Saturday, March 26, 2011
The International
Team Australia are certainly clocking up the frequent flyer miles this quarter! Ashleigh Brennan and Prashanth Sellathurai will travel to the Doha World Cup to compete on their pet events, March 30-April 1. Prior to the competition, Prash is spending some time training at the Waveney Gymnastics Club in the UK. This weekend (this one! Right now! That we're in!) sees Britt Greeley, Tierra Exum, Georgia Rose Brown, Emily Little and Katie Wurth to compete at the Wild Rose International in Canada. You can follow live scores here . I am told there is very limited access to the live webstream so apologies if you are encountering problems.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
59 comments:
hey guys, for wild rose, try these links below. Girls start at 6.20am our time.
Stream A
http://www.justin.tv/agymdataca#/w/1002659904/2
stream B
http://www.justin.tv/bgymdataca?#/w/1002704032/2
Pretty sure girls will be on stream B.
You might need to view the comments by clicking on the post title because sometimes the links seem to get cut off.
I thought Larrissa was going to Doha as well?
So Irina Joura is in canada. That will be a change for her.
so bars just then was unfortunately an epic fail.
Tierra fell on her dismount but had a decent routine going until then - 11.3 (13.6 already on vt)
Georgia Rose stopped twice during the routine and sat down her dismount for 10.2 (12.55 already on vault)
Katie also sat down her dismount and still has the 0.5 late turn deduction on her giant full - 12.05 (14.15 on vault)
Britt was going great until a fall on her stalder shoot of all things, she then put her hands down on the dismount as well - 10.75 (12.9 on vt)
Emily is not doing bars at all. Got 14.15 on vault.
looking at beam warmups katie still has the questionable acro series of aerial cartwheel + bhs
Georgia rose stayed on beam but missed her aerial +bhs loso stepout connection.no y turn. near fall on punch front and low landing on double twist. 12.650
Tierra surprised me with her confidence on beam. she looked more aggressive than usual. 12.55 -a few bobbles and low landings
Emily had a check on most elements but stayed on. No obvious upgrades. Missed connection. 12.9
Katie hit a decent beam. A bit tentative but managed aerial cartwheel +side somi, and did her onodi nicely. 12.9.
Call me crazy but QAS don't seem to make smart compositional decisions. Risking 0.5 on an acro series where there is almost always a pause in the middle and now they have her doing switch 1/2+ split jump and risking another .5- today it was not really a connection of two dance elements.
I missed Britt's beam but she scored only 10.7
georgia rose hit a watered down floor with no d dismount. unfortunately she took out some of her more interesting turns and did a bad double spin so i hope that's not permanent. 13.00 - very generous scoring at this meet
Tierra also watered down - third pass was a layout. 12.35
emily was ok - opened with full in but then nearly fell on double tuck. big bounce back on double pike to end. No upgrades, no double arabian which has been missing since Paris 2010. 12.8
Katie has new choreo and was doing well until she fell on her 2.5 at the end. 12.5 - would have had a very good score without the fall.
Britt fell on her head on her double pike.
Overall a pretty difficult meet for the girls. i hate to say it but the Canadian club gymnasts were regularly scoring higher. I think beam was the strongest, on bars the general quality was lacking with poor rhythm and shapes. on floor they just looked a little underdone and lack the polish you would have later in the year, especially in terms of secure landings.
They are the B team.
The B team to which A team??
Kaite was the top all around finisher from Australia and placed 5th in the comp! awesome work.
I didnt see the live feed but it seems she did the yuchenko 1.5 which is great for her confidence! I hope we see her new floor routine its one of the best I have ever seen :)
Good luck in finals girls
katie has really impressed me too in her first international meet.
I was just a little disappointed though to hear that the main errors in her bars are still exactly the same as those at national clubs.
Just by reading the results,not very impressed.I know some of these girls are returning from injury so why send them when they are obviously not ready. Can anyone comnplete a full routine?
Why was Emily not doing bars?
Good luck in finals? With those scores will any of them make a final? Maybe only Emily with vault,
but does she even do 2 vaults?
yeh, really a waste of time. GRB was barely touching hard surfaces at the VWHPC Open day two weeks ago so i'm sure her preparation was compromised. Frankly i was shocked she did all 4 events.
It is telling that a non-national team from a canadian club beat our national team!
Katie scored the same as Emily on vault.Only ones through to a final are Emily and Katie on beam who finished equal 5th!Pretty poor.
Any news on Doha? Hopefully Ash will be having a better comp than these girls.
why is it that so many other countries have their athletes trying out upgrades and new combos at this time of year whereas our girls water down? I know britt and GRB have been injured, but not the others. I really expected more from Emily.
