So, um, ahhhhhh.
Simone’s withdrawal has turned the Olympic all-around final into a free-for-all where the most likely medalist is everybody in what is now the most open Olympic all-around final we’ve had in the non-10 era. The top 6 qualifiers were separated by less than a point on the first day. Hello, chaos, lovely to see you again.
Rebeca Andrade now enters as the top qualifier followed by Sunisa Lee, Angelina Melnikova, and Vladislava Urazova all bunched together. But we’re going to have to keep our eyes on most of the groups at all times, with people like De Jesus Dos Santos in the mix (especially if she scores like she did in the team final), and Murakami hanging out in that third group starting on beam.
In the first rotation, expect Andrade and Carey to smoke everyone, but it’s also a critical moment for Lee, leading off the meet on her weakest event, as she must keep herself in sight of Melnikova and Urazova and not let things get too far away.
Athletes are entering the premises. Introduce thyselves!
Everyone: Leos
Lu Yufei: Parka
“My face says, ‘hooray sisters’ but my body says, ‘we have to listen to all these hos get introduced?'”
Rotation Just Happy To Be Here is already having the most fun.
Rotation 1
Melanie just basically flanked a Nabieva in the bars warmup. Tang Xijing just also had the weirdest “i’m intentionally trying to stop but not like that” peel off into her coach. It’s all going great.
Carey is warming up Chengs not Amanars, as expected.
Alice D’Amato gets us started on beam with some little steps on her front tucks and an immediate fall on loso.
Maggio does a full complement of passes on floor for a hit opener, finishing double tuck with a bounce back.
Lee – VT – DTY is really solid! Definitely her best one of the Olympics, basically stuck, chest up better, some leg crossing and some distance deductions, but big start for her. 14.600
Jessica Gadirova with a good piked jaeger on bars, hits tkatchev 1/2 to yezhova – shap to pak, no connection into van leeuwen, giant full – FTDT, hop to the side. Solid.
Andrade – VT – Cheng is exceptional – she nearrrlly had a perfect landing but does a little two foot shuffle forward as she tries to hold the stick. 15.300
13.666 for Gadirova.
De Jesus Dos Santos – UB – Nabieva is solid but can’t connect well into pak and has to do a full straddle as she swings through, I think with a leg scrape on the mat – maloiney to bhardwaj was ecellent – DLO1/1, step back. Not the start she wanted.
Carey – VT – Cheng – pretty good, shouldn’t score near Andrade’s though. Medium bounce back and crossed legs throughout. 15.200. I have some questions.
Seitz hit beam!
Derwael – VT – pretty large bound forward and sideward on her Y1.5, soft knees throughout. 13.900
Still waiting on the DJDS score, and it’s going to be not great.
Didn’t see Lieke’s floor but her reaction afterward is priceless and makes me think falls.
Urazova – VT – hits a solid DTY – only a small hop in place – some leg crossing, also not the most distance. Should be close to Lee. 14.500
13.8333 for DJDS is well lower than her potential of course, but it could have been worse.
Murakami – BB – candle mount, good – front pike, solid – aerial to split to straddle, very comfortable – front tuck, hop forward – wolf triple and it’s good! – wolf double, solid – switch ring check – doubel pike, shortish, hop forward. But she can to play today.
Tang – UB – maloney to pak – small arch on low, pulls it back – van leeuwen – healy and ling and front giant full to piked jager – shoprt cast 1/2 on high – DLO, chest a little down, hop forward. Fine. great beginning, gave away some at the end.
Menikova – VT – good DTY, small hop back, possible out of the area, but better distance than Lee and Urazova, small leg cross from her as well. Chest up. And no deduction for out of the area for 14.633.
14.233 for Tang.
Moors – BB – front tuck mount, check – switch to split ring, some back foot on switch – fhs front tuck, large break with a leg up check but keeps it on the beam – split leap to aerial to split jump, nice – side aerial, hit – full turn – switch 1/2, another bigger wobble, arm wave and leg up – rudi dismount, step back. Stayed on.
Looked like a large break for Jennifer Gadirova on bars. Got crooked on a full pirouette, extra swing.
