Catalina Ponor Balance Beam Training 2011

[toetouching]

I love her passes on the beam... she does the onodi and the full twisting back hand spring so elegantly... bravo.

[jamcajilig]

She's great but I don't think she would be able to keep up with the new breed of gymnasts who possess greater variety of skills than she does. Her start value is much lower than Johnson or Liukin.

[djprojectus]

@jamcajilig did you see it catalina on romanian nationals,i think you will change your mind

[alllitangio]

@jamcajilig Her beam routine in 2004 was WAY better than today's Johsons and Liukins... She's the best beam worker... Johnson is great too.... but Ponor is way better....

[AndeeDeeKate]

Finally, she's back! One of the greatest olympic champions in gymnastics!

[Reiswaffel94]

she looks incredibly well trained.

Looking forward to see her perfrom in Tokyo and hopefully in London 2012

[777kvp]

She looks to be in amazing shape. Cata just has a special gift for beam. This looks like she has never been away. This is VERY exciting to see her coming back. Those poor juniors from Russia. Yes, I directly blame the code for so many injuries. The code has encouraged, in fact, required too many super difficult skills and connections to make bonus and hope for a medal. What a shame.

[glibster]

She's still doing the choo-choo! That makes me extraordinarily happy.

[djprojectus]

@glibster the choo choo????

[glibster]

@djprojectus That thing that she does with her hands @ the very beginning. Someone on a message board described it as pulling the whistle on a choo-choo train. ;-) Now I can't stop thinking about it as the Catalina choo-choo!

[Peaceplatform]

She's in amazing shape. Go you good thing!

[serenenz]

Yes they had to bring those girls back because Russia is basically falling apart right now which makes me sad.. Nabieva is also injured too I hear so that makes Komova, Mustafina, Sidorova, Nabieva and Grishina. A real shame

[kofix2utd]

ok who is on the 3rd beam in the background at second 0:45? she is doing some cool stuff. it doesn't look like larisa

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@kofix2utd Amelia Racea.

[ferrarike1]

woooow she's amazing i love her so mucchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh­hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i'm so happy she's back!!

[MadeleinePhillips666]

Oh. My. Gosh. If she compete on Worlds or Olympics like this, tne gold will be romanian again.

[Swankdor]

damn.. she doesnt seem to gain any weight after she stopped competing in 07.. unlike liukin... :S

[serenenz]

This exercise looks like she is doing it on floor NOT on beam. Only a Romanian can rock beam so solid like this without error and without pause. WOW..

[markoparko]

I can't wait for 2012!

I think this will be one of the greatest team competitions ever.

Honestly, China, Romania, the United States or Russia could win. I can't remember when there have been this many strong teams competing at once.

[squirilman009]

she is fine.

[romaniankoko]

Wow this girl has her beam routine back and looking great...I am amazed at how good she is looking after this short of a comeback...

[zamolxis7]

she's insane!

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

I see Izbasa back on beam. She had a 7.0 in 08. She could be very useful. But Catalina... Either Romania's been keeping her for a surprise until now or she gets her skills back faster than anyone!

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

Yeah i wonder right .. it's like they announced her comeback and then a week later this video of her training is shown to us. The same with Iordache and her out of nowhere DTY vault that she threw that got a high whopping 15.400 for it.. Ahh where did THAT come from.... she is another surprise (Larisa Iordache)

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Haha. I've been watching Larisa for a while now and I always knew she would come out and shock us. She's lacking a bit of difficulty right now but I have no doubt that in 2012 she will be the best AA in Romania as long as she's healthy. She'll probably be the best Romania's ever had for a long time now.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

Larisa isn't lacking difficulty - only her second vault is a low score vault. For a Junior she has among some of the highest D scores in the World and nearly higher D scores than some of the Romanian Seniors. Her beam is a 6.6 D score, UB 5.9 D score, FX 6.2 D score and VT 5.8 DTY.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Larisa's lacking difficulty on bars. She's still a huge threat but it's keeping her out of the way a bit. But actually, she's training two 6.5 vaults! Probably a Cheng and an Amanar. That's pretty incredible. Especially considering her size and that she got her DTY only a few months ago.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

