Danell Leyva, the young American World Championships Horizontal Bar finalist, recently added Liukin (Layout Tkachev 1/1 twist) into his long, difficult routine.
I hadn’t realized that Stanford’s Alexander Buscaglia caught Liukin Day 1 of Winter Cup. (Leyva missed it Day 1.)
Jim and Hannah Holt, the co-coaches of the Bellevue High School gymnastics team, have fashioned careers as freelance international gymnastics coaches. They have coached in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, Bolivia and Chile, to name a few countries.
Steve Kelley in the Seattle Times posted a glowing article on gymnastics coaches Jim and Hannah Holt. Great buzz for our sport: Changing the world, one gymnast at a time
I’ve posted about Jim, a friend of mine, in conjunction with the release of his gymnastics book, Chasing Impossible Dreams.
When I think of Jim, I often recall the competition when we first met. He was a gymnast competing all-around with only one leg. (Jim was born missing a tibia, fibula and patella.) One of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen!
Try dismounting Rings on to one leg. Never mind Vault!
On Pommels, a judge who shall go nameless (Francis Tally) deducted Jim for NO SCISSORS. Yes, we were outraged for him that day many years ago. And I’m still irked today.
Judging is about good judgment. Not every special case can be included in any set of regulations.
Just checking out a new system of women’s gymnastics handguards from a company called Panfilof and Daughters.
… a new fastening system—ratchet buckles. This system is more convenient to use than the grips with Velcro or the grips with regular buckles. The ratchet buckle grips are fast and easy to tighten exactly as needed. Ratchet buckles prohibit spontaneous opening of the bracelet. …
Narrow grips have neoprene fasteners on the tongues of the finger holds which makes it possible to regulate the size of the finger holes by moving it inside or outside.
Seems the I.O.C. is finally starting to understand social networking.
Shaun White’s 93,000 followers (including me) will be getting personal updates, legally, from Vancouver.
… there is no Olympic rule that sets up a blackout period for athletes according to Bob Condron, the Director of Media Services for the United States Olympic Committee.
“Athletes are free to blog during the Games,” says Condron. “And Twitter is just a blog that’s written 140 characters at a time.”
There are some restrictions on what athletes can do online during the Olympics. … people must keep their posts confined to their personal experiences. “You can’t act as a journalist if you aren’t,” says Condron. “You need to do things in a first person way.” …
The other most significant restriction on athletes posts is a ban on references to sponsors or advertisers who aren’t official Olympic partners. …
Recall that 2008 story about dictator Vladimir Putin having an affair with former Rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
It was eventually debunked. It seemed at the time.
That story has resurfaced. Scandal rag NY Post in December:
… Vladimir Putin has a lot to celebrate this Christmas. Not only has the Russian strongman consolidated his control over the proletariat — and all their oil and gas — he’s also been given his first son, sources say.
Alina Kabaeva, the gorgeous, 26-year-old rhythmic gymnastics champion, recently gave birth to a boy in Moscow and named the baby Dimitry …
… Kabaeva, who named the boy Dimitry, has all but vanished. “Her numbers have all been disconnected, and only five people are in touch with her — her ex-coach, her parents and two other gymnasts who serve in the Duma [the Russian parliament] …
… Mas Wanatabe shows a drill for working the punch off the table and post flight that you can use to increase the number of repetitions you can do by using two spring boards and a pit. Mas Watanabe is currently the vaulting coach for the US National Team.
LSU’s Susan Jackson as a club gymnast was coached by Dan and Ashley Baker at Stars Gymnastics. She was a four-time member of the USA National Team.
Susan’s making her former club proud this season, ranked #1 in the NCAA again, for the 5th week in a row. This past Friday night was her happiest meet yet:
… It happened just the way LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux hoped.
All-American senior Susan Jackson, the final performer in the final event of Friday night’s meet, stepped onto the floor needing a score of 9.80 to propel No. 12 LSU to an upset of top-ranked Alabama.
“I didn’t know where we stood,” Jackson said of the team scores. “I just went out there and had fun. I didn’t think about winning. I just went out there and did what I was capable of doing.”
Turns out, Jackson was capable of more than LSU needed.
Shayla suddenly looks like a contender, as most predicted at the beginning of the season. Note, however, that her rank is based on only one AA meet, this weekend against Kentucky.
… OU women’s gymnastics squad remained undefeated on the year (8-0, 1-0 Big 12) with a wire-to-wire triangular victory over No. 10 Nebraska (6-1) and TWU (3-5) in front of 1,405 fans at Lloyd Noble Center on Friday.
The Sooners scored a season-high 196.825 despite counting a fall on beam …
… The 17 gymnasts named to the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team will be on the team through the 2010 Visa Championships in Hartford, Conn., Aug. 11-14. Based on the Winter Cup results, 10 qualified for the team using the National Team Points System, and the remaining were selected by the Men’s Program Committee from among the Winter Cup participants and athlete petitions. …
Danell Leyva is the next great American gymnast, most reckon:
Success was worked out by: total number of World and Olympic individual medals won (no team medals counted), if there were ties it was split by number of golds, then number of silvers, then number of bronzes. If there was still a tie, Olympic medals were given precedence.
