Pac Rim & Jesolo Team Selection

So in the past 24 hours, the Pac Rim & Jesolo lists were posted. While some fans were surprised by who made the list, I was more surprised by who didn't.

A few who didn't make the team make perfect sense: Mackenzie Caquatto & Jessie DeZiel are away at school, while Alicia Sacramone is recovering from that awful achilles injury. Hallie Mossett is injured and Bridget Sloan & Bridgette Caquatto (now at Texas Dreams) are rumored to be.Then there are also the girls who seem to get passed over time and time again. (Amanda Jetter being the prime example here.)

Property of Greg Long

  I'm confused about a few of the "major players" who we mysteriously haven't heard from this year.

Sabrina Vega is missing in action. She may or may not have been at camp, but she isn't headed to a meet this year after performing satisfactorily at Worlds in October.

Where is Shawn Johnson? She was definitely at camp this time around yet didn't make either team. With all due respect, how am I to believe that this girl has a shot at the team, if last year's 12th Place Junior Brianna Brown was chosen before her?

If Marta is indeed "testing the waters" with the less experienced girls, then why send Raisman & Maroney to Jesolo instead of Baker & Winston. Or Wofford for that matter. (She had a 6.3 Beam SV at Classics last year and is training MAJOR upgrades on bars).

In any case, I hope that the USA does well at these two meets.

Property of Jessica Frankl

I'm thrilled for all of the girls headed out, but particularly little Bailie Key who's headed out for her first international assignment. I am also VERY excited to see that Rebecca Bross is headed back, although I worry that it could be too soon. I sincerely hope that she stays healthy.

Maybe Marta will have Jordyn just compete Vault and Beam so that Gabby Douglas can take the Pac Rim Title. (Please?!) The six girls on the team are all powerhouses and have enormous scoring potential. While bars is their collectively weakest event, I don't really see any holes on the team at all.

Any guesses on the US Jesolo Amanar Count? There are five girls on the team who have competed an Amanar before, but it's possible that there may be even more now that we're into an Olympic Year. On a team of 14 (9 seniors & 5 Juniors), I'm not really sure what the format will be, but I do know the scores will be phenomenal.

Ahhhhh... I'm starting to get giddy about how deep the USA is right now.


... ... ... Yup, I'm back.

Bridgey Caquatto's Injury

On November 23, Anna Li posted the following picture on her twitter with the caption "Crutch Buddies":

The picture of Bridgey on crutches worried many fans and many considered her injury long term and concerning. Here's what Bridgey had to say about her injury: 

"I had to get surgery on my knee after Pan Ams. If you saw it was taped up pretty big at the meet! and I had to water down some stuff but I made it through! But recovery is going very well so far!"

This makes sense, if you'll remember, she only competed a Full Twisting Yurchenko at Pan Ams when she's been competing a beautiful Double for years now. 

Bridgey's currently taking it one day at a time in order to prevent future injury and is currently spending a ton of time on conditioning and training bars. Get Well Soon Bridgette! 

Happy Signing Day! - Where the 2012 Elites are headed

Today is National Signing Day where athletes headed into the NCAA sign their letters of intent! (There's another day in the spring as well, but most gymnasts will sign today.) Here's where some of our favorite elites and former elites are headed!

Lauren Beers (Southern Tier) - Alabama
 2 Time Championship Qualifier, TOPs Team Member, good on bars.

Lily Hardin (WOGA) - Arkansas 
Qualifier to 2009 US Classics, Multiple time JO National Qualifier, has an insane amount of strength!

Caitlin Atkinson (Cypress) - Auburn 
 3 Time US Classic Qualifer, 1 Time Championships Qualifier, Strong All Arounder.

(Property of Ryan W Shulz)

Asi Peko (Brown's) - UCLA
 2008 National Team Member, NLSC Qualifier, Qualified to JO Nationals 4 times!


Sophina Dejesus - UCLA
2009 National Team Member, 2009 Jr. Japan Intl Floor Champion, Fabulous Dancer!


Bridgey Caquatto (Legacy Elite) - Florida 
 Reigning Pan American All Around Champion, 3 Time National Team Member, Great on bars and vault!

Brandie Jay (GK) - Georgia
Pan Am Games Vault Champion, 3 time US Vault Medalist,  has a good bar set!

Madeline Hanley (Parkettes) - Minnesota 
3 Time Championships Qualifier, Competed at Gymnix International, Good Beam Woker.

Congrats Class of 2012!!!

Pan American Games - Uneven Bars Finals

(Grace Chiu)

Remember when people used to win Bars with scores of 16.9? Yeah, I know it was a totally different scoring system then, but I miss it. 

(Grace Chiu)

Today's bar podium consisted of the 4 girls who competed in today's final without major mistakes. The girls from Mexico, Garcia and Cantu tied for the Bronze medal. Garcia, who has problems pirouetting in handstand, has great releases and a strong dismount which helped her earn a 13.625. Cantu, whom she tied with, competed a slightly easier routine with better form. 

