His name is John Rocco Falconetti... and he was born this evening at 6:46 PM, weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz.
See HERE for more!
Congratulations! :D
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shannon Has Her Baby Boy! :D
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ryazanov Killed in Car Accident
WOW.
I'm in shock.
He was only 22, and had just won the bronze in the men's all-around in London.
Click HERE to see what the Gymnastics Examiner has to say.
Rest in peace.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Finals Day #1 - Live Blogging
VAULT:
8:33 - Kayla, the current leader, will be 4th up. She's rockin' the old flame leo - you go girl!
8:34 - What's with all the sleveless leos? Not a fan.
8:35 - Myzdrikova of Russia will be first. Nice 1/2 on... uh, something off. 14.275 for the first vault. Sloppy yurkchenko double, stepped out of the corridor, so there will be a penalty. 2'd vault - 14.1. Average -14.225
8:40 - Kaeslin vault one - very nice front layout 1 1/2. Very close to stepping out, but she saved it. Score: 15.075.
8:44 - Kaeslin vault two - nice yurchenko 1 1/2, decent landing. Very nice.
8:46 - VT2 Score - 13.975 Average - 14.525
8:46 - Hong Un Jong, reigning Olympic champ, falls flat on her butt on her amanar. Make it to your feet, Kayla! 14.425. Jeez... that seems a bit high to me.
8:48 - Un Jong's VT 2 - Falls again! Oh my. No medal for her, I'd assume. Wow. Second vault - 14.100. Average: 14.262
8:49 - Kayla is up... lovely front 1 1/2! Little bit loose, but solid all the same. 15.200.
8:50 - How much do I want to see her first world medal be a gold?!
8:51 - Vault 2 - Yurchenko double... STUCK. GO KAYLA! Vault 2: 14.975. Average - 15.087!
8:54 - Elsa Garcia... coming off of her win of the Longines prize for elegance yesterday. Good yurchenko 1 1/2. Back step on the landing, but a nice, clean vault. 14.000.
8:56 - Second vault... Ooof. Rough fall... kinda flat on her face. She seems to be taking it in stride. :P Her hair looks funny after that one... she's too cute! Score on that one - 12.575. Average - 13.287
8:58 - Brittany Rogers of Canada - nice yurchenko double. 14.425.
9:00 - Brittany's 2'd vault - yurchenko 1/2 on 1/2 off. Decent... stepped out of the corridor. Score: 13.975. Average: 14.2
9:02 - Kurbatova: very high, powerful yurchenko double. Biggest threat to Williams so far. 14.725.
9:03 - Second vault for Kurbatova... 1/2 on, front pike 1/2 off. A little bit of a sloppy landing... buckled her knees alot. Score on the second - 13.95. Average: 14.337.
9:05 - Dufournet - uh, what just happened? Universal sports just totally passed over her first vault. :P 14.275
9:06 - Dufournet - yurchenko 1/2 on layout 1/2 off. Very clean... she's definitely one to watch out for! Score 2: 14.625, Average: 14.450.
KAYLA WINS! :D Unreal. What a story this girl has. Crazy.
Final results for vault;
1. Kayla Williams
2. Ariella Kaeslin
3. Youna Dufournet
Bars later!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Live Blogging
AA Finals Live Blogging!
1:33 - USA girls in the pink. Gack. Sorry, but Nastia is the only one who can pull this off and look good, IMO.
1:35 - Lauren Mitchell will be leading off on vault.
1:36 - Yang Yilin just took a nasty spill on her dismount during her touch on bars.
1:38 - Nice DTY from Lauren Mitchell. Step on the landing. 14.400.
1:40 - Porgras VT - Nice clean full twisting yurchenko. Lacking difficulty, but clean nonetheless.
1:41 - Decent routine for Kaeslin on UB. 13.875.
1:42 - Bross VT - Nice! Forward step on the landing, but should be a decent score. 14.525.
1:44 - Yilin UB - lacked some height on the releases, beautiful pirouette work. WOW, fell right on her head on that dismount. Saw that one coming! Bye bye title! 13.950.
1:46 - Clean DTY for Kurbatova. 14.625
1:48 - Lovely bar routine from Tsurumi! 15.050
1:48 - Bridget on vault - clean... step back on the landing. 14.825.
1:50 - Linlin - she's so stinkin cute... however, I still have a hard time believing she's 16. :P 14.225
1:51 - Dofournet on bars - sloppy, but great double layout dismount. 14.600.
