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Svetlana Boginskaya looks on as Daniela Silivas’ “Perfect” 10 comes up.

Again, our coverage is via British Eurosport with John Taylor and the iconic Legend of Heft herself, Monica Phelps 😍.

(FX Final starts at 1:48:30)

It’s only warm-ups and Monica already has a hot take. After John reckons Boginskaya the favorite, Monica reports while that might be true, Svetlana Leonidovna is not her favorite. All right then. Monica goes on to single out Yang Bo as having much better tumbling than our AA champion. Yes, that well-known tumbling powerhouse Yang Bo.

Cristina Bontas, who absolutely got robbed of bronze in the all-around IMO, is first up. Cracker of a double layout. Very energetic style with some interesting choreographic flourishes, including a headstand. There’s a bit of a rushed quality to her work that is understandable due to her youth and immaturity. Middle pass is wonderful: tucked-full in + straddle jump back the other way into a tucked double back. However, she lands a bit forward and must make a small adjustment on landing. The leaps lack a bit of amplitude and the dance, while pleasant enough, suffers from a lack of gravitas. Last pass is whip through to double back and she slightly overcooks the lunge. The crowd loves it. Again, Monica states that the Chinese are the ones to beat on floor and it’s causing me to question my entire gymnastics knowledge. [There have been exactly ZERO Chinese Olympic champions on floor and precisely ONE World Champion in Cheng Fei, a full seventeen years after this meet.] 9.962 is Bontas’ score–only one 9.90 (which feels like what I would have given) from East Germany, which is dropped.

Up second is the Queen of Stuttgart, our overall champ Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya. A true diva, she doesn’t care that it’s after Labor Day and is in a mostly-white chic leo with a pattern of pink and yellow ribbons on the bust. (It looks much better than how I’ve described.) As the sweet, sweet opening chords of Fiesta begin, Monica concedes that Boginskaya has great dance “and the facial expressions to match” (whatever that means), but however will her tumbling stack up? Mount is a piked full-in, chest a bit down but landed perfectly otherwise. Even Monica says it was beautiful. However, Monica is not so fond of the middle pass of 1 ½ through to double full, which she says is “not a very highly rated tumble”. The choreography of this piece is wonderfully avant-garde and exceptionally expressive; she has a style truly all her own. Beautiful high (cowboyed) tuck double back for the last pass before some final angst and an iconic finishing pose. Everyone loves it except for France, who gives it a 9.95. *insert side-eye* Tens from all the other judges. Monica reiterates that Bogi’s dance is unsurpassable. Has she possibly been won over?

Olesya Dudnik is next. Capable of a wide array of tumbling passes, she chooses to mount here with a piked full-in, same as Boginskaya. She shows incredible variety with her second pass of 2 ½ twist immediate punch front–one of the first to perform what would eventually become an incredibly common tumbling run. Her music is Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody, and the choreographic highlight comes near the end with a spectacular leap series that coincides with the music perfectly. Unfortunately for Olesya, leap amplitude isn’t exactly her strong suit, but it still pays off fabulously. The final tumble is a tuck double back, landed brilliantly. While this was a strong exercise, Dudnik didn’t really sell it like she found a Three Day Eviction Notice on her door and she’s gotta make that rent money, highlighting her somewhat more reserved style. John and Monica are big fans nonetheless, and Monica ponders if history will be made with multiple gold medalists all scoring 10s. Slow-motion shows questionable form / a noticeable leg separation on her first pass and a 9.95 puts her third out of three competitors so far.

The high bar Final is taking place alternately, and Monica makes some inane comment about a Japanese gymnast enjoying Japanese food and Japanese music. Oy vey 🤦‍♂️.

Monica’s pick Yang Bo is up next. Jazz hands to open. Third piked full-in mount in a row; she lands hers a bit short and has to take a step forward. This music is all wrong for anyone outside the sphere of influence of Geza Pozsar, especially a gymnast of Yang’s refinement. Whip to middle full middle pass is exactly the kind of amazing tumbling Monica must have been referencing in the opening. Oh wait. This Energizer Bunny on Adderall choreography is absolutely abhorrent and, frankly, is a waste of Yang Bo’s ability 😔. Double tuck dismount is again woefully short and she takes an ever bigger step forward to compensate. Monica promptly walks back and/or forgets everything she said before—now Yang is too young and immature to properly express the dance and won’t be amongst the medalists. Sure Jan. My frustration with Monica and her selective memory instantly evaporates as whilst showing the leader Boginskaya signing autographs for fans in the stands above her, Monica retorts: “It’s a good job they asked her when she’d finished her floor routine and not before, otherwise they could well have had [their] book thrown back over the balcony.”

