Tuesday, January 10, 2012

London Prepares 2012

It's upon us!

Gymnastics Australia have put up a new page for ongoing updates and photos from national coach from Peggy Liddick. Emily Little now tumbles a piked full-in!

"Emily and Georgia went through their programs normally without anything unusual.... Both girls conducted themselves like professionals and were ready for the podium."

The FIG have photos up on Facebook here and will reportedly be doing a livestream of the competition through their Youtube channel here.


*** Gymnastics Australia advises that Australian MAG competitor Sam Offord has had to withdraw due to an injury sustained during the friendly at Waveney. He will be replaced by Josh Jefferis.***


As at 7:30am Wednesday, Georgia's bars and beam are up here. Em and Georgia start on bars in session 2 tomorrow (late tonight our time)

You can follow the women's proceedings live here at the Gymnastics Examiner or here at The All Around. Unfortunately I can't stay up to follow proceedings but according to Blythe, the Aussies are in their green, gold and white national leo (hooray).


ETA Thursday...

Australia has officially qualified one MAG spot to London; the selectors can choose between Josh OR Tom to compete at the Games.


The Gymnastics Examiner and All-Around links above should take you to quickhits of the women's session. By all accounts the Aussies did a great job, notably newbie Simpson.

Check out her STUNNING floor below, as well as Em's vault.






See Emily's beam here
See Emily's bars here
See Georgia's beam here

Image below courtesy of the FIG



The Australian has a piece on Josh here.

"It's a tough situation but everyone has been great about it, Sam's been a legend," Jefferis, who knows the heartache of Olympic disappointment, said.

124 comments:

Anonymous said...

Comment from The Examiner on twitter: The Routine of the day so far:Georgia Simpson(AUS)on Bars.Beautiful work!

Anonymous said...

No Vids of our Aussie girls?

Mez said...

Not yet at least! Their session was over not long ago.

Anonymous said...

Photo of Georgia looking stunning as always! Not much I know but all I could find. Hope some vids surface soon.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150479619328277&set=a.10150415379523277.356796.146253743276&type=3

Anonymous said...

Poor Sam! good luck Tom and Josh ;)

Anonymous said...

So sad to hear of Sam's injury ... so glad that Gymnastics Australia took a travelling reserve in Josh Jefferis ... looking forward to seeing the results for both him and Thomas ... time to hit routines boys and STICK!!!

Anonymous said...

Is anyone able to find the stream? I can't see it anywhere

Anonymous said...

I think it is for finals.

Anonymous said...

That sucks. Finals are meaningless, it is only qualifications that count for Olympics, and hence these are the only days that I want to see

Anonymous said...

Videos of Georgia Simpson on UB and BB!!!!!
Look at Pilbuina's YouTube channel.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what Georgia Simpson's new height is? She absolutely towers over Emily in those pics. Perhaps our tallest senior ever!!!

Anonymous said...

Josh Jefferis qualified for the Olympics?
http://www.examiner.com/gymnastics-in-national/final-scores-men-s-qualification-at-the-london-test-event

Anonymous said...

Fantastic for Josh. Why couldn't Prasanth go?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 9.49am I think you'll find she looks tall next to Emily because Emily is so tiny.
Georgia looks so elegant in those videos though doesn't she?

Anonymous said...

Yeah - everyone looks tall next to Emily! Even some of the 13 year olds! Having said that Georgia is quite tall but it doesn't seem to be a problem or her - she looks stunning. We have other "tall" girls in the team - Miller, Georgia Rose Brown come to mind.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of towering; http://www.gymnastics.org.au/image.asp?image=38202,%2038204,%2038206&display=0
I'm thrilled that we have 2 beautiful, elegant tall girls in the mix.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know if georgia simpson has or is working towards a harder ub dismount than a double pike? Shame because the rest of her routine is lovely

Anonymous said...

Yes she is but it was not quite ready for this comp.

Anonymous said...

Wow Georgia looks great! Support her on the olympic team!!
Great routines and control
WAIS sure is producing stars

Anonymous said...

I think some of GS's difficulty may have been taken out so perhaps she has a confident comp considering this is her first comp after dislocating her knee just prior to Nationals. I have seen her do a beautiful leg up pivot on beam.

Anonymous said...

