Sunday, July 29, 2012

Rotation 1 interlude

Can we just for a sec? Yeah. Legend.




I am very proud of this team. They held it together until the end there, and even in mistakes were there for eachother every step of the way. I hope they walked out of the arena with their heads held high. What wonderful ambassadors for gymnastics.


107 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay Lauren but oh argh bars scores ek!

Anonymous said...

Crap Vanessa F Italy just got 14.9 on floor...Any bets thats the last spot for fx final and Lozza gets 9th

Anonymous said...

Where is everyone getting quick hits from? mine are terrible!

Anonymous said...

Australia are likely to finish behind Italy even if they completly nail beam!

Anonymous said...

no floor finals, people need at least 15 to get in, and as the earlier post said, if anything ferarri gets 8th, she gets 9th

Anonymous said...

OMG ASH was so good until the dismount! so sad. We r done

Anonymous said...

Lauren 14.3 on beam so finals but I think Lauren did well in spite of her injuries to do well for the team. The girls did their best.

Anonymous said...

Well Our aussies girls are done but well done! so close to doing well. Overall I thought we looked quite polished just a few unfortunate mistakes.

Feel for all the girls as none of them competed at their best. But I hope they enjoy the rest of the olympics and are proud of themselves

Anonymous said...

thats true. 11th place is still not last place :)

Anonymous said...

Love these girls! I am proud of them all :-)

Anonymous said...

A shameful performance. I don't know why I invest my time and energy to watch a bunch of rusty veterans who can't hit beam when it counts. There is no excuse for Brennan and Bonora out there today.

The selection of Bonora over Monckton was clearly a huge mistake since she couldn't manage the one thing she was selected to do. I'm sick of this mediocrity year after year. Wake me up when they get some guts and ambition and fight for their routines.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:40 sooooo bitter.......

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it....but yeah, not great - those falls. Ash and Georgia really shouldn't have fallen - they have too much experience...and yeah, one reason given for georgia's selection was her reliability on beam.....and she fell. australian gymnasts (sorry)...but I am always hopeful and then get pretty disappointed....!!!! That's the way it goes I guess we are relaying on others to make mistakes now.

On the plus side - Larissa performed well, emily ok except for the mistake on floor. If she makes the AA and hits she could do quite well. Good on you lauren for getting through those routines!!!

Anonymous said...

Yep, pretty disappointing. Not even with the falls but just with the level of gymnastics they showed. It was fairly amateur.

Bent arms and late turns on bars, stumbles on floor, full twisting yurchenkos, a vault performed by level 9s in the US, lack of split in leaps. It's like year after year those inbuilt deductions are ignored, and then we see the e-scores we saw today, in the 7s without falls.

They certainly didn't look like a top 8 team out there today.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9.40 - if you wanted to see a beam routine hit, you should be complaining that Angela Donald wasn't selected. We might have even had an apparatus finalist then. She's smashed Lauren on beam 4 times this year.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Why wasn't Angela there

Anonymous said...

SO bitter? Yeh, I am bitter.

I'm bitter that this is all we have to show for 4 years of bloody hard work. An entire quad has been wasted.

I'm bitter for Mary-Anne and Georgia Rose whose exclusion now looks absolutely ludicrous.

I'm bitter for all the girls who missed out- Chloe, Angela, Zoe, Georgia Simpson and all the others who worked hard and were left off by retirement, injury or non-selection. The girls were not representing themselves today, they were representing our entire gymnastics program and they were a shameful representation of all those wonderful senior elites we have had in the past four years.

I'm bitter that these experienced athletes were entrusted with doing our gymnastics program justice on the world stage and they went out there and made us look like crap.

Yeh I am BITTER. It feels like this whole quad was for nothing.

Anonymous said...

Chill, Everyone. We did as well as was expected by people who are realistic. We are simply not good enough to make it to the Olympic team finals or individual apparatus finals (especially with an injured Lauren) in 2012. Our current crop of Aussie gymnasts just do not have the necessary skills. They certainly tried hard and I'm sure they worked hard, but world class competitive gymnastics is simply not an Aussie strength.

Every four years the team is talked up. But we haven't seen any major improvement in 14 years. The last time I thought 'wow' about the team was 1998. Sure, Lauren has some competitive skills, but one (injured) person cannot carry a team.

Well done to the Aussie team. You have done as well as you possibly could with the skills and talent you have. Keep smiling and be proud of yourselves.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 9.40. Rude and disrespectful. I hope the gymnast you are connected with doesn't get to experience the same ignorance that you have just shown when they have to perform under this kind of pressure. Show some class please.

Anonymous said...

Such a pity Angela wasn't selected. Her beam would have been extremely useful tonight.

Anonymous said...

9.50pm stop barking and get back in your kennel

Anonymous said...

