[BlondieUK]

I am watching Sub-division 3 (of 5) in the Women's Gym. If anyone can beat the USA team I will be very, very surprised.

(BTW - Lauren Mitchell very nearly fell off the beam in Sub division 1)

[protart roflcopt...]

I wish it were on FTA!

[baddmammajamma]

I am taping it right now because I am working. I am very excited for the U.S. Women's Team -- I hope that the pressure doesn't get to them. My mom & I were just discussing how the U.S. can't seem to build next generation tennis power, but damn, we have quite a thing going in women's gymnastics. They are tremendous athletes.

Would love to see Lauren Mitchell do well, too!

This post has been edited by baddmammajamma: 30/07/2012, 12:31 AM

[lovealpacas]

I wish it were on FTA!

FTA showed a little bit earlier. I saw the Aussie girl nearly fall off the beam. Watching the synchronized diving now, must get to bed soon gah!

[Azadel]

I saw the U.S. selection trials so I'll be very interested to see them compete. None of their previous Olympians went through - I guess the higher age limits makes it less likely a gymnast can compete at two Olympics.

[Jamelex]

Oksana Chusovitina is competing in London and her first Olympics was in 92 (and no, that is not a typo) and she hasn't missed any in between!
Australia's Lisa Skinner competed in 96, 00, and 04, as did Russia's Svetlana Khorkina.
Romania's Catalina Ponor won three golds in 04, retired in 07, and came back last year to compete in London.
There are plenty of gymnasts whose careers have spanned greater than one quad

On to last night's results though, proud of our girls even though they had some uncharacteristic mistakes. The team finished in tenth, so no team finals. Emily Little and Ashleigh Brennan have scraped into the all around final, and Lauren Mitchell had made floor final. On the men's side, Joshua Jefferis has made the all around final, so there is some good news!

[Azadel]

The higher age limit makes it less likely though. Then you have athletes like Rebecca Bross who was at her peak in 08/09 but too young for the Olympics. She's now past her peak and fell repeatedly in qualifying (as did Nastia Liukin) - so she never got a chance to appear at the Olympics. Unfortunately gymnasts with long careers are the exception.

I loved watching Svetlana Khorkina compete, as an aside - such a beautiful gymnast on bars and such a show woman, very entertaining.

[Jamelex]

Bross has been plagued with injuries though, and is unfortunately for her competing at a time when the US has extreme depth of talent. They did four Yurchenko 2.5 on vault while we had two Yurchenko fulls and one Yurchenko double (pity Lauren has been injured or it would have been two). Anyway, I digress.
Nastia was also arguably in her prime in 04 and 05 and was too young to compete in Athens. However, she ended the 05-08 quad by winning Olympic AA gold after having her own injury issues.
I guess my point is that while longevity may still be the exception rather than the rule, it is becoming more common and surely provides hope to the next generation of gymnasts.

ETA - P.S. I'm enjoying this discussion with you!

This post has been edited by Jamelex: 30/07/2012, 02:44 PM

[Elizabethandfrie...]

I actually think the culture is changing. Back in the late 90s and even the Allana Slater/Trudy McIntosh type era that expectation was to peak at about 16, make one Olympics and then retire and complete school. Now its becoming more common to keep training whilst doing some tertiary study and look to at least a second Olympics. You can see the change in body shapes as the average age of competitors increases. I think its great.

I can be so frustrating being a fan of gymastics in Australia. It feels like we NEVER get lucky!! Wouldn't it be awesome if Lauren snatches the bronze in the floor final......

Will be interesting to see who retires after the Games and if any of the girls who attempted a late comback (Chloe Sims and Dasha Joura in particular) keep training.

[baddmammajamma]

How do you guys feel about countries being capped with only two contenders for the all around title?

Jordyn Wieber finished 4th in the qualifying rounds but doesn't get a spot -- even if I weren't American, I'm not sure I would be supportive of a rule that prevents the highest performing athletes from being recognized.

Just wondering how others feel.

If the 10 best gymnasts on the floor were from, say, Russia and China and Australia, that's who I would like to see in the individual all around.