If you’re close to Colorado Springs this weekend, support the sport meet by attending.
… “USA Gymnastics is proud to sponsor the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships as part of its efforts to support and promote collegiate gymnastics at all levels,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “Collegiate gymnastics is an important segment of our sport and this event provides additional universities the opportunity to compete for a national title.”
At the men’s USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships, the team competition is divided into two categories, varsity and collegiate. The varsity competition is for Division I, II, or III, four-year institutions with gymnastics as a varsity sport, and the collegiate team category is for two-year or four-year degree-granting schools with gymnastics as a club sport.
The schools in this year’s field are: Varsity — College of William and Mary, Springfield College, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Naval Academy; and Collegiate Club Division — Arizona State University, College of Brockport, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Portland Community College, University of Texas and University of Washington …
A bevy of well-known Chinese athletes, including several gymnasts, will take part in in a University of Wisconsin Madison study session, according to The Capital Times. …
The six month program, which begins in June, is a “non-degreed seminar enabling the Chinese student-athletes, currently enrolled in graduate studies at the Beijing University of Sport, to build their English, science, leadership and coaching skills.”
Amongst the 11 expected athletes are gymnasts Jiang Yuyuan, a member of China’s gold-medal-winning women’s team in Beijing, 2001 World medalist Sun Xiaojiao and legendary beam worker Yang Bo.
Is Jiang Yuyuan going to train in Madison, WI … … She’s competing in Edmonton next weekend.
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An update from Inside Gymnastics explains where the error started:
Amongst the 11 expected athletes are 2001 World medalist Sun Xiaojiao and legendary beam worker Yang Bo, as well as rhythmic gymnast Sui Jianshuang, who won a silver medal in Beijing.
UPDATED: The Capital Times updated their story, changing the athlete names to reflect what we have listed above. The original story indicated a member of the 2008 gold-medal women’s team would be among the contingent, not rhythmic medalist Sui.
It was Sui Jianshuang, not current active gymnast Jiang Yuyuan, who’s going to Wisconsin
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge was interviewed in Singapore while there inspecting preparations for the first ever Youth Olympic Games this August.
… he warned the IOC would not tolerate anyone cheating by faking their age to meet entry requirements, as has happened at Olympics in the past.
“It is true that in the past there has been cheating both by pretending that they were older, in sports like gymnastics, or by pretending they were younger than the age category in some team sports,” he said.
“We definitely are going to follow that. We will be relying very much on the National Olympic Committees and the national federations because they are running sport on a day-to-day basis.
“If we suspect any cheats, we will be tough, there’s no doubt about that.”
The only defence offered by Luo Chaoyi, director of the Gymnastics Center of the General Administration of Sport in China, was that Fangxiao was not underage. But that after retirement she and her family for some reason contrived to lower her age in all subsequent documentation. I joking called this forging her own passport.
Why and how Dong would do this is so ludicrous a suggestions that I’m sure the IOC must sanction that athlete and her Federation.
Especially now that Jacques Rogge has declared himself tough on age cheats.
There’s almost certain to be age falsification scandals in some sports in Singapore.
I’ve not heard any specific calendar date for an IOC ruling on what to do about the medals won by Dong Fangxiao and her team in Sydney. Leave a comment if you know.
… USA Gymnastics will induct seven new members into its Hall of Fame this year. The honorees are Olympians Dominique Moceanu (1996), Wendy Bruce (1992) and Kip Simons (1996) who is now coaching the Air Force Academy men’s team, new U.S. men’s national team coordinator Kevin Mazeika, two time trampoline Olympian Jennifer Parilla and her coach Robert Null, and Ellen Garlicki Nyemcsik, a former rhythmic gymnastics World Championships team member, who has done wonderful things for the sport in the U.S. (USA Gymnastics) …
Wonderful Jessica Lopez has not retired. She’s getting better!
… Lopez, second at the Nadia Comaneci International in February and third at the American Cup in March, claimed an easy victory over two Brazilians. With the highest score on each event, Lopez defeated Leal by nearly 3 full points. Priscila Cobello won the bronze.
“My performance could not have been better — it’s marvelous!” a thrilled Lopez said.
In Wednesday’s event finals, the former Denver standout added three more gold medals on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
“I thank God I had a very good performance in the competition today, and I am very proud to give these medals to my country,” said Lopez, 24. “It’s thanks to all the work and preparation I’ve been doing with my coach (Brazilian Nilson Medeiros) that I was able to have this triumph.” …
Vault
1 – Cao, Yulong CHN 16.062
2 – Sapronenko, Jevgenijs LAT 15.862
3 – Wammes, Jeffrey NED 15.612
… Home town boy Nasser Al-Hamad finished 4th on Vault. Just off the podium.
Parallel Bars
1 – Dong, Zhendong CHN 15.900
2 – Kierzkowski, Adam POL 15.225
3 – Chen, Xuezhang CHN 15.150
Horizontal Bar
1 – Zonderland, Epke NED 15.950
2 – Zhang, Chenglong CHN 15.675
3 – Pegan, Aljaz SLO 15.325
Wu, Liufang of China won both Beam and Floor.
Beam
1 – Wu, Liufang CHN 14.700
2 – Erceg, Tina CRO 13.600
3- Khwela, Jennifer RSA 13.350
Andy Thornton posted an article titled: How to deal with balking…
… If you’re a gymnastics coach, you immediately know what I mean when I use the word “balk.” It can be a coach’s worst nightmare.
A gymnast develops a fear of a skill – sometimes a completely irrational one – and one time becomes scared enough to actually abort the skill before even attempting it. Common examples include dismounts off of high bar/uneven bars, release moves, backward tumbling skills on floor, and just about any skill on beam.
Balking once or twice isn’t what drives the coach crazy…it’s the fact that balking becomes a habit that tends to get worse and worse if it’s allowed to continue. A gymnast may at first balk about 1 out of every 10 attempts, then soon this becomes 1 out of every 5, then 1 out of 4, 1 out of 3…and then half the time. Often this trend continues to the point where the gymnast simply has psyched himself or herself completely out and won’t go for the skill at all …
In over 30yrs coaching, here’s all I’ve learned about balking:
• it’s more common with females than males
• it’s more common with backward skills, than forward
On those skills where kids are most likely to learn to balk (e.g. flyaway), go slow.
You can hurry a forward handspring, but it’s best NOT to rush a backward handspring.
Finally, the main quality you need as a coach is patience. Every balking problem is different. Stay calm and the gymnast may resolve the mental block themselves. (Booking an extra practice dedicated only to e.g. Beam Series is a last, last resort.)
That’s surfing legend Laird Hamilton and daughter Reece, shot by Peggy Sirota.
It reminded me of all the gymnastics coaches I’ve known and their baby toss stunts. Dave Arnold, for example, used to toss his kids back and forth to other coaches … each time stepping back one pace. The goal was to see how far apart the two “spotters” could get.
Shiro Tanaka’s kids could do “Geinger”, “Jaeger” and many other releases by the time they were 6 months old. (Yes, he did drop them once in a while, on to a soft mat.)
One of Shiro’s new borns, first day at the gym, he tossed into the pit. We uncovered him sitting quietly and happily near the bottom.
Leave a comment if you have any baby toss stories of your own.
