Euros 2009: AA Final

Ksenia Semenova won. Unquestionable. She qualified first with a fall, and that was on her best event (UB). Ksenia Afanasyeva took second with a BB fall. I'm so glad she fell and did not win. I have to admit, I hate the girl and her gymnastics. She's so freaking inconsistent. It makes me so annoyed when I watch her, even when she hits. Kristina Goryunova was most unfairly pulled out of the AA to make way for Afan, because Afan screwed up in the Prelims, finishing 20th, and out of Russia's top two. Now what do you think of that? Unfair! I understand Goryunova was not a contender, but like Galieva 1992 for Gutsu, this was unfair! Only in Gutsu's case, Gutsu was not inconsistent. It was a fluke, and Afanasyeva' s mistakes were not. That's the end of that.
Well, anyways congratulations to Ariella Kaslin of Switzerland, who pulled in a bronze, and had the highest vault score of the AA, a 15.300 (probably her Rudi). I think Ariella will win the vault title.
Aagje Van Wallaghem, who qualified third, finished a respectable 6th.
Ana Maria Tamirjan (2nd qualifier) finished 5th, after falling on her Double Straight on FX.
Ana Maria Izurieta (of Spain!!) finished fourth. I can't remember where she qualified.

I feel bad for Youna Dufourtnet, Emily Armi, and Vanessa Ferrari. Youna could have easily won the bronze. Ferrari had one heck of a time, and struggled through everything. But the highlight of her struggle was her vault. Yuck! Emily Armi, of Italy like Ferrari, scored 2.00 on bars. She qualified with a score in the 13's on UB. She messed up on simple kips and giant 1/2's, and when her coach lifted her up for the 2nd or 3rd time, she was crying, and never finished the routine.
WHAT WAS GOING ON?
Poor girl, that's all I can say.

Well, anyways, I can't wait for event finals! Good luck girls!
And Ukraine, do me a favor: LEAVE THE INCONSISTENCY AT BEIJING!
I wanna see hit for hit and nothing else.
Consider dropping the double fronts off bars, too. I'm sick of them.
Thanks for reading this long entry!

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!

Gymnasts That Should Be Combined

Seriously, I have some good trios.

1. Anna Pavlova + Shawn Johnson + Nastia Liukin
2. Andreea Raducan + Carly Patterson + Tatiana Gutsu
3. Catalina Ponor + Courtney Kupets + Elena Zamolodchikova
4. Mary Lou Retton + Ksenia Semenova + Svetlana Khorkina

What do you think?
I'll try and get them into a poll.