1:52 - Loved Tamirjan's mount on beam - otherwise it looked very rushed. 14.125
1:54 - I LOVE the UK leos. Downie's tumbling is quite clean looking and nice to watch. She stuck her double pike cold. Very nice. 13.525.
1:56 - Rough fall on Semeynova's pak salto. Wow... two botched bar routines in a row.
1:58 - Galante on beam. WOW, awful leotard for Italy. Looks like zebra print sleeves and turquoise flowers on the bodice? Yeesh. Sloppy routine. 13.625.
2:01 - How many people can use the same music? Mattie Larson, Dasha Joura, now Becky Wing too... 12.550 ouch.
2:03 - First rotation complete.
2:05 - Becky Downie on VT - nice, clean DTY! 14.5
2:07 - Porgras will lead off on bars.
2:08 - Clean routine from Porgras. 14.675.
2:08 - Yilin on beam. She looks shaky. 14.225. I have a feeling this will turn into the Bridget-Becca-Porgras show. :P
2:10 - Tsurumi on beam. Beautiful skills and dance, albeit an itty bit shaky. 14.800.
2:12 - Bross on bars - Please no meltdown!
2:13 - WOW, GREAT routine for Bross. Very big on her releases and stuck the (huge) dismount cold! 15.075.
2:14 - Dufournet on beam - I don't know whether I like the fact that she stopped in the middle of her Onodi or not... I think I like it??? :P 14.450.
2:17 - Kurbatova UB - nice bars set. 14.700.
2:18 - Love Tamirjan on floor - you can tell she has training in ballet. She could present it more, but she's on her way! 13.600.
2:20 - DEAR GOD BRIDGET POINT YOUR TOES! Other than that... good routine for her! :P 14.800.
2:22 - Decent routine from Semenova. Missed the score... sorry. :S
2:24 - Linlin UB - she is so tiny! Nice routine! 13.900. I think this is a bit low, personally.
2:26 - 13.950 on vault for Rebecca Wing.
2:30 - I want to see Lauren Mitchell take the bronze... she had a good bar routine. Slight hop on the dismount. 13.625.
After 2:
1. Tsumuri
2. Sloan
3. Bross
2:33 - Koko on floor - oh my gosh, I love her. So clean! Stuck her 2 1/2 to front layout. Her dance is gorgeous. Lovely routine. 13.725.
2:35 - Bross on beam. Standing arabian - solid as a rock. Side somi (gack). Lands the dismount! As long as she doesn't botch floor, she'll be world champion. 15.300.
2:38 - Dofournet isn't very expressive on floor - get this girl a choreographer. :P 13.300.
2:40 - Kurbatova BB - fall on BHS back layout. 12.850.
2:42 - Tamirjan VT - so-so DTY. Holy leg separation! 14.275 (overscored, IMO).
2:44 - Sloan on BB. Baby wobble on back layout and full turn, but she made the front tuck. Ooh, she's shaky. Nice double pike dismount. 14.000. Ouch.
2:48 - Linlin beam - touched her hands on the beam on her front pike. She's shaky too. Foot slipped on her layout, but she stayed on. Fell on her sheep jump. I think it's safe to say the chinese will be leaving without a medal. 13.500.
2:51 - Yilin floor - I can't tell if her dance is artistic or if it looks like she's spasming. :P She isn't finishing her passes either (she's not raising her arms after she lands, I mean... she just moves right into the next part of the routine). This bothers me. 13.700.
2:53 - Downie - rough fall on her first Tkatchev. Bummer. :[ 13.600.
2:55 - Porgras waiting to go on BB... long wait beforehand. Judges are still working on Mitchell's score. Where was Mitchell's routine, anyhow?
2:59 - About time. Porgras on BB. She has lovely lines. Falls on her layout. Congrats Becca, it's yours unless you completely choke. 14.125.
After 3:
1. Bross
2. Sloan
3. Tsumuri
4. Mitchell
5. Porgras
3:02 - recap of Mitchell's beam routine - 15.100!
3:06 - Not feeling any of these floor routines. Come on, girls... make me watch! Kurbatova - 13.300.
3:08 - Dofournet on VT - interesting, different vault. 14.300.
3:09 - Sloan on floor - come on girl! Nice triple. Nice full in pike and dance. GO BRIDGET! Nice layout 2 1/2. LOVELY double pike! Love her! Aaaaah! 14.200, actually one of the higher scores of the day.
3:11 - Semenova - blech vault. :P
3:15 - Kaeslin VT - 15.125 (wowie!)
