Welcome to the New Year my friends! Not only is it a new year, it is a new quad as well. New round of Olympic hopefuls clamoring for the top.
This week for favorite routines, I am going to recap a few favorites from the past year.
Best breakout routine: Gabby Douglas on floor at the 2012 American Cup.
The Gabster was competing as an "alternate" basically, she was performing her routines for scores from the judges, but they weren't ranked with anyone else at the competition. This was the first peek at Gabby's potential and if I were writing a novel, it would foreshadow her big win in London this August. Her floor routine caught the attention of the crowd and NBC's commentary trio.
Beth Tweddle gets the rockstar treatment on her home turf: Beth Tweddle was definitely favored to win the gold for the home team in London during the uneven bars event finals. She went home with the bronze, but when her feet hit the mat after she dismounted, screams and cheers rang through out the North Greenwich Arena. The roar was so loud, one would have thought a rock star entered the room.
McKayla Maroney does a perfect vault and the judges heads explode. During the team final in London, McKayla Maroney was up to bat on the vault, the only event she was competing on. What she gave was her magnum opus, a vault that was nearly perfect. McKayla performed her signature vault, an Amanar, (Yurchenko entry, 2 1/2 twists off the vault). Super height and form and a perfect landing. The judges must have just been thinking "does not compute!" repetitively because they just couldn't get that her vault was perfect, or maybe they just wanted to be assholes. Either way, they decided to take two tenths off. But the vault was still perfection.
This week for favorite routines, I am going to recap a few favorites from the past year.
Best breakout routine: Gabby Douglas on floor at the 2012 American Cup.
The Gabster was competing as an "alternate" basically, she was performing her routines for scores from the judges, but they weren't ranked with anyone else at the competition. This was the first peek at Gabby's potential and if I were writing a novel, it would foreshadow her big win in London this August. Her floor routine caught the attention of the crowd and NBC's commentary trio.
Aliya Mustafina Gets Her Diva Back on the Uneven Bars. I posted this routine on another Favorite Routines installment, so please forgive the repeat. Musty was the Queen of the World in 2010 when she was crowned world champion. Musty, according to NBC commentators had a "diva" attitude and always had some quip or anecdote about her difficult nature. But it was that diva determination of hers that allowed her to claw her way back up after a knee injury at the 2011 Euros. It seemed no one expected her to do anything. After pulling off a bronze medal in the all-around, Musty, delivered the performance of her life on the uneven bars and managed to beat favorites, He Kexin and Beth Tweddle, who received 2nd and 3rd respectively,
Beth Tweddle gets the rockstar treatment on her home turf: Beth Tweddle was definitely favored to win the gold for the home team in London during the uneven bars event finals. She went home with the bronze, but when her feet hit the mat after she dismounted, screams and cheers rang through out the North Greenwich Arena. The roar was so loud, one would have thought a rock star entered the room.
McKayla Maroney does a perfect vault and the judges heads explode. During the team final in London, McKayla Maroney was up to bat on the vault, the only event she was competing on. What she gave was her magnum opus, a vault that was nearly perfect. McKayla performed her signature vault, an Amanar, (Yurchenko entry, 2 1/2 twists off the vault). Super height and form and a perfect landing. The judges must have just been thinking "does not compute!" repetitively because they just couldn't get that her vault was perfect, or maybe they just wanted to be assholes. Either way, they decided to take two tenths off. But the vault was still perfection.
Catalina Ponor makes a comeback. I personally love it when I see actual women still competing in the sport of gymnastics. I love Catalina Ponor for her timeless grace and elegance on the beam. Even though her fondness for leos that are Baywatch high cut, she still carries herself with such poise. I'm featuring her Euro's routine versus her at the 2012 Olympics because I feel like this captures her essence more.
Jordyn Wieber comes out with her guns blazing in the team finals. Going into London, Jordyn Wieber was favored to not only make the all-around but win the all-around. She was the current world champion and for a while, it seemed like everything was going as predicted. But some mistakes in the qualifying round gave her teammate and roommate, Aly Raisman scored ahead of Wieber and Gabby Douglas, just edging her out of the all-around final. Jordyn cried and coaches and teammates consoled her. But after a good night's sleep (and I speculate making voo-doo dolls of the judges that night), Jordyn was back for the team final and ready to give it her all. The last rotation for USA was the floor exercise. Jordyn came up and performed with zest and enthusiasm. Jordyn's score helped team USA win their first Olympic Gold medal since the Mag 7 in 1996.
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