Steingruber 13.333 on floor to lead the way there.
Kovacs – UB – inbar full to stalder shap 1/2, good – short hs on high – inbar 1/2 to piked jaeger, nice amplitude – Ricna, hit – stalder tkatchev piked to pak – van leeuwen, legs together – FTDT, bounce back. Good one. 14.233
Lee Yunseo very low on a 3/1 on floor.
Moors gets 12.433 on beam. Hey Denis!
Popa – BB – aerial to split, pretty – bhs layout 2 feet, step back but saves it – switch to wolf jump, hit – side aerial, very large break, stays on – another large leg up break on a jump – split leap 1/2, solid – bhs bhs double pike, short, luinge forward. A survive, but enough large breaks that the score will be pretty low.
Lu – UB – tkatchev to gienger and falls, can’t get dowel over on gienger.
After 1
Andrade 15.300
Carey 15.200
Melnikova 14.633
Lee 14.600
Urazova 14.500
No one in the lead group will be upset by that rotation. Lee will be especially pleased with her DTY score, picking up several tenths on her previous attempts at this meet and staying right where she needs to be. De Jesus Dos Santos lost a lot of ground with her bars performance, and Lu Yufei had the fall. Murakami with a strong 13.766 on beam that gains several tenths from qualification for her. Tang down 2 tenths on qualification but hanging around where she needs to be.
Let’s all wait to rotate! Fun!
Rotation 2
The big one for Lee of course. She’ll need to take the lead after this one, though expect Melnikova and Urazova to keep it close.
DJDS – BB – front pike mount, huge break, miracle she stayed on, but so many deductions, leg up both ways – front pike another wobble – not her day this far – layout 2 feet is secure – split to wolf – split 1/2 from side, nice – swtich 1/2, pretty – aerial to split to bhs, clean – switch, small check – full turn – double tuck, large bounce back. She pulled it together after the beginning, but another deduction-fest for Melanie.
Bars warmup taking 1000 years.
Andrade – UB – maloney, clean to stralder full, ptetty into piked tkatchev to pak to van leeuwen, so precise – piked jaeger, caught – 1/2 turn on high, not awful – a little short on toe full – FTDT, stuck. Excellent!
Just 12.166 for DJDS on beam.
Tang – BB – loso mount, hit – layou tto 2 feet is excellent, ideal, connects into split jump – switch ring and falls, way off line and her foot slips off – split ring jump to korbut is perfect of course – switch to split ring to bhs, strong – aerial to straddle to stag ring, nice – 2/1 stuck. One fall, the rest perfection. SIGH.
HUGE 14.666 for Andrade on bars. Up .466 on qualification.
Carey – UB – church, hit but does not connect to gienger – Yezhova – maloney to bhardwaj is solid – van leeuwen, little leg break – FTDT, bounce up in place. Hit but a downgraded routine.
Murakami gets her triple y around on floor. Some lack of control on double double.
Just 13.066 for Tang. 13.500 for Carey on bars.
Jennifer Gadirova with a nice loso loso series on beam. Check on aerial before split and split 1/2.
Derwael – UB – Nabieva hit – stalder tkatchev pike, hit – stalder staked 1/2 to yezhova to shap to pak to toe shap 1/2, all hit, just some legs, gets a little low at the end – full turn is finished well – FTDT, a little short, hop
Murakami went 14.000 on floor, continues stepping up her scores from qualification. Moors’ rudi to split jump is ready for UCLA. Just a ltitle short on her Pod today but fakes it into stag.
Kovacs with a fall on beam
15.266 for Derwael. A bit lower than Q and TF, which is appropriate, it wasn’t as solid.
Urazova – UB – inbar full to komova to pak to van leeuwen, nice height and position – inbar 1/2 to piked jaeger, good – 1/2 turn, short – toe full, not too bad – FTDT, holds the stick with a little lean. Very nice. 14.866
Lu Yufei with a major break on switch ring. Having a day.