Yes I agree. She looks really confident with what she is doing but I have also seen greater difficulty before. Particularly on beam.

Anonymous said...

WOW! After watching Georgia's Bar and Beam ,would love to see her floor! Very Elegant. Would also like to see Emily's new floor. I hear she has the same music as one of the Belguim gymnasts. Would like to see the difference between the two.
Fingers crossed for Josh! Would be nice to have aMAG at the Olympics.

Anonymous said...

I think The Examiner said that it was the same music as Vanwalleghem of Belguim. Very fast paced if it is.

Anonymous said...

I think both Josh and Tom will be above the cutoff, so GA should be able to send either.

Anonymous said...

That will be hard for the one that misses out.

Anonymous said...

So is it the country that wins the spot
Or the individual???? Clarification can't come soon enough

Anonymous said...

Katie, Georgia Rose and Georgia S would be a beautiful long-legged trio...

Anonymous said...

I am completely confused with all of the Georgias!! Please clarify for me:

Georgia Bonora competed at the Olympics and last comp. was 2010 worlds??

Georgia Wheeler - competed at the Comm. games, maybe worlds later that year...but she hasn't made a major tema since, right??

Georgia Simpson - was reserve in 2010....wasn't in the 2011 worlds team....this is her first major comp for awhile??

-Georgia ????? another one competed on the 2011 worlds team and did quite well Rose Brown is it??

Anonymous said...

Yes all your comments about the georgia's are correct, I really hope georgia Bonora's ankle can hold up so that she can make London!

Anonymous said...

Great thanks! Gosh, we could potentially have 4 Georgias on one team!! That would have to be some kind of record! Probably unlikely, but we could have 3 on the Olympic team.

Anonymous said...

It looks like Josh qualified for the Olympics but Thomas missed out. Just waiting for conformation.

Anonymous said...

so it's looking like "THE JOSH WAY" worked :)

Still though really want it confirmed that the gymnast qualified and not the country ... not, DEF NOT, saying that I wouldn't like to see Thomas qualify ... but I would hate to have the boys go through yet another qualifying event ...

Anonymous said...

It's confusing alright??
see http://www.gymnastics.org.au/site/gymnastics/national/downloads/www2008/pdfiles/2012%20Olympic%20Test%20Event%20MG%20Selection%20Criteria.pdf

It states in 1.1.2 - to qualify 1 quota place - that to me means a spot not a gymnast ????

but further down it states there were to be 2 non travelling reserves - but GA took a travelling reserve in Josh!!!

It does say across the document that it is a DRAFT ... so what changes were made to the final document???

Anonymous said...

sorry the link was

http://www.gymnastics.org.au/site/gymnastics/national/downloads/www2008/pdfiles/2012%20Olympic%20Test%20Event%20MG%20Selection%20Criteria.pdf

Anonymous said...

Aussie girls underway - some problem with the bars means they haven't started yet. Go girls!

Anonymous said...

Georgia and Emily both clean on bars.

Anonymous said...

well done to the Aussie girls.Solid comp from Emily by the sounds of it. Georgia had a couple of falls by the sounds of it, but expect the experience has been well worth it.

Anonymous said...

yes, well done!You would have to expect EL to be reasonable considering the experience she has.
scores were Bars: GS 13.6 EL 13.1
BBeam: GS 12.33(fall on dismount)EL
13.8 FX: GS 12.7 EL 12.433 V: GS 13.058 EL 14.5 GS AA 51.691
EL AA 53.833

Anonymous said...

Well it's official now ... both Josh and Thomas are entitled to be selected as Australia's sole MG for London Olympics!!! Only one can go!!! Will be interesting to see how this is played out ... I would like to see Australia's final selection policy for this test event.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm as beautiful a gymnast as Georgia Simpson is, all of her scores were in the 12's and 13's. I understand her difficulty might not be where it needs to be due to her recent injury, but with only 6 or 7 months to go are we going to see such a dramatic jump in her scores to where they need to be for the olympics?
I love this gymnast and just wish she had the difficulty levels to match her elegance and grace.

Anonymous said...

were Emily's scores much higher ? apart from Vault.Her bars and floor were higher than Em's.! We should remember that this is her first all around in a comp for quite sometime too due to injuries.I thought she did wonderfully well considering her lack of experience compared to Emily at a major comp such as this. Go Georgia Go !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Agreed. She did a great job. Emily was solid as always - not her best but close to it. Georgia has skills she did not perform and it was her first comp for a long time - well done to both girls and their coaches. Good luck for the rest of the preparation.

