Thursday, October 7, 2010

Delhi 2010: Day 4 LIVE!

Yet another late night for gymnastics fans as we follow the goings-on in Delhi.

More individual golds are up for grabs tonight as apparatus finals kick off. We'll be seeing Georgia and Lauren in the women's uneven bars final, Tom and Luke in the floor final, Sam in the rings final and Prashanth in pommel and rings final.


PREPARE: Review the Day 1 and Day 2 live posts to check out routine notes, scores and predictions for finals.

EXPLORE: The Age website, Herald Sun website or official Delhi 2010 website.


WATCH: Live on Foxtel's Delhi Gold from 10:25pm AEDST
this evening with Liz Chetkovich and Garry Wilkinson commentating.

A thus-far-well-reviewed live webstream is available here:

http://veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4cab5ad8153a1


DISCUSS: Right here, with me, live, at your AGB. Just keep hittin' that refresh button. Alternatively, follow (my occasional) livetweets at twitter.com/ozgymblog.

I'd like to take this moment to quickly thank everyone for joining me in the live coverage and discussions, erratic though they might be, it's been fun. Even at 1am, knowing you are along for the ride with me boosts my spirits unbelievably. I feel like a medal-winning gymnast! Thanks for your helpful links, reminders, tweeted questions and, most significantly, for increasing AGB's traffic count by 73%! You rock.


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10:25 AEDST Broadcast kicks off. You know you're in for a good night when Liz says she can "smell the gold"!


MAG FX Wiwatowski: He's up first. Absolutely beams when introduced to the crowd in line-up. There's a big moth on the floor? Oy. Call that guy from the swimming with the huge net... or just call Luke, he'll swat it away! Go Luke. Huge cheer for his opening tumble... front 2.5 to front full, small hop. Falls on combination pass; sits down double arabian at the end. 12.875


MAG FX Pichler: Up third. Front 2.5 to tuck front and roll, stays in bounds. Arabian? Gah, it's going too fast for me! Nice spindles and press to handstand, great control. 2.5 to punch half, great. Closes with a tucked full-in, chest low and a slight stumble forward but gets through it. Two thumbs up to camera, wave to everyone at home. Camera does a very unsubtle pan from his toes to his head (we KNOW he's good-looking, guys, yeesh!). Vlad looks tense but cracks a nervous laugh for his charge. 14.675

With just Beckford left to go, Tom is in the gold medal position. He is guaranteed a medal, let's see if it will indeed be a gold one! YES IT WILL BE! 14.675 is enough for the win!

THOMAS PICHLER IS OUR COMMONWEALTH FLOOR CHAMPION! CONGRATULATIONS TOM!

The first Australian since Andrei Kravtsov in '98 to medal on floor.


Medal Ceremony - Tom grinning the second he marches out. Of course, much of the moment also belongs to Kumar of India, taking a maiden gymnastics medal. Kisses and fist pumps to the crowd. Smiles the entire time the anthem is playing, fwaaaaw. Houston, we have tears welling up!

Interviewed by Channel Ten. "I can't believe it!" Thanks everyone back at home for the messages of support, "I read every one!"


MAG PH Sellathurai: With English superstar Louis Smith absent, Prashanth looks a medal cert if he can avoid the mistakes from the team final. Goes through the motions on the sidelines, waiting a while for previous competitor's score. Super focussed. Nice scissors, holds handstand well. Swinging fast and smoothly, nice spindles, speeds up and gets through the dismount no problems! Touches the pommel in thanks (Liz says it's a regular ritual for him!), looks relieved. 15.500! He's untouchable!

PRASHANTH SELLATHURAI IS OUR COMMONWEALTH
POMMEL HORSE CHAMPION!
CONGRATULATIONS PROSHIE!


Poses for a thumbs-up happy snap with Whitlock of England. Australia goes two for two in apparatus finals so far! Exciting stuff.

Medal Ceremony - Fwwaaaaw, he's so tiny. Gets a warm reception from the crowd. Gathered Aussies shake their flags in the stands. He looks a little uncomfortable despite this not being his first time on a gold medal dais! Gives a wry smile as the anthem finishes. Beckons the other medallists up to his tier. Needs reminding to hold his medal up for a photo! I think he's rather overwhelmed!


WAG UB Bonora: Lauren and Georgia both in 2009 Worlds AA leos (black with pink and purple swirl), looking lovely. Emily is on the sidelines helping out. Jocelyn Hunt slipped off before her, let's hope she's not rattled. Jump to high bar, immediate Comaneci great. Hip circle, bail, back to high, giant, giant full, giant half, a little leg separation on Lgrip giant, double front with a small hop. Very close to the bar, thought she might whack herself! Big kiss from Peggy behind the barrier. Georgia looks positively balletic and gorgeous. 13.925


WAG UB Mitchell: Vault over low to high. Stalder, elgrip giant to straddle jaeger a leeetle messy. Hitting every HS perfectly. Once again a step forward on the double front but an excellent job. Georgia shown cheering her on. Big hugs from Emily and Georgia. 14.150 into first place!

Kristen Klarenbach scratched this final and there was no replacement. Lauren tops the other 7 girls.

LAUREN MITCHELL IS OUR COMMONWEALTH UNEVEN BARS CHAMPION! CONGRATULATIONS LOZ!
GEORGIA BONORA GETS THE SILVER!


