Hi Everyone.  Let’s continue announcing the results of the TCG London 2012 Poll.  A while back you were asked to nominate choices on the TCG Facebook under specific categories.  Then you were given a chance to vote for your top choice among the selections.

So, these are the performers, results and moments you voted to acknowledge at the Games, whether it be the unlucky gymnasts, the magnificent coaching effort or the virtuosic performance of a gymnast.  There are also some of the comments left by you.

In each category there is a winner and a runner-up.  There is also a Special Commendation.  During the voting process you were given the opportunity to comment.  Many of these comments were insightful, heartfelt and even funny.  And sometimes it was not the gymnast/coach who won the category who earned the most comments.  They were not always the one that people seemed to feel they needed to speak about, but someone else.  I decided to put in this category to reflect this and give some of those gymnasts coaches a little bit of kudos too.

Read Part One: http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=7376

Read Part Two: http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=7378

Read Part Three: http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=7379

Here are the results of the next five awards.….

Greatest ‘Veteran Performer’ of the Olympics

Winner: Beth Tweddle, Great Britain

You said:

She single handedly changed a gymnastics nation. It couldn’t go to anyone else.

Beth was brilliant on bars, as always. Even though she missed out on the gold in event finals, she brought Great Britain so much joy in her three routines and it was a brilliant swan song for her. I’m so happy she was able to stick around for the London games at the ripe old gymnastics age of 27.

It is easy to follow trends but harder to start them. Beth has led from the front in creating a new generation of bold, innovative, varied bar routines – and stayed at the top when all the ‘young guns’ started catching up. Years at the top of the most technically difficult apparatus. And it could so easily have been gold….!

I know Chuso is a decade older, but no one inspires me quite like Beth. She’s carried such expectation and pressure to deliver for her country, I think she’s earned this one.

Grace (and grit) under pressure. Her own desire for that Olympic medal and the expectation of a home crowd desperate for her to pull it off.

Runner-up: Oksana Chusovitina, Germany

You said:

It was one last Hurrah for the very fabulous Chuso. She deserves this title simply because London marked the end of a illustrious and well-decorated career. She’s truly an inspiration for gymnasts everywhere.

Because she has an unique story why she has been competing for so long.

6 Olympics, and a whole lot of medals. What’s not to love about Chuso?

Special commendation: Catalina Ponor and Daiane dos Santos (who weren’t nominated on the day TCG asked for nominations)

You said:

Also daiane dos santos, 27!

This has got to be Catalina Ponor, hands down. She didn’t even make the list?!

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The “Loner of the Games’- Outstanding WAG representative of her country

Winner: Vasiliki Millousi, Greece

You said:

I fell in love with her lines and elegance after seeing her beam routine in Beijing. Her style is to die for. I think she did a beautiful job in London.

She seemed very excited and proud to represent Greece at the Games! I love to watch her lovely and elegant gymnastics; such a dazzling gymnast!

Graceful and beautiful gymnast who deserves a lot more recognition!

i love love love VM! rocking out in a country with no rock

Runner-up: Sofi Gomez, Guatemala

You said:

Beautiful gymnastics She first caught my eye at the Youth Olympics and it’s great that she is growing with every competition and putting Guatemala out on the gymnastics map.

I first saw her compete during the YOG in 2010 and felt that she was really really good, especially coming from a country with little gymnastics history. I feel like she has continued to prove what she is capable of during this games.

Making a great impression from a virtually unheard of nation in the gymnastics world – respect.

Special commendation: Celine van Gerner for her fight to even be at the Games

You said:

Well only one of these women had to sue her own country’s federation to go, so I say she gets it. The pressure to deliver to prove that putting everyone through hell was worth it must have been enormous and she had a great competition.

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Most Exciting Non-Medal Winner of the Games

Winner: Vanessa Ferrari, Italy

You said:

Contending for a top 6 finish and 6 years later still bringing in all her difficulty and even a brand new skill to be named after her!

I still believe she should have won floor bronze and HATE tie-breakers. The fact that she has maintained her talent from 2006 to 2012 is astonishing.

I loved watching Vanessa perform in London. It was great seeing the 2006 World Champion still being a presence in the AA in 2012. It’s also remarkable that she tied for 3rd in the floor final but lost the medal in one of the infamous tie-breakers from these games. Overall I was very impressed with her performances.

Ferrari is always exciting, isn’t she? From leotards to skill choices, never a dull moment. Perfect candidate for most exciting gymnast.

Runner-up: Victoria Moors, Canada

You said:

That floor routine! I hope Victoria Moors sticks around for Rio and leads Canadian gymnastics into what should be a bright future.

Her gymnastics is just awesome and you just don’t believe she’s only 15, now that Canada are on the map gymnastics wise, I definitely think she’s their star.

WASN’T EVEN IN FLOOR FINALS WEEPING BITTER TEARS FOREVER

 Special commendation: Elisabeth Seitz for her fabulous attitude!

