Dissecting Team USA
With the Olympics just ten days away, the girls are prepping their routines while visions of gold medals dance in their heads while tucked in to their beds. Ha, awesome poetry.
While I am killing time waiting for the Olympics, here is my run down of team USA. Just in case you forgot, here is the roster going to London later this month.
Gabby Douglas
Jordyn Wieber
Aly Raisman
Kyla Ross
McKayla Maroney
Alternates:
Elizabeth Price
Anna Li
Sarah Finnegan
Let's start at the top:
Gabby Douglas:
Strengths- Bars for sure. Gabby is probably hands down the best bar worker in the United States. They don't call her the flying squirrel for nothing. This kid flies on the uneven bars. She flies so high, that it seems she might hit the rafters. She has that high difficulty that is needed to beat countries with strong bar workers (Russia, China).
Weaknesses: Consistency, maybe beam. Gabby is definitely a strong gymnast but she does lack consistency. One day, she's at the top of the food chain, and the next she's flopping around in the wading pool. While she's capable of performing a strong beam routine, she doesn't always hit it. Here's what it comes down to: when Gabby is on, she's on. (I.e. American Cup, Trials) I want her to channel American Cup and Trials Gabby. The Gabby that beat Jordyn Wieber without fear. That's Gabby on the top of her game.
Jordyn Wieber-
Strengths: All-around, Floor, beam, consistency, fearlessness. Jordyn is one of the fiercest competitors I've ever seen. She never shows any fear and she's consistently striving to do better. Jordyn has many strengths, so I've narrowed it to the strongest of the strong in my opinion. This is the girl who managed to pull of a two-time national champion win. Let's also remember that this is the girl who knocked Aliya Mustafina off of her pedestal. Her performances this gymnastics season have been near flawless.
Weaknesses: Uneven bars, if you could still call that a weakness. At Worlds in October she had major form breaks and has nearly fallen off a time or two. At the National championships, she pulled out all the stops and did a nearly flawless routine, upgrading her score nearly a point, scoring over a 15. She did the same at Trials. Yes, her other events were higher scoring but she still improved greatly.
Sidenote- I just learned Jordyn's coach, John Geddert will be the head coach of the US Olympic Women's Gymnastics team. (He was also the head coach in Tokyo this past October and the team won gold).
McKayla Maroney-
Strengths: No debate there, hands down where she contributes most to team USA is the vault. She was the World Champion in Tokyo and during competition, she posted top vaulting scores, often scoring in the high 15's and low 16's. She's one of many who perform that super woman Amanar Vault and does it well. Vault is a good event for the US and that's where the girls gain a lot of points over competitors who are weaker on that event.
Weaknesses: Bars, Beam. While McKayla is strong on the vault, she is very weak on those events, and those are key events, especially beam where everything can go wrong with the slight misplacement of a toe (I'm not kidding). She's posted lower scores on the beam and I've seen her fall off the bars in competition. I don't think that they will use her on those events.
Aly Raisman-
Strengths- Consistency, leadership, beam, floor and vault. If they haven't named team captain, I'm sure it will be Aly Raisman. She's very focused and she never shows any fear, even on weak events. In Tokyo, when teammate and gymmate Alicia Sacramone blew out her Achilles Tendon, she became the de facto leader of the team, keeping her teammates focused and motivated. While she's always not the HIGHEST scorer, she is conistent and she posts solid scores and never wavers in competition. She is very strong on floor and can bring excellent scores there and Aly has very strong tumbling with high difficulty. She's a lot like Alicia Sacramone ( they train at the same gym). She contributes very well on power events.
Weaknesses: Bars. She's again very consistent on the event and can post okay scores (her average scores are usually in the low 14's). Bars is mostly an event that she can do and do without any major problems, but her routines lack the flight and execution international judges look for. It's not an event that she can contribute the highest scores on, so I don't think they'll be using her in the team competition. If Aly makes the all-around, she'll have to make sure the rest of her events have high enough scores to compensate for the bars.
Kyla Ross-
Strengths: Execution, Bars and Beam. Kyla is a very strong bar worker. She's got very pretty long lines with great fluidity and flight. But she does lack in some areas with less difficult flight elements and transitions. But she does hit her handstands which is definitely key in competition and it factors in greatly with her execution scores. She brings that same elegance to the beam and she is strong with connecting her elements and has very difficult leaps. Kyla by far is a very impressive young thing (last week in spin class my instructor specifically mentioned her)
Weaknesses: Youth, difficulty in her routines. The Olympics will be her first MAJOR international competition. Kyla looked like she kept her nerves in check during Visa's and trials, the Olympics are a lot of pressure. It's an intimidating place for someone without that experience. She does need to upgrade some difficulty in her routines to be able to content with the likes of Olympic and World veterans.
Where do the alternates fit in? Sarah is a very strong floor worker. Not just in terms of difficutly, but in terms of artistry, so if one of the strong floor workers go down, Sarah is in. She definitely can contribute on beam and even though it's not her best event, she'd be able to contribute on bars if a bar worker was taken down. Anna Li is definitely a super strong bar worker and if needed, that's where she'd help the team. Elizabeth Price is a strong vaulter for sure and if McKayla Maroney or Aly Raisman went down, that's where she'd be the greatest contributor. But she is one of those consistent all arounders that can contribute to any event in a pinch.
This is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity for these girls, they've poured their hearts and souls into their training so they could achieve this Olympic dream. Their next step will be to realize their dream of that gold medal adorning their necks. The perfect accessory!
