Monday, October 6, 2014

2014: WAG Qualifying (contin.)

The hour draws ever near!

Feast your eyes on some of the quick hit links below from 9:00pm AEDST to follow the Aussie girls in action in preliminary finals. (Unfortunately the subdivision will not be livestreamed, by USAG at least.)


Gymnastics Australia has confirmed that the lineup will not include Lauren Mitchell and the start list (page 41) reflects as such. Our all-arounders will be Vivian, Brown and Munteanu.

Best wishes to all the girls. They don't have an easy task but we know they will do their very best!

(UPDATE - An NNTV (TV China) link is here, they keep crossing to the arena so we *might* see Australia on it?)

EDIT 10:10PM THE NNTV LINK IS WORKING I CAN SEE AUSTRALIA ON BARS!

PURPLE FLAME LEO!

During warmup, IG updated this:

"Lauren Mitchell was scheduled to compete here and even did podium training, but after that she injured her ankle on the landing of a 2-1/2 twist to punch front. It's a soft tissue injury, but there is just not enough time for it to heal well enough for her to compete. We all look forward to see her in Glasgow next year!!!"

74 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a good beam rotation thank god! Nedov 14.26 (wow!!!), Munteanu 13.166, Monckton 13.3, Brown 13.33 and Vivian 13.066! Fingers crossed for the next three! :)

Anonymous said...

And Miller is currently 8th on FX!

14.166. Still time for another gymnast to push her out, but that is really impressive. Keep it up, girls. :)

Anonymous said...

Larissa's bars is stunning 14.566! Who would have thought a few years ago when we were worried about our depth on bars that we'd come out with such a strong bars rotation! Great job by all the girls :)

Anonymous said...

at the end of subdivision 11 of 12, Australia is in 8th and is the final team to make the team final. Only 2 full teams competing in subdivision 12 and I doubt either of them will beat our scoree - yay for team final:)

Anonymous said...

Shame about Larrissa missing out on bars by about 0.2 - I really thought her bars deserved an event final.

But perhaps a final on floor?!

And we are in 8th as a team! Looks like we're in the team final. I am so proud of the girls; they proved that they are wonderful gymnasts in their own rights today. :)

Mez said...

Wow. They put in an absolute nail-biter. 8th is a tremendous effort and I really, really hope France doesn't topple them!

Aaaahhh I'm just so happy!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad of how they did, just shows that we don't need Lauren (this is being said in the nicest possible way and with no offence meant to Lauren), I know there were a lot of people who doubted the team without her but they did an awesome job tonight! Brilliant effort in particular by Larissa on bars and floor and Emma on beam! Stoked for them and fingers crossed they make TF! :)

Mez said...

They put in an enquiry for Rissa - now 6.1/14.666!!!

Anonymous said...

Given That the French team at Europeans did not make the team final there and with some of those gymnasts anchoring this team in Nanning, it might prove difficult for them to overtake the Aussies.

Anonymous said...

Larrissa currently in 8th for FX and 1st reserve for UB.

Even if she gets pipped, what a qualification round by her! :)

Anonymous said...

take your loans and piss off

Anonymous said...

Wow 8th in team All Around. Where are the haters..

Anonymous said...

Brilliant work by Emma on bars and vault. Who would have thought...

Anonymous said...

- 8th as a team; only 1 point behind Romania.
- Emma 1st reserve for beam final.
- Larrissa 1st reserve for bars, and last qualifier on floor! (WOW!)
- Every girl putting in really solid efforts.
- 5/5 on pretty much every apparatus.

And all without Lauren, who - whilst important and absolutely incredible in her own right - can't hold up the team forever. The girls today showed they can stand tall and proud.

Brilliant job girls. :)

Anonymous said...

Why are Australian girls still doing level 10 gymnastics? Great Britain has now surpassed Australia by a mile. It's a shame because America is so far ahead of us.

Anonymous said...

I suppose qualifying 8th in the world is not a big deal to you then? Why would you try and compare Australia to America or Great Britain with a population of 300 million and 64 million respectively? Here come the trolls.

Anonymous said...

Georgia-Rose qualified for all round finals. Well done.

Anonymous said...

Bloody good job girls!

Anonymous said...

what the hell are you going on about?

