Tokyo 2020 is over…and what a whirlwind it was! The gymnasts did a spectacular job. Host Japan did a spectacular job. And the whole thing went off with fewer glitches than we could have imagined for an Olympic Games conducted during a pandemic!

These Olympic Games seemed to have so many more ups and downs than usual. Well, OK, nothing beats Sydney 2000 in that regard, but here’s a recap of some of the most memorable events.

The sportsmanship this time around was at a whole new level. Without the loud crowds, we could hear so many more words of encouragement from the sidelines. It was thrilling to see gymnasts from all different countries cheering for each other and taking selfies with one another. Thanks to social media, it seems like the gymnasts actually know each other. In bygone eras, even teammates who trained at different gyms in the same country didn’t even seem to know each other.

Liu Yang’s head roll to neck crack on rings had ME cracked up!

Simone Biles went through so much during these Olympics, and she showed us what a queen she really is. We learned a lot about mental health and how it can affect us physically. Simone remained brave and poised under such immense pressure.

Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum and Jordan Chiles should be proud of the way they pulled together to earn that silver medal! Grace was steady the whole time and proved she earned that spot on the team.

Gymnastics went ahead without any positive COVID-19 cases amongst the competing athletes!

It’s so upsetting that COVID-19 caused Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong and Naomi Visser not to have the Olympic experience they had worked so hard for. I hope Kara and Leanne have a super fun time in the NCAA, and that Naomi makes the next Worlds team.

Rebeca Andrade’s Cheng vault. Just wow!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a block and a delayed twist quite like that. So glad it is finally her time to shine!

Similarly, it was awesome seeing Lee Chih Kai perform his amazing pommel horse routine to earn a silver medal for Chinese Taipei. (I was secretly hoping it would be gold!) Hopefully next time Rhys McClenaghan will also bring home some hardware.

What’s with Oksana Chusovitina being invited to hold the coveted position of flag bearer, only to deny her when she showed up for the Opening Ceremony?! She deserves a proper explanation at the very least. She also deserves the standing ovation she received after completing vault in her 8th Olympics! No finals this time around, but she must be very proud of all her accomplishments.

The Russian WAG athletes finally won team gold! So well deserved. Many of their skills are just utter perfection. I hope Vladislava Urazova and Viktoria Listunova win some individual medals at the upcoming Worlds. And the MAG team stood atop the podium too! Who would have thought that all their legs would hold up so well?!

The Athlete Moment cameras were like virtual hugs from family and friends at home. It must have been so hard for young athletes to be at the Olympics without family, and even harder for parents to have to stay home!

Sunisa Lee, Rebeca Andrade, Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova made the AA finals so exciting to watch! What a wonderful podium. They all looked happy and displayed wonderful sportsmanship. It’s great seeing such a diverse group of medal winners!

Finally! Danusia Francis officially becomes an Olympian with a couple of toe-ons for a 9.033 E score!

Happy for Vanessa Ferrari, who won the floor silver after finishing in 4th place two Olympics in a row. She displayed a magnificent combination of tumbling and dance. She’s the whole package! Jade Carey’s tumbling was spectacular (…that Moors: WOW!). Her dance and music did go together and I do enjoy watching her routine, but there was a notable lack of artistry. She showed how mentally strong she is by coming back strong after the vaulting disaster the day before.

Thumbs down to the people attacking Vanessa online for the racist comments of SOMEONE ELSE!

It’s always fun to watch Rayderley Zapata and his fantastic tumbling (and sky-high hurdles!). I wish ties were not broken at the Olympics as it’s really not fair. Zapata deserved to share the gold with Artem Dolgopyat. Murakami Mai and Angelina Melnikova were super lucky to have received the same E- and D-scores on floor in order to both stay in bronze.

What possessed British Gymnastics to give trainer credentials to their alternate gymnasts so they could train in the Olympic gym?! They are lucky not to have received more severe consequences.

I just wanted Larisa Iordache to have a great Olympics and maybe even win a beam medal. How sad to have to withdraw minutes before the competition, after all that she’s been through.

For a minute there, it looked like first reserve and FIG apparatus qualifier Ashikawa Urara would not quite make it into the beam final. Everyone was on tenterhooks waiting to see if Ellie Black, Flavia Saraiva, Larisa Iordache and Simone Biles would be able to compete. Side note: it was SO hard seeing Ellie just miss out on a medal after doing a stellar routine on an injured ankle.

The parallel bars medallists seemed to be the most elated of all. It’s so exciting to see the silver and bronze medallists so thrilled with their results. What a special moment when Zou Jingyuan and Ferhat Arican hugged after descending the medal podium.

Unfortunately, China’s WAG had a rough go of it. During the selection procedures it looked like they had an embarrassment of riches, but that didn’t translate into Olympic medals until the very last day when Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing clinched the gold and silver on beam. Tang’s routine was exquisite, and I loved Guan’s disco roll!

