"In the Olympic All Around there are only three gymnasts per nation" Oh just you wait honey...
This whole RUSSIA DRAMA montage is especially hilarious when you know what's coming. But I'm also not okay with Produnova out of this final.
"That has seen Andreea Raducan set herself apart" #justiceforAndreea
Rotation 1
Getting right into this thing with Lobaznyuk! Annnnd she's out of bounds first thing. Really an omen of things to come.
"And intriguing choice of music too" Oh Al how I don't miss you.
Oh and they're talking about how a big wobble on a standing full just took Chow out of the medal race. Those were the days. Also, not this meet.
Zamolodchikova's bars seem very... un-Russian.
I kind of like Maloney's tinfoil leo. Don't @ me. Also I'm pretty sure that tumbling was more difficult than half of the routines at the 2019 Worlds. That was also a strange combination of dramatic music and Great American Songbook.
OI and now we get the Elise Ray wipeout on vault. My spine has been tingling for a minute.
JUSTICE FOR ANDREEA! And I swear her form was cleaner on the Lopez than the Podkopayeva.
OH YES and now we have some Enya for Sveta this is the early-2000s cheese I long for. And an abrupt transition into monks singing, beautiful.
Did... Produnova fall on a Yurchenko 1.5?
And... was it Lobaznyuk's birthday? Why did she have a balloon?
Elfi I'm gonna need you to learn how to pronounce Svetlana. Also, this floor routine has grown on me. I only used to like her first and last floor routines.
"And three more sets like that and she's going to be your AA champion. There's not a lot of in-between with her, either she will win or she'll make a major mistake and not really factor in at all." Oh if only you knew...
And Elise Ray is safe.
That's always so odd to remember Olaru was world AA champion. This quad, man. Switch wolf to Rueda is... a connection. But she makes up for it with a twisting back circle jump.
YANG YUN!!! Is it weird that she's one of my favorite Chinese gymnasts and bars is my least favorite event of hers? Nice floaty Tkatchev, though.
Man, I'm surprised Karpenko was able to pull that front layout around. She looked really low to me. Also, who told NBC front-row-at-the-movies was an acceptable angle?
Rotation 2
Oh, and we didn't even see Amanar the first rotation. Interesting she did the gainer BHS for the series. Man, this was a stacked meet. Yes, Al, we are aware that floor is also going on and involves music.
Zamolodchikova almost gets a Pavlova zero. And not the fun hip circle mount, sad. We're hearing about how she damned Russia in the TF but hit her Rulfova. Cool entry into the turn. Get the back dive in the jump series though. Man, she is a fan of these twisting dive skills, and I'm here for it. And a full-in! Well dang!
Lobaznyuk with the Tsuk double. Jaaaaade.... you know you wanna.... And showing versatility with the Yurchenko.
"Russia trying to put a second or even a third member into the top three right now" Oh how interesting...
I'd give Maloney's Y1.5 a college 9.875, 9.9 considering she went to UCLA. And similar for the DTY.
JUSTICE FOR ANDREEA! I see Romania is already carrying on the proud tradition of weakness on bars. Liked the immediate double front out of the half turn, though.
Liu Xuan now. Not one we think of much when we remember how stacked this field was, but she got the bronze after #justiceforAndreea right? I like how she combines dance skills in this routine. Very UCLA-worthy Shush out of her tumbling, bhs to jump, and turn to double stag.
Back to the reigning world AA champion. I find her dance super awkward but I kind of like it? It reminds me of Kocian's French waitress routine, where the more comfortable she got with it, the less I like it. And we're hearing about how costly her OOB will be. You have no idea what's coming...
Dominique Dawes sitting on the bars is everything I need in life.
OH MY GOSH this 2000 pop for the fluff on Elise Ray! Also, what's this FAMILY BACKSTORY thing they've got going for this final? It's kind of creepy.
I LOVE THIS ROUTINE! And she pulled out the Ray dismount!
The Sveta yell in context! "No one wins the all around gold with a fall" 2006 is coming, Elfi. "Way high on the horse" you just wait and see, Tim. Hits the Podkopayeva, sad she didn't do the other Khorkina, I love that vualt. It's so intricate.
YANG YUN! This beam routine is devastatingly lovely. NO, AND SHE FALLS! My heart. Lots of dives in this final, I'm here for it. Is the 10 second warning a guy blowing a whistle?
I love this hip circle hecht from Karpenko. The Pak, not so much, very low. Great routine, though, her bars should be more remembered.