Anonymous said...

def a troll

Anonymous said...

no its spam

Anonymous said...

So proud of the Aussie girls. I have to say though, it wasna little embarrassig when Olivia Vivian competed only a Yurchenko Lay. Surely after all of these years of training she could pull out more than the IDP 8's and up can do. Appart from Larissa on floor, the floor scores were dismal as well. But they did what they had to do and overall they did a fabulous job coming 8th. There is certainly room for upgrades on floor however.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I'm not a troll, just a fan of gymnastics. What's with the name calling? Just because I criticize the program, does not imply that I hate it or I'm trolling. I'm glad that Australia qualified in Team Finals! But the quality of their gymnastics is so bad, let's be honest, shall we?

Why are the girls doing college level vaults? FTY, seriously? They have the body type to do harder vaults, why aren't they doing it? All of their difficulties across all apparatus are so low, and match that with poor execution, there goes your disastrous scores.

The Australian Gymnastics Committee really need to reevaluate their goals. Do they want to stay mediocre or do they want to start winning?

Australia has fallen off the wagon, and instead of criticizing the program, fans defend the fact that it's so bad by calling people "trolls" or "haters". Listen, I want Australia to do well because I really love the team and the country. They need to fire Peggy Liddick, pronto! She's useless and hasn't produced a quality gymnast since Mitchell, and Mitchell is getting old. When Mitchell retires, there are no more superstar that Australia gymnastics in its roster, and kiss goodbye to any potential medals.

I'm glad that Australia qualified, but this is really bad. 8th place is not something to celebrate.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 8:01 AM,

Romania's economy and population isn't as big as Australia, but why are they doing so well in gymnastics? Population doesn't have anything to do with the sport, it's all about how the athletes are trained.

Why is Australia so strong and competitive in swimming against the US, UK, France, etc., despite having smaller population? Answer: Because the training and the coaches are superb! No one wants to win silver in swimming, everyone wants gold, and that's a good attitude to have.

Oz gymnastics(I'm talking about the committee) are just happy that they qualified. That's not he right attitude to have. Why spend time and money and energy, when your goals is only to "qualify"? It doesn't make sense. We need to have that, GO BIG OR GO HOME attitude. It'll be good for us.

Anonymous said...

actually its seo

Anonymous said...

Re anon 9.31am I agree you are not a troll.
Its always hard for people to take feedback postitively re an athlete as most people on this blog are gymnasts, parents of gymnasts or relatives of gymnasts and it feels like its a personal attack rather than feedback.
I agree that our program needs to be critiqued. Re population and gymnastics I think its more about popularity and funding that creates a program that is successful. In countries like Romania gymnastics is a very popular sport and has a much higher profile than it does in Australia. There is also a better financial support program available to train the gymnasts at little or lower expense to parents.
In Australia Gymnastics is a low profile sport and a difficult sport to train in physically not to mention for a lot of families expensive. Yes they are not performing at the highest level but all girls out there at the moment are training hard many with injuries. We have very little depth in the sport at the moment. Its not so much what is available right now at the top that we need to concerntrate on but what is coming up from below and how to popularise the sport and create publich interest to attract greater funding to support growth in the programs.

Anonymous said...

shut up

Anonymous said...

you shut up

Anonymous said...

Anons 9:31 and 10:10...
I agree with your viewpoints. Thanks for sharing some rational and realistic thoughts! We can still love our sport and be concerned and disappointed about it's progress and direction at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive. I'm stoked we qualified for team finals but at the same time, realise just how much we need to up our difficulty, especially vault (where it's bordering on embarrassing) and also floor. These gymnasts have all the potential in the world and it kills me to not see them utilising their amazing gifts and abilities to their full potential.

Anonymous said...

when in doubt blame peggy

Anonymous said...

I really don't think that blaming peggy is any solution to creating a stronger program. I agree with above comments about developing the public awareness and creating a better image for the gymnasts so the sport becomes popular and grows. If we have a stronger popularity we will develop a greater following and more funding. Diving gets more funding than gymnastics. Its time to create a greater depth in the sport so when asked to join or trial for an elte group its a privilege at the moment we tend to need every gymnast we have so the coaches are limited in what they can do. Not every gymnast is suited to the same skills.

