So today I went to the IAG competition in the Netherlands, the last competition where girls could make the Olympics training squad from which the team will be picked. You had to score above 54 points in the AA to make it, and no new girls made it. A few big names were missing today, namely Celine van Gerner, Noel van Klaveren and Lieke Wevers (though she was listed to compete originally and was there to support the others. I guess I'll have to wait will Nationals to see her new routine live) Eythora started on beam and was a little shaky, she had one fall. She scored a 12.600. Next she debuted her new FX here and it was simply amazing. Very different from her last one but as I said earlier the choreo and her facial expressions draw you into the routine so much. She has such quality of movement, it's amazing. She has 3 passes now, one of which is a triple to punch front. Score was a 14.300. Then she went to vault, where she debuted her DTY, which scored a 15.033. From where I was sitting it looked really high, she landed nicely upright, just a little bit of leg form issues. I have yet to see a video of it from side view but from what I could tell it looked really good, and the score reflects that too (though Dutch judges don't often see DTY's and sometimes I feel they're blinded by them and instantly give them 15+ scores lol). I missed the beginning of her UB but she looked okay, scored a 14.533 which was a little overscored imo. She won the competition with a 56.466 Second in the AA was Mara Titarsolej with 55.398. She really made a strong impression today and I believe she really is a serious contender for a spot on the Olympic team. She had a solid day with a very nice VT (FTT 13.866), BB (14.333) and FX (14.166). Really the only big mistake was UB where she was very late on het clear hip 1/1 and touched the ground. The rest of the routine was very clean, 13.033. She is not a really well known gymnast yet internationally. She is 1999 born and was on the worlds team last year. She used to be somewhat of a headcase, especially on BB, and also got injured a lot in the past, but she is looking really strong this year and this is the second time she's gone 55+ in the AA. Third place was Tisha Volleman. She was clean on VT (FTY, 14.000) and FX (13.900). Beam was not so good (12.600) and on UB she had a good routine, it's just not a really strong event for her but she makes it work (13.000). I think she has an outside shot at making the Olympic team but I don't think she'll make it. Vera van Pol was 4th and didn't really have the best day. VT was strong (14.233). On UB she had had a fall and her tkatchev-pak combination has major form issues but she somehow maneged to score a 13.666 which I didn't really get, cause I thought it wasn't a strong routine and there's no way it should've been a 14.6 had she not fallen. I missed her beam but it scored a 12.533. On floor she landed her arabian in a very deep squat, rest of the routine was quite nice. I think it was new choreo for her but I'm not sure (13.066) Lisa Top competed BB and FX only. FX was really nice for the first two passes, double piked arabian and double front (she gets sooo much height, it's amazing) but unfortunately she kinda missed her punch on her 1.5 t0 front 1/1 and fell (12.733). I missed half of her beam but her double tuck dismount was nice and high (13.466) Sanne Wevers only competed beam today and scored a 15.500 with a 6.6 D score. It was a very clean routine but to be honest I thought the score was a little too high and I don't think she would score that internationally. But watching her do pirouettes with so much ease is just breathtaking. She had both the triple pirouette as well as the double L turn in her routine and did it like it was nothing. Her gainer dismount looked very piked down from my where I was sitting and if I was a judge (lol) I would've downgraded it. Judging was kinda weird overall today, all the bigger names competing (so basically everyone I've described above) were scored fairly/sometimes a little overscored, and all the lesser known gymnasts were scored very harshly, especially on beam. Overall I think Eythora and Sanne are basically locks for the team right now, the others still have something to prove. As I said Mara has made a great case for herself today and has proven to be a real contender. If I had to pick the team today it would be Eythora, Sanne, Lieke, Celine, Mara. Lisa and Tisha are also strong options imo. Noel van Klaveren is also still an option but she hasn't competed all year and is coming off an injury so I don't really see her making it, but hopefully she'll surprise me cause she too is a strong gymnast. Of course it is still a long way till the team is decided but these are my opinions/what I'm thinking right now. Next up is an internal competition on June 10th, Dutch Nationals in the June 25/26 weekend and another competition (no information on this yet) on July 9th. These 3 competitions count as qualifiers and the team will be announced on the 10th of July.
