Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Delhi 2010: Day 2 Wrap-Up

Wow, it's super late.

Congrats to our gymnasts who at these Games have marked the first time that our men and women have taken out the team titles. Australia is so proud!





Read the news as it broke here and here.

"It was a little bit of a shaky start on the beam but we're using this as our preparation for world championships so I'm glad they made their mistakes here," Liddick said.

"It just shows we're still strong enough to give away five points and still come out on top."


Again, late. (collapses)

*******************************************

Lots of news coverage today. Hope some of you caught Good Morning Delhi earlier today, Georgia B's mum appeared (I missed it)!


Where to start?

Maybe here.

Or here.

Perhaps here.

AA final: Lauren, Georgia B, Emily
Bars: Georgia B, Lauren
Beam: Lauren (Emily first reserve)
Floor: Lauren




Keep your eyes on Ten News, I expect some 'behind the scenes' action.

Just saw an awesome, rock-and-roll preview for the men's AA on Ten, woohoo! Nice to see it get some cool publicity.

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mez for keeping everyone updated while also trying to watch it yourself on TV

Anonymous said...

Yes Mez, well done.
By the sounds of that article Peggy seems to consider worlds more important than CWG.

Anonymous said...

Georgia W didn't compete??

Anonymous said...

She only did bars.

Anonymous said...

No 'only'.....Georgia ROCKED her bar routine.
An awesome effort!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Is there a link to channel 10 to complain - an email address - i can't find one

Nik said...

Fox coverage wasn't too awesome either but at least they stayed on gym the entire time. I was so frustrated that they would show the girls who were waiting to start or chalking up or sitting waiting for a score when we could have been watching people actually competing. Though I think Liz C was annoyed too- you could hear it in her voice!

Things I noted:
* The Sri Lankans in the first sub division were approx level 4 standard but they tried so hard- good on them
* Lauren really pulled it together on the three apps after beam and I think if she hits beam at worlds she'll be looking good!
* The interviews Ash and Lauren gave afterwards were great. Felt a bit sorry for Georgia W and Emily- they looked quite shy and like they would prefer not to be interviewed.
* Shame Emily didn't get the chance to qual for vault finals- with her Double yurchenko she could have placed but Liz C said she was having trouble with her second vault due to her elbow injury.
* Poor Georgia W looked so nervous, I felt for her having to sit around for the whole comp- that must be hard. Then her dismount had obviously been downgraded costing her the chance to count her score towards the team total.
* Georgia B looked a bit ill, she was quite pale and looked upset the whole time. Maybe feeling a bit off?
* The two littlest English girls are super cute! They look like twins!

Overall, though the coverage was awful I loved watching last night. It ratlled my nerves to begin with but great to see the girls get the gold!

Anonymous said...

They just said on Ten News that Georgia B has Delhi Belly and has been throwing up for last couple of days.

Really hope she will be able to do well tonight. She is really capable of a medal, she has massive room for improvement after yesterday on every event except bars.

Anonymous said...

They just said on Ten News that Georgia B has Delhi Belly and has been throwing up for last couple of days.

Really hope she will be able to do well tonight. She is really capable of a medal, she has massive room for improvement after yesterday on every event except bars.

Wolfie said...

My tuppence:

- I'm very pleased the Aussie girls won!
- I'm extremely proud they managed to regroup after their disappointing start.
- I know they work very hard every single day.
- I want them to know their supporters are behind them.
- It's gutting to hear that Georgia B has had Delhi Belly. With all the precautions, one wonders why so many athletes are afflicted. Hope she's feeling better tonight and medals in the AA.