Melnikova – UB – inbar full to komova to to pal to van leeuwen. nice – inbar 1/2 to piked jaeger, hit, some legs, a tad close on piked j – 1/2 turn late – toe full to FTDT, small hop. Good one. 14.900 for Melnikova, again outscoring Urazova when I thought Urazova was a bit stronger.
Lee – UB – here we go – nabieva to bhardwa to maloney to gienger – HOW did she caonnect that she looked so off – piked jaeger to pak to van lweuen, hit – giant full – FTDT, holds the stick well despite being a little forward. It shouldn’t quite be the score because she was so crooked on that combo, but she got her 6.8.
And she gets a 15.300! I’m a little surprised by that one. It bodes well for her event final performance because she can be much cleaner.
But Lee will be .066 down on Andrade after 2. She would have wanted to be ahead after bars. Lots of pressure on having a big beam now.
Jessica Gadirova – BB – aerial to split jump to straddle, little hestitations but keeps moving – bhs loso loso and gets wayyy short and off line, falls.
After 2
Andrade 29.966
Lee 29.900
Melnikova 29.533
Urazova 29.366
Derwael 29.199
So we’ve got ourselves a meet. Nothing giving between Andrade and Lee right now. Beam will be the beamiest. Urazova will need to pick it up a little here to get into medal shape because she won’t gain as much on floor.
Rotation 3
Carey – BB – forward roll mount – full turn – aerial a ltitle short before split and straddle – bhs loso loso series and falls – the streak is over – resumes with side aerial, hit – bhs bhs double tuck, hop back –
Murakami – VT – goes safe with the DTY and a smart choice, excellent work, small hop back. great form and direction. 14.533, I know you can take for distance, but I think they’re victimizing Mai a little.
Carey just 11.533 on beam.
Derwael – BB – loso mount, large break with a leg up check – bhs loso is more solid – switch to split ring leap, two parts, switch is lovely – aerial, hesitation, no connection – side somi, hit – wolf triple is solid – wolf doubel, fine – gainer pike full, a little down, hop forward.
Bui – UB – nice piked jaeger – pak, good legs together position – maloney to bhardwaj, a little crooked but OK – van leeuwen, some legs – toe full, fairly late into very nice gienger – double pike, lunge back.
13.366 for Derwael, down 4 tenths on qualification.
Solid DTY from D’Amato, medium bounce back
Urazova – BB – loso mount is solid – bhs bhs loso, riggght to the end of the beam but fine – switch – y spin – aerial to split to onodi, only very small hesitation – wolf triple is comfortable, wolf doubel is same – side aerial, hit – ro bhs 2.5, hopo forward. Really good. That will keep her right in the medal hunt.
Seitz with chest pretty far down on DTY but not too large a hop
14.200 for Urazova. Huge deal. Putting the real pressure on the top 3.
Melnikova – BB – switch mount, bend check but walks through it – bhs loso series, hit – aerial to split to straddle, nice – bhs 1/1, solid – wolf double, fine – side somi, strong – split ring jump, nice – round off double pike, great landing! Only small hop. She did it!
13.700 for Melnikova, which will put her .333 behind Urazova. It’s possible for Melnikova to make that up on floor. But damn that’s going to be close.
Holding Lee for Maggio’s routine? She has to take an extra swing.
Lee – BB – wolf triple is very fast, nearly gets away from her, arm wave – she didn’t do the wolf turn double? – aerial to split to bhs – switch ring to split leap, hit – switch to switch 1/2 to split ring jump, secure, switch 1/2 was a little tight for her perhaps but fine – side aerial to loso loso, holds it, check but holds it – bhs bhs 2/1, very secure landing. Through it and through it pretty well. Not her very best with some checks, she looked THE MOST NERVOUS, but through it, no major errors, but not doing the wolf double was weird.
Just 13.833 for Lee on beam. Not quite what she needed going to floor, but she’s in this thing. Now it’s up to Andrade.
Andrade – BB – switch mount is good – switch 1/2, small movement – bhs loso series, strong – aerial to spl;it ring jump, good hit – split 1/2 from side – switch ring, secure – sdei aerial to split to bhs, again not a movement – doubel pike dismount, lugne back. But my she’s never been quite as good as this.