Anonymous said...

Yes, totally agree! Go back and look at scores from comps in 2011 for Massilia,Stuttgart and even Worlds, a lot of scores in the
12's and 13's by Aussies and those girls were competing after an intensive 5 week training camp at the AIS. This comp was perhaps more for the valuable experience rather than risking confidence(and injury) for high scores.There is a good base to work from now and the Olympics is not the only competion coming up.

Anonymous said...

Any videos of GSim Bars?

Anonymous said...

Interesting music! Love the Air Guitar! Any one know where the music came from?

Anonymous said...

Ok - I am going to make some small criticisms about GS and I know some people on this board will arc up about them. I'm sure she is in a transition stage and will get better but these are little things that really need attention - bent knees, flexed feet, less than 180 on splits. This is not a critisism of Georgia just a technical observation.

Anonymous said...

The music is called Private Investigations, originally by Dire Straits. Another gymnast used it for her floor routine a few years back. Just trying to remember who it was!...

Anonymous said...

Getting technical could open up a mine field of comments about all our aussie girls!In particular EL,GW,MAM,NC,GRB even Lauren!

Anonymous said...

Jesus the amount Canada, Italy and France have improved is crazy. There is absolutely no way we can send a team with a few dodgy FTYs and expect to place in the top 8. There needs to be upgrades, and soon, to have any hope of making TF.

Canada now has 3 DTYs for example. Look at Italy's top 3 AAers:

1. Ferrari ITA 56.532
2. Fasana ITA 56.466
3. Ferlito ITA 56.132

Can't help but feel we have sat by twiddling our thumbs and being lazy with upgrades while other countries work hard and show tremendous improvement. I hate to name names but across this quad there has been little to no improvement from Little, Miller, Brennan, Bonora. Mitchell is the only one who has pushed herself.

Anonymous said...

Simpson could only realistically be on the london team as an UB/BB specialist. She would pair up ok with Little VT/FX, or Lorenzin VT/FX, but not with Brennan unless Georgia was there only for UB in which case she'd need to be better than Larrissa.

Anonymous said...

Surely it would be only fair to send Josh over Tom based on the results of the test - we know it wasn't Tom's best but still, you have to draw the line somewhere. How do they now decide who goes?

Anonymous said...

To be fair, Little had a long break at the end of 2010 and has had to push herself to get her program back. I don't know about the other girls, but then probably neither do you. I doubt very much they have sitting idle - more likely dealing with injuries, growth etc.

Anonymous said...

yeh but gymnasts from all over the world deal with injures, growth etc etc. It is no excuse.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, we can't just sit back and wait
We need to keep pushing
Lauren keeps pushing she is our queen!

Anonymous said...

Can someone please tell me why emily scored in the 12's on floor? She has good difficulty esp now she does full in piked. Did she fall?
Also does anyone know the injury status/recovery of bonora, Sims or angela donald? If bonora could get her 2008 diffuclty back she could really help this team!

Anonymous said...

From the running commentary, I don't think Emily did her piked full in competition. Being a new floor, maybe her execution is not up to the standard yet. Emily has had more competitions under her belt than most girls on the squad . I think she has had lots of opportunity to upgrade or improve on execution at least .

Anonymous said...

I heard that Benora had had more surgery just late last year?

Anonymous said...

Why did Little have a long break at the end of 2010? Was she injured?

Anonymous said...

can they send prasanth in the spot earned?

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:20 I agree with you in part some gymnasts could have had upgrades but I wouldn't include Georgia Bonora in your list. Given she has ankle surgery once a year she has done well to still be training. I guess she could have upgrades bars but I can imagine vault and floor would be very difficult.

Anonymous said...

They can't send Prasanth - the FIG document clearly says Pichler OR Jefferis to be chosen by the NOC

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with anon 4:02pm. We need to upgrade on vault - and NOW damnit!

No more excuses. Pretty soon we won't even be in the top 8 at this rate.

Anonymous said...

