Women’s All Round Artistic Gymnastics Finals at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games

i’m glad i got tickets for this event!

truth be told, it’s more exciting seeing it on tv because of the commentaries provided – i think i learn a lot more about the strengths and weakness of the routine from the commentary – but it was just really cool to be there in person and to be able to see the gymnasts up close (kind of) in the flesh.

the hall is a lot smaller than i thought it’d be, and all the mats and apparatus seemed so new and fresh:

i really liked this guy’s get up:

the announcers’ table:

before the competition began, the commentators tried to get the crowd going and gave some explanation of the apparatus. Some children from 9 –12 years of age also gave a hip hop performance:

the gymnasts report to the judges:

some of the competition action:

 

A lot of the gymnasts seemed to be rather weak on the uneven bars, as they appeared to lack the strength to do the rotations and accomplish the transitions between bars, especially from the lower to upper bar. It’s interesting to watch the YOG because it highlighted which apparatus are more challenging, as you can see gymnasts who’re still only stars in the making.

Bishan Sports Hall was quite packed:

there was a guy with huge muscles. i think he might be a gymnast himself:

 

My favourite two were the balance beam and the floor in this competition. Partly because the beam was right before my seat, and the floor had great musical accompaniment.

check out the Russian’s amazing performance. She was so skilled, so steady – she and China’s Tan Sixin were the only two to complete three back flips – and graceful on the beam. I thought she was better than Tan Sixin but the latter scored a higher score of 15.35 compared to 15.25:

Now watch Tan Sixin’s performance:

Some floor action:

Italy’s gymnast – each country was only allowed one representative – had a fairly solid floor routine, and came in third place overall. She beat Japan’s Sasada Natsumi by only 0.25 points; i think Japan would have won if Sasada did a clean landing on the vault.

Tan Sixin was touted in the papers as the favourite, but she lost to Russia by almost 3 points – 58.5 compared to 61.25.

Here you can clearly see that Komova is a class above the rest – just watch how high she jumps! It’s utterly amazing and the crowded loved her. She reminds me a little of another famous Russian gymnast – Svetlana Khorkina – because of the little flairs in her routine, and she’s certainly a gymnast to look out for at London 2012!!

the proud medallists: