I REALLY hope Shawn Johnson sticks around for another Olympics. I was leaning towards the fact that she would until she won the Gold on the Beam Finals. I guess you can't be too unhappy with two Olympics Silvers and a Gold. Although I don't particularly like her style on beam and uneven bars (compared to Nastia), she is just so darn happy all of the time. In almost every shot of Nastia, she looked like someone just murdered her entire family, except for when she won All-Around Gold. Someone needs to paint a smile on her face!! But I really do love her style of gymnastics.
If we were still on the 10.0 system, Nastia probably would have swept all of her individual events... taking the beam title over Shawn (her start value was just too low for the new system), uneven bars (He's style wouldn't have scored as well under 10.0 when they emphasized artistry and grace more than tricks.. actually maybe second to Yilin Yang, she was very underscored IMHO), and 100% Gold on floor as well (again, her start value was too low with the new system).
The new system is doing what CoP did to figure skating... it's taking out the grace and artistry and replacing it with packing your routine with as many difficult tricks as you can muster. It's a shame. I also wish there was at least one more apparatus for women, since they only compete on 4 as compared to 6 for men. I'm a big fan of adding trapeze in.
Do a trick, catch it to a bar. Just like the vault, but in the air. LOL
I'll always wonder why they separate trampoline from gymnastics. You'd think basic trampoline routines would be a pretty logical thing to have in gymnastics considering you learn many of your tricks on a trampoline first... or into a foam pit.
And if I heard the announcer say "in bounced Shawn Johnson" about her coach's gym ONE MORE TIME I thought I was going to stick a pencil in my eardrums.
Also....
Here is where I’m forced to show my ignorance of even the basic aspects of the sport.
Listening to all the talk of how Alicia was like a mentor / advisor / older sister to the other American girls, I was under the impression that these girls were some kind of a “team”, like a baseball team or a hockey team. But I’ve been doing a little reading, and it seems like that’s not the case. It seems like the best 6 girls in the United States were assembled just for the Olympics. They are not really part of a permanent "team". Is this correct?
It is true and untrue. No, these specific girls are not a "permanent" team, but each year members of a "Senior National Team" are listed, and they go through similar competitions nationally (just like in figure skating) to see who will compete on the team internationally in Worlds, etc. So, it's not like the girls don't know each other. Many have been together on the Senior National Team and competition together at Worlds for many years prior to the Olympics. Sometimes a member is changed here and there. Outside of getting to know each other when competiting as a team, you can obviously tell they have to compete against each other quite frequently... whether it's in a national event, the all-around competitions, or event finals in Worlds, Olympics, other events, etc. So the long and short of it is yes, to an extent, they are a team... but they are also rivals as well as teammates... and the best on the list make the team each year (the best are usually the same people, except when someone is injured,an up and comer ousts someone, or someone retires).
