… China now has 10 male gymnasts in contention for the Olympic team: Li, Yang, Chen, Huang Xu, Feng Zhe, Feng Jing, Teng Haibin, Xiao Qin, Liang Fuliang and Zou Kai. …
Competition continues Friday in Tianjin with the men’s and women’s all-around final. …
Strategic mistake? Narrowing your selection group to only 10 athletes with 3 months remaining before the competition? The USA has 45 men competing in Houston in their first Olympic trial.
Still, China is so strong in Men’s Gymnastics it would take a “perfect storm” of disasters for them to lose the Olympics as a team.
Mirror’s Edge is an upcoming … action-adventure video game that is being developed … for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows. The game will be released on these platforms simultaneously. …
The game is set in a conformist dystopia in which communication is heavily monitored by a totalitarian regime, and so a network of runners, including the main character, Faith, are used to transmit messages while evading government surveillance. …
The few that can keep their legs together — NCAA Floor Champion Courtney McCool, for example — do not get enough credit from the B-panel judges. (Courtney did not win because of good leg form, by the way, she won because of music, choreography and good landings.)
I hate to pick on Nastia, who I LOVE because of her artistry and amplitude, but she more than anyone else will be in the media spotlight leading up to the Olympics. Over and over and over again even the non-gymnastics savvy are going to see those crossed feet.
As a coach, I think we need spend more time on trampoline drills with young kids emphasizing feet together.
… For example, have contests to see if kids can do drills with a foam sponge between their feet or knees.
Excellent feature article on Ohio State coach Miles Avery.
His daily routine. Preparing Blaine Wilson, Paul and Morgan Hamm for the Olympics. His read on what it would take for Paul to upset current World Champion Yang Wei in the All-Around. And the USA team strategy for competing against China in Beijing.
Even more interesting is an article on the NBC Olympics page:
China’s Yang Wei is the 2006 and 2007 individual all-around world champion in men’s gymnastics. Paul Hamm of the United States is the 2003 all-around champion and winner of gold medal in the individual all-around at the 2004 Olympics.
Hamm took two years off before coming back to the sport; Yang will undoubtedly be favored to win gold at the 2008 Olympics. …
Here, in his own words, Hamm explains, event by event, how the competition may unfold - and what it would take to repeat as Olympic individual all-around champion. …
Will compete this week in an informal in-gym meet vs gymnasts from Germany, Italy, Canada, Venezuela and Colombia. Test meet to be held at Karoli Ranch.
Two juniors, Mattie Larson and Corrie Lothrop, age eligible for Beijing, have also been invited.
Preliminary team results. Top Eight Advance to Finals.
1. Russia 273.175
2. Germany 268.000
3. Ukraine 267.025
4. Romania 266.275
5. Belarus 265.150
6. Switzerlands 264.800
7. France 263.300
8. Italy 262.950
Like the Women’s European Championships, no All-Around champion will be named. It’s sad to see the steady slide in the importance of the AA.
Fabian Hambuechen of Germany performs on the parallel bars during the European Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Thursday May 8, 2008 at the Malley Sport Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland.
… If the scores reported from this meet are legitimate, then China may be so far above and beyond the rest of the world at this point that even the U.S. women can only dream of beating them. …
The Team Competition in Beijing will be thrilling. Twelve routines. All count. If one gymnast falls, it’s likely OVER for that team.
That’s why I predict the USA will win. They will be psychologically stronger. The Chinese girls have a history of making mistakes under pressure. And they will face unimaginable pressure.
USA Team Director Marta Karoli has mellowed over the years. She’s (hopefully) about “right”, now, in terms of knowing when to push. And when to rest.
And the USA has a lot of firepower. See what I mean on this tongue-in-cheek video: Marta will make a man out of you. Disney Moulin soundtrack.
This should help pump ratings now that they are down to their own “fab 4″ contestants. UPDATE: Dreadlocked Jason Castro is out. Now only 3 contestants.
… from the second day of the U.S. Championships last year, where he scored a very strong 15.4 (6.6 A-score). This was the last high bar routine he competed before his ACL injury, which happened later that same night on the vault. His recent routine at the U.S. Qualifier scored just a 14.55 (6.4 A-score), but was rumored to be underscored. Spring will need to demonstrate routines like the one (above) in order to make the team this summer; mid 15’s or higher is what the selection committee will be looking for.
… I would definitely consider beam her strongest event, but the U.S. actually needs her more on bars. Her beam routine, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting and beautiful to watch in the world. Her Onodi to two feet is absolutely awesome, and this year she also added a unique Onodi to immediate scale. …
… the Chinese men’s team has showed no signs of slowing down as they’re preparing to win Olympic gold in their own back yard this summer. If these guys hit, the battle will most likely be for the silver and bronze. After winning last year’s worlds by almost five points over the Japanese, the Chinese have recently added a new secret weapon to their arsenal…multiple world and Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng, who disappeared for a couple of years due to injuries and recently made a spectacular appearance at the Cottbus Cup. Below is a video of Xiaopeng’s gold medal routine on the parallel bars from that competition. …
The new editor of Gymnast is former Olympian Steve McCain. (He’s down at Bela’s ranch right now, gathering even more original video content for the site.)
Though still in beta, with features yet to be added, it’s well worth exploring the new Gymnast site now.
Surprisingly, the Olympic flame was carried to the top of the highest elevation with very little problem. Quite a technical accomplishment. Weather cooperated.
… Chinese officials did not publicize the flame’s travel to the Everest base camp, apparently to avoid protests.
Beijing has also exercised its diplomatic clout, persuading Nepal to bar climbers from border-straddling Everest’s southern face to keep potential protesters from reaching the peak and spoiling the torch’s moment.
… While it may face some protests when it is run through Hong Kong and neighboring Macau (Friday) and Saturday, the torch then moves to less-contested territory for a three-month journey across China. …
That’s the title of a guest post on International Gymnast magazine, the most venerable in the industry.
All sorts of nonsense gets posted on “blogs” — but when the best known publication in the industry questions the veracity of your book, you know the game is up. There’s no way Jennifer Sey is getting on Oprah now.
Sey memoir not all it’s chalked up to be
By Lisa Lazar
Perception is not always the same as reality, writes former Parkettes gymnast Lisa Lazar after reading Jennifer Sey’s new memoir, “Chalked Up.”
…
I grew up within the Parkettes organization, was an elite level gymnast and two-time U.S. junior national team member in the mid-’80s. I trained with Jennifer Sey and was coached by the same people she writes about in “Chalked Up.” I find myself admiring Jen for letting people see the depth of her childhood trials and tribulations, which she reveals as having begun long before she ever went to the Parkettes gym. I struggle, however, to understand how some of her detailed recollections are so very different from mine.
Even more interesting is an article on the NBC Olympics page:
Perception is not always the same as reality, writes former Parkettes gymnast Lisa Lazar after reading Jennifer Sey’s new memoir, “Chalked Up.” 
