Commentary by Gymnastics and Stuff.

I guess the Moscow World Cup gets coverage in Brazil because Jade Barbosa and Lais Souza are competing; Brazil covers a lot of World Cups because Jade and Daiane Dos Santos compete in them quite often, as opposed to the USA. Huh.

Observations and Thoughts:

• Lauren Mitchell (AUS) topped the balance beam qualifications and made them her bitch with a 15.700. Ksenia Semyonova was second with 15.500. China's Deng Linlin and Sui Lu were not at their best that day. But who cares, GO LAUREN!!
• However, Lauren fared poorly (13.950) on floor exercise (again?!).
• I don't know anything about Sui Lu except that she's a "dark horse 'lock'" (hah) for China's Olympic team. To be frank, I'd rather watch He Ning and Zhou Zhuoru over these new kids.
• Dasha Joura didn't score as high as I would've liked her to on floor exercise (14.550), finishing second to Deng Linlin. Maybe she'll pull out the stops in finals.
• Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) fell on floor exercise but qualified to finals.
• Dariya Zgoba (UKR) fell off beam.
• Anna Pavlova (RUS) didn't like the floor mat so she didn't do floor exercise (HA HA), despite the fact that her current routine is PRAISED TO THE HEAVENS by gymnastics snobs as ZOMG THE MOST ARTISTIC ROUTINE EVAR. Anna might just be showing a shade of the QUEEN Khorkina, but then again I thought Yulia Lozhechko was the bitchy one...
• And before I forget, Anna qualified first into vault finals (14.800), though she obviously did not do her Amânar. Neither did Jade, who is supposed to be doing her Cheng vault here in Moscow.
• Fan favorite Pang Panpan (CHN) led uneven bars qualifications, over Zgoba (15.025) and Semyonova (14.825, shock horror). Semyonova's score is rather horrifying to me.

• Beth Tweddle (GBR) and Dariya Zgoba (UKR) are now back and planning to compete!
• Stefani Bismpikou (GRE) is still out, though.
• With Zgoba in for Ukraine, Iryna Krasnyanska has been bumped down to alternate. Poo.
• The beautifully watchable Yulia Lozhechko (RUS) is out of the competition. Rumors going around as to why, but the sanest consensus is that she's ill.

I'm psyched for the upcoming European Championships. I'm even more excited by the fact that it's in France, so that I can actually read the website! Ah! quelle joie!

I read the tentative roster on the website, and here are my thoughts:

• Unfortunately, Dariya Zgoba (UKR), Beth Tweddle (GBR), and Stefani Bismpikou (GRE) are out with injuries, which makes me very sad--that means Britain doesn't have much of a shot at a European team medal.  Beth is their superstar and she's the one who single-handedly pulled them into team finals last year (granted, I must give credit to Becky Downie and Marissa King). 
• Also, Bismpikou is Greece's current best hope, and the Greek girls will be less competitive without her.
• And as for Zgoba...Ukraine takes another hit. I feel sorry for them. I had so much hope for Ukraine, with Alina Kozich's resurging at last years Europeans, but alas it is not to be now...hopefully Kozich and Iryna Krasnyanska can get their act together again--I especially enjoy watching Krasnyanska.
• I also found out that Jana Komrskova (CZE) has elected to retire and give her teammates a shot at Beijing. (She was underscored, damn it!)
• 2005 Worlds bronze medalist Suzanne Harmes (NED) is back in action after becoming a mother. She's on the tentative roster for the Netherlands. (I don't have anything against her, but her Worlds medal should've gone to Zamo!) 
• Tentative Romanian team: Nistor, Izbasa (hearts! :D), Pătraşcu, Gabriela Drăgoi, and Ana-Maria Tămârjan (the poor girl who broke her leg at podium training at last year's Worlds and was replaced by Andreea Grigore). And--WHAT! No Druncea? I am heartbroken--where's my little dulcineea?
• Zamo is injured too, so no Europeans for her either. (sob sob)

The tentative roster can be found here.

Bridget and Chellsie finished second and third behind Cheng on floor exercise. I'm slightly consoled that Chellsie is going to come home with a medal.

Dariya Zgoba (UKR) won the uneven bars finals, followed by Jiang Yuyuan and Dasha Joura.

Zgoba's leotard is butt-ugly. Jiang is just what you'd expect from the winner of the 2007 Longines Award for Cuteness (bwahaha). And it's great to see Dasha on the podium again! She deserves to be up there more.

Am still waiting for balance beam final results.

But the real star of the show so far (for me) is Bridget. She's been making good in Beijing, and I'm very proud of her.

While poor Bridget's dancing is nonexistent (as usual--she seems to be IGNORING her music, which is a shame because I like it), Bridget is solid and spot on, and also moves very gracefully across the floor, even if she doesn't dance.

And Bridget looks pretty snazzy in that blue leotard. Yes.