But, having said all this, .....
- I am very disappointed with the six falls - I don't think it's excusable at this level and I hope it's shocked our team into approaching the beam differently.
- I don't think they had any real competition last night. There are only one or two competitive non-Aussie gymnasts in a relatively weak field.
- I agree with the comments that this doesn't seem quite the victory as per Commonwealth Games in the past. People have talked about it being similar to 2006, but no it isn't. In 2006, the competition was fierce and only one Aussie contracted a case of the jitters in the team event.
- It is such a shame that the timing of Worlds has prevented some nations sending their best gymnasts.
- I am very nervous about Worlds, but at the same time I think the Commonwealths is an excellent pre-competition to help show the Aussie team things they need to improve. So maybe it's a good thing?
- Barring complete disaster, Lauren Mitchell should easily win the AA tonight - she is definitely the outstanding gymnast in this comp.
- I am somewhat disappointed that we haven't allowed any of our gymnasts to qualify for Vault finals. This is the year we could conceivably win every WAG gold on offer - not that I'm greedy. :)
- My biggest wish is that our team hasn't peaked yet - that Peggy is timing this for Rotterdam (not that this excuses the gazillion falls and shakes on beam).
- If we're not in the Top 10 at Worlds, I will be sad. Yes, yes, I know that we only have to qualify with the Top 24, but anything less than Top 10 will be disappointing to me.
- I love the Aussie team's leos and grooming. They look like a class act, and a patriotic one to boot.
- I particularly want our girls to go 1 2 in the beam finals - to show the world that last night was a freaky event.
- I would also love a 1 2 3 in the AA. I think Lauren, Emily and Georgia B could certainly do this, hey, no pressure, lol. :-)
- Please bustenhalter, no more Delhi Belly for ANY athlete representing ANY nation!

Go Aussies - show the world we can do it.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything you said Wofie - spot on. However isn't Lauren our only beam qualifier? If so, we can't possibly go 1-2 in the beam finals.

Corey Dyer said...

It is almost impossible to go to India and not get a stomach upset, or a bug. Ive been a few times. Even if you are as careful as can be.
Amazing to still compete with that, really. You feel awful.
I hope she can recover fully before worlds, because those things can last weeks.
Yes its disappointing that its a non-competition, but we can only blame the English and Canadian establishment for that. (but understandibly!)

Anonymous said...

I watched Sunrise on Channel 7 this morning ..... and surprise they did not mention that our girls won gold.
They rattled off everything else but left them out. Very disappointing and I let them know about it!! Well done girls you did a fabulous job.

Anonymous said...

I agree - while I think it is great how they recovered I find it disturbing that they would melt down to that extent - i.e beam e-scores in the 5s and 6s, especially so close to worlds.

It troubles me that Ash has not hit a beam routine in proper competition all year, because those kinds of routines with multiple falls are exactly what has happened at nearly every comp since she came back. We really need her to do well.

Those beam scores are the kind of scores that could legitimately send them plummeting to 18th-28th place at worlds- there are tons of fringe teams fighting it out for 8th-18th.

I was pleasantly surprised at bars - they scored better than I was expecting and with Larrissa in we are looking ok there now. If we can get one score around 14.5 from her and 3 averaging around the 14.0 mark it will be ok in quals at worlds.

I thought GW was a little sloppy, which is quite unusual for her. Without a turn she is not getting any bonus doing the free hip from the Shaposh and her leg separation was huge on that connection. If it were me I would be dumping the free hip to later in the routine and just doing a neat kip out of the Shaposh.

Vault and floor are not as strong as we thought with Georgia B not at her best. Praying and hoping she might up the difficulty for worlds, because we really need her there. I was shocked to see her e-score in the 7s for a yurchenko full, I can't imagine what went wrong, especially after Peggy's glowing reports on it. We really need her to be strong on that event for worlds.

On floor, we also really need her to increase difficulty. A 5.0 is really not going to cut it at worlds, and if her ankles won't allow anything else, dare I say it might be worth giving GW a go there instead.

GBo has had such bad luck with those ankles, I just hope she can have a great meet and really show what she can do tonight. If anyone gets any news on how she is doing, please let us know.

Lauren looks pretty good but when are they going to realise the double pike dismount needs to go! It has progressively gotten worse and worse over the last year and is not garnering tons of execution deductions. Still, beautiful DTY and double arabian to stag.

