Entries Tagged 'diving' ↓

The next edition will be held in 2010 in Delhi, India.

Glasgow, Scotland will host the Commonwealth Games 2014.

If you’re not one of the 71 participating teams, likely you ignore this meet. But it’s VERY important for the former British Empire nations that do go.

Glasgow – official website

Russian coach Vladimir Chertkov, by the way, many years in the USA, has moved to India with aspirations of raising the level of the sport there.

Tracey Morrison linked this clip on Facebook.

Helen and Carol Galashan did a talent transfer from gymnastics to diving in 2006. Three years on and they are already European bronze medalists.

Click PLAY or watch the twins on YouTube.

Helen and Carol competed in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. As gymnasts on the team from Scotland.

Now they aspire to compete in the London Olympics.

I used to think the “bullying” problem in schools was often overblown by the media.

Seems I’m wrong.

Two 11-year-old boys in the States took their own lives this month. Both deaths blamed on school bullying.

And in the U.K. …

British diver Tom Daley, who at age 14 finished seventh in the men’s individual 10-meter platform final at last summer’s Beijing Olympics, has been temporarily removed from school after being repeatedly bullied by his classmates, according to a story published Friday in the British newspaper The Guardian.

Tom Daley is still 14; he turns 15 on May 21. In the meantime, his father, Rob Daley, told the newspaper the son had been kept at home this week so as to reduce distraction in advance of an upcoming meet in Florida.

“The bullying is severe,” the father said. “He has been tackled to the floor walking through the school field and in class they throw pens and pencils at him.

“Some of them have even threatened to break his legs. That was the last straw. It has got to the point where enough is enough.” …

Truly unbelievable: Olympic diver bullied at school

Sounds like Tom will move to a private school.

related post – 14yr-old diver to compete at Olympics

Geena sent us a link to an interesting product.

The Tiger Paw Wrist Grip Supports were first worn (and still are) by many of the elite gymnasts in the country to support the constant pounding on their wrist during training and competition. Now worn by many of the top platform and three-meter divers in the country to do the same!

The exclusive Water Proof material is light and does not absorb water — a real plus for divers!! …

Product Note: While some divers do still wear the leather or suede Tiger Paw Wristgrip Support, most divers prefer to wear the WATERPROOF Tigerpaw Wristgrip model because they weigh about one half as much as the leather or suede models and they do not absorb water. Gymnasts, Tumblers and Cheerleaders usually prefer the leather or suede models because they have that extra bulk and heartiness.

SpringboardsAndMore.com – Water Proof Tiger Paw Wrist Grip Supports. Price: US$58.25

UPDATE:

A commenter notes that some have switched to this product for Platform.

The Wrist Wraps Support is ideal when limitation of range is needed in one direction only, such as extension, flexion, ulnar or radial deviation. It is also ideal for sports-related and job-related injuries allowing freedom of the hand from splinting. Can be used in football (linemen) for prophylactic use as well as jobs requiring repetitive hand/wrist movement. …

Donjoy

Steff sent us a link of Fabian Hambuechen doing some dives for a German TV Show (kind of show competition; athletes and VIPs alike try to dive, quite funny . Fabian says in the vid that he trained without a coach for this event.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Fabian competes in his old sport, gymnastics, tonight in the American Cup.

He’s the favourite to win. And wants to have some FUN.

MILITARY BASES, Kuwait – Olympic gold-medalist Shannon Miller, along with Olympic champions Angelo Taylor (track), Joey Cheek (speed skating) and Laura Wilkinson (diving), visited several military bases in Kuwait upon their arrival in the Mideast. They are on a goodwill tour and will stop by bases in Iraq later in the week.

USAG

Laura Wilkinson was an ex-gymnast.

==== Some sad Shannon Miller news.

CN8 (Comcast Network) has gone out of business. The TV channel no longer exists which means Shannon Miller’s gymnastics show is cancelled.

From Sydney:

The Chinese diving team has continued to flex its muscle at the diving pool today with their men and women showcasing an array of skills and precision to continue their unbeaten run and claim another three gold medals. …

olympics.com.au – Undefeated China sweep the medals again

MoonKid points us to Annie Fogerty from Parkettes. (Yes, one of the girls featured in the infamous Achieving The Perfect 10 CNN documentary.)

