Friday, April 30, 2010

Pacific Rim Championships: DAY 2

God bless McDonalds and its free wi-fi! I am hastily updating before session 2.

A much better turnout for today's women's session. I spotted the New Zealand men's team in the stands and bashfully handed them my poster as a sign of admiration, respect and the need for their women's team to have a hilarious sign waved for them. They said "thenks" and posed for a photo.
AIS girlies (Hi if you're reading this!) sat in the front row of seats; also in the house were some VWHPC gymnasts.

GA's quick hits are here.


NZ once again had a big cheering section, but a lot of other competitors won the crowd's hearts along the way. Big ups to Malaysia for their happy clappy floor routines that kicked off the competition, sleeveless purple leos and all. I did a big "Vamos Alexa!" to Alexa (Alexia?) Moreno as she left floor after a fantastic routine. She's a real powerhouse, showing some strong vaults (stuck a front pike half in warmups) and high tumbles. Everybody's heart went into their respective throats as Mitzi Unda of Mexico landed her double tuck warmup on floor badly, and looked to have sprained her ankle. She was removed from the floor but came back on to perform, to big cheers from the crowd.
NZ's Breanna Mitchell looks like the DNA of Shona Morgan and Ashleigh Brennan smooshed together. The team showed determination throughout, but their form leaves quite a bit to be desired. Brittany Robinson reminded me of Laura Hingston, she was lean and dainty.
One Singaporean gymnast knew the way to work the crowd - Zorba music! That floor staple certainly got the crowd clapping along. Angel Wong showed confidence and class, and if I recall correctly, she was the one who did a Moceanu-circa-1996-by-way-of-Silivas-handstand-wrap-around beam mount?

It's hard for me to contribute when so much has already been said. It's a great atmosphere inside the gym and I wish I had an iPhone to do live updates! I got video of Moreno's floor and a couple of photos. At the very end of the session, Singapore and Malaysia gathered around the beam for happy snaps, including nice smiles and hilariously silly faces. There was great sportswomanship on show as the crowd filtered out, with the teams congratulating and hugging one another after a fantastic round of competition.

Bring on session 2! Gotta run, byeeeee!

***********************
Session 2, whooo mama! I am holed up back at home, shivering after a long ride home.

Just first off: my heart absolutely goes out to Brittany Rogers of Canada. Her accident unfolded directly in front of where I was sitting. Her foot slipped off the beam as she entered her double pike dismount, the salto went way too low and our first thought was that she'd faceplant but she thudded onto her back - at first it looked like she'd landed on her neck! She sat up slowly and grabbed her ankle, motioning to the coaches. My seat was two rows from the front, and I was so close I could see her hands shaking and hear her going "owowowowow!" and just sobbing. It was a horrible end to the competition for her. Hope she recovers soon. The team carried on admirably without her.
On a lighter note: Let these words sound from the rooftops. AGB FRIGGIN' LOVES KRISTINA VACULIK. Honestly, people, this Canuck has matured since PacRim 2008 and is every bit the calm, confident, cool operator.

China had fall after fall on beam which the crowd did not expect at all from them! They had neat work but just couldn't get their head in the game. Ksenia Afanasyeva drew everyone's eye to her, and it was obvious her elegant style and solid landings would see her through to the medal podium. I managed to capture a little bit of her beam warmup on video.
Once again, all eyes were on a pink-hot Team USA. The injury to Bridget Sloan did not affect their mood or performances. This is a team that is consistently ready and consistently confident. The only major mistakes came from Bross on beam (stumble after front somi) and Sloan (looked like she did a toe-on on the low bar but ended up facing the wrong way and had to take it again). Raisman is every bit the Sacramone clone, Ross and Vega showed some sass on the floor, Weiber was all smiles and Bross showed she's boss. You'd be hard-pressed to bet your dollars on an American loss in competitions over the next quadrennium.



Australia hung on for 3rd and we are so proud of all of you! Milly for a stellar beam! Emily for a super vault and 5th all-around! Larrissa for hitting bars! Georgia for standing up the arabians on floor and off bars! Emma for staying strong and getting that double tuck off beam! Georgia Rose for being gorgeous and classy the whole way through! Girlies, you exceeded all expectations and the crowd just loved you, keep the good vibes going over the weekend.


Check my Photobucket and YouTube in the next 24 hours, I hope to have some nuggets up for ya. See an awesome photo gallery at Universal Sports here.


See the short clip from the 7pm Project here: http://7pmproject.com.au/video.htm?channel=7PM+Catch+Up&clipid=2689_7pm-300410-sg3&bitrate=300&format=flash


Who was in the stands tonight? The AIS girls again, Ju Ping Tian, Fiona Coley, Naomi Russell, Ashleigh Brennan (the latter two having a good old laugh with Stacey), Josh Jefferis and Team Mexico.

What did AGB do wrong tonight? Talk to Bridget Sloan.
Here is a transcript of our post-meet chat, shared over the arena railing as she took a breather from signing autographs.
AGB: "Um, hey Bridget! You rock!" *unfurls Melbourne <3's style="font-style: italic;">BS: "Oh wow cool! Thank you!"
AGB: "Yeah, well done tonight! You guys were really great!"
BS: "Thanks *laugh*!"
AGB: "Yeah! Uh... it's so fantastic you came. Melbourne's so happy to have you, we can't wait to have you back, you yourself have a love of Australian fans!"
BS: "Awww, thanks! Glad to be here!"
AGB: "...sorry about your foot!"
BS: "..."
AGB's Brain: SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
AGB: "Ok, so, yeah, um, bye!"

Not "sorry TO HEAR ABOUT your foot", no, just "sorry about your foot".

