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Saturday, April 5, 2008

Well That Didn't Take Long

Let us begin by watching Nastia Liukin's disasterous bars event finals performance at Pacific Rim Championships:



And here comes my opinion on the whole thing:

Number one, she looked nervous and unfocused from the very start. She wasn't hitting her usual vertical handstands or generally doing as well as normal. Two, I'm pretty sure the fall on the geinger was a fluke.

On a random note, the whole "running off the mat to get chalk after a fall" thing seriously bothers me, especially on beam... but that's beside the point.

Ooh, random note number two. What the heck goes flying off her hand when she's getting ready to jump back up? It looks too big to be chalk. Sorry, that's my OCD coming in... *shifty eyes*

Anyways, she jumps back up and does a decent straddle tkachev and then comes the pak salto.

And it seriously bothers the hell out of me. She pulls into the bar so close it looks like she's about to eat it.

Next, I spy another mistake. She didn't make the pirouette around after the pak salto, and had to do a switch kip.

The remainder of the routine is decent, but that dismount is horrible. I really wish she'd go back to the double layout. It worked so much better for her, and it didn't look even remotely close to sloppy. I'm assuming she changed it because of her ankle, but one would think the landings are similar, right?

After this whole fiasco of a routine for her, she proceeds to get a 15.225. That put her in second place. I'm sorry, but if you fall on a routine, it shouldn't medal unless the rest of it was superb. Here, it obviously wasn't a fantastic routine. This is why the new scoring system is so messed up and so difficult to follow, especially if you're a first-time spectator. :/

PS. That leotard she's wearing? It definately reminds me of the baby-barf pink Parkettes leos. :)

PPS. I don't hate Nastia. I'm just pointing out the flaws of this routine. Most of the time, she's a fantastic gymnast. :)

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