Part of the problem has been the lack of improvement also from the newbies. Think of Wheeler's inability to upgrade vault when it is a place where she could have really been used. Brown has improved on vault and floor but has not really improved on bars. Her difficulty has stayed the same and e-scores have maxed out but no new skills have been added nor have the problems with her gienger and jaeger been resolved.

I do hope that the 1995ers and 1994ers stay on after the OG because I feel they are capable of so much more and for whatever reason have run out of time to be at their peak difficulty for London. Someone like Lorenzin may not have time to be ready for London at her best but she is undoubtedly a gymnast of world class standard who could be very successful at 2013/14/15 worlds. Whoever ends up missing out, I just hope they remember Larrissa and how she trialled for Beijing but was nowhere on the radar and then kept improving and has now been a stalwart at international team meets.

Anonymous said...

It feels like the tide has turned with early retirements in women's gymnastics... and not just here but all over. There are quite a few elite gymnasts sticking around where they once would have retired for a 'normal life', and sticking around for years... Ponor, Sacramone, Memmel, Ferrari, Pavlova, Tweddle, Cheng Fei, dos Santos, Chuso and several more who may not be challenging for medals or competing for top ranking teams, but still gutting it out. And not too long ago, who would have thought you'd have nearly an entire Australian Olympic team still competing (in some form), and half still in the running, 4 years later?? It's fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I forgot to tie that comment into the previous one... I think we'll see quite a few gymnasts stay on after the Olympics again next quad. I don't know what it is, but some of these girls just seem like they've not had anywhere near enough of their fix yet...

Anonymous said...

Re the team thing, I think the problem is simply that we have a team with 1 top gymnast and the rest are just average gymnasts.

'Top' meaning someone who can win medals at world/olympic level

'Very good' meaning someone who can score 56.00+ AA or make an EF at world/olympic level (for example B level Russians/Romanians or those like Seitz/Dasha when she was around)

'Average' meaning those who can score between 52.00 and 56.00 AA but have no chance for finals or medals except as the 2nd AAer.

We have Lauren who is top but nobody else has developed, for whatever reason (be it injury, illness, growth etc.) to really progress to a 'very good' or 'top' standard. One gymnast can't carry a whole team and having three gymnasts of 'very good' standard is precisely why Italy has done so well at the test event.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know why Prashanth was not sent to the test event? Surely he would have been one of our best medal prospects in London. Is he injured?

Anonymous said...

I think you have to rate in the AA to qualify at the test event. Isn't he a specialist?

Anonymous said...

Anon 6.26 I don't know why Emily had a break but she was away from the gym for quite a while. Long enough that the first half of 2011 was spent getting back. She did have some injuries in 2011 IIRC she missed nationals, however all gymnasts have injuries so this is just part of the overall plan. I get that people are frustrated at our lack of difficulty but I fail to see how you can level that critisism at WAIS. They have a long record of preparing gymnasts for the world stage at the right time and I'm sure if there was a way for their girls to have more difficulty they would. They now have 4 gymnasts seriously in the mix for 2012 and 2 of them were virtually unknown before this year.

Anonymous said...

unfortunately, the Aussie boys placing in Tokyo only allowed us to send boys to qualify for an AA place.
This does not include event specialist.

Prashanth is a specialist and the only way he could have qualified would have been to medal in Tokyo.

Sadly, he hit his feet and stopped on pommel and ruled himself out.

Such a shame, he is fabulous and was so gorgeous at Tokyo.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the girls are just doing upgrades they are capable of right now? Would be silly to work on upgrades they are not capable of at the moment, which would risk them getting injured much worse, or more often.
Give 'em a break. They're doing all right. Maybe they won't place on the scoreboard where you want them to place, but they're trying and that is all we can ask of them.
I love Georgia Simpson's floor - she is elegant as, and her height really works for her I think. I did notice the flexed feet too, and lack of a bit of difficulty, but then I have not seen much of her on floor, ever.

Anonymous said...

I would be optimistic that upgrades were still to come but it is known that Peggy doesn't like athletes to change their routines in the year of the olympics...make of that what you will...

Anonymous said...

hmmm just looking at the results they are not really very impressive for the girls. No event finals and Emily was only 24th in the all around, which many sat out (like the Chinese). It's true that when you see the top three Italians scoring over 56 along with others from countries that will be our close competition, one has to wonder how we are going to compete with them.