Anonymous said...

Wheeler's bars has so much upgrade potential. I am kind of disappointed she isn't going for her 5.6 routine because 5.1 is really quite low. Simpson has a 5.7 beam and mid 5s on bars so she is more valuable for worlds IMO.

Wheeler's 2012 routine has gotta be

toe full + shap + free hip full + tkatchev (0.4)

stalder full + bail + stalder shoot (0.2)

toe tkatchev

Dismount

That will be a 6.5 routine.

Anonymous said...

I would love to see Georgia Simpsons current routines - i think this has been the problem in the argument between GW and GS for worlds - no one has actually seen GS. But i agree if she can deliver more then she would be better for worlds - GW looked quite sloppy last night - i expected more as we know she can deliver more.

Wolfie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wolfie said...

Anon 10:32, yes, you're right. Sorry - I stupidly thought that Emily had qualified to beam too. I have just realised she is the reserve. It's a shame.

Anonymous said...

no question - given Simpson has approx 5.5 and 5.7 on bars and beam respectively while Wheeler can only offer 5.1 and 5.3, I would go for Simpson. It's not like Wheeler is likely to hit anyway, so you might as well take a chance on GS now that Wheeler has had a chance for experience at CWG. Why not share the love around.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and since neither of them are really needed on vault or floor, it doesn't matter that GS is not awesome on those events. Larrissa will make the vault lineup as she has a nice Y full and she has also been doing well on floor so should make it there.

Anonymous said...

Wolfie I pretty much agree with everyone you have said. I do think Great Britain would have beaten us this time around if they'd sent their A team, particularly with Tweddle and Downie. The girls didn't really have much competition and were lucky to get away with their mistakes. I am very glad they won though and I wish them well in the AA and EF's. Also I was very pleased to see such an improvement in Georgia Wheeler. She underwhelmed me at Pacific Rim but she did a great job here especially after waiting to compete for so long.

Anonymous said...

gosh how annoying is Stephanie Moorhouse. It's like a Barbie Doll on helium.

Wolfie said...

Hmm, it's Stephanie's first time commentating - I'm sure nerves aren't helping her elocution.

Some people have difficulty breathing properly when speaking in public. I can hear that Stephanie is shallow breathing (rather than diaphragm breathing) and also racing her words. It also seems like she thinks she needs to fill every gap with words. I don't think live commentating is easy and I'd bet $1M (if I had it) that practice would definitely help.

Realistically, Steph is doing as well as I'd hoped. I think she can improve - just needs to relax into it, BREATHE deeply and slow down.

I still have memories of Monique Allen commentating in the early to mid 90s. Believe me, Stephanie is SOOO much better than that.

Liz is of course the gold standard in Aussie gymnastics commentary, and has set a high bar for any new comers.

Anonymous said...

would love to see some routines up on you tube if anyone has taped anything.

Wolfie said...

VOTE FOR GYMNASTICS
My cynical side suggests it won't make a scrap of difference - especially as it's not a Channel 10 survey - but please vote for gymnastics as the sport you are most interested in watching:

http://www.abc.net.au/commonwealthgames/2010/

The survey is on the right hand side - just scroll down a bit. Swimming is currently leading, of course, but gymnastics is up there.

Anonymous said...

Just voted - come on guys vote - maybe they will actually show it for more than 2 minutes at a time

Anonymous said...

Steph looked a bit like "rabbit in the headlights" because her gaze rarely left the camera. Felt sorry for the netball guy not getting much eye contact. I also think "but" at the end of a sentence was probably nerves.
Agree it's only her first time and that with more appearances, hopefully she will become more relaxed.

Anonymous said...

I thought Alana Slater did a great job commentating at the last games. I found her very likeable and she sounded very calm, talked slowly and was pleasent to listen too.

Anonymous said...

Can't blame Channel 10 or Foxtel for the poor coverage. The Indians are in charge of cameras and feed. We get what they choose to send through. Here's hoping tonight we will see everyone's routines.

