The Agony of Defeat

24 hours later, I'm still reeling. Judging by some of the comments and number of views I've had since yesterday, many of you are too.

I'm not going to break down the Women's All Around Competition in terms of routines just yet. To be honest, it's still too depressing. What I want to talk about is the portrayal, interpretations and reactions in the American media and public to this Russian team, and their emotional reactions to these last two competitive defeats.

Let's get a couple things out the way first. I'm an American. I have no Russian heritage, but I have traveled to Russia and met many wonderful people there. I also much prefer the Russian style and school of gymnastics to the American school, with a couple of exceptions- I am a major fan of Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes, and have also been impressed with Sarah Finnegan, McKayla Maroney, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin on individual apparatus in more recent years.

NBC is the one stop shop in terms of Olympic TV broadcasting for the vast majority of Americans. More dedicated fans may stream the infinitely superior BBC coverage, but for most people, they get their coverage from NBC.

And this is the kind of "news" NBC sees fit to print after the AA.

And yet again, Viktoria Komova gets screwed out of a gold medal by an overscored American on beam

Burn everything down.

Have been too nervous to post about the AA live

But let's get one thing out of the way.

A 15.5 for Gabby's beam routine is a BULLSHIT OVERSCORE. That was higher than Catalina's in the TF. It wasn't .3 better than what she did in the TF, and it's going to hand her the gold.

Unbelievable.

Team Final Superlatives

Best Routine: McKayla Maroney, Vault

Maroney justified her placement on this team with the most flat out amazing Amanar I think anyone's ever seen. Height, flight, effortless twisting, and a perfect landing. Jawdroppingly gorgeous, where on Earth those judges found any deductions is a mystery to me.


Most Horrifying Moment: Ksenia Afanasyeva, Floor

Russia's team leader executed the best floor routine of the night...until she crashed her last pass to her head. Unable to hold back her tears as she saluted the judges, the devastation running through the Russian camp at this last, defining moment of defeat was agonizing to watch.

Most Underscored Routine: Ksenia Afanasyeva, Beam

After two very shaky Russian routines, Afanasyeva calmly and coolly executed the best beam of her life. The quality of her work stood out, not just among her nervous teammates, but among the field at large. However, the judges awarded her a sub 15 score, lower than her less fluent qualifications routine, and just where they found those deductions I'd like to know. If you want an example of everything that's wrong with this code, wrap your heads around the fact that Raisman's routine, with its lack of expression, flexibility or anything approaching the "artistic", complete with weak (for her) dismount, STILL SCORED HIGHER than Afanasyeva's work. Absolutely fucking ridiculous.


Most Impressive Comeback: Team Canada

Canada was almost entirely written off after the loss of the great Peng Peng Lee to injury, with many people predicting they wouldn't even qualify to the TF. Indeed, they just squeezed past Australia and Germany in qualifications, but they came to play at the final, especially on vault and floor. A 5th place finish is a superb result for the Canadian program, which was taking part in its first team final ever.

Women's Team Final

Here it is, folks. After all the talk, the agony of choosing 5 person teams, the countless injuries, the hundreds of pink leotards from the Americans and gallons of hair glitter from the Russians, we've finally reached the Olympic team final. Are your palms sweaty? Is your heart racing? Do you have your worry beads to clutch when Huang Quishuang and Gabby Douglas mount the beam?

Join me after the cut for a live blog at 11:30 am EST:

Start List

Find it here.

Interesting notes:

Yao Jinnan still performing on Vault and Bars. China doesn't have any other options aside from pulling her out, and I am somewhat surprised that hasn't happened. Poor thing.

Bulimar in on floor (smart, Romania).

No AA for Wieber- Douglas will be on beam.

No AA for Komova- Grishina's getting the nod for floor.

Mustafina's leading off on vault. Will she throw an Amanar?

News from Tim Daggett

On tonight's NBC coverage, he said that Russia was just "a little bit better" on bars than the USA.

#thisiswhywehateyouNBC

#pleasejoinusonPlanetReality

Notes on Qualifications, or HOLY WHAT?

Man, and I thought the men's qualifications were off the chain. Let's break down the surprises and shocks of WAG qualifications:

1.) NO JORDYN WIEBER. 

Honestly, did anyone see this coming? If so, please tell me next week's lottery numbers and where I can best go panning for gold.

After handling the pressure of being the defending AA champion in an Olympic year quite easily at Olympic Trials, US Championships, etc. Wieber qualified as the third American gymnast, blowing a crater into the race for AA gold. After being largely overshadowed all season as an all-arounder, Aly Raisman placed second in qualifications to beat Wieber out of a spot. She even beat Gabby Douglas for the top American position in quals! I mean, you can't make this up!

