In 2008, gymnasts rarely get deducted by judges in competition for crossed legs. I could cite plenty of examples from FIG and NCAA.
But here’s the most famous …
Nastia Liukin – Pacific Rim 2008 – GymnasticsMedia.com – larger image
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.
Related post: gymnastics – “form foamâ€
This is what we want to see.
Alicia Sacramone – 2005 World Championships – original – Raisport, Italy
Leave a comment if you have links or other tips for keeping the feet together. Whatever we coaches are doing right now in the gym — it’s not working.
9 comments ↓
Its funny to see this because like gymnastics the age of going to world events is in question (two the three girls who placed at this years Nationals were not eligible to go to the world Championships), however, you have to cross your legs when you’re twisting in the air.
I’ve noticed this with Nastia several times. Her form is good on vault, but her dismount off of beam and her r/o 2.5 twister on floor are very cross legged. Courtney McCool and Ivana Hong have impeccable form when twisting. Maybe there’s something that the GAGE athletes are doing that some of our other top athletes are missing? I hope Nastia can fix that before olympics.
I thought gymnasts crossed their legs because it speeds up the rotation of their twists.
Ianthe, thats what it does (the reason figure skaters do it… to get better rotation in the air) but in Gymnastics it’s kind of a no no and technically a form deduction.
“Its funny to see this because like gymnastics the age of going to world events is in question (two the three girls who placed at this years Nationals were not eligible to go to the world Championships), however, you have to cross your legs when you’re twisting in the air.”
What?
I’ve personally not had any gymnasts that crossed while twisting – at least not any who I let get away with it – so I think it depends on the coach and what they allow. Maybe Valeri feels this is the only way Nastia can get herself around doing all those twists. Either way, it does look pretty yucky.
shergymrag, sorry, let me clarify I was two different blogs at the same time
What I meant was that in figure skating, you cross your legs to get more rotation but not in gymnastics.
I have a feeling that this is not a conscious effort.
My guess is that she’s moving her head while in the air. Once you’ve left the ground, your angular momentum is set. Furthermore, keep in mind that each individual segment of the body – foot, lower leg, thigh, hand, forearm, upper arm, torso, and head has a certain amount of angular momentum. Added together, this equals the total body AM. Well, if you try to “create” more angular momentum by moving around the head and shoulders, there’s going to be AM subtracted from elsewhere. I gather this from the position of her head relative to the rest of the body and the fact that the head appears to be moving in a clockwise direction while the legs are truly moving in more of a counter-clockwise direction if you were looking at it from the top-down. Notice how well aligned Sacramone’s head is.
So, the real emphasis is teaching better take-off mechanics into the twist so that she doesn’t have to try and “create” more AM to make it around.
The reason that both legs aren’t doing this is simply related to the mass of the segments. Without actually looking up anthropometric data, I can’t 100% verify. But, my guess is that the one leg is probably pretty close to the mass of the head.
Shawn is better than Nastia.
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