Shawn, bless her heart, really wants that Weiler kip to work. She'll get there, but she's struggling right now on getting it together. She stalled and muscled through a few skills in TF and EF. In any case, she did a good enough job to earn the silver medal and only missed the gold by .025 WITH an error. Not too shabby, if you ask me. 

Caquatto is now on a gold streak which is pretty cool, if you ask me! Her 14.525 was well deserved, and to be honest, I think her 8.525 E score was a little low. It earned her the gold anyway, and Caquatto is undefeated! (Did you know that Yesterday was her first AA title as an elite, EVER?) 

Who was the biggest upset today? 

Peng Peng Lee made a major mistake for the third consecutive competition since coming to Guadalajara. What's sad is that she's totally capable of medalling and possibly even winning these competitions but she keeps making fairly major mistakes. Unfortunately, her Pan Am Experience is over and we'll hopefully see her in 2012. 

Pan American Games - Women's All Around Finals

(Photo Property of Grace Chiu, USA Gymnastics) 

In this afternoon's All Around Final, American Bridgette Caquatto took the gold medal to continue on the umpteen year streak of Americans winning the All Around. Ana Sofia Gomez took the Silver, Kristina Vaculik the bronze. What I really enjoyed about this all around was the vast variety of strengths amongst the leaders. First Place Caquatto lead on Bars while Gomez's struggled on bars and hit beam.

(Grace Chiu)

Peng Peng Lee caused a little bit of an upset when botched her full twisting Pak Salto, smacked her foot and only got a 12.9 on bars (vs. 14.275 in Prelims). Her prelims bars score in finals would have earned her the gold by less than a tenth.

Most importantly, I LOVED the wonderful sportsmanship that the competitors showed. I adored everything from US Coach Jiani Wu congratulating Peng Peng on a strong floor routine to all 3 of the girls on the podium smiling (isn't it sad when that's an accomplishment?).

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! 

Pan Ams Preview - The US Team

While waiting for The Pan American Games to begin Monday,  I realized how bizarre of a team this is. This is the first international assignment for 3 of the girls, 1 girl has been to some big yet low stakes meets, while 2 more have taken the title of World All Around Champion and were on the 2008 Olympic Team. Wow. This is weirder than the 2008 Pacific Rim Competition when Rebecca Clark and Darling Hill shared the stage with Nastia Liukin. 


Now, information is limited  due to the fact that the competitors are without internet and few bloggers are there so far. We do know, thanks to a picture taken by Amanda Lauren (@amandalaurenrob), that the girls are in the icky bubblegum pink leo for podium training and that they will be competing on Gymnova equipment. 

So who ARE these girls? 


Newest to the elite scene is Jessie DeZiel, 2011 Senior C JO National Champ, Freshman at Nebraska and fabulous vaulter. She only competes 3 events, but she actually had a a pretty decent JO Bar Set. She'll more than likely compete on Vault and Floor. She may compete Beam, but who knows?

Grace McLaughlin from WOGA wasn't even supposed to be on the team. After Chellsie Memmel had shoulder surgery, she was named to it. Most likely, Grace will compete on every event but Vault, on which she only has a 1.5. She's a great bar worker and has a strong beam routine but has problems with consistency. She's also had quite a few injuries. She was out for 2010 due to what I believe was a foot injury and she rolled her ankle keeping her out of the AA at 2011 Classics. Regardless, her leaps and artistry are FABULOUS making her totally fierce.

Next is Brandie Jay who has been an elite for 2 years now and is known as "that random girl with 2 vaults". Seriously, I've heard people refer to her that way several times at meets. She's also known for her cute little haircut. What she ISN'T known for is how good her bars actually are. In addition to placing 3rd on Vault in 2011 (Behind McKayla & A-Sac) she placed 7th on Bars. She most likely will go up on all four events, possibly skipping Beam if the delegation chooses to put DeZiel up instead. I'm certain that barring disaster, she'll make Vault finals and likely even earn a medal to hang in her dorm at Georgia next year. 

Likely to medal on Bars is Bridgette "Bridgey" Caquatto. Bridgey, who competed on the European Tour and Jr. Pan Ams in 2009 and at Jesolo in 2011, has a strong DTY and will almost certainly go up on all four events. You can't help but love her "Jai Ho" Floor routine and overall confidence throughout her meets. I'd be surprised if she did not make the All Around Final. 

And finally, we come to Shawn and Bridget. Shawn's openly said that she will not be competing all four events. She'll be an asset to the team on every event but floor. If she can hit, hopefully she can make beam finals and successfully show that she has returned to the international stage. Meanwhile many fans and journalists are pinning Sloan as the favorite for All Around Champion. I'm not sure if I agree. Sloan, who hasn't competed All Around since she won the World title in 2009, hasn't been healthy in a very long time. If she can return to a good condition, I think she has a shot, but we have no idea what kind of routines she'll be competing. 

(Photo by Grace Chiu, USA Gymnastics) 

I think that everyone's in agreement that unless literally everyone falls, the US will win. The last time that the US did not win the team title at the Pan Am Champs, Games or Jr. Champs was in 1999, one of the deepest darkest years of American Gymnastics. Even this hodgepodge team has strong basics and good form; I just hope they hit. Go USA!