3:16 - Mitchell on floor. Nice double arabian. OOB on full-in pike. Turn in wolf (very cool). Clean routine all-in-all, but that out of bounds is going to cost. 14.025.
3:19 - Tsurumi on vault. Clean yurchenko full... unfortunately she'll lose the difficulty points, but a great meet for her! 13.600. Lauren Mitchell will wind up in 4th if Becca doesn't completely bomb.
3:21 - Porgras on floor. Messy legs on first pass. Lovely balletic lines and dance! Stuck double tuck. She's definitely one to watch in the future. 14... something too quick for me to catch. :P
3:24 - Bross on floor. If she lands on her feet, she wins.
She fell on her 2 1/2!!!!!
Bridget or Becca?
Bridget or Becca?
BRIDGET OR BECCA?!?!?!
Becca gets 12.875 - BRIDGET WINS!
BRIDGET WINS!
BRIDGET WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Final results:
1. Bridget
2. Rebecca
3. Koko Tsurumi!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Prelims - Results, Pics, Notes, and Quotes!
To no one's surprise, Becca and Bridget are both headed to AA finals. Surprisingly, though, there's 4 places between them - Rebecca led the AA, with Bridget in 5th!
Oh, such dramz.
Anyhow, Bridget fell on beam. Give her just that point back, and she would have been at least third. Who knows what Friday will bring?
In addition, Bridget and Rebecca are headed to bars finals - surprised? Me too. ESPECIALLY Bridget - who woulda thunk it? Not I! Of course, He Kexin stole the show with a score of 15.975 - a whole .925 ahead of Bross, who is in second with a 15.050. Barring no injury or meltdown, I think we know who will be the bars champ. :P
Says Bridget, "Bars were the highlight of my day. After beam, I wanted to do everything as cleanly as possible. My floor was a little rough and as I moved to vault and bars, I knew what my priorities were. This was a good learning experience for me. Every day I learn a bit more and (today) I learned a lot. I’m very excited to come back Friday and show them what I can do.”
Bross is also headed to floor finals - score 13.95. Kayla WIlliams is first reserve for that.
Speaking of Kayla... guess who's at the top of the vault charts? Though it's by a very slim margin - 14.812 to Hong Un Jong's 14.787 - Kayla couldn't be happier! “I had billions and billions of nerves,” said Williams about her first international event and World Championships, “but I think I handled it pretty well. I think I channeled my nerves into making my routines better. I was nervous on floor because it was my first time out.
“I did well on both (vaults), but especially my second one, the Yurchenko double full,” said Williams. “I think that is the best I can do. I am really proud of how I did, and I hope when I come back to finals, I can learn from this and do even better.”
Very excited for her... what a story!
Finally, Ivana qualified to beam finals, with a score of 14.400 - good enough for 4th place. She bombed bars, but I'm glad she didn't let that affect her on beam. Baby steps! :]
Oh, Bross is 1st reserve for beam as well. Woohoo.
A full list of qualifiers can be found below;
http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/PDFs/Results/09artisticworlds_wq_101409.pdf
Pics can be found all over the web... some links below;
http://usagymnastics.zenfolio.com/p363723007/h32887b71#h4107442 (US Women)
http://www.insidegymnastics.com/content/show/09WorldChamps.aspx?articleid=649&zoneid=53 (Inside Gym)
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/galleries/gallery/1001046.html?spill=1 (Charlotte Observer)
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/artistic_gymnastics_world_cham.html (The Big Picture - GREAT pics!)
More to come - and expect the gossip to start flying!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
No Worlds for Ksenia Afansyeva
Ksenia Afansyeva is reportedly out of worlds with a back injury. I feel your pain, Ksenia! :[
What a bummer... she really had a shot at bringing the all-around title back to Russia. Of course, there's still Semyonova, who also has a decent shot... but it definitely is a blow to their chances.
Only 6 days to go until the all-around final. And I will be in school while it happens. UGH.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Domi!
"Hi, my name's Dominique Moceanu. Remember me? I was the cutsie at the '96 Olympics with the scandalous Devil Went Down to Georgia floor music. Anyways, I just had 2 kids... but no worries, I can still do double fulls on floor and back tucks on beam! I'm just awesome like that!"
XD
Seriously, though... that's relatively awesome. I'll be lucky to still touch my toes when I'm 28. :P
The gymnastics part starts at about 5 minutes. Worth the watch!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Mohini...
has evidently given birth to a baby boy! Tristen Jai Barry was born Friday, October 2'd at 5:32 PM, and he weighed 7 lbs. He's 19 1/2 inches.
