Two dark-horses for London: Rebecca Downie and Youna Dufournet…
Everyone knows Rebecca Downie is a “pretty good” gymnast…she frequently makes bars finals at major international competitions, competed in this year’s American Cup, and has played a great supporting role over the last couple of years for her more famous British teammate, Beth Tweddle. But just how good is she?
Let’s take a look at all four of her performances at last year’s Olympic AA finals, where she finished an impressive 12th:
Becky Downie Vault 2008 Olympics AA Finals
Becky Downie Bars 2008 Olympics AA Finals
Becky Downie Beam 2008 Olympics AA Finals
Becky Downie Floor 2008 Olympics AA Finals
I’d say she’s more than pretty good! Her bars in particular amazes me…I LOVE watching the cool pirouetting combinations into release move she comes up with. She makes those sequences look effortless, but those combinations are incredibly difficult! She hits her handstands well, shows great height on her releases, and has no form breaks throughout the routine. I think she’s been a bit overlooked on this event. Her vault is very powerful and clean as well, so it’s really beam and floor where she needs to improve just a bit to really factor into medal contention. You can see she definitely has potential on both of these events, but is perhaps lacking just a bit in difficulty. Perhaps nailing these events with little to no deduction could keep her in the mix, but she may need some large errors from some of the top six contenders I’ve highlighted from the USA, China, and Russia.
Here's a look at another possible all-around contender, Youna Dufournet of France, who was a standout at last year's Junior European Championships but has had some very inconsistent performances this year. For her beam and floor, unfortunately I couldn't embed the videos so you'll have to click on the link to YouTube and then come back!
Youna Dufournet Bars 2009
Youna Dufournet Vault 2008 Swiss Cup
Youna Dufournet Beam 2008 Massilia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01AUyCMecMw
Youna Dufournet Floor 2008 Junior Europeans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezj0W8zeiig
I have to admit, I was one of the skeptics of this gymnast…first when I saw her trying marathon bar routines at various international meets and NEVER seeming to hit them, then when I saw her DISASTROUS beam routine at the American Cup (three falls plus an extremely scary dismount), and then when I saw her nearly landing on her head on tumbling passes at the European Championships. It’s hard to believe this is the same gymnast we just saw above:
Youna Dufournet Beam 2009 American Cup
Youna Dufournet Floor 2009 European Championships
YIKES!!! Fortunately she lived to tell about those frightening moments. It appeared that she may have gone through a bit of a growth spurt from last year, so perhaps she’s been adjusting to her new height in 2009. She did manage to put together a solid all-around effort at the Mediterranean Games in July (first all-around with a 56.95), so perhaps she’s headed back in the right direction for these world championships.
But looking at her bar routine this year and her other routines from 2008, you can see that she does have the capability. That bar routine was magnificent! I was completely blown away when I saw her put that routine together – truly one of the best bar routines done by anyone all year. Not only did she put in a perfect-form Def in combination, but she hit some extremely difficult sequences very cleanly and more confidently than she ever has. I love the combo in to the gienger going the opposite direction – awesome! On beam, you can see from 2008 that she has an incredible skill repertoire - that routine from the Junior Europeans was absolutely loaded. And she has some strong tumbling passes on floor as well - she's just had trouble with her tumbling this year. She’s obviously a very unpredictable gymnast, but if she’s on, she’s really something to watch. Could she factor into the all-around next week? The question may be…which Youna will we see in London?