Men's and Ladies' Gymnastics

[snowflake]

I also felt bad for the Ukrainians. First happy bronze medalists and suddenly 4th place. Great Britain at least got a bronze instead of the silver.Their first medal in gymnastics team since Stockholm 1912! Japan got silver after their protest. I see Serious Business has done a thorough analyze. Thanks.

I watched the last ladies' qualifications division on Sunday. The Japanese girls were great. High spirits, looking happy right through the comp. Qualified for the final in their first olympics as a team. (no sleep for the Japanese fans tonight either )

I' not a gymnastics buff, but I remember a few big names. I root for Ponor, is she in any final? I think I saw her not doing so well? Britains Elisabeth Tweddle is also a favorite.

Womens' Team ccmpetition today:
US
Russia
China
Romania
Great Britain
Japan
Italy
Canada

Seniorita… AA, UB, HB …..you are not on a gymnastics forum now

[seniorita]

^Sorry, I m just lazy. But other the abbreviations and woman gymnastics elements , I can hardly explain their CoP anyway, since the change I really lost interest and in contrast to skating I didnt even try. In men I just watch and enjoy

Very very very sad for Ukraine. it was so heartbreaking to see thier joys, excitements and heavenly smiles turn into such disapointments...
I know almost nothing about scoring system in Gymnastics, but I have to wonder if the inquiry/appeal had not been from such power houses in gymnastics, e.g. China or Japan, and if it had not been for the world's best gymnast like Uchimura, who is the reigning 3-time world champion btw, the appeal might not have been accepted.
It is a judged sport after all. We are to have mysterious/inconprehensible scores sometimes. Just like figure skating. It happens everywhere with Judo at this Olympics, too.
I sincerely hope judges/refrees will be more accurate, precise and resolute at the first and every opportunity upon judging/scoring. Especially during the events like the OLYMPIC GAMES. And for the sake of all the world's best athletes.

I think Uchimura applied just the rules about the appeal, what they benefitted is that he was the last last athlete on the last last round, otherwise I cant think they would revise an element from a previous round or subvision, I wish the judges would have looked better before announcing the results, cause firstly I feel for Ukraine and secondly the bronze of GB initially would have been a great joy, this silver>bronze ended bitterly. Our broadcast ended with the first results before even the appeal so imagine me when I read the end of it.

[Olympia]

Yeah, really too bad for Ukraine. I have to believe the judges knew what they were looking for, with the computerized replay they have these days rather than just having to evaluate by eye and a memory of the real thing. The Brits still won a medal, thankfully. The first since Stockholm--amazing! Our TV coverage showed all their last routines, and they were really impressive. I feel terrible for the U.S. men, but as Irina Slutskaya said in 2002, this is sport. Sometimes the mojo just leaves you. On the other hand, Britain fell out of contention in synchronized diving, while the U.S. pair got a medal. So each team got some good and some bad in the outcome.

[Serious Business]

John Orozco said, after the competition, "I feel personally responsible. I did five events and I botched two." And I'm like, damn right it's your fault! Falling on your behind twice cost the US 2 points, 2 points that would've tied Japan in the scores, and if I understand the tie-breaking procedure correctly, would've given US the Silver. This would also have the blessed effect of booting the Brits off the podium. A world in which British men, of all things, can win a major gymnastics team title is just disturbingly wrong.

I find it terribly ironic that John Orozco was featured in awful pop-rap band B.O.B.'s video for the song "Fighter". He's not a fighter, he's a choker.

[Tonichelle]

GBR still got a medal. It was Ukraine that the revised decision knocked off the podium.

ugh. I meant to say silver medal...

what a way to ruin the mood of the night, though, so crazy...

[Serious Business]

A Brit just told me that the papers in the UK are treating their gymnastics bronze win as if Britain's won the soccer World Cup. I think overall, the Brits are overjoyed about it. It's the Ukrainians who feel particularly negative about their reversal of fortune.

[heyang]

John Orozco said, after the competition, "I feel personally responsible. I did five events and I botched two." And I'm like, damn right it's your fault! Falling on your behind twice cost the US 2 points, 2 points that would've tied Japan in the scores, and if I understand the tie-breaking procedure correctly, would've given US the Silver. This would also have the blessed effect of booting the Brits off the podium. A world in which British men, of all things, can win a major gymnastics team title is just disturbingly wrong.

I find it terribly ironic that John Orozco was featured in awful pop-rap band B.O.B.'s video for the song "Fighter". He's not a fighter, he's a choker.

The US Men were 'off' from the start. You could see it in their faces before they even started. Unfortunately, it happens, especially with a young team; 4 of the 5 are expected to go for the Rio games. Others made costly mistakes, too; although I agree that, collectively, his deductions were the most damaging.

DId I miss it? I read that the US Men went from 8th to 5th based upon High Bar and I don't recall viewing any of it on TV.

Tonight we'll see if the Ladies can withstand the pressure and how Jordan recovers from her disappointment. Unfortunately for her, NBC will likely continue to harp on the rules. BTW, I found one article that said that 8 of the top 10 are from the 4 top teams. Without the rule in place, 10 of the top 24 would've been from the top 4 teams - so Jordan was not the only one who missed the AA due to this rule.