I didn't even know she was pregnant!!! Jeez!
Congrats to the family! :]
(via mandusky at the IG forum)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Worlds Team
According to live.breathe.love.gymnastics:
The 2009 Worlds team has not changed from the nominative roster;
Bridget Sloan
Kayla Williams
Rebecca Bross
Ivana Hong
Alternates: Kytra Hunter and Mackenzie Caquatto
As for the other girls... they've been given assignments as well! Jana and Kytra are going to the Croatia World Cup, and Mackenzie and Cassie will be going to the DTB World Cup.
So excited to see how everything shakes out. Should be an interesting worlds!
Rumors???
From The Couch Gymnast:
A commenter said that Hong's facebook says she is headed to London. Someone on IG Forum reported that Sloan's does too. So, what will the final announcement say? Just what it says on the Nominative roster? Those two, Williams and Bross. Probably.
What I expected. We shall see.
I WANT OFFICIAL WORD, DANGIT!
EDIT: 9:32 PM
"@bridgetsloan: alright we're ready..but the question is, is London ready ? =]"
Obviously Bridget is in... but who is "we"?
EDIT: 10PM
WHAT THE HECK IS TAKING SO LONG?
Almost Here!
I'm talking about the worlds team selection, of course! According to Kim Zmeskal Burdette, anyways
@KimZB0217 - "Final verification before World Team is selected will begin in 1 hour... Go USA! I'm so proud of you ALL!
about 1 hour ago from Tweetie"
Which means said verification should be starting right about... now.
I CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER.
Pet Peeves -Part Uno
1. The Side Somi
(No, Nastia, even YOU, the 2005-2008 patron saint of graceful gymnastics, can NOT make this look good)
Ah, the side somi. WHY would anyone look at this and say, "gee, that's attractive! I think I'll put that in my routine!" I don't care who you are, it's ugly. Do an aerial or something instead. Chellsie Memmel got the hint... her aerial is beautious!
2. Flexed Toes (I'm looking at you Bridget!)
This is one thing that I just don't understand. How can you go to throw a Tkatchev, for example, and get a deduction because your friggen' toes aren't pointed? I don't get it. It's one of the first things you learn in the sport. It's not much more of an effort, so just DO IT ALREADY!
3. The Cowboyed Front Tuck
Is it really that hard to pull your legs into a real tuck? (I can answer that - no, it's not. :P ) Just like the side somi, THIS IS NOT ATTRACTIVE. End of story.
4. Arm-Flailing Dance
Come on, people, can we be a little original here? Make up some real dance, not "arm here, pose, arm here, another pose, arm waves, skill". Be unique! I love Alicia to death, but she's definitely guilty of this one.
5. The Un-180 Degree Split
One word (or is it two?); oversplits. Do them.
More to come.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Rio Gets the Games
Good. I was hoping Rio would get it!
This is the Olympic of the babies now... i.e. Lizzy Leduc. Even my friend Shantel... who isn't far behind Lizzy. She'll be 10 this year, and she's competing level 8 or 9 this season. She's crazy. Look for a potential talk with her in the future!
Go Rio!
New Layout
Just in time for worlds! I know this one was long overdue, so sorry for that. Let me know what you think!
Also, I plan on making this site a whole lot more interesting - not just news posts, but more commentary and fun posts. I'm also hoping to broaden my horizons and get more involved with international gymnastics - so keep your eyes peeled for that!
I'm hoping to get a fun post up tonight. :D
Latah,
-Kayleigh
MEMMEL TOO?!?!
Memmel withdraws from 2009 World Championships Team selection
10/02/2009
2008 Olympic team silver-medalist Chellsie Memmel of West Allis, Wis., has withdrawn from the final selection process for the U.S. Team for the 2009 World Championships, Oct. 13-15, in London, England. Memmel, a former world champion, has been working her way back into competitive gymnastics after ankle surgery in late 2008.
“I have run out of time, and I am not quite where I want to be gymnastics-wise,” said Memmel, who is coached by her father, Andy. “I haven’t been able to do the number of routines and repetitions that I need to represent the USA at the highest level. Also, I thought this would make it easier for Martha and the selection committee in naming the team, because we have so many talented gymnasts who deserve the chance to go to London. My Dad and I met with Martha, and she is very supportive of this decision.
“I am going home and will spend the time getting my routines ready for next year.”
Shoot. Me.
My new team;
Bridget
Kayla
Rebecca
(Kytra? Ivana? Cassie?)
We'll know tomorrow... :O
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