Click PLAY or watch Annie on YouTube.

She’s quite the queen of forward somersaulting!

Annie is currently at Umass Amherst on the diving team.

From the Facebook Somersaults Fan page.

On August 23rd, Hamburg played host to a extraordinary sporting event–urban cliff diving. The world’s top 10 cliff divers were assembled to compete in the 2008 Red Bull Cliff Diving Championship. What better endorsement for cliff diving than the energy drink that gives you wings? …

Click PLAY or watch some highlights on Trendhunter.

You’ve likely read many articles on the extreme sport training in China, especially in the years leading up to the Beijing Olympics.

I’m generally slow to chime in. It’s unfair to impose all of my Western values on a developing nation.

But this article shocked even me:

… Chinese athletes, particularly women, tend to be much thinner than their Western counterparts. Guo Jingjing, a gold medalist in diving who weighs 108 pounds, pointed out as much rather ungraciously when she referred to competitor Blythe Hartley as “the fat Canadian.” The 5-foot-5 Hartley weighs 123 pounds.

Guo, 27, suffers from health problems related to diving and is said to have such bad eyesight she can barely see the diving board. It is a common hazard for Chinese divers, who are recruited as young as 6.

“Divers who start at an early age before the eye is fully developed have great chance for injuries,” said Li Fenglian, doctor for the Chinese national diving team. She published a study last year reporting that 26 of 184 divers on the team had retina damage.

Despite the validation provided by the Olympic medal count, China is probably heading in the direction of a more open system where the athletes have more freedom. Having tasted celebrity and the wealth it can bring, many athletes have balked at remaining in a system where they are treated like rank-and-file soldiers. …

China’s gold medals came at a high price

Guo Jingjing is the most successful female diver in history.

What about our own Cheng Fei?

… Cheng’s road to Beijing began in central China, here in Hubei Province, a bleak industrial region where her father worked as a shipping clerk and her mother toiled in a tire factory.

She was born in 1988, an only child in a nation with a one-child policy. From the beginning, her parents say, she looked like a boy, so they treated her like one. Her father, a disciplinarian who had studied martial arts, pushed her from an early age, even pressing her to do calisthenics every morning before primary school classes began.

“I trained her like a military soldier,” said her father, Cheng Ligao, who now owns a shop in Huangshi. “She followed me step by step and I shouted to her, ‘One-two, one-two….”‘

Yao Juying, her first coach, recalled a remarkably disciplined and focused child.

“I cannot believe how hard-working she was at that young age,” Yao said. “I’ve been doing this for 24 years, and I’ve never found a second one like her.”

read more – Chinese gymnast endured childhood sacrifice – IHT

(via Gymnastics Crossing – Child Abuse or Champion-Building?)

Life is tough in China for athletes. But, likely, even more difficult for non-athletes.

Happily, their economy is improving rapidly. With disposable income and time, hopefully the Society will open up. Families will have more options for their children.

UPDATE: video interview with coach of 2004 and 2008 Olympic Champions, Valeri Liukin: how he got into gymnastics in Kazakhstan and why he moved away from his family to live and train with coach Edouard Iarov – Gymnastike

In the last diving event, Aussie Matthew Mitcham (photos) shocked the home crowd by coming from behind to defeat his main Chinese competitor.

Of the 24 diving medals awarded in Beijing, China claimed 11 of a possible 12: seven gold, one silver and three bronze. The sport has produced the country’s most Olympic medals.

Obviously diving coaches around the World need to raise the bar if they hope to compete in future with China. It has been a very poor Olympics for the USA, for example, though they have a young, talented team.

Young Thomas Daley will contend many more Olympics too, I’m sure.

The 2000 Olympic Champion Laura Wilkinson impressed me in getting back to the Final. But, in her 3rd Olympics, competing against athletes half her age, another podium finish was not to be.

full results

Everyone else in the world tries to find a way to compete against the astonishing Chinese. Another veteran, in her 3rd Olympics, Emilie Heymans did it with extreme consistency. After “choking” in Athens in 2004, Heymans credits sports psychology with her success this time.

Congratulations.