Still waiting on the Andrade score. It’s supposed to be high. It’s not. 13.566. Oh we’re going to have WORDS judges.
After 3
Lee 43.733
Andrade 43.632
Urazova 43.566
Melnikova 43.233
Andrade still probably has this one in her control because she does have higher scoring potential than Lee or Urazova on floor, but it’s so very close.
Score change for Andrade! Her beam goes up one tenth to 13.666, putting her just one tenth behind Lee. Andrade scored 6 tenths better than Lee on floor in qualification
Rotation 4
Murakami – UB – Church to pak is nice – maloney to gienger, lowish but hit – a short hs on high – piked jaeger, solid – bail to shoot – FTDT, a little short, hop forward, much better day for her. 56.032 finasl.
Kim Bui hit beam in the Olympic AA final!
Derwael starts the leaders rotation on floor – double y spin is around – double tuck hop back – split leap full – 1.5 to front full, good – pulls around a teetery wolf triple – wolf double –
Moors finishes bars with a toe tuck 1/2 dismount, small hop.
13.433 for Derwael, which will put her on 55.965 and behind Murakami.
Urazova – FX – double y, falls out of it a little – piked full in, bounce back and an additional step – 2.5 to front tuck is solid – split leap to split leap full, a little squatty on landing – wolf triple is hit – wolf double – double tuck, wrenches it around, some chest position, little step – 2/1, stuck. It was fine.
Tang pulls out her DTY on vault to finish the day and it’s pretty good this time – a little deep, hop back.
13.400 for Urazova and a 56.966. That means Melnikova needs over 13.7 to pass her, which should be a comfortable score for a hit.
Melnikova – FX – DLO 1/1, medium bounce back, good chest position – double L is glorious – DLO, fine, small hop – front 1/1 is more awkward, hop and a little squatty – doubel wolf turn might need to go in the hall of fame with some arms – double pike, bounce back. Started great, gave away some bits at the end. Will be CLOSE because of the second half of this routine.
Still a 13.966 for Melnikova to go to 57.199. That’s going to be controversial. That’s a rather high execution score for the problems in the second half of that one.
Lee needs 13.467 now. Which would be solid but doable.
Lee – FX – double dobuel tuck, hit, bounce back – DLO, only a small slide, some chest positions – switch ring – split leap full, cleanly around – double L is a potential minefield there as her leg was below horizontal most of the time – wolf triple is around, as is wolf double, that part was better today – bach 1.5 to front full, pretty solid – ohhhh downgradeeeee. Only three passes.
A 13.700 and it’s enough to pass Melnikova with her best score of the competition on floor. 57.433. Up to a hit from Andrade now.
She needs to go over 13.800. She went 14.066 in qualification.
Andrade – FX – here it is, a “pretty good hit” for the win – front full thropugh to full in, bounces back OOB! Significant! DLO 1/1 is strong, stuck landing – split leap full, a little hoppy – double y was basically falling out of it and did a stag jump about it like a HERO – split leap full – DLO neailed, holds the landing – double pike, bounce back and another OOB. Rebeca…
And now we wait.
13.666 with 0.4 OOB is not enough for Andrade, she will finish behind Lee by only a little more than a tenth. WOW.
Lee will win the Olympic AA. What a star.
Andrade inquire the OOB to cause chaos challenge.
Carey will finish ou tthe meet. DO THE TRIPLE DOUBLE.
Carey – FX – Doues the double double, but it’s strong, chest up, hop back – double L falls off her heel toward the end – front layout to double double, bounce back – L hop – split leap full – DLO 1/1, just a ltitle pike, only small movement – full in, large bounce back, borderline OOB.
FINAL
Lee 57.433
Andrade 57.298
Melnikova 57.199
Urazova will finish just off in 4th place, followed by Murakami and Derwael. Tang holds on for 7th, which is an accomplishment given the issues today. Carey ends up 8th.
An excellent performance from all the medalists. Not the mess this one could have been. The lesson from Lee doing her 3-pass floor routine at the end of the AA final at the Olympics is a lesson we’ve been learning for years: DO LESS.
