As the competition closes in let's have a look at the teams trying to challenge the USA.
BRAZIL:
Brazil has been very successful in the past. Jade Barbosa, Daiane dos Santos and Daniele Hypolito have all made their mark in the Pan American games in the past, particularly in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. Unfortunately a bad landing in the vault finals in Tokyo has left Barbosa off the competition floor at these Pan Ams, which is sad as she is a great competitor and the defending vault champion. She will be missed.
Without her Brazil brings to the floor:
Daniele Hypolito
Daiane dos Santos
Bruna Leal
Adrian Gomes
Priscila Cobello
Gabriela Soares
The two veterans: Hypolito and dos Santos have been here before, a couple of times, and know how to hit. They have consistently come back for more across the years and even increased their difficulty--Hypolito threw a double layout on floor in Tokyo keeping themselves in the rankings in the AA (like Hypolito) and in their favorite events (like floor for Dos Santos). At Pan Ams I expect no less of them.
Daniele Hypolito has been in this sport for a long time and she has one great thing in her corner: the girl is consistent! Her difficulty might not be the highest, but she will come in and hit, every time, and for that I give her huugee props. In a world where doing great difficulty so you can still win with a fall, or two, has unfortunately become the norm, I like seeing girls that work on being uber clean on what they can do. Along the years Hypolito has become cleaner and now has even upped her difficulty to make herself just a little more competitive. Although she has medaled on floor in the past, Daniele has no outstanding event, but no weakness either. Her scores tend to be very even across the board, and although some might not see any possibility of her in the medals here, I actually think she can surprise. Johnson and Sloan are not sure if they will compete the AA and Caquato and other (Yes Miss Lopez I am looking at you!) tend to sometimes fall apart under pressure. Hypolito is consistent and I believe she will not be flashy, but she will do her job, she will hit 4/4 at the best of her ability, making her a good call for a bronze in the AA. Watch out for her beam: if she can be a little more fluid, without the long pauses, and hitting her combinations and difficult leaps, she could definitely be in contention here.
I wish her all the best, and as we have heard in the past: Good things happen to hardworking people.
Dos Santos has had a though road. After her breakthrough gold on floor in the 2001 World Championships she entered the spotlight, and did it in style. She has fabulous tumbling, no one goes quite so high, but she has struggled when it counts. In Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 she was very disappointed by her inability to medal, and hearing Diego Hypolito after faltering in the floor finals crying and apologizing to the people of Brazil reminded me of the pressure put on athletes like Diego, and Daiane. It broke my heart. Being from Brazil and having accompanied gymnastics in the country for a long time I have to say that he has nothing to apologize for, Brazil should be apologizing to him. A country that does not support and value their athletes should be ashamed.
Besides the lack of funding and general governmental organization, Brazilian gymnastics have really done great, and gymnasts like the Hypolitos, Zanetti, Sasaki, Daiane, Barbosa and the new generation should be proud of themselves.
This rambling about politics aside, Daiane has struggled with being banned for using diuretics awhile back, but she managed to stay with it and she is looking good. If she can put it together she can take the gold on floor. The best of luck to her.
Aside from the well known starts, Brazil has a good balanced team in the girls side.Their best event I would say is floor, which is unfortunately as it is a low scoring event. They are usually good vaulters, but without Barbosa their scoring potential drops considerably. Bars is definitely a weakness, but Bruna Leal is extremely elegant and really shines in this apparatus. Here is where her contribution will be valuable for team Brazil.
And Adrian Gomes is a powerful vaulter with a unique style. If they can come in and go clean, they can medal in the team final and do very well for themselves individually. I would love to see Gomes take a medal at the vault final, but she will have to contend with some experienced gymnasts from Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Gabriela Soares comes to replace Barbosa and she is quite a stylish gymnast. She has been doing her floor to the same music as Weiber, but she could use a bit more energy to her dance, however her tumbling is clean and I like the toes and the knees, all nice and straight. The choreo is also not helping her, it is a subpar choreo for a above average--when it comes to artistry--gymnast, so it is sad to see, I am sure she can do more. Give her more!
From a Brazilian girl that knows her fashion, Brazil needs to remember when it comes to leos less is more. The neon cut out geometric pattern disasters they have shown the last couple of years need to go. This year in Tokyo, and at the International Meeting they showed some nice ones, let's keep it up ladies.
No comments:
Post a Comment