A
month ago, we experienced the most exciting moment of the previous quad after a
long wait of four years. As it has come to an end, let’s revisit the most
significant Rio moments that will change the sport forever. Maybe this can help
us make sense of the changes drafted in the 2017-2020 CoP.
Vault
 |
Oksana Chusovitina (Photo @ Dailymail) |
Good:
-
2008 Olympic vault Champion Hong Unjong made a first WAG attempt (though
unsuccessful) of the triple twisting Yurchenko
-
Shallon Olsen landed the first ever Canadian Amanar in the Olympics
-
Oksana Chusovitina again shattered her own record of the oldest WAG finalist at
41
-
Wang Yan was the first Chinese gymnast since 2000 to enter the vault finals who
successfully landed both vaults
-
The powerful Guilia Steingruber is the first Swiss medalist in Olympic WAG
- Maria Paseka is the first back-to-back WAG vault
medalist since USSR’s Ludmilla Tourischeva in 1976
- Simone Biles is the first Olympic AA champion since
Lilia Podkopayeva from 1996 to win an Olympic EF
- Biggest margin win (no big mistakes) between gold
and silver in all Olympic WAG vault finals
- Most Amanars (4), Chengs (3) and Produnovas (2)
- Most diversified representation of countries (8
countries)
Bad:
-
Hong Unjong’s Cheng in Rio had a worse form than last year (presumably due to emphasizing
too much on triple twisting Yurchenko?), which was a shame as she had improved
so much during the first 3/4 of the quad
- Most big mistakes (falls or near falls) (4)
Beauty:
-
Shallon Olsen’s Khorkina is the first properly done one since Svetlana Khorkina
in the 2004 AA
-
Wang Yan’s clean glued-together leg form shows the Chinese’s attention to
details
-
Guilia’s DTY was one of the cleanest she had done ever
- Simone Biles told the world what true layout
position is with her Cheng vault
Uneven Bars
 |
Shang Chunsong (Photo @ Toshifumi Kitamura) |
Good:
-
First defending champion (Aliya Mustafina) on bars since 2000 by Svetlana
Khorkina
-
First time a German (Sophie Scheder) medaled on bars since 1988, and also first
time 2 Germans entered bar finals since 1988
-
First time 2 American gymnast entered bar finals since 2004
-
First ever Venezuelan bar finalist (Jessica Lopez)
-
Oldest average age of medalists (19.67) since 1976
-
Gabby Douglas was the first Olympic AA champion after Nadia Comaneci to go for
a second Olympics
Bad:
-
Only 1 Chinese bar finalist since 1996, and no Chinese medaling in the event
since 1980
-
Least diversification of country representation since 2004 (5 countries)
-
Only 1 gymnast performed full handstand pirouettes such as the Ling turn and Bi
turn (Shang Chunsong)
Beauty:
-
All medalists included the Komova II (Clear
pike circle backward through handstand with flight to hang on high bar)
in their routines
-
Sophie Scheder’s long lines magnified every move, and her controlled swings looked
like Mustafina’s; her release with counter movement to high bar, which was
often discarded by others due to dead hand deductions, was surprisingly smooth
-
Jessica Lopez’s gorgeous clear hip circle - Tkatchev – Geinger combination
-
Mustafina’s beautiful details: slow motion floating on Jaegar, crescent
moon-like arched toepoint all the way from Komova II to Pak, and
smooth-as-butter swings (remember that a year ago she could barely pull out a
6.5 difficulty, now she won with a 6.8)
-
Shang Chunsong’s toes pointed all the way through her sky high piked Hindorff
(Shang, F rated) release, usually the ladies flexed their toes to avoid hitting
the bar
Balance Beam
 |
Fan Yilin (Photo @ China News) |
Good:
-
Only 1 fall in the finals (least in 12 years)
-
1st Dutch EF finalist, medalist and champion, and oldest beam
champion since 1960
-
First “pirouetting champion”, as Sanne Wever’s routine highlight was her
difficult pirouettes
-
Also first ever French (Marine Boyer), Brazilian (Flavia Saraiva) and Canadian
(Isabela Onyshko) beam finalists
-
First since 1980 for the champion to perform a non-double somersault dismount,
and also first Gainer dismount performed by the beam champion
-
Bar raised for the difficulty of the acrobatic series in an Olympic finals: Flavia
Saraiva landed 3 acrobatic series (Larisa Iordache attempted 3 in 2012 but only
landed 2) and Isabela Onyshko of Canada landed 2 E/+ series
Bad:
- No 2 Chinese finalists since 1996
- No Russian finalist since forever
- One of the 2 Olympics since 1976 (the other being
2008) with only 1 Romanian finalist
Beauty:
- Huge layouts: Fan Yilin, Marine Boyer
- Beautifully extended leaps: Isabela Onyshko, Fan
Yilin
- The slow-motion beam work: Sanne Wevers, Marine
Boyer, Isabela Onyshko
Floor
Exercise
 |
Vanessa Ferrari (Photo @ AVAX) |
Good:
-
First time USA finished 1-2 on floor
-
First ever floor medal for Great Britain
-
First time Japan and Switzerland had a finalist since 1956 in a non-boycotted
Olympics
-
First time ever for Italy to have 2 finalists in an Olympic WAG EF
-
No out of bounce in the entire competition!
-
High level of performance -- Biggest margin (no big mistakes) between gold and
silver on floor and between gold and bronze among all individual events
Bad:
-
Lack of variety of tumbling passes, as most ladies opted to perform double somersaults
(especially the double double + double layout/Chusovitina together)
-
We saw only 1 triple twist (Wang Yan), and most ladies performed single
difficult tumbles instead of connecting tumbling elements together in a pass
-
We saw only 1 gymnast doing forward tumbling pass (Aly Raisman), whereas in the
past we saw 2/+ gymnasts doing a forward tumbling pass since 1996
-
Amplitude of tumbling seemingly favoured over form
-
Vanessa Ferrari became the first unfortunate non-Olympic medaling gymnast to place
consecutively 4th in the same event in Olympics WAG
-
One of the two rare Olympics when Russia did not enter floor finals (the other
being 2004)
-
First time no individual medal for China since 1988
-
First time Romania no Romanian floor finalist, and no medal of any sort since
1976
Beauty:
Amy
Tinkler’s very confident show-up was a blissful 1.5 minute joy to watch, from
the very relaxed Chusovitina to the nearly stuck double double
-
Aly Raisman finally embraced her version of artistry and added a double turn
with leg held on horizontal to her repertoire. She also cold-stuck 2 F-rated passes – double Arabian pike and
double layout
-
Vanessa Ferrari’s emotional performance to 2 opera selections (madame butterfly,
Nessun Dorma) was the perfect (performance-wise) ending to her 10-year fruitful
career
It
will be an unstopping quad of chasing new stars, following competition after
competition, encountering surprises and disappointments, and bidding farewell
to veterans. As a gymnastics fan, it will be very tough to go through another
four years, but I believe that our love of the sport will find our way to Tokyo.
Written by Valerie Theodora Ko