I have to agree the 1998 crop was good!!! I hate to say it but peggy didn;t have much to do with that grp - just came in at the end. We did have some really good skills going and it was competitive to get selected for a team.

anyway, I assume emily and ash are looking good for the AA???

what about larissa in bars - has anyone out scored her as yet??

Anonymous said...

It's all about would've, could've, should've. If other gymnasts have gone instead, given their reputation for inconsistency under pressure, we could have had a total splat fest. Speculation is great in hindsight. Let's just celebrate their efforts and not by nasty. One day it might be one of yours.

Anonymous said...

A huge well done to our girls for putting their hearts and souls into tonight and so clearly trying their very best. I am so proud of them. I could tell they did everything they could muster - as if they would purposely fall or do badly in their routines! that is ludicrous to even suggest.

No doubt they were feeling the pressure and I applaud them for going out there and doing their best. A pat on the back. We are not a strong country gymnastically so I think they should be proud of getting to where they have. They qualified to the Olympics and they should be incredibly proud of that. And now in team qualifications they have gone out there and given it everything they've got.

Well done again girls - don't listen to the haters!

Anonymous said...

I'm very disappointed for the team but highly doubt a different line up of gymnasts left off the team would have made any difference. It's high time Australian gymnastics gets the numbers in the hpc's and elite gyms and works way harder to match the difficulty levels of the rest of the world. Until this happens we're never going to be able to compete with the strong gymnastics nations.
Having said that, The falls we counted today were extremely unfortunate. Georgia was looking great on beam until that unlikely slip, as was ashleigh until her dismount. I really hope something good comes from today's poor showing. Like the other posters, I'm getting so sick of supporting our team year after year only to see them fail at the big events. Well done to Lauren & Larissa who were our stand out performers today.

Anonymous said...

I can understand people being upset. i know I am. Our program is better than this. I just can't shake feelings of deflation tonight.

Throughout the quad I have woken up to watch the girls compete overseas in the middle of the night. I have gone to watch them at events. I have cheered for them, felt nervous for them, and hoped like hell for them to have good performances.

We all know that they're so much better than what they showed tonight, and it is just hard to accept that after seeing some fantastic gymnastics this quad that this is what we have to show for it. It doesn't seem like justice to me, and i am just so disappointed for the girls that they couldn't show how great they can be.

We have some amazing bar workers on the sidelines: Monckton, Brown, Sims, Vivian....yet the bars we showed tonight were certainly substandard for the Olympics. We have amazing beamers at home too, like Donald. Yet beam tonight was our undoing. Things tonight were just so non-representative of us as a gymnastics program.

You know, it was a poor performance tonight, not by everyone, but all had their areas where they could have done better. It is ok to admit it was a bad performance. I'm sure the girls aren't satisfied. Sometimes they have meets that aren't what we hoped them to be. It is just a shame that it was at the biggest meet of the quad when we really could have stepped out there and shown our best. It understandably seems like such a letdown because this is what all the work has gone towards.

I hope that this leads to re-evaluation, whether it be of the program structure, the coaching, or the management of the team. Things have stood stagnant for a while and it seems it is time to move on and try new things. Clearly, the current strategy is not working.

Anonymous said...

when is someone going to tell Peggy to get lost. this team has not improved AT ALL since about 2005. It's time for a change.

Anonymous said...

People are not haters if they are disappointed with the performance tonight. For f*cks sake, people have a right to be disappointed. It was a terrible performance. This is the olympics. Quit shitting sunshine and rainbows and admit it was bad. We have a right to expect better from them. Too many think that supporting them is accepting crappy performances and mediocrity. People who really believe in them recognise when they can do better, simple as that.

Anonymous said...

The Brazilian team average age is 24 years. It is not impossible for iany of the ndividuals from our 2012 team to be back in contention for Rio 2016.

Anonymous said...

I agree with some of the other posts re performance of this team. It was unusual for Ashleigh to underperform. GB well her bars and vault were expected but beam was what she was put in for. I don't think this is her fault she has not performed internationally for 2 years and only competed three times and all local to small crowds and local. Lauren was average for her. I think the star was Larissa she went in on the back of an ankle injury and still did ok performance in both apparatus. Emily did well ( except floor fall). Would the reserves have done better maybe they should've been given a chance it would've been good for the next Olympic rotation. They must've been sitting watching wonder what they thought ????

Anonymous said...

How many times have I watched our girls fail at the big events over the years. I was hoping like crazy it wouldn't happen today, but deep down I knew we had not much hope and were competing on a wing and a prayer. Yawn!!! Time for some major changes, or expect to see the same thing again and again and again!
I feel sorry for the girls though. They gave it their absolute all. It's not their fault - it's the fault of the system as a whole. Don't be down on the girls everyone. Clearly they did the best they could and were trying their butts off.

Anonymous said...

It seems like there might be something about the arena. We saw some massive meltdowns on the mens side from China, Japan and Korea who are very good teams that are usually very well prepared. Some have suggested it might be the colour scheme which is messing with some of the gymnasts orientation in the air.

