FUN PACS FACT!!!!!

According to a very excited New Zealand coach after the main competition, New Zealand were the only team in the entire competition to hit every single beam routine in teams and AAs (Bross fell on the beam).  The small band of four hit four-for-four!

(Brittany Robertson)

Holly Moon, on left, can also boast, as far as I am concerned, the best executed (triple) spin on floor I have seen in a long time.  Even she said she taken by surprise!

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ALBUM: OKAY, I'M WARM NOW!

(Please ask if you want to use these pictures.  Thanks.)

And rest!

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EVENTS- WHO DID GOOD?

I must confess I have no idea how the event finals are working- and my computer has taken umbrage to Gymnastics Australia's PDF style and won't show them so I can't find out.  This is just from my media results sheet.

In juniors, Jordan Wieber qualified first in floor, beam and bars.  Kyla Ross took vault with a stellar execution score of 9.450.

Anna Rodionova placed tied for third with Sabrina Vega to make bars finals

In seniors, Rebecca Bross qualified first in bars and floor.  Aly Raisman qualified first in vault. China Liu Fang Wu took top spot on beam.

Quishuang Huang was second on bars and fourth on vault.

Kristina Vaculik has taken fourth on floor and fifth in beam.  She may also make vault finals because of the US jam at the top.

Dominique Pegg made beam finals, which is awesome because she nailed her standing arabian.

Australia's Emily Little, who had a great night, possibly qualified for all four finals.  She didn't place under eighth in anything!

THE CEREMONIES.....

(once again- my pics so ask if you can use them.  Ta!)

Gymnasts must be the best photo posers- bar models- of anyone! Look at them!  And they just naturally did this!

The juniors..... and the toddler!  All the Aussies wanted to hug Rodionova-  they were all like, "ooh, let me hug the little one!!!"

The 'big' girls...

The Russians with the new glamour girl of judging, Yelena Zamoldchikova. 

Hmm, well Canada should have won bronze but stacked it A LOT on beam.  Brittany Rogers fell, then missed her foot on her dismount and hurt her foot enough to be floored until a medic came.

Vaculik rocked beam and floor, but unfortunately fell off bars.

The Chinese were terrible on beam.  They fell and fell and fell and fell.  We could have just lined them up and pushed them off. But they were delightful on floor.

The dude who does the announcing told me he wanted to take littlest Chinese girl home as a pet- but his wife wouldn't let him.  Everyone, I mean, everyone wanted to adopt her!!!

Because I had media accreditation, I told my friend to bring someone else with her to use my ticket.  My friend Carrie, who knows nothing about gymnastics came along.  She was quite surprised to find a distant cousin, Amelia McGrath, competing for Australia (far left).

Larissa Miller told me she watered down her bars because she really wasn't feeling physically strong enough to do the whole routine.  However, she may not make it to bars finals now.  She has her fingers crossed though. (EDIT- she did!!!.  Well, she qualified in 5th.  I didn't look to see if two Aussies did better, but I doubt it)

I interviewed Rebecca Bross- her eyes immediately glazed over and I don't blame her.  Media are boring- and I wanted to recite her answers along with her.  She is a funny little wench, though.  When they were all in the back bit waiting for medal ceremony, the woman was telling everyone to remove their tracksuits for the march.  Brossy turned around to a Canadian- Sabrina Gill, and says all bossy -like "Take off your pants!!!" then cracks up.

Sabrina Vega was handed her koala along with her team gold like everyone else, and I am pretty sure she said, "ooh, a rabbit!"

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U.S.A TAKE ALL....

So, the USA took the team title at Pacific Rims by a staggering 15 points.....

Brossy won the seniors....closely followed by Raisman in silver.... In what was a mind-bogglingly amazing event- KSENIA AFANASYEVA HIT FOUR-FOR-FOUR!!!! I REPEAT, FOUR-FOR-FOUR!!!!!!!!!  She was awesomeness tonight.  So was little Rodionova who got third in the juniors.  They were shaky all week but came good on the night it counted.


Jordyn Wieber, as predicted, won the juniors, followed by Kyla Riss and then it would have been Vega if it weren't for the COMPLETELY DAFT two-only rule.... Poor Vega was waiting for her name to be called, and I heard her say, "It's supposed to be me" then Ungureanu, who was standing next to me was all "what?! What?!" and dashed off to find out.  Poor Sabrina.


Anyway, as if we thought the final result would be any different......