MyKayla Skinner was on an emotional roller coaster leading up to the vault final. Imagine planning to fly home early when you are a reserve athlete and had the 4th highest score in qualifications!

Artur Dalaloyan’s recently ruptured Achilles held up and he managed 6th AA! We also found out about Nikita Nagornyy’s kidney stones once the competition was over. These two sure were tenacious!

What a nice moment seeing AA champ Hashimoto Daiki place his high bar gold around Uchimura Kohei’s neck. He had promised to do that after qualifications if he were to win the high bar title. So much respect between teammates.

Gymnastics fans missed the many gymnasts who, for a variety of reasons, were not at these Olympics…Chen Yile, Lorette Charpy, Becky & Ellie Downie, Liu Tingting, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Morgan Hurd, Teramoto Asuka, Ana Padurariu, Shirai Kenzo, Zhang Boheng, and many, many more.

The stadium used for gymnastics was beautiful and the wooden seats made for a calming atmosphere. The organizing committees, workers and volunteers in Japan are to be commended for their amazing work in difficult times!

What were your most memorable moments?

Things are getting exciting with the 2016 Olympic Games just around the corner! Most countries are in the process of selecting their representatives. The Japanese men always seem to be the first squad announced, and their team is stacked: Kohei Uchimura, Ryohei Kato, Yusuke Tanaka, Koji Yamamuro and Kenzo Shirai. Wow. I would love to see this team stand atop the team medal podium as they did 12 years ago.

Five gymnasts on a team is certainly not enough, especially for the men who have 6 events to cover. It will be interesting to see if there is room on teams for specialists such as Louis Smith (GBR) and Ashton Locklear (USA). Both gymnasts could win medals on their respective events, pommel horse and uneven bars, but if they are to be selected then only 4 spots remain to cover the rest of the events. Some teams, such as the U.S. men, stack their weakest event (pommel horse) the best they can. On the other hand, the Belgians chose a women’s team which bolsters their strength: the uneven bars.

Louis Smith (GBR), 2016 British Championships, PH AA

Ashton Locklear (USA), 2016 Pacific Rim Championships, UB TF/AA

I was happy to see Chris Brooks (USA) named to the Olympic team. Going 24-for-24 across nationals and trials is no mean feat, and his consistency deserved to be rewarded. I feel bad for Danell Leyva and Donnell Whittenburg, who didn’t quite show the best versions of themselves. It’s interesting that the selection committee chose to leave behind the only two guys who won medals at last year’s Worlds!

Chris Brooks (USA), 2016 P&G Championships, HB Day 2

The FIG really dropped the ball (…or should I say missed their hands on the vault?!) by not giving a nominative spot to Larisa Iordache when she won bronze AA at the 2015 Worlds. Why should apparatus medalists receive a spot but not AA medalists? Even if you don’t expect such a scenario to play out where an AA medalist comes from a team that is not in the top 12, couldn’t that provision still be part of the rules? And it wasn’t totally far-fetched anyway. It could have happened to Guilia Steingruber (SUI) and very nearly did happen to Manrique Larduet (CUB)….

Iordache and Catalina Ponor (ROM) both deserve to be in Rio and it’s heartbreaking that there is only room for one. My sentimental favourite is Iordache. She carried a declining team the entire quad, and did so with awesome gymnastics and a delightful personality. Ill-timed injuries have forced her into this predicament. I do think that at this very moment, though, Ponor is the most deserving of this spot and the most likely to win a beam and/or floor medal. And we all know how rock-solid she is in competition!

Catalina Ponor (ROU), 2016 European Championships, BB TF

I was thrilled when the Canadian ladies exceeded expectations and finished in 5th place at the London Olympics. I think they can do it again! Ellie Black and Brittany Rogers are on the team again, and they will be joined by Isabela Onyshko, Shallon Olsen and Rose-Kaying Woo this time around. Scott Morgan will represent Canada on the men’s side.

I love the way Belgium announced its Olympic team!

I haven’t posted lately because I’ve been busy with my little daughter who was born last summer. I’ve still kept up with the world of gymnastics, though, and while there are some exciting things that have happened during the past months, artistic gymnastics seems to be going through a bit of a dry patch, particularly on the women’s side. Gone are the days when 10 or 15 gymnasts were legitimate contenders for all around medals. Simone Biles and Kohei Uchimura are dominating right now, as they deserve to, and they appear set to continue their trends of defending their crowns in upcoming competitions. The men’s side is a lot more exciting with all the apparatus specialists, but if the FIG reduces teams to 4 members then we can say goodbye to a lot of that excitement too.