Anonymous said...

hmmm just looking at the results they are not really very impressive for the girls. No event finals and Emily was only 24th in the all around, which many sat out (like the Chinese). It's true that when you see the top three Italians scoring over 56 along with others from countries that will be our close competition, one has to wonder how we are going to compete with them.

Anonymous said...

I think we need to remember that Teams like Italy, France etc, were trying to qualify for Olympics. They would have gone to this competition very well prepared after training camps etc and would have been in peak condition given the importance of the meet. Just like Australia did at Worlds. It seemed like their was 2 comps going on in 1. The intense pressured comp for Countries and individuals trying to qualify and a few individuals from already qualified countries mainly their for the experience. Simpson was never going to perhaps make top 8 in that environment . I don't think that was the plan. The experience was far more important than where she placed. Little I suppose could have been expected to place higher given her extensive competition experience. Trials for Olympics are still about 4 months away and as we know ANYTHING can happen between now and then and I suppose Peggy need's to have lots of options available.She will have a plan for every girl on the squad to get them where they need to be.

Anonymous said...

Can someone explain what flexed feet means? I thought her feet were nicely pointed for leaps and dance elements.
But then I don't know much on the technical side. Is it a big deduction?

Anonymous said...

This meet would have been all about experience for Emily and Georgia and I'm sure the aim was not to win medals but to compete confidently with as few mistakes as possible. The girls who were busy trying to qualify for the Olympics would have to been performing full difficulty and going all out to try and score as highly as possible. As Australia is already qualified then Emily and Georgia did not need to be performing full difficulty and I'm sure were focusing on getting their execution scores as high as possible.

Anonymous said...

'Perhaps the girls are just doing upgrades they are capable of right now?'

Then maybe they shouldn't be vying for Olympic selection.

I'm not having a go at the gymnasts. I think they're awesome and they're doing the best they can, with the training we have in this country. What appears to be the problem is the programs themselves. Do you think Shawn or Nastia or Jordyn would be the champions they are had they lived/trained in Australia? And how far would say, Dasha or Lauren have gone had they lived/trained in the top USA gyms?

IMHO, our top girls have just as much talent and dedication as most top gymnasts anywhere in the world. It's just unfortunate for them that they live in a country with a sub-standard training program.

And as for Peggy not liking to upgrade in an Olympic year? Then she needs to take a long walk off a short pier :Q

Anonymous said...

I love Simpson. She's elegant and lyrical but also has a kind of cool edge-iness about her. Hope she can upgrade in time for London. Would love to have her on the team.

Mez said...

GA have posted an update with comment from Peggy. Georgia will perform a harder vault at the PacRims trial

http://www.gymnastics.org.au/?Page=22990

Anonymous said...

Also have to remember we don't want our gymnasts peaking in January...mistakes don't matter as much right now. Better to have them peak during the Olympics.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know from the different states who of the seniors is actually going to trial for Olympics?

Anonymous said...

Any links to see Emily's new floor?

Anonymous said...

I'd say the trialling status of the following is in doubt since we haven't heard a peep from them in a while:

Highly unlikely

Sanders - no funding
Hingston - long term injury, unlikely
Boucher - no funding
Exum - no funding
McGrath - missed Dec camp
O'Donnell - unlikely
Budack ?
Kittl - long term injury, unlikely
Nedov - injury at nat clubs

Likely to trial

Sims - conditional on being ready after injury
Bonora - competed at nat clubs on bars
Donald - competed at nat clubs, went to Dec camp
Wurth- went to Dec camp
Joura - went to Dec camp

Can anyone clarify? I would expect that they would be throwing everything at it if there was a chance they could trial.

Is Ulln Sternberg eligible?

These girls seem sure bets for trialling given their AIS/GA funding/status:

Ashleigh Brennan
Mary-anne Monckton
Zoe Lorenzin
Georgia Wheeler
Georgia –rose Brown
Larrissa Miller
Georgia Simpson
Nikola Chung
Lauren Mitchell
Emily Little

Anonymous said...

Hingston also has no funding.

Anonymous said...

Wow. 5 from VWHPC. 4 WAIS plus Miller. Congratulations to WAIS for getting all 4 age eligible girls on the squad!

shelley said...

