- Use Playlist to watch in order - BBC Coverage 2008 Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team Final Top 8 Qualifying Teams: China United States Russia Romania Australia France Brazil Japan enjoy!
Yuyuan's performance was amazing. :) Yilin's routine was SOOO good and clean for such a tiny girl. What strength. I think she did better than Liukin. Kexin's routine was so complicated, difficult and beautiful. The Chinese team is awesome at bars and I love their smiles.
In team finals, Shanshan Li looks so relaxed. She was almost not that focused before the beam competition, smailed a lot, like, this was another beam practice. Shanshan has joined the group of great Chinese beamers (Yang Bo, Mo Huilan, Kui Yuanyuan, Ling Jie, Liu Xuan, Fan Ye, Li Ya, so many of them).
During Anna Pavlova's beam routine I recognized music from my favorite composer, Yuki Kajiura. She seems to be popular with gymnasts. I've heard several of her songs in Olympic and World competitions, particularly those used in the anime Tsubasa Chronicles. Makes me wonder how many of these girls like anime.
Jiang Yuyuan's Jager is so high! Chinese are just the best on bars and they deserve every score they get! Yang Yilin's bars has always been underscored.
The commentators said before He Kexin's routine that we "might see the first ever 17.00+" in gymnastics> I don't know if it counts, since it was Nationals and not an international competition, but at the 2008 U.S. Nationals on day 1 Nastia got a 17.050 on bars, and on day 2 she got a 17.100. Just for statistical sake :)
I doesn't really counts, the same as in figure skating Yuna Kim scored over 80 pts in her short program at the Korean Nationals, but some how the judges kindda over score the girls because since they are from the same nationality they look forward to almost the same skills
i watched this competition for the first just yesterday and am amazed at how fierce the competition was, it definitely blows London out of the water, but sad that China couldnt repeat their performance again
Grebenkova competed in the 2004 Olympics before she was married under her maiden name which is Ezhova. She was good on the beam back then but seems to have given in to nerves a little, just as Pavlova did, though she was also a 2004 Olympian for Russia.
Chinese bar work is beautiful...except most of their transitions to highbar end in dead hang, or near dead hang :/ I am in love with Pavs' change ring and onodi on the beam! She does a lot of quarter turns to handstand. I love how they call Nastia by her full name, Anastasia.
OMG HAHAHAHAHHAAH LOOK AT THAT CHINESE JUDGE? On the left of the screen REACTION AT 9:22 ! She's like OHH HELLZ MOTHER FREAKING YESSS and does a FIST PUMP !! I can't lol I'm rolling and crying on the floor ! That's so cute and funny ! She's like that's right yo , that's right that's my homegirl right there on the bars and she just nailed it ! I can't BELIVE I haven't noticed that before lol
It's Ashleigh Brennan of Australia's floor music which is made up of two pieces spliced together - the first is the Cold Case theme music and after a minute it turns into I think something from Yuki Kajiura. Just search for either of those
@russiangymfan I think one of the reasons so many American's complain about the Chinese gymnasts being underage is because in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney China's medals were stripped because the OIC and FIG concluded that one of the chinese gymnasts was underage.
And many Americans, like me, think the Chinese were amazing and respect & admire their skills, as well as the other gymnasts. Yes, some may have judged the Chinese gymnasts based on their own standards, but everyone in the world does so. And America was not the only one saying that they looked young, so were other countries to so attack one of them! I myself & my friends who enjoyed the 2008 Games are great sports, classy, & respectful. Maybe some people should look at themselves b4 speaking...
Regardless of the Chinese gymnasts' ages (yes, I think they were underage--way too much evidence plus a proven record of having cheated already)--their gymnastics here were amazing. God, how do such TINY girls manage to muscle their way up to the high bar like that?! Incredible work. I hope those kids got a hero's welcome AND serious prize money by their country.
disagree. liukin is amazing and unbelievably graceful, and her bar routine is extremely hard and long. her dismount could be better but she landed it beautifully.