They were superb, with the only glitches occuring among the seasoned seniors.  bridge Sloan had a brai fart during her bars and had to regroup and stand on the bar.  Bross missed her foot on beam- recovered astonishingly quickly, and then half missed her foot on the take off to her dismount, but still pulled it around with ease.

Kyla Ross nailed nearly all her floor landings.  She was incredible.  She needs to pay Vega's choreographer to HELP HER CHOREOGRAPHY though.

I missed the vault, but Raisman got a staggering 9.950 execution score.  Incredible.

Vega's floor routine is easily the prettiest thing at Pacs.


Anyway- they won.  By a lot.  More news after I get this post out to y'all.

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THIS IS WHERE THE HAPPY IS....

Right here in subdivision one.  Here are the girls who are attending their first majors, with the coaches who are excited to show them their first big meet.  Here is the meet with the girls who may have fallen, but are still happy because they stuck their landing.  

In Subdivision one, there are the kids that fight as hard, but still retain the joy and excitement of suddenly finding themselves with the major leagues.  Sub one was not as spectacular, though there was some truly beautiful gymnastics- but gosh it was fun!

Celebrating another hit beam routine.

Mexican Mitzi manages to grin even though she just told me she may have re-broken her already very hurt finger on beam.  It didn't stop her powering on to floor in the last rotation and ending in second place either.

I caught Moreno having a yawn on her way back from vault warm up.  Methinks she had some nerves last night.

This is when she realised she'd been spotted.....

And this is when, bam!- She nailed another floor landing to take third place behind two of her team mates in the final rotation.

Mexico and Malaysia get some snaps together.

All smiles from team Hong Kong

Singapore...

The New Zealand girls performed some terrific skills and had lovely floor work. Russian coach, Alexandra drills them in ballet.  Why?  Because she is Russian!

Beam is over!

Angel Wong- happy it's over too!

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JUST DROPPING BY.....

To give you all an opportunity to witness the top contender thus far for The Pacific Rim International Crimes of Leotard Fashion awards.......

It's not the leotard per say, which is quite nice, except that it's sleeveless.

I can even live with the jacket, which is, you know, tiger-y fierce (make a Lady Gaga claw right now).

 It's the combination that slays me....

Uh huh, that right there....... a big fat hmmmmm....

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RUSSIAN MAN DOWN!!

Yulia Inshina has had to withdraw from the Pacific Rims with an injury, meaning the Russians can no longer field a team.  That is a sad fact, particularly considering she looked the steadiest of the inconsistent but gorgeous Russian babies.

I spoke to a coach, whose English was limited (as is my Russian!) and he seemed to be saying it is her foot, or toes and that she was already injured.  They had just decided to see if they could push it.  Sadly they couldn't.

Ksenia Afanasyeva, however, is looking the best I have seen her in a long time.  She could, if she can keep her head screwed on right, contend for a medal somewhere.  She was also very smiley today, which was nice.

It is doubtful this Russian team could have been that competitive, but it is sad that they won't even get to try.



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PODIUM TRAINING DAY.... WHATEVER DAY IT IS..

Still tired.

(Once again, ask nice and then you can use my pictures)

It looked for a second like Bridget Sloan was going to warm up floor, but then she sat down with the ice pack.  She was great on bars and another days rest did wonders for her landings.

Sabrina Vega danced beautifully.  She is truly delightful to watch.

In fact, there was a lotta ice out on the floor today, as well as sore ankles.

Kyla Ross was nearly in tears after a rough landing on beam on her already tender ankle.  She looked exquisite all around though.

The Mexicans looked like they were preparing to bathe in ice and there was an unsettling amount of flinching as they worked beam.

China looked better on bars, and good on beam.  I missed floor and vault looked a bit scary!

The Canadians continue to look amazing, though the gorgeous junior, Riley Cholod, has been pulled with a hamstring injury, which makes me very sad.  Kristina Vaculik looked beautiful and Dominique Pegg was nailing everything she did today.  They are serious, serious team medal contenders, particularly with the Australians looking like they are going to freak any minute.

Rebecca Bross looked steadier today, and was solid on both beam and floor.  I missed bars.  The crones looked, well, cronelike

Jordyn Wieber continued to look good.  She and Bross are certainly the hot tickets for this comp, but my money is on Wieber.

The Australians still look tense and unprepared, and Larissa Miller was rubbing a sore wrist a lot.

There was some multi tasking too!

The Chinese baby, Zeng Siqi, continued to be cute

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