Andrade was phenomenal, and I have some execution questions about a couple of those scores. But she also gave so much away on floor in the final routine. For Melnikova, she did everything she could do. That was the best day she could have hoped.
I almost barfed during Suni’s beam
Same!!!!! That girl is a magician!
Lee is truly one of the best ever at recovering from hesitations. She makes you question whether there was even a bobble or underrotation in the first place with how calmly she recovers and continues the routine.
What’s the start order for Fx?
And they just showed it, nvm ha
This would have been the time for Jade to do the Carey with nothing to lose… But LORD she can tumble.
But she would have something to lose based on the *potential* for injury… she still has FX final, which is really where one could say she has nothing to lose! But also PLEASE only if she feels it safe to do! 🤞🤞
100% safety first. But she can medal on floor without it. Here she couldn’t have with or without. Seemed like the time.
I want to be clear I would never put naming a skill over anyone’s safety and I’m very proud of this team for prioritizing health. Like … Only doing 3 passes in AA is not a thing that would’ve happened in the Karolyi era and I’m really glad to see the seas change. And we proved you can still win medals while being cognizant of that. Bless em.
I really think she’ll do that after the Olympics in basically any international meet she can get to, it still doesn’t look safe; although her Biles II does look easy for her. She still did great and I hope she sticks around for Worlds.
If Simone pulls out of VT and FX, she could probably bring home 2 gold medals, still. She’s not done and I’m such a fan of her amazing growth this quad (or quint?!) <3
YESSSSS that bars score in qual was so impressive. She has come SO far.
Not
Suni really came through under trememdous pressure! Can’t wait to see her again in ub and bb finals!
Wow, that was a nail biting finish all the way to the end!
Absolutely amazing, I’m overjoyed by this podium finish. This is literally my dream podium (sorry Simone, it always was). <3
That is crazy that suni only did 3 pass on fx? wow….
Her double tuck was only adding 0.1 in difficulty which she was more than losing in execution. This was incredibly smart routine composition and allowed her to score as well as she did.
Totally agree! She was losing the tenth on her flexed feet alone, let alone the landing. I wonder if this will prompt a change in coaching strategy actually… Suni’s been really good with switching up routines and having backups, and it must be because Graba prepared her for it. Having options A, B and C depending on how you feel on the day and how the competition goes would probably help many athletes mentally.
Why was Vlada’s score on floor so low? It seemed so much more difficult than Nina’s and it was very beautiful. I love her.
The fact that Nina scores that high with a level 9 routine is criminal.
Level 9 is a perhaps overly generous assessment. Derwael wouldn’t even score well in NCAA with any sentient judges. The way she is constantly overscored is not only criminal but embarrassing.
@dreamingvertebrate Ya, I had originally written level 8/9, but I couldn’t remember the composition of a level 8 routine, haha! Do judges ever deduct for her flexed feet. It should be a 3 pass minimum.
No, never, and her entire bar routine has flexed feet the whole time. Hoping Lee wins tomorrow!
Heroic performance from Lee. What a star indeed.
Melnikova overscored as always; Urazova was robbed. Urazova was again considerably better on bars, perhaps two tenths worse on floor, and Melnikova got huge gifts with the out of area not being called on vault and a ridiculous E score for all her floor wobbles/mistakes.
But Lee was tremendous, as was Andrade.
Can we all agree that no one should ever be subjected to looking at those hideous leos from Belgium? Terrible.
And why is the Chinese team wearing those winter coats??
Andrade had that gold in her grasp. Still thrilled for her but also very disappointed that she couldn’t rein in those tumbles. I also think Andrade’s bars execution scores have been low. She has possibly the best leg and toe form on bars yet get hits harder than I would expect. She possibly is missing pirouetting angles that we can’t see on camera. Still, for her to go through what she’s been through this quad and pull out the performance she did is nothing short of phenomenal.
Lee had an extremely solid day. She was helped out by probably her best vault ever, and the change to 3 passes on floor was mathematically and strategically exactly what she needed. She also masterfully recovered from hesitations on bars and beam and was able to give away a lot less than other gymnasts in her situation. Andrade had 0.5 in OOB errors between vault and floor and ultimately that was the difference.
