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1998 Australia Cup

The 1998 Australia Cup was held in Melbourne, 6-8 November. I attended the MAG and WAG AA Competitions. I was lucky enough to have excellent seats, right in front of the Vault. Only one gymnast performed at one time, so the crowd got to see everyone perform, and the big colour screen was great for replays!

Men's AA Competition

1. Jesus Carballo ESP 54.675
2. Dmitry Kaspiarovich BLR 53.100
3. Victor Cano ESP 52.700
4. Chris Young USA 52.550
5. Trent Wells USA 52.150
6. Daniel Grigson AUS 51.850
7. Li Dezhi CHN 51.500
8. Vitaly Fedotov RUS 51.050

Carballo -produced a solid performance highlighted by 9.525 on HB and 9.550 on PB.
Kaspiarovich -performed very consistently despite falling on a Kovacs on HB and sitting down his handspring double front on V.
Cano -another consistent performer, highlighted by 9.600 on V.
Chris Young USA -clearly the crowd favourite (apart from the Australians). He threw 2 x full twisting layout Tkatchevs on HB (called Liukins) and a handspring double front on V (just landed).
The Chinese -Liu Jinyu (aged 15) and Li Dezhi (aged 17) were fairly inconsistent. Rings was their worst apparatus, where they both scored 7.250. Dezhi produced one of the best FX for 8.80 which included a double layout full out.
The Russians -Renat Muratzov and Vitaly Fedotov were also fairly inconsistent. They fell apart on HB where they scored 6.20 and 7.65 respectively.
Adrian Loony AUS -Had his ups and downs. His best was Vault (8.70). His FX included a double layout.
Daniel Grigson -Competed well to finish 6th. He had a very good PB routine (9.10) and would have stuck the dismount. BUT- he landed in a hole in the matting, which had caused problems for other gymnasts, causing him to take a step back. Before presenting he looked at his coach and angrily pointed at his feet.
Bret Hudson AUS -did not compete on all apparatus. He fell off PH (8.45) but recovered to score 9.30 on V. His HB routine included a piked kovacs and a double twisting double layout dismount.

Women's AA Competition

1. Vanessa Atler USA 38.537
2. Zeena McLauglin AUS 38.062
3. Fan Wen CHN 37.175
4. Yulia Korosteleva RUS 36.887
5. Alyona Polozkova BLR 36.587
=6. Brooke Walker AUS 36.350
=6. Melinda Cleland AUS 36.350
8. Yulia Sabko BLR ?

Atler -Surprised no-one in winning the AA. Produced consisted performances with no major errors - 9.650 on FX (Triple twist, double layout punch front), 9.650 on BB (ff ff layout), 9.675 on UB (Tkatchev kip cast Comenici). With all the good form she's been having lately, I have to wonder whether she's peaking 2 years too early?
McLauglin -Performed at the same difficulty level as in the Commonwealth Games, despite limited preparation due to Year 12 exams. Zeena registered the highest BB score (9.675) with her signature mount (RO layout ff ff), wolf jump-chen, rulfova. She scored 9.550 on FX (triple twist, whip double pike) and 9.525 on UB (piked Jaeger, double front half dismount).
Fan Wen -came up into the medals after her 9.40 on UB and with those ahead of her (Moro ESP, Korosteleva RUS) faltering in the final rotation. The Chinese women were unlucky to start on BB, posting lowish scores for great routines. Wen included a ff onodi. On FX (9.275) mediocre tumbling was contrasted with interesting dance to music from Titianic.
Korosteleva -Had a bit of a disappointing competition. On FX she fell on her opening double arabian but showed a 2 1/2 twist pike front half combination. On BB she showed a ff onodi; UB - piked jaeger, hop full to gienger. She was in for a chance for a medal but fell on her second vault.
Polozkova -Consistent but not spectacular. On UB she warmed up a double layout but did a double tuck after an earlier cast to h'stand went over.
Walker -Brooke should be pleased with her performance. She had a few problems on V (8.50) but recovered to score 9.575 on BB and 9.325 on UB (piked deltchev).
Cleland -Performed well with the only (I think!) piked full in of the competition, on FX. She fell on a front somi on BB but still scored 9.050.
Sabko -She looks remarkably like Svetlana Khorkina with her short hair, long lines and sultry dance on FX (to Pink Panther). Didn't have a very high difficulty level (ff ff series on BB).
Nina Kartseva RUS -The 16 year old started disasterously on UB with 7.862. But came back strongly with full twisting ff (wobble) ff layout on BB; cute dance on FX and double twisting Yurchenko on V.
Liu Wei CHN -OK, she is supposed to be 15, but I think it is lucky if she is 13. She's tiny!! Like her team mate, Wei had low difficulty level on FX but lovely dance (rememnicent of Meng Fei).
Trudy McIntosh AUS -Only competed 2 events (V, BB). She scored 9.250 on her handspring layout front (few steps) then 9.55 on her layout barani. On BB she had slight wobbles after her ff ff layout and front somi, but still scored 9.625.
Allana Slater AUS -Like Trudy, just competed 2 events. Her UB (jaeger, hop full to gienger) was excellent for 9.612, bettered only by Atler. Her FX scored 9.300.