Entries from April 2010 ↓

European Championships:
• The All Around
• Gymnastics Examiner
• official website – news

Pacific Rim Championships:
• The Couch Gymnast
• Gymnastics Examiner
• official website – news
• Australian Gymnastics Blog – wrap-up

Leave a comment to suggest other good links. I’m finding Facebook has been great for both, Twitter … not so much.

Organizers of both these meets should be proud of the online coverage.

International Gymnast:

Rising Russian star Viktoria Komova grabbed the all-around gold Friday at the 2010 Women’s European Championships in Birmingham.

Komova, second to Anastasia Grishina in Thursday’s qualification, outperformed and outscored her younger teammate and the rest of Europe in the final. Romania’s Larisa Iordache won the bronze. …

details and results – Komova Wins Junior European Title

Viktoria was the only Junior to compete Yurchenko 2 1/2. Grishina fell on beam.

Aunt Joyce is comparing videos from Pacific Rim:

… scoring at Europeans appears to be stricter than the scoring at Pac Rim. …

The Fiercest Princess Emerges

Komova scored 58.375 as compared with Jordyn Weiber 59.55.

A great rivalry for the future. The Russians are miles ahead of Jordyn on Bars, though. (VIDEO)

LIVE blog notes from The All Around.

With all the debate regarding the minimum age rule in Senior International Gymnastics, let’s consider the case study of American gymnast Jordyn Weiber.

The USA and her coaches were soundly criticized when Jordyn won American Cup at the tender age of 13.

She was being “pushed” too fast. Competing world champion level difficulty years before she would be eligible for Senior competition. Recall the controversy?

Because I knew and trusted her coaches, I defended them at the time. And today I’m thrilled to hear all the reports from Australia.

Coach John Geddert:

Jordyn Wiber won the Junior division of the Pacific Rim championships posting a phenomenal 59.55. Considering its been 14 months since she competed last … that is amazing. She made finals in all 4 events, helped the USA claim the TEAM GOLD and was the highest AA score for the USA Team …

Read a great backgrounder on International Gymnast:

… “I’m really excited to finally compete it,” she said. “It’s really fun to perform.”

While the new routine boasts the usual stunning array of difficult tumbling we have come to expect from Wieber, it is the dance where we truly witness just how much fun she is having. She performed the dynamic, yet elegant routine with both dignity and the kind of sass factor that catches the eye in a way her dance never has before.

Today, Wieber’s happiness at returning to the sport she loves was palpable. The smile barely left her face as she danced her way through the perfectly suited routine. It remained after a solid day of training brilliantly on every single event. It is no wonder, when asked what apparatus she was enjoying most at the moment.

“I don’t really have a favorite, currently,” she said. “At the moment I actually really like competing every event.”

Brigid McCarthy – Jordyn Wieber: Back With a Vengeance

Congratulations Jordyn.

Senior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics:

1. Rebecca Bross (USA) – 59.150
2. Alexandra Raisman (USA) – 58.250
3. Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) – 57.450

Zeng Siqi from China.

The dude who does the announcing told me he wanted to take littlest Chinese girl home as a pet- but his wife wouldn’t let him. Everyone, I mean, everyone wanted to adopt her!!!

I’m just scrolling backwards on Couch Gymnast, catching up on highlights and hilarity from the competition in Melbourne.

You’ll find that photo and many, many more.

Photos and funny commentary on The Couch Gymnast ….

… The Chinese were terrible on beam. They fell and fell and fell and fell. We could have just lined them up and pushed them off. But they were delightful on floor. …

see more – THE CEREMONIES…..

2010 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships – home page

The Olympic Silver medalist in Trampoline has done it again. At Pacific Rim Championships prelims:

… Jason Burnett (CAN): Great start that impressed the judges with his first routine. Was aiming to break his own personal difficulty world record by competing an 18.8 routine. Started very strongly with a rudi out triff, half in half out triff and half out triff. Had a little trouble mid routine which reduced his final degree of difficulty to 18.0. We will have to wait until Sunday’s final to see if he will attempt to break the record again. …

Gymnastics Australia – Trampoline Individual Preliminary rounds

The 18.0 is still a new record DD. An 18.8 would be insane.

(via Brett MacAuley on Facebook)

The USA women D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E-D the competition at the Pacific Rim Championships in Australia.

Besides the team gold, Rebecca Bross and Alexandra Raisman finished 1-2 in the Sr. All-Around.

Jordyn Wieber and Kyla Ross were 1-2 in the Jr. All-Around. Anna Rodionova (RUS) was 3rd.

Rebecca Bross

… Bross earned the top score in the bars and the floor, performances that propelled her to the women’s all-around victory with 59.150 points in Melbourne, Australia. Teammate Alexandra Raisman tallied 58.250 points and took second, while Russian Ksenia Afanasyeva (57.450) placed third. …

read more on Universal Sports

Bridget Sloan competed only Bars. Missed Bars. And did not qualify for apparatus finals.

Couch Gymnast is there – U.S.A. Takes All

• Raisman got a staggering 9.950 9.50 execution score on Vault (congrats judges!)

• “Vega’s floor routine is easily the prettiest thing at Pacs”.

• mind-bogglingly amazing event- KSENIA AFANASYEVA HIT FOUR

I’d like to respond to the latest Big Fake Smile post …

But it’s on Gym hair.

As a male coach I decades ago learned not to offer my opinions on anything to do with the clothing, make-up, accessories, periods, piercings or tattoos of female gymnasts.

Click through to read spanny tampson’s opinion.

Actually, we’ve got bigger hair problems on the MAG side right now.

Was Justin Bieber competing?

Leave a comment if you want to dogpile.

Three time defending Ms. Fitness, Vanda Maria Hadarean, is AGAIN on the cover of Oxygen Magazine, May 2010.

She won a silver medal in the Team competition for Romania at the 1992 Olympic Games. Amanda Turner linked to her 1992 Compulsory Floor routine, age-16.

Admit it guys, Vanda makes you look like a marshmallow.

Vanda

(photo via Senor Nico on IG forum)

related – Oxygen Magazine Cover Girl Insider

I never get tired of saying that.

It must be the Canuck’s most successful Summer Olympic Sports since introduced in 2000.

At the Pacific Rim championships in Australia …

… First to reach the podium with double gold medals were the high-flying synchro trampoline teams of Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh Maclennan, both of Toronto, and Jason Burnett of Toronto and Charles Thibault of Quebec City. …

Gymnastics Canada

Karen Cockburn and Rosie MacLennan - photo GraceClick.ca

In women’s junior synchro Mariah Madigan of Toronto and Joanie Pothier of Three Rivers finished second.

Qualifying round.

Gymnastics Examiner:

The Russian women were the top qualifiers to Saturday’s team final at the 2010 European Championships in Birmingham, England.

In a competition format where the top three scores on each event counted toward the team score, Russia had the highest totals on vault and floor to top Romania 168.325-166.8. Romania, competing with only four athletes and using only three per event, had the highest score on beam.

Third-place Great Britain (165.3), backed by exceptional bars and floor performances from star Beth Tweddle, had the highest team mark on uneven bars. France (162.8), Italy (161.525), Ukraine (161.15), the Netherlands (158.675) and Switzerland (156.75) rounded out the top eight teams. …

Russian seniors lead team qualifying at European Championships; Beth Tweddle best on bars, floor

Beth Tweddle - from British Gymnastics on Facebook

More amusing commentary with videos by Aunt Joyce.

full team results (PDF)

One of the stranger stories you’ve heard all year.

A dispute over an autograph session between World vault champion Kayla Williams’s parents and coaches at Bozhi’s Gym Nest in Charleston, West Virginia, has caused the U.S.’s most unexpected star to stop training while she searches for a new coach, USA Today reported Thursday. …

Gymnastics Examiner – After rupture with longtime coaches, Kayla Williams out of training