I would have had Urazova in a clear third place. Melnikova was overscored by 0.1 or 0.2 on bars, beam, and floor. Urazova was exceptionally clean, especially on beam. Unfortunately, with her easier floor, she needed to have been even sharper on the landings and dance elements.
This was a stunning AA competition. Some of the best women’s gymnastics we’ve ever seen and so many hits from so many gymnasts.
Yes, one to rewatch! A thrilling AA filled with surprises and astonishing performances, and the top contenders going 4 for 4!
What a fun meet. Congrats to all the gymnasts, especially Lee, Andrade, and Melnikova. Huge hugs to Urazova- it’s tough to be in that 4th spot and congrats to her on fantastic execution today. I got a little teary eyed watching Suni’s reaction to being in first place. Her saves on bars and beam were awesome; what amazing mental and competitive strength. And Andrade- wow, wow, wow. She was incredible. This is huge.
Side note- ‘m wondering when they will implement slow-mo in vault judging. The relative E scores don’t reflect the actual execution differences. This is true for all the events, but especially on vault. In some weird way, we’re slowly regressing to the 90’s with scores we frequently don’t understand and score differences we understand even less. I don’t disagree with the final standings today, but in general perfect vs. imperfect form isn’t being accounted for even though good form makes everything harder.
Also, I’m exhausted waking up early for these things.
Yes! how did Carey and Andrade end up with only .2 separation of their vaults? Carey has way more execution errors than Andrade.
I can’t believe the scores were so similar . Andrade’s Cheng had the best block I’ve ever seen on that vault. In the non-Simone division.
At no way am I trying to take away from the athletes, but as an NGJA judge, granted for men’s, I’d say that Rebecca > Suni > Vladislava would have been the finish with the access the public had if in the judges hands, real-time.
I don’t anticipate any changes without public blowback initiated from the stars themselves who have the mega influence that no one else has except at the very top of organizations that always prefer status quo.
On an important note for this blog, THANK YOU for covering gymnastics events so when a viewer clicks on the live competition blog link, the first content you see is the oldest routine in the competition you reported instead of immediately seeing the most recent results. That’s why I read this blog for the all around. I can read at my own pace sipping my morning coffee until I reach the bottom of the post. lol. I can control the suspense that way, I can walk away with performances that give me mini-heart attacks, and then come back for the dramatic conclusion. Thanks again for making the Olympics enjoyable. On another note, any clue why balance beam is after the floor final? (Unless I read that wrong)
I also really like the way Spencer formats the liveblogs for his site. I prefer seeing from top to bottom the beginning of the competition to the end. And if you want to quickly get to the most recent routine/commentary you can click on the “comments” link at the top, which will take you to the bottom of the post/most recent thing Spencer typed/beginning of the comments. It’s perfect, in my opinion!
I can also see why others would prefer it the opposite way, with the most recent routine/commentary/results at the top of the post, which some great livebloggers do. I respect that!
As far as the balance beam event final being on day 3 of event finals… 🤷♀️ It’s a big who the eff knows situation?? It would seem it’s up to the current Olympic Organizing Committee & not the FIG… seeing as it’s been all over the place over the years.
For example, 2008 event finals was over 3 days, & on day 1 they had WAG VT & WAG FX finals. Day 2 was uneven bars, day 3 was balance beam. For MAG it was the order we are used to, “Olympic order”, though. London 2012 had only 2 days of event finals, & it was done in normal Olympic order. Rio 2016 returned to 3 days of event finals, but they did it in the Olympic order. Now we are back to event finals anarchy in Tokyo, at least for WAG. 3 days of event finals, Olympic order for MAG, but BB & FX switched for WAG. Soooo appears to be a no fucks given kinda situation?!
One thing that surprised me was the amount of cross-team support we saw on the sidelines. Athletes from different countries congratulating each other, high fiving, etc DURING competition. I don’t recall ever seeing that at the Olympic level in women’s gymnastics. It’s always been cold shoulder, pretend like other countries don’t exist.