar fasciitis which affects the foot and there was doubt as to whether she would be able to compete all around in the qualification let alone fight for the Gold medal. At the last minute it was announced that she would compete - it was obvious that Larisa was desperate for the chance to compete and qualify for the finals. In qualification Romania started on floor but it was not the best start for Larisa with an uncharacteristic fall in the middle of her routine. She continued on, with an excellent vault and a good bars routine, though bars is not a strong piece for her. She looked slightly nervy on beam but finished with an excellent triple twist dismount. Although it was not a bad qualifying session by many people's standards, Romania's golden girl qualified down in 9th rather than up near the top where she was expected to be. She only had one day off to recover before the start of the team final where she was put up on three of the four pieces of apparatus. Although she had a much better beam routine than in qualifying, her scores on vault and bars were much lower. With just one day off again before the all around final, and not having qualified to any of the apparatus finals, can Larisa Iordache perform to her full potential and give the American and Russian challengers a run for their money?


Yao Jinnan
Yao Jinnan took the Bronze medal in the all around competition at the 2011 World Championships, even though she fell on beam in the competition. Many of us were really excited to see what she could bring to the Olympics and if she could challenge for the Gold medal as she did in the World Championships. Rumours of more injury came through though and it was reported that she was suffering from a strained thigh muscle. She was still set to compete in qualification though and would be competing on all four pieces of apparatus. Unfortunately for Yao, things started bad and simply got worse. On beam, she had some big wobbles and a fall and though her floor routine was beautifully expressive she struggled with the tumbling and had a fall. Her vault was no better, falling on the DTY which is usually easy for her. Her final piece was bars and this is where she showed us what she is truly capable of. She had an amazing bars routine and posted the 4th highest bars score to qualify easily for the bars final. All around it was a different story though. Qualifying in a lowly 22nd place and behind two of her team mates, she did not qualify to the all around final and will not get to challenge for the Gold. With a day to recover, she came out for the team final and competed on vault and bars. Her bars routine was again excellent but she struggled with her vault, having a very low landing and taking a big step to the side and almost off the mat. This is not the Jao Yinnan we were expecting to see and with the Chinese team finishing out of the medals in the team competition, can she hold her nerve and perform well enough to take a medal in the bars final?


Giulia Steingruber
Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber is an athlete that many people may have missed in the qualification rounds as she was the sole gymnast representing her country rather than being part of one of the big teams. She is a good all around gymnast and indeed she qualified to the all around competition, finishing 23rd overall. However, not only is that 23rd much lower than she would have hoped for, it is her vaulting that really let her down in qualification. Almost everyone expected Giulia to make the vault final as she is an exceptional vaulter and has many vault finals and medals to her name. Today was not her day though. On her first vault she had a deep landing and a big hop to the side and OOB. Her second vault was even worse, landing with her hands and her feet and taking a big step sideways off the mat. I have seen her vault so many times and all of them have been great to watch. Clearly the Olympic pressure was too much as she must have been hoping to get to the vault final and even challenge for a medal. With her chances in the vault final gone, can she now come out in the all around and prove herself?


Jordyn Wieber
So much has been said about Jordyn Wieber, and the other American girls, when she failed to qualify for the all around final. As one of the favourites to take the Gold medal it must have been heartbreaking for her to be denied the opportunity to fight for it. During her stay in London Jordyn is sharing a room with her best friend Aly Raisman, but with Aly being one of the girls who surpassed Jordyn in qualification many were speculating how it would affect them both. There was also a great many people wondering whether she would be able to come out just two days later and compete alongside these girls who had overtaken her as they attempted to get the team Gold. I was never in any doubt that Jordyn would prove herself to be not just a great team player but also a great friend, not just to Aly but to all the girls in this very close-knit team. What did surprise and really impress me though was just how much she proved this to be the case. You would never be able to tell from her performances, her reactions and her cheering that she had just suffered what must have been one of the greatest blows of her career. She showed everybody that she is indeed one of the best gymnasts in the world with her performances, and her floor exercise in particular was one of the best I have ever seen from her. When she was not competing she was on the sidelines, cheering on her team mates, her friends. USA did of course take the Gold and I am delighted that Jordyn has the Gold medal and the Olympic Champion status. With no all around final and only the floor final left to compete in, can she come out and take an individual medal to go with the team Gold?


With the all around finals and the four apparatus finals still to go in this London 2012 Olympics I really hope that all of the girls can come out and compete their best. Good luck to them all.