To Anon January 13, 2012 2:16 PM

You are quite right, flexed feet are where a gymnast doesn't fully extend or point her feet.

Whilst I agree she does have a nice point, this tends to only be during her dance and front aerial.

If you watch again, you will see that her feet are flexed in most skills and it is particularly evident in her first and last tumble lines and her dance series.

As for the deduction, it is 0.1 EACH time. So, whilst a small deduction, add it into the execution on each skill and it becomes rather huge. Additionally, it does reduce the overall beauty of the routine which can effect the score.

She does however have a beautiful leg line, it would be lovely to see her difficulty as it increases as well as a little polish on the extension in her legs.

Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Exum and Boucher have quit. O'donnell did national levels at national clubs

Anonymous said...

Ulln Sternberg is not an Australia citizen and therefore not eligible for funding, camp or teams.

Anonymous said...

Really? They stopped gymnastics?!

Anonymous said...

Who are you to say who is likely or unlikely to trial? What could you possibly know about these girls?! Just because you haven't heard a 'peep' from them in a while by no means means that they are not going to trial. Also, why is Lorenzin's name still coming up in these comments. She has competed about once since 2008.

Anonymous said...

I heard GW wasn't vaulting anymore.

Anonymous said...

Well Georgia's consistency, particularly on beam and floor, is not her strong point, I don't see how it is a smart decision to stop her from doing what is possibly her only good apparatus.

Anonymous said...

10:03 get over it. People are just trying to assist others with their inquiries based on the information we have.

Also your comments are totally nonsensical and contradictory. You say we shouldn't be mentioning Lorenzin anymore because she's competed little since 2008. But just because we haven't heard a 'peep' from her on the competition stage is hardly reason to count her out though; you said it yourself, you idiot. You can't have it both ways.

Anonymous said...

Slightly off topic but I am very curious. Is Peggy the only person who has input in who Aus sends to the olympics? I understand she is the head coach and isn't tied to any specific program however wouldn't it be fairer if there was a selection committee?

This may be the case however from what I have read it seems Peggy is the person soley in charge of choosing the team.

I am not criticising her in anyway as I am sure any decisions she makes are benficial to Australia. However a committee may be better.

Anonymous said...

Talent first, experience second
As long as they can cope under the pressure and still hit routines who cares how many comps they have done lately
If they have a difficulty which will bring higher scores then that is what we need

Anonymous said...

it seems like Peggy's been traumatised by the 2000 and 2007 experiences and now always opts to play it safe.

However, I hope that in London we see them just go for it for a change. And really, if we somehow make the team final, who cares if we come 6th-8th with the usual reliable but safe routines. What we really want to do is push up into the 5th spot and playing safe will not get us there. Nor will it likely get us into the team final now, so they're gonna have to think about putting out there the best we have in quals from the get go.

Anonymous said...

There are many girls that are still on the squads that haven't competed much not just Zoe, in fact she competed in UK and Canada last year and did National clubs the year before and shes traing a dty and full ins too.

Anonymous said...

she's already competed the pike-full in on floor before. The DTY is what's going to get her on the o team if anything.

Anonymous said...

How many of our girls can capably do a DTY right now?

Anonymous said...

3 I believe
But lorenzin also has double layout dismount on bars and was working it on floor

Anonymous said...

Yes but Nedov and McGrath also competed in GBR and you're ruling them out?

Anonymous said...

Neither Nedov nor McG were at the December camp though which suggests they are a little further off ...also McGrath is is BB/FXer who is probably superseded by Donald and Brennan and Nedov has only shown BB where she could contribute so the same applies for her to a degree unless injuries/upgrades happen.

Mark my words, the DTY is THE game changer. We have tons of BB/FXers, but we desperately need a third and fourth VT, after the two DTYs it is not good enough to throw a couple of bad yurchenko fulls, we need a good third counting score.

0.8 is a massive difference between a 1/1 and a double and it's not like we've seen much difference in judging e-scores in terms of nice fulls being rewarded over bad doubles.

Trust me, if anyone can put a decent double up there and has usable routines on at least 2 other events they will be IN.

Anonymous said...

Do you know who went to the camp?
Im assuming chung,little,simpson and mitchell from wais
we already know the hpc girls
miller, joura and ?

Anonymous said...

Bonora and Monckton as well.

Anonymous said...