Here are some bright patches I’ve come across lately:

The mother-daughter duo of Natalia Laschenova and Sasha Tsikhanovich performed floor routines with matching choreography 26 years apart. I love it! That 1989 Soviet team is one of my all-time faves, and it’s wonderful to see Tsikhanovich’s tribute to her mother.

Natalia Laschenova (URS), 1989 World Championships, Floor Exercise, All Around

Sasha Tsikhanovich, University of Bridgeport, 2015 Floor Exercise

Kenzo Shirai, Japan’s twisting machine, was criticized in the past for winning floor titles without showing any double saltos. Well, he has been working on several new tumbling passes, including a triple twisting double layout and a whip immediate triple-double. Wow! Oh, and he also throws a front full punch front 3.5 and a whip immediate quadruple twist….

Kenzo Shirai (JPN), training

Romania looks to be back in the running for Rio with the comeback announcements of Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa, and with Larisa Iordache looking great on all events. This team is more and more stylish all the time. Never count Romania out!

Larisa Iordache (ROU), 2014 Glasgow World Cup, Uneven Bars

Catalina Ponor (ROU), 2012 European Championships, Balance Beam, Qualifications

Sandra Izbasa (ROU), 2012 Olympic Games, Floor Exercise, Team Final

Diana Bulimar (ROU), 2012 Olympic Games, Floor Exercise, Team Final

Andreas Bretschneider (GER) has mastered the double twisting Kovacs on high bar! Here he is performing it in his home country. The sky’s the limit!

Andreas Bretschneider (GER), 2014 DTB Cup, High Bar

And finally, a shout out to one of the most underrated gymnasts of this era: Jessica Lopez (VEN)!

Jessica Lopez (VEN), 2014 World Championships, Uneven Bars

Jessica Lopez (VEN), 2014 Glasgow World Cup, Floor Exercise

Did anyone else think the “Aging Beauty” headline on her International GYMNAST cover was a tad bizarre? I mean, she hardly looks like she’s “aging.” She may be 29, but you’d never guess it looking at her gymnastics, and she appears more physically fit than some gymnasts half her age! Oh well…at least the cover also said she “has never looked better.”

What other cool stuff has caught your eye lately?

Men’s Vault

1. Yang Hak Seon (KOR) claimed the world title with a booming handspring triple-twisting front now named the Yang, and a Tsukahara triple-twist. I don’t know how he manages to twist so quickly!

2. Steven Legendre (USA) vaulted a superb Dragulescu with just a bit of a low landing that required a small hop to the side. He looked happy with his second vault, a high Tsukahara double pike with a step back.

3. Kristian Thomas (GBR) stuck his first vault, a Yurchenko double pike, and showed the fantastic form he is known for on this event (E=9.500, the highest of the final). Next he vaulted a tucked double front with just a hop backward.

Rounding out the Top 8: Kenzo Shirai (JPN), Sergio Sasaki Junior (BRA), Diego Hypolito (BRA), Marius Berbecar (ROU) and Oleg Verniaiev (UKR).

Balance Beam

1. Aliya Mustafina (RUS) pulled it all together when it counted most, earning the gold medal on beam with a beautiful routine that included a switch split half to immediate Onodi. It was nice to see her supporting her younger teammate, Anna Rodionova, who is so elegant on the beam but unfortunately fell on her ff, Arabian.

2. Kyla Ross (USA) was spot on, and displayed beautiful lines on all elements. I enjoyed seeing her aerial front-sheep jump combination. After filing an inquiry, her score was raised to 14.833, just short of Mustafina.

3. Simone Biles (USA) also filed an inquiry following her beam routine and saw her score increase just enough to surpass Vanessa Ferrari (ITA). Love her full-in dismount. It reminds me of the old days. This is her routine from podium training:

Rounding out the Top 8: Vanessa Ferrari (ITA), Carlotta Ferlito (ITA), Shang Chunsong (CHN), Larisa Iordache (ROU) and Rodionova. Unfortunately many of the best beam workers ended up at the bottom of the pile, but that’s often the way the cookie crumbles on beam.

Parallel Bars

1. Lin Chaopan (CHN) & Kohei Uchimura (JPN) competed early on in the 9-man final, and boy did they impress! Lin was first up, and he and teammate You scrambled to chalk the rails after presenting themselves to the judges. His routine included the exciting Bhavsar and a nailed double pike dismount. Uchimura, not to be outdone, swung a nice giant to double pike and also stuck the same dismount (with a little arm swing!). The two gymnasts ended up atop the medal podium, each with 15.666 (D=6.700, E=8.966).

3. John Orozco (USA), returning from a knee injury, did a great set complete with tucked and piked double backs and a large Tippelt for the bronze medal. A door opened for Orozco, as his performance came on the heels of some disappointing routines by Vasileios Tsolakidis (GRE), Anton Fokin (UZB) and Brandon Wynn (USA).