Anonymous said...

sorry but that is just a stupid excuse. They performed poorly. They have nobody to blame but themselves. Accept it.

Anonymous said...

So now it's the colour scheme that is the problem huh ?
Next it will be the lady in the purple dress or the spotted hat. They bummed out. They are not happy. Peggy was not happy. Who knows why they under performed. They did and that's the way it was.

Anonymous said...

It is a bit bizarre that there have already been so many missed routines.

Anonymous said...

they are probably still jetlagged. They left way to close to the competition.

Anonymous said...

Wow the USA women are making our girls look like level 5's. Unbelievable!!!

Anonymous said...

Canada just had a few mistakes on beam...not that you want to see another team muck up....but for australia's chances to makes the finals...we are kind of relying on this. Few falls, but not sure where this puts them overall kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

canadians are still killing us - they scored 2.0+ more on bars, had 3 floors around the 14.2 mark, and are going to vault which is their best event with several DTYs.

Brits fell on every beam routine but are still beating us to to their difficulty on vault and strong floor.

Anonymous said...

Not to mention there's still Russia, Romania, China and Japan to compete.

Anonymous said...

lol americans are NOT making us look like level 5's. they are making us look like level 2's!

peggy tv- the 24 hour peggy channel. she is making the aussie girls do the dougie and hatching out a plan to stare down all their following competitors and make animal noises when they are on the beam to distract them!

Anonymous said...

and just like that, australia is out of team finals thanks to canadas overuling.

Anonymous said...

I have sympathy for the other members of the team who did their job and were let down by those two, not cool. They have the experience, it is really inexcusable.

Anonymous said...

Australia is currently in 5th with 2 subdivisions to go. Russia and China will surpass us so it's more like they're in 7th. Basically we need one of either Japan or Germany to bomb so Aus can go through.

Lauren is currently 3rd on floor. Tweddle, Moors and Wieber all scored lower than she did. She looks like she could still make finals if China, Romania and Russia don't qualify two girls each. Romania looks likely to but Russia and China may be lacking a solid second floor worker. Germany and Japan shouldn't have anyone who can outscore a 14.833.

Anonymous said...

Is Lauren sitting in 3 rd on floor? Hope she can still scrape into the final. I think Brennan's fall was not good considering her experience and the fact that she has been doing the same routine FOREVER, Benora still puzzles me, she may have had age on her side but has not had the International comps behind her since 2010 to get that constancy up . Still don't agree with that selection, but then don't know how the reserves would have handled the pressure. I think they would have cracked.

Anonymous said...

You're forgetting Romania. So we need both Japan and Germany to bomb. Honestly, the Aussies don't really deserve a team final appearance this time around. You fall and vault yurchenko fulls= you can't expect to make team finals.

Anonymous said...

I just don't see how you could ever trust Brennan or Bonora in competition again. They both melted down in the team finals of commonwealths also. I respect how they have hung on since Beijing but I hope they now move aside and provide some space for the newcomers. It doesn't seem like either will make much effort to upgrade or change their skill set from here, and where's the excitement in that?

Anonymous said...

Even if we scrape in we're only going to finish 7th or 8th so what's the point? Like the other poster said, yurchenko fulls don't cut it! What was our team total?

Anonymous said...

Little' s floor was also a big disappointment , low score for her. Thank God Miller hit her bars! At least she did what she was put inthe team to do, although it wasn't an extremely high scoring routine. Don't see her making the final.Once again it will probably come down to Lauren,hoping she makes the final.

Anonymous said...

Miller is already ranked 14th on bars and the comp is only half over. Miller's bars are extremely overrated. Her e-score was in the 7s with no falls. They consistently overscore her domestically but she never goes higher than the low 14s internationally. She has bent arms, late turns and recatches her releases fairly close.

Anonymous said...

How can our girls be vaulting full twists when other girls are doing 1 and a half twists more? Surely our girls could at least do yurchenko 1 1/2 or 2 twists?

Anonymous said...

apparently no-one can coach vault properly in this country...

Anonymous said...

Germany melted down on beam but their difficulty is so high elsewhere they are still far ahead. They beat us by 3 points on bars!

Anonymous said...

WAIS seems to be decent at producing DTYs (Joura, Mitchell, Little, Chung). Lauren said Nikolai wanted her to start trying for an Amanar after 2010 worlds but then it seemed she was constantly injured so I can see why that may not have eventuated. Little could probably get one around, her DTY in prelims was very dynamic. I think she too has been coming back from some injuries this past year otherwise I'm sure she would have been training it too seeing as she is a better vaulter than Lauren.

A big revamp of the routine composition needs to be done. Bars in particular. The Chinese have been the gold standard for the past 20 years through eagle grip work and the Russians recently have shown how linking transitions from low to high back to low can pay dividends. Neither styles are currently being used here.