You said:

Elisabeth seemed to go into her finals with the attitude that doing her best was her ultimate goal, and it didn’t matter that much where she placed. I loved watching that, and how happy she was with her results.

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The ‘Surprise of the Games’.

Winner: McKayla Maroney’s vault fall.

You said:

I think for many people, especially in the US, the biggest surprise was Jordyn, but honestly, she, Aly and Gabby had been trading off in the AA with such close scores for most of the year. For most of us, it was always a possibility it would happen the way it did, even if it wasn’t something we predicted. With Deng, it was a surprise, but not a shock. I mean, look at her flight series. Aliya’s medal haul was a lovely surprise, but not shocking – anyone who knows Aliya at all from watching her for the last three years knew she was going to put up a fight. Canada had tons of momentum going into the games, and I was not terribly surprised at the 5th place finish, although I was excited for them! But I think everyone and their mother thought McKayla was a lock for vault gold so long as she stood up twice, and the fact that she didn’t? I don’t know anyone who saw that coming, even as a remote possibility.

I was not expecting any surprises on this event, the gold was Mckayla’s, but that fall…

All she had to do was land on her feet. Her getting silver was worst than Jordyn Weiber being eliminated from the AA. McKayla was GUARANTEED a gold if she just landed on her feet.

Runner-up: Jordyn Wieber not making AA finals.

You said:

Everyone expected her to win the AA and then she didn’t even make it to the final, I was in shock.

Tough one! No one expected McKayla to fall that’s for sure, and Canada really did pull it together as a team. But Jordyn is probably the one that has caused the most debate amongst fans and probably the hardest one to understand, as a fan and 4 yr fan. Even though it was quite possible to happen, it still gave many a shock to realise just what her finishing 4th, 3rd USA in the AA meant for not just her Olympics, but the entire competition.

I recall the moment I realized Jordyn was out of the AA vividly. During the floor rotation, I didn’t so much as consider that Jordyn would be out of the AA. I assumed that after Gabby’s steps out of bounds, it was a race between her and Aly. So, when Aly scores a 15.325, my heart sinks because I think that Gabby is out, until I check the score page to see where Jordyn ranked. To my utter shock she was in 3rd! I remember just staring at the screen, looking at the scores of the three AAers over and over again to make sure that Jordyn was indeed out. This was something I considered as a crazy “what if” scenario, but I never thought it would actually happen!

Special commendation: Team Canada for coming through sans star

Canada performed so amazingly well at these Olympics, even without their star. They may have had to qualify in at the Test Event, but they showed in team finals that they were worthy of that place.

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The Rookie ‘Hope for the Future’ of the Games

Winner: Rebecca Tunney, Great Britain

You said:

I think Tunney is the future of British Gymnastics. Tweddle ought to anoint her with oil or something.

I believe Tunney shows a huge amount of potential for the years to come. Just in the duration of this year alone she seems to have doubled her confidence levels.

This one is hard because Canada had a blockbuster year, Janine probably should have medaled, and Sofi is the great revelation from Guatemala. But Rebecca Tunney wasn’t just great at these games – she was rock solid and shows clearly that GB wasn’t just prepping for London, GB was prepping to make a run at the medal stand in the future.

Having totally embarrassed the US commentators who panned her at the beginning of the year, Tunney has the talent and the experienced coach to get better and better ready for Rio.

Runner-up: Janine Berger, Germany

You said:

My heart broke when Janine missed out on bronze in the VT final. I hope she sticks around and shows the world what she can do!

Big hope for Germany ! The next Chusso … 

What an excellent team Germany fielded! Janine Berger is a bright star and should have an excellent future competing for the German team. I don’t think she’s top 3 material yet but with the program the Germans seem to be building she could be in the mix for several world championships and Olympics to come.

I can see Berger being a medalist in vault at next year’s Worlds.

Special commendation: Sofi Gomez, for such confidence from Guatemala

You said:

Watched her for the first time and I couldn’t believe it. Her poise was amazing, she acted as thought she was from one of the powerhouse nations and went to international competitions every month. And her beam set was gorgeous, such clean lines! 

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 The ‘Most Confident’ performance of the Games

Winner: Aly raisman, USA, Floor finals

You said:

I admit, I need to watch Sui Lu on beam finals and Catalina Ponor in team finals actually. But Aly in floor… wow! This was her last performance in an AMAZING Olympics for this girl and an amazing season leading up to it. She is quite humble and really until she made that Olympic team she just always seemed to have a little doubt as she performed–could she really be a medal contender? But she won her first individual medal at Worlds last year and slowly she’s become more confident. Her form has improved steadily. And then that magical last night of competition…. she KNEW she could do it. And she did.

Aly truly showed why she is the premier floor worker in the world in the floor finals. An extraordinary performance.