Peak Monica 🙏🏼. Yang Bo receives a 9.775. Monica says it’s a fair score. I’m wondering how she made floor finals in the first place after witnessing that routine if I’m being perfectly honest.

I’m instantly intrigued as I don’t recognize the next competitor taking the floor—Milena Mavrodieva from Bulgaria. Double straight (as the Brits would say) to start! Unfortunately, she lands a bit short and right on the sideline, maybe even going over. Very dramatic music although the choreography is at times a bit random and incongruous to it. Open Russian front through to double tuck middle pass. Beautifully done. She does a really cool series with some parkour-ish jump spins that I love. I’m digging this routine. It’s so… Bulgarian. She dismounts with a full-in, but this one definitely lands out of bounds. Quel dommage ! Monica adds insult to injury by saying she is getting by on the reputation of her country and not on her current form. Boginskaya is having a snack and we know that will not go unnoticed by Monica, who says Bogi’s eating a bit of an apple and some cake or biscuit. “That’s how she keeps that good physique.” Side-eye emoji. 9.825 for Mavrodieva.

Chen Cuiting is next. She starts with a whip through to piked full-in. The music and choreography suits her well, although it isn’t especially interesting or memorable. Middle run is whip to double tuck (again, glorious form with toes pointed and no cowboy), landing a wee bit underrotated and taking a step forward. A little bit of a stumble on her double turn as she doesn’t quite complete the rotation before dropping her heel. Double tuck dismount done perfectly. Crowd loves it. 9.912.

Now the moment we’ve all been dreading because sadly, I know how this one ends. It’s the reigning Olympic champion on this event, Daniela Silivas. She continues with the compulsory mount of piked full-in, hers out of a whipback. Well done. Exquisite double turn. Middle pass of double full punch front immediate hurdle roundoff back handspring double full. But a lack of power and precision working out of the first double twist and the landing on the second one is a bit low. She also appeared to be seriously offline in the second part of that sequence. Monica thinks she’s said goodbye to the 10, but she’s not viewing this as something already decided beforehand. You know, the way one is supposed to judge things. 🙄 This may be my bias, but I don’t think the choreography is especially inspired and she seems quite lethargic here towards the end. Dismount is a double tuck, slightly overrotated with the lunge not perfectly controlled (as we saw with Boginskaya). Monica thinks Boginskaya has the gold to herself, because she has functioning eyes and Daniela’s routine was farrrr from faultless. However, the fix is in and Silivas is showered with 10s across the board anyway. Svetlana Leonidovna gives an amazing look of disapproval and Monica says she (Boginskaya) is unimpressed. Twenty-three years before McKayla Maroney. Svetlana Leonidovna is an icon. She’s a legend. And she IS the moment.

Over on high bar, cutie Hungarian Csaba Fajkusz does a Def to immediate Gienger, but sadly lost the plot soon afterwards. He also performs a one-armed Gienger to one-arm re-grasp. Shock and awe. Je vis! 💗

Closing this show is the pride of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Choi Gyong-Hui. First pass: whip to piked full-in immediate headplant. Yikes, that was not even close. Bless. Middle pass is a triple full that makes Hollie Vise’s attempts seem fully rotated. She also steps out of bounds. Double bless. I do love her leotard, though. And this music, which sounds familiar.. Monica says she doesn’t seem quite ready for all this difficulty. You think? The routine is actually quite nice; she has lovely arm movements and expression. She runs halfway past the diagonal before hurdling on her final pass—tuck double back and again, out of bounds. Monica says she is a star of the future, which didn’t really end up coming to fruition, sadly. John says her day is still to come but unfortunately it never did. Well maybe it did, but not in relation to gymnastics. She doesn’t even break nine, scoring an 8.95. Bless her heart. Boginskaya looks incredibly resigned and not at all looking forward to the upcoming medal ceremony where she will have to unfairly share the top spot with her archrival. And who could blame her, really?

I must say I was pretty impressed with the judging until the second Silivas’ score came up. I probably would have had the podium as follows: 1. Boginskaya, 2. Bontas, 3. Dudnik. There’s a slight chance I might tie Silivas with Dudnik for the bronze. But probably not, on second thought. I also could very well tie Bontas and Dudnik for silver. Or switch them and have Olesya 2nd and Cristina 3rd. The more I watch Dudnik’s floor, the more I love it.