Skip to main content

Mustafina collects another gold, silver at Toyota Cup; dominates world scene in 2010

The All Around Gymnastics News site reports the final results of the second day of competition in Japan.

Beam : 1 Mitchell, 15.2   2  Mustafina 15.15   3 Sui Lu 14.975 
Dementieva came 7th with 12.775 following two falls and two large balance checks.   Such a pity - competing to full potential, Dementieva should have been able to beat this field on beam.

Floor: Equal first = Sui Lu and Aliya Mustafina, 14.625  3 - Jiang Yuyuan, 14.175.  Dementieva came 5th with 14 points.  Albert reports that she had problems landing her final triple twist.

This was a fairly good competition for the Russians that underlines their growing strength in depth.  Thanks to Mustafina's efforts, they took half the gold on offer, in addition to two silvers and a bronze medal.  All three Russian girls medalled, and Russians collected medals on every piece of apparatus.  Out of 12 possible medals, they took five. The Chinese didn't do badly either, collecting 4 medals overall. 

Given the roster at this competition which was a little like a mini World Championships I think it's fairly plain that Mustafina is currently dominating the world scene.  In Japan she again demonstrated her competitive grit and consummate technical and artistic ability.  Had she not slipped up on bars she would have medalled on all four pieces, and the margins on beam indiciate it's arguable she could have taken gold there, too. Competition organisers seem to like to spread the gold around a little if they can.



The Russian team performers did a fairly good job, Kurbatova surprising no one as usual and achieving a solid result.  Anna Dementieva is Miss Potential Waiting For It All To Turn Out Right.  Had she performed to her full ability, she could fairly easily have achieved another gold in addition to her silver on bars.  This girl makes too many mistakes at present, but she has grit and ambition, and I would love to see her do her talents justice and shine on the world stage alongside the other Russian girls over the coming year.  She looks like a girl for the big occasion, to me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Who really won the WAG All Around?

You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...

Aliya Mustafina - 'each medal is very special'

'I'm very happy that everything turned out well today  ... Each medal is very special.  The UK team made mistakes, so there was a wide margin [of victory]... But naturally, [what I did] is not enough for the Olympics.  I prepared well for beam and bars but I am not ready for floor, I stepped up to help the team. ... To be honest, I did not look at the scores [when asked how the team reacted to the 6.5 gap before the final apparatus].  Gelya (Melnikova) is a good girl, she did everything and did not falter ... Seda fell on quite a complex element.  There is more work to do, but everything else went well.' [About a protest taken by the coaches on her beam score]. 'I am used to my protests being rejected, everything is normal!' Via vk.com I n other news , the UEG has confirmed that Spiridonova will replace Melnikova in tomorrow's bars final. No reason is given, but it is generally considered that Dasha has a better chance of gold.  This decision also means tha...

Simone and the others - results and reflections

In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more