Gummy Bears and Gymnastics: Event Finals warmup series - Tokyo 2011 - PART 2

2. BARS: the Uneven Bars can be a thrilling final, and with the world champion out, it is up to the rookies.

Komova:If Vika is going to get back on top, this is her best chance. However she is going to have to put the last couple of days behind her and come with fire in her belly. She needs to be determined and aggressive and give all she has. I feel for her and I am concerned the AA final was the last blow to an already difficult 1st World Championships. Unfortunately, Vika does not seem to be as mentally tough as Russians of old and I am worried.
Bars has been her most consistent event in this championships and she needs to channel some Khorkina 2000 energy and go get it. I do not love this routine, as many I think the composition is odd, but right now is what she has and she needs to pull it together.
Difficulty: 6.7

Youna Dufournet: It is so great to see her back and challenging for the gold. Youna has the same difficulty as Komova and has a real chance to upset the favorite. Dufournet has been through a lot with injuries and disappointments, but she is here and has the Def. If she can hit this big skill, have clean handstands and hopefully a stick, she can take it home. She had only a 8.366 E score on prelims so she needs to raise that to have a chance at the gold.
Difficulty: 6.7

P.S.: DON'T TOUCH HER AFTER SHE HITS THE DEF! (yes coach I am looking at you!)

Koko Tsurumi: Love this little gymnast. I am ruling for her, she is so good and so polished and needs to put it together for herself now. She did such a great job in prelims (where I thought her E score was rather low for what she did - 8.533), but faltered twice after that and I really would love if she could hit this time. Clearly she has problems with pressure and being at home is not helping her out.
Difficulty: 6.4

Huang Qiushuang: I have been a little confused by how the judges are scoring the Chinese in this competition. Are they back to the bent arms on kips debacle? I think is just not appreciating how good they can be in this apparatus. That aside, the Chinese team has struggled on bars, and on her prelims routine Huang had some problems too, although more subtle then her TF disaster. She has a soft back in many of her handstands on the top bar and her transition from low to high is a problem. But she is capable of a great routine and has the same difficulty as the top two qualifiers. The 8.2 E score she qualified with is really holding her back. She needs to give a stronger performance all around. Hold those handstands without wavering, have no form breaks on her one hand turns, and STICK THE LANDING. I think she is running out of chances to prove herself valuable for this team. Yes the Chinese are usually very encouraging and supporting and will forgive meltdowns, but I would like to believe there is a limit for that, and this might be it for Huang.

Tatiana Nabieva: Although Nabieva did a clean job in qualification (I found it much better than last year), she did not throw her big skill (the toe-on layout Tkachev). Without it her difficulty is 6.4, with it and a clean routine she can definitely challenge for the podium or even the top spot. Like Huang she has soft back in handstands sometimes and tends to have difficulty in the low bar. She needs to go for broke and hit big, but she is definitely capable of it. Don't count her out.

Gabby Douglas: Standing with the same difficulty as Nabieva is Douglas. Although she was at times scary at Nationals, she has really come through for team USA. Her Tkachev is quite something and she has been clean here. If she can hit her dismount combination and some people above her falter she can be in the podium. All she can do is a super clean routine and hope for the best.

The last two qualifiers have the same start value 6.3. Wieber and Asuka Teramoto are not out of it, but they do need some people to falter and they need to be perfect. Weiber will probably want to redeem herself after the AA and Teramoto wants to do a good job in front of the home crowd. Good luck girls!