Flavius Koczi, 2009 Romanian International, Foor Exercise (note the second pass — a back 3.5 to immediate Rudi — extraordinary!)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (starts at 30sec)
I actually don’t like this routine. A classic example of overuse of one kind of skill.
Still, Koczi was named one of 20 Gymnasts to Watch in 2010
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It reminds me of another strange routine: Zhu Sang Sang – Floor – 25 turns
If you count up all of the turns, twists, and jumps, she actually does exactly TWENTY-FIVE 360-degree turns in her routine! That HAS to be a world record. That was a quad turn at the beginning …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This was linked by Andy Thornton in a post dedicated to every gymnast who has ever competed backward layout with 3/1 twist … to punch front.
related posts:
• quadruple twist FX – Kent Caldwell
• tumbling – triple and quadruple twist (Artemev)
8 comments ↓
Quad turn – in the late ’90′s Kelsie Hendry did a quad in her routine, it was often missed by judges, telling me when I questions start value, that it was 3/1 (which she had in another combination later in the routine). One judge, actually told me that I should try to teach her to turn slower as it was hard to see all 4 turns. Seriously. Kelsie retired from gym in 2000 and went on to compete in Beijing Olympics in Pole Vault – fyi.
I once worked with a coach who told me that he had taller gymnasts twist while shorter gymnasts were flippers. Koczi looks a bit on the taller side. Perhaps his coach has the same philosophy? I don’t know. I agree that Koczi overuses twisting. It’s refreshing to watch a routine that has saltos in the tucked position, too.
Well, I’m a gymnast on the taller side (6’2”) and it’s just easier for us to twist. Taller gymnasts have more body to flip over twice which makes doing double saltos more difficult than just twisting, so that makes the taller gymnasts rely on more twists than a shorter gymnast would. I do agree that elite routines should show a good combination of both however, no matter how tall a gymnast is (and this works for a shorter gymnast over using double saltos as well).
I don’t necessarily buy “short gymnasts flip, tall gymnasts twist”. But those with more fast twitch muscle would flip more easily, & those with more slow twitch muscle twist more easily.
Courtney McCool is always a twister, and I think she’s on the shorter side and is more of a fast twitch muscle type. I think its more about the athlete and coach preference and maximizing the COP with the athlete’s best skills.
I do whole heartedly agree though that the best routines combine a nice mix of twisting and flipping elements, which is why I like floor routines like Shawn Johnson’s for the women and Marian Dragalescu’s for the men.
That is one of the fugliest routines I have watched in a while.
Besides overusing twisting skills in her tumbling, she did a double turn on toe to double twist tuck jump 3 times! The tumbling AND choreography were awkward.
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