The time has come, dear friends, to find out that the US women have won the team final. Well…shortly, we’ll find that out. But also who wins the other medals! You know, the interesting part. Who’s going to fall the least?!?!
For the US women, the lineup news is that Hernandez will be going instead of Douglas on vault. Hernandez scored a fraction better in qualification, and it’s not going to make much difference either way. So there’s that. More interestingly, Hernandez is not doing bars, meaning Biles is competing AA today. I think the US squad has always been more content using Biles on bars in a team final than the general fandom is. Plus, if Hernandez is limited because of her abstomahamstring, her routine is not vital. Biles got a 15 in qualification for what was basically a C- routine for her.
Joining Biles in competing the all-around today will be Mustafina and Melnikova, because of carrying everything, Jade Barbosa, because Brazil is putting her on beam instead of Andrade which doesn’t make anyone feel comfortable, Eythora Thorsdottir, because she needs to do every event all the time, and Ellie Downie, because of ahhhh is everything OK and are we sure about that? At least now she has had actual time to be properly evaluated, now that the glow of “HEROIC STORYLINE, GRIT, GET OUT THERE, WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR NECK” has worn off.
There are some interesting beam decisions going on here. I can see Brazil’s reasoning in putting Barbosa up. Before the competition, I also had her going in TF over Andrade, but Barbosa did fall in qualification and continues to be Jade Barbosa, so there’s always a worry there.
Great Britain has also decided that it hates itself and is going to keep putting up Fragapane on beam until the end of time. Christ. I hope at least that they take out some of her difficulty. That routine is crazy risky and clearly way too hard for her. You don’t need a 15.2 from Fragapane! You just can’t have a 13.2!
On a scale of Russia to Russia, how Russia do we think Russia is going to be today?
Their qualification bars was 46.6. It needs to be the same today if silver is going to be a thing. Basically, Russia needs to be winning after 1.
Introductory fangirling about the US team. Kupets has appropriately received the note that bars is not a weakness for the US. Because, you know, second.
Russia isn’t even bothering to have the other two present? Just the three for bars? LOLLL. Aliya is trying to get everyone up there, like, “UGH, you’re doing it wrong!”
Aliya finally got the whole team up there.
Ahhh, the cheers for the Brazilians…Flavia. Saraiva. “AHHHHHH *faint* *dead*”
WARMUPS!
ROTATION ONE
Hernandez – VT – a little short on her DTY, hop forward, slightly off line.
Melnikova – UB – inbar stalder – inbar full – toe shap to pak – toe shap 1/2 – inbar half small pause – piked jaeger – orphan half turn – tuck full, small hop. One hit down.
15.100 for Laurie. So still that. Don’t worry about it.
Raisman – VT – STICKS her Amanar. Well now. She has never vaulted better than she has in these Olympics 15.833. DAYUM.
14.133 beam for Hypolito, 14.100 floor for Sugihara.
Biles – VT – hop forward on Amanar this time, a bit larger hop than in the qualifications it appeared. 15.933. OK, the fact that she scored only .100 more than Aly, though………
Spiridonova – UB – inbar full to inbar shap to pak – one short hs in there – strong piked jaeger – step back on tuck full – good, a couple tight hs in there but one tenth things.
US 46.866 on vault, one tenth lower than qualification.
15.100 for Spiridonova. Just a 6.3 D this time. Not her intended by any means.
Kupets bringing realness in terms of ACTUALLY SEEING DEDUCTIONS. yes, it was a .3 hop.
Marakami 14.466 on floor.
Mustafina – UB – inbar full to inbar shap to pak – to toe shap 1/2 – very wonderful – inbar half – piked jaeger – strong hs – full was a little late, actually sticks the Mustafina this time. Best of the rotation by quite a margin.
Miyakawa – FX – DLO full, OOB – NAILS front lay to double front this time! – splits are very short – tucked double double, staggered landing but control – very short DLO with a stumble, stayed up but large deductions there –
Barbosa fell on beam. Yeah.
15.933 for Mustafina. Same as Biles for vault.
46.166 for Russia. A half point lower than qualification. They missed Spiridonova’s full difficulty there.
Flavia went 14.833 on beam.
