Although they have tested my sanity to its limits, team Russia is OK. Seda and Aliya will have qualified to AA finals, Daria and Aliya to UB, Maria to vault. I assume they have qualified to team finals. They'll do better in finals now they have outed their natural, deeply held Russian need to test their emotional limits. Seda, 'Little Tiger' to her family, showed her value as a fighter, finishing first so far in the AA standings. The Olympics are her metier, and mistakes or not, she will only grow stronger. Then again, we are less than halfway through quals.
Angelina has had a hard day today, but she will finish these Games a better gymnast than she started, believe me. Support the girls and remember they are only human. They are also, quite remarkably, less than a point behind the leading Chinese team - who have been loudly touted as possible contenders for gold. I don't expect that Russia will fight the USA for gold on Tuesday, but I do think they will be ready to do their best.
And who knows what change will come after the Games ... new head coaches perhaps? Whatever happens, I see a great future for Seda and Angelina, and Dasha if she wants - hey, for Aliya and Maria too, if they decide they want it - as they lead the Russian team into the next quad.
Follow interim scores here - https://live.fig-gymnastics.com/schedule.php?idevent=6405
I am going to buy a bottle of something strong to relax my Russian nerves. I love the team, but four seasons in one day are really a little bit too much for me ...
Melnikova is like Grishina in 2012: young, inexperienced and somewhat of a disappointment. I just hope she can pull it together and perform well in team finals, not like Grishina did.
ReplyDeleteImpressed with Seda, but a medal will be very difficult for her, the only reason she qualified ahead of Aliya in AA is because Aliya did her worst routine EVER on beam. I think that if Aliya pulls it together for AA, she can get the bronze or even the silver if she has some surprise for FX.
Regardless, I will be happy if Aliya gets the gold on bars, even if that is her only individual medal.
I think Brazil might be a surprise and my prediction is that they will classify in 2nd behind USA.
Melnikova isn't faintly like Grishina and the whole circumstances are also different. Melnikova is carrying an injury and under the circumstances did well.
DeleteRussia finished quals in third, behind the US and China but ahead of GB and then Brazil.
If the whole competition is scored as it was today, nobody but Biles and the USA will finish in the top two of any individual event. UB scoring was particularly poor with the execution scores all over the place. So gold for Mustafina might already be out of reach if the judges are planning to give it all to the USA.
It is not a competition between Seda and Mustafina, we have to accept that it is what it is, that's Mustafina floor routine so don't expect her to add new tumbling she hasn't been practicing, her body has been glued together for Rio and can break at anytime.
DeleteI was very disappointed at the scores, Aly Raisman bars execution score over the Chinese is rather unacceptable but if we consider everything it was a bit all over the place, Daria Spiridonova got credited a 6.7 DS yet she competed her 6.5 routine, also Raisman had a huge form break in beam and got the exact same execution score as Douglas...
We never get a good view of who is ahead of who unless everybody hit, and Russia or GB didn't hit. I am hoping they will hit 4 per 4 and so will GB.
Still we won't get to see things we were long expecting like Becky Downie on bars final, Ponor and Fragapane on floor, the italians on beam, Eythora anywhere
no russians on beam finals ; (
DeleteIf Seda's score ends up being good enough for finals, do you think they will Swap in Aliya?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it won't be good enough as of now.
DeleteSecond, they can't, since you can only swap when the other gymnast also qualified, and Aliya is far from it.
Are you referring to beam? They could only swap in Aliya if her score was good enough to qualify but she was left out due to the two per country rule. If Seda drops out, the 1st reserve gets the spot, Russia doesn't get to pick who replaces her (sadly).
DeleteAh that's too bad :( thanks tho for the information.
DeleteI feel heartbroken when
ReplyDelete1) seeing Aliya fall from the beam: she could well have been fighting for a medal there, alas.
2) seeing Angelina cry when she was forced to make a group photo shortly after the qualification is finished. She must be filled with regrets, but I believe she will be a huge star later, if she is well taught and guided...
I couldn't agree more.
DeleteOh my gracious God! My cat has almost had a heart attack out of my screaming. I guess, the Rods have got one too (Amen). The only EF I regret is Aliya' lost beam. I see the Rods trying to substitute Seda with Aliya. The rest seems not bad at all. And Seda! On the top of AA ! OMG! OMG! That was her best performance by far. I mean she was on fire kicking ass (excuse funglish). Aliya's UB was such a lioness attack. Her vault was the same as well. I am going for a relaxation pause as well. My cat needs it as well. It was such a hectic experience. Please support the girls and the boys and forget about the Rods. I think the are done.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Russian team had some start-up problems, with a worse beam set, but a great finish on bars. For Melnikova I feel sorry not to see her back in an individual final, but I am sure she will do better in the team final, and she will have a great future ahead for her. I am just wondering if they will choose Seda ahead of Melnikova on bars in team final, because if not melnikova will probably do 4 events
ReplyDeleteThere are rumours Seda could get the Galiyeva treatment on AA, I hope not, also because I don't think Melnikova is 100%, we should see if she rises up in TF, I am not fond of changes, I didn't agree to Ignatyev being pulled out but I guess it worked out ... I actually think Seda has a similar potential to Melnikova AA wise, they both score similarly on vault and floor, Seda is stronger on beam and Melnikova on bars ...
DeleteI think melnikova is much consistent...how many times seda falls on beam?? She hit just this qualification ( remember glasgow or National or european? ) while Melni did a great year full of success...just negative circumstamces that sunday. I looove seda so much and she deserve the AA and it 's a shame if coaches Don't let her partecipate but Gelya, when her health is good have much potential to do a better score on every apparatous than seda. I agree with you about ignatyev, but it was better for the team...just the modality was "cruel". Always good articles elizabeth!
DeleteLeon
Seda hit 4 per 4 on team final
DeleteWhat the hell is this USA's team? That was complete humiliation and I don't mean that in disrespect to the other teams but it is really unbelievable. Does Marta have a pact with the devil or something?
ReplyDeleteThe girls did a great job. Could be better but it's sport. I was touched yo see how much they were supporting each other. Can Aliya or Spiri still upgrade for bars? Do they have realistic upgrades left?
ReplyDeleteI see Raisman Is so overscored again. Her form is better than 2012 but still not pretty to watch. For me Douglas should have gotten the second American AA spot.
The next quad should be better for Russia with so many strong juniors coking up. Just stay healthy Eramina, Preby, etc
Aly is way superior on floor and vault and Gabby couldn't upgrade because of some knee issues, if you add their difficulty scores Aly is almost 2 points ahead of Gabby
DeleteSpiridinova got an impossible D score on bars! She missed the Komova 2 and did a Maloney. Should have affected her D score by 0.2 and she got the wrong score of 6.7 OMG! What a shame and that has happened at the Olympic games! Nelly Kim WTF!?
ReplyDeleteI know although it wouldn't change the standings, she would still make finals it is worrying that it should happen, although the judging was really bad everywhere, Aly had higher execution score on bars than the Chinese, I mean... not possible ... I think they wanted to make sure she would do the AA instead of Gabby but there were many other issues, the Chinese were the most affected without doubt
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