Anonymous said...

i always blame piggy

Anonymous said...

I am also in two minds. Fact is they hit but they only made TF because they hit and Germany didn't. The gulf is definitely widening between Australia and italy/Great Britain/Germany/Japan.

If we turned up at worlds next year with 4 yurchenko doubles that would go a long way to helping us crack that top 8 consistently, but people are surprised we are there because fact is, we are no longer a top 8 team. In the past we would cruise to a 5th or 6th.

Did anyone else notice also that a lot of these routines were watered down per quick hits? No barani on beam for Kiara, no illusion for Georgia Rose either. Emma's floor d-score in 4s.

I'm glad for them, but we are still a long way from where we were when we were 8th in 2008, for example.

Don't forget GB were without Tunney, Italy without Meneghini, Germany without Seitz on three events, plus Jarosch and Berger.

I am optimistic though. Godwin + Mitchell would have made a big difference. I think our juniors are coming along well enough. I guess my only concern is that indeed we have no replacement 'star' - who can fill that hole when Lauren is gone. And who knows if this is it for Lauren - she might not want to train for another year, and has not committed past this meet.

My best guess is that Djuric, Whitehead, Folino and Meggs will form the AA core of the team after Rio.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know anything regarding the new rules regarding the National Level program coaches being able to allow girls with high D scores at Junior and Senior Levels to compete in the International Stream. Would this new program allow for more depth in Australia and more girls to choose from. Do they even have a chance of being selected if they have come from a National level club rather than a HPC.

Anonymous said...

I really dislike this mentality that if you express any concerns or criticism about results or the direction of the sport you're a "hater".

I love this sport. I wouldn't be leaving comments on this blog if I didn't. While I'm very happy for the girls I don't think making TF should be a cause for huge celebration. I expect them to make TF because God knows they're certainly capable of making TF.

You're not a hater if you acknowledge that our VT line up is worse than the ones the Soviets used to rock in the mid 80s. You're not a hater for expressing concern that they had to put routines up with D scores under 5.

Peggy sent no one to worlds last year because it was meant to be a rebuilding year for people to work on their difficulty. Fast forward one year and we have yurchenko lay outs and fulls being competed. How is that not a failure to deliver an increase in difficulty? Obviously this can't all be blamed on Peggy because she is not the girl's personal coaches but there seems to be systemic issues in regards to the girls not getting better difficulty and their execution is not making up for the discrepancy.

Emma Nedov killed it on BB at her first major international comp and is the first reserve for finals. Could you imagine how much more polished she'd be if she had competed last year or at Commonwealth Games? Gerogia Godwin was our national AA champion and she gets left off the Comm Games team. If she wasn't too injured to win nationals surely she wasn't too injured to go to Glasgow. As I understand it the reason she missed worlds was due to another injury incurred later in the year. In hindsight her missing Comm Games seems even worse now because she's missed worlds and despite being our best AAer has very little international experience. Missing worlds makes being left off the Comm Games team into an even bigger slight because she didn't get the chance to represent her country later in the year like we all assumed she would.

It's things like poor selection policy and an inability to add innovation into the sport that can be blamed on Peggy not the more fundamental technical problems which are really a coaches job.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I was going to ask about the skills that seemed to be missing from the beam routines (not sure about other apparatus)...but it seems like that was a good strategy - they had few falls and made team finals. Kairra's brani seemed to be a bit inconsistent in the other international meets she competed in earlier this year and I think?? Georgia-Rose may have fallen on that complicated turn (sorry, don't know the name) at commonwealth games..so probably a good strategy to leave them out. Will be interesting to see if the girls add them in for the team final. They don't have anything to lose, really - they can only improve don 8th place.

Great job for Emma Nedov!! Very, very close to the beam final!! Realistically if Lauren hit her beam routine it would have only scored a bit more so good for Emma - going out and doing a good job at first big comp.!

Anonymous said...

yer they shood allow more difficulty in kindergym. thats wen they shood be startin

Anonymous said...

what the hell

Anonymous said...

pretty sure NDP can move to elite if they want. Mel Jones did it. Its just that nobody wants to.

Anonymous said...

its coz the clubs have no interest in elite. they just wanna make money from rec.

