Skip to main content

DTB Cup - in which I have a moan about the desultory state of WAG

I just watched the most discouraging competition of my life in WAG, the AA.  Maybe the team competition yesterday was better - I didn't watch - but the AA left me dead cold.  The highlight was an energetic floor routine from Jordan Chiles.  The rest was complete and utter baloney.  The standard of vault has improved, but elsewhere there were falls aplenty (in fact the only gymnast to go four for four was Ellie Seitz, who finished second).  Beam routines lacked any fluidity and were almost all staccato, stuttering shambles.  The standard of tumbling on floor was fairly good, but choreographically the routines were empty.  Where did split leaps go?  When did bouncing on the spot take their place?  When did shuffling while pathetically waving wrists about or wiggling hips and shoulders semi-suggestively qualify as connections?  When did it become OK to fudge half hearted leaps into the corner of the floor mat, as if no one would notice?

In the end, no one will notice, because they will stop watching ... The only way of differentiating this field was by difficulty, which left Seitz in second place despite her being the only gymnast to live up to her potential.  

Poor Melnikova says she was trying out upgrades today, suggesting that explained the fact that her only strong piece was vault.   She is determined and works hard, but the first error (in this case on bars) always leads to subsequent ones.  Without the meltdown she would easily have won this competition, but then there was a collective meltdown across the whole cohort.  Perhaps it is a kind of moral breakdown of the sport after so much dirt has been thrown at it in the wake of the Nassar Affair.  

Is it time for the FIG to lower the bar, to make room for good execution, to remove the incentives to increase difficulty?  To reduce the importance of the D score and increase the weighting of the E score?  Or is this just an anomaly?  MAG seems to go from strength to strength.

Do you agree that WAG has lost its zizz?  Please comment.






Comments

  1. I have found myself watching more men's gymnastics over the last few years for precisely this reason. The quality of the field just seems much higher and consistent overall. Compare the all arounds at last year's world championships. I like Hurd and Eremina, but there wasn't nearly the same depth in the women's competition. Even with Uchimura injured and others in post-Olympic recovery, the men had Xiao Ruoteng, Lin Chaopan, Kenzo Shirai, Belyavsky, Vernyaev, Nagorny, Larduet; plenty of top tier talent. MAG team finals are still competitive and exciting. Often 5 or 6 teams are possible worthy medalists.

    My own big hope is that Biles and Komova both make full comebacks and we get to see them compete together. In my opinion, they're the two most talented gymnasts of their generation. Very different, but both innovative, exciting and masterful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. I think that other than Simone Biles and Aliya Mustafina and Maria Paseka (my fav), none of them have the same energy or spirit, just the same skills with a bit of hand-waving. I would include Larissa Iordache but she's just been plagued with bad luck no matter what she does. There's just no one after 2013+ that really has that star power like Nastia Luikin, Shawn Johnson, Ana Porgras, Yao Jinnan, Jiang Yuyuan, Viktoria Komova, Ksenia Semenova, Sandra Izbasa, Ponor in her peak, Steliana Nistor who was a fav of mine, Vanessa Ferrari in her prime, Anna Pavlova (another 2008 fav), even Lauren Mitchell. Even the US, which was almost completely carried by Biles for the past four years, doesn't have anyone truly special, just difficult skills and hard work but not that it-factor. Romania is really struggling, which breaks my heart, and obviously China had NO all arounders if they put Shang Chungsong who is lovely, but really just isn't in the same league as the other girls (otherwise she would have made the 2008 team). The UK especially is benefitting from this, winning medals just by default because they are more strength focused like America so they have more stamina to throw big tricks, rather than a classy fluid routine. I think Melnikova is actually quite lovely, so I have hope the Russians at least will get stronger, but as much as I think Seda Tutkhalyan is a great girl, I question why Russia keeps using her when she ALMOST NEVER hits.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I completely forget about my country's national championships, held in a venue just a few kilometres of my home, and decide to go to Bali for a holiday, you know there's something rotten in contemporary gymnastics.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

Marinov planning a partial comeback at the Russian champs

 ðŸŽ¤ "Plans for August: work, work, and work some more!" — Daniil Marinov on the training camp in Sirius, summer, and preparation for the Russian Championship ❓ How productive was your time at the training camp in Sirius? "Personally, I viewed this training camp not only as a recovery camp, but also as a preparatory one. My teammates had just recently returned from competitions, and yes, they needed a rest. But I, on the contrary, needed to start working hard, because there wasn't much time left before the Russian Championship. At the training camp in Sirius, I was able to work hard, and at the same time swim in the sea, change the scenery. I'm glad I went with the whole team!" ❓ Did you manage to regain your physical fitness after shoulder surgery? "More or less, yes. I remembered many elements from my routine. But I still continue to treat and pump up my shoulder, in parallel with getting into shape." ❓ Are you already working on all the apparatus...