Group 1:
USA 46.866
Russia 46.166
Japan 42.474
Brazil 41.999
Now we have to try to live through GB on bars. Somehow. Get the beads. All the beads.
Mao – VT – a little short and lock-legged on double full – step forward. 14.833
Harrold – UB – her usual crazy legs on her difficulty like the bhardwaj and the shap 1/2 – high jaeger, excellent -double front with step forward
Seitz 14.000 on beam. SEITZ HIT BEAM AGAIN.
Tan – VT – larger hop back on her DTY, they’ll have wanted a bit more control on that landing.
14.833 for Harrold. One down.
Ellie – UB – going through well early – leg break on toe full but connects to piked tkatchev to pak, some legs – lost her rhythm a bit there and had to recast – DLO with a hop forward. Had some errors in there – stayed on the bars – solved the problem. 14.633. Similar to day one.
Wang – VT – very low landing on Kas 1/1 but stands it up. 14.733. Total will be just a tad lower than qualification.
Van Gerner – FX – back 1.5 to front full – hoppy – high double back – hitting her splits well – two 13.9s so far for NED.
Tabea Alt 14.600 beam. Germany doing it’s thing.
Becky – UB – stalder shap to piked hindorff is strong – toe full – addds and extra giant – stalder taktchev to pak to shap to clear hip tkatchev, working well now – sticks tuck full. Will be very strong score. She did pause for a moment and added an extra giant, but also kept her thing going. 15.400.
14.500 on beam for Schaefer. Excellent start for Germany.
13.900 for Eythora.
Scores after 1:
1. USA 46.866
2. Russia 46.166
3. Great Britain 44.866
4. China 44.332
5. Germany 43.100
6. Japan 42.474
7. Brazil 41.999
8. Netherlands 41.666
GB improves two tenths on bars from qualification.
GB is off to beam – China to bars
SHang – UB – good piked hindorff to pak – hip shap to very low in bar gienger and falls.
Ellie Downie falls on Arabian.
China has opened things for Russia, and it’s not even beam yet.
Just 13.366 for Ellie on beam, and now it’s Frags. Save me help me please.
Shang still gets 14.333
Frags – BB – arabian and hits – switch, wobble on sheep – tuck full series, large wobble but stays on – very very low side aerial, another big break – solid tuck full – WELL SHE STAYED ON.
Fan – UB – works through her inbar gienger well – great finishing position on her piros – DLO step back.
Frags stays on, but all those big wobbles will equal a fall. 14.433. IT’S NOT A 13!!! Not really sure how she still managed a 14.433 after that, but…great?
15.733 for Fan Yilin who goes, “That was literally the exact same routine I did in qualification. Please address your life.”
Schaefer delivers floor for Germany with a 14.375. They could use more 14s like that.
Tan – UB – Hindorff caught – pak is nice – toe shap to inbar gienger – very lare pirouette into tkatchev – DLO small hop.
Becky hit beam? Very low double pike with a lunge.
Did Jim just try to tell us that bars is a weak event for China? Hurhhhh?
14.941 for Tan.
GB loses five tenths on beam v. qualification, which is not good because it wasn’t a good score in qualification. China basically identical overall to the prelims scores on bars.
Russia to beam. The US to bars.
After 2:
1. China 89.339
2. GB 86.831
3. Germany 84.774
4. Netherlands 84.699
Welp Melnikova has already fallen and we barely started – front pike is solid – stumble back on her dismount as well. 13.033
Biles – UB – good weiler 1/2 – toe full is fine this time – tkatchev – piked tkatchev to pak very strong – toe shoot – sticks. Usual, better than qualification.
14.800 for Biles, if you’d like to continue talking about the bars scores from qualification, this is ammunition because this bars routine was better than prelims.
14.266 for Barbosa on floor.
Douglas – UB – inbar full – piked tkatchev to pak is good – inbar half to endo to shap 1/2, strong – one short hs in there – holds the stick on her DLO. 15.766. There you go.
Musty – BB – good double spin – lovely splits – solid side somi – switch 1/2 with a check – onodi to side aerial is good – two walkovers to bhs – switch ring – double tuck step back –
Andrade music problems – Jim getting his lessons from NCAA on – he studied up on this after that Arizona issue.
