The 11 Most Awkward Gymnastics Moments of 2011

11. You know that moment when you all show up to prom and you’re wearing the same dress as 3 other girls?

(All Photos Property of USA Gymnastics)

10. Worley Misses the High Bar (@thesplitleap)

Shayla Worley was supposed to be the star of Georgia. Unfortunately, no gymnast since Kristie Phillips failed to meet expectations so severely. This one takes the cake though, as Worley fails to mount the high bar. Last time I was in a gym, even Icould do that.

9. Peña’s Pan Ams Mishaps

After Peña struggled on her Handspring Double Front Vault at Worlds, most people in the gymnastics community thought one of two things: Either her struggles were a fluke or she’ll water down her vault. Nope. In both AA & EF Peña kept on falling/kind of landing and looks surprised when she does. I think she’s the only one who’s surprised at this point. Everyone is waiting for her to get severely injured; I hope she waters down before she does.

8.  Anna accepts Alicia’s Medal

This is only number 8 because Anna handled it so well. When Alicia Sacramone tore her Achilles, Marta oddly didn’t call her in as a bar worker. She DID however, call her in to accept Alicia’s Medal on the podium. If it would have been me, I’d have punched a bitch. Too bad Anna Li seems like the nicest, most gracious person on earth.

7. Wieber wins SCAM and Afan wins Floor at Worlds (Omelianchik100)

While both Wieber and Afansayeva had great performances in their respective competitions, something’s just plain uncomfortable about a gymnast winning a competition that she didn’t qualify for in the first place. No rules were broken, but the whole situation is a little awkward.

6. Nastia’s Inside Gymnastics Interview

While I'm sure that Nastia meant well, telling the press that she gave the girls a “pep talk” that brought the “spark back in their eyes” was really uncomfortable, even if it was true. Many fans also argued that it was INCREDIBLY bad timing for her to officially announce her comeback just after the US Team competed amazingly. 

5. Al Fong claims that his gymnasts will make the Olympic Team

(Property of GAGE Gymnastics)

And just when I started to think Al Fong was mellowing out… In an interview after Championships, Gymnastike asked him how he thought his gymnasts would fit into the picture of 2012. A NORMAL coach might said, “We’re gearing up for 2012 and I’m hoping that my gymnasts can do well next year.” But Al Fong is no normal coach. He said: “Two of my athletes are Olympic Eligible, and we intent to make the Olympic Team.” That’s just something you don’t say in the USA. John Geddert hasn’t said it, so Al Fong who has two good (but not great) Juniors should probably keep his mouth shut.

4. Announcer calls Aja-Monet Sims “Hallie Mossett” at Classics

(Property of Gym-Style)

This moment was incredibly awkward because everybody KNEW how awkward it was at the time. As Aja-Monet Sims prepared to salute the judges on uneven bars, (she has a really great Weiler-Comaneci combo, by the way) the announcer called Aja Monet Sims, Hallie Mossett. Aja looked awkwardly at the judges in a “Am I supposed to be here?” way, and then the judges looked back realizing how awkward the mistake was. (These were 2/3 African American Girls in the Senior Division.) The judges waited for a second before giving her the green flag, but the announcer never corrected himself.

3. Chinese wear the 2012 Champion Shirts at Worlds

(Property of Brigid McCarthy, The Couch Gymnast)

(Photo Property of SI)

2. NBC’s coverage of Bross’s injury (@Tsukthepain)

As if severe injuries aren’t traumatic enough for everyone involved, after Bross dislocated her kneecap, unsure of what to do, NBC played nearly 3 minutes of reaction shots. From Nastia covering her face, Chellsie shaking her head and Carly Patterson saying, “It hurts me”, this was possibly the most uncomfortable 3 minutes of television I’ve ever seen. Maybe this raw coverage of Bross crying will help wake us up to the dangers of the sport? It was still awkward and uncomfortable.

