Rio 2016: Even Finals Day 2 and 3

I wrote a nice post about the last two days of finals, but somehow it disappeared into thin air. So let's try again, I needed to rewatch the finals anyway. Aliya, Oleg and Aleksandrov behind the beam kept distracting me from what was happening on the beam.

Balance Beam

The competition began with the mean commentator reminding me that Deng Linlin and Sui Lu existed. I miss them so much. Why would she do that? Never mind, I think she might have been trying to prepare me for the first contestant, Fan Yilin breaking my heart with multiple wobbles. No revenge medal for her. I love the leo though, surprising colors for Team China. And that just made me remember Deng Linlin's weird neon pink leo and miss her again. Ugh.

I don't have much to say about Isabela, I have no strong feelings about her, just 'meh'. Although I'm impressed at how confident she has become.

I think this is the most human we have seen Simone in a big competition since the Antwerp beam finals in 2013. A big mistake and multiple insecure wobbles after it. She looked frustrated, but not too upset, she has 4 gold medals comforting her.

Sanne did a gorgeous beam routine in a gorgeous leo that she apparently designed herself, while Lieke sat right behind Aliya nervously rooting for her sister. The routine shamelessly takes advantage of the code, but at least it's something different, and it's not like she's the only gymnast to do that, .

Cata was not on and she hasn't been on in a long time. She's close to perfect in the smaller meets, but I think she has been nervous and shaky in most of the big competitions ever since her first return years ago. And blaming Lari very publicly for her performance in an individual final is just really illogical, immature and mean. Grow up. I have no trouble believing that Lari has her part in the Romanian behind-the-scenes drama, but at least she has never blames Cata for her personal failures publicly.

I don't know what kind of magic Marta does with her team, but Laurie hit her routine perfectly like she's hit all of her routines throughout the Olympics. I find her arm movements after finishing elements a bit weird. If I didn't know she does them with every routine, I'd think that they mean balance checks. It's also weird that the only thing the US girls are really bad at is double pikes, but whatever, that was an incredibly confident routine. Even when she wasn't completely in balance, she hid it really well with minimal corrections. It's amazing from a 16-year-old in an Olympic final.

Marine had a chance to sneak into the medals with Simone's mistake, but she's just not quite as polished as the rest of the girls in the final, and had that one big wobble. She's still rather pretty to watch, and the layout at least is very beautiful. She could also teach the US girls and thing or two about double pikes. And she's also only 16, her first year as a senior. Two medals at the Europeans and an Olympic final, what a great start to her career.

I was really rooting for Flavinha, but I had a bad feeling about this ever since she pulled out of the AA finals to concentrate on the balance beam final. I just feel like that made the pressure to hit even higher. And it's not like she was a medal contender in the AA (actually, she could have been with the day everyone else had), but I feel like if she competed in the AA, this beam routine would have just been one among many routines, instead of THE routine. If that makes any sense. That was an amazing save though, and she was so confident for the rest of that routine. I just love her style and how she doesn't hesitate before skills, so rare. I was hoping that Brazil would get their gymnasts leos that fit them in honor of the Olympics, but no.

So in conclusion, the beam final was an average beam final: two people were great and the bronze was given to whoever out of the remaining contestants sucked the least.

Floor Exercise

How embarrassing is it that there were no Russians at this final? Beam was acceptable because they actually had 3 gymnasts capable of winning medals on it, they just had a meltdown during the qualification. Floor is unacceptable because they just had no routines worthy of the final. They're supposed to be one of the best gymnastics powers in the world, won team silver, but can't produce one internationally competitive floor routine? Fix it, please.

Mai is actually such a ray of sunshine that she's almost Flavia-level in lumen. And that tumbling, amazing difficulty with great execution. She and Sae are out of this world when they hit. If only they hit more often...

I was pretty appalled at Wang Yan's floor during qualifications, she was tripping over her feet during her choreography parts and showed pretty much a compete lack of musicality, but her performance in the final was so much better. She's not the best performer, or that musical, but at least she's trying and this is not any worse than an average floor routine. And the control she has with her tumbling is so impressive, especially for someone so young. And one of the most inconsistent gymnasts in China actually hit all of her routines in Rio, I'm so proud of her.

Erika really wasn't at her best, she looked a bit tired and had low landings on everything, but I like her routine.

I can't say the same about Amy. I hated this music for Alla and I hate it for her. But she does the best she can with it, it really looks like she's giving it her everything and enjoying performing for the live crowd. Hit routine in every way. And a great preparation for the energetic Simone-show that followed her.

All I can say about Simone is that HOW DOES SHE DO THAT? I mean, she must have springs for legs or something. Or maybe they switch the floor to a trampoline for her. There's no one even close to being able to do what she does, and she actually makes it look like she's just happily bouncing around her living room. They should give her two gold medals for that routine. I can't tell you how much I hate those yelps in her floor music though.

Giulia really took me off the Simone floor high with her falls and defeated appearance during and after her routine. Not a good day for her, but at least she got that vault medal she deserved. I have always though of Giulia as an inconsistent Aly Raisman. They really are the same gymnast in many ways, especially on floor, but not today.

I don't think this was Aly's best day either, she looked tired throughout her performance, but it didn't stop her from hitting her tumbling (that landing on her double layout!) and giving the rest all she had left. I can't believe she has her most difficult and tasking bit of choreography right before her last tumbling pass, but the Brestyan leg conditioning just doesn't fail. It could take all of the Raismanars, and it could take that last double pike. Congrats Aly, a well-earned silver and a well-earned nap too!

Vany's music made me roll my eyes so hard I had trouble actually seeing her routine. But it didn't really matter, because what I did see was that her choreography and performance really didn't match the music. Nor did her messy as always execution. Which oddly made me like it more... If the choreography and performance was as cheesy as the music, I could have lost my eyes completely. But even that would have been fine, because her tears afterwards were heartbreaking. Like Aliya, she has struggled with injuries all quad, but made it to the Olympics to try to avenge that unfortunate tie-break. And it was the very last landing that did it.

What a nice final. Everyone except Giulia had more or less good performances, even if many of them were left disappointed anyway. But that's the name of the game.