Till next time kiddos.
While I am killing time waiting for the Olympics, here is my run down of team USA. Just in case you forgot, here is the roster going to London later this month.
Gabby Douglas
Jordyn Wieber
Aly Raisman
Kyla Ross
McKayla Maroney
Alternates:
Elizabeth Price
Anna Li
Sarah Finnegan
Let's start at the top:
Gabby Douglas:
Strengths- Bars for sure. Gabby is probably hands down the best bar worker in the United States. They don't call her the flying squirrel for nothing. This kid flies on the uneven bars. She flies so high, that it seems she might hit the rafters. She has that high difficulty that is needed to beat countries with strong bar workers (Russia, China).
Weaknesses: Consistency, maybe beam. Gabby is definitely a strong gymnast but she does lack consistency. One day, she's at the top of the food chain, and the next she's flopping around in the wading pool. While she's capable of performing a strong beam routine, she doesn't always hit it. Here's what it comes down to: when Gabby is on, she's on. (I.e. American Cup, Trials) I want her to channel American Cup and Trials Gabby. The Gabby that beat Jordyn Wieber without fear. That's Gabby on the top of her game.
Click to viewJordyn Wieber-
Strengths: All-around, Floor, beam, consistency, fearlessness. Jordyn is one of the fiercest competitors I've ever seen. She never shows any fear and she's consistently striving to do better. Jordyn has many strengths, so I've narrowed it to the strongest of the strong in my opinion. This is the girl who managed to pull of a two-time national champion win. Let's also remember that this is the girl who knocked Aliya Mustafina off of her pedestal. Her performances this gymnastics season have been near flawless.
Weaknesses: Uneven bars, if you could still call that a weakness. At Worlds in October she had major form breaks and has nearly fallen off a time or two. At the National championships, she pulled out all the stops and did a nearly flawless routine, upgrading her score nearly a point, scoring over a 15. She did the same at Trials. Yes, her other events were higher scoring but she still improved greatly.
Sidenote- I just learned Jordyn's coach, John Geddert will be the head coach of the US Olympic Women's Gymnastics team. (He was also the head coach in Tokyo this past October and the team won gold).
McKayla Maroney-
Strengths: No debate there, hands down where she contributes most to team USA is the vault. She was the World Champion in Tokyo and during competition, she posted top vaulting scores, often scoring in the high 15's and low 16's. She's one of many who perform that super woman Amanar Vault and does it well. Vault is a good event for the US and that's where the girls gain a lot of points over competitors who are weaker on that event.
Weaknesses: Bars, Beam. While McKayla is strong on the vault, she is very weak on those events, and those are key events, especially beam where everything can go wrong with the slight misplacement of a toe (I'm not kidding). She's posted lower scores on the beam and I've seen her fall off the bars in competition. I don't think that they will use her on those events.
Aly Raisman-
Strengths- Consistency, leadership, beam, floor and vault. If they haven't named team captain, I'm sure it will be Aly Raisman. She's very focused and she never shows any fear, even on weak events. In Tokyo, when teammate and gymmate Alicia Sacramone blew out her Achilles Tendon, she became the de facto leader of the team, keeping her teammates focused and motivated. While she's always not the HIGHEST scorer, she is conistent and she posts solid scores and never wavers in competition. She is very strong on floor and can bring excellent scores there and Aly has very strong tumbling with high difficulty. She's a lot like Alicia Sacramone ( they train at the same gym). She contributes very well on power events.
Weaknesses: Bars. She's again very consistent on the event and can post okay scores (her average scores are usually in the low 14's). Bars is mostly an event that she can do and do without any major problems, but her routines lack the flight and execution international judges look for. It's not an event that she can contribute the highest scores on, so I don't think they'll be using her in the team competition. If Aly makes the all-around, she'll have to make sure the rest of her events have high enough scores to compensate for the bars.
Kyla Ross-
Strengths: Execution, Bars and Beam. Kyla is a very strong bar worker. She's got very pretty long lines with great fluidity and flight. But she does lack in some areas with less difficult flight elements and transitions. But she does hit her handstands which is definitely key in competition and it factors in greatly with her execution scores. She brings that same elegance to the beam and she is strong with connecting her elements and has very difficult leaps. Kyla by far is a very impressive young thing (last week in spin class my instructor specifically mentioned her)
Weaknesses: Youth, difficulty in her routines. The Olympics will be her first MAJOR international competition. Kyla looked like she kept her nerves in check during Visa's and trials, the Olympics are a lot of pressure. It's an intimidating place for someone without that experience. She does need to upgrade some difficulty in her routines to be able to content with the likes of Olympic and World veterans.
Where do the alternates fit in? Sarah is a very strong floor worker. Not just in terms of difficutly, but in terms of artistry, so if one of the strong floor workers go down, Sarah is in. She definitely can contribute on beam and even though it's not her best event, she'd be able to contribute on bars if a bar worker was taken down. Anna Li is definitely a super strong bar worker and if needed, that's where she'd help the team. Elizabeth Price is a strong vaulter for sure and if McKayla Maroney or Aly Raisman went down, that's where she'd be the greatest contributor. But she is one of those consistent all arounders that can contribute to any event in a pinch.
This is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity for these girls, they've poured their hearts and souls into their training so they could achieve this Olympic dream. Their next step will be to realize their dream of that gold medal adorning their necks. The perfect accessory!
Till next time kiddos.