1. Komova thinks that she won, Mom freaks
I loved the 2011 Worlds AA Competition. It’s been a while since we saw such a close competition where we knew it could go either way. However, if the whole .033 difference was awkward enough, Komova was a REALLY sore loser about it. There are cultural differences, but in my opinion, no Silver medal winner was this unsportsmanlike since Khorkina in 2004. I understand that being 16 is hard, and that missing gold by only .033 is even harder. But, Mama Komova didn’t have to call foul with the judges. The situation seemed really awkward for everybody! 

You all gave me great ideas! Thank you! Keep sharing your story ideas in the future! 

Pan American Games - Women's Vault Finals

(Grace Chiu) 

Today's Vault final had no big surprises. Brandie Jay of the USA won the title followed by Mexico's Elsa Garcia and Escobar from Columbia.  As Spanny Tampson noted earlier this afternoon, now all three of the USA's 2 Vault competitors now have an international title. There's no doubt that I (and many other fans) miss Jade Barbosa and wish her a speedy recovery, but overall, the girls did well. While the field was slightly disappointing without any Amanars and only two DTYs, I have to respect the girls and their coaches for the high E scores in comparison. All the girls hit mid to high 8s and half of the girls reached a 9.0. You have to respect them for that. 

The same cannot be said for Yamilet Peña Abreu, a gymnast from the Dominican Republic who attempted the Handspring Double Tuck. As only one of few women ever to attempt the vault, she immediately gained my respect when I heard about her earlier this fall. "Wow," I thought to myself, "a gymnast from a minor gymnastics country competing such a difficult vault!" Well, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Of the 5 different occurrences that I've seen her vault, she's fallen twice and never, ever had a non-scary landing. Every single vault looks like she's going to tear a ligament, or worse. Seriously, If you're taking a vault to your back 40% of the time that you do it in competition, and looking like your going to break something the other 60% of the time, Why are you doing it? Even when she landed the vault, her highest E score of the season was a 7.9. She competed a watered down vault in Prelims and still ended in Bronze Medal Position. Why take the risk when your body, your reputation and possibly even your life is at stake? 

Watch her Worst Vault of the season: 

And her best: 

Do you think that it's worth it? 

Pan American Games - Day 1

(Photo property of Grace Chiu, USA Gymnastics)

I, like many gymnastics fans at the moment, am dealing with some very conflicting feelings. If you weren't following gymnastics this afternoon, the USA won the team title at the Pan American Games as everyone around the world understandably expected. However, what people around the world didn't expect was the USA's lead only consisted of two points, Johnson's double fall on beam, and DeZiel, who is a first year elite, leading the US on each event that she competed. While the US should certainly be commended for their first place win as well as their standings on vault and bars, I can't help but be disappointed in the fact that not 1 US Gymnast qualified for beam finals. In fact, DeZiel was the highest beam scorer and she placed 16th. Unfortunately, this means that for the first time in at least 10 years, the a US Gymnast will not win the Beam Title at a Pan Am Event. 

(Photo property of Grace Chiu, USA Gymnastics)

To be honest, I have NO IDEA what Marta's thinking at this point. Are her feelings mixed like mine? Is she pleased with the team win? After all, she does always say that "it's all about the team". I'm at a loss. I asked the Twitterverse what they thought Marta was thinking, and the answers were all across the board. 


@Laura722: "they won by over 2 points, no big deal"


@TommyStark11: "shes thinking "THIS is our B team?!?!?!" Then she swears a bunch in Romanian"


@caseymagnesium: "I think she is currently forging a birth certificate for Katelyn Ohashi... that's what I would be doing."


@BTOgymblog: Thank god I chose the girls I did for worlds! Or WHY DID MY FEED NOT WORK?


That feed was horrendous, wasn't it? Oh well, at least it's free coverage. The point is, there's no way to know what she is really thinking, or whether today's performances will have any positive or negative effect on the girls' future assignments. 