Kocian – UB – inbar sfgull to inbar shap to pak to stalder shap 1/2 strong – connected – inabr 1/2 to jaeger – stalder full to dismount – stuck. SHUT YOUR MOUTH. Great. 15.933.
14.958 for Mustafina. Andrade falls on final pass on floor.
Seda – BB – layout two feet, break at hips – switch adn switch 1/2, low back leg on switch – layout full hit! – small check – walkover to leaps combo – switch ring, check – double pike hop back. SEDA HIT BEAM TWICE. 14.766.
Flavia – FX – double tuck final pass stuck. 14.500. Brazil already has two falls, though, so into 8th by quite a margin still.
After 2:
USA 93.365
China 89.339
Russia 88.923
Japan 87.306
GB 86.831
Germany 84.774
Netherlands 84.699
Brazil 83.731
China a small lead for silver now over Russia. Neither team looking impressive, but Russia did improve markedly on its day 1 beam. China still staying about the same through two events.
Now we’ll have the US on beam and Russia on floor. Is floor less scary than beam?
Raisman – BB – front pike to wolf – check on layout series but on – switch to back tuck – leap series solid – side aerial strong – switch half usual – front tuck to split – sticks Patterson. The girl is having some Olympics.
Melnikova had a little trouble on her piked full in landing, awkward stumble but stayed on her feet – small bounce back on double tuck, smaller one on double pike. A hit!
15.000 for Raisman – Gabby givers her a standing ovation – OH MY GOD SO MUCH DRAMA THERE’S DEFINITELY A STORY THERE.
hop back tuck full for Teramoto 14.866.
Hernandez – BB – front pike solid – walkover to lovely splits – two loso series held well without a wobble – check on sheep jump but stays on, medium check, maybe .3 – front tuck to wolf – nails switch ring – double pike hop back. NBD. 15.233
Andradmanar with an extra half turn on landing, Nabz style
Seda – FX – solid DLO, two whips to double tucks, bounce back, just stays in – 1.5 to front full – 2.25 wolf turn – short double tuck with a stumble – 13.766
Simone – BB – wolf 2.5 solid – split jump pike jump strong – barani secure – two loso series, a significant check but stays on – keeps the streak a live – a couple checks here so she’ll be pissed, and probably won’t get all her CV on her leaps to back series – good walkover – a taouch short on tuck full, hop forward.
Mustafina – FX – heel drops on double L – short on full in with a lunge forward – she’s going to be in similar turn trouble, also drops out of double attitude – 1.5 to front full, stuck and pretty – quad spin is quite nice, that’s her best spin – double tuck, medium bounce. 14.000.
15.300 for Simone.
In case you didn’t know, Japan is continuing to kill it. Ahead of Russia for the moment. That won’t stay because Russia gets to vault and Japan goes to beam, but it’s still an accomplishment.
After 3:
USA 138.898
Japan 131.772
Russia 130.955
Brazil 128.630
US beam score is three tenths weaker than in qualification. All rotation scores just a tad lower, some because of execution by mostly because of tighter E judging today.
China to beam now, GB to floor
Wang – BB – get terrified – strong front pike – switch ring to sheep – two-foot layout, leg up but stays on – check on front tuck – walkover – switch 1/2 with a check – 3/1, chest down and step. WANG AND SEDA BOTH HIT BEAM TWICE WHAT WORLD IS THIS.
Tinkler gets 14.466. Very low double double, lunge forward.
14.466 for Wang as well. That’s up on qualification.
Ellie – FX – 1.5 through to double arabian, excellent – piked double arabian with a lunge – 2.5 to front – solid double pike – 14.133
Shang – BB – wonderful layout series – bhs los series – very secure front tuck to wolf – walkover to sheep – aerial – hits 3/1 – very good routine – 15.066
Not everything is a redemption story.
Frags – FX – DLO full to wolf, strong small slide – piked double arabian, large lunge and OOB. Oh GB – triple full to split – OOB on DLO.
Fan – BB – round of layout, step back – excellent switch ring and sheep – walkover – piked side somi, check forward – switch to side aerial, another small check – 3/1 hop forward. Three hit beams for China.
14.166 for Frags. GB too far behind Russia to make that up on vault. Still waiting on Fan’s beam score. Because beam scores.