I tend to agree,as the most experienced out of them all I would have expected her being the one who would do well and make more than one final!Does anyone know why she did'nt do bars? Is she injured? Is that why she was'nt at her best?
It must be a very costly exercise to send these teams away. I also appreciate that they need all the experience that they can get.But sending gymnasts who are obviously not ready seems like a waste of valuable funds.
There was a big gap between the chinese girl, 1st, and Katie who was 5th AA and as I understand from what I have read that this was a goog comp for Katie? Are we oin a bit of strife! Bet Peggy won't be that impressed.
oops sorry about the spelling!
So what if we're having a bad run at the moment. Come next year at the Olympics.... we're going to be fantastic.
And it's pretty early in the season is it not? I didn't expect big things. And plus, like has been said, so many are coming back from injury and/or are inexperienced in a massive way when it comes to competing away from home. they can only improve from this.
Lets qualify for the Olympics first before we can say we are going to be fantastic!
I agree with Anon 1:45 PM - it seems very costly exercise to send a team overseas when they are not ready to compete and/or injured!
As much as these gymnast need experience competing internationally surely it would be better for them to do well rather than perform simplified routines poorly - they are not exactly going to walk away with confidence from this meet.
I think Gymnastics Australia would be better to use this time to develop skills so that when the girls go overseas later in the year they perform well and the international experience actually is of use and a benifit to their confidence.
Also, someone should be looking at these girls comp loads - it is very early in a big year to be competing in major comps!
People, please try and remember that each competition has different goals for both the team as a whole, AND the individual athletes. China never seems to worry about being gold medallists at every single minor competition, and they are the Olympic Champions. Sometimes decisions to try new elements can only be made at the time of competition, too.
I'm sure no one here wants our athletes' health risked because some clueless fan wants to see us chucking E skills that we are training but not ready to compete...YET.
There were lots of falls at this comp. However, there are two ways of looking at that. Either you can write of the girl that has fallen, or you can see it as a training opportunity. What made her fall? Was is fatigue, nerves, injury, equipment, lack of practice of the skill within a routine?
Medals are always nice, of course!
Please, people, just think a little bit before you start denigrating our girls for making mistakes...especially when many of you are probably only looking at scores at this point.
(Cue the replies of: they are professional athletes, can't they handle criticism; we are entitled to out opinion; they should stay home and train until they are perfect).
Of course you are entitled to opinions and commetary! And to be disappointed we didn't win everything -- surely that is just a sign that you care, I hope? But please try and make your opinions and commentary as informed as possible.
Thank you.
Thank you Anons @ 6.55, 7.14, 7.19 an 7.48 for your reports -- much appreciated! Do you know if any video will emerge?
Adding to Anon@3.46, I would like to also point out that learning to compete is a separate skill in itself, and doesn't necessarily depend on the actual skills being competed. So just because the girls have fallen here doesn't mean they won't still show upgraded difficulty at their next competition, if they are ready for it.
Wise words Anon 3.46pm
Anon 3:46 PM, I agree with alot of what you are saying...it would be dangerous for gymnasts to compete skills that weren't ready. However, from my perspective it is one very expensive training exercise to go overseas and compete badly. It doesn't matter what the reason is - poor prep, injury etc. if a gymnast is not ready to compete they should be there competing. As suggested earlier it's not going to help gymnasts confidence performing poorly - in fact I would argue that it would be detrimental for their development as compeditors.
As a gymnast in another gymsport it is really really frustrating to watch WAG girls constantly go overseas (fully or partially funded) and compete poorly. I completely understand nerves, different equiptment etc., but by the sounds of the reports the majority of the girls were not competition ready. I am not by any means critising the gymnasts - it is extremely difficult to compete well at this time of year and, when you are not prepared. I just don't understand the planning and it is really frustrating.
These girls need as much competition as possible!! I think the elite gymnasts in this country DON"T get enough comp experience.... yes they may not be ready, yes they may fall... but they are learning to compete internationally. Travelling overseas takes a lot out of anyone, so they need to learn how to deal with the stress. Some of these girls may be injured or coming back.... but they still need experience. Peggy is right to send them away, these girls will up there skill level when it truly counts and now as they are gaining experience is the right time. Give the coaches and Peggy some credit for having there reasons for what they do.
Anon @4.36, I totally agree!
If they are not ready to compete then international experience is a waste of time. There is no point GA spending tens of thousands of dollars (and yes that is how much it costs to send a team that size away) for gymnasts who are not ready. GA would never and doesn't ever allow this in any other gymsport (except maybe MAG). It is so frustrating to watch these unprepared gymnasts get funded to go overseas when gymnasts in other gymsports spend months fundraising to go to an international comp - and these gymnasts are actually competition ready and prepared.
