Friday, August 27, 2010

This and That



Cassie Whitcomb broke her leg while practice a 2 1/2 Twist+Layout Front on a dead floor at CGA. Understandably, MLT has done her best to keep the injury quiet. This is the third injured elite within two months at CGA. MLT only coaches six gymnasts (she only coaches elites), so that is not a great rate...even for elite gymnastics. Cassie may or may not go to the selection camp to do bars, but it is unlikely that she'd be chosen. Martha generally does not take injured athletes unless they are adding a full point or so on Uneven Bars, as she likes to forget that she petitioned both Betty Okino and Dominique Moceanu onto Olympic Teams with much success. There is speculation that Whitcomb will switch to a gym where her mother coaches in Kentucky. It is unclear whether this will be the end of her elite career.

Ksenia Makarova won the short program at the Moran Memorial with a clean program. She performed a Triple Toe+Triple Toe, Triple Flip and a Double Axel.

Polina Shelepen is off to another strong JGP season after winning the Courchevel event with a long program that featured seven triple jumps. Yasmin Siraj moved up to second place after skating a program with five triples. Nina Jiang finished in fifth place after popping a triple loop and falling on her opening triple flip, which is a new jump for her. Her PCS were extremely high and she beat all but Siraj on the second mark. Nina did attempt a Triple Toe+Triple Toe in the short, but the second jump was underrotated. After only including the Triple Toe and Triple Salchow in her programs at the 2010 Nationals, Nina has made vast upgrades to her technical content over the spring and summer.


Alissa Czisny claims that Yuka and Jason have completely changed her jump technique (how many people has she claimed have done that now?) She has two new programs. The real question is whether or not she underwent a lobotomy during the offseason.

Jeremy Abbott had his short program reworked last week. He says it is like a new half-program. Hopefully, some of his arm movements and facial expressions have been reigned in.

Marlie announced that their new whimsical Amelie program allows them to show off a whole other aspect of their skating. Lynn Rutherford posted several tidbits from Champs Camp.

Steliana Nistor was asked to join the Romanian National Team at a recent training camp, but the former fugly champion only lasted a week. She wanted to compete two events, but her hand and back problems resurfaced.

Maia Shibutani grew at least two inches since Junior Worlds. The siblings made a point to repeatedly mention this to reporters because there has been increasing buzz that their future seemed hopeless due to their inordinate height difference.

Kristal Uzelac is claiming that she is training again. There has been talk for quite some time that she has been training, but she said she backed off. It seems that Kristal's interest and training waxes and wanes. Dominique Dawes is quoted extensively in the article and says that she will give her a pep talk when she visits Uzelac's gym on Sunday. Dawes talked up Uzelac emphatically, which obviously has nothing to do with her giving a paid appearance at the gym. Kristal can definitely do bars, but she always tended to choke at the ranch when her best was no longer guaranteed to win.

27 comments:

  1. that girl's face in that pic at least looks like johnny weir

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  2. I see Meryl Davis when I look at her.

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  3. MLT has struck again!!

    I wish Alissa would stop psyching herself out by constantly announcing how completely changed her technique is. I bet Caroline Zhang will still mule kick too.

    Kristal Uzelac? She hasn't trained elite in about 7 years and is now 24, but her love of gymnastics is evident with these comeback attempts. It's clear that she left the sport the first time with some regrets, and I was impressed by her Level 10 comeback.

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  4. Oh, Alissa. You just keep trying.
    Seriously, though. It's not gonna happen for her.

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  5. You know, I've learned to watch Alissa like I learned to watch Sasha, admittedly much earlier with less frustration with Alissa than with Sasha.

    Here's how you do it: I don't care at all about her jumps. At all. If she lands them, its a plus, but I look for the spins and her delightful presentation.

    Now, Sasha, I had come to expect fierce shorts and flops in the long. At least a "d'oh" moment somewhere (spin, spiral, etc.)

    With Alissa, I just stop having the expectation that she's gonna land on one foot. It makes watching her so much for enjoyable.

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  6. Gr8 review lol =) Thx for info about Makarova

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  7. Kristal for 2012 bars specialist!

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  8. I bet anything that Maia's bat shit crazy mother gave her growth hormone lol. Anyway she is at the age where she basically is done growing, time for mother to find another daughter to pimp out

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  9. "The real question is whether or not [Alissa] underwent a lobotomy during the offseason."

    LOL

    "Marlie announced that their new whimsical Amelie program allows them to show off a whole other aspect of their skating."

    Well I suppose the next best thing to Avatar is Amelie.

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  10. @Anonymous 7:05 AM

    What a terrible thing to say about the Shibutanis' mother! Their entire family is incredibly sweet, and extremely well-grounded and well-adjusted compared to some other competitive figure skaters with whom I've interacted. She would never do anything to endanger the welfare of her children, and it's so offensive that behind the protection of anonymity and a computer screen you feel empowered to assert that Maia is being "pimp[ed] out."

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  11. ^ was that Maia's mom? Is she going Jodi Flatt on us?

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  12. Wow, really? You could check my profile/blog in the time it took you to post that comment and realize that I couldn't possibly be Maia's mom.

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  13. Marlie's Amelie sounds like it will be a stunner. Their Bollywood OD was all about Meryl being whimsical and look how much of a knock-out that was. You think anyone took video?

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  14. I give Alyssa credit for sticking with it. If she wants to make an olympic team it is still a long and very hard road for her. She missed the last two that she really should have made.

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  15. Cassie Whitcomb has a sprained ankle-thats it. Confirmed from cassie herself!

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  16. Hmmm lets see this is what her status was the other day. Sounds rather drastic for "just a sprained ankle"


    "Cassie Whitcomb so got a needle in my face then some in my leg ok I'm all good with that then tiny jumper cable looking kings are attached to the ones in my leg and my thought was ahh they r going to jump start the healing process haha
    Wednesday at 5:08pm via Facebook for iPhone · Comment · Like"

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  17. I thought that was JoWeir in drag. Must be getting old....

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  18. Really random thought,but has anyone realized that A Sac has a very good shot of tying or a chance to break nastia and shannons world medal record of 9 medals for a U.S. woman?She has 7 medals now.Unless USA totally bombs in TF,she will medal there,is a favorite for a medal on vault,and has an outside shot for a medal on beam.(she was top 8 on beam in 2007 and 2008 but didnt make the final cuz shawn and nastia placed ahead of her)And if she doesnt do it this year she can still do it in the future if she plans tro continue competing

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  19. Maia Shibutani just turned 16 this summer, so it makes complete sense that she would have just gone through a growth spurt actually.

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  20. I would LOVE if Asac broke Shannon's record. Everyone's been talking about Nastia being able to do it, but Alicia's the one who's been training hard and really has a chance to do it. Love it!

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  21. I love the "This and That" updates, but can they be separated into Figure Skating and Gymnastics sections rather than interspersed? I was reading about Ksenia Makarova and wondering when she started competing gymnastics and then crying for Figure Skating because I thought Steliana Nestor had taken it up!

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  22. Alicia is not an AA gymnast. Her results have an asterik when it comes to any most medals.

    Cassie's ;eg is not broken

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  23. ..... And Cassie WILL make worlds!!!!

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  24. I agree with Molly. I also love "This and That" updates and sometimes get confused while reading them.

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  25. Cassie totally looks like Johnny Weir's little sister. Cute!

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