Saturday, October 24, 2015

Most shocking things to happen at Worlds so far #Glasgow2015

Most shocking things to happen at Worlds so far:

 1) Brenna Dowell's heroic floor performance
Brenna's floor music failed to play, but she didn't let it bother her! She performed like a champ. I suggest "Honey Badger" as her nickname, if it hasn't been suggested already.



2) Romania's Implosion
Everyone already knows about this. The End.

 3) The Netherlands Qualified to Team Finals, and therefore Rio!
Wow, they did it! So thrilled for them :)  Such a talented team!




4) Aly's Meltdown
Shockingly, Aly had a rough floor performance, a rough vault landing, a fall on bars, and then finally pulled herself together on beam.  She did have a weird leg shaky thing going on before her beam dismount though:


I certainly feel for her, but I hope Marta doesn't take away spots from others who qualified for the all-around or event finals to give her a spot. 

 I know...I'm a horrible, mean person for GIF-ing her mistakes...but this post IS about shocking things and Aly making mistakes is shocking.

 5) Maggie Nichols qualified to floor finals over Aly!
This girl is a rock star.  I hope she doesn't get bumped from it and gets to shine even brighter than she already has on the world stage!

6) Russia didn't need Aliya
They showed the world that they can do just fine without her! Yes, they certainly had some major mistakes (as did just about everyone so far), but they certainly did better without their fearless leader than many expected.



7) This terrifying fall on bars
Paola Moreira Irizarry of Puerto Rico had a nasty fall on her dismount where she hit both bars.  Thankfully she is ok!


More to come soon!
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Friday, October 23, 2015

Things that DIDN'T happen at Worlds - Qualifications Day 1 #Glasgow2015

I figured there are probably PLENTY of articles about the things that did happen today, but i doubt there are many about the things that didn't happen.  I apologize in advance if some of the items on this list may re-break any gymternet hearts. Consider yourself fairly warned!  

 Here we go; things that did not happen today:

 1. Maria Paseka's Beautiful Wolf Turn
In case you've been living under a rock, you should know that Maria Paseka's wolf turn is probably the worst one we've seen yet. @arfedorova created this wonderful gif that made the rounds on Twitter so that everyone could experience this piece of gymnastics history:


 2. Chuso's Perfect Produnova
I was all for her and believed she could TOTALLY do it, but Chuso did not land her Produnova.  It wasn't suicidal, but it also wasn't all that much better than the other near-landed attempts we've seen over recent years.  Hopefully it will still be enough to land her a spot (no pun intended) in event finals. *Fingers crossed* #PrayersforChuso


3. A Successful Romanian Bars Rotation
Yeah...I'm not even going to go there. If you want to know what happened, go to Twitter...or any other website with gymnastics-related news. I'm watching it right now because apparently I'm a masochist. Be warned: it's extremely depressing.

 4. #DoubleDownies and Bars Finals
The Double Downies were double down on bars. There, I said it. I made the worst joke ever and I should be sorry, but I'm not, because I'm still in denial that this happened.

 It's ok; they'll come back next year and dominate at Rio...right? Please tell me yes...

 Here's a video of Becky Downie winning the bars title at the 2014 European Championships to make you forget about everything that happened today:
5. Correct Spellings of Glasgow
In the hashtag wars the other day, I ALMOST said that it was "really easy to spell Glasgow" as a reason why #Glasgow2015 was a better hashtag than #2015WGC. Sadly, no one seems to be able to spell it correctly; even some of my favorite people and organizations :(





Well, that's all for Day 1 before it gets too depressing.  Hopefully Day 2 will bring much more joy, happiness, and healing of gymternet hearts <3
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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Excuses to give work/school so you can watch gymnastics Worlds live #Glasgow2015

Worlds are soon to be upon us, which means we, as diehard gym fans, need to watch it!

 I've been struggling to figure out how I can find an excuse to miss work on the 27th and 29th during the ~2-3 hour slots for the women's team final and all-around final so I figured I'd share some of my ideas!  Naturally, both are smack dab in the middle of my work day.  If it were two days in a row then it would be easier, but it would be awfully suspicious for me to be "sick" on two days within the same week and fine on the day in-between :P Therefore, I need to get creative! I'd feel bad lying* so I need to come up with something that is somewhat true, but maybe not quite what it sounds like. 

 *For the record, I DO NOT condone lying to your employer...but I do believe in watching Worlds...How you decide to make that possible is your own decision to make and for which to be responsible.

Here's what I have in terms of potential excuses so far:

 1) Eye infection - caused by tears over Brenna Dowell's successes or setbacks, of course.  Hopefully the former, otherwise I really WILL have an eye infection.
Image source: Giphy

2) Headache - caused by someone's disgusting form.