Everyone is about to stab the beam judges. JUST GET ON WITH IT.
FINALLY! 15.066 for Fan. One rotation left, US in control for gold, China in control for silver, Russia in control for bronze (because going to vault).
Germany currently last but should move up with this bars rotation.
Shang – FX – 3.5 to side-diagonal-pike again – 15. to 3/1 to front tuck, pulled the tuck around, very good quad spin – 2.5 to barani – low double pike with a lunge back.
Frags DTY – usual legs, good control on landing – a bit short
Tinkles – DTY – better than Frags, leg form and chest up but a bigger hop back. 14.933.
14.700 on floor for Shang.
Eythora 14.566 on beam.
Ellie – DTY – 15.133 – FANTASTIC – stuck
Wang – FX – double double tuck, well done, chest down but just a small slide – 1.5 to 3/1 to front tuck as well – 2.5 to barani, bounce – solid double pike, hop.
15.466 for Scheder – Seitz follows with 15.533. Germany actually got pretty close to GB. Great competition for Germany.
14.733 for Wang.
Mao Yi – FX – 3.5 to well OOB and sits it! Ouch. This score is not going to be pretty – 3/1, doesn’t try to connect out of this time – 2.5 to half is fine – She only needs an 11 to get ahead of GB, but this makes things very interesting otherwise – low double tuck with a hop.
I wonder if they’ll give Mao her 3.5 on the fall. If they give her a 3/1 that would be really devastating to the score.
15.250 for Sanne on beam.
Long wait for Mao’s floor score, not totally unexpected. 12.633. It’s enough to go ahead of GB. GB! China was trying to give it to you!
Sadly for Japan, they would need a 44.3 on beam to pass China. Qualification score was 41.699. Average would be a 14.744. They don’t have those routines.
14.900 for Melnikova DTY.
Aliya – VT – strong DTY, will score very well – Aliya legs but not too bad, small hop.
Hernandez – FX – DLO hop back – double arabian to stag is excellent – front lay to front 2/1 to front tuck, gets a little caught in place but pulls it around as usual – somewhat short double tuck, small hop, fine.
15.133 for Mustafina. WHICH VAULT WILL PASEKA DO??? Amanar. Good choice. Some crazy legs and a lock-legged landing but much better than the Cheng has been. 15.700. Russia moves ahead of China!
China just had to hit and did not do it. Silver for Russia again, tremendous accomplishment for the warzone that this team has been.
Japans first beam is a 13.833 for Murakami. Same as qualification.
BUT THE RUSSIANS NEVER SMILE BECAUSE THEY ARE COLD COMMIE DIVAS.
Raisman – FX – 1.5 to double arabian to layout – right into the corner but stays in – works to get that split position on her 1.5, a little bouncy – good L spin – piked double arabian to stag – strong DLO, nearly stuck – sticks double pike – will get an a billion. 15.366.
Simone Biles literally needs a 7.
Japan has a very good shot at 4th with a final hit beam. Which would be HUGE.
Biles – FX – DLO full, small slide – Biles with a little hop. She literally could stop this routine right now and be fine – sticks double double – back with a full – casual and normal. Let’s see what the TF margin win will be. I thought it would be smaller than ever this year (like 4-5 points). It’s actually going to be their biggest ever.
I love how they have to wait for the score to celebrate and pretend like they’re not sure.
15.800 for Simone. Final margin is 8.209. You know.
Japan did get 4th, GB 5th, Germany 6th, Ned 7th, Brazil 8th. I love that they’re trying to find a good place to celebrate when the score comes up. #marketing. Oh, you weren’t even looking at the moment the score came up, Aly! Pull it together. NBC is going to be pissed.
“WE ARE THE FINAL FIVE.” #marketing OH MY GOD THEY TOLD US WHAT THEY WERE CALLED THAT IS THE IMPORTANT PART.
“What do you get when you mix red, white, and blue? Gold.” Well, you had that one loaded, Jim. How spontaneous and natural.
So that happened. Some surprises there. Russia sneaking ahead of China for silver after China’s second fall (it really did come down to who fell the least. Russia fell once, China twice. That was the difference.) Japan just continued hitting like monsters to sneak ahead of GB by .009 for 4th. For a team that was borderline TF based on the pre-competition scores (I think I had them 8th?), they stepped up bars and beam tremendously.
