Yao Jinnan takes Chinese Nationals!

credits to: thecouchgymnast.com

You may have noticed I've been AWOL for the past while. I've been going through a really busy time, and probably won't be updating anything major for the next week or so, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to do a quick update. Yao Jinnan has won Chinese Nationals AA! Hopefully this means good things for her at worlds?

In lieu of a real post, if you haven't seen it yet, check out my Ode to the Lovely Yao Jinnan.
I cannot wait until I can do real updates again.

Ode to: Gabby Jupp

(source not found)

Even in the midst of all the great gymnastics going on at Euros, there was a blot in the festivities. The storm cloud, of course, was the injury of new Great Britain senior Gabrielle (Gabby) Jupp. After completing a steady beam routine, she went for her double pike dismount, landed, and fell clutching her leg. The news just came out, and Jupp has torn her ACL, an injury which will sideline her for at least six months. She'll have surgery in May. Realistically, she is now definitely out of Worlds, and probably won't be back to competition shape until next year.  When Mustafina tore her ACL at 2011 Euros, she wasn't really back to her peak until summer 2012, and even then still messing up beam.

But anyway, here's a look at the career of Gabby Jupp, and the amazing accomplishments she's made within such a short competitive career.

Random Routine: Anastasia Grishina Floor Exercise Euros 2013

credits to RGF, via http://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com/

Whenever I'm browsing through routines on Youtube, I like to find interesting bits to hopefully feature on Random Routine. Of course, I'm not organized enough to have a notebook or something to jot down ideas and my thoughts, so I usually just bookmark the link and leave it for later. This leads to a mess in which I have to rewatch many videos to find the part that caught my eye in the first place. Then, like now, I end up with three random routine posts in a row. I promise I'll get back to other posts soon (I'm actually working on an ode to Grishina right now.) Consider this a sneak peek!

Random Routine: Ksenia Afanasyeva Floor Exercise Euros 2013 and Diana Bulimar Floor Exercise Euros 2013

love all these leotards so much

Look at me getting up two posts in two days! I wanted to interject my opinion on the floor exercise final without making a whole long recap post, so I'm just talking about two random routines today. For more, read on!

Random Routine: Anastasia Grishina 2013 European Championships Beam

credits unknown (but lord Iordache's leotard)

You know, before Euros came up, I was planning another 'ode to' post featuring Anastasia Grishina and other known headcases. (I have lofty plans for this blog. So many good ideas, and so little time to actually research and write them.) Well, she fell during qualifications, but her beam is steadily becoming more reliable. And oh so brilliant, with the onodi to illusion turn. Brilliant enough to be featured in this random routine post! To see, read on

2013 European Championships All Around Results Recap

credits Mikhail Metzel

Well, beginner's luck maybe, but my podium predictions HERE turned out to be exactly correct! For all the details, and my thoughts on what I've been able to catch through videos, click below!

(Also, the livestream link I posted turned out to be for European views only. Actually, it seems that that they didn't post that fact until the competition started? Unless I was so oblivious in my excitement I missed it...)

2013 European Championship All Around Predictions

This photo has been used so many times I can't find the source, if it's yours, please let me know

 These are my first predictions for a major competition, so don't judge me if they're completely wrong, kay? For my podium predictions and more, read on!