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!

Individual Apparatus Awards - Uneven Bars

Uneven Bars awards are hereby presented to....

Svetlana Khorkina for originality, difficulty, and execution. She has 3 UB skills named after, and Queen is also my #1 UB Worker. She is a 5 time World Champion and a 2 time Olympic Champion.

Isabelle Severino for superb work. She has done a Hristakieva without any form break. Not even a 0.001 cm leg separation. Major kudos for sticking around. She is the 1996 World Bronze Medalist.

Amy Chow for actually working the low bar and super stalders. Amy would actually do stalders on the low bar. Gasp! She has a luhvly piked jaeger and is the 1996 Olympic Silver Medalist.

He Kexin for dynamo, dynamo, dynamo. She connects the Li Ya to a Jaeger, does a Layout Jaeger, and Tkatchev + Pak combo. She connects an Ono + 1/2 to her dismount. He holds the record for UB, with a stellar 17.300 (7.7/9.6). She is the 2008 Olympic Champion.

Anastasia Liukin for that geinger. Can't live without it. Lovely pirouettes and usually great execution. She is the 2005 World Champion.

Elizabeth Tweddle for the hardest bar work in the world. In the old (2008) Code, she had an amazing 7.8 SV. She's gonna win at Euros, I know it. Beth is the 2006 World Champion.

Courtney Kupets for that Tkatchev. Sky high. She is the 2002 World Champion.

and last but in no way least...

Chellsie Memmel for battling injuries to make a great comeback. She has a lovely Hindorff and a nice Jam to DF Dismount.