Grace Taylor - 2005 Friendship Classic Beam
(This is the meet that Tatiana Nabieva competed at when she was TEN!)
In the midst of all the VISA’s hype, believe it or not I actually managed to watch a non-USA gymnast do some gymnastics! Here’s one of my favorite Ukrainians Yana Demyanchuk on beam at the recent Universiade meet. I first saw Yana at the 2009 WOGA Classic when she was just a teeny little thing, along with Nataliya Kononenko and Yevheniya Cherniy (who then had Jordyn Wieber’s new fx music…so THERE, John Geddert, Mr. “I’ve Never Heard This Music Before!”). OK anyways….this is a pretty awesome routine! Hope you enjoy!
A montage of awesome beam mounts!
I’d just like to point out that Katelyn Ohashi is ELEVEN in this video. Ridiculous!!!! I will admit I did LOL a little bit at the super awkward wolf turn. But then she busted out an awesome routine full of tricks, so, jokes on me! PS. Love the mount!
(It’s from the 2008 Christmas Classic)
Here is adorable Norah Flatley, a Level 9 from Chow’s, on beam tonight in the Event Finals. Last year we saw her at this same meet, except with Salto gymnastics. (I heard the coach retired and so she moved to Chow’s. At any rate, this is a great move as Chow’s is fast becoming a wonderful gym for up and comers!) She is so pretty to watch on this event with beautiful form and generally pretty solid! Lots of talent here, we definitely need to keep an eye on this little one! We didn’t see her in qualifications as we missed the morning session she was in, but I saw her bars last year which was beautiful as well as last year’s beam, which she got a 9.85 on! (See it HERE)
Sarah Hamilton, a Level 9 from M&M, on beam during the Event Finals today. She won her age division with this pretty routine!
Here’s Natalie Boelter, a Level 9 from Swiss Turners, on beam from the qualifiers. I like the unique choreography she has, especially the bridge to kickover! Definitely one to keep an eye on, she also had a very nice floor routine! Her teammate Nadia Cho also had an awesome beam routine, unfortunately she fell twice but you can just see all the potential there!
WOW.
Here’s Gabriela Dragoi on beam at the 2009 Romanian International. A very nice, steady routine. I really like her turns combination and the aerial-side somi connection!
This routine caught my eye while I was watching the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It’s India’s Dipa Karmakar on beam. Now, this is by no means the best routine ever done, but I really admire her for being so ambitious in this routine! She started off with a really great back handspring-layout, showing some good difficulty, and followed it up with a solid switch leap-back tuck combination. I was impressed! After all, some of their gymnasts don’t have the most difficulty or best execution, but you’ve gotta respect them, they went out in front of their home fans and did their best! Dipa came off the beam on her punch front tuck, but then nailed one from almost standing, which was impressive. Nice wolf full, and a gainer layout off the end to finish. This is a great foundation that I hope she will build on for future routines!
Here’s another one of the routines from the OU-TWU meet that I was really impressed by. It’s freshman Madison Mooring on beam! Madison just joined the team in December after graduating high school early (she did a good interview with us HERE explaining a little more about that decision) and I think she’s transitioned beautifully! Her performances were confident, calm, and steady, a great trait for NCAA gym! Madison can tumble on that beam, in warmup I watched her from the end of the beam and it’s a cool angle, it’s easy to tell if the gymnast’s are off at all, but she looked great! Especially loved the stick, such a great way to put an exclamation mark on the routine! Keep an eye on her to break into the AA later in the season, she told us she hopes to start training bars again soon.
Another routine from the OU-TWU meet on Sunday - Sara Stone’s exhibition on beam. There is an awful lot of flicky wrists going on in this routine but the rest of the content makes it a great routine! Steady bhs-bhs-layout, and a very huge/awesome back handspring swingdown that was almost more of a back tuck, that’s how huge her set was! Loved it, added some cool flair to the routine. And a terrific stuck double twist to finish! I’d put this routine in the lineup if it was my team, but then again, I don’t know who you would swap her for, because the whole lineup is very strong! Sara got a 9.9 for this routine, well deserved I think!