Counting C elements on floor and beam is also not going to cut it. Judges have shown that playing it safe and relying on execution isn't a viable route. We've seen tonight that a poorly done Amanar will be judged more leniently than a nice DTY.

Anonymous said...

Now that floor has finished in subdivision 4 it's all but guaranteed that Lauren has made floor finals. Currently in 4th with one subdivision to go. Only Romania and Japan to come along with the mixed groups. Looks like she'll be no lower than 6th going in.

Anonymous said...

it's official - in 8th with Romania to come so out of team finals. Although I don't know why people blame Peggy, if I were her I would be pissed. It is the fault of the athletes. When they have that much experience and strong physical preparation only their own mental weakness is responsible. Peggy cannot control that.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this comp has been a splatfest. Canada and Germany should thank their lucky stars that they goy away with their beam rotations. We also beat Germany on floor by over two points!

Anonymous said...

Gutted for our girls that they could not pull out the goods to make the team final. It was not their night, and whether that was due to headcasiness or what, it's still a huge shame. I thought they would make it :(

Glad Lauren is into floor finals. Maybe she can come back and perform like she did in team qualifications. I certainly hope so. I did think she had a better chance at medalling on beam rather than floor though tbh. Oh well.

Best of luck to Ash and Emily in AA!

Anonymous said...

Exactly. They could have been in the team final but Brennan and Bonora chose not to be. Honestly I feel no sympathy for the girls, their destiny is in their hands and if they can't handle the heat by now, it is only logical that they get out of the kitchen. I feel much worse for the coaches who no doubt are frustrated by this inexplicable meltdown and had no control over the situation.

The main factors that led to it, in my view, are:

1. Falls from Brennan and Bonora (-1.50)
2. Loss of DTY from Mitchell (-0.8)
3. Failure of Miller's bar set (-0.8)
A 14.025 is NOT a bars specialist/7.825 execution - take a look at GBs counting bar scores: 16.15, 14.825, 14.200- HANNAH WHELAN beat our supposed bars specialist on her worst event! She needs to stop being taken for bars because it is total bs and not worth it!
4. Emily's fall (-0.25)
5. Bonora's bar dismount stumble (-0.3)
6. Mitchell's beam errors (-0.7)
7. Miller's floor stumbles (-0.7-she was WELL capable of breaking 14 but missed her stag and had other errors)
8. Brennan's flubbed vault (-0.7) Nearly sat it down, huge penalties.

Anonymous said...

^ that is more than 5 points worth of deductions and that is only the large and very noticeable errors like falls, obvious stumbles or near falls. Can't believe people are still acting like this was a good performance and that we should be proud. Proud of them for representing our country certainly, but not proud of the quality they showed today at all.

Anonymous said...

Ok I found this blog while trying to find out if the Australian team made the all around finals. So many judgemental people! As an Aussie living in the US I rarely get to see or hear about anything other than the US team. At least they showed some of their qualifiers here and said very nice things about the strengths of the australian team and each of the individual gymnasts (and everyone know about the biased US media). I am sure they are all so disappointed to have not performed at their best, especially with the pressure they were under to medal eg Lauren. I noticed just how much better Australia has gotten in a sport that we are not known for. In the end I hope they can have some fun now at the Games in spite of the major disappointment as we are still proud of them!! And one of the American girls, Jordyn Weiber who ha been under a ridiculous amount of media pressure in the US has also missed out on the all around final. Sport is always going to be unpredictable and it has to be so hard to have a bad performance in th Olympics (and I am not a gymnast, ballet dancer).

Anonymous said...

Ok I found this blog while trying to find out if the Australian team made the all around finals. So many judgemental people! As an Aussie living in the US I rarely get to see or hear about anything other than the US team. At least they showed some of their qualifiers here and said very nice things about the strengths of the australian team and each of the individual gymnasts (and everyone know about the biased US media). I am sure they are all so disappointed to have not performed at their best, especially with the pressure they were under to medal eg Lauren. I noticed just how much better Australia has gotten in a sport that we are not known for. In the end I hope they can have some fun now at the Games in spite of the major disappointment as we are still proud of them!! And one of the American girls, Jordyn Weiber who ha been under a ridiculous amount of media pressure in the US has also missed out on the all around final. Sport is always going to be unpredictable and it has to be so hard to have a bad performance in th Olympics (and I am not a gymnast, ballet dancer).

Anonymous said...

Firstly, congratulations to Lauren for making floor final. Congratulations to Emily and Ashleigh for making All Around final. Well done girls.

The team result just makes me so very disappointed.

So, hopefully some good can come from this. If they had come 5th, 6th, 7th... then nothing would have changed. GA would have said "they just had a bad day". (They did have a bad day.) BUT 10th is so low, that MAYBE someone will spark to the idea that the current program just isn't delivering. Hopefully changes will be made. Hopefully someone will look at Australia's D scores and think "Hmm... we have a problem there." So maybe this may lead to a shake up, and hopefully things will improve for future Olympics (and all the other competitions between).

