Pre-Olympic Trials Rant

I have watched the Olympic Trials in 1996, 2000, and 2004. And I certainly intend to pay more attention to Trials this time around.

Notes and Rants:

• There’s some jabbering going on about how the apparatus used for competition at Nationals and Trials isn’t the USA label AAI (like it’s supposed to be because AAI is a sponsor), but instead the European brand Janssen-Fritsen, which will be used in Beijing. Janssen-Fritsen apparatuses are disguised to look like AAI brand stuff. Bridget Sloan is sometimes cited to have an edge over Sam Peszek on floor exercise because Bridget does much better on Janssen-Fritsen floors than Sam P. does.
• I wonder if Jana knows that her chances of making the team are basically zero. The Bieger fan in me hopes that she will say “Screw You” to USA Gymnastics and rings up Ulla Koch (the German National coach).
• I never understood why Sam P. is so favored to make the team. Even Martha K. wouldn’t let her favoritism get in the way of gold medals. If she had continued to improve her vault, I would have understood, but–although her balance beam routine got better, her vault remains the same as ever, even yuckier depending on who you ask. Someone very smartly pointed out that Sam P. might have anticipated doing an all-around role in Olympic qualifications, and hadn’t counted on Chellsie making a comeback into the all-around. Chellsie’s performance thus far is making Sam’s beam and uneven bars upgrades look pretty silly.
• LOL at the Shawn vs. Nastia soap-opera, now everyone almost believes it.

More Podium Training Thoughts that I generally agree with can be found at Polish 101.

In international news:

• Sweden’s Veronica Wagner was just told by the Swedish Olympic Committee that they will not send her to the Olympics. Basically, they told her to stay home because they thought that her injuries would prevent her from doing her best. Which is really f*cked-up, if you ask me. She earned that spot at last year’s World Championships and in my opinion, she should’ve been the one to decide if she herself was healthy enough to go. Not her country’s Olympic Committee. In any case, it’s being reported that Slovenia’s Adela Sajn will take Wagner’s place.
• Oksana Chusovitina (GER) just turned 33 and says she doesn’t feel a day over 18. Happy birthday!
• At the GBR vs. ROU meet last week, the Romanian girls were basically walking wounded, including their two captains Steliana Nistor and Sandra Izbasa; that’s nothing new for poor Stela, who has had aches and pains (some less painful than others) since 2005. A bright spot, however, was the notoriously inconsistent Andreea Grigore performing surprisingly well.