It Happened That Night - Beam & Floor Event Final Recap
The last night of women's artistic gymnastics closed with a bang as a former Olympic beam champ lost the bronze in a tie breaker, a diva gave a final performance of a successful Olympic Games and oh, yeah. Aly Raisman. Scored. Gold!
Aly, who has been the stoic leader of team USA, quietly took Jordyn Wieber's all around spot and helped lead team USA to it's first team Olympic Gold Medal since 1996 with a killer floor routine. She has been nothing less than solid and consistent throughout the entire competition. After an uncharacteristic spill on the balance beam during the all-around, Aly lost the bronze in a tie breaker to Aliya Mustafina. Aly stoically held her head up and supported teammate Gabby Douglas on winning the all-around and upon leaving the arena, Aly still had to get through a beam event final and a floor event final, her 2 best events.
Let's start with beam:
It's not like Aly didn't have to fight for her right to a medal, she faced some stiff competition. She competed against 2004 Olympic beam Champion Catalina Ponor & current world beam champion Sui Lu, were among the top contenders for the beam gold.
Catalina Ponor normally is a beautiful beam worker, but she had some issues in this routine. She had an uncharacteristic balance check on a full turn and almost fell of on an acro element. Her connections came about a little slow for my taste. Seriously, I could look down and look up and she'd barely be starting an element. She scored a 15.066 (6.5 D score/ 8.566 execution out of 10). She didn't look too happy with herself after that routine. She sat silently on the sidelines, her knees pulled up to her chest watching everyone else go up.
Sui Lu, the defending World Champion on beam lead the pack and that's not an easy thing to do. That sets the tone for every other performance from every other athlete. It's really the standard that the other's either have to measure up to or beat. Sui is nearly flawless on beam, she moves so lightly on the beam and flies and floats on her acro elements. She scored a silver medal posting a 15.5 (6.5/9.00) out of 16.5.
Deng Linlin turned out to be the kid who stole the gold from Lu. She too was nearly perfect. Light on her feet and she had one tiny balance check in the routine that I caught. She won the gold by only .1 higher than Lu. She scored a 15.6 (6.6/ 9.00) out of a possible 16.6.
World floor champ Ksenia Afanaseva had some issues during the final also. She had a balance check on a piked back 1/2 and had some slow connections ala Catalina Ponor. Yawn, She nearly fell on her ass on her double back tuck dismount but saved it. She placed in 6th scoring a 14.583 (5.8/8.783) out of 15.8.
Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova had yet another disappointing event final landing in 7th and 8th place respectively. Our dear Vika started off well and I loved her balletic style on the beam and perfect leap series. Seriously, the girl could literally touch her head on that leap. I'm not kidding you. I'm sure that flexibility will pay off one day... Lol. Then, the girl fell off the beam and as my silly husband would say, she nearly broke her twat (sorry for the obscenity). Tim Daggett decided to be a total douche about it saying she "didn't fight hard enough." Fuck you, Tim Daggett, way to dig the knife deeper in her back. Then, she landed square on her tiny little ass on that Patterson. Uggggh, Vika, this is an intervention, from all of your fans to you. CHANGE THE FUCKING DISMOUNT! She scored a pretty pithy ass 13.166 (6.2/ 6.966). Damn judges decided to be uber bitchy again.
Gabby didn't fair much better. The American Cup Gabby that won the all around title was gone and inconsistent Gabby came back. It started with a fall from a leap series and it didn't get much better. That's all I'll say. She scored a 13.633 (6.0/7.633) out of 16.
Aly Raisman started her night out great. She was the last to perform on the beam and she rinsed away any doubts she had after the unfortunate incident in the all-around. She did not let this medal out of her grasp. She hit her routine, only having a small balance check and a hop forward on her Patterson dismount. She originally scored a 14.966, putting her out of medal contention. After some uproar from Bela and Marta Karolyi, her coach Mihai Brestyan rushed to get her score changed. Sometime later, after much discussion and waiting, the scored was changed to a 15.066 (6.3/ 8.766) after the judges changed her max score to a 16.3 and she beat Catalina Ponor in the tie breaker for the bronze. Guess Catalina can get together with Nastia Liukin and Louis Smith in a "Tie-Breaker's Suck" Party (do you think they'd let Aly in since she lost the AA bronze to Musty?).