Surely something will have to change on the basis of that result.

Anonymous said...

They need to change their camps before comps. They are just getting run into the ground.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately if you fail like that at a major event, the future funding does not look good at all. This program needs a complete shake up, the same things happen every time. The girls look tired, overtrained and they are not even doing routines that are world class!!! What an embarassment that we tried to qualify with full twisting yurchenkos..... Putting the team out there with those vaults demonstrates how poorly this team is managed. Time for change, new vision, new direction and perhaps even treating the girls like the adults they are.

Anonymous said...

It's time for Peggy to go. Her strategy is completely wrong. In the current code only difficulty matters. They need someone who can plan how to get high difficulty scores.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure why there is so much disappointment. Did anyone see the 2012 Nationals? Did anyone view the results from te 2012Nationals? When the local competitions are so poor, you cannot expect the team to suddenly improve dramatically at the biggest competition in the quad.

Olympic preparation takes 8 years. The writing has been on the wall for 8 years that this team cannot compete with the super powers.

The main disappointment for me is that teams like GB and Canada are improving all the time, and we're doing the opposite. We only have one gymnast on our team who can compete with other nations on two apparatus.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone see if Foxtel are re-broadcasting subdivision 4 quals? I'm annoyed I didn't record it overnight assuming it would be re-broadcast and now I can't find that it is.

Mez said...

Anon: Yes, they should. Yesterday Foxtel replayed most (all?) of the men's prelims as our daytime is London nighttime. Good luck!

Guys, please refrain from offensive language in the comments.

Anonymous said...

Yes we need to improve our difficulty, but that comes at a cost, more injuries. We simply don't have the numbers to be able to experiment with to much difficulty. As it is, Peggy was limited to numbers for selection for this team. With a lot of girls injured she could not afford any more. Our reserves probably wouldn't have done much to change the situation . It's all very well to say we need to increase difficulty, I say the execution let us down here. BIG TIME!! It's a shame Peggy had to rely on age and experience, her gamble didn't pay off but her hands were tied, she really had no other choices.

Anonymous said...

I am very proud of the Australian girls - just not their best day at the office - but they gave their best.

That said, I agree with some of the comments posted previously about the need for change in the Australian program. When you look at the D and E scores for the Australian girls, they pale very much compared to other countries.

I think that by limiting the elite gymnasts to selecting girls who are 7-8 yo, who happen to already been at a Club with an elite program, is going to absolutely lessen the pool of talent that Australia has to draw on.

Why doesn't GA go around Australia and scout other Clubs for talent? Why aren't they holding talent identification sessions all around Australia?

I just think that there are some simple things that GA could do to increase the depth of talent Australia has to offer.

Anonymous said...

It really is time for Peggy to go! Actually long overdue as the results from the qualifications showed. Her main goal was for the girls to maintain the 6th placing in the team final. For the girls not to even make the final is a failure that she must take responsibility for. There are so many bad decisions that she has made:
1.extremely poor planning for this quad. The girls were largely ignored when they were in the Int 6 and 8 levels.
2. Slow to keep up with the changes in the CoP
3. The pressure for the girls to improve their difficulty quickly lead to huge numbers of girls injured
4.Choosing a handful of favourites that get lots of opportunites and encouragement that hasn't always been deserved. Coaches and gymnasts are aware who the favourites are. Very demoralising for the ones who aren't favourites.
5. Puts too much pressure on the top few
6. Favourites aren't pushed to improve and need to rely on girls who compete with injuries
7. Lots of talented girls leave the sport because lack of incentive to stay or don't perform to potettial
8. She fails to bring out the best in the girls. They arrived far too late in London!

Anonymous said...

It really is time for Peggy to go! Actually long overdue as the results from the qualifications showed. Her main goal was for the girls to maintain the 6th placing in the team final. For the girls not to even make the final is a failure that she must take responsibility for. There are so many bad decisions that she has made:
1.extremely poor planning for this quad. The girls were largely ignored when they were in the Int 6 and 8 levels.
2. Slow to keep up with the changes in the CoP
3. The pressure for the girls to improve their difficulty quickly lead to huge numbers of girls injured
4.Choosing a handful of favourites that get lots of opportunites and encouragement that hasn't always been deserved. Coaches and gymnasts are aware who the favourites are. Very demoralising for the ones who aren't favourites.
5. Puts too much pressure on the top few
6. Favourites aren't pushed to improve and need to rely on girls who compete with injuries
7. Lots of talented girls leave the sport because lack of incentive to stay or don't perform to potettial
8. She fails to bring out the best in the girls. They arrived far too late in London!

Anonymous said...