@lindseylee77 thank you, i did not know that. although that doesn't really matter because what i meant was out of all the athletes, beth had the highest difficulty score. i didn't mean she had the highest through out the entire competition. i see my statement could have easily been misinterpreted
I will admit that the Chinese are impeccable on bars, but I hardly think it would kill them to create routines that don't appear so similar. There was little variety in the skills used and the order they were put in between Jiang, Yang and He. A bit of a change-up would be nice.
@mufffin777 they changed the scoring.every skill has a set difficulty. the ten most difficult elements in a routine are added together. that, plus connection bonus and fulfilled requirements bonus are your difficulty score or A score. They then deduct out of a ten for the things like bad form. This is the B score. Add them together and theres your score. Example: Nastia's bars A score- 7.7 B score- 9.2 add them together and you get her score, 16.9 B score used to be the only score
The commentators said before He Kexin's routine that we "might see the first ever 17.00+" in gymnastics> I don't know if it counts, since it was Nationals and not an international competition, but at the 2008 U.S. Nationals on day 1 Nastia got a 17.050 on bars. Just for statistical sake :)
the judges at the visa championships really give too much credit to the gymnasts also Nastia's routine was better in the team final then at the visa championships also these commentators are from UK, but don't worry i m just telling you i m not blaming you for writing that you didn't know
@mufffin777 vault scoring is a little different every vault has a certain difficulty score (A score) and then they deduct out of the B score Example- Shawn Johnson's 2.5 twisting Yurchenko Her A-score was 6.5 So if Shawn were to get a perfect 10 as her B-score her score could be 16.5 and if Nastia were to get a perfect bars score it would be 7.7 it is still possible to get a perfect 10 they just have to add the difficulty to it so you will never see a 10 on a scoreboard
tumblin: Perhaps the International Gymnastics Federation should set new rules to make it easy for Liukin to do bars? She has already been overscored on all 4 events!
The younger male commentator (first voice in this video) annoyed the hell out of me. BBC are generally great and I love the other two but this dude obviously knows nothing about gymnastics, or math for that matter. Feels like the BBC plucked some morning radio show presenter and said “here go do the Olympics”. Not only did he make mistakes in his math he obviously had no idea that China had enough difficulty to destroy US in bars, and they did, by nearly 2 points. China’s weakest score was better than USA’s 2nd and 3rd score. It just annoys me today even as I watch this.
Listening to the American commentators during on tv was so misleading! They seemed completely convinced the Americans were underscored, but after doing more research, I can clearly see that the Chinese had much better technique. I'm really disappointed with NBC... Anyway, vive la chine!!!!
Butterfngrbart: I think bigger deductions should be in place for flat feet, unpointed toes, separated legs, crossed feet and legs and frog-like dismount that we have seen from most American gymnasts. No grace when they do gymnastics like this.
@mufffin777 out of the the entire olympic competition beth tweddle (of england) had the highest a-score, a 7.8 on the uneven bars and really don't thank me, i just do this stuff to show off my knowledge!
who honestly cares. so what if they're underaged, they're clearly more talented than all the other gymnasts out there. the fact that they're underage makes me like them even more, our US gymnasts got beaten by a bunch of 12 year olds...
It is more than height and weight. I was basing my comment solely on an overall impression of her -- but it only took a quick internet search to reveal that several OFFICIAL Chinese websites confirm she would have been only 14 in these Olympics, well below the minimum age. Miraculously, all of these web pages have now been removed. Of course, this is nothing new, more than one retired Chinese gymnast has confirmed that she was forced to lie about her age.
personally they look like they are 16 to me. i have been to china..and well the girls in high school or evne in their first year of uni look..very young. also, as for their height, to my understanding 5'3 is consider decent height in china.
@russiangymfan you seem to know a lot about this...tell me HOW...just HOW did Liukin score more than Yang Yilin and the same as He Kexin...I'm so confused, even now!
To LMA629: Many u.s. former olympic medal winners used enhanced drugs. for example, before the Seoul olympics, several u.s. athelets were tested drug use, but there still went to the game, competed, at least 5 of these drug users won medals and still kep their medals today! According to your logic, are you saying that because of this history, the entire 2008 u.s. team should be questioned?
