One blog post in the past drew a lot of discussion: is Texas the center of the gymnastics world?
In the end, I agreed that Romania, with the same population as Texas, had been more successful in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in recent years.
But since then … another Texas gal won the Olympic Games 2008. At a recent media event, the WOGA trio of Nastia Liukin, Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise showed off their combined 21 Olympic and World Championship medals.
Has Texas NOW surpassed Romania in number and quality of top gymnasts?
I am far more optimistic about Texas than I am about Romania. Texas has far more depth.
WOGA – Plano gym
(via International Gymnast)
UPDATE: The 2009 VISA Championships for men’s and women’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics will be held Aug. 12-15th in Dallas.
10 comments ↓
Texas has always had the fiercest J.O. competitions that I’ve ever attended. I’ve also seen those kids go to other states and kick major butt and know what a lot of those gyms do to train their kids. It’s so competitive there, although I’d have to say FL is a close second in this country.
I don’t know, Indiana is right up there with FL in my opinion. We are a very strong state. Or region 5 may be the strongest region in the country.
“Has Texas NOW surpassed Romania in number and quality of top gymnasts?”
I think a team of Liukin, Chelsea Davis, Alaina Johnson, Christa Tanella and whoever else from Texas would get a good old-fashioned Romanian beat-down.
Comparing numbers of gymnasts is lame. The Romanian program is not geared toward “JO” being a great place to hang out at. The home club doesn’t make itself look good by placing at “JO” meets.
I also don’t think it’s fair to compare talented kids cruising along in level 10 to Romanians who are busting their butts trying to do elite and talk about “Quality”. It’s easy to make something look nice when it’s only requires 80% OR LESS of your full ability.
I coach with a Romanian. He’s not sure how much longer their program can continue at an Olympic Bronze level.
What place will Romania finish in the 2012 Olympics?
Olympic Champions from Texas: Nastia, Carly and Mary Lou (3)
Olympic Champions from Romania: Nadia, Simona (2)
You mean ANDREA. Ahem.
If we think about where all the National Team Members have come from since 2004, what state do most reside from? That would be an interesting thing to research.
“Olympic Champions from Texas: Nastia, Carly and Mary Lou (3)
Olympic Champions from Romania: Nadia, Simona (2)”
1. Carly was from Louisiana and Mary Lou was from West Virginia. Carly was the 1999 LA level 10 state champ before moving to Brown’s in Houston (2000; WOGA in 2001) and ML was already an elite before switching to Karolyi’s. Why don’t we just say the entire US national team is from Texas just because they train there at the camps once a month. Does Romania get to borrow some of the best Russians and Ukranians?
2. Only Olympic AA gold counts? What’s up with that? Now it makes even less sense to talk about Texan JO kids when trying to figure out the gym center of the world.
Alright. Alright.
I give up.
Romania still has more great gymnasts than all the Texas-born gymnasts combined.
Texas is very strong besides Region 5 for WAG. However, CA does have just about the same numbers for WAG and MAG as TX give or take and it’s fair share. However, I’m not sure we are as crazy or HC as some of the texans en masse.
[...] I still say Texas is the centre of the gymnastics world. How many strong clubs are there in that [...]
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