What is your idea? How do you want to change it? . Do you want to remove the training fees and give them a $3000 monthly salary instead ( like in Russia), or wood like to give them a free University education( like in USA) . You getting the results what the sistem allows you to get and just exception can happened.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree about the favourites, why has Brennan not been asked to increase difficulty in the past 4 years and only started bars late into the season. If she had started earlier on bars perhaps she could have offered more. Same with Little and Miller with regards to upgrades. It seems to me that some of these girls dictate what THEY want to do rather than the other way around and as they don't have the competition to replace them they are allowed to dictate how they will train and what they will do and the double standards in the gyms put a lot of other gymnasts of side.it will be interesting to see what happens after this . I hope it just doesn't fall back into the same routine of the same girls getting selected all the time. Time to move on for some of these girls to allow some others the same opportunities. They have just shown that they ate not stand out gymnasts. Can't see any of them increasing on what they sowed here.

Anonymous said...

As the parent of a gymnast all I can say is it is a very tough sport--maybe the toughest. Girls start training in school time from as early as Grade 2 to 3. What other sport requires its athletes to miss so much of their education so young? The injuries also start from a young age. My daughter had elbow surgery at age 11. Girls drop out for many reasons--they lose motivation, want to follow other interests, can't keep up with training demands, fall behind in school and so on. We're in it for the long haul if that's what our daughter wants. But it doesn't look like there are any or many rewards for Australian gymnasts after all of the sacrifices.

Anonymous said...

To anon at 3.14am. Your comments are cruel to girls who have worked their bodies to a pulp for this sport. To suggest that Ashleigh and Georgia 'chose' to not make finals is stupid,not to mention hurtful to those girls who actually read this blog. Ash is our current national champion and performed solidly apart from her beam mishap (others made errors as well). Bonora was just as surprised as the next person to be on this team, trained gruelling numbers with everyone else and earned her place from performing clean routines. Her beam routine was solid, like Ash's. The falls would have been devastating for the girls. Unkind cruel personal attacks to girls who have given so much is even more devastating. They did the best they could. Don't make it personal.

Anonymous said...

Good point anon 9.40. Our system offers bugger all!
Yes, if they are on a scholarship ,fees and support staff are paid for, but nothing else. All medical, Physio, massage ect I believe is at the cost of the gymnast. No school help or money to survive on when these girls can't really go out and get a job! Funding is nothing, unless you are Lauren Mitchell. So very little incentive apart from the love of the sport. Sadly these results are not going to help that situation.

Anonymous said...

When all is said and done, in any other sport, the coach must accept the blame for athletes not competing to their potential. Peggy is the root of the problem. The favouratism shown certain athletes is ludicrous. Peggy and GA lack transparency as if gymnastics and gymnastics selections are only able to be made by a select few. The vault last night was embarrassing, absolutely shameful. At least we now have some juniors that have started training anamars. In any other sport, if an athlete can't cut it, they get the boot and the same goes for the coach. Surely her time is done!!!

Anonymous said...

Well said 9:57 only a few make it to this level of gymnastics, I feel for both Georgia and ash as their own disappointment of themselves is more than enough to deal with, they dont need to read the hurtful comments, these girls train so hard and i for one am proud of them no matter where they place...that's what the Olympic spirit is meant to be about!? :)

Mez said...

Just take it easy on the girls, okay everyone? Be constructive in criticisms and at LEAST try and take some good things away from last night.


The fact is, as disappointed as we all are in what happened, right now they're all probably being tenfold as hard on themselves in their private time. That's hard enough and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Anonymous said...

Some very un-australian comments posted on this blog. I am ashamed that fellow australians take this stance and jump to bag these incredible athletes off. We should be celebrating their achievements and not their falls. We saw some graceful and beautiful gymnastics put out there securing spots in finals. Stand up and be proud of what they have done. They may not have done as well as you all expected, but they don't owe anything to you. What is done is done. It is always nice in hindsight to say 'if only....'. Lets try and be a bit more positive!

Anonymous said...

People are right. We need more numbers. To do this we need more clubs like Waverley producing elites, not just relying on the HPCs. We also need to target NSW. Our biggest population base hasn't produced a senior international for years. That needs to be fixed.

Anonymous said...

Team performance aside, it's great that Lauren made floor finals and that Ash and Emily are in the AA. That must be satisfying for Ash after not being given the chance in Beijing (can't remember if she did all apparatus there). Had she not fallen on her beam dismount, she probably would be in that final too.

But I do think some major changes need to be made at the top in terms of coaching staff. It amazes me how far we've fallen behind the rest of the world in terms of our difficulty. Where are the girls doing Shap 1/2 transitions to the high bar? This has been a trending move since 2009 (I know Khorkina did it way before though). Why doesn't Larrissa Miller do that Adler move anymore? Where's Emily's full twisting back on beam? I know it takes ages to get consistency in these moves but if you don't throw them in competition then that doesn't help either.

