2008 Beijing Olympics

So everyone what did you think of the gymnastics?

I thought the womens was great, although since the new code came in I think that the girls have to work harder at more difficult moves so are leaving out a lot of dance and things like that, that they used to do.

I remember watching Dominique Mouceanu in Atlanta '96 (yes I am so old!!) and it was such an entertaining routine, also the music doesn't seem to be played as loud...maybe Beijing was just a bigger gym.

Bars, I found had improved a lot, I felt for Beth Tweddle as it was her last Olympics and she became injured and could only compete on floor and bars. The one hand pirouettes are pretty amazing!

Beam, I can't get over how solid Shawn Johnson was! And nastia doing the 2 feet flips? Brilliant!!

Vault, I don't think it's moved on a whole lot and it's over in a minute.. still enjoy it though!

I didn't catch any of the rhythmic but saw a bit of trampolining which was also excellent!

Overall, I enjoyed it. But I find myself enjoying floor less and less. I think Anna Pavlova, Ksenia Semyonova, Nastia Liukin, Jiang Yuanyuan, and Yang Yilin were the highlights on floor, in terms of artistry. Obviously, Cheng Fei, Sandra Izbasa and Shawn Johnson can tumble like nobody's business. It's ashame Cheng couldn't pull it together in event finals.
Vault is more of the same for me. Honestly, it's the event I appreciate the least. Again, I was sad Cheng couldn't pull through here, but I also don't think she deserved the bronze. Winning an EF medal with a fall on the apparatus?! I see how it's mathematically possible, but I don't think it should be that way.
The new Code has really pushed bars to a new level it seems. The final was amazing, with all of the front runners basically hitting their routines, and the scoring coming down to who had the least mistakes. I really love Beth Tweddle's new skill, but she seems so frantic on the bars as of late. Nastia, He and Yang were all beautiful. I was a bit surprised that they didn't score Yang higher, and I thought the tie-breaking procedure was silly, but what can you do?
On beam, I really loved Anna Pavlova and Nastia Liukin. Pavlova performs such unique skills and with such grace. And Liukin's routine just flows. One complaint I have about the Chinese and Shawn Johnson here - as difficult as their routines can be, and as well performed as they are, it kind of feels like "pause, trick, pause trick." There's a lack of fluidity. I thought Cheng was overscored here as well. As much as I enjoy her gymnastics, I don't think she deserved either of her individual bronze medals.

I love that Nastia won the AA. She's currently my favorite gymnast competing.
And I think that obviously China deserved to win the team final. I'm a bit disappointed that Russia didn't have a better showing to finish third.