Some amazing routines we never saw!

Prepare to be AMAZED. I honestly had no idea that Jana Bieger ever did a floor routine this good:

I’m speechless! This is by far and away the best floor routine I have ever seen her do, and it was a full five years ago! That was one of the best double fronts I’ve ever seen, a beautiful front full through to triple full, a RANDI, and a double Arabian dismount. I had no idea she ever did a randi, and it was AWESOME!!! And although I wouldn’t go so far as to say she’s “graceful” here, she was a whole lot closer to it than she is now. I think part of it is her more “lean” look here that makes her a bit more elegant…and I actually kind of like the music. Boy this routine would medal at the world championships now. I think she should consider bringing back some of her old tumbling passes!

Did you know she had a strong second vault? A laid-out Cuervo is a whole lot more than most gymnasts have for a second vault, which is nothing! I honestly didn’t remember her doing this, and it’s pretty darn good. If she had a double full now, she could make the world vault finals.

My point here was to show that she used to look quite a bit cleaner on bars to me…her feet didn’t used to stick out like a sore thumb. This was before she even started doing her stalder Tcatchev, but she just had an overall more elegant look here. I’m still not quite sure what’s happened…

And that double front dismount used to look pretty easy for her! I loved that original combination she used to do with the layout and front aerial down to her knees – no one else has ever done that! And her barani looked effortless. It seems like overall she used to have some better choices of skills that made her stand out a bit more than she does now. These videos are a great reminder of just how incredibly talented this gymnast is. I really hope she can somehow regain this type of confidence and competitive look because she could still be a huge asset to the USA team.

The best floor routine I’ve ever seen her do! This is a good reminder of the fact that, despite her immense struggles with her tumbling for a couple of years, 2008 was NOT the first time Nastia Liukin was good on floor. Her front layout to Randi was practically revolutionary, and her 3 ½ twist was one of the skills that first made her famous. I really wish she would bring back her triple full, because she had an awesome one. I don’t see why that would be so hard on her ankles…it certainly couldn’t be as bad on them as her bars dismount is. Her triple full would be a great dismount for her now.

WOW!!! Did you have any idea Chellsie ever competed that incredible combination? To my knowledge, this was the only time she ever competed it. What a difficult and unique sequence that was. Chellsie – bring it back!

We’ve seen her do routines like this time and time again, but I hadn’t seen this one. It’s a good reminder that she is one of the best beam workers the USA has ever had.