LONDON -- The fourth of five qualifying rounds just wrapped up in London. The lowdown on this session, which included powerhouses Russia and China.
- Russia had a great day, and now sits in second behind the US by a little over a point (the equivalent of one fall and a small error). China is in third, more than five points back from the US.
- Viktoria Komova now leads the all-around standings, a little over .2 ahead of American Alexandra Raisman. Komova had a solid meet, and upgraded her vault to an Amanar (which she had previously competed, but hasn't recently). She had a few low landings on floor and a couple of wobbles on beam but her dance and expression is at the top of the field. She looked thrilled at the end of the day and was smiling and waving to the cameras and crowd.
- 2010 world all-around champion Aliya Mustafina will be the second all-around qualifier for Russia. She's currently in fifth. (Wieber's total is still fourth, though she won't be competing in the all-around).
- Russia excelled on bars, and didn't even put up a fourth gymnast. (Four gymnasts compete, three scores count in prelims) Paseka simply touched the bar and saluted the judges after Anastasia Grishina, Aliya Mustafina, and Komova all completed their superb sets. Komova is in third on that event, Mustafina in fifth, with American Gabrielle Douglas now in sixth. (The top eight make each event final, with only two per country allowed).
- Superwoman Oksana Chusovitina, who competed in her first Olympics 20(!) years ago, will most likely make vault finals. She's in third right now, behind American McKayla Maroney and Russian Maria Paseka.
- Chinese all-arounder Yao Jinnan, third at the 2011 worlds, took a low landing on vault and looked hurt. She crawled off the mat, but later seemed okay, and competed on her last event, bars, and earned the fourth highest score there. (15.766) She won't make all-around finals, though. Teammates Deng Linlin and Huang Qiushuang beat her, and are currently in fifth and eighth all-around.
- He Kexin, 2008 Olympic champion on bars (and subject of much age speculation in Beijing), also performed well on bars. She scored a 15.966, just behind Beth Tweddle. Her releases looked just on the verge of disaster though -- she hit everything, but it looked like it could go wrong at any moment. It's shaping up to be a great bar final!
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