British Team Championships 2009

I just came back from this years British Teams in Guildford. Overall there was some impressive gymnastics consiering it is early on in the season but there was also some not so good and scary performances! This year the results were:
1 - 169.550 - City of Liverpool
2 - 168.600 - Heathrow 'A'
3 - 161.100 - Notts 'A'
4 - 154.000 - Cardiff Central
5 - 150.850 - Huntingdon
6 - 149.700 - Heathrow 'B'
7 - 148.050 - Horsham
8 - 145.000 - Bristol Hawks
9 - 144.550 - The Academy

The City of Liverpool team consisted of Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan, Jenny Pinches, Alex Cooper and Abbie Caig. Beth received a (slightly inflated) score of 15.70 on Bars, 15.450 on Floor and she also competed a Yurchenko 1/2 on pike front off on Vault for 13.950, so it seems she is training the other events. Her bars was impressive live but not as good as at the Europeans and floor was flawless but I still don't like her choreography. Hannah Whelan won the All Around (Becky Downie didn't compete all around) and had a good, consistent competition. Her scores were Vault 14.050, A-Bars 14.050, Beam 14.150 Floor 14.150, Total: 56.400. Her floor routine has Nastia Liukin's 2004-06 music and included a nice triple twist. Jenny Pinches semmed to be having an off day with falls on her standing tuck bk full on beam (13.20) and her straight full in dismount off bars (13.050). Although I did like her floor routine (14.40) with a Double Arabian and back 1 1/2 through to back 2 1/2 twist. Just a quick mention of little Abbie Caig (12 years) who had a very solid routine including a difficult beam routine with Onodi into split change+tuck back, Flick Layout and double tuck back dismount.

Heathrow 'A' Team consisted of Danusia Francis, Nicole Hibbert, Backy Wing and Laura Mitchell. Danusia (3rd AA) presented some nice elegant work but she needs to up her difficult level and she seems to be well capable of doing that. Her highest score was on Bars (14.200) where she showed a nice combination of stoop in to pike seat circle fwd (in L grip) in hstd phase into Straddled Jaeger. Nicole Hibbert came 2nd in the All Around with a score of 56.250 she had some big skills on floor (double arabian and full in) and an improved Bars (Tkatchev into pak, Toe on Shapshnikova into overshoot 1/2), but I think she needs to work on her presentation as she doesn't really sell her floor and beam. Becky Wing looked in very good shape and her routines were better presented than in the Europeans. Her bars with good with a beautiful Tkatchev into Pak Salto and a very elegant floor and dance work on beam where she scored 14.00. She came 4th all around and if she hadnt had a fall on floor (double arabian) she could have won. Laura Mitchell had a nasty fall on her bars dismount, she was meant to do a double straight but her hand guards got stuck to the bar and her first tuck back was onto her back on the high bar and she then bounced backwards onto the low bar! I have never seen a fall like it before. but thankfully she was fine with no injuries at all.

Becky Downie only competed Bars (14.90) and Beam (13.650) where she had a silly fall on her free cartwheel. I think she is still recovering from an ankle injury but she still managed to stick her double pike dismount on beam. She also debuted a new skill on bars which was a Toe on Piked Tkatchev and finished her routine with a stuck full in dismount.

I will post other comments tomorrow and hopefully by then some videos will be up on youtube.

Glasgow Grand Prix 2009

Full results can be found here. As every1 has already reported on the results I'm just going to write a few of my comments and favourite videos.
Beth Tweddle was impressive in finals hitting both routines after having trouble on Bars in qualifying. Her bars routine has a D Score on 6.70 and I think it is the most difficult routine in the world, however recently at the Chinese National Championships Jiang Yuyuan performed a routine which had a D Score of 6.90. Comparing the two I still prefer Beths rouutine but she will definitely have some competition at this years Worlds from Yuyuan's routine as she scored 15.00 and 15.150 which strict judging, and there is still room for improvement. Which routine does every1 else prefer?




The floor final was intersting Beth's routine was clean and her tumbling was impressive but I really do not like her dance work and I hope the GB choreographers can come up with something better. I also agree with others that Anna Myzdrikova's routine had much nicer dance and I liked her different tumbles including a back triple twist into a tuck back.
I really liked Diego Hypolito's floor routine esoecially with his new skill a Double Arabian Straight with full twist in the second somersault. I really love how he is motivated to do better and to compete more daring skills, so I'm glad he won both floor and vault.


Sanne Wevers and Ana Maria Izurieta won the Beam Finals with a score of 14.075. I like Wevers routine because it is very innovative, she does have a lot of turns but I was impressed with her triple spin and double spin with leg up. She had a D Score of 6.70 but she does need to improve her form although I saw an interview with her on BGTV where she hadnt been training much so it is a good performance!
Also well done to Becky Downie for finally proving herself and earning the silver medal on bars with a score of 14.60.

Comparison of International Scores under the 2009 Code Of Points

Now that we have had a few International Competitions this year with the new code I have decided to compare scores and see what a good score is on each apparatus and All Around and who has scored the highest scores so far. I know some of the scores may not be completely accurate (e.g. the American Cup) but it's just so people can get an idea of the scoring under the new code.

All Around
1. Jordyn Wieber 60.200 (American Cup)
2. Bridget Sloan 59.600 (American Cup)
3. Jordyn Wieber 58.500 (Gymnix Junior Cup)
4. Ksenia Semenova 58.175 (Europeans AA Finals)
5. Ksenia Semenova 57.625 (Europeans AA Qualifications)
6. Ksenia Afanasyeva 57.600 (Europeans AA Finals)
7. Ariella Kaeslin/Ana Maria Tamirjan 57.275 (Europeans AA Finals/Quals)
8. Ana Maria Izurieta 56.375 (Europeans AA Finals)
9. Aagje Van Walleghem 56.150 (Europeans Qualifications)
10. Kim Bui 56.000 (American Cup)

Vault (1 Vault)
1. Jordyn Wieber 15.750 (American Cup)
2. Ariella Kaeslin 15.300 (Europeans AA Finals)
3. Bridget Sloan 15.150 (American Cup)
4. Jordyn Wieber 15.000 (International Gymnix Junior Cup)
5. Ana Maria Izurieta 14.850 (Europeans AA Finals)
6. Diana Chelaru 14.675 (Europeans AA Finals)
7. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.650 (Europeans AA Finals/Quals)
8. Janaina Silva 14.550 (Jesolo)
9. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.525 (Europeans AA Finals)
10. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.475 (Europeans AA Qualifications)

Vault (2 Vaults)
1. Ariella Kaeslin 14.625 (European Event Finals)
2. Ariella Kaeslin 14.550 (Cottbus)
3. Yulia Berger 14.325 (Europeans Event Finals)
4. Yulia Berger 14.287 (Europeans Qualifications)
5. Anna Kalashnyk 14.275 (Europeans Event Finals)
6. Jana Komrskova 14.225 (Europeans Qualifications)
7. Aagje Van Walleghem 14.200 (Europeans Event Finals)
8. Charlotte Mackie/Kim Bui 14.150 (International Gymnix World Cup/Europeans Event Finals)
9. Anna Kalashnyk 14.112 (Europeans Qualifications)
10. Kim Bui 14.087 (Europeans Qualifications)

Uneven Bars
1. Beth Tweddle 15.650 (Jesolo)
2. Beth Tweddle 15.575 (Europeans Event Finals)
3. Ksenia Semenova 15.500 (Europeans Event Finals)
4. Beth Tweddle 15.275 (Europeans Qualifications)
5. Anja Brinker 15.025 (Europeans Qualifications)
6. Anja Brinker/Becky Downie 15.00 (Europeans AA Final)
7. Ksenia Semenova/Ksenia Afanaseyeva 14.925 (Europeans AA Final)
8. Ksenia Afanaseyeva/Anja Brinker 14.825 (Europeans Qualifications/Cottbus)
9. Anja Brinker/Jordyn Wieber/Bridget Sloan 14.80 (Europeans Event Finals/American Cup)
10. Youna Dufournet 14.750 (Europeans Qualifications)

Beam
1. Jordyn Wieber 15.00 (American Cup)
2. Bridget Sloan 14.90 (American Cup)
3. Amelia Racea/Ksenia Semenova 14.80 (Jesolo/Europeans AA Final)
4. Yana Demyanchuk 14.775 (Europeans Event Finals)
5. Ana Maria Tamirjan/Jordyn Wieber 14.750 (Europeans Event Finals/International Gymnix Junior Cup)
6. Vasiliki Millousi 14.725 (Europeans Qualifications)
7. Mattie Larson/Gabriela Dragoi 14.650 (International Gymnix World Cup/Europeans Event Finals)
8. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.60 (Europeans AA Finals)
9. Amelia Racea 14.550 (American Cup)
10. Ana Maria Tamirjan 14.525 (Europeans Qualifications)