[Serious Business]

Holy Moses at McKayla Maroney's vault at the team finals! Nailed that landing! The best I've seen her land that vault. And she gets a massive score even when she doesn't nail that ending, so of course, she gets a huge one here. For my money, this vault is the most impressive moment of the Olympics yet. It's just the perfect combination of power, athleticism, control and beauty.

I rather like the last Canadian on floor, Victoria Morris. She showed she can actually dance, whereas most floor exercises nowadays are wretched parodies of dance.

[Bluebonnet]

Congratulations to China! Mostly congratulations to UK!!! Feel so bad for Ukraine as well as UK's 15 minutes dream. Can the judges double check the results before they post?! And congratulations to Japan, too.

[Serious Business]

The US not only wins, but with a 5+ point margin! That is bigger than the winning margin of the Chinese men's team over the Japanese men's team, which takes place in a format with 2 more apparatuses. The US women's team was so dominant it was outright cruel. Everybody hit it out of the park. There was no faltering at all, maybe besides Raisman on beam, but so tiny a mistake that it's completely covered by the US team's huge lead.

I don't know why the Russians girls were crying. Yes, their final floor rotation was a mess. But they have to realize that they weren't in danger of losing silver, and there was no chance in hell they'd win gold even if they hit perfectly. Can't cry over spilled milk when it was never yours.

Speaking of crying, I love that Aly Raisman, who's normally so steely, broke down in tears of joy before her routine, the final one of the competition, even finished. She knew she sealed the deal.

Unsurprisingly, McKayla Maroney scored the single highest score so far awarded to a female gymnast: a massive 16.233 for her perfect vault. That thing was a monster, a beautiful monster.

Edited to add: Gabby Douglas competed on all 4 apparatuses, and of course, put up the highest total score of any gymnast who did. Her likely rival for gold in the all-around, Viktoria Komova, would've needed higher than a 14.833 on floor to beat Gabby (Komova was not sent out on floor). And Komova has never even gotten close to 14.833 on that. Had it been the all-around finals today, Douglas would've won. Of course, Gabby can be nervy and inconsistent now and then, so there's no guarantee she'll win all-around gold. But as the one athlete who put up massive scores on every apparatus to help USA win, Douglas is the MVP for the team.

Further edited to add: The US team had the highest score on all three apparatuses except uneven bar, where they were third. This is the highest overall combined ranking for a women's team going as far back as Wikipedia tracks these things (which goes back to the 1996 Olympics). And uneven bars was supposed to be the US' one big weakness. So much for that.

[seniorita]

Congradulations on USA team, that was a great competition, Douglas is my new favorite!! I loved her floor and beam of all. I lost the vault I m waiting to see the replay. My coverage was showing mostly italian, canadian and japanese rotations so I missed most things I wanted to see.
I can totaly understand the russian girls crying, it was an epic meltdown the FX and you dont want this to happen in your Olympics regardless of the medals.Besides after two rotations they were 0.4 begind USA then they had problems in beam too besides the floor mess.
And Romania for bronze

[Buttercup]

Congrats to all the medalists! I hope this means we no longer have to consider Jordyn Weiber some sort of tragic figure. As I said earlier, I am sure that Kurt Browning would have loved a shot at a team gold in 1992 and 1994. Hopefully she will focus on the medal she won and not the one that got away... also, Gabby Douglas is too cute.

Congradulations on USA team, that was a great competition, Douglas is my new favorite!! I loved her floor and beam of all. I lost the vault I m waiting to see the replay. My coverage was showing mostly italian, canadian and japanese rotations so I missed most things I wanted to see.

In case you haven't yet found it: Eurovision Sports = your friend. This is true for all European sports fans!

p.s. somewhere on that site they have replays of almost all of 2010 Worlds!

[Olympia]

I am so thrilled. I can't wait to see it tonight. I'm so happy that it was done decisively, not just by nickels and dimes here and there. And what wonderful satisfaction this has to give Jordyn. She gets a gold after all.

Even if (God forbid) the girls get anxious for the all-around, every one of them can know that they are gold medalists no matter what. Perhaps this will give them some steadiness going into the next competition.

[DianaSelene]

ugh. I meant to say silver medal...

what a way to ruin the mood of the night, though, so crazy...

No, Japan got silver and deserved it - they have much higher difficulty and execution. Even with the mistakes they were better.

[Serious Business]

I am so thrilled. I can't wait to see it tonight. I'm so happy that it was done decisively, not just by nickels and dimes here and there. And what wonderful satisfaction this has to give Jordyn. She gets a gold after all.

Even if (God forbid) the girls get anxious for the all-around, every one of them can know that they are gold medalists no matter what. Perhaps this will give them some steadiness going into the next competition.

I think you're right about how satisfying this must be for Jordyn. The US gymnastics Olympic program is very, very team-orientated. And for team USA to capture gold after going in as the favorite 2 times before, only to falter, I imagine there are a lot more kudos going around than there would be if an American woman won the all-around but the team failed to get gold (after all, an American woman winning the gymnastics all-around is pretty old hat by now). This is the first gold for team USA since 1996, which is a ridiculously long time for such a terrifyingly strong program (although I blame the brutal competition/training schedule the American women go through that induces injuries).

I don't think it'll necessarily take the pressure off. It might even increase it, as Aly and Gabby may feel like they are the ones on top having to defend. But I'm pretty sure at the end of it all, regardless of placement, they'll still be ecstatic about their team win.