Juniors this Weekend - Review

Lizzy Leduc - I always loved this gymnasts character and clean form so I was interested to see what Valeri did with her. I had mixed feeling, her vault Yurchenko straight 1/1 was ok but it was at Nationals. Bars was not good with 2 falls on her overshoot and double layout dismount but she had some new skills and the routine was in a different order so the potential is there she just needs more competitions. Floor - I actually prefer her jungle book routine it used to make me smile, I don't mind her new music but I thought the choreography was boring. Her leaps were ok I wouldn't say better though, she had a nice double pike and back 1 1/2 into front layout 1/2 but I thought her back 2 1/2 was too low and not quite round. Beam - She had a lot of new skills: standing arabian (low landing), front tuck (low landing), Onodi+sheep jump but although her talent and skills are impressive on this event I don't see why she needs all those skills when she won't be senior until 2013. I think her execution suffered as she only scored 13.350 at her home meet (lower than Nationals with all those new skills). I still love her gymnastics though and hope she makes the National Team this year.


Madison Kocian - She is my favourite US Junior right now. Her bars have really improved but she took out her new piked jaeger from the Metroplex Challenge. My favourite is her floor routine and this weekend she added a back 2 1/2 into front layout and i thought her switch ring was better. I think her beam still needs work and time but her excellent form makes her amazing to watch.

Grace Mclaughlin - She won the Junior division of the WOGA Classic with 55.150 which would have won the Senior competition. On beam she added an arabian (v. low landing) Beam seemed a little shaky and there was definetely some missed splits in her leaps. Bars was much better scoring 14.30 with a nice high straddled jaeger and a good double front dismount and I actually think she can score higher than that later in the season. She is actually a Senior next year so I'm sure they will be hoping she makes the National Team this year so she can get some international experience.

Asuka Teramoto or Mina Sugimura (sorry I'm not sure which) - I really like this gymnast she has a rare mix of big skils and beautiful form, I had never seen her before so it was a nice suprise another talent from Japan. Her beam routine was really nice and included a double spin, free walkover to flick layout, split change+side somi and a front walkover mount.

Brittany Robertson - A mention to this New Zealand gymnast who showed some of the best leaps (switch ring+tour jete, tour jete 1/2) of the weekend, shame about the fall but well done to her for her leaps and presentation.

The Age Rule

I disagree with the age rule that we have in place now, personally I don't think there should be a minimum age for senior competition and I think we should just trust the gymnastics associations in each country to decide whether a gymnast is mature enough and can cope withthe pressure or not. Different gymnasts will be ready before others and I think their coaches should know as they spend so much time with them! At this time the only sensible thing to do is remove the age limit as some countries are always going to be able to get away with falsifying ages (eg. China) whereas others will never get away with it (eg. America).

Below are some gymnasts who I would like to see get a chance to compete at the London 2012 Olympics but unless the age rule is changed I won't and who knows if they will last until 2016?
Angel Romaeo (born 1997) - Great Britain. Our team needs some style and she has it all style, skills and good form lets hope she makes it to Senior so everyone gets to see her. Beam is her best event but unfortunately there is no video of that.

Viktoria Kuzmina (born 1998) - Russia. She has a cute style but with some big skills especially on beam and floor for her age. You can see her recent floor here

Madison Kocian (born 1997) - USA. She has beautiful form and made her 1st National Team at age 12 at her first Visa championships! Unfortunately she will have to wait until shes 19 for her Olympic chance who knows how her body will be then.

Lizzy Leduc (born 1997) - USA. We all know about Lizzy and her talent and I think she can only improve at WOGA. She reminds me a lot of Dominique Moceanu on floor and she was still 14 at the 1996 Olympics. Lizzy also has excellent beam scoring 14.30 at Nationals.

Katelyn Ohashi (born 1997) - USA. Another gymnast with nice form and she was 2nd overall on floor at Nationals. She is now also training at WOGA.

Lexie Priessman (born 1997) - USA. She has an exciting style with good routines on all events and she already has a double twisting Yurchenko at 12 so there must be potential for an amanar?

Roxana Popa (born 1997) - Spain. She is Romanian but trains in Spain and seems to be the next star and from the results over the last few years (except Ana Maria Izurieta) Spain seems to need a star and I think she could be it.