My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
1. Beth Tweddle - GRB - 2011 Worlds - Team Final
Beth is fantastic on bars. This routine is an upgrade from what she did in Rotterdam the year before. It made my mouth drop open. If she had qualified to the event finals, she would have been able to defend her title.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
2. He Kexin - CHN - 2008 Olympics - Event Finals
2008 was the year of the Chinese. That gold medal team is the Chinese equivalent of the Magnificent 7. They had never really had the spotlight until they won Olympic gold on home soil. And He Kexin was a big reason why they won the gold medal. Her routine made my mouth drop open when I first saw it. It was just trick after trick after trick. She was fabulous.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
3. Yang Yun - CHN - 2000 Olympics - Event Finals
Yang Yun was one of my favorite gymnasts in Sydney. She was the total package. I loved her on floor and vault, and on bars of course. She gets great height on her release moves. Sometimes the Chinese athletes are so small, they don’t really fly on bars (it depends on the athlete). But she is fantastic.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
4. Ling Jie - CHN - 2000 Olympics - Team Finals
I love watching China on bars. It’s just gorgeous. They have beautiful lines, their full turns are awesome, and I love it when they throw a double layout dismount and stick it.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
5. Emilie Le Pennec - FRA - 2004 Olympics - All Around
I’m half-French, so when France puts out a decent gymnast, I end up rooting for her as much as I root for the Americans. Emilie is one of my favorite French gymnasts. This routine is awesome. I kind of wish she had done better in the all-around than 14th place. She messed up on balance beam.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
6. Amy Chow - USA - 1996 Olympics - Optionals
Amy is awesome on bars. She definitely has a Chinese look on bars with those Stalders and full turns (given that she is Chinese). I love that straddled Pak to the low bar and her dismount is insane.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
7. Svetlana Khorkina - RUS - 2000 Olympics - Event Finals
Svetlana is the queen of uneven bars. There’s no doubt about it. And it’s ironic how successful she was on this event, given how tall she is. I remember she said in Atlanta that she could scrape the floor fully extended on bars.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
8. Bi Wenjing - CHN - 1996 Olympics - Event Finals
Throughout this final, the commentators (well, Tim, at least) talked about a release move that Bi Wenjing was going to perform. Mo Huilan also performed the same release move but she didn’t make the bar final. That release move was insane, so was the piked Jaeger, and she stuck her dismount.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
9. Nastia Liukin - USA - 2008 Olympics - Event Finals
I love Nastia on bars. She gets enough height on her Geinger to do it laid out instead of piked. Her form on her dismount could be a lot better, but I don’t see her stick it a lot, so seeing her stick it in event finals was awesome.
My Top 20 Favorite Gymnastics Uneven Bar Routines
10. Aliya Mustafina - RUS - 2010 Worlds - Team Finals
For some reason, I put up number nine yesterday instead of number ten. :P Sorry about that.
I love the Russians on bars. Aliya has an aggressive style on bars. I like how when she does the Pak salto down to the low bar that she Stalders instead of doing a kip to handstand. Very Khorkina.