Anonymous said...

Georgia B was pretty ill overnight and this morning. Docs have given her some medication. Fingers crossed she gets her strength back to compete tonight.

Anonymous said...

Voted.

How much difference does it make that they didn't taper for this comp?

Wolfie said...

Anon 2:04pm,

Although the feed is determined by India, the choice to focus on one sport over another is entirely up to the local network - ie. Channel 10, so yes, we can blame them.

Channel 10 chose to show swimming, swimming, swimming (including semi-finals and repeated discussions) as well as netball, weightlifting and wrestling instead of the gymnastics finals. Had they chosen to show gymnastics, we couldn't blame them for the routines shown. But we can blame them for not switching to the gymnastics and showing as much as they were fed.

I realise swimming is our most successful sport, but c'mon, let's just see the finals - not all the stuff in between.

Anonymous said...

I understand that Channel 10 don't get to choose who to focus on but you would think that whoever is in charge of the camera work would want to focus on the teams that are going to medal. Showing only 2 Australians on each event and then giving the same amount of camera itme to countries that aren't going to medal is frustrating.

Floor E scores seemed quite harsh. I also noticed that easier vaults were being marked much harsher, this could explain Georgia's VT score. Liz also mentioned that she did stumble foward out of it. I was surprised that Emily's VT was marked 0.2 lower than Lauren's. I thought it was quite good and should've scored the same if not higher.

Anonymous said...

I did think Emily's vault was as good as Lauren's too but I not a judge so maybe they saw something I didn't. I certainly don't agree with the easy vaults being scored harsher than other vaults but I can understand why the judges have to be harsh on their score because judges are stricter these days and it is going to be like that at worlds.

Anonymous said...

Question - Gymnastics Australia states that Emily will be in the BB final http://www.gymnastics.org.au/default.asp?Page=18323
but here
http://intlgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1954:aussie-a-team-wins-commonwealth-games&catid=5:competition-reports&Itemid=164
she is first reserve. Has someone pulled out or is it a mistake somewhere?

Anonymous said...

from what i can tell it is a mistake - i have yet to see if someone has pulled out.

Anonymous said...

Looking at the results I'd say Emily is 1st reserve for beam finals. Placed 10th but 3 English girls in top 8 and only 2 can qualify.

http://results.cwgdelhi2010.org/en/Comp.mvc/Info/ResultList/GAW008901

Anonymous said...

Is GW able to compete in the AA today? as she only competed on bars and what about her on bars ?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the replies. I did a little more hunting and found the start list here
http://results.cwgdelhi2010.org/en/Comp.mvc/Info/StartList/GAW008101
so yeah, looks like GA was mistaken and Emiily is indeed first reserve.

Anonymous said...

no, she's not in the AA.

Her bars were ok but only worth 5.1 and were quite sloppy - moreso than usual. Big leg separation on the shap to uprise, on the reverse giant, and on bail to handstand. She only did a double pike as her dismount.

It was good to see her hit, but it was definitely not a routine worthy of team finals at worlds.

Anonymous said...

No GW cannot compete AA as she did not compete all apparatus and therefore did not qualify - only 3 per country can qualify to the AA and that is LM, EL ang GB. She also did not qualify for bars.

Anonymous said...

GW not in apparatus finals because of Australians - placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th on UB in qualification but of course only Lauren and Georgia B will go though to apparatus finals.

Anonymous said...

Georgia W was never going to compete on any apparatus other than bars. As mentioned her bars were okay but lacked difficulty. They did not contribute to the team total she is the only Aussie girl who has not made an individual final.

Anonymous said...

So England and Canada obviously didn't have good bar workers in their team. Whilst the Aussie girls did well it is not their strongest apparatus and worlds will need far higher bar scores I think to make the team final. In saying that Australia will have Larrissa at worlds and if she hits then that will obviously up Australia's bar total significantly.

