After Shayla Worley, Ivana Hong was my favourite American gymnast of the last quadrennial.
As Amy Van Deusen says, ” … you can’t seem to take a bad picture of Ivana because her form is so good.”
sitesbymorgan – Brian Jones – larger version
more photos of Ivana
World gold medalist Ivana Hong will make the move to Plano, Texas-based WOGA to train under Valeri Liukin as soon as her right ankle heals enough to resume training, she told Inside Gymnastics earlier this week.
In the past few months, Hong, who turned 16 in December, has sampled several clubs across the U.S., but settled on the WOGA, home of the last two Olympic all-around champions, after a successful trial run in early January. …
Inside Gymnastics – Hong Headed to WOGA
Despite endless commentary I read about her problems leading up to the Beijing Olympics, I felt Ivana was extremely well trained by Al Fong and Armine Burutyan over the last quad. For an international gymnast she was an average talent, very well prepared. Her training of Yurchenko Double Twist, for example, was text book perfect. It’s amazing to me she can do that vault.
related posts:
Armine Barutyan – gymnast and coach Is gymnastics coach Al Fong a changed man?
8 comments ↓
I think you have a good analysis of Hong. Average physical talent, well-trained. Not really sure that Valeri can do more for her than Fong. She does have nice form though, better than Nastia (who has awful form).
I can’t beleive Worley was your favorite gymnast. She may have been interesting to look at, but the rumors I hear is that she has a very selfish and unkind personality. The stolen China donations and her getting kicked off tour sorta bear that out.
Rick, you and I share the same fave US gymnast. I’ve been a massive fan of Worley’s since she was a wee junior. I’m always impressed with girls who can mix a great strength, with great flex and a bit of spunk. Worley remains my top pick, she always put 100% into her routines and seemed to have such a natural bounce about her… and wasn’t it revealed that her family tried to return the China donations, but the donors wanted her to keep it anyway? That’s just what I read – but I could be wrong!
Aw. This makes me a little bit sad. She has been training at my gym quite frequently for the past couple of months.
Though I’m always in practice when she is there I don’t get to ever watch her, but it astounds me how much control she has.
Hannah, you are wrong. They said they would return the donations and then did not. Not a single one. It was a fiasco. Trashy, trashy.
Wow, TCO. I would think that SPORT would be more important to you than gossipy-soap opera-drama. A good gymnast is a good gymnast whether she likes the five finger discount or not.
Ivana is always beautiful to watch. It will be interesting to see how WOGA can help. I think that Fong and Burutyan’s work with her has been fantastic. She and Courtney McCool are two of the cleanest American gymnasts we’ve ever had IMO. They both tumble with their legs so glued together that it looks like one appendage rather than two. That is not necessarily the most efficient way to generate power biomechanically, but artistically it’s beautiful, and very hard to execute. Both of these athletes twist without crossing their legs too, which sets them in a whole different athletic category than most gymnasts that are performing the same level of difficulty. Maybe a fresh perspective and physical maturation will give her the power to compete at a level that rivals Nastia? My hunch is that it will. Good luck to her. I look forward to seeing more of her.
I wish her luck. Break a leg…
I LOVE watching Ivana.. I was hoping she would have been picked to go. She was rather inexperienced, though, and it showed in her routines…
I look forward to seeing what skill improvements she attains. She has a wonderful body line, and attempts to break the traditional mode of typical gymnastics..
Good for her… I hope her move is a productive one. Best wishes to her!
Leave a Comment