Al's talking about how dramatic it would be if Zamolodchikova got the gold after being substituted in. China's like, "Wait 19 years, we've go you, Al."
Rotation 3
And they've finally figured it out. Well done, everyone. They've mentioned Alana Slater, but weren't there other non-Australian gymnasts who had noticed it seemed off and were just ignored? Also, the "raise the vault" motion from the meet staff looks like it came out of a made-for-TV movie.
JUSTICE FOR ANDREEA! Her beam work was so airy. Love to see a bhs tuck full tumbling series, too bad she didn't nail it. Also, the Aladdin music in the background is excellent.
Al talking about how lots of people don't know about the vault issue yet. That seems like an important thing to communicate to everyone immediately? Also, I love how they're focusing on Elise Ray's fall and not Khorkina's. NBC cannot get any more NBC. Ah, now we get Khorkina. "I remember calling this and saying she's too high on the horse" told you you would see, Timmy.
And now Khorkina on bars. This will always be one of the great quandries of gymnastics. She did have that fall in team. So did the equipment malfunction really do it for the Ricna? But classic Sveta was always hitting for yourself. Also, it's fascinating watching from 2020 seeing how ahead of her time she was.
And now Elise Ray goes from missing her hands on the vault to missing her foot on beam. Perfect.
Cool skills, though.
Andreea waving to the camera, so another reminder of #justiceforAndreea.
Bogi alert!
I can hear Yang Yun on floor while they show Karpenko on beam. And we get the glance at the clock. I love how she's basically killing time until she can do her dismount.
Two takeaways from beam here: 1.make beam mounts great again 2.make back dive skills great again
YANG YUN! Why is the foot-ography so satisfying? Her twisting is also wonderfully airy.
Donna Straus's face in response to the vault catastrophe is everyone.
Liu Xuan appears to half a penchant for blind landings on vault. Interesting. "Could maybe get a medal, that would be a big upset" you don't know the half of it, Timmy. And, of course, #justiceforAndreea.
And again, we have a focus on Donna Strauss giving the update on whether the Americans will vault again. Peak NBC.
Now we get Lisa Skinner on floor. I always enjoyed this routine.
And now we see them asking Sveta if she wants to vault again. It takes a comically long time for this woman to figure out that she needs a translator.
So we found out Amanar has the nickname "airhead." Fun fact there. Amanar making my point about folk music. Someone get the Careys on the phone. Oh, and now we're finding out Bellu says she isn't talented. More fun facts. But she has a full-in dismount!
Zamolodchikova is another with awkward choreography I prefer for the awkwardness. Oof, that's quite the fall! Definitely will take that over Ray's. "And that's it for her" how many times have we heard that in this broadcast? Also, her tumbling would keep her competitive today.
Rotation 4
We just heard about how Khorkina qualified to every final except beam. Just you wait, Timmy. Man, this was a crazy Olympics.
Ray's Shush out of her middle pass would not be UCLA-approved.
Cool pirouette work from Olaru. Again, experiencing the proud tradition of Romanian Bars. And we have the classic Tim masking his criticisms with "a lot of people say." He is Not Happy about that bars score.
And Karpenko is out with the weirdest fall in this broadcast so far. Cool jump-handspring-jump choreography. And another full-in dismount! This meet has done more to make me curmudgeonly about the state of today's gymnastics than endless gymternet rantings.
Al angry that Skinner isn't pulling out some non-existent fantasy vault. She does her layout and Y half very nicely though.
Classic Amanar DTY. That feels like an oxymoron.
Really cutting down on the number of routines in this final rotation.
JUSTICE FOR ANDREEA! Bring on the Riverdance! Classic college "hot coals on the floor" landing there. "And the Romanians sweep gold-silver-bronze" #justiceforAndreea
Man, Yang Yun was barely over a fall's worth out from first!
I do appreciate that they're showing Elise's competition vault for the equipment malfunction reminder. And as I type that they show her warmup vault for the "What if?" retrospective at the end. Oh, NBC.
And of course, because it wasn't enough for the rotating-door for the winning spot to end with the competition, WADA decided to step in. #justiceforAndreea
Also, it was really ridiculous that they changed the rules for the number of people who could qualify into the final in response to a sweep in THIS final. I feel like that's a great encapsulation of FIG's stupidity.
I might do this some more. The whole 1997-2004 era is one I've rather neglected, so maybe I'll dip into those during my weeks of containment.
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