Floor Exercise:
While Aly was having the time of her life, Jordyn Wieber was having the worst time of hers. It started in qualifications and skipped the team final and jumped to the floor final, the lone event Jordyn qualified for. Catalina Ponor fared better in the floor final than the beam final and Musty became the most decorated gymnast of the games.
World Champ on Floor Ksenia Afanaseva couldn't bring her Tokyo magic to London and couldn't get her groove. I'm tired of rehashing negative things, so I'm just going to say what I liked about this routine. After an issue on the first tumbling pass she found her footing and gained more confidence throughout. Many of her teammates have a balletic style while she rocks the modern dance. It definitely scored points in my book. 14.566 (6.1/8.66)
I'm not talking much about Jordyn Wieber. It was just sad to watch and I can't relive it again. She's my husband's favorite gymnast (he think's she's fearless). It just lacked her Wieber sparkle. 14.5 (6.5/8.5). Same goes for former reigning Olympic floor champ, Sandra Izbasa. It started out well and on her last tumbling pass, she landed on her knees. Eesh.
Aly had it in the bag before her music even started. The look on her face said "I've got this" and she did it. She stuck every landing and she performed her little heart out. She had the HIGHEST D score of all the performers. She threw a triple twist, a piked arabian, 11/2 tuck to punch front layout. Aly leaped so high on that floor, she nearly didn't come back down. Her parents Lynn and Rick were more excited than a Bronco's fan when they win a game. 15.6 (6.6/9.10).
Catalina Ponor scored a silver for floor on her last gymnastics routine ever (she announced she's retiring and taking a vacation, lucky bitch). Catalina put on a show for her last performance. She had music that sounded like it came from a Broadway musical, gorgeous tumbling and dance. 15.2 (6.2/9)
Aliya Mustafina still riding high on her bars gold, had another standout performance. She came back in the same leo from qualifications and not complete without her diva floor music. She's not much for ballet, but her dance certainly expressed her personality and her performance was near perfect. While she didn't have quite the difficulty of Catalina or Aly, Musty had some great tumbling passes including a triple twist to another 2 1/2 twist. She scored the bronze medal earning a 14.9 (5.9/9.0)
After her routine, Aly and Musty had a touching moment where they hugged in congratulations. I have to say, I think that was my favorite moment of the competition right there.
That's all for now, I will do a full recap of the Artistic Gymnastics competition upon the close of the games and after I've had a chance to catch up on everything else.
Aly, who has been the stoic leader of team USA, quietly took Jordyn Wieber's all around spot and helped lead team USA to it's first team Olympic Gold Medal since 1996 with a killer floor routine. She has been nothing less than solid and consistent throughout the entire competition. After an uncharacteristic spill on the balance beam during the all-around, Aly lost the bronze in a tie breaker to Aliya Mustafina. Aly stoically held her head up and supported teammate Gabby Douglas on winning the all-around and upon leaving the arena, Aly still had to get through a beam event final and a floor event final, her 2 best events.
Let's start with beam:
It's not like Aly didn't have to fight for her right to a medal, she faced some stiff competition. She competed against 2004 Olympic beam Champion Catalina Ponor & current world beam champion Sui Lu, were among the top contenders for the beam gold.
Catalina Ponor normally is a beautiful beam worker, but she had some issues in this routine. She had an uncharacteristic balance check on a full turn and almost fell of on an acro element. Her connections came about a little slow for my taste. Seriously, I could look down and look up and she'd barely be starting an element. She scored a 15.066 (6.5 D score/ 8.566 execution out of 10). She didn't look too happy with herself after that routine. She sat silently on the sidelines, her knees pulled up to her chest watching everyone else go up.
Sui Lu, the defending World Champion on beam lead the pack and that's not an easy thing to do. That sets the tone for every other performance from every other athlete. It's really the standard that the other's either have to measure up to or beat. Sui is nearly flawless on beam, she moves so lightly on the beam and flies and floats on her acro elements. She scored a silver medal posting a 15.5 (6.5/9.00) out of 16.5.
Deng Linlin turned out to be the kid who stole the gold from Lu. She too was nearly perfect. Light on her feet and she had one tiny balance check in the routine that I caught. She won the gold by only .1 higher than Lu. She scored a 15.6 (6.6/ 9.00) out of a possible 16.6.
World floor champ Ksenia Afanaseva had some issues during the final also. She had a balance check on a piked back 1/2 and had some slow connections ala Catalina Ponor. Yawn, She nearly fell on her ass on her double back tuck dismount but saved it. She placed in 6th scoring a 14.583 (5.8/8.783) out of 15.8.
Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova had yet another disappointing event final landing in 7th and 8th place respectively. Our dear Vika started off well and I loved her balletic style on the beam and perfect leap series. Seriously, the girl could literally touch her head on that leap. I'm not kidding you. I'm sure that flexibility will pay off one day... Lol. Then, the girl fell off the beam and as my silly husband would say, she nearly broke her twat (sorry for the obscenity). Tim Daggett decided to be a total douche about it saying she "didn't fight hard enough." Fuck you, Tim Daggett, way to dig the knife deeper in her back. Then, she landed square on her tiny little ass on that Patterson. Uggggh, Vika, this is an intervention, from all of your fans to you. CHANGE THE FUCKING DISMOUNT! She scored a pretty pithy ass 13.166 (6.2/ 6.966). Damn judges decided to be uber bitchy again.
Gabby didn't fair much better. The American Cup Gabby that won the all around title was gone and inconsistent Gabby came back. It started with a fall from a leap series and it didn't get much better. That's all I'll say. She scored a 13.633 (6.0/7.633) out of 16.
Aly Raisman started her night out great. She was the last to perform on the beam and she rinsed away any doubts she had after the unfortunate incident in the all-around. She did not let this medal out of her grasp. She hit her routine, only having a small balance check and a hop forward on her Patterson dismount. She originally scored a 14.966, putting her out of medal contention. After some uproar from Bela and Marta Karolyi, her coach Mihai Brestyan rushed to get her score changed. Sometime later, after much discussion and waiting, the scored was changed to a 15.066 (6.3/ 8.766) after the judges changed her max score to a 16.3 and she beat Catalina Ponor in the tie breaker for the bronze. Guess Catalina can get together with Nastia Liukin and Louis Smith in a "Tie-Breaker's Suck" Party (do you think they'd let Aly in since she lost the AA bronze to Musty?).
Floor Exercise:
While Aly was having the time of her life, Jordyn Wieber was having the worst time of hers. It started in qualifications and skipped the team final and jumped to the floor final, the lone event Jordyn qualified for. Catalina Ponor fared better in the floor final than the beam final and Musty became the most decorated gymnast of the games.
World Champ on Floor Ksenia Afanaseva couldn't bring her Tokyo magic to London and couldn't get her groove. I'm tired of rehashing negative things, so I'm just going to say what I liked about this routine. After an issue on the first tumbling pass she found her footing and gained more confidence throughout. Many of her teammates have a balletic style while she rocks the modern dance. It definitely scored points in my book. 14.566 (6.1/8.66)
I'm not talking much about Jordyn Wieber. It was just sad to watch and I can't relive it again. She's my husband's favorite gymnast (he think's she's fearless). It just lacked her Wieber sparkle. 14.5 (6.5/8.5). Same goes for former reigning Olympic floor champ, Sandra Izbasa. It started out well and on her last tumbling pass, she landed on her knees. Eesh.
Aly had it in the bag before her music even started. The look on her face said "I've got this" and she did it. She stuck every landing and she performed her little heart out. She had the HIGHEST D score of all the performers. She threw a triple twist, a piked arabian, 11/2 tuck to punch front layout. Aly leaped so high on that floor, she nearly didn't come back down. Her parents Lynn and Rick were more excited than a Bronco's fan when they win a game. 15.6 (6.6/9.10).
Catalina Ponor scored a silver for floor on her last gymnastics routine ever (she announced she's retiring and taking a vacation, lucky bitch). Catalina put on a show for her last performance. She had music that sounded like it came from a Broadway musical, gorgeous tumbling and dance. 15.2 (6.2/9)
Aliya Mustafina still riding high on her bars gold, had another standout performance. She came back in the same leo from qualifications and not complete without her diva floor music. She's not much for ballet, but her dance certainly expressed her personality and her performance was near perfect. While she didn't have quite the difficulty of Catalina or Aly, Musty had some great tumbling passes including a triple twist to another 2 1/2 twist. She scored the bronze medal earning a 14.9 (5.9/9.0)
After her routine, Aly and Musty had a touching moment where they hugged in congratulations. I have to say, I think that was my favorite moment of the competition right there.
That's all for now, I will do a full recap of the Artistic Gymnastics competition upon the close of the games and after I've had a chance to catch up on everything else.