Anonymous said...

That would explain why the MLC international program went bust a couple of years ago. A select few girls training int 10, jnr and senior aren't going to bring in nearly as much money as hundreds of rec kids.

Anonymous said...

Agreed re the rebuilding year. How can we still be competing yurchenko fulls one year later? Don't justify a world championships of lost opportunity with upgrading if no upgrading is going to happen!

For me the only consolation is knowing the quality we have at home. Mitchell - our best gymnast, Godwin - national champ, Leydin - silver AA, Eade - a much needed vaulter and tumbler, Little- on her way back.

Such a shame Djuric and Whitehead can't compete next year.

And Miller, what a star! For me she is truly outstanding. And her routines are upgradeable. She has room to include a shap or something at the start since she begins on HB atm. No doubt she will be working inside stalder 1/1, which opens up opportunities for big CV too. I would love to see her pimp out that bar routine and experiment so she can really have a crack at event finals.

On floor, similar situation - it's not like she's maxed out. Front layout full + randi, 2.5 punch + front layout full, and whip + double arabian + jump are all areas she could step it up for more CV.

Anonymous said...

I don't think gyms are not interested in having IDP just because there is more money in rec. Of course that would contribute, but it is also hard to find the top level coaches required to run an IDP program. If you want gymnasts to reach the dizzying heights, you're going to need the best possible coaches to take them there. It doesn't just happen, as we are all too well aware.

Anonymous said...

I'm not very impressed with the team finals line up. Nedov and Munteanu are only doing one event each even though they have potential to score higher than others
This is the chance for them to get experience, there is nothing to lose!

M said...

Actually Romanian gymnastics isn't great the moment. They qualified in 7th, which is totally awful. With only Larisa Iordache carrying the team (with Didi Bulimar injured) there's a lot of pressure on the upcoming juniors who might not be able to step up. Depth is a problem! But I agree with your general sentiment about good coaching not population.

Anonymous said...

I think start list is ok. GRB has to do all apparatus. Mez and Emma on beam of course. Vault Kiara is perfect. Floor Larissa and Olivia ( but could've been either Kiara or Emma though) bars well Larissa Olivia and GRB
It's actually quite well thought out. Beam can be strong if both mez and Emma hit. Bars is strong vault weak but execution strong.

Anonymous said...

its not just about coaches. elite costs money and most clubs dont want to invest in it. a few clubs have recently closed elite programs even though they had coaches

Anonymous said...

Elite program's should be at least partially funded by the government. They are expensive to maintain and for this reason we lose gymnasts. Parents cannot afford the fees. It has always been known that the levels and rec program's find the elite. If we raise the profile and interest of the sport and develop a sound financial and marketing plan to support the growth of the sport. We will have all the development and athletes we need. Every sport needs funding and exposure and an audience. It's not just about Peggy or the coaches. It really is about exposure interest marketing and money. Gymnastics is a sport that people love to watch but in Australia we see very little of the sport exposed.

Anonymous said...

Elite program's should be at least partially funded by the government. They are expensive to maintain and for this reason we lose gymnasts. Parents cannot afford the fees. It has always been known that the levels and rec program's find the elite. If we raise the profile and interest of the sport and develop a sound financial and marketing plan to support the growth of the sport. We will have all the development and athletes we need. Every sport needs funding and exposure and an audience. It's not just about Peggy or the coaches. It really is about exposure interest marketing and money. Gymnastics is a sport that people love to watch but in Australia we see very little of the sport exposed.

Anonymous said...

clubs should look at how clubs do it in America. Elites train alongside level 9's and 10's, so a club doesn't need to have a standalone elite program. It is much cheaper that way.

Anonymous said...

many clubs dont even have level 9. They only do state levels.

Anonymous said...

Yeah... Clubs don't have any interest in elite and can't be bothered investing in them.. I mean look at Waverley.. they have thousands of rec and they have Olympians, youth Olympic medalist, comm games medalist... wait a second...

Anonymous said...

yeah and how many waverleys are there? How many other clubs offer elite?

Anonymous said...

Lets not forget Larissa Miller originated from QLD I believe? Correct me if I am wrong.

Anonymous said...

I hate it when clubs don't offer opportunities for all levels. They really have an obligation to provide for everyone, not just the profitable rec kids.