I mean I'm not saying that they were underage but I think that the FIG did investigate it and that the Chineese should explain why they're were other ages for those gymnasts. But the Chinese did well here and definitly deserved the gold, even without the us's mistakes China still would have won.
@strongbad635 Kexin was 16, turning 17 in 2008. I most of gymnastics fans really think this rule a piece of nasty shit. The Olympic age should be 14 (turning 15) again.
Tumblin: Yang Yilin is a tall gymnast, but she does not bend her legs. Why do some American fans always find excuses for "their" gymnasts' problems while trying to find every little imperfection in Chinese and gymnasts from other countries? Very poor sportsmanship.
Gymprincess2400: Chinese, Russian and gymnasts, fans and media of other countries have been showning great class to American gymnasts, fans and media for a long long time. Are you talking about the word of "class"? You should tell u.s. media and fans to show elemental level of respect to others! Don't talk to them about "class", they're not ready for it yet!
ADL2000: Yes, ONE Chinese gymnast was found underage in 2000, but it does not give Americans any excuse to bash their gymnasts in 2008! Why do u.s. media/fans ignore so many Americans who took drugs, covered it with the help of u.s. sports associations, went to worlds and olympics, won medals and STILL shamelessly kep their medals! Where is your justice/fairness? so you're saying all American athelets should be questioned just because some take drugs? Double standards at best display!
they didnt come out with the age issue around the 2007 world championships. (or its not a big issue during that time.) if the chinese didnt win the gold, will people still make a big deal out of it?
I care. They were excellent I agree, but you are missing the point. If other countries followed the rules, they left off their otherwise-qualified underage gymnasts, which means they fielded a weaker (but legal) team. Either the age rules need to be abolished so all the best can compete, or they need to be enforced that everyone is competing fairly.
Yan Yilin's bar work was just exquisite.
Yang Yilin is simply exquisite to watch here!
He Kexin...the most graceful 14-yr-old at the '08 games!
I couldn't find a better word to describe it.... simply.... Immaculate
Yuyuan's performance was amazing. :)
Yilin's routine was SOOO good and clean for such a tiny girl. What strength. I think she did better than Liukin.
Kexin's routine was so complicated, difficult and beautiful.
The Chinese team is awesome at bars and I love their smiles.
Gosh, I could watch He Kexin on bars all day.
It amazes me that her Tkatchev is higher than Liukin's! She's so tiny!
i agree, i love YYL's handstands... so straight!
Yang Yilin has high level of difficulty, great line, perfect body position and great flow. A great bars worker!
All of these gymnasts get my respect for their dedication and determination.
I absolutely LOVE the BBC commentators. "Oooo, that was classy!"
i still get shivers watching these finals! and its 2012!!!!!
I'm American, and He Kexin's bars routine is by far my favorite. She's amazing.
Aww :D When Yang yilin finishes her routine on uneven bars she smiles (see slomotion) cutee!
In team finals, Shanshan Li looks so relaxed. She was almost not that focused before the beam competition, smailed a lot, like, this was another beam practice. Shanshan has joined the group of great Chinese beamers (Yang Bo, Mo Huilan, Kui Yuanyuan, Ling Jie, Liu Xuan, Fan Ye, Li Ya, so many of them).
During Anna Pavlova's beam routine I recognized music from my favorite composer, Yuki Kajiura. She seems to be popular with gymnasts. I've heard several of her songs in Olympic and World competitions, particularly those used in the anime Tsubasa Chronicles. Makes me wonder how many of these girls like anime.
I love Yang Yilin on bars! shes one of my favourite gymnasts in this final!
The spotters for the Chinese really spotted! They put their arms out and everything!
What an amazing routine from He Kexin! *-* The first combination is just crazy!
Jiang Yuyuan's Jager is so high! Chinese are just the best on bars and they deserve every score they get! Yang Yilin's bars has always been underscored.
Yang Yilin!!!! My God.. absolutely incredible.
@8:42 now THAT was incredible! chinese girls performed insanely well.