Peggy is the national team coach so in the end the buck stops with her. If she doesn't go, then I think a serious rethink of our strategy is required. Why go into the biggest comp of the gym calendar with a strategy of low difficulty and hope the execution scores hold up? I also have concerns over the large number of girls who leave this sport. This seems to have been a big problem the last two quads. Still can't believe the retirement of Dykes, Hernandez and Sims less than 12 months before Beijing- yes I know Sims gave it another shot - but it makes you wonder what's going on. We had a huge pool of 1995 born girls this time round and hardly any of them are still in the sport (I'm looking at you, VIS).

If Australia keeps going with the current strategy of low difficulty with good execution then I think we can kiss goodbye a team spot in Rio. Which is even more concerning with the small pool of juniors coming through.

Anonymous said...

I agree that some of the comments are too harsh.

However, nothing gets my blood boiling than when people (ordinary people, commentators, media) accuse others of being 'Un Australian'. WTF does that even mean? Aren't Australians entitled to have an opinion, to criticise coaches, the system, whatever the latest gripe is. It's a meaningless accusation, so just stop it.

As for having an opinion, criticising athletes, coaches, etc., watch a bit of footy and then discuss it with your mates and collegue on a Monday morning. Everyone has an opinion, and it's usually very strong and accusatory. And having an opinion about footy (or indeed any sport) is about as Australian as one can get.

So no more meaningless un-Australian labels please. It's overused and totally pointless.

Nik said...

Wow harsh comments! Yeah that was disappointing but Peggy predicted 6-10th position and unfortunately it was 10th. Lauren qualified 5th to Fx with a large stumble, a bad finishing leap and potential to add another 360 degrees to her pirouette. If she medals (I actually don't predict she will but you NEVER know) then everyone on here will probably eat their words.

All the comments about the selection of Georgia and Ash are ridiculous. Ash was our NATIONAL CHAMP, yeah she only started training bars recently but because she HAD to, could she have predicted that Lauren's should would be injured two years ago? And Georgia, yeah she had a fal, but at trial she was the only one bar Lauren and Angela that didn't! Does everyone forget that Mez fell? Georgia Rose fell? Chloe fell, Olivia fell, Ash fell, Emily fell... Angela wasn't ready on bars, they needed someone on bars to cover Lauren's defecit.

I agree there needs to be a change in planning, and that change probably won't impact til 2020 because these things take time.

It's easy to get emotional and go off your nut (I know I did at home) but to put harsh words like "sick of this mediocrity year after year" "Choosing a handful of favourites that get lots of opportunites and encouragement that hasn't always been deserved" are just presumptive and ridiculous. Blaming it on jetlag is ridiculous, have you travelled overseas? It takes way less than 10days to get rid of jet lag. Adding up all their deductions like anon at 3.14AM is pointless, if CAN didn't have falls they would have been ahead, GER too, UK too... no one can have a perfect comp.

As I said, I'm hell-disappointed with the teams comp but Pumped for FX final and really hoping Ash and Em go really well in AA too. GO AUS!!

Anonymous said...

The question is why doesn't NSW have a proper WAG HPC program?

Anonymous said...

I think the NSW HPC problem was just politics. They ditched it years ago, but kept the MAG program. Something fishy happened there. And Australian gymnastics has been the loser with the lack of gymnasts coming from there.

Anonymous said...

I predict a Top 24 finish for Emily and Ash in the AA. :o)

Anonymous said...

The problem with NSW is that nobody has setup a HPC program. The VIS program was setup by Fiona Bird out of a club and has steadily grown to where it is today. The other HPC were the result of a lot of effort from a small number of people. Unfortunately for NSW, nobody has done something similar there. Plus there is also a culture of clubs not wanting to give up their best gymnasts to a HPC program. They would rather have them do well at national levels.

Anonymous said...

If you don't actually know what the "problem" is with a NSWHPC then don't make a comment claiming what the problems are. NSWIS doesn't want to fund womens gym. Without institute funding there is no economical viability of such a program. Full stop. End of story.

Anonymous said...

So, why would they fund MAG but not WAG? It doesn't make sense. Someone was doing something stupid and stuffed it up for everyone.

Anonymous said...

"Someone was doing something stupid and stuffed it up for everyone" ... again, no. They stopped funding a HPC in the 90s. Not viable with the AIS program not far away, difficult to manage, too many short-term athletes. There are probably a myriad of reasons. Regardless, it's not that people did something stupid, or couldn't be bothered putting in the work to get a program going, it was an institute decision made by executives.

Anonymous said...

Listen to all you nasty witches. you wouldnt be slaging the girls if your daughter was up there preforming. all i can say thank god my daughter is no longer in the sport these girl bust there backside with little or no REWARDS.

Anonymous said...

