Some videos from the recent World Cup meet in Sao Joao da Madeira, Portugal…

Flavius Koczi Floor 2010 World Cup Porto Event Finals

What an incredible twister!  He improves these tricky passes almost every time we see him…including that phenomenal 3 ½ to barani.  I also had to watch the dismount twice to make sure he really did a triple full that easily…he totally made that look like a double by opening out of it like that.  He scored a 6.5, 15.4, barely edging Diego Hypolito.

Diego Hypolito Floor 2010 World Cup Porto Event Finals

Would have definitely won had it not been for the bad take-off on that triple full dismount…he had a 6.5 like Flavius and ended up with a 15.325.  He looked very comfortable with all of the other passes…maybe he’ll put the “Hypolito” back in for worlds?  Although this is very strong tumbling, he’s definitely done more impressive routines in the past.

Daniele Hypolito Vault 2010 World Cup Porto Event Finals

Brother and sister each bring home medals!  These vaults actually aren’t too bad…at least by today’s pathetic women’s vault standards.  It seems to be that a clean Yurchenko 1 ½ and piked Podkopayeva is the standard for wining some of these “smaller” international vault titles.  To medal at a major international competition (worlds, Europeans), the standard is a DTY and a laid-out Podkopayeva.  To win worlds, you have to increase the value of at least ONE of those…such as by doing an Amanar or a handspring laid-out rudi.  Daniele will turn 26 this year and has already competed in THREE Olympic Games…I imagine she is looking to make London 2012 her fourth.  Not quite Oksana Chusovitina, but very impressive nonetheless.  She won both vault and floor at this competition (tied with Jessica Lopez on floor), although she didn’t break the 14-mark on either one.  She does look fairly solid, and I expect we will see her at the world championships this year for Brazil.

Phan Thi Ha Vault 2010 World Cup Porto Event Finals

An international medal for….Vietnam? Strange, but true.  The funny thing is that ten years ago none of us would have looked twice at these two vaults, but in 2010 they’re fairly solid!  She averaged a 13.762 for this fairly clean Yurchenko 1 ½ and handspring piked front half.  It’s amazing how far a clean Yurchenko 1 ½ will take a girl nowadays…onto the podium at many major international meets.