It's 1am. Everyone in our house is asleep. I am watching a muted television and typing softly in the dark.

MAG SR Offord: He's up third. Horizontal planche bounce through to cross. Err.. maltese? Piked yamawaki, tucked yamawaki. Giant. Once again tucks down the second salto in what I assume was meant to be a double layout full twist? More waves to camera and even crosses fingers! 14.825, goes into first place.


MAG SR Sellathurai: Up 6th. Let's see if he can make a second gold tonight. Nice horizontal planche bounce through to cross. Piked yamawaki through to another horizontal. Pike sit. Lands double layout dismount to knees! It looked really nice in the air but he hung it out there for a bit too long. 13.750

Results are in... Sam stays at the top!

SAM OFFORD IS OUR COMMONWEALTH RINGS CHAMPION! CONGRATS SAM!

Prashanth a commendable 6th

Big thumbs up from Sam to the camera; gets a chummy embrace fom Luke Folwell.


Medal Ceremony - Georgia a big smile. Lauren gracious. Looks like she can't believe her luck! Starts to well up a little, this has been the meet of her life (Worlds 09 notwithstanding!). Was about to get Georgia to hop up on her dais but forgot she had to wave one more time first! Smile as big as it was in the AA.

Latey late late late. It's nearly 2am! Sam appears to be getting on famously with his British rivals. They're having a lovely chat during march-out. Sam spots family/friends and gives a big wave before they've even reached the dais! Fist pumps as they say his name, totally savours the moment before even standing on the step. Points to family. Just loving it. Family and friends sing along in the crowd. Big thumbs up to finish and fist pumps, he's so joyful! He holds up one finger, Luke holds up two (or is it Beckford? Or Whitlock? Damn, it's late...) and Georgallas holds up three. Most jubilant medal ceremony so far. Go boys.

Aaaaaaaand that's my cue. G'night.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell me where I can get start lists for the apparatus finals. I've spent a frustrating 1/2 hour with google, and I'm none the wiser. Thanks heaps

Anonymous said...

Or what time gym will be on ten?

Anonymous said...

Start lists have been going here but don't seem to up yet. However the results from Tuesday show top 8 and just take into account only 2 gymnasts per country. Also has the results for Team/AA.

http://results.cwgdelhi2010.org/en/Comp.mvc/DetailedScheduleByDate?sportCode=GA&day=07-10-2010&expandAll=False

Anonymous said...

No problems Mez - thanks for providing such a great forum - so good to hear what's going on particularly for those deprived of Foxtel (and had a few issues streaming).

Anonymous said...

the mod for that stream says "no more comm games 'til tomorrow" any others?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your great coverage Mez, it has been fantastic.
The internet link is showing golf how frustrating.

Anonymous said...

Ahh drat for Luke's floor. It was so good the other night. :(

Anonymous said...

Try same streaming site but look up the UK TV Channel - Commonwealth Games. Currently showing men's floor!!

http://veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4cab5ad8153a1

Anonymous said...

the indian gymnast is so cute and his first tumble pass was amazing!! back 2 1/2 punch double front tuck! AMAZING

Anonymous said...

GO TOM!!!!

Anonymous said...

LOVE how the Indian gave the two fingers up and the other two gave the thumbs up! Gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Prashanth is such a cutie. Love how he thanks the pommel for being kind to him. Fantastic job so far by Thomas and Prashath. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

stay up - we are with you, even an Aussie gym fan in Vietnam!

Anonymous said...

Sensational Sam. One gold a piece for all the Aussie men except Luke. Amazing effort by all of the men and women tonight. Here's hoping for more tomorrow night.

Anonymous said...

so annoyed ch10 shows mens sprints medal ceremony with no aussies in it but yet not gyms girls n womens gold??!! so stupid!!

Well done to Lauren, Georgia, Tom & Sam & Prashath!!

Jayd said...

Just a quick reminder to head over here: http://forums.ten.com.au/forums/thread.jspa?program=&threadID=134513 to the ten forums and let them know just how annoyed you are with the coverage if you'd like to. Only 2 replies so far, it'd look much better with more!

Anonymous said...

Having not made it awake to whenever channel 10 may have shown anything other than the floor final thanks so much Mez for being able to topwn this up this morning and find out the good news!

Anonymous said...

Do they have vault finals?

Anonymous said...

The women's vault final was last night, Australia had no competitors, Imogen Cairns of England one gold.
I assume men's vault final is tonight.
Congratulations to all Australia's medallists in the gym last night, we are so proud of you. Lauren you are a star.

Anonymous said...

Jayd - possibly the reason people haven't done the channel 10 thing is that it is annoying to have to create a login etc. However I have added to your post and hope other people take the time to.

Jayd said...

Anon @ 9:08 - yes, you're right, I agree. However I think this is a sneaky little ploy by channel 10 to accomplish just that. I created an ID under a false name and false address that I will never use again. The only thing real you have to give them is your email address - and it's very easy to create a false email address as well. I already have one, simply because I don't like to use my real details on the net.
However, this is a lot of effort, you're right. I'm hoping this will have effect for later events as well as the CWG though (after all, who says it's only channel 10 who reads the forums?), and I do appreciate your support!