Review of Europeans

I'm not going to do a full blog on EF. I'm going to copy The Couch Gymnast. For the most part.

Europeans 2009 In Review
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Best Performance: Beth Tweddle's EF UB. She was simply stunning! She added a half-twist to her toe-on Shaposh. Perfection! Good handstands, much better than normal, to win the title with a whopping 15.575 (in the new code). The only errors were the hop on the landing, and she had some leg separations in her kips.
It's not letting me embed. Grr.

That did nawt happen!: Emily Armi of Italy bailing her UB? Check my last entry for details. I don't feel like retyping it.

Worst Performance: Youna Dufourtnet's AA FX. Tragic. Poor girl landed two of her passes on her head. She was crying after her 3rd pass :(.

Disappointment: Aagje Van Wallaghem walking out without a medal. That really killed me. She was so freakin' close in the AA and VT EF!

Predictions: I got the VT Prediction and (I think) UB Prediction right! Yay me! *golf claps*

Say What?: Sandra Izbasa's EF FX. Only a 13.900? I must watch that. She, too, walked out without a medal. Surprising? Sandra had only a 4.900 SV! What was up with that?

MY FAVORITE PART: VANESSA FERRARI of Italy's floor getting the highest Execution score in the EFs with a stellar 9.275. She hit that routine phenomenally! Ehmagawd, I was stunned since Nessa is known for her bad form? Not here, she isnt! :)

Thanks for tuning in to this (semi) long entry. Hope you liked it. Sadly, europeans 2009 must end sometime. I really liked this competition!

European Finalists

Well, the qualifying took place!
AA:
Semenova qualified first. No surprise. Vanessa Ferrari, only a disappointing tenth. I was so wrong about her. Belgium's Aagje Van Wallaghem finished a surprising third, and Ana Maria Tamirjan of Romania qualified second. Kaslin of Switzerland, who made the AA final in Beijing, qualified 12th, and Youna Dufourtnet of France, a make-me-cry 21st. Owch.

Vault Finalists:
1. Yulia Berger -RUS (5.5/5.7)
Boy was I wrong about her! I thought she wouldn't even qualify!
Jana Komrskova, Aagje Van Wallaghem, Ariella Kaslin, Rebecca Downie, and others qualified. Kaslin messed up her Layout Rudi.

Uneven Bars Finalists:
Beth Tweddle (1st), Anja Brinker (2nd), Youna Dufourtnet, Ksenia Semenova (fell, 8th qualifier), Anastasia Koval, Rebecca Downie, and others.

Balance Beam Finalists:
Vasiliski Milousi of Greece qualified first! What an accomplishment! She has 6.0 Difficulty in the new code. Semenova, Tamirjan, Maksyuta, Dragoi, and Yasmin Zimmerman qualifed, along with others. Zimmerman qualified last.

Floor Exercise Finalists:
Beth Tweddle qualified over Sandra Izbasa (reigning olympic champion!) first, by a .5 landslide. Ferrari qualified third, Semenova fourth, Tamirjan, Ana Maria Izurieta of Spain, Parolari, and Holenkova qualified (in that order). Looking forward to seeing Beth win!

Youna Dufourtnet screwed up. I'm quite dissappointed.

2009: Europeans to Come!

Looking forward to Euros? I am!



My Predictions:



AA

1. Vanessa Ferrari (who actually is competing)
2. Ksenia Semenova
3. Sandra Izbasa

VT
1. Ariella Kaslin
2. Aagje Vanwallaghem
3. Youna Dufourtnet

UB
1. Elizabeth Tweddle
2. Ksenia Semenova
3. Youna Dufourtnet

BB
1. Youna Dufourtnet
2. Ksenia Semenova
3. Gabriella Dragoi/Marta Pihan (who had a 6.9 SV in the 2008 code...yeah)

FX
1. Sandra Izbasa
2. Youna Dufourtnet
3. Elizabeth Tweddle

Whaddaya think? Hopefully, Euros will be the Youna I Can Hit When I Want To Don't Worry About Me show!

2009 Comaneci Invitational

Izbasa won the senior side. She had difficulty with her UB set though.
Results can be viewed at:
http://gymnasticsresults.com/2009/usa/nadia2009wag.html

They are shown here:

2009 Nadia Comaneci Invitational

Seniors All-Around VT UB BB FX Total
1 Sandra Izbasa ROU 14.400 12.000 14.100 15.050 55.550
2 Yana Demyanchuk UKR 13.700 14.050 13.150 13.550 54.450
3 Daniela Druncea ROU 12.950 12.400 14.000 14.000 53.350
4 Roni Rabinovitz ISR 13.350 13.400 13.600 12.300 52.650
5 Hazuki Tazoe JPN 13.400 12.550 12.200 11.800 49.950
6 Tali Liak ISR 13.750 12.500 11.100 12.550 49.900
7 Brittany Harris USA 13.450 11.100 12.800 12.400 49.750
8 Madison Mooring USA 13.400 10.850 12.900 11.650 48.800
9 Naama Bernstain ISR 13.600 11.500 12.400 11.150 48.650
10 Victoria Harrison USA 12.700 9.300 11.900 12.700 46.600

So um...
- Sandra had a very nice FX routine. She stuck her full in.

I don't have much to say about this meet. I haven't watched it yet.
Thanks to amygym on youtube (www.youtube.com/amygym) for the videos.