Most of the top Artistic gymnastics nations designate national team training centres. (Karolyi Ranch, Australian Institute of Sport, Lilleshall, etc.)
If you don’t have such a centre (I’m looking at you Canada) you’re not likely to be competitive with the top nations.
In the glory days of the former Soviet Union (and the new Russia) the centre is Round Lake.
Some athletes live there year round, some come to “camps” on a regular basis.
Brigid discovered a book called The Russian Heart: Days of Crisis and Hope (1992).
It includes some interesting content concerning Round Lake, back in the day:
… While the training is completely professional and disciplined, the facility is rudimentary and the dormitory conditions sparse. Though the food is much better that that available to the general public, it is, by Western standards, very basic. …
details on Couch Gymnast – Soviet Gymnastics: Days of Crisis and Hope
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It’s actually pictures from 1991. You can find more of them by googling the photographer’s name and gymnast. I own the book, and there is only one pic in it from ROund Lake, but found a few more from that 1991 trip and some from 1987 (previous trip he took)
Australia have just abandoned their national training centre (the AIS) and all the gymnasts have had to find other places to train.
Really? … I’m shocked. Do you have a link for that?
Of course they still have the State centres.
No, I don’t have a link. But it looks like you already found some.
“If you don’t have such a centre (I’m looking at you Canada) you’re not likely to be competitive with the top nations. ”
I thought Canadian MAG did have a national training center and they still weren’t competitive with the top teams.
hi!! i wanna know which girls live right now at round lake??’
The Canadian MAG team did have a centre for about 2yrs.
They finished 7th in Beijing. I’d call that “competitive”.
But both MAG and WAG suffer in 2011 from the lack of such a facility.
“The Canadian MAG team did have a centre for about 2yrs.
They finished 7th in Beijing. I’d call that “competitive”. ”
I don’t know if it’s a mistake but gymnasticsresults shows them finishing 9th in qualifying for Beijing. Maybe you are thinking of when they finished 6th in 2006.
Gak. … Yer right.
I ‘remembered’ they were one spot out of qualifying for the Team final. ‘Forgot’ that there were 8 teams in Finals, not 6.
My bad.
With the constant rule changes in gymnastics and the various levels of the sport having slightly different rules anyway, I think a lot of us get our memories mixed up from time to time.
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