Yes I agree, the WAG girls (and all our other gymsports) need more international expereince but they should wait until they are competition ready to get this experience.
Totally agree that they need competition experience, but also agree that they should not be sent on International assignments not fully prepared.It seems even EL was unprepared so early in the year.Why don't GA run more National comps as preparation rather than spending so much on International comps.Do the prep here first and then send them away
when they can at least do a full routine in comp enviroment.
Thanks to all anon positive people. I actually logged onto the blog to see if there are any updates on the competition
in Canada and once again I find myself disgusted with the negative comments in regards
to the recent International competitions. Some of the comments are totally unacceptable.
The innuendo's and unwarranted criticism of the girls is appalling. Mez, has warned you all and it just does not seem to get through.
The criticism needs to cease or this blog should be updated so there is no anonymity.
Mez, I ask you to consider a different format for "adding" comments on this blog.
How are our girls ever to progress when we have "Couch Critics" who just look for the negative and wait for something to go wrong and are actually happy when it does.
To the negative people, obviously it's not your daughter competing or you would "think" before writing.
Just remember, they are all talented children who deserve respect. This is the beginning of the competition season, so early indications are that the girls who have competed internationally thus far
are all on a par .. Gymnix, American Cup, Cottbus and now Wild Rose. They are all trying new things, they are all travelling to foreign countries and despite the pressures, the results are GREAT and they can only get better. Would love to see the "negative people" travel to Great Britain, Canada and America in winter and cross a few time zones and do what they have done. I am so proud of our girls and can't wait to see them progress during 2011.
So before you go negative on these comments, we know they are elite athletes who are subject to criticism but stop hiding behind that excuse when the negativity comes from the children's own club.
Remember, they are doing the best they can on the day and it's someone daughter, someone's sister and someone's friend that
you are criticising. The sad part is, it's all coming from the same "negative" people and we know who you are anonymous or not!
You should all be ashamed! Show us what you can do on the beam, bars, floor and vault! Then you have the right to criticise.
To those who put informative, positive and supportive comments on the blog and have a realistic expectation and understanding,
THANK YOU !!!.
Peggy and the selectors have to give all national squad members at least one opportunity to prove themselves, if they don't upgrade or perform and are not selected next time, at least the selectors can say the girl had a chance. Obviously some of these girls have proven themselves worthy or not, how else can Peggy subjectively perform selections. I know she gives out specific directives, some are followed and some are not. Those that follow the direction will be the ones who will perform in the end.
if you dont like it, go away. it's not your blog to censor and tell people the opinions they can and cant have. It's not here for you, it's here for everyone.
For anon@5.53pm please note that your comments that you posted saying that you are entitled to your opinion is true however you seem to forget that any negative and non-constructive criticism is damaging to the mental state of some of the athletes, and if you know any better you would know that what goes around comes around. If you can't take it and understand it then don't post degrading comments until you have thought it out and the consequence it may have on someones mental well being. Happy pills should be dispensed to some people before they start throwing mud. And to all those that know that positive encouragement is much more beneficial keep posting!
I would question what athletes are even doing spending their time on gymnastics blogs. It defies logic. It's like a celebrity hunting out the tabloids. So what if the athletes don't like it,nobody is forcing them here with a gun to their heads.
Well, I don't know about the Comments sections but some elites and retirees do visit the main feed to check up on their competing friends...
To Anon at 7:50. No matter whether you agree or disagree with the comments so far on this topic, your language is totally inappropriate and irresponsible when referring to many of our no doubt younger readers.
reading through all these comments only reinforces all the stereotypes of elite gymnastics. You have the crazy gym mums trying to protect 16+ year olds from 'bad language' and then psychos who want blood - no doubt their daughters lost to the now-elites way back in the day.
And yet you left out "Generalising anonymous twazzocks who post drawling observations in order to be incendiary"?
classic comment Mez! What on earth is a twazzock? If not a real word it definitely should be.
I think it's very important for the girls to learn to be competition ready after travelling different timezones. I agree we need more national comps in Australia, but those alone are not going to help the gymnasts learn to adapt to timezones physically AND mentally. And really I'd rather Peggy be getting them to do that now, than next year. We cannot rely on worlds and competitions like pac rim games to give our girls timezone and international experience, especially when we want to be winning medals at those comps.
I don't feel that all comments are negative. It is a fact that the girls were not prepared had low D scores anf fell alot. It was reflected in their scores.Yes they will learn from that and the travel experience is good.People are also allowed to have an opinion
it may not be to every ones liking but that I thought was the whole idea of being able to comment on such a blog.
