Youth Olympic Games: EF Day 1 LIVE!

It's 6pm Singapore time, so that means day 1 of apparatus finals has kicked off.

Go here and select channel 2 to watch the live stream. Watch out for Angela Donald in the uneven bars final.

Tomorrow, Angela will compete again in the beam final; her MAG counterpart Brody Hennessy will feature in the high bar final.

***************************************

Angela's wearing white leo with pink and purple flourish (think Dasha in Aarhus bars final).


She will be up 4th. Warmup looks great, swinging confidently, sticks a double tuck dismount.

C'mon Angela!

Swings the 'real' routine just as nicely. Great leg form throughout, smooth overshoot from high to low, then stalder transition from low to high, slightly bent leg on straddle tkatchev? Though maybe it's just me? Small shuffle on the full in back out dismount but otherwise a great effort. Gets a big hug from Ferlito of Italy as she gets off the podium. Then a bigger one from Shao Yi! Team doctor seems chuffed with her efforts, too, from behind the barriers. Scores 12.975, finishing in 4th, juuuust short of a medal!

(I couldn't NOT capture this moment!)

Please be advised that I may NOT be here to cover tomorrow's event finals. Though I will do my best!

Read a wrap-up with quotes from Angela here.

Youth Olympic Games: WAG AA Final LIVE!

Gah! I didn't realise it was on already.

Go here and click on "Bishan Sports Hall" on the right to get women's gymnastics.

Angela's in a black and pink leo. Rotation 2 is about to start, she looks to be in the second group of girls to compete on bars.
BARS: My feed skipped! Pretty much missed the whole thing (jump mount onto high bar, giant full, there were some others giants in there somewhere, an overshoot to handstand, stalder on low bar immediately up to high bar, something something something something else!) save for the dismount, which was a full in back out with the tiiiiiniest of shuffles. Scores 13.100

BEAM: You are KIDDING ME. My feed stopped again! Caught the mount (split leap on), the the rulfova (very steady), front aerial, little choreo flourish, BHS LOSO with a step backward. Feed froze, didn't catch anything in the second half. Scores 13.800.



She's 8th going into the last rotation.

FLOOR: We didn't see it! They kept the cameras on Sasada, Sixin and Komova.

Shaoyi having a chat with the Chinese coach.

ANGELA FINISHES 7th OVERALL, WELL DONE ANGELA!!!

Singapore Sling: Youth Olympics LIVE!

Gah!

Home at last, but I'm so behind on everything! Quick - is there still that election thingummy on? Who's winning the cross country water polo? Are all the members of B*witched still alive? IS BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH STILL TRENDING ON TWITTER!?!?

Right. Yes. *adjusts Media fedora just-so*
I'm well behind on all the Youth Olympics goings-on and for the moment am stuck with a slow PC that doesn't open too many links or show video. All I can tell you thus far is that...

- Brody-Jai Hennessy has qualified through to the men's high bar final

- Gymnastics Australia has links to articles and live streaming of the Games although...

- If you have Foxtel Digital like me, you can check our their dedicated YOG channel (517) that I discovered this morning!

Cracking stuff. Best wishes to the rest of our competitors this week. I hope to give you more comprehensive coverage (and even watch some of that live stream) when my laptop coughs and splutters back to life.


Now, who out there wants a stodgy Langkawi keyring...?

****************************************
ETA: Got the stream working in time to see Angela TOTALLY NAIL BEAM! Stuck double twist dismount. The commentators and crowd just loved it. GO ANGELA! Scored a 14.400.

Moments later: These guys are rubbish and obviously totally new to watching gymnastics - I've taken my headphones out until Angela starts on floor.
Floor- had a big jump back on the opening double pike and closing double tuck but a great effort. Looks like the latter MIGHT have gone out of bounds. On the replay... ooh, it was very close! Scored 13.100, still sitting in second place AA before 3 rotations are completed.

Hm... they started showing Angela's vault and then cut to floor. Oh dear! It appears we have missed out. At the end of this second subdivision she has finished in 4th place! Congratulations Angela!

Some videos are going up at this YouTube channel.


A summary (written before all subdivisions were completed) is here. Apparently Angela finished equal 6th? She's through to the all-around final, the bars final and the beam final, wooohooo!

Ahoy There!

AGB is coming to you live from somewhere not anywhere near Australia.


Hello there! Can't tell you all how much I've missed you. Especially you there, with the hair.

Just wanted to pop by and say yes, I am still alive and kicking here in the middle of the ocean. My cruise is coming to an end but I wanted to update you on our final port of call.

Yesterday we hit Singapore after stops in Malaysia and Thailand, and I am extremely pleased, proud and privileged to say that our visit happened to coincide with Singapore's National Day celebrations! The city was nearly deserted as everybody was inside their homes preparing for festivities (including a street parade and a bunch of concerts) but you could definitely feel a buzz in the air. Every building sported numerous red and white national flags ou their windows, whole apartment blocks and courtyards were trussed up. I navigated the subway system with aplomb, and come 1:00 when celebrations were kicking off in the city centre, the underground was awash with red-and-white-clad partygoers heading into town for the big national bash.

Of course, I was also excited to be in Singapore to see the preparations for the Youth Olympic Games. Unfortunately my walking tour didn't have a lot of 'personal wandering time' after formalities so I didn't get the chance to stop in front of a banner to take a picture. But I can tell you that there were heaps of them around on poles and walls (almost rivalling the number of flags) and I even saw a double-decker purple bus with the Games mascot on it. I felt super excited even though I wasn't even going to be there for the actual event. I can tell our athletes will have a fantastic time in Singapore, it was a clean and organised place, with very friendly people willing to help visitors like myself.

The moment of the day for me came when our ship pulled away from port. It was 8pm and the whole city was lit up like a Christmas tree... even the cable cars above the city had flashing lights on them! It was a remarkable sight and I am disappointed my video footage doesn't quite do justice. As our ship finally sounded its horn and started pulling away, we could just glimpse fireworks over the building.

AGB IS HENCEFORTH DELCARING THAT IT FRIGGIN' LOVES SINGAPORE.

I wish I could have you all here with me, but the ship's already full (I should know - our request for a stateroom upgrade got rejected). I've been out of the loop on gym news but if my inbox is anything to go by, you've all been keeping yourselves fully entertained. I should be home in about 6 days.

Best wishes to all our gymsporters heading to Singapore, I hope you have as much fun there as I did in just one day.

GO YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE!

Salty seadog love,

~ M.