The commentators said before He Kexin's routine that we "might see the first ever 17.00+" in gymnastics> I don't know if it counts, since it was Nationals and not an international competition, but at the 2008 U.S. Nationals on day 1 Nastia got a 17.050 on bars, and on day 2 she got a 17.100. Just for statistical sake :)
I doesn't really counts, the same as in figure skating Yuna Kim scored over 80 pts in her short program at the Korean Nationals, but some how the judges kindda over score the girls because since they are from the same nationality they look forward to almost the same skills
BBC coverage >>> NBC coverage
i watched this competition for the first just yesterday and am amazed at how fierce the competition was, it definitely blows London out of the water, but sad that China couldnt repeat their performance again
Kexin is incredible! This young lady has three flying release moves and two of them have combined moves! Kexin's bars should have higher start value.
He Kexin is amazing.
There was also much talk in '08 about the competition between He and Liukin - for me, Yilin KILLS it. She is perfect!!!
Oh that's cool, thanks
I din not realize Yuanyuan Jiang is such a great bar worker! Wow, China had a dream team on uneven bars.
Todas las participantes son increíbles atletas. Las Chinas EXCELENTE
I would love to see Pavlova's switch ring with one of the slow-mo effects they used in London!!!
Grebenkova competed in the 2004 Olympics before she was married under her maiden name which is Ezhova. She was good on the beam back then but seems to have given in to nerves a little, just as Pavlova did, though she was also a 2004 Olympian for Russia.
Chinese bar work is beautiful...except most of their transitions to highbar end in dead hang, or near dead hang :/
I am in love with Pavs' change ring and onodi on the beam! She does a lot of quarter turns to handstand.
I love how they call Nastia by her full name, Anastasia.
I know! I can't wait for LONDON!!!
OMG HAHAHAHAHHAAH LOOK AT THAT CHINESE JUDGE? On the left of the screen REACTION AT 9:22 ! She's like OHH HELLZ MOTHER FREAKING YESSS and does a FIST PUMP !! I can't lol I'm rolling and crying on the floor ! That's so cute and funny ! She's like that's right yo , that's right that's my homegirl right there on the bars and she just nailed it ! I can't BELIVE I haven't noticed that before lol
Can't blame Christine's for being in love with Yilin's form; it's immaculate.
It's Ashleigh Brennan of Australia's floor music which is made up of two pieces spliced together - the first is the Cold Case theme music and after a minute it turns into I think something from Yuki Kajiura. Just search for either of those
That could be it, too.
Good point :)
LOVE PAVLOVA!! So beautiful!
So much disappointment for Russia's team! They could have definitely taken the bronze medals if they were more consistent on that day!
@russiangymfan
I think one of the reasons so many American's complain about the Chinese gymnasts being underage is because in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney China's medals were stripped because the OIC and FIG concluded that one of the chinese gymnasts was underage.
I really can't decided who's bar routine I like best: He Kexin, Yang Yilin, or Nastia Liukin. All three of them were amazing!
wow .. before someone said "hahaha follow that china"
and now I say "Oh yeah, boy did they follow it... I can see that I laughed last lmao"
And many Americans, like me, think the Chinese were amazing and respect & admire their skills, as well as the other gymnasts. Yes, some may have judged the Chinese gymnasts based on their own standards, but everyone in the world does so. And America was not the only one saying that they looked young, so were other countries to so attack one of them! I myself & my friends who enjoyed the 2008 Games are great sports, classy, & respectful. Maybe some people should look at themselves b4 speaking...
i agree, it isn't trendy to bring it up, but I think she was, not based on her size, but on previous reports!
The little Chinese gymnasts are so cute. :)
I'm actually surprised yilin was scored as low as she did in ub finals. I was expecting more of a battle between the 3 of them
Regardless of the Chinese gymnasts' ages (yes, I think they were underage--way too much evidence plus a proven record of having cheated already)--their gymnastics here were amazing. God, how do such TINY girls manage to muscle their way up to the high bar like that?! Incredible work. I hope those kids got a hero's welcome AND serious prize money by their country.
disagree.
liukin is amazing and unbelievably graceful, and her bar routine is extremely hard and long. her dismount could be better but she landed it beautifully.
yang yilin deserved a higher score than liukin! her handstands and her lines were exquisite its wot the apparatus is about!
