There's Something About Mary-Anne

Sometimes big surprises come in little packages.

While Lauren Mitchell gave Australia it's second 4th placing of the Doha Challenger World Cup (nothing to sniff at of course, it's a pretty A+ new floor routine!), it was dark horse senior Mary-Anne Monckton who hung on for our only medal of the competition, and her first at a World Cup. PB's don't come much better than an international silver medal.

With a 14.700, Mez placed second to Larisa Iordache, and as you can see in the video above gave a performance more than worthy of being alongside the popular Romanian. We hope to see her give this kind of performance at the state and national championships, as the road to Rio swings by Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.

Doha Double Acts

Victorian Women's High Performance Centre revealed today that the fourth senior joining Lauren Mitchell, Olivia Vivian and Mary-Anne Monckton in Doha is..... ALEX EADE!

Alex and Mary-Anne have arrived safely and look psyched for the competition!

Update Friday:

You win some, you lose some. After putting in a great effort to qualify second, Olivia managed 4th in the uneven bars final after taking an extra swing and losing form. In true Liv style, she has remained upbeat and philosophical about her finish. Heck, she danced on the sidelines before her score even flashed up! Victoria's Alex Eade unfortunately finished well out of contention on floor but will surely only get better from here.

Lauren and Mary-Anne will compete their finals overnight, floor and beam respectively, here's hoping they can replicate or better their top-4 rankings from qualifying.

You can read Olivia's "Doha Diaries" here and here.

Apparently the competition is being livestreamed via dohagym.com

JESOLO 2014 LIVE!

.... Will be happening right here, so watch that countdown clock!

While this Twitter is updating scores -- if you're reading this at 9pm Saturday they're doing it RIGHT NOW! GO GO GO GO GO GO!

Update 12:40am: Unfortunately I won't be staying up to watch the senior competition.

I can tell you, however that Australia's juniors had a mixed bag of a day, finishing in 5th place as a team. Results courtesy of the Italian Gymnastics Federation can be found here.

Update Sunday: Good morning!

Rewatch the coverage from the senior team and AA event here.

The introduction of the gymnasts is particularly interesting. Instead of marching in behind flags on poles, the athletes walk out behind flagbearers carrying their flag aloft as though it were a military ceremony. Then, an excerpt of each country's national anthem is played before they are sent off to start rotations.

The senior team finished in 4th. Australia's highest AA finisher was Kiara Munteanu in 9th. I have had a quick skip through the footage, I landed on more Aussies in the second half of it then the first so I'll go back and watch in full later today. Kiara stood up her double arabian like an absolute pro (but the same unfortunately can't be said for the punch tuck half on beam, eeeeesh) and Alex Eade has a fun new floor!

A Couch Gymnast wrap up is here. Full results can be seen here.

Update 9:45pm Sunday - apparatus finals happening right now, right here!

You Aint Seen The Last Of Lauren

International Gymnast have just posted a catch-up with Lauren Mitchell who confirms her participation in, and expectations for, next week's Doha World Cup.

 "At this point in time I have put different skills in my routines to fit into the new Code of Points, which I haven't yet competed with," Mitchell said. "In terms of peaking, I'm not planning to peak at this competition as I still have to compete later on in the year, that I want to be fit and healthy for."

And if you see my Jesolo post below, you will find a link to a brand new video of Lauren's coach Martine George advising that Loz's control tests, being filmed and sent to her from back home, are "looking good".

Livin' La Vita Bella

Best wishes to the Aussie delegation bound for next weekend's City of Jesolo Trophy competition.

VWHPC has posted this photo with a shout-out to the Victorian athletes (including an addition to the lineup, or possibly a travelling reserve, in the form of Alex Eade).

As two Waverley gymnasts embark on their first international outing, the club farewelled one of its superstars. In this brief video, John and Shao-Yi and a gym full of admiring youngsters say some kind words and watch on as Georgia Bonora performs an uneven bars skill for the very last time.

Best wishes to all as they head off on new adventures...

******

Like Waverley Gymnastics on Facebook to see some photos of the team out and about in Italy. They look darn good in a gondola!


The Italian Gymnastics Federation will reportedly livestream the competition at their Youtube channel right here.

Friday - Aussie coach Martine George took some time out to speak with Gymnastike about Australia's journey to Jesolo after disappointment in London, including upgrades and seniors to watch out for.

Pacific Terrific

Australia has named its full delegation to the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships, this time to be held in Canada.

See the lineups for artistic, rhythmic and trampoline here.

Yes, that is Australian upstart and Nadia Comaneci International all-around champion Georgia Godwin gracing the cover of the latest IG magazine, right next to Olympic superstar Epke Zonderland!

Wonder if this is a sign of more good things to come!

I'll Be Senior

Stanford Athletics have provided this really lovely video reflection on the careers of outgoing seniors Amanda Spinner and Shona Morgan. *sniff* Is it a little dusty in here or...?

"Shona is calm, cool, quirky and comedic. She leads us off on three events, and sets the tone with her aggressive and artistic work..."