8 points.
We have a prospective 2017-2020 code that makes relatively minor changes, but I keep waiting for the day of a complete overhaul based on “the US is too dominant.”
I hope GB girls don’t get hurt again. Their routines are clearly too ambitious for their skill level.
Eh??! Ellie Downie’s fall was a freak mis-time, which many other gymnasts have had issues with too. She won Junior Olympic bronze and European silver on floor doing that same tumble. Fragapane can do that beam routine – I’ve seen her hit it more than once for 15+ for it – but is just too inconsistent. I also think she’s a bit low on confidence this year which has affected her performances on all pieces. I would personally have put Tinkler up on beam rather than Fraggles, so I can only assume the coaches have done that as Fraggles has been hitting that routine more consistently in practice…
Is there any chance putting Biles in on bars is to remove the possibility of having an AA score for Laurie (thereby potentially igniting decades of internet controversy if she were to beat Aly’s quals score?)
I’m also guessing Marta would rather not put a first-year senior up on an event in Olympic TF that she didn’t have the opportunity to compete in quals. Even if it’s Laurie and she’s a rock.
I really think it is the fact that she didn’t put her up on quals plus she had a pretty shaky podium training on bars. Not the thing to gamble on in the team final.
Yep, that makes sense.
I love Frags (and all of GB!), but I do not understand putting her on beam. On the other hand…are there any British gymnasts who don’t fall off beam all the time?
Yes, but they’re alas not in Rio: Gabby Jupp is a reserve as she’s coming back from 2 (separate) ACL tears & wasn’t quite back in time, and two special beam-workers, and 1st-yr seniors, are injured (Lyon and Matthis)
I just want China to get the accurate scores they deserved rather than being low balled for being in the first subdivision. THEN I will compare Fan’s TF score to the scores in the EF and whine about what medals she could’ve won and same with Shang on beam and floor.
Honestly, I feel a little screw-the-4-for-4 narrative. If everyone stays on beam I will consider today a success.
I’m a little surprised by putting Laurie in vault, just because I thought they would want to put her in two and Gabby in two to share the workload. But I guess I wouldn’t want Laurie’s first TF experience to be on beam…maybe putting her on vault will get the nerves out of the way, and then she can do a calm beam.
I’m guessing a seven point win for the US today.
Ugh thank you so much. I have to be in a stupid meeting from 1-2pm PT that I will basically be mentally checked out of so I can refresh this blog.
That GB leotard though… eugh, what were they thinking?!?
It’s mostly white. I am concerned. The Curse of the White Leotard will come for them.
Remember – Simone broke that curse a couple yrs ago.
And it worked! Only Simone appears to be immune…
lol Simone is not immune. Beam got her.
I hope the US women didn’t leave it all in the qualifications. Even if they did and have a bad day, they’d probably still win by 4-5 points. The race for silver and bronze should be where all the nail-biting takes place.
Hernandes stepped out of the line on vault after the hop, did she get deducted for it?
did not look like she got a neutral deduction of 0.1
oh so they downgraded Spiridonova’s difficulty score to make up for upgrading it on qualifications lol
I can’t stand the BBC feed that shows the gymnasts waiting-for-score faces and not the ones that are competing! Didn’t show Mustafina’s bar routine, Eythora’s or Lieke’s floor to show Celine Van Gerner! I looove Shang’s make up
I can hear the BBC commentators & producer complaining about it in the background, unfortunately they aren’t controlling the feed
my main critique to GB’s leo is that it shows the bra elastics on the back, let alone the colours
Netherland’s leo is everything, Germany’s leo is a no-no
Can’t believe they didn’t show Eythora’s fx, we aren’t seeing that again, oh wait AA
There is a one hundred percent chance Pauline Schaefer’s mom cries every time she watches her floor routine, it is peak “mom crying” music.
NBC commentators mistook Pauline Schaefer for Kim Bui and then chatted about Kim for the entire routine, even when you could see Schaefer’s name clearly on the screen. *headdesk*
Yep, that one was pretty bad. Like, her name is up on the scoreboard!!Almost as bad as the qualification announcer who kept talking about Giulia Steingruber’s bars as if that was her best event…????