Looking forward into Wednesday's All Around, 2 girls from the USA qualified: Brandie Jay in 5th and Bridgey Caquatto in 4th. The girls in medal position included Ana Sofia Gomez of Guatemala, a first year senior whose DTY and strong beam helped her qualify first, Peng Peng (Christine) Lee of Canada who finished 19th in World All Around final and her teammate, Kristina Vaculik, a gymnast for Stanford who may have qualified for the World AA Finals, had she hit in prelims. 


My predictions for the Podium: 
1. Bridgette Caquatto (Not just because I love USA, but today's score was in fact, her season low) 
2. Peng Peng (Christine) Lee 
3. Ana Sofia Gomez 

In my opinion, two girls have a shot at the Vault gold medal, USA's Brandie Jay and the Dominican Republic's Yamilet Peña. Peña, who qualified for the World vault event finals, only attempted a handspring tuck today, but landed a handspring double tuck (SV 7.1) in Worlds Qualification. In finals however, she took it to her back and received a zero. I'm not sure whether or not she'll go for it in finals, but if she does, and lands it, the gold isn't necessarily  hers. If she lands the vault the was she did in Worlds Prelims and gets a 15.0, she'd still fall a few tenths short of Jay's 2 vault average. If she lands it well though, I don't think there will be any argument. Regardless, Today she qualified 3rd without it. 


If I had to guess the podium:
1. Yamilet Peña Abreu (I've got a hunch!)
2. Brandie Jay
3. Elsa Garcia (of Mexico) 

The USA would have qualified all 4/5 of their gymnast to bar finals if the 2 per country rule didn't exist. Unfortunately on this event, it does. Caquatto and Johnson will compete in finals for the USA while  Peng Peng Lee of Canada qualified in 3rd with a score over 14. The next qualifier, Marisela Cantu, the next highest qualifying competitor qualified more than 6 tenths lower than Lee. For this reason I believe that the top 3 qualifiers will be the medalists. If history has shown us anything in the past, it's that when she disappoints herself and others, she goes out and she redeems herself. For this reason (and also because I know that she can get rid of that stall she had) that I think Shawn will take the Bars Title. 


Podium Prediction: 
1. Shawn Johnson 
2. Bridgette Caquatto
3. Peng Peng Lee 

While the US didn't qualify any girls to the beam final, it's still a pretty interesting field! Ana Sofia Gomez (Guatemala) is the clear favorite (watch for her beautiful Back Walkover into a Full), but Vaculik (Canada), Gil Ortiz (Columbia), Salzar & Estrada (Mexico) all had routines that could potentially medal. Canada's Peng Peng Lee and Talia Chiarelli tied for 4th place, so I'm not sure which one they'll put up in finals and to be honest, I'm not really sure what the rules say about it all. The wonderful blogger at Tsuk the Pain believes that it's the highest E score, which would send Chiarelli to the finals. 


Anyway, here are my predictions: 
1. Ana Sofia Gomez 
(Insert Lee here, if she goes up in finals! Her 4th Place finish was with a fall!)
2. Kristina Vaculik (Even her 8.675 Qualification E score seems a bit low) 
3. Jessica Gil Ortiz 

(Photo Property of Thomas Scheyer)

And finally, we come to floor. I'll be honest, I wasn't really very impressed by any of the gymnasts' floor routines today. It seemed like most of the girls either were incredibly sloppy, made fairly major mistakes or had awful choreography and music. My projected winner falls in the third category. 


Podium Predictions:
1. Mikaela Gerber (Canada) 
2. Elena Torres (Cuba) 
3. Kristina Vaculik (Canada) 

(Photo property of Grace Chiu)

These are all just guesses, of course. I'm not psychic, I honestly don't know that much about gymnasts from Cuba and the Dominican Republic and unlike Komova's mother, I haven't heard the judges talking in the lobby. What predictions do you agree with? Which ones do you think I got totally wrong? Let me know! It will be fun to find out who wins!