Find out from an interesting article in her local paper:
Ten years after Elise Ray and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team finished fourth in Sydney, Ray and her teammates are being awarded a bronze medal after an age infraction by the Chinese was discovered by the International Olympic Committee.
“At first I thought, ‘There is no way this is going to happen,’” said Ray, who coaches with Hampstead-based Carroll Gymnastics. “I was just shocked. It’s pretty wild.” …
Missing out on a medal was heartbreaking for Ray, who was 18 at the time. She nearly gave up the sport.
“I was very deflated,” she said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to do it anymore.”
Ray didn’t let up, however, and continued her career at the University of Michigan, where she became the most decorated Wolverine gymnast of all time.
Ray captured the NCAA all-around national title her freshman year. She then flipped, twisted and spun her way to national titles in the beam in 2002 and the bars in 2004. In 2005, she led the Wolverines to the Super Six finals where she took home a silver medal on the beam.
“Michigan was a healing experience for me,” Ray said. “It brought the fun back to it.”
Ray, a 14-time all-American, graduated with an English degree, but she wasn’t ready to give up gymnastics. She spent the next two years performing in Las Vegas for Cirque Du Soleil.
“I loved performing. The work was unbelievable, but Vegas was not my city,” Ray said with a laugh.
So she went from the neon lights of Vegas back to Maryland. She has been with Carroll Gymnastics, which practices at Four Seasons Sports Complex, for more than two years.
… the 2000 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team will be awarded their Olympic team bronze medals at a special ceremony on Aug. 11 in Hartford, Conn., in conjunction with the 2010 Visa Championships. …
Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Dominique Dawes, Kristen Maloney, Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert. Morgan White was named to the team but withdrew just prior to the Games due to injury, and Alyssa Beckerman was the alternate. …
The IOC recently stripped China of its 2000 Olympic Games women’s team bronze medal because one of its athletes did not meet the age requirement.
Each year after the Canadian Championships we schedule an advanced coaching clinic. In this session the current National Coach Vladimir Lashin does a brief overview of release moves and dismounts on Bars.
I tried to edit this into some kind of a “story”. But the clinic really was like the video, just a skimming of target skills.
The demonstrator in red is 9yr-old Shallon Olsen from Omega Gymnastics Academy, the most talked about gymnast at the meet. Everyone was asking: “If Shallon does this much difficulty at age-9, can she survive to age-15 when eligible for Sr. competition?
One of the lone voices to opine that big difficulty at a very young age is not necessarily a guarantee of burnout was Miguel Constante, one of the very best coaches in Canada. He feels it’s a tremendous advantage long-term, if the athlete can avoid injury and loss of motivation.
In 2009, John R. Wooden was named The Sporting News “Greatest Coach of All Time”
Not many would dare argue.
John Wooden was the coaches coach. A purist.
Seven Point Creed
John Wooden’s Seven Point Creed, given to him by his father Joshua upon his graduation from grammar school:
Be true to yourself.
Make each day your masterpiece.
Help others.
Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
Make friendship a fine art.
Build a shelter against a rainy day.
Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
Wooden also authored a lecture and a book about the Pyramid of Success. The Pyramid of Success consists of philosophical building blocks for winning at basketball and at life. In his later years he has been hired by corporations to deliver inspirational lectures and even appeared in commercials for Hartford Insurance and the NCAA. It is generally known that he received lecture fees that exceeded the salaries he was paid as a coach. Wooden proudly claimed that these late in life windfalls allowed him to set up education accounts for all of his grandchildren. In a 2009 interview, John Wooden described himself politically as a “liberal democrat,” who had voted for some republican presidential candidates.”
Among Wooden’s maxims:
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Flexibility is the key to stability.
Be quick, but don’t hurry.
No one understands better the importance of symbolic imagery than totalitarian governments. One day this photo will be revered in China. But not in 2010.
I have to strongly disagree with this article. Unfortunately she has gotten some wrong information…
Therefore, here are some of the points that didn’t make it into the article.
The role of cheerleading:
The first is the issue of the role of cheerleaders and stunting. Most school cheer coaches recognize that their primary role is to lead the crowd at athletic contests. They can better fulfill this by doing basic “game stunts” like the thigh stands, elevators, extensions and yes – even some basket tosses. The game is going on behind the cheerleaders and the crowd is seated in high-rise bleachers. Stunts get the attention of the crowd, so that you can draw their focus to the cheer team in order to better lead them. Signs are more effective when they can be seen and partner stunts can accomplish this. In addition, the skills the cheerleaders do can build a rapport with the crowd and help them be a conduit between the crowd in the stands and the athletes on the field. As we teach, it is important to recognize that there are times for “game stunts” and that the more intricate type of skills that help attract great athletes are better reserved for entertainment-style routines at halftime or for competition.
