Sunday, August 10, 2008

Australia: Preliminary Round Part 2

Rotation 3 - Bars

Come on, ladies! See it through to the end! Honestly, my heart's going to be in my throat when they go to beam. Germany have already had a hard time of it.
This is Olivia's chance to prove why she's on this team as an event specialist; this could be her only performance. It could, on the other hand, be the performance that spurs the team onto a finals slot.



7: 54 Shona scores a 14.500 (wow, we are getting some sucker punches today)



7:55 Georgia 14.500. Hmm... once again the Waverley girls are scored identically. Something's going on here!

8:00 Ashleigh 13. 700 with a .3 deduction. Uh-oh...

8:01 Olivia 14.925, great effort! Apparently she hit her dismount really well.

8:02 Russia are getting good beam scores, this is getting stressful. Come on Dasha, hit the Comaneci and the dismount, just like in the Test Event bars final!

8:04 Dasha gets a 15.125! What redemption!


Rotation 4 - Beam

*Mez chews madly on fingernails*

Let's see if Lauren (and Ash!) can perform well enough for an event finals placing; let's also see if Dasha can hold on for a top 24 all-around placing as well.

8:14 Woah! A 15.350 for Shona, what an awesome score! What a boost for the team! Oh, I so hope this makes the broadcast. This girl really knows how to hit a beam routine when it counts.

8:18 And it gets better! 15.025 for Georgia! Keep it going, girls, this is a great improvement. John Hart will be so proud.

8:21 Ashleigh 14.150, must've been an unsteady effort. Execution scores in the high 7's, low 8's. (ETA she fell)

8:25 Lauren gets a 14.10! Oh dear. Oh dear. Team finals spot looking VERY dire.

8:28 Dasha gets a 12.475. I don't think any member of this team will be a finallist. In anything.


*goes to have a little cry*

You tried, girls, you tried. See on telly in a little while.


*comes back from having a little cry*

Ok. So. The team IS through to the final, with the only remaining full teams being France and Brazil. We can't get bumped out of the 8. Shona and Georgia are placed competently for AA qualification spots (didn't see that coming!) but Dasha's sitting in 44th. I'm so sad for her. This was HER time, after the disappointments of missing the CWG team and flubbing Worlds last year. She's got one more hance to impress the world so I hope she and the others bounce back for a strong performance in the final and wow everybody, putting all this behind them. There is, after all, a World Championships in the coming year.


ETA: Thus far, Lauren is first reserve for floor, Shona is first reserve for beam and Dasha is second reserve for bars.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

australia makes team finals :)

Anonymous said...

but still sad joura and mitchell and brennan in no finals. hopefully morgan iwll make AA.

so sad :( but i guess all the media focused on brennan mitchell and joura and probably added more pressure on them.

Anonymous said...

Dude, we only needed a 56.3 to make team finals! :P So this has been a very interesting subdivision. What I doubted would happen did, and everything I knew would happen didn't. Let's go and curl up in a ball now, and come out when team finals come around.

Anonymous said...

Yup, we have no probs. Right now we're in 5th, worst we can do is 7th and that's ONLY if both Brazil & France hit (which I doubt). It's GBR & ITA that are sitting in the precarious 7th & 8th spots right now.

Bec

P.S WELL DONE GIRLS!!! :) Dasha has a chance to redeem herself in team finals. So sad that we won't see her past that event, but thrilled for Georgia & Shona who look like they'll make AA finals.

(Before 4th session they're in adjusted AA rankings 10th & 12th (taking 2 per country limit into account).

Anonymous said...

I am devastated for Dasha, making no individual finals.

Bonora and Morgan should make the AA.

The team overall did well. There is def room for improvement on BB, FX and to an extent bars. Shona didn't do the DTY:(

Anonymous said...

WTF, seriously. I'm sorry if I sounds harsh but these girls are elite athletes. They simply did not perform anywhere close to that. Shona Georgia and Olivia are the exemptions.

The 3 "stars" of the team chocked big time. In a strange way I hope Dasha is injured , that is the only way I can except a 13 and 12 scores. I had so much hope for her.

Well done to the Waverly girls, way to represent. Can you believe that Georgia has made AA final over Dasha, Lauren and Ash? Even with Shona going first up on every apparatus she was able toi hold her own. I think she was much more than just the starter girl who is known as a rock. She is definitely Australia's second best AA. Lauren and Ash are just way too headcasey.

Strange that Georgia and Oliva were the weakest links on the team and yet they performed so well under pressure. Makes you think.

Waverly has definitely the WAIS....I never thought I'ld say that.

Sorry if I sound so harsh on Dasha, I just feel so bad for her right now. Can you imagine how devestated shemust be? :( BOUNCE BACK IN 2012!!!

Anonymous said...

Girls tried hard and it was a better effort then Worlds 07, Athens AND Sydney so we are steadily improving.
Hope Dasha hangs around till London so she has a chance at redemption plus she'd make a great leader helping our next group with less pressure in her 2nd Olympics.

Sidenote- on 'leo watch' and so far in my opinion I think we had some of the nicest ones out there. Romania nothing special, I did like China's but the USA...(see added photo here- http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/82237714.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19368FFB0B613D6DEB0FD010120CE44DD5FA7CFF610D5B4FC25). I'd have to say even though they have done the 'athletic leo' to death I would prefer it to these. Thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Daria has an ankle injury and will probably not compete team finals.

There is a terrible photo of her in tears being consoled by everyone on Foxsports/Herald Sun. Martine also looks considerably choked up.

Do you think if one was to send a card to WAIS it would get to her in the end?

I feel so awful that her olympics are over from such cruel circumstances.

Anonymous said...

go shona.....i reckon she could get a top ten finish in the AA....

Anonymous said...

joura hurt ankle a week ago lucky to compete shona brillant from beijing