Rhythmic Gymnastics FIG World Championships 2019

[Gianlu33 4,574]

China really improve a lot this year, very nice routine

[Gianlu33 4,574]

Amazing performance for the Farfalle,! I'm so happy for they... Sadly a little disappoint with the score, I expect 150/250 more

[Gianlu33 4,574]

3 Hoops and 4 Clubs

 

1. Russia 29.450

2. Japan 29.400

3. Italy 29.200

[Gianlu33 4,574]

Final Medal Table

 

 8 2 3 13

1 2 0 03

0 4 2 06

0 1 1 02

0 0 1 01

0 0 1 01

0 0 1 01

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

1 hour ago, Gianlu33 said:

Final Medal Table

 

 8 2 3 13

1 2 0 03

0 4 2 06

0 1 1 02

0 0 1 01

0 0 1 01

0 0 1 01

 

Each of the powerhouses (plus Japan, who is now a powerhouse, I suppose) got a medal. Good.


But the non-medal results are really important too when you analyze the bigger picture. Usually, the World Cup/Challenge Cup series offer a bigger picture about what's to come. This year,  won 2 individual medals,  and  won one.  got a silver medal, and   and  had fourth-place finishes once. Thankfully,     were able to translate their good results to the World Championships, since individual gymnasts qualified for finals.  and  got individual finals too, albeit their WCup success being with their groups, not individual gymnasts.  unfortunately didn't qualify for any finals.

But a medal result at the World Championships is a different story altogether. It's crazy to predict when an "outsider" nation will be able to achieve one.  Kaho Minagawa got only one bronze medal at the World Cup circuit, and then she magically earned one bronze medal too at the World Championships in 2017. However,  Son Yeon-jae got 22 medals at the World Cup circuit before she earned one bronze medal at the World Championships. Both of them were pupils of Irina Viner-Usmanova. Go figure.

 

[vinipereira 3,240]

So Japan will probably get their first Olympic medal in rhythmic gymnastics in Tokyo.

 

This reminds me when China got their first ever medal (and, to date, the only one) in rhythmics at the Beijing Olympics, in one of the most controversial results of this sport. It was the last day of the Games, and in order to China to achieve 100 medals in the table, a medal for the team all-around was required. At the time, there were many comments saying that the judges felt so pressured (to say the least) that they gave China the silver, denying Italy (which ended 4th) a medal, even though they had an iconic routine (below) - which is one of the most memorable of all time IMO.

 

Italy won silver in the World Championships prior to the Games while China was 9th, improving over 2 points in each routine for the Olympic Games. After the Olympics scandal, Italy went to win gold at the 2009 Worlds (reparations?), while strangely enough China didn't even participate. They never again reached the Olympics/Worlds podium.

 

 

[Gianlu33 4,574]

After the WCh disaster Emanuela Maccarani, the italian coach, announced that Italy will change both routine

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

11 minutes ago, vinipereira said:

one of the most controversial results of this sport

Not really. Of course Italians were furious, but looking at the detailed scores it is not a surprise to see China in second. I was even more surprised with Russia earning gold (despite very visible flaws in their routines) than China getting boosted by hosting the game and making it to the podium. Italy was nice, but as you can see here their routines severely lacked difficulty compared to China and, especially, Belarus, who should have been the champions. 

The fact that China failed to reach the podium in World or Olympic competitions is not surprising considering they completely changed the composition of the group. They had to deal with injury in 2009 and missed the World Championships, and the next batch of girls were good but of course not on the same level as the girls from 2008. Spain won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and they will probably not even qualify for the 2020 Olympics (unless a miracle happens) because the new group of girls is not nearly as talented as the 2016 team.

Unnecessary controversy here.

[vinipereira 3,240]

4 minutes ago, thiago_simoes said:

Not really. Of course Italians were furious, but looking at the detailed scores it is not a surprise to see China in second. I was even more surprised with Russia earning gold (despite very visible flaws in their routines) than China getting boosted by hosting the game and making it to the podium. Italy was nice, but as you can see here their routines severely lacked difficulty compared to China and, especially, Belarus, who should have been the champions. 

 

Proving once again that artistry means very little for this sport (even more now).

 

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

46 minutes ago, vinipereira said:

 

Proving once again that artistry means very little for this sport (even more now).

 

At the time, getting rid of a score for artistry was the best option. It's not that artistic deductions were eliminated, but they are much less severe now. For example, gymnasts are supposed to link elements using dance steps, but now the Code of Points has become a rush for high difficulty with no attention to choreography anymore. Russia and Japan are the worst offenders, in my opinion (though Japan had a nice 5 balls routine today, I must admit), with skill after skill after skill, and no choreography linking these skills. But a specific score for artistry allowed much bigger differences between groups, and personal taste (of the judges) played a big role. Now, not so much anymore. Problem is that Russia is not deducted enough for lack of choreography, but I've come to the conclusion that as long as VIner-Usmanova lives, Russia will never be deducted for anything.