LIKE I HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.



Verbal diarrhoea - I get it a lot. *cringe*


30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome Job Australia Girls!!!!! to get the bronze is a great effort. This team was very inexperienced but they were very solid in the end. What a great job their gym's and coaches have done. Georgia Rose Brown looked amazing!!! I think Australia is looking good for in the future. Amelia did a beautiful beam routine which was the stand out of the night for me.

Michelle

Anonymous said...

Congratulations girls......Do we know yet who is in Apparatus finals???

Anonymous said...

how about emily litlle what a solid performance 5 th over all

Anonymous said...

Emily would have to be in the vault
final, did'nt seem to be many girls doing 2 vaults.Does anyone know how Georgia W and Emily went in floor? Go Aussie!!! Hope Peggy was pleased with a medal! Don't think she was expecting it!!!

Anonymous said...

Georgia didn't do very good on floor but I think Emily did okay. How does it work with the finals? Is it the top 8 Junior and top 8 senior for each apparatus?

Anonymous said...

I think it is top 8 for juniors and top 8 for seniors, two separate finals. I think there is a two per country rule though. Emily very solid, will definitely make vault final by the sound of it Larrissa's bars were better than expected and all girls seemed to make a good account of themselves. USA dominated as expected, Interestingly, Wieber outscored Bross.

Anonymous said...

OMG Emily Little will be in all apparatus finals. What a fantastic effort. It appears all the Australian gymnasts will be in an apparatus final except for Georgia Wheeler. Go the Aussies.

Anonymous said...

Emily has done a fantastic job!! Amazing :)

Anonymous said...

Well done to the girls!! What an amazing job.I think the Juniors were the stars of the team! If you count the falls it could have been a different story, Silver? A bit more experience as well, hopefully GA will send more girls ( not the same ones all the time) to the International Comps so they can get the experience needed .Well done Emily! As always the silent achiever, everyone else seemed to get the spotlight before hand but you showed them!!!I expect Emma's placing as the top Junior will put her in a good position to be selected for Youth Olympics in Singapore.

Anonymous said...

Well done Emily. Demonstrates that it's what you do in the comps not in the pre-media hype and spin that counts.

Anonymous said...

Well said anon 11.32

Anonymous said...

Well done team Australia :) was such a good comp to watch! Such an awesome save on beam by one of the girls doing punch front :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, well said anon 11.32. It's about time GA started to praise gymnasts that achieve results in the now not in the past. Well done Emily, you did a fantastic job.

Anonymous said...

Well done to the Australian team, great effort for such a young team. Emily Little and Amelia McGrath both giving solid performances. Also impressed with the American's vaulting.

Anonymous said...

Bross had a weird fall on beam on (I think) a front sault...one leg slipped off and she went down to the other knee ( a bit like Slater's fall ON the beam on her full turn at the Sydney Olympics). Absolutely amazing cover, though -- she didn't even break her upper body posture!

Anonymous said...

Good job Amelia!!!!

Anonymous said...

Milly rocks!

Such a solid performance from young Mily, well done.

Anonymous said...

congrats girls - on the rg side australia got a medal in team (my brains not thinking correctly but i think it was bronze) and naazmi got silver in snr AA. The russians won gold in both jnr (ekaterina) and snr (elena) and also the team. One of the nz girls (think ash is nz) didnt do her 4th apparatus. Alex from canadas music stopped,

nichole

Anonymous said...

Mez, you mean you didn't hear the MLC littlies cheering? They were over near bars.

The event was beautifully run and the skills amazing. I particularly liked Millie's beam routine. Peggy certainly looked happy with the girls. Well done!

Anonymous said...

For those of us that couldn't attend, thanks for the videos

Anonymous said...

I thought the Aussies did a great job with only two falls through the whole night. Absolutely loved Amelia McGrath, she is a little star in the making and that beam routine was just divine. Georgia-Rose Brown is beautiful too, hope to see both of them on some major teams in the next few years. Well done to all the girls, great effort!

Pendulum said...

Well done Emily, what a solid performance, we were very proud u. It is a shame that not enough positive feedback & recognition come u're way for u're silent achievements. We r looking forward to watching u again on Sunday. GO EMILY GO......

Anonymous said...

Little Amelia mcGrath has an awesome beam routine, she's definately going to be one of our stars for the future! Mez Mnockton was in attendance as well she was waving and talking to all the girls down on the floor as were Georgia Bonora, Emma Dennis and Shona Morgan! i was sitting next to steph moorhouses parents, who are absolutely lovely! They were telling me how she misses gym and the girls (she currently travelling overseas) and that one day she'd actually like to manage the Aust team! And Steph will actually be commentating the gymnastics for ten this year in Dehli for Comm games! Its great to see her getting back into it!

Anonymous said...

an update yes it was bronze in team that aussie won in rg i will be at the rg app finals then the mens tnite at hisense.

Nichole

nade00 said...

My vids are here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/nade00

They are HD so really slow to upload, Brown's BB, Emma C's floor, Tan Sixin's floor, Afanasyeva's beam are still to come.

Anonymous said...

For some objective perspective on last night's performance read Linda Pearce's article in The Age. It's a newspaper.

Anonymous said...

I saw at the meet that Zoe had crutches. Does anyone know if she is seriously hurt, or is she still going for Commonwealths and worlds?

Anonymous said...

Georgia W in vault final so all australians in the finals tomorrow. Great effort

Anonymous said...

I saw Britt at the WAG competition last night-what's happening for her? What sort of injury does she have? Will she be competing in Trial 1?

Anonymous said...

Yeah I thought Georgia W would be vault final. I don't think amny girls did two vaults and Georgia scored in the 13s which isn't too bad.