That UB is not lacking in difficulty by Romanian standards - it's the 2nd or 3rd highest UB for Romanian girls. Also consider that most AA gymnasts have a weak apparatus . The lucky thing with her (Iordache) is that she is still a junior and has a year to upgrade - the top AA gymnasts in the world at the moment - Wieber,Bross,Komova,Mustafina are throwing big skills but will likely max out their difficulty by 2012. Iordache is sitting in the best place right now

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz That's true. Porgras is probably the only Romanian ahead of her on bars. Racea's good too. The best AA gymnasts right now don't have a weakness though. Neither does Grishina. She turns senior in 2012 as well but has no weak event and as much (or more, except on floor) difficulty as Iordache. Komova just got back to light training and she still has a ton of potential on bars. She had a piked Tkachev and a flic-flac back full on beam. And she might be training a 2 1/2+1/1 on floor.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

I guess i am looking at it in terms of D scores because this new code is all about high D scores. Taking that into account Bross is weak on vault , Weiber is weak on BB at 6.0 (compared to Iordache who is 6.6 on BB). Komova is in a league of her own and so is Grishina but both girls are now out due to injury (reason why she won't be at EYOC this weekend with Iordache). I know she is not high on UB like those girls but she is in the perfect position with a year to go.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Oh, wow. I didn't know Grishina was injured =O. Thanks. Wieber is upgrading beam and would have around 6.7. Komova's gladly been back to light training for a few days now. Mustafina's been doing a lot of spins. Practicing easy glide kips. She's doing fine. She's a fighter.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

Grishina has been having consistancy issues , especially on beam. She is one that has beautiful form and execution but consistancy gets to her all the time.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz All the upgrades are making her a lot less consistent. Especially on floor. I'd much rather watch what she did in Jesolo 2010 because of her perfect it was as opposed to her doing a decent routine with her higher difficulty.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

Are you directing that to Grishina or Iordache (the less consistancy remark?).. I think you are directing that to Grishina and I agree / it is a shame because she is beautiful (Grishina)..

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Yes, Grishina.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

Injuried Grishina and Sidorova, what are they giving the russian juniors to drink why they are all injured? I blame the code for pushing the girls to have the highest and hardest tricks in order to medal ..

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Sidorova's injured too!?! Wow, I know nothing. I know! Sidorova, Grishina, Mustafina, and Komova (thought they'd all be at London)! But apparently Semenova is back to her 2009 form after losing most excess weight so she could even be good AA. Afanasyeva's doing much better now. Dementyeva improved greatly! She's so consistent. And then there's Belokobylskaya who is also decent AA.

[serenenz]

@ShawnVikaKomova2012

There was a news clip i saw yesterday and it showed Grishina doing some nice stuff on beam but she has an injury (some bandage on her leg). Mustafina was also in that video - Sidorova didn't end up competing last week at EOYF - she is definitely injured which is a shame. Iordache stole the show by a mile.... very happy for her.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@serenenz Intlgymnast says that Sidorova injured her hand on a bike earlier this year. It's funny how Musty still can do free cartwheels on beam with that huge cast. Thanks for the update on Grishina. Yeah, Iordache really crushed them. Second place on beam was a point behind! She had the highest difficulty everywhere but vault where I think a German girl did a laidout Rudi and Tsuk full.

[piskoun]

@serenenz Where is Myzdrikova?

[arabiandouble]

This girl can go! She plays on the beam like no one's business!

[GymnasticsFan1144]

Shes looks fantastic and i cant wait to see her compete!! :D Thanks for doing this btw! c:

[paiges38]

She looks as amazing as she did back in 2004!! I can't wait to see her in competition!!!

[raducan1always]

love love love the acro series

[liukin95]

Romania can win the world championships with Catalina and everyone in the background is looking great as well.

[gabrielmcdonough]

shes still amazing love her