@lindseylee77
thank you, i did not know that.
although that doesn't really matter because what i meant was out of all the athletes, beth had the highest difficulty score. i didn't mean she had the highest through out the entire competition. i see my statement could have easily been misinterpreted
I will admit that the Chinese are impeccable on bars, but I hardly think it would kill them to create routines that don't appear so similar. There was little variety in the skills used and the order they were put in between Jiang, Yang and He. A bit of a change-up would be nice.
does anyone know whose floor routine is going on during Pavlova's beam, or what the music's called? I love it!
The Chinese are amazing on beam, however I noticed that most of their gymnast had slight dead hangs when transitioning from the low bar to high bar.
@bbhouk1 Oh wow! thank you! :)
Do you know what is the highest A score ?
Looks like Lyudmila Grebenkova is working on beam in the rhythm of Georgia Bonora's floor music. Funny.
This bars lineups from china, must be the best line up ever in the history of team finals.
Like better than China 95, USA 03 or Russia 12
he's release move is very impressive however. They both have great form, so i do think he should get a higher score.
@macassar88 What happened to the old marking? lol like 9.5 -9.7 why do they use ..15..17...?
Wow you really have nothing but raging contempt for Anastasia Liukin and her gymnastics.
@mufffin777 they changed the scoring.every skill has a set difficulty. the ten most difficult elements in a routine are added together. that, plus connection bonus and fulfilled requirements bonus are your difficulty score or A score. They then deduct out of a ten for the things like bad form. This is the B score. Add them together and theres your score.
Example: Nastia's bars
A score- 7.7
B score- 9.2
add them together and you get her score, 16.9
B score used to be the only score
@bbhouk1 actually the only time her a-score was 7.8 in the whole olympic games was in event finals.
The commentators said before He Kexin's routine that we "might see the first ever 17.00+" in gymnastics> I don't know if it counts, since it was Nationals and not an international competition, but at the 2008 U.S. Nationals on day 1 Nastia got a 17.050 on bars. Just for statistical sake :)
the judges at the visa championships really give too much credit to the gymnasts also Nastia's routine was better in the team final then at the visa championships also these commentators are from UK, but don't worry i m just telling you i m not blaming you for writing that you didn't know
Thanks just wondering
anyone know if this can be downloaded to a dvd?
@mufffin777 vault scoring is a little different
every vault has a certain difficulty score (A score) and then they deduct out of the B score
Example- Shawn Johnson's 2.5 twisting Yurchenko
Her A-score was 6.5
So if Shawn were to get a perfect 10 as her B-score her score could be 16.5
and if Nastia were to get a perfect bars score it would be 7.7
it is still possible to get a perfect 10 they just have to add the difficulty to it so you will never see a 10 on a scoreboard
She definitely did better thatn Liukin with a lower score. Makes perfect sense.
Tkachev
Jaeger
Pak Salto transition
Doble Layout dismount
How creepy is it thats on the series pavlova falls on the sad music begins
back tension!!! That's what's different from the Chinese to the rest of the world even the ones who others say have great form...most notably Liukin
tumblin: Perhaps the International Gymnastics Federation should set new rules to make it easy for Liukin to do bars? She has already been overscored on all 4 events!
The younger male commentator (first voice in this video) annoyed the hell out of me. BBC are generally great and I love the other two but this dude obviously knows nothing about gymnastics, or math for that matter. Feels like the BBC plucked some morning radio show presenter and said “here go do the Olympics”. Not only did he make mistakes in his math he obviously had no idea that China had enough difficulty to destroy US in bars, and they did, by nearly 2 points. China’s weakest score was better than USA’s 2nd and 3rd score. It just annoys me today even as I watch this.
yang yilin is not tiny, at least taller than her teammates
Listening to the American commentators during on tv was so misleading! They seemed completely convinced the Americans were underscored, but after doing more research, I can clearly see that the Chinese had much better technique. I'm really disappointed with NBC... Anyway, vive la chine!!!!
Butterfngrbart: I think bigger deductions should be in place for flat feet, unpointed toes, separated legs, crossed feet and legs and frog-like dismount that we have seen from most American gymnasts. No grace when they do gymnastics like this.
