The 2013 Gymnastics Universiade is behind us. Russia was unstoppable of course scoring medals on what it seems like every event final. Just another day in the life of the Russian Gymnastics program.
I would like to start out with the positives as always. Russia was amazing and it was nice to see some old familiar faces like Anna Dementeyva and Tatiana Nabieva. It's nice to see them because it's just nice. Tatiana is fantastic on bars and I really enjoyed her bar routine. Anna was beautiful on beam, at least in the qualifying. I haven't seen an individual video of her on the beam (I'm sorry! I have a full-time job!) during event finals.
Aliya Mustafina is of course Miss Gymnastics Russia, she's been winning everything lately and this was no exception. Although, I must say, it didn't seem to be much of a competition for her but I will get to that later. She's gorgeous on bars as always. Her "tragic twisting form" or as I have decided to shorten it to her TTF is still there, but meh.
I did like seeing Miss Afan win the vault final with her fantastic Amanar. This actually was a pleasant surprise. The Russians aren't incredibly strong on vault. They throw Amanars, but they never seem to throw them well. Musty busted her knee doing an Amanar and Viktoria Komova could never land straight and every time I see Maria Paseka, she's landing and taking ten steps off the mat. Miss Afan landed straight and managed not to bust her knee or land and take ten steps off the mat. Go Miss Afan!
Ellie Black of Canada, how cute is she? I adore her floor routine. Most on all, I just love her choreography. She reminds me a lot of Victoria Moors, just her tumbling is so powerful and clean (with the exception of her twists, she's got a little bit o' crazy legs in her twisting form). The Code of Points says that a gymnast must perform with the character of the music, and she captured it beautifully.
The flip side- what sucked: Not too much really, my biggest complaint was that Russia brought their A-list team while most of the countries brought their B-listers. Like for example, Russia had the most difficult routines and were way outscoring the rest of the teams. Honestly, it made for a really boring all-around. There were times in the all-around that I really felt like Aliya Mustafina was just half assing it because she knew that she could still win. But that is just my opinion, and she was still recovering from the flu, so really, she could have been not on her A-game as a result of that.
I would like to start out with the positives as always. Russia was amazing and it was nice to see some old familiar faces like Anna Dementeyva and Tatiana Nabieva. It's nice to see them because it's just nice. Tatiana is fantastic on bars and I really enjoyed her bar routine. Anna was beautiful on beam, at least in the qualifying. I haven't seen an individual video of her on the beam (I'm sorry! I have a full-time job!) during event finals.
Aliya Mustafina is of course Miss Gymnastics Russia, she's been winning everything lately and this was no exception. Although, I must say, it didn't seem to be much of a competition for her but I will get to that later. She's gorgeous on bars as always. Her "tragic twisting form" or as I have decided to shorten it to her TTF is still there, but meh.
I did like seeing Miss Afan win the vault final with her fantastic Amanar. This actually was a pleasant surprise. The Russians aren't incredibly strong on vault. They throw Amanars, but they never seem to throw them well. Musty busted her knee doing an Amanar and Viktoria Komova could never land straight and every time I see Maria Paseka, she's landing and taking ten steps off the mat. Miss Afan landed straight and managed not to bust her knee or land and take ten steps off the mat. Go Miss Afan!
Ellie Black of Canada, how cute is she? I adore her floor routine. Most on all, I just love her choreography. She reminds me a lot of Victoria Moors, just her tumbling is so powerful and clean (with the exception of her twists, she's got a little bit o' crazy legs in her twisting form). The Code of Points says that a gymnast must perform with the character of the music, and she captured it beautifully.
The flip side- what sucked: Not too much really, my biggest complaint was that Russia brought their A-list team while most of the countries brought their B-listers. Like for example, Russia had the most difficult routines and were way outscoring the rest of the teams. Honestly, it made for a really boring all-around. There were times in the all-around that I really felt like Aliya Mustafina was just half assing it because she knew that she could still win. But that is just my opinion, and she was still recovering from the flu, so really, she could have been not on her A-game as a result of that.
Comments
Post a Comment