Maybe see how we can support the NSW programs that are trying!! HPC can only be built over time, with the correct people and a lot of patience...... maybe we should find ways to help support them - there are a few programs in NSW quietly building step by step and planning for big things in the future

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say how impressed I was with Emily's floor routine - she has made such massive improvements in her dance/expression moves! You can tell she's not a natural dancer, but must have worked do hard to get some fluidity and expression into her routine. Well done!!
Polly

Anonymous said...

as a parent of one of the grails
Most off you people should be disgusted with your comments I can tall u it is harder then you all think to be a elite gymnast in aus. it is harder then you all think to be a coaches /support stuff in aus .

i am not saying that GA is doing a fantastic job. there is a lot more they can do, but it's not as easy as you all think
and as for pejjy and co , they do all they can and a lot more with the resources they have for a small country like us we do vary wall
As for the girls (and boys to) they work there buts of to do what they do there harts field with hope of competing for the country they love .
And some get to do that. Some don’t it’s the way it is they get disappointed but they understand it is sport
And for the ones that did go they did all they could they gave it all they had on the night and the fact that all you people can do is criticize them is disgusting

Anonymous said...

Bravo anon 4:20 and 8:05!!! I have also been reading this with disgust and disbelief at the slanderous and nasty comments that have been made. Who do you think you are?!!?

As a parent of a daughter in the early stages of her gymnastics career having been spotted for her strength and flexibility and offered a place to train to an elite level, we now question whether we have made the right decision. You wonder why numbers are low .... I'll tell you one reason ... why on earth would we allow our daughter's to be a part of something which wreaks of the level of nastiness displayed in this blog! Think about it!!

Lauren, Emily, Ashleigh, Larissa and Georgia ... we're proud of you! It wasn't your day to make the Team Final but how fantastic for Emily and Ashleigh to make the All-Around Final, and Lauren the Floor Final. We'll be nervously watching, cheering and probably shedding a proud tear for you all! You're already winners in my book!!

Anonymous said...

Once again, while you keep babying these adult women, who are elite athletes, they will never live up to their potential.

"Oh, good job for getting out there and having a go" is something said to an Under 9 kid at a local meet - not an adult representing Australia at the Olympics.

If you can't take the heat, time to leave the kitchen.

Anonymous said...

to everyone that is commenting on this blog. i know its been said before, but leave the girls alone. they have given up everything in hope that one day they will compete for australia or even at the olympics. i am a past elite gymnasts and i know how much it puts you down when bad stuff is wrote on here by either parents or other gymnasts. these girls have just competed for their country in the biggest event of their carriers and they obviously tried their hardest. stop to think that they might be upset with their result and you saying stuff is just making them feel bad. next time you go to put another gymnast down, stop and think about giving up every single thing and having to put your body under such pressure for years. good on you girls. you did all of us proud x

Anonymous said...

Thank you^^
As a current current gymnast it is hard to read such things about these girls because I can totally relate. I also know how they would feel reading all this. Really spare a thought, please.

Anonymous said...

Silver lining...Peggy leaves!

Anonymous said...

Peggy = worst dictator

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it under Peggy's leadership that Australia got our first ever gold at worlds? The juniors and seniors competing all over the world for the last few years have done such a good job. Look at commonwealth games, youth olympics, etc etc etc. Really? blame Peggy? I think she's done a great job.

Anonymous said...

Australia got a bronze at worlds because a couple of Chinese girls didn't leave the podium when required - probably due to language issues.

Peggy has done a good job IMHO, but perhaps we need a change. I feel sorry for her. People here want to blame anyone but the athletes themselves.

As for the alleged ex-gymnasts and families coming here and getting upset about the negative comments, it's a good thing you chose gymnastics and you live in Australian. In any other sport (and for gymnastics in any other country), you would be subject to much harsher fan criticism.

You want unconditional praise? No matter how poor the performance? Really?

Nik said...

Under Peggy we've had a team bronze, an AA bronze, a BB and FX silver and a FX gold all at world championships... I would say that is pretty damn good. It wasn't all that long ago we weren't ever making finals of any sort.

I know she has her critics but I've seen her in action and I commend her work. Maybe it's time for a change (in head coach or high performance focus/strategy) but give Peggy her dues, under her leadership we have achieved some prett sweet accolades.

As for the girls, yep, they messed up when it counted. So did Magnussen and everyone went wild on him too and he's only 20 as well. I don't agree with either attack. These athletes are out there busting ass to make their families and their country proud. I'm sure they are putting they heart and soul into every effort. We can criticise their performance or preparation or whatever, it's a free world. But you would think that as fans we could have some appreciation, thanks and excitement about the efforts they made, the three women's finals they reached and their gymnastics over the years. The bitterness and the tall poppy syndrome of AUS has really shown through across these first 4 days of Olympics and its kinda sad. Gosh knows we, as a nation, have invested some emotion into these athletes (of all sports) but they have invested their LIVES.

Anonymous said...

Magnussen is a spoilt little brat who deservesa good kick up the bum. I'm glad our gymnasts aren't cocky like that.

Yes, we've done okay at Worlds (team bronze wasn't based on skill though). But why do we always crap out at the Olympics. Something is wrong - very wrong. The other nations peak at the right time. Why can't we?