The NBC commentary is killing me.
“This is Kim Bui on floor.” (No, that’s Pauline Schaffer.)
“Bars is a weak event for China so they’re really just looking for gymnasts who can get through routines.”
“Oh! Oh, the rotation already started. That was her actual vault, not a warmup. Oops.”
Did Eythora fall to get a 13.9? Doesn’t she have 6.0 difficulty?
really nbc, how does one mistake Pauline Schaefer for Kim Bui?? but ugh that floor music…
China’s in bar geingers are awful to watch. They definitely lose on execution there.
Their execution on just about everything is messy. They land their vaults at like a 90 degree angle…But that’s their strategy. They load up on D.
wait Japan’s leo is a flower? I thought it was senior competition … Oh Laurent spotted Gabby on bars, if he would spot me I’d definitely fall on his arms
Omg!!! Your comments are keeping me entertained…..
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they should have replaced Melnikova on beam for Spiridonova (or even Nabs lol).
Well, Nabs does have a good barani…
Brazil is winning on the falls count, they already have 2 in 2 rotations which puts them in first
The last US fall I can remember of was Rebecca Bross in 2009 when she lost to Bridget Sloan, there was Mattie Larson’s missed requirement on floor in 2010 but it qualifies as big mistake … since then US has been clean and reliable, it’s a fact the US MAG needs the Martha Karolyi fear factor
Mattie Larson also fell on her last pass, the double pike after her missed connection.
Seda is the new Mustafina and Melnikova is the new Grishina. Somewhere Nabaieva is going 😐
Wah wah wah Madison Kocian will NEVARRRRR score a 15.9 at the Olympics OMG US SCORING SUXX GUYZ!!!11!!1!!
Lmao, great Crazy Russian-Stan impression.
if laurie really hits her beam, and simone messes up her beam routine with these balance checks, laurie can get a gold on beam
It would be close, but Simone would probably still edge her out. I like Laurie a lot, but still hope Simone gets the gold because it would be really cool for a US woman to win five golds at the Olympics.
That said, Laurie will have a lot more time to rest than Simone between today and the beam finals. Simone has AA and three EF so she will be competing on tired legs against everyone else.
I have been saying this for two months now. Beam is the one event Simone could realistically lose. Laurie is great competition. I mean in theory Hong could stick the triple yurchenko and win vault gold, but she’s up first in vault finals, and I highly doubt she’ll even go for the triple.
DAMN IT FAN/SHANG ON BEAM AND BARS. IF ONLY IT HAD BEEN PRELIMS THEN WE’D SEE THEM IN FINALS.
Fan and Shang are both so good on bars and beam! Especially gutted for Fan on bars because her set in quals was as good as her one in TF yet somehow scored half a point lower…damn judges
WAAAAAAAAA JAPAN ACTUALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO MEDAL, but then it’s balance beam, you just never know.
If they gave Shang the 3.5 – Mao’s was more rotated…
i will riot if japan gets a medal but damn mao yi could’ve saved a lot a deduction if she didn’t connect that first pass
Although, she’d of lost the later triple – nearly a full point there in difficulty with the CV should lose.
The code allows under twisting when it goes into another salto, but not when it’s the last one.
Definitely a complete domination by the US. first place on every single event?!! when was the last time since the soviet that any team ever taken first in all 4 events? there can be small argument of a few tenths here and there but I don’t think anyone can argue about the relative position in anyway.
I hope the NBC commentators turn down their mics for all-around and event finals. I could barely hear the floor music over their voices.
Having memories of the tiny podiums the 2012 games made the gymnastics cram together on. So glad Rio got bigger ones.
Nothing more boring than a predictable ending. The fake surprise is so ugh. Happy for all the girls but disgusted with NBC.
Congrats to the Final Five. (ummm… I don’t like it, but it’s creative and makes a point about the four member teams of the future.) The US won by over 8 points. That averages to an advantage of over 2 points per event. That averages to an advantage of over 0.66 per routine. That is the new standard in dominance.
Wow, Japan and Germany. That was the meet of a lifetime for both teams.