@mufffin777 out of the the entire olympic competition beth tweddle (of england) had the highest a-score, a 7.8 on the uneven bars
and really don't thank me, i just do this stuff to show off my knowledge!
how old is the gymnast at 0:14 from Russia??
who honestly cares. so what if they're underaged, they're clearly more talented than all the other gymnasts out there. the fact that they're underage makes me like them even more, our US gymnasts got beaten by a bunch of 12 year olds...
It is more than height and weight. I was basing my comment solely on an overall impression of her -- but it only took a quick internet search to reveal that several OFFICIAL Chinese websites confirm she would have been only 14 in these Olympics, well below the minimum age. Miraculously, all of these web pages have now been removed. Of course, this is nothing new, more than one retired Chinese gymnast has confirmed that she was forced to lie about her age.
who's on floor in the background during anna pavlova's beam?
Or maybe that was a commentator not a judge lol at 9:22 fist pumping! Haha
What is it with the Russian girls and beam falls in team finals?
@gymnastfreak921 And I really like more the "14 years age rule" than the unfair "15 / 16 age rule".
personally they look like they are 16 to me.
i have been to china..and well
the girls in high school or evne in their first year of uni look..very young. also, as for their height, to my understanding 5'3 is consider decent height in china.
@russiangymfan you seem to know a lot about this...tell me HOW...just HOW did Liukin score more than Yang Yilin and the same as He Kexin...I'm so confused, even now!
To LMA629: Many u.s. former olympic medal winners used enhanced drugs. for example, before the Seoul olympics, several u.s. athelets were tested drug use, but there still went to the game, competed, at least 5 of these drug users won medals and still kep their medals today! According to your logic, are you saying that because of this history, the entire 2008 u.s. team should be questioned?
I mean I'm not saying that they were underage but I think that the FIG did investigate it and that the Chineese should explain why they're were other ages for those gymnasts. But the Chinese did well here and definitly deserved the gold, even without the us's mistakes China still would have won.
@strongbad635 Kexin was 16, turning 17 in 2008. I most of gymnastics fans really think this rule a piece of nasty shit. The Olympic age should be 14 (turning 15) again.
@MadeleinePhillips666 noo!!!! before the age for the olympics had to be 14 but now ot is 16 or overrr!!!
bigger deductions should be in place for dead hangs. no grace when muscling your way through it
He Kexin might be the bars specialist with one of the highest difficulty even amongst the Chinese but she had the worst transfers!
Tumblin: Yang Yilin is a tall gymnast, but she does not bend her legs. Why do some American fans always find excuses for "their" gymnasts' problems while trying to find every little imperfection in Chinese and gymnasts from other countries? Very poor sportsmanship.
She looks very young but I think most of the asian girls, and not only in gymnastics, look younger than they are...
song on 3.50 anyone?
Gymprincess2400: Chinese, Russian and gymnasts, fans and media of other countries have been showning great class to American gymnasts, fans and media for a long long time. Are you talking about the word of "class"? You should tell u.s. media and fans to show elemental level of respect to others! Don't talk to them about "class", they're not ready for it yet!
ADL2000: Yes, ONE Chinese gymnast was found underage in 2000, but it does not give Americans any excuse to bash their gymnasts in 2008! Why do u.s. media/fans ignore so many Americans who took drugs, covered it with the help of u.s. sports associations, went to worlds and olympics, won medals and STILL shamelessly kep their medals! Where is your justice/fairness? so you're saying all American athelets should be questioned just because some take drugs? Double standards at best display!
*on tv... sorry
@PrometheanRunGood thats true im chinese and im 24 and i still get asked for ID whenever i go for a drink!
they didnt come out with the age issue around the 2007 world championships. (or its not a big issue during that time.) if the chinese didnt win the gold, will people still make a big deal out of it?
I care. They were excellent I agree, but you are missing the point. If other countries followed the rules, they left off their otherwise-qualified underage gymnasts, which means they fielded a weaker (but legal) team. Either the age rules need to be abolished so all the best can compete, or they need to be enforced that everyone is competing fairly.