And not to say I told you so, but I KNEW Jordyn's beam composition was going to come back to haunt her. She was only credited with a 6.0 in qualifications after being given a 6.4 at USA Nationals for connections that she simply was not making. This is why I will never understand the generous national scoring in the USA- it creates a false reality and set of expectations around a gymnast. Much like Kyla Ross's ridiculously low floor difficulty, her beam set was an ongoing problem that could have been fixed, but wasn't.

2.) Deng Linlin = China's Second All-Arounder

Again, who thought this was going to happen? Not only is Yao Jinnan out of the AA thanks to painful troubles on vault and beam (how this poor athlete is going to get through the TF, I've no idea. Call Juang Yuyuan, China!), but Linlin beat her more heralded teammate, Huang Quishuang, as China's top qualifier. She had apparently been struggling with a sore back in training, so good on you Linlin!

3.) Event Finals Shockers

My predictions for floor are pretty much out the window, as Larisa Iordache botched her third pass to score in the high 13's (13's! For a Romanian on floor!). Not to be outdone, Sui Lu botched two passes and didn't qualify. Meanwhile, Afanasyeva watered down her routine and still placed 4th, and Raisman received what I'd describe as the world's most generous D score to place first in quals. Plus, Mustafina made it over Grishina! Yeah, sure, why not?

Beam was similarly nuts. Ponor had a shaky routine for her and just squeaked in, Iordache won't be there, but Didi Bulimar who Romania probably should have put up on floor, and may be in TF, is going to be there, after a very solid routine. Douglas, of all people, is going to be there as the second American and placed third! Afanasyeva is going to be there! The entire lineup comes from the top 4 teams, something I actually did get right.

I have one thing to say about bars- Grishina got a lower score than Raisman. In what fucked up universe is that a thing? Tweddle knocked it out of the park, as did the Chinese and Mustafina/Komova. Everyone else should just be happy to be there.

The biggest and best thing about vault finals would have to be Maria Paseka doing two good vaults and putting herself in bronze medal position, putting a Russian in every event final. 

4.) Russia keeps it close

Grishina's miss on bars was their biggest issue all day- Mustafina can do better on beam, and Komova kept up her streak of being subpar on floor, but they kept it close. Very close. Despite what NBC and the American media have been telling you, if Russia can handle their business, this is not going to be an easy, no-brainer win for the USA.

5.) Romania melts down

After the horrendous performance of the Chinese on floor, 3rd place in qualifications was Romania's to lose, and lose it they did. With their bars, misses on floor from Iordache and Ponor and a sub-par beam rotation are just not going to cut it at ALL. If you're going to suck on one event, you best get your shit together for the ones you are good at. Considering how weak the Chinese looked, the failure of Romania to capitalize on their errors is pretty shocking.

Rumors of Romania's demise have apparently been greatly exaggerated

Hooray, but please don't toy with my emotions anymore, Belu and Bitang! I can't take it! Let this be the final word!

However, it does appear that another AA hope, this time Yao Jinnan of China, is also struggling with injuries. She had a nasty fall on vault that took her out of the Chinese Nationals this year, and arrived in podium training with a wrapped thigh, was spotted quite heavily by her coaches, and was lacking her usual sharpness. It does not appear that they have called in a replacement athlete as of yet.

Yao is China's best AA hope this games, and it would be a real shame if she wasn't able to perform at her peak. She is one of China's most consistent gymnasts as well, and her steadiness and focus would be greatly missed in the team final should she be pulled out. I can't help but think that if Jiang Yuyuan had been selected as China's 5th team member, they'd be in better shape in terms of covering every apparatus in qualifying.

London 2012: Vault

Of all the WAG apparatus, this event is the most cut and dry in terms of medal prospects- there are so few gymnasts training two vaults at this stage, there are hardly enough to make up a final.

A slight wrench has just been thrown into what should be the easiest gold medal to predict in all of WAG- McKayla Maroney reportedly has suffered a broken toe during her training, but during podium sessions today appeared mostly unaffected by the injury. If her health remains stable, she is the firm favorite for gold.

The other main contenders for vault are as follows:

Sandra Izbasa: The two time European champion is, funnily enough, more likely to medal on vault than floor, the apparatus she is best known for, and where she is the defending Olympic champion. Sandra threw her Cheng today in podium training, and even without it she has a powerful DTY and solid Mustafina. With her good execution and fairly even start values, she has a great shot at the podium.

Oksana Chusovitina: Gymnastics' grand dame is in what will probably be her last Olympics, and there's really not much left to say about her outstanding career. It would be wonderful to see her make the podium one last time.

Janine Berger: The first year German senior actually defeated Chuso at German Nationals this year, and has been throwing 6.3 and 6.0 vaults, which actually gives her a higher start value than Izbasa without her Cheng. Berger is definitely my dark horse pick for a vaulting medal, if she can hold her nerve in her first major international competition.

Valeria Maksyuta: Vaulting was what helped this experienced Israeli gymnast make the Olympics at the Test Event. She just missed out on a vaulting medal at Euros this year, and it would be great to see her make a final after all the drama with her simply qualifying to the Games!