Anonymous said...

I was pleased GW held it together last night and didn't count a fall on her one and only routine. After seeing her live at Nats I was worried. Last night you could tell she was teetering on the edge of screwing up - I think that explains the sloppiness and the down grade to the dismount. I was holding my breath watching her. I was glad she stayed on but man, it was so close, and such a gamble. She barely made it.

I hope they give GS a go in Rotterdam.

Anonymous said...

It annoys me that they gave Emily a different scarf, it just doesn't look the same.Although Ironically its green and yellow. At least one of the articles says that that were a combined total of six falls on beam, I though there was only five, are they wrong or did Georgia fall twice or Ashleigh three times. Not that it really matters, just curious.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Mez, just to lket you know Ashleigh made floor final.

Anonymous said...

As I am sure you know this but you just accidentally left it off the list.

Anonymous said...

Some really interesting comments. We need to put the girl's performances in perspective. Gerogia Bonora has had 4 ankle surgeries in the past 24 months since Beijing and has competed twice in 2 years,(2009 London world's & 2010 CWG). Ashleigh Brennan was out for 18 months totally and has only just become semi-fit, & has not competed since Beijing. Georgia Wheeler, new to the senior team and had Paris world cup, Pac Rim & CWG. They had to change her dismount on bars due to inconsistency and safety, she has issues staying on beam and in the floor. Emily Little, injured elbow, just coming back from that and is a first year senior. Lauren Mitchell, not competed since worlds last year. Peggy's hands are tied with the lack of available gymnasts at the world class level and lack of funding to send the gymnasts out to international events. Maryanne Monckton has continually been injured, Georgia Simpson has had injuries and personal issues, Larrissa Miller could not perform a bar routine at nationals/CWG trials, so she could not be selected & she has no beam or vault to offer the team. I think it was pretty brave and showed long term thinking, not to water the girls CWG beam routines down, knowing the lack of experience. If she keeps watering down, how are they ever going to get experience? If you look at potential, they have a good beam team, they will eventually get it together. Commonweath Games association pays for the teams to participate and funds GA for results, under the circumstances, Peggy had no choice but to use Delhi as a training venue & try to get some experience on the podium and get more funding for 2011 international trips. Alot of red tape to dance through. There is more to the equation than appears on the surface, let's remember that. Support the team!!

Mez said...

No no, thanks anon. I read the results wrong and missed her - thank you for the heads-up!

Anonymous said...

I love me those photos Mez! thanks!

Brinds

Wolfie said...

Anon at 5:26pm

Thanks very much for the detailed info on injuries and come-backs, but I think you've missed the fact that gym fans here ARE supporting the team. They can do this and be critical. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

I didn't hear Peggy espousing sunshine and light comments about the beam rotation. So why the heck should anyone else? Offering opinions is a part of being a supporter - it's what fans do in every single sport. Ever supported a football team? If you had, you would realise that the most passionate and supportive fans are often also the most critical.

Anonymous said...

Are you kidding me....a team event and they give all but one same scarf...the other scarves have all the conngames colours...poor emily! Such a little thing, but anyway.

Anonymous said...

Good point wolfie. I think the reason people get a bit oversensitive is that we are talking about young girls not big tough men! It's an emotional distinction I know and probably not fair but also hard to avoid.

Anonymous said...

GW on floor??? The girl has no grace or finesse..just strength.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know why Emily was given a different scarf to the rest of the team, I thought it made her look a little left out like they didn't have enough and just gave her whatever. Ah, anyway, just annoys me, the team should be uniform. Great job to the girls, great result, hope there's many more golds to come!

Anonymous said...

Knowing Em, she wouldn't feel upset about the scarf, she would laugh it off and probably think she
was "very special" fot getting something different. So proud of them all!

Anonymous said...

Emily got the normal scarf in AA last night, now she has two differnt kinds. I assume for some strange reason they run out in the team final. For the most part the Indians are doing well hosting but there have been more than a few minor difficulties.