Sunday, May 20, 2012
Marissa King's Elite Comeback
Gator Chomp! Marissa King expects to throw full difficulty at her next meet in three weeks, but she already looks to be a strong bet for the Olympic Team. She is exactly what the British Team needs. Four years later, she is cleaner, stronger and more consistent. Marissa will need to do her 2 1/2+Front Layout on floor and 2 1/2 beam dismount to land a spot, but she is on track for someone who has trained her elite skills for two weeks. Marissa certainly has a chance at being the alternate, if not on the team.
With every vault, Danusia Francis looks more and more like someone who will make the UCLA lineup rather than the British Olympic Team. Considering that Danusia only did one event for the Brits at the European Championship when Downie, Cairns and Tweddle were missing, things are not looking promising for the girl with the crazy hair. That said, she performed at this meet and Downie looked rough as hell. The next meet is becoming extremely critical with stocks rising and falling. Ruby Harrold certainly appears overvalued at this point.
The rest of the Brits at the British Team Championships...
Rebecca Tunney
Ruby Harrold
Imogen Cairns
Becky Downie
Ellie Downie
Jenny Pinches
Danusia Francis
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It is such a fantastic thing that Marissa is doing this. It is also a great thing for ncaa gymnastics. Honestly every coach should be proud, they all kinda had a part of it. Maybe if danusia does not make it, she can try again in four years, after Miss Vals competing like a bruin {what the hell does that mean?} influence?
ReplyDeleteI freaking love Marissa King.
ReplyDeleteBut...I think it's likely to be Tweddle, Tunney, Harrold, Downie, and Whelan (whose recent Euros success has boosted her stock, despite her form issues).
Vault
Whelan
Harrold
Tunney
Bars
Tweddle
Tunney
Downie
Beam
Downie
Whelan
Tunney, probably
Floor
Whelan
Tunney
Harrold
(put Tweddle in if her knee is up to it)
I think King could certainly contribute on vault, and maybe on floor if she masters the elite stuck landing in the next few months. But she doesn't have the political capital of the other girls.
I think it's always risky taking an NCAA gymnast onto an elite team (specifically in WAG)... especially now that the E-panel will eat you alive with micromanaged deductions. King's BB and FX will be more of a liability unless she can get her landings secure and majorly improve her dance elements. I love her on FX and BB, but I just don't see it happening for her.
ReplyDeleteDownie did NOT look good this weekend. She is a big risk.
ReplyDeleteMarissa did a nice vault, other than that her floor was only 7th, and her beam was a disaster falling for a 12.6 score.... Danusia did an ok vault for 14, was 2nd on beam , clean with no fall, as usual for her and she was 1st on floor, and second all around!!!!.... so I really don't see why anyone would select Marissa over Danusia??? Beam is where GB needs help, and Marissa's SV of 4.9 with a fall just doesn't cut it! The Olympics is a different format to Euros... it's 4 up 3 scores to count in qualifying, so Danusia would be very useful to them, especially on beam but also on floor where Ruby Harrold is unreliable.Marissa's comeback was in no way the huge success you imply, maybe you should have a look at a score sheet?
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the overall performance for a first time out, Marissa looks more useful than Francis. They didn't let Francis do events at Euros when no one was on the team. Frankly, I do believe Francis looks better than Downie at this point.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, they took Marissa when she was a hot mess Pre Beijing.
ReplyDeleteIn what conceivable way does Marissa look more useful than Francis???? She fell off the beam, she doesn't swing bars, she isn't needed on vault, and didn't shine on floor.... Francis was 2nd all around, won floor,fourth on bars and stayed on beam!! BEAM is GB's weakest piece, and they are not going to want to take someone who falls off !!
ReplyDeleteI love Marissa and I also think it's awesome that she's trying to make this team. I wish more NCAA coaches would be as open to this kind of thing. If Danusia doesn't make it this time around, then yeah, I hope she tries again in 4 years. Going by Miss Val's record, I'm sure she'd be all for it.
ReplyDeleteWho is this commentator, anyway? I'm having a hard time deciding whether she's great and informative, or annoying as hell... yes, thank you for informing me that a double turn is two full rotations.
Does Rebecca Tunney know how to point her toes?!
danusia is so weak on floor. I can not believe she got the score she did. She is essentially a good level 9 gymnast in the usa. To even consider this whore as an olympian is a joke.
ReplyDeleteAny way of removing those last two comments? They're pretty disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI see it as Whelan, Tweddle, Harrold, Tunney, and King.
ReplyDeleteVT - Harrold, Tunney, King.
UB - Tweddle, Tunney, Harrold.
BB - Whelan, Tunney, Harrold or King.
FX - Whelan, King, Tunney.
Those comments above are disgusting!Obviously written by some racist biggot with mental health issues!!
ReplyDeleteI can't see King/Harrold and Tunney in a beam line-up... they would have to use Downie, Danusia or both. King has a great vault, but doubt they can take her just for vault, not in a 5 per team format. There are other vaulters that can offer more, like Harrold , Downie and especially Tunney.They cannot use a gymnast who falls on a 4.9 SV beam routine, above all GB need stability on beam, it's their main weakness, they have great bars, good vaulters and floor gymnasts, but have always lacked on beam. So love her or hate her, Danusia's only remit for GB has been to stay on the damn beam when all around are falling haha! And she has so far delivered, they aren't going to replace someone so steady with a less stable routine and a lower start value.... Downie is the only other viable beam-gymnast. Marissa's USA/Gator fans are probably a bit biased because she competes NCAA so well... but she hasn't got the start values and/or clean execution that elite demands. It's a big ask to switch from one to the other, which is why it also takes elite gymnasts time to settle into NCAA.She's got nothing to lose by giving it a go though, good opportunity for her to catch up with all her friends as well!
Marissa was politically favoured last quad, certainly. However she doesn't meet the selection criteria at the moment and really didn't do herself any favours at the weekend. But there might be time for her to do so. I wouldn't rule her out just yet, but she has a great deal to do. Francis is less politically favoured, the 2010 worlds/CWG fiasco being a good example of this, but they may just have to take her. Aunt Joyce underestimates Becky Downie's performance too. There's room for both of them. This of course would have the advantage of including two black gymnasts, therefore winding up racist trolls.
ReplyDeleteDavaistoi... care to elaborate?
ReplyDeleteWell in 2010, CWG and worlds were within a few weeks of each other, so it was initially said that nobody would do both. Francis was selected for worlds, not CWG. Cairns was then subbed into the worlds team after having done CWG. There were lots of people on the gymternet dropping hints about this happening a long time before it did, suggesting that it was planned. Danusia ended up mising out, and GB used Cairns on beam in TFs, with predictble results. I don't have a problem with Cairns being on the team, she deserved her spot, but Francis was totally wasted. She was the only healthy top gymnast who didn't get to compete at CWG or worlds. If she wasn't on the worlds team, she should've been taken to CWG instead of being wasted- she could've medalled on beam and helped the team effort.
ReplyDelete