Olympic Event Finals- Routines that didn't make the cut.

With another Olympics come and gone, I can’t help but reflect on routines I would have liked to have seen in London. The talent at the Olympics this year was incredible, and there were many routines that were event finals worthy that did not make the cut. Whether the routine did not score as high as they had hoped, or the gymnast failed to make the Olympic team, here are a few of the routines that I would have loved to see in the event finals in London.

Vault
Alicia Sacramone (USA), a world champion on vault, has two incredible vaults that easily could have medaled in London. Unfortunately for Alicia, USA needed a great bar worker to fill the gap on the 5 person Olympic team, and Alicia doesn't train bars. Her vaults however were missed in London, and with the way vault finals went down, had she have hit, she likely would have won the gold.

Check out her vaults from the 2008 Visa Championships below.




Bars
Kyla Ross (USA), was a member of the 5 member Olympic team who would have qualified into bars finals had she not hit her feet on the low bar in qualifications. She has gorgeous lines, and nice swing, and her routine is well executed. If Kyla wants to be a threat on bars in the upcoming quad, she needs to start taking more risks and make her gymnastics a little bit more interesting.

Check out her bars routine from the 2012 Visa Championships below.



Beam
Peng Peng (Christine) Lee (CAN) holds the distinction of being the best gymnast that Canada has ever produced. Her beam routine has a huge start value, she’s creative, and isn’t afraid to take risks. Her beam mount is the most creative of this quad and something that was very much missed from the beam finals in London. Peng tore her ACL right before the Olympics, therefore she was unable to compete in London. Had she competed, she likely would have made beam (and all around) finals, and had a good chance at snatching a medal on beam. Thankfully for us, she’ll be competing NCAA this year, and has expressed interest in training for 2016.

Check out her beam routine from Pacific Rims (with a STUCK double pike dismount) below.





Floor
Victoria Moors (CAN) was one of Canada’s biggest medal hopes coming into the games with a floor routine that everyone thought was a sure bet to at least make finals. I like to call her Canada’s “stick it” queen, because she almost always sticks her landings, or is at least able to control them. Unfortunatley, she failed to make floor finals, but that doesn’t make her routine any less gorgeous. She has since upgraded her floor routine, and I’m hoping that she’s a contender for a medal at 2013 worlds!

Watch her floor routine from Pacific Rims below.

Larisa Iordache (ROM) will probably be my favourite gymnast of this quad. She has some huge skills, high start values, and is an amazing performer and dancer. Unfortunately for her, London didn’t go exactly as planned. It was discovered that she had plantar fasciitis in her foot just before the games, and was unable to compete consistently. Her floor routine from Euros is simply amazing, and with a bit more training, control, and hopefully recovery from her injury, she is someone to watch this quad.

Check out her Euro floor routine below.



McKayla Maroney (USA) is known for her huge vaults, her perfect amanar, and her “not impressed” face. She also has a floor routine that is out of this world. I wish that McKayla had been able to compete this floor routine in qualifications or floor finals, however her broken toe stopped this from happening. In my opinion, I don’t think McKayla has peaked just yet. Yes, her vaults are amazing, but when you watch her other routines it seems almost as if she has all this power that she has no idea what to do with! The height in her 3.5 twist in her floors opening pass is astounding, and it looks almost as if she could comfortably add another half twist without it phasing her.

Watch her floor from the 2012 Visa Championships below.



Written by: Patrice (@pvanswim)