"Why send them when they are obviously not ready. Can anyone comnplete a full routine?"
"Yeh, really a waste of time..."
"If they are not ready to compete then international experience is a waste of time. There is no point GA spending tens of thousands of dollars (and yes that is how much it costs to send a team that size away) for gymnasts who are not ready."
"Totally agree that they need competition experience, but also agree that they should not be sent on International assignments not fully prepared."
To be fair, though, none of us were there for any final training sessions or control tests so we don't KNOW ready (or not ready) they looked prior to departure. I think aon 10:00 has the right idea... learning to adjust to different equipment and timezone changes are other important reasons why girls are sent to competitions so early in the season.
*we don't KNOW how ready (or not ready)...
I don't think that saying that the girls were not ready is a negative comment at all. It is not saying that they are bad gymnasts or that it was their fault, it is just a statement based on observations from results.
Unfortunately, i dont believe the equiptment can or should be blamed either. Overseas trips like this allow for a couple of days training (sometimes called equipment familiarization) on the comp equipment so it shouldn't make that bigger difference. That and the majority of other gymnasts are in the same boat - it is not their home gym either (and I do have experience with this).
In terms of the experience I think the gymnasts should travel more interstate before they go overseas. By traveling to comps they get to experience different environments and travel just minus the time zone change. When they can handle this, then you add a time zone shift and it is not such a big deal.
Finally, I think we in Australia turn international comps into too bigger deal. Yes it is an amazing honor to represent your country, however it is easy to fall into allowing it to be overwhelming. The top gymnasts in the world frequently in interviews state that they treat international comps no different to any other -they have a pre comp routine and that's what they do. International comps don't phase them like they do our girls. We need to encourage this mindset.
I wish they had somthing like Italy's domestic competition, almost like a domestic league of gymnastics. Germany does a similar thnig with their champion's league.
I think it is very important for the girls to have international experience but I think that we are placing too much emphasis on the word "international". Our expectations of Austtralian gymnasts at international comps is too high. Australia is geographically isolated and the number of elite Olympic gymnasts in our country do not provide enough regular and changing competition. If the competitive base was larger then we would not need to leave the country to gain competition experience or if we had neighbours like the countries in Europe then competitive experience would be varied and inexpensive. China and America have large numbers of gymnasts and very regular competitions but as stated previously our competitive base is small and traveling internationally is expensive SO we place significant importance on a competition that perhaps should be viewed as just another comp.
I know a number of these girls were injured or recovering from injury. Should they have gone? Perhaps not but they too as elite athletes need to learn how to perform even though they are not at their best. Being able to compete while not at your best is a skill in itself mentally and this can only be learned by "doing" They will rise give them
time.
Anon 7.30am. I agree we are placing a lot of emphasis on the word "international" and let's face it we have only 15-16 competitive gymnasts at the senior Olympic level and half of them are usually injured or recovering from injury. We also suffer from very little funding compared to other countries so again we place so much importance on an overseas competition due to expense and of course this uses up a majority of funds. I also agree all athletes in elite sports often compete in a compromised physical state and they need to learn to push through the barrier. We all know that sport at this level is mental and physical.... these girls need to raise their competitive ability both physically and mentally this can only be achieved through experience.. I think Peggy knows what she is doing.
Emily has finished 2nd on beam and has a floor score up of 13.1So she must have been bumped up into this final.
Well done EmIly
Go Emily! Well done!
There must have been some withdrawals as didn't Emily finish
10th after GRB on floor? Obviously GRB was withdrawn.The chinese gymnast must have had some falls on beam. Good for you Emily!
The chinese gymnast won gold with 15.1 after 13.85 in quals so I doubt she fell. Or were you talking about her qual routine? Because in that case I'd agree, she must have fell there.
I meant Huang (china)Qualified with 13.650 finals 12.550.Shang was
1st place and she jumped up a lot from 13.850 to 15.1 WOW!Katie must have had a fall.But that is how it goes on the day!Good for Emily.
Oh ok thanks. I didn't notice the Chinese girl who qualed 2nd. And Yes big improvement for the winner. Emily also improved a lot (0.9) and I believe both routines were without falls. So either day 2 scoring was more lenient or she improved her quality considerably. Probably a bit of both.
Don't think the Aussie girls are going to come home from their international comp experiences completely unaware of how they went. I would think they would be coming back knowing exactly how much they need to up their game and knowing how much work they need to do so that next time they don't come home with a 54th place in the AA. As if their experiences overseas wouldn't affect them...come on. These experiences are valuable for them, even if they weren't ready or didn't do well. If it were me I'd see it as a huge motivator to get back in the gym and kick some ass next time.
Post a Comment