Rounding out the Top 9: You Hao (CHN) with his smooth movements and fabulous double front-half out dismount, Epke Zonderland (NED), Marius Berbecar (ROU), Wynn, Tsolakidis and Fokin.

Women’s Floor Exercise

1. Simone Biles (USA) shone on floor as she executed her energetic choreography and trademark tumbling: tucked double-double followed by the Biles. Despite some hops on landings, she won in convincing fashion: 0.367 over the nearest competitor!

2. Vanessa Ferrari (ITA) flipped her way to silver with a tucked double double, a full-in to back tuck, a double tuck and a double pike. All landings were stuck except for a little hop forward on the first pass.

3. Larisa Iordache (ROU) commanded everyone’s attention and delivered such a spunky routine with tricky elements. I think everyone in the arena was disappointed when a 14.600 was flashed on the scoreboard. It did hold up, however, and Iordache found herself wearing the bronze medal around her neck. I was hoping she would win, because we haven’t seen this kind of artistry and enthusiasm in a long time. She is quickly becoming one of my favourites!

Rounding out the Top 8: Mai Murakami (JPN), Giulia Steingruber (SUI), Kyla Ross (USA), Sandra Izbasa (ROU), Ellie Black (CAN). I hardly recognized Izbasa with all that makeup(!), but I’ll really miss her once she retires. It’s too bad she fell at the end of her routine, but she got up with a smile. Her attitude is second to none, and she always shows such great sportsmanship. Murakami (quadruple turn) and Black (2.5-twist through to triple twist!) showed amazing tumbling and will hopefully finish on the podium in the near future.

High Bar

1. Epke Zonderland (NED) repeated his Olympic win in Antwerp with his usual amazing combinations. His 7.7 D score had him starting 1.3 ahead of Ryohei Kato (JPN), who of course had the misfortune of having to perform directly after the Flying Dutchman. While I do love seeing his extraordinary release moves, I do think his E score is a tad too high compared to gymnasts like Jossimar Calvo Moreno (COL) and Andreas Bretschneider (GER), who each scored lower.

2. Fabian Hambüchen (GER) seems like such a nice guy. I always see him in the background congratulating Uchimura on his All Around wins, and at the London Olympics and today in Antwerp he took the time to congratulate Zonderland on his win. Hambüchen looked thrilled after nailing his laidout double double dismount.

3. Kohei Uchimura (JPN) was flawless except for a hesitation in handstand following his Takamoto full. Through his 15 routines of these Championships he made nary a mistake and he came away with 4 medals, just like Simone Biles.

Rounding out the Top 8: Sam Mikulak (USA), Calvo Moreno, Bretschneider, Kato, Lin Chaopan (CHN). What a way to end High Holy Week!

Simone Biles and Kyla Ross teamed up for an American 1-2 in much the same fashion as Kohei Uchimura and Ryohei Kato did for Japan. Ross lead after the third rotation by the slimmest of margins, but Biles proved unbeatable with her amazing floaty tumbling: tucked double-double, double layout half-out (the Biles!), 2.5-twist punch layout front, tucked full-in. Ross demonstrated her trademark consistency and good form on her way to silver.

Simone Biles (USA), AA, 2013 World Championships

Kyla Ross (USA), AA, 2013 World Championships

Aliya Mustafina (RUS) managed to pull herself together for the bronze medal after a dismal qualifying round. She has an uncanny ability to capture a crowd’s attention, and her gymnastics really looks fabulous with the exception of her form on the triple twist on floor. Iordache would have been in a tight race for bronze if not for the unfortunate fall from beam, arguably her best event. I’m sure she’ll be seeking revenge in beam finals on the weekend.

Aliya Mustafina (RUS), AA, 2013 World Championships

It’s a pity Jessica Lopez (VEN) withdrew from the All Around, allowing Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) in, because she qualified in 11th spot and would have been even higher if not for a fall from one of her best events, the uneven bars. Here’s her routine from preliminaries.

Jessica Lopez (VEN), Qualifying Round Uneven Bars, 2013 World Championships

Victoria Moors (CAN) will have her layout double-double named after her, having successfully completed it in the All Around. The 14.633 awarded for her stylish floor routine was the third highest of all gymnasts today, behind Biles and Larisa Iordache  (ROU). She did well to finish in 10th place, but could have placed much higher if it weren’t for the 12.300 beam score. Teammate Ellie Black (CAN) had a great beam routine for 14.133 (5th highest score) but just couldn’t put it together on her signature events, vault and floor, for 13th place all around.

Victoria Moors (CAN), AA Floor Exercise, 2013 World Championships

Larisa Iordache (ROU), AA Floor Exercise, 2013 World Championships

And the 2013 Longines Prizes for Elegance are awarded to…drum roll, please…Kohei Uchimura and Kyla Ross!

Longines Prizes for Elegance, 2013 World Championships