Live Chat Archive with Roz Sumners and Evan Lysacek
Kohei Uchimura is out of the American Cup. It is uncclear whether he is injured or if the meet just doesn't fit into his training schedule. The problem with having the American Cup roster determined by the Worlds' results is that many of the athletes will be injured or not prepared to compete in the AA at that point in the season. It is likely that many top names will be withdrawing or showing up looking like Liu Xuan in '99 (when she was even invited to the meet and showed up looking like complete shit.)
Ask The Bruins
Gym Dog Show
Mariel Box Feature (Mariel has compartment syndrome, which is the same injury that has plagued Olympic Champion Tessa Virtue and plagued Kristy Powell as a gymnast.)
Christa Tanella is upgrading her floor routine to include a front layout+rudi and Shayla Worley is going to end with a 2 1/2 twist either this week or next. As of now, she is no longer planning on doing a front double full mount. Calamity Gina (Nuccio) may compete floor this week, as she is a beast who doesn't need much training time and the rest of the team is quite shitty. They are using every possible weapon to combat the Florida Gators. Hilary Mauro will also be back in the lineup.
Mukhortova and Blanchard are splitting up as a competitive pair and Oleg Vasiliev is unsure if he wants to continue coaching.
Paul Hamm updates IG2 on his injury.
Trish Wilson is determined to finally make a comeback after an NCAA career full of injuries.
Tune in to Gymnastike at 8 PM tonight to see their first LIVE broadcast: Stanford vs. UCLA vs. Oregon State at the Chicago Style Meet!
Gymnastics really needs a specific season like skating has. All the skaters know that after Worlds/World Team Trophy, there are no major competitions until the fall. In gymnastics, the athletes are expected to be competing ALL year round (well, except for the American girls who rarely compete). The American Cup is too far away from Worlds to have a great roster.
ReplyDeleteVasiliev and Mukhortova both seem nuts. Who knows how they got along, but Maria sure didn't have much patience with Blanchard.. New partnerships take work, especially when you are competing in the deepest pair field in the world (Russia) and Maria's temper could not have helped.
Yeah georgia is trying their best to combat florida especially by tweeting/promoting getting people in the stands incessantly this week. They know that they need fans to beat them and not their own gymnastics alone cuz they suck this year. FLORIDA for the win!!!
ReplyDeleteWell Alabama - who have problems too, but probably not as many as Georgia - lost to the Gators by a full two points. So Georgia are going to need every break going just to keep things close.
ReplyDeleteThen again, with scoring the way it is at the Stegeman - and rumor has it two of the meet's judges are ones known to be Gymdog-friendly - who knows?
I still believe it will take mistakes for Florida to lose the meet, but it is important to note that UGA has always been a program that has thrived on the strength of its opponents. This stems from Yoculan's personality, but they are always more amped up and prepared for the more difficult opponents, especially at home. Last year, they performed their best meet of the season against UCLA. Many debated the scoring (and there was reason to), but they absolutely performed their best meet of the year against the Bruins. While UCLA won last year, they were not stacked the way many NCAA Championship teams have been over the years. That is really showing with their struggles this year. Many of the girls benefited score-wise from being on Val's team and a part of the 'cult of Val.'
ReplyDeleteUF is very strong, but they are so impressive because the teams they are competing against are quite weak. That said, they'd be a contender any year...they just don't have a real challenger. Their top competitor is Stanford, a team that has a girl in their floor lineup who only performs two tumbling passes.
Florida has ever girl mounting with Es and their double pikes at the end of their routines are GOOD double pikes. Florida's real challenge will come on beam. Vault, Bars and Floor have been very good events for Florida this year. They don't have as mean clean lines on beams as other teams and their athletes tend to be hit or miss. Ashanee can be a rock, but we've seen her have 9.55/9.6 efforts twice. Marissa King is also capable of having really good days and quite bad ones. Alaina and Macko are still freshmen and proving themselves. This meet is very important for the team. Their leadoffs need to prove themselves, as Liz Green has been so stable for them in that position. They've done well without them, but this meet will be a challenge for them.
At Georgia's best, they are still capable of being on the top teams given the level of competition this season. They had a more talented team last year, but are competing better this season.
With a lineup like:
Ding: UB
Nuccio: UB, FX
Worley: UB, BB, FX
McComb: VT, UB, BB, FX
Mauro: VT, BB, FX
Cheek: VT, UB, BB, FX
Tanella: UB, BB
Couch: VT, BB, FX
They could upset UF if the Gators have a flat away meet like they did against LSU. The Gators are in a weird situation where this is only their second away meet. They've built a lot of momentum at home, but scoring could be tighter for them and the team will need to maintain their own momentum.
Both teams will improve from having this match up and I expect both teams to perform well.
The two Georgia judges aren't known to be in-the-can for them as much as they are two Level 10 judges from the state. There is always a tad of an in-state bias and they are the lowest-level judges on the panel (level 10, national, brevet)
ReplyDelete*Victor* Plushenko? Obviously the interviewer knows jack about skating. I read it as Victor Petrenko the first time and wonder what planet that happened on.
ReplyDelete@3:51
ReplyDeleteIt was a mistake on the part of whoever was transcribing the chat. Here's the original exchange:
1:29
[Comment From casey]
what about not doing a quad and the changes in the system that encourage quads like more points- beating plushenko without a quad sent the message not to do quads and was technical regression and victory for being a chicken and not doing hard moves. You tried one at nationals why not at the olympics. It was the Olympics? Plushenko did two and takahashi tried one - why not you? you tried one a few weeks before??
Thursday February 10, 2011
1:30
Stars on Ice:
EL: I think it's very interesting that the Europeans were at the forefront of battling for the increase of value with the quad, yet at 2011 Europeans, the winner did not do a quad. In fact, very few men still are doing them.
Thursday February 10, 2011
1:31
Stars on Ice:
EL: My decision to not train a quad leading up to Vancouver was because my left foot was broken. It was not a strategic move, but a health risk. Just thought you'd like to know all the facts.
Thursday February 10, 2011
1:31
Stars on Ice:
RS: Hey Casey, how's your quad coming along?
Thursday February 10, 2011
I wish Evan would just come out and say that not trying a quad was strategic. I could respect that - "I lost a lot of training time on the quad because of my injury and after Nats my coach and I decided that for me to skate the best way possible, I'd have to leave it out. It turned out to be the right call and I'm proud of the way I skated". What's wrong with that? Is a stress fracture in early 2009 really more serious than Takahashi's torn knee ligaments, Lambiel's health issues, Plushenko's knee problems or Joubert's foot injury during the Olympic season?
ReplyDeleteAs for Roz Sumner's comeback to that, is she 12? I bet she's never criticized anything she couldn't do herself.
The question about the tan was a winner, though.
Anony at 10:44 you are right. That answer would be fine! It was the answer Boitano gave in 1988 and lots of skaters have given. Lysacek tried a quad and failed at 2010 nationals. Does he think everyone is stupid? Why would he have tried a quad at nationals if he wasn't trying to train it and doing it would destroy his foot? His answer makes no sense and his PR makes no sense and is frustrating.
ReplyDelete