2 posts tagged “romania”

• World/Olympic rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabayeva is reportedly marrying outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Um...yeah.
• NBC aired the Pacific Rim Championships:
• Dasha got a fluff!
• Elfi tried to imitate Dasha's accent. No, Elfi. Just...no.
• Britt Greeley of Australia shows promise, but the house music FX needs to go and the UB set needs some cleaning.
  
• Many of the Canadians were shown, including my favorite junior, Peng Peng Lee (her UB routine was shown and they replayed her gut-busting Bhardwaj several times in slo-mo)
• Samantha Shapiro won over many fans and looked like an overjoyed wriggling puppy. She was so cute!
• Rebecca Bross, the PRC AA champ, was shown only once on UB. Rebecca Clark wasn't shown at all.
• Darlene Hill got plenty of airtime, but was accompanied by the Head Trauma Trio's constant schmaltzy commentary about how her grandmother (and guardian) had passed away the month prior. Condolences to Darlene, fist shaking to Al, Elfi, and Tim. Was it really necessary to mention her mother's drug addiction?
• None of the Japanese gymnasts were shown, much to my chagrin. Not even Erika Lynn Danko and one would figure NBC would love to comment on a half-American half-Japanese gymnast.
• Nastia got a bit too much of a pass by the commentators on her FX. I like her and all, but FX isn't her event and you know if another gymnast performed like Nastia on FX, they'd be downright nasty.
• Not shown in the NBC broadcast, but Myzdrikova of Russia did a rarely-seen combo of triple twist-back tuck.
  
• The 2008 European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, France came and went:
• Romania is a drama-llama, what with Stelliana Nistor doing AA in qualifications (there was no AA competition) and Romania winning the team title, Russia taking silver and France the bronze.
• Sandra Izbasa unveiled one of her best FX routines (and I did find out her music!) and won the FX title.
• Anna Pavlova showed the world that she is back with probably one of the most artistic FX routines in this quad (including a double layout!) and showed an Amanar vault (of which she flopped, but she has time to fix it up and make it pretty).
• Isabelle Severino had to say goodbye in one of the worst ways possible: torn Achilles' tendon.
• Beth Tweddle did indeed compete and unveiled an impressive new skill on the uneven bars. And she got braces!
• Vanessa Ferrari came, competed, and left...with nary a medal to her name. Everybody wonders what this could mean for her Beijing AA medal prospects. Her FX music makes me want to stick something sharp in my ears.
  
• Cottbus came and went:
• He Kexin (CHN) got an impressive 16.85 on UB. The UB EFs in Beijing will be the EFs to watch, what with Tweddle, He, Liukin, and Semoynova all gunning for the top spots and one of them will be left off. It'll be exciting and I for one, cannot wait, even if I know fuck all about UB.
• Chusovitina won vault.
• Marta did not send any of the USA girls. Not even any of the bubble girls like Hong or Sloan (who had to miss out on her chance with the Italy meet due to tweaking her knee).
• Izbasa won FX again.
• Daiane Dos Santos competed a very watered down FX and ended up last.
• Sanne Wevers (NED) did a double turn with leg at horizontal on BB flawlessly when most can barely do a single turn without a wobble or fall (see: Li Shanshan 2007 Worlds BB EFs).
• Jade Barbosa only performed a DTY and LO Pod on VT, not her Amanar and Cheng. Took 2nd, though.
• Yang Yilin supposedly broke her foot colliding with another gymnast. There really is not much other information out there about her injury.
• A US Olympic Media Summit was recently held. GettyImages has portraits of the athletes. Ivana Hong looks seriously buff. Since her foot was injured for so long, maybe the Fongs worked heavily on arm conditioning? *crosses fingers and hopes her bars have vastly improved*
• Speaking of Ivana Hong, her mother has told the New York Times about her escape from Vietnam.

I think that's it, word-wise. How about some videos?

This article was wholly depressing to read. It's driving home the fact that for the first time in God only knows how long, we may not see Romania on the team medal podium in Beijing. This, after they've won two consecutive Olympic team golds.

With the seemingly permanent retirement of Catalina Ponor last year, Romania's women's gymnastics team is barely holding on. One of their stars, Steliana Nistor (yes, of the famed ugly DTY), has this to say:

"I can successfully compete on only three apparatus," said Nistor. "This lowers my chances to win more money. But I hope for some medals on the floor and balance beam."

No, she cannot compete on vault.

Sandra Izbasa, who will put on a brave smile for the camera through tears of pain after injuring herself on a beam dismount, is the other leader of the team. I have no idea about her AA abilities or if she's a specialist. Either way, that still leaves four spots if Romania wants to successfully contend for a medal.

One of the screwed-up things in that article is that more money is spent on track-and-field and rowing than gymnastics in Romania. Really? Are those sports really that popular in Romania? Are there standout rowers in Romania? Is there a track-and-fielder that everybody in the world, even those who aren't track-and-field fans, know by name and why they're so famous? I highly doubt Comaneci's inspiration powers have subsided, it's the fact that it seems that things are just falling apart and all attempts to piece it back together are futile.