Well I'm no rocket scientist but if I was trying to get into the olympic team I'd be spending the next 6 months working on getting a DTY. How long realistically would it take to gain this skill??? Is 6 months a reasonable amount of time? I mean the girls obviously all know how to do a double twist so is it that hard to put it into a vault once you can already do a yurchenko full twist? You experts out there tell me, but to me it seems like a no brainer.

Anonymous said...

It's not as simple as that otherwise more girls would have it. If you have not already been training it then 6 months is not enough time to get it in. A double twist on other apparatus is quite different then doing it on vault. On vault you need to be able to have the push off on the vault to be able to get the height and distance to achieve maximum e score and get the double twist in.

Anonymous said...

Donald is attending camp

Anonymous said...

Completely agree about needing more DTYs. Vault is definitely where we need to increase our scores.

Anonymous said...

Nedov also has a difficult bars and vault, not as good as others but reasonably good. McGrath has bested Donald on beam in Germany and her floor is also better so I'm not sure how you're reasoning this?

Anonymous said...

McGrath is not attending camp, so I would say it will be hard for her to be selected on any up coming comps .Nedov and McGrath are not on the AIS/ GA Olympic squad.

Anonymous said...

And Donald is certainly more proven than McGrath on beam, hitting three times in the youth olympics and winning the bronze medal in EF.

I think Donald and Brennan are essentially competing for the same spot, and possibly Monckton will be too since her vault is very weak and her bars have not scored well internationally. Lorenzin could also go for a specialist spot but also compete on vault and could be paired with a bars specialist like Miller, Brown or Simpson.

Sims would be a great AAer for the team so I hope she recovers. Her vault is good enough for the 4th non-counting score (hopefully after three DTYs), UB would definitely be counting, possibly BB and FX too.

Anonymous said...

McGrath hit 2/2 at Pac Rim and then 3/3 beam at nationals that year I believe. So no I don't believe either one is more proven than the other, McGrath came 3rd at Pac Rim on floor, Donald came 3rd at YOG on beam. They're equally capable.

Anonymous said...

What specialist spot would Zoe go for?

Anonymous said...

I think it will be hard for McGrath to be in the mix given that she is not on the Olympic squad and not attending camp for the selection trials
that not only will determine who goes to PAC Rim but other comps early in the Year. Not sure if she is still on the National squad? Does any one know if she is still training?

Anonymous said...

Zoe would be valuable on Beam floor and vault if all she is working towards comes to fruition.

Anonymous said...

McGrath is still an extremely capable gymnast. She could have been suffering minor setbacks or injuries and therefore hasn't been in the spotlight. I am sure she will still be training very hard and vying for a spot whether or not it happens. Donald and McGrath are pretty much equals on the two apparatus and are both equally beautiful to watch. I'd be keeping an eye on them both, they'll surprise you even if McGrath isn't in the GA/Olympic Squad.

Anonymous said...

Many of you are forgetting that unless they are just showing a routine to Peggy for verification (in the case of injured gymnasts not available to compete in in upcoming comp) that in the trials to compete for a team place, all gymnasts must compete a competent routine on every apparatus. This is to ensure that in the event of injuries during the tour that there are enough routines available to achieve a team score. Of course this applies to gymnasts aiming for event finals.

Anonymous said...

How does that work for Brennan who really has no bar routine?

Anonymous said...

Ashley does have a bar routine which you will see in training. The consistency of her training on all apparatus in training is fantastic. She has been extremely reliable in competitions last year.

While there are gaps for Britt, Ashleigh and Amelia on various apparatus in the Tokyo WC Trial results, go back to the 2011 Perth National results to see scores for everyone on all apparatus, from which they were selected in the WC Squad.

Anonymous said...

a D score of 3.6 is not an Olympic bar routine.

Anonymous said...

3.6! that is embarassing!!

Anonymous said...

It's a total waste of time to be training a bar routine if you're that bad. Peggy needs to learn about strategy. nobody is better than mediocre on any given event because they waste too much time working their bad events rather than upgrading the events where they can actually help the team. Nobody ever had Cheng Fei wasting time training bars in 2008, nor Ponor in 2004.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that neither Ash nor Peggy really consider her bars as anything more than a fitness exercise.
Seems like a good idea to me given she is on the later part of her career