Day 20: When & Why Did You Start Watching Gymnastics?

The earliest I probably watched gymnastics was in 2000 or 2004, but I don't remember either. I watched some in 2008, but I didn't really get into it until this year in London.

As for why, I don't really know. Maybe it's a bit of regret that I was never into it enough when I was younger to go very far in it. But either way, I love it now!

Day 19: Elite or NCAA?

I think I will always like Elite more, for whatever reason, but NCAA intrigues me. It is still scored out of 10, which I like, and it places more emphesis on execution. So if you see a gymnast doing a really hard skill, it is probably going to be done well.

Day 18: Favorite Floor Music That's Been Used

Definitely Aliya in 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUTTY6IHrZc). I don't know how else to say it, but it is very Russia. Maybe it's because listening to it, I knew Aliya was Russian, but it just seems so characteristic of Russia to me. It definitely fits Aliya's style, and I wish she had brought it back for the Olympics this year.

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

Alicia Sacramone in 2011 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b7nCoEJOr)

 

 

Kyla Ross in 2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skPvvV9RKFk)

 

 

 

Day 17: Current System or the Perfect Ten?

There are things I like about both of them. The current system does reward gymnasts who do more difficult skills, but it places so much emphesis on difficulty over artistry and execution. It is to the point that a beautiful-in-the-air Amanar that is sat down can score higher than a relatively cleanly performed DTY. I just think there's something not quite right with that.

The perfect ten system was much easier for casual fans to understand, because all apparatus were scored out of ten. The closer you were to ten, the better. Easy. Now, a given score might be terrible on bars but good on beam. The perfect ten did have its flaws. Because it put so much emphesis on execution, a step out of bounds on floor could all but ruin an otherwise perfect routine.

They both have their pros and cons, but to me, this:

 

will always be one of the most exciting things ever in gymnastics.

Day 16: Dream Team of Six Gymnasts

Oooh, I've been waiting for this one. This is hard, because there are way more than six gymnasts that I like. But here goes:

Aliya Mustafina (UB, FX)
No one competing in gymnastics today can match Aliya's determination and drive. At the 2010 Worlds she won a gold in the Team final and the AA final, and qualified to all four event finals (3 silvers). At the 2011 European Championships she tore her ACL and strained her MCL. Most athletes take years to recover, and even then do not return to the highest level. However, 18 months later, Aliya left the 2012 Olympics as the most decorated Russian gymnast, with 4 medals.

 

 

Cheng Fei (VT, FX, BB)



If Aliya has drive and determination, Cheng has passion. She was World Vault Champion from 2005-2007, and also won a gold medal on floor and in the team final in 2006. She is the most decorated female gymnast in Chinese history, and would most likely have made an apperance in London had she not injured her Achilles tendon in June.

 



He Kexin (UB)
He is only good on bars, but not only did she win gold in Beijing, she also defended with a silver medal in London. Many were disappointed in China's decision to place He on the team over her teammate Jiang Yuyuan, but He proved her worth by performing well for China in the team final, as well as the aforementioned silver in the UB final.

 

Ksenia Afanasyeva (BB, FX)

Afan was the only member of Team Russia in London was also there in Beijing. She remembers the team going home without any medals - an unthinkable thing for Russia. She was the World Floor Champion in 2011, but most of her work for Team Russia is pushed to the background in favor of stars like Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina. But Afan is a solid beam and floor performer, and adds a lot of experience to the Russian team.

 

 



Sandra Izbasa (FX, VT)

Sandra is one of my all-time favorites. Not only is she an amazing gymnast (Olympic Floor Champion 2008 & Vault Champion 2012), but she is always so elegant and classy. She conducts herself very well, and whenever she wins a medal, she always seems so suprised and grateful, not like she was expecting it. Even after her fall in the 2012 Floor final, she was still smiling, and she said she wanted to show that "a real champion smiles no matter what".

 

 

Viktoria Komova (UB, BB)

Vika is sometimes inconsistent and always emotional, but hey - she's Russian, and the Russians never hide their emotions. If they are upset, they'll show it. Vika didn't have the spectacular Olympics everyone was expecting - she got silver in the All-Around, but hit her feet on the low bar in the UB event final, and fell of the beam in the BB final, placing last. However, she was the AA champion at the YOG in 2010, and she also won silver in the AA & Gold in the UB final in 2011 in Tokyo.

 

 

This is one AWESOME team. If you take their scores in the Team Final from 2012 (Cheng Fei in 2008), you get a total of 183.564; this would have been a bronze medal in 2008 and a silver medal (by .032 points) in 2012. It would also have been a gold medal at Worlds in 2011, 2010, and 2006, and a silver in 2007.

 

 

Day 15: A Rule You Would Change About the Sport

So many. Ok, first I'm going to say that I don't have a problem with the 'two per country' rule. I don't LIKE it, but I see the point. Its all fine and dandy for the US fans to complain about it, and if Jordyn had gotten in, and then the USA went 1-2-3 in the AA, it would have been great. But if Anastasia Grishina had gotten in and Russia had gone 1-2-3, we would have been whining like babies. So I see the point of it.

 

As for what I would change, I'm really not a fan of the tie-breaking rules. Just give them both a medal! Especially in the beam finals, when Catalina Ponor lost her medal, not because the judges gave Raisman a higher score, but because Raisman basically ASKED for a higher score (I know she didn't really, but basically, protesting is like asking for a higher score).

Day 14: A Gymnast You Just Don't Like

I don't dislike any of them, really. But Rebecca Bross is probably my least favorite. I just never got around to liking her. She's a good gymnast, I just don't find her gymnastics as pleasing to watch as others. Nothing against her personally, but she's my least favorite.

Day 13: Best Beam Mount You've Seen

This is seriously one awesome beam mount. It's risky - lots of room for errors and deductions - but really awesome. It's nice to see gymnasts taking risks and getting past this era of mounts that consist of a hop onto the beam and little else.