Monday 11 June 2012

BREAKING DOWN THE U.S OLYMPIC TEAM CONTENDERS!

In this post, we will look at where U.S's best gymnasts and where they could contribute and what they can improve on.

Yesterday, we saw the closing day of VISA Championships at the Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, MO. It was a very close competition but we did come out with one winner. It was Geddert's Jordyn Wieber. It was between her and Gabby Douglas but she did prevail. But, the hot topic on many people's lips was McKayla Maroney. In the warm-ups on floor, she had a disastrous triple twist when she fell straight onto her back/head. She managed to sit up and then walk off but she may have suffered concussion, so decided to withdraw from the competition. She will now petition for trials. We knew things weren't going to go Gabby's way after she fell on her combo on beam but still went to score 14.1, but Jordyn scored 15s in every rotation with 15.900 on her vault. Running up in 3rd was Alexandra Raisman for Brestyan's. Obviously, the floor being her strongest event, she managed to place first with 31,250 combined score (Day 1/2)


JORDYN WIEBER
Amongst the gymnastics world, we would be shocked about Jordyn not making the team. 2011 World Champion, still going strong with upgrades. 

Strengths:
Beam & Floor.

Weaknesses:
Bars.

Which event(s) would I put her on?
All (For all-around.)

Is she in my Olympic team?
Yes.

GABRIELLE DOUGLAS
Gabrielle can also bring a lot to the U.S Gymnastics table. After making that big move to train at Chow's, she's been fully focused. 

Strengths:
Bars, Floor & Vault

Weaknesses:
Beam (but she still is great, a little inconsistent)

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Vault & Bars (maybe floor, depends who is on the squad)

Is she on my Olympic team?
Yes.


KYLA ROSS
This has been the first major year of senior competition for Kyla. She's done very well in previous meets and has a lot to give.

Strengths:
Beam & Floor

Weaknesses:
Bars & Vault

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Beam, Floor

Is she on my Olympic team?
Yes.

ALICIA SACRAMONE
A veteran to the sport of Gymnastics, Sacramone has been to many meets, has many medals and has many fans...including me!

Strengths:
Beam & Vault

Weaknesses: 
Only a 2-eventer

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Vault & Beam

Is she on my Olympic Team?
Maybe, reserve.

ALEXANDRA RAISMAN
Since 2010, Raisman has been giving us lovely, strong performances throughout the board, very competent.

Strengths:
Floor

Weakness:
 
BARS!!!!!!!

Which event would I put her on?
All-around

Is she in my Olympic team?
Yes.

MCKAYLA MARONEY
Recently, Maroney went down but I reckon she could get up. Her vaulting is what makes her so unique and popular but her floor is well presented also.

Strengths:
Vault, Floor

Weakness:
Bars

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Vault, Floor

Is she in my Olympic team?
If her appeal is accepted, Yes.


NASTIA LIUKIN
The 2008 Olympic Champion is coming back for more Olympic success. Now cut down to 2 pieces but those were her strongest, she is becoming a big threat now.

Strengths:
Bars and Beam (but bars is where she could be most helpful to the team.)

Weaknesses:
-

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Bars & Beam

Is she on my Olympic team?
If Maroney's appeal is declined, Yes.


SABRINA VEGA
The 2011 World Champion is back. Sabrina has got better routines and is looking in shape. Can she threaten?

Strengths:
Floor

Weaknesses:
Bars & Vault

Which event(s) would I put her on?
Floor (maybe beam.)

Is she in my Olympic team?
No.


BRIDGET SLOAN

Strengths:
Bars & Floor

Weakness:
V.A.U.L.T

which event would I put her on?
Bars, Floor or Beam.

is she in my olympic team?
Her or aSac as reserve.


So who do you think could make the Olympic Team? Comment? Tweet? @theworldgymnast 


5 comments:

  1. are you serious. kyla ross is not weak on bars!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kyla Ross

    Strengths: Bars* & Beam

    Weaknesses: Consistency on Vault & Difficulty on floor

    Events: Bars & Beam

    (*2nd best bars worker in USA + beat Gabby on first day of Visas)

    My Team: Yes

    ReplyDelete
  3. My Team (qualifications in bracets)

    Jordyn Wieber: VT UB BB FX
    Aly Raisman: BB FX (VT)
    Gabby Douglas: VT UB FX (BB)
    Kyla Ross: UB BB
    Elizabeth Price: VT (UB FX)

    Reserves
    1st Sloan
    2nd Finnegan
    3rd Sacramone

    ReplyDelete
  4. We have one more competition (Olympic Trials next week) to see how ready all these girls are. I know that the actual team won't be announced until the IOC deadline which is July 9th, but the training squad of 8 girls, in my book, should be: Wieber, Douglas, Raisman, Ross, Maroney, and then Liukin, Price, Sacramone. Having those veterans on the training squad will be so good as they have been to the Olympics before. They can give advice and even step in, if needed, to fill a spot on the team.

    My Final Team:
    Wieber, Douglas, Raisman, Ross, Maroney

    All five girls compete All Around which is needed in prelims at The Olympics. Liukin is only useful on 2 events as is Sacramone. They haven't trained the other 2 events so we couldn't use them if we needed to. We may not want to use, for example, a bar score from Raisman, but she can compete bars if we need her to.

    The All Around Spots are going to come down to Wieber, Douglas, and Raisman.

    My Team works like this:
    Prelims:

    Vault: Douglas, Raisman, Wieber, Maroney
    Bars: Raisman, Wieber, Ross, Douglas
    Beam: Douglas, Wieber, Ross, Raisman
    Floor: Maroney, Douglas, Wieber, Raisman
    (Ross is too inconsistent on Vault to use her there and floor doesn't have enough difficulty.)

    Finals:

    Vault: Raisman, Wieber, Maroney,
    Bars: Wieber, Ross, Douglas
    Beam: Wieber, Ross, Raisman
    Floor: Maroney, Wieber, Raisman
    (If Maroney hits her floor in prelims like she can, she is a much better choice than Douglas on floor. She's more powerful and her dance style is much more appealing on a European stage. If not, Dougie ALL THE WAY)

    ReplyDelete