And we now have yet one more reason to ignore the nonsense the Rodionenkos spew. Seda made them eat their words. I’m glad Seda chose the Olympics to start hitting her routines. And Melnikova is probably more injured than she’s letting on. She’s been a disaster in Rio.
Congratulations to Russia. I think this is the last competition at which we will see Aliya. She seems sooooo ready to be done. I will miss her so much.
Yeah, her quote in a recent interview was, “I wake up each day just praying for it to be over.” Slightly reworded, but the exact sentiment. Someone let that girl retire, please!
US blowout as expected. Really they mostly did better than in qualifications. Simone’s Amanar was not quite as good, and her beam had a minor wobble and jump back on her dismount, but amazing performance! Aly’s floor was sensational! All the ladies did exceptionally well.
Russia had a mostly hit day. Mustafina stepped up to the plate like always, but so did most of the other ladies. Melnikova had a bad day but she’s injured. Paseka stuck her Amanar. China was holding it together until Mao’s floor routine. That was too bad. I was really glad to hear Courtney Kupets call out Shang on her form on floor. So many praise her floor, but her knees are perpetually bent in her twists and her feet are crossed. Courtney is the first commentator I’ve heard remark on this.
The NBC streaming coverage was OK. They missed some of the routines but tried to show them during the rotation changes. Didn’t get to see much of the Netherlands, or really anyone but US, China, Russia and GB. After Ellie Downie’s fall on beam, they seemed to forget about GB.
Last night NBC’s primetime coverage showed a measly 15 minutes of the Men’s Team Final probably because the US came in 5th. Watch NBC whore out the US women’s win like crazy tonight. One commentator noted the Brazilian crowd’s appreciation for the US’s performance and said that’s why people watch the Olympics–to see the best. Absolutely right! But in primetime, if the best team is from Japan like in the Men’s Team Final, we don’t get to see it. Eff you, NBC!
Just to clarify, NBC doesn’t have control over the live stream. The IOC does. I was disappointed we didn’t get to see the Netherlands either. They are so beautiful to watch. I am so so proud of them for how they performed. They had second highest execution scores of the day after the US, and by a decent margin too.
China had the second lowest E scores. Only GB was lower, and barely at that. China has always been a D centered team, but I do worry about the gymnasts. A lot of those skills, particularly on vault and floor, looked quite dangerous. Some of the vaults were landed with the body bent parallel to the ground.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/live-stream-schedule/gymnastics?day=4
Check out the stream coverage which has all the routines for every events w.o the annoying commentaries
U.S. : Congratulations on commanding victory. This is what people were expecting at last year’s Worlds but it feels better during an Olympic year.
Russia: A ragtag, depleted, underdog team under Mustafina’s leadership (2014, 2016) seems to perform better than a star-studded one without her (2015). That’s amazing, but also terrifying for the next Olympics since they lose their most competitive all-arounder. Specialists like Paseka or Afanaseyva will have to rethink their strategy if they want to make the main team, or fight for specialist spots. Melnikova was not disappointing
Aliya is a legend. In any other era she would be recognized as an all time great. She just has had to compete against one of the most dominant systems in gymnastics history. I still think she’s an all time great, and she is undoubtedly the best non-American since Khorkina. I’m so conflicted about the All Around finals now. I was really pulling for Shang and Steingruber coming into the competition, but now I’m pulling for Mustafina and Ellie Downie! And of course Aly. What a competitor. She has never looked better.
Yes, I totally agree. Aliya makes her teammates better. The Russian team fell to pieces at Worlds 2015 when Aliya wasn’t there. I worry for the Russians when Aliya is not there to coach, encourage, console, motivate, correct, calm, prepare, etc. them. She really is their everything.
I see Aly taking on that role for the US team. But Aliya does that role 10,000X more than Aly.
I think Aliya would make a great replacement to the Rodionenkos.
Yeah, Aliya delivered for Russia again. You definitely can never count her count ever. She is definitely on track to defend her ub gold again.
Seda just somehow found her zone right on time. It’s a good think melka came back in the TF unfortunately the damage is done.
My NBC app offered Eythora’s floor routine on the highlights, which made my night last night. Looked like she took the illusion out of her turn series, right? Agree with everyone else…love watching NED and wish the stream had shown them more.