Floor
1. Beth Tweddle 15.150 (Europeans Event Finals)
2. Sandra Izbasa 15.050 (Nadia Comaneci International Invitational)
3. Beth Tweddle 14.975 (Europeans Qualifications)
4. Mattie Larson 14.950 (International Gymnix World Cup)
5. Bridget Sloan 14.750 (American Cup)
6. Vanessa Ferrari 14.675 (Europeans Event Finals)
7. Jordyn Wieber 14.650 (American Cup)
8. Ksenia Semenova 14.625 (Europeans Event Finals)
9. Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.575 (Europeans AA Final)
10. Vanessa Ferrari 14.525 (Europeans AA Final)

Videos of the Top Scorers on each apparatus so far in International Competition under the COP 2009:

Europeans Qualification Videos

Some interesting videos from the top qualifiers have been put on youtube on 88YaYa88's channel.

Some of my favourite routines were Demyanchuk on floor I love the routine and the crowd seemed to as well, she just needs to put harder tumbling in. Her beam routine scored higher and she got in a really good rhythm with only minor wobbles, I think she has a chance at a medal maybe only bronze though. Diana Chelaru suprised me with a lot of upgrades from last year and her floor routine is very cute with some powerful tumbling, form just needs a little improving.
Demyanchuk Floor

Chelaru Floor


I have to mention Beth Tweddle's floor routine, the tumbling is very impressive and the leaps are neat but I prefer her routine from last year and I really wish she could dance! Her Bars routine I did really like it is full of difficult skills and combinations and I actually prefer it to Semenova's.

Hannah Whelan's (GBR) new floor is available to watch, an interesting note is that she is using Nastia Liukin's old floor music I think it suits Hannah, she's not quite Nastia but she does look more elegant and mature out there. Take a look for yourself here.

European Championships Live Online

Since I found out the BBC will not be covering the Europeans I've been trying to find websites where I can watch it live online. On a forum there was a comment reporting that through this link on the TVSLO2 Slovenian channel you will be able to watch it live on Saturday.
There is also the possiblity on the Romanian Tv Channel TVR2 online here that the gymnastics will be on I presume for the finals on Saturday ans Sunday, but I thinkyou have to download a specific player perhaps te VLC player.
If any1 knows anywhere else where I can watch it live please could you let me know - Thanks!

European Gymnastics Championships Predictions

These are my predictions for the top 8 qualifiers for each of the finals at the upcoming Europeans (not in any order):

All Around
Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Lia Parolari, Becky Downie, Youna Dufournet, Marine Petit, Kim Bui. (Other possibles: Sandra Izbasa, Diana Chelaru, Vanessa Ferrari, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Yana Demyanchuk).

Vault
Aagje Wallaghem, Ariella Kaeslin, Youna Dufournet,Becky Downie, Diana Chelaru, Yasmin Zimmerman, Yulia Berger, Kim Bui.
Bars
Ksenia Semonova, Beth Tweddle, Anastasia Koval, Youna Dufournet, Anja Brinker, Becky Downie, Paola Galante, Vanessa Ferrari. (Other possibles could be Lia Parolari, Lieke Wevers).
Beam
Sandra Izbasa, Ksenia Semenova, Youna Dufournet, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Lieke Wevers, Vanessa Ferrari, Yana Demyanchuk. (Other possibles: Gabriela Dragoi, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Marine Petit).
Floor
Sandra Izbasa, Beth Tweddle, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Youna Dufournet, Kim Bui, Kristina Goryunova,Becky Downie. (Other possibles: Yana Demyanchuk, Naomi Ruiz)

Personally I hope Becky Downie wins the All Around because I'm British, but if not I want Sandra Izbasa to win if she does 4 pieces if not maybe Semenova. For vault I think Kaeslin will win but I hope Dufournet performs well enough for a medal in vault, bars or floor. I want Beth Tweddle to win bars but I'm not sure about her consistency and handstands! So maybe Koval or Semenova will win but there are lots of possibilities. The Beam final will probably come down to consistency so I think a Romanian will win or Semenova. As long as Izbasa hits on floor and is in better shape than at Jesolo I think she should win but there will be other contenders like Bui, Tamirjan and the Russians if she makes mistakes.