Risk Assessment:
While there are difficulties in doing some risk assessments due to participation figures, there are in fact places where we can do risk assessments, particularly in high school cheerleading. The data from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries Annual Report shows that in 2007-2008 there were 3 high school catastrophic injuries and approximately 400,000 cheerleaders. That puts the risk of catastrophic injury per 100,000 participants at .75 but as the article does mention, that doesn’t account for the fact that cheerleaders participate all year. That means that the number of injuries for cheerleading took multiple seasons to accrue and to “normalize” the data to compare it to other sports you would have to half the risk level. That puts cheerleading at around .375 catastrophic injuries per 100,000. In simplest terms comparing it to other high school sports, that means there are 10 sports that have a higher risk of catastrophic injury than cheerleading – including 3 girls sports – ice hockey, gymnastics and soccer.
And this bears out our own experience. While articles are quick to point out common sports injuries like ankle sprains or the occasional knee brace, they have a hard time finding a program where they can point to a pattern of more serious injuries than other sports such as soccer, baseball, track, etc.
Decrease in Injuries:
Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the entire article however is that it ended with the idea that recent improvements in cheer injury statistics are due to coaches somehow “hiding” injuries. This improvement can more likely be attributed to a concrete set of circumstances than to an unsubstantiated comment.
In 2006, the NCAA working with AACCA required that all of their college cheer programs would have to be supervised by a safety certified coach in order to retain their catastrophic insurance coverage. In addition, the AACCA required that our safety rules had to be followed by these programs or their certification could be revoked. It is important to note that prior to this requirement, cheerleading made up 25% of their catastrophic claims. Since this requirement, there have been no cheerleading catastrophic injury claims with the NCAA.
Since 2004, 12 state high school associations have required their cheerleading coaches to complete the AACCA Safety Course.
In 2006, the AACCA removed basket tosses from the basketball court surface for colleges and high schools and further restricted colleges from performing 2 1/2 high pyramids on the basketball court. Further rules restrictions regarding surfaces have been implemented by both the AACCA and the National Federation of High Schools since then.
In 2004, the United States All Star Federation (USASF) was formed to provide a framework to support non-school cheerleading known as “All-Star”. They have a skill-based leveling system for rules and a credentialing program for coaches and gyms.
These efforts on the part of the NCAA, the National Federation of High Schools, the US All Star Federation and the AACCA are much more likely the reason for increased safety than the idea that cheer coaches have started hiding injuries, and it is unfair to all of the great coaches that work tirelessly to provide a safe environment for their teams.
We do commend the Journal for pointing out that the risk of cheerleading is actually closer to that of soccer than of football which has the vast majority of high school and college catastrophic injuries. However, when the true successes that have been achieved aren’t reported, it is hard to continue those successes and help them spread to other states and organizations.
Why this information was left off I can only speculate. My conversations with the reporter where very good and her questions showed a genuine interest in digging down to the real facts. There were quite a few cheer issues addressed in a short space and the article included some cheerleading history as well. Perhaps there just wasn’t room to get it all in, and unfortunately this was the part that was not included. There are many factors that go into what makes it into an article.
Regardless of the reasons, these are important safety improvements and we hope the record can be corrected.
What do you think? Are you going to be the one to go tell this athlete her sport is too dangerous?
From yet another Romanian gymnastics blog, GymFever.
Sadly, Google Translate is terrible going from Romanian to English:
… I do not know if there are any gymnastics (outside Nadia Comaneci, perhaps) that appear in many magazines. Svetlana I was pretty horrid when they compete, always seemed to receive notes marry well, not really smiling outside the ground where they excel in Chapter difficulty but have attitude and charisma. Every time I look at her land in Athens memorable pass me shivers. …
I believe the topic is the astounding number of magazine covers featuring Khorkina.
Never accused of being shy, Svetty posed nude for the Russian version of Playboy in November 1997 and almost nude for the Russian version of Maxim right before the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Svetlana Khorkina (pronounced WHORE-kina, aka: ‘The Queen’) is a Russian-born gymnast known for her long lines and innovation (often born out of her inability to do most other skills).
‘Sveta’, as she is known, is one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of gymnastics, due in part to her longevity and her ability to seduce the judges into giving her massively inflated scores.
Sveta earned a reputation as a fierce competitor who remained focused in competition. This focus was often complimented by her excessive whining and uncomfortably dramatic performances on the floor exercise. Her Russian teammates were often warned to keep themselves at least five feet from Sveta at all times during a competition, as she had a tendency to slap, and occasionally bite other competitors when things didn’t go her way.
For the record, I feel Khorkina was one of the most interesting and entertaining gymnasts in history. I love her Bars, her Bars, her Bars.
Seems to me that doping in distance cycling is endemic.
The New York Times is reporting today that after four years of denials cyclist Floyd Landis has admitted that he used performance enhancing drugs throughout his career. The 2006 Tour de France winner, who was later stripped of that title, reportedly sent e-mails to top cycling officials in the U.S. and Europe detailing his use of the drugs, while also naming other top U.S. riders who he says were doping as well. …
Amy Van Deusen has updated her top 8 controversies to top 9, adding the Chinese age falsification scandal:
Any sport that’s judged is bound to have its results debated ad nauseam. And gymnastics certainly has had its share of dubious wins. But it’s not just the scores that have caused disagreement over the years: equipment errors, seemingly arbitrary rules, and even a doping scandal have all given gym fans plenty to talk about.
Check out my list of the top 8 controversies in Olympic gymnastics — and weigh in on your thoughts on each. Maybe we can settle these disputes once and for all.
You can review and vote on each controversy. Great fun!
There are others, of course. Amy could put together another list. Include Marian Dragalescu in the Vault final at the Athens Olympics.
9.35 / 9.9 on this vault. That’s an impossible score. Fall plus alignment deductions, in addition to execution deductions. (I seem to recall 4 of the vault judges were later reprimanded. But Marian, from Romania, kept the Bronze medal.)
To see the video of Dragalescu and the eventual Olympic Vault Champion Deferr, click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
In fact, Amy could do a top 8 controversies of the Men’s 2004 Olympics including the Paul Hamm fiasco. 2004 was by far the worst gymnastics finals in the history of our sport.
Jack Nicklaus is still the greatest golfer in history.
Did he do the right thing in the Ryder Cup, 1969?
… Big pressure putts are familiar territory for a top golfer; the added expectation of representing a team and a nation in such a historical and prestigious event is not. The situation might destroy a lesser man, but not Nicklaus, who nonchalantly rolls the ball into the centre of the hole and breathes a massive sigh of relief. Now he can do no worse than draw the tie and the overall match, and if nerves get the better of Jacklin, he would claim outright victory for himself and the USA.
One can only imagine what thoughts are racing through Jacklin’s mind as he watches Nicklaus hole out. The putt he faces is relatively straightforward under normal circumstances, but this situation is anything but. This is pressure at its most intense, and with everyone’s eyes trained on him he has nowhere to hide.
However, of all the scenarios playing out in his brain, the one he has not considered is the one that actually occurs. Nicklaus picks his own ball out of the hole, pauses, and then reaches over to pick up his opponent’s marker, conceding the putt. He goes over to the Englishman, offers his hand, and explains, “I don’t think you would have missed that putt, but in these circumstances, I would never give you the opportunity.”
The two golfers leave the course together with an arm around each other’s shoulder to heartfelt and deserved applause from the crowd. It is a fitting end to an honourable match between two great rivals.
In the final analysis, Nicklaus and Jacklin halved their match, and the overall score finished 16-16, the first tie in Ryder Cup history. Under the competition’s rules, this meant the USA, as the current holders, retained the trophy. Nicklaus knew this; he knew it made no material difference to the fate of the Cup whether he himself won or drew. The concession cost nothing in competitive terms, but was of immeasurable sporting value.
Nicklaus explained later, “I believed good sportsmanship should be as much a part of the Ryder Cup as great competition.” Jacklin has always been quick to agree, calling it “the greatest single sporting gesture in golf”.
Not everyone involved saw it that way. American captain Sam Snead was apoplectic: “It was ridiculous to give him that putt. We went over there to win, not to be good ol’ boys.” Fortunately, others were able to see the bigger picture. Leo Fraser, President of the US PGA, graciously agreed the two countries should each retain the trophy for a year, contrary to tradition. …