Anonymous said...

Larrissa is from the QLD HPC, not a club.

Anonymous said...

She is from MBC - QLD HPC

Anonymous said...

wasnt she at chandler with the jouras

Anonymous said...

2001-2011 MBC
2011-2012 QLD HPC

Anonymous said...

Some of the National 10s were definitely showing skills worthy of international meets at this years Nationals, I always thought we should try cross over a few

Anonymous said...

Australia has nothing to lose, let Emma and Munteanu get out there. I would rather watch them compete than Olivia who may be a nice person but does nothing for the growth of gymnastics in this counrty . As to the points being made, I agree to using the girls from national stream. Look at Munteanu she crossed over from national to elite only 3 or 4 years ago and at 16 was on a worlds team!

Anonymous said...


I agree re line up but remember although we have nothing to lose its still about strategy. I personally don't always agree with the strategy but I'm not sure where the changes would be made regarding Olivia and Emma or Kiara? Bars Olivia is still very consistent and floor I think your right time to give kiara a chance to shine.. As far as nothing to lose well who knows they will still want to make it above 8th. I'm sure the energy will be high amongst the girls today. They actually did what no one expected, even the media did not have any expectations which is evident in lack of photos and coverage. I agree with every comment re upgrading funding and building the program. I don't agree with changing coaches or sacking Peggy. Like a parents job its easy to pass judgement in the moment but when you are there day in day out its a different story. We need parents and we need to be able to be open with feedback.

Anonymous said...

doesnt matter anymore MBC closed its elite program

Anonymous said...

level 10 could probably put up a better vault line up

Anonymous said...

Level 10 maybe able to a better vault line up but could they score better than we already have. come on there is no problem anyone being a critic but make it constructive and useful. Put a level 10 girl on a worlds team just for vault would not work otherwise we wouldve sent Em Little who still vaults extremely well.

Anonymous said...

MLC elite program - I highly doubt the elite program went 'bust.' The gym is part of an elite school in Melbourne - they have a whole junior school of girls at their door ready to enrol in gymnastics classes. They basically couldn't fit anymore classes in. But yes, it was a case of the recreation program funding the elites...a lot of those elite girls didn't even go to the school, but were welcomed as part of the gym club. The elite program pretty much dominated the whole gym - at the expense of MLC girls who parents paid a lot of money to go to the school. The elite girls had a very good set up - the whole program was backed by a wealthy school.

Anonymous said...

I also agree that Kiara should have been selected to compete floor, i would rather watch e rated tumbling lines any day over safe and simple boring routine, the fact is extra experience now may mean the big difference in a years time when the older athletes have retired. And wow did not realize she came from the national stream recently, makes her acheivements even more astounding. Go Aussies!!!

Anonymous said...

As far as I am aware (the whole issue regarding the international program at mlc was kept very hush hush and many of the gymnasts/parents still wouldn't know exactly the reason behind it), the school decided that the program was not financially as viable as rec and the international girls need space to train which again, takes up space from Rec. As far as I'm aware, all of the girls minus one training Junior or Senior went to MLC. It shouldn't matter whether you attend MLC or not, the program whilst still part of the school is funded by gym fees (and very high ones at that!) MLC do not offer gymnastics scholarships. Basically, I think the whole thing was a pretty average excuse considering the international squads trained mostly during school hours before the recreational gym even started. There were a lot of girls who moved to mlc (the school) in order to train in that squad and MLC did the wrong thing by them and their parents. As for the elite girls 'dominating the gym', no MLC student missed out, there were plenty of school classes who came in and used the facilities and the international girls worked around them. There are plenty of other squads who use the gym for longer periods of time whilst the rec gymnasts are playing and yet they are still there. I believe the whole thing started when they got rid of Jeb as an excuse to get the ball rolling and get rid of the International program.

Anonymous said...

it was MBC not MLC

Anonymous said...

actually it was both

Anonymous said...

Agree with giving the younger girls more of a chance. Emma and Kiara both need the experience.

Anonymous said...

plus we lost the AIS too

Anonymous said...

why not ask an actual caoch instead of making up armchair bulls hi* on hear????????

Anonymous said...

I am the coach and I say so