Russia Fights Back To Win Team Gold

On Thursday they felt embarrassed by a second place standing following a lackluster qualification but by Saturday afternoon the girls were in the driver's seat and dictating the terms of the podium! I'm so proud of them for getting their acts together and hitting 11/12 routines. Yep, thats right, Seda fell again on the same stuff as usual. She redeemed herself on floor with the first 14 she's ever scored internationally, but Melka also proved her worth (in a more substantial way) on her specialty events so I think barring injuries from others, Seda is officially off my list for Rio. Honestly, at this point, I feel fine with leaving her at home; she seems like she needs some time to figure out how to maximize her program while making it work for her and not give her anxiety. Queen Tut is still an awesome gymnast any country would love to have in their arsenal and I'm sure that once the pressure of an Olympic year is over, her vast competitive experience will lead her to an authoritative position on future teams. But despite having the numbers, I don't feel Rio is her time. 


As for Aliya, she has a few weeks to try to increase her stamina and make fx more AA compatible. I'm worried to see her so tired after such a simple routine, but I also know that Aliya maximizes her time in the gym very intelligently so in two months she may be where it takes other people half a year to regain form. I'm tempted to say she needs to stay safe and not tempt injury, but I recall the words of Simone Biles: ''everyone's saying 'stay healthy' and they keep reminding me I have to, but how exactly does one "stay healthy?" I know I come in and train hard but you can't force it upon me...it's not something you can control." I realize that saying Aliya needs to stay healthy is redundant, and frankly, doesn't offer up any clear instructions on how that's supposed to get done. She has A LOT of upgrading to do if she wants to contend for Olympic medals and the risk of injury grows proportional to the difficulty of the skill. We have to trust in her that she's learned how to minimize those risks.

She was phenomenal in TF and really made everyone who turned on her look like a fool for the billionth time (it must be tiring being them). Strong and precise as she is fluid and beautiful, Aliya's beam needs to get her on every podium, such a breath of fresh air it is. Today there was no doubting if anything was amiss on BB. She had an agenda, clearly, to get through this meet in top form. On bars, I thought her inbars looked worse for wear but she's had so many recurring back issues I would be more shocked if she had managed to do them like Komova. Everything else was typical Aliya, and fans should know that according to Starkin this is not her final d-score. What she showed at Nationals (6.1) was only half of what they plan to bring to Rio, he claims. So maybe the 6.5 she had today is about 70% there? She'll need every tenth because one reigning world champion now sits at 7.2 difficulty. Her floor routine is a letdown, artistically. I'm happy the geographic location of the Games did not tempt her to a whistle blowing samba soundtrack, but I confess to being underwhelmed by the musical accompaniment. I guess you could say I can't compromise Aliya's persona with anything that isn't cinematic. I do like the softness of the notes, and it's a very popular Soviet song, but I don't like it for her. I'm going to withhold any opinions on the dancing, or lackthereof, because she wasn't even supposed to do floor this week and her choreography might change as her body is able to handle more cardio. So yeah, it's arm gestures, but it's sublime and she still holds the audience's attention. I hope that Rio sees the best of Aliya's ability because I always felt she put herself into a box, stylistically. Overall, what more can I say about the Tsarina that hasn't already been said? Unless she does something to injure herself tomorrow I care very little about her EF results because I know the Queen has made another successful comeback. Boom. 

Didn't I warn you Melka would storm these finals with a vengeance? Didn't I? She was nervous in quals was all. The rising star of the Russian program appeared so deep in concentration before headlining each event that she often looked worried, but it was a deception because routine after routine scored over 14.0 (*sings "that's my girl"*). Known as a trustworthy performer, her spunkiness served her well on the floor. Her dlo is not as gross as I thought it was in training, it gets good distance even if the height isn't remarkable. Her other three passes begin to look too simple for her, but unless she's already been working on upgrading a few of them, I wouldn't change anything this late. Her turns and leaps are still problematic a year after suffering a hamstring injury, and it's keeping her e-score low even when her tumbling is on point. Her bars are coming along nicely on the other hand. Sure she needs a three week stay at the Aliya clinic to learn what a handstand consists of but her inbars are almost Komova-good and she keeps her form nice and tight throughout the sequences. Good catches, nice height on everything, straight arms, and an accurate dismount- it's a pleasing routine that shouldn't raise a fuss with anyone. Except me lol, because I really dislike that half giant before the dismount; so unnecessary and it highlights her bad handstands. Beam is where she secured her Rio berth, not that I think she was legitimately threatened by anyone else. Her beam is standard, I'll say that much against it, but she has a light touch which lends a flattering air to all her skills. I'm still not confident this girl has a 6.7 beam in her but prove me wrong Melka. 

Melka vaulted a vastly improved DTY along with Afan and Seda. Afan scored the highest and continues to look in good spirits despite competing with a slight injury. Is anyone else wary of the fact that they won't tell us what the injury is? I just assume it's been the same bothersome ankle but perhaps it's some new location and they don't want fans in a righteous panic two months before Rio. Daria reclaimed her status as top bar worker, and seeing as she was the only planned one eventer the team meant to bring to Euros, she needs to be excellent all the time everytime. I don't think her flub in quals lowered her Rio chances; judging by Andrei Rodionenko's statement ("what Daria did on the uneven bars was incomprehensible") he has great esteem for her capabilities on ub and if she manages to amp up the d-score I think they might take her over Komova if she outscores her by a healthy margin consistently. I don't support that (a one eventer over Vika?) but I admit it could happen and not just because Vika is always in a state of calamity. The Rod's really really like Daria, and she IS a consistent bars specialist. Just something to consider.

You know what else was nice about this team final? The French. I really enjoy the development of this program; very mesmerizing floor routines (all better than our girls!) and they're cleaning up on bars as well. It's a shame they're so inconsistent on beam because this is where their elegance shines best, especially Marine and His. They cried and they cried and they whooped for their teammates and cried some more when they realized it was enough for a medal. We get so caught up in the battle for gold we forget how magical any medal is, when you're not jaded with all your past glory.


In conclusion...

Things that suck: Bitter BBC commentators, Seda's career for the rest of 2016

Things that rock: Aliya won her 10th European championship medal, Melka reached 58.732 in AA, all the likely Olympic players hit their routines, Russia won their first team title in six years, Daria is the last 2015 European champion with a chance at defending her individual title, Team France, Catalina Ponor keeping pace, OUR GIRLS: