Entries from July 2010 ↓

Photos by Grace Chiu/GraceClick.

Click PLAY or watch a Trampoline and Tumbling photo montage on YouTube.

Gymnastics Examiner posted an exceptional interview with Jay, the man who missed qualifying for two Olympics. Yet has become one of the biggest success stories in the USA with his website American Gymnast.

Examiner.com: Can you tell me a little about your childhood in gymnastics?

Jay Thornton: “I was very fortunate to have several a wonderful coaches from the beginning. I was a pretty good twister. I was a little bit bigger as a kid and I had that going against me. I’m about 5’10″ and competed at about 170 pounds. I was a bit bigger as a kid and wasn’t the most physically gifted, but my first coach, Tim Erwin, started preparing me with sound gymnastics technique from the day one.”

Examiner.com: When did you decide you wanted to go to the Olympics?

J.T.: “When I was 10 years old. It was 1984, the year of the Los Angeles Olympics and I, like every other gymnast at the time, was watching the ’84 U.S. Men’s Olympic team compete. When I saw them win that gold medal, I knew at that point that I wanted to become an Olympic gymnast.” …

Read about the coach who taught him to love gymnastics, Nick Brancheau. His inspirations: Roethlisberger and Bilozertchev. And how he reconnected with the woman who would become his wife.

Gymnastics Examiner – Catching up with American Gymnast’s Jay Thornton

The advantage of buying grips and equipment from American Gymnast is that Jay truly knows the sport inside out. Here’s his reaction to to Sho Nakamori’s post on his Reisport Ring grips tearing after only 2 days.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jay’s younger brother Andy, who also competed for the University of Iowa, posts an excellent blog, Andy’s Angle, on American Gymnast. I read it religiously.

Note that the coaching video tutorial section has a new address: Gymnastics on Demand

X-Games/Olympic Champ Shaun White and Nadia Comaneci are featured in a book called When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out.

… learn the secrets of success from an Olympian? A Nobel Prize winner? A Fortune 500 CEO? Olympic gold medalist Nikki Stone has compiled a treasure trove of compelling stories to illustrate each step on the path to success. …

Amazon

(via Gymnastics Examiner)

Check an interview posted on Couch Gymnast magazine with the legendary Romanian beam coach:

What would you like to change about the current Code of Points?

In my opinion judging in general has become too strict. Even small wobbles are heavily penalised and gymnasts are denied the chance to achieve high scores.

I agree.

… which team will win at the upcoming World Championships in Rotterdam? Why?

… Romania, Russia, the USA, China and Great Britain will fight for the first place in Rotterdam. The team who makes the least mistakes will win.

read the rest of Chris’ interview → Maria Gillich-Cosma: “Now or never!“

photo copyright Tom Theobald

… Despite Hollywood-level hype surrounding Shaun White‘s return to skateboard competition Friday night at the Nokia Theater, it was two-time and defending Skate Vert champion Pierre-Luc Gagnon who did what skateboard insiders figured he would all along: win the first ever Vert three-peat in X Games history. …

ESPN

Click PLAY or watch it on ESPN.

Have you ever heard of this cartoon out of France?

Totally Spies! features the adventures and missions of three teenage spies (Sam, Clover, and Alex) led by the founder and administrator of WOOHP, Jerry Lewis.

One episode features evil Romanian gymnasts who try to gain advantage by taking “agility” from zoo monkeys.

Click PLAY or watch Part 1 on YouTube. (10min)

part 2

To me this looks pretty lame. Yet the series, now finished after 5 seasons, has been successful.

…The show is elected as ‘Best performing cartoon’ (Channel 4, UK), has the best ratings (Fox kids UK), and is number 1 in its timeslot in France (TF1 and Jetix), Italy (Italia Uno), the Netherlands (Fox Kids, then Jetix, now Disney XD), Brazil (TV Globo) and the US (Cartoon Network).

… The show has sold to more than 100 countries. In 2004, it was Cartoon Network’s second highest rated show. The show is popular among girls and boys, with, according to David Michel (Co-creator and co-producer of Totally Spies) “a 50% boys 50% girls audience ratio, whereas everybody was predicting the show would score very low on boys” …

(via kitty on IG forum)

The Chalk Bucket forum has a thread on this topic.

Cost in the USA runs $100 → $350 for Floor.
Free → $150 for Beam.

If you want professional choreography, check out Precision in Los Angeles.

At my gym kids have paid as much as $450 for a Floor routine. Buying a “used” routine is normally 50% of the original cost.

Leave a comment if you can add to the discussion. Price for quality varies wildly, it seems to me.

related – Gymnastics Zone – So You Need a Routine Choreographed

by site editor Rick McCharles

Chinese officials insist new eligibility rules will end the problem of age falsification in gymnastics.

China were stripped of their women’s team bronze from the 2000 Olympics after Dong Fangxiao was found to be 14 years old – two years too young.

Chinese sports officials promised that tighter checks introduced after the scandal would eradicate the problem.

They say the delegation for next month’s Youth Olympic Games in Singapore have had stringent checks.

“We’ve scrutinised every athlete’s age for the Youth Olympic Games to make sure there is no-one going to Singapore with a fake age,” Cai Zhenhua told Thursday’s China Daily. …

read more on BBC – Chinese confident over age checks for gymnasts

(via Full Twist)

I predict we’ll see many age falsification scandals in multiple sports at the Youth Olympic Games. China will likely not be one of those nations found guilty.

It’s not over for China, however. One day it will be proved that one or more of their competitors at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was underage.

And everybody already knows that Yang Yun was also underage in 2000. She admitted it. That controversy will come back to haunt them again, though I expect they’ll be no further IOC sanction for 2000.

Click through to Amanda Turner’s articles for full results.

Venezuela’s Jessica Lopez won the women’s all-around title Wednesday at the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games, taking place this week in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

The 2008 Olympian topped defending champion Elsa Garcia of Mexico and Colombian Olympian Nathalia Sanchez at the gymnastics hall in Hormigueros, south of Mayagüez.

“The competition was really strong,” the 24-year-old Lopez said. “It was the very last event at the very last minute that decided the outcome.” …

IG – Lopez Wins Central American Games Title

These 3 guys all scored over 88 points. Impressive.

Colombian Olympian Jorge Hugo Giraldo held off his Puerto Rican rivals to win the all-around title Tuesday at the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games, taking place this week in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Giraldo, 30, prevented Puerto Rico from taking a second gold at the gymnastics hall in Hormigueros, south of Mayagüez. Top qualifier Luis Rivera, 23, settled for the silver ahead of teammate Luis Vargas, 27. …

IG – Giraldo Wins Central American Games

Naama Arad, like me, was challenged by this Gymnastics Minute instructional by coaching legend Mas Watanabe.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… My advice to Naama is to consider this an advanced technique. Beginners should perfect long, low backward handspring series first. (Think of a rock skipping across a lake.)

Manjak has gymnasts do many sets of 5 normal ffs every day, for example.

Much, much later you can shape the skill for specific reasons, as Watanable is doing here.

1996 Olympic gold (team) and silver (uneven bars) medalist and 2000 Olympic team bronze medalist Amy Chow was married to Jason Ho on July 10 in Saratoga, Calif.

(via USA Gymnastics on Facebook)

Gymnastike chose her routine from the 2010 CoverGirl Classic Jr. competition as their Routine of the Week.

Love the artistry and the laid out full twist. Wobbly, though. (15.05)

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

Hardy Fink runs the F.I.G. Academy coach education program.

How did he convince this powerhouse line-up of some of the best coaches in the world ALL to go to Trinidad for the entry level course?

The course leader was Chris Evans of Great Britain who has served as an expert for theory lectures, as course leader and as Women’s Artistic Gymnastics expert at multiple Academies. At this Academy he taught all of the theory lectures. Paul Hall also of Great Britain and coach of that country’s best male gymnasts served as expert for the men’s apparatus. Kelly Manjak, former coach of Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Shewfelt and now one of Canada’s top women’s coaches served as the expert for the women’s apparatus. A special delight was to have the services of 1980 women’s All-around Olympic Champion, Jelena Davydova (RUS) present to teach artistic preparation, choreography and Balance Beam. …

FIG

Some years ago I did clinics and workshops in Port of Spain. This was much, much better.