3) Back pain - Hey, I'm a total hypochondriac and there's no doubt that at least one of those world class gymnasts has back pain, which means my brain will tell me I do too.  (Also let's face it, I will totally also have real back pain regardless since my body is falling apart. #ballerinaproblems)

Image source: Pinterest
K, yeah my back DEFINITELY hurts looking at that...The only way my body could end up in that position is if my back were broken.

4) The good old "personal business" excuse - let's be real: no one is going to ask you what that means. My "personal business" is that THE BEST ****ING SPORT IN THE WORLD NEEDS ME TO WATCH AND TWEET ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF DOING WORK!

Image source: Giphy 

5) I need more excuses! Help me out!
Image source: Giphy
Seriously...if you have a good idea, please share it either in the comments below or via Twitter @Gymtertainment so that all of us gym fans can figure out a way to enjoy Worlds :)


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Thursday, October 8, 2015

The Gymternet's Collective Waiting-for-Worlds Announcement Freakout #BreaktheGymternet

Every year the gymternet collectively freaks out over the impending US women's world team announcement, and this year was no exception. Here are some of the most entertaining tweets from tonight.  Enjoy :) 


Many teased and joked:



Unashamed stan displays were rampant:


EVERYONE was in constant refresh battery-killing mode:



And some just couldn't handle it all:


Then, it finally happened:

After the announcement, the gymternet celebrated and commiserated:







...I can only imagine what it'll be like next year! #RoadtoRio
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The "World" Championships - Competing for Another Country

What is the point of the world championships in gymnastics, or in any sport?  The world championships are a chance for the top athletes from a country to compete against the top athletes from other countries. In order to prevent one country from dominating the competition and it becoming more of a domestic event than an international one, most sports have rules in place that limit the number of entrants from one country.  In gymnastics, each country is limited to a team of 6 for the world championships, or 5 at the Olympic games. The all-around and event finals competitions currently only allow two athletes per country to compete. While there is controversy over this rule, the point of it is to allow representation from as many countries as possible.

 So what happens when athletes find loopholes in these rules and end up competing for a country with which they have no real affiliation? You end up with a "World" Championships that isn't really a true representation of the world's best athletes. Hmmm...
Image source: Giphy
There are examples of gymnasts switching nationality that are completely legitimate, such as Oksana Chusovitina who has competed for Uzbekistan, Germany, and the Soviet Union over her lengthy career. A second is Anna Pavlova who switched from competing for Russia to Azerbaijan over the last quadrennium. More recent examples include NCAA stars Danusia Francis and Toni-Ann Williams, who plan to represent Jamaica at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow. All of these athletes have real ties to the countries for which they are competing or have competed.
Image source: Giphy

 Then, we hear some news from International Gymnast that two girls from AOGC named Alaina Kwan and Kylie Dickson are planning to represent Belarus: a country with which they have no affiliation, other than happening to know someone who can help them get citizenship. 

 To quote the IG article:
"IG: What kind of contact have you had with the team itself?
AK: As of right now we don’t have contact because the team is really small, but our coaches have a really good connection with Nellie Kim, who also helps the Belarusian team a lot. So that’s kind of how we got associated with them."
Image source: Giphy
I don't think I'm alone in thinking this, but you should not be allowed to compete for a country that you have no affiliation with.  Heck, it doesn't seem like they've ever even BEEN to Belarus!  That makes NO sense and is unfair to the Belorussian gymnasts who have spent their lives training there, hoping to get a spot on the world team, and then having some American girls come in and take their spots.

 Another interesting quote from the article: "I always had my mind set on competing for America because that’s my country. But once the idea sank in, it showed me how much I can do and see. I can travel the world and experience everything, but just representing a different name. So I’d rather go for the experience than for the name."

 Gee, well then lets just call it the "Everybody Pick a Name to Represent" Championships instead of the World Championships, because that's what it'll become! Forget having pride for your country, let's just all pick a random one and go with it!

 K, I'm done. Thoughts?
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Monday, September 28, 2015

#MCM Gymnastics Image of the Day - Jonathan Horton

Jonathan Horton competed at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and is now training to try and make the 2016 team!  He has won 24 national medals and 11 international, including a silver and bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Image source: Gymnastike
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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Gymnastics Image of the Day - Larrissa Miller

Featured today is Australian gymnast Larrissa Miller who competed in the London 2012 Olympics.  She won two silver medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games: one for the Australian team and the other on the uneven bars.  She also competed in the floor finals at the 2014 World Championships where she finished in 6th place.
Image source: ABC News Australia
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