Entries Tagged 'ethics' ↓

I finally saw this low budget Romanian documentary.

… famous for the legendary gymnast Nadia Comaneci, and its boarding school, which for decades has trained world class gymnasts.

Pitic and Malina might be two of its future stars, but the long road to the podium is full of deprivation. They are eight and nine years old and have been at the school in Deva since they were six. They train for four hours every day and spend the rest of their time in school.

This documentary follows the girls … leading up to their first and most important competition, capturing an intimate and moving insight into the contrast between their dreams, and the often harsh reality.

Teachers.tv

I’ve got mixed feelings. Perhaps that’s not surprising. I’ve got mixed feelings about Romanian gymnastics.

On the one hand, with a population only about as large as Texas, one of the poorest nations in Europe consistently bested Russia, China and the U.S.A.

Their girls were incredibly tough on Floor and Beam. For decades after Nadia.

On the other hand, I’ve heard more nonsense coaching theory from Romanians than any place else in the world. What kind of coach education system have they had there? None? I’m told there’s an intensive program. I’d love to see the curriculum.

The 3 coaches highlighted in this film are excellent examples of how not to coach.

Yes I realize I’m imposing Western values on Romania. Aside from ethics, what’s shown in the documentary is simply not the best way to develop elite gymnasts.

I do get the impression that things have improved there since Nicolae Forminte took over as National Coach.

Leave a comment if you know where people can download or stream The Secret of Deva.

Related posts:

• remember Adriana Giurca (1982-1993)

• allegations of gymnast abuse in Romania

Romanian-Gymnastics.com posts a Wall of Shame naming coaches who have been accused of being abusive.

(via Stephthemagicdragon on IG forum)

Jim Holt related to this article in Sports Illustrated:

Ah, the old system, where perfection was a (10) — remember? …

The prime purpose of the new and unimproved scoring system was to better quantify the various elements in a program — required jumps and spins— so that the famously nefarious judges would have less latitude to cheat.

Alas, this created a scoring system so arcane that, by comparison, it makes computing the Standard and Poor’s index child’s play. Moreover, by emphasizing compulsory obligations, the new system diminished the emphasis on artistry. …

Frank Deford in Sports Illustrated – … Go figure

Bottom line: Frank argues that the scoring system has “destroyed the popularity” an Olympic Sport.

Sound familiar?

Frank is talking about Figure Skating.

Mirai Nagasu (left) skated a pristine program last month in Spokane, but lost out on gold to Rachael Flatt by ... 11.33 points?

The first ever Youth Olympic Games (YOG) will be held in Singapore between 14 and 26 August 2010. That’s 3,600 athletes between 14 and 18 years of age from 205 National Olympic Committees.

Only 1 male and 1 female athlete will compete for each country in individual disciplines.

All 26 sports on the London 2012 Olympic Games programme will be hosted.

official website

Today Nanjing, China was elected to host the second YOG in 2014.

We can be certain that Nanjing event will be massive, China still high on the success of the Beijing Games.

Obviously critics will be vocal that this new event will push young athletes too soon. It flies in the face of Bruno Grandi’s efforts to raise the minimum age of gymnasts competing at World’s and Olympic Championships.

Personally, I’m really looking forward to YOG. If successful, Olympic sports will get a media boost every two years, rather than every four.

by site editor Rick McCharles

95% of people don’t read the comments on this site. They are “buried“. You must make a special effort to find them. Or to comment.

I like it this way. But the topic is controversial:

If you’ve been following the blogging and social media scene over the last five or more years, you know that there’s one heated debate that keeps on showing up: the debate about comments on blogs. Should blogs have comments? Should these comments be moderated? When has a comment gone too far? Judging from a couple of recent events, it’s once again time to rethink these issues.

Popular gadget site Engadget has recently shut down comments. It’s a temporary measure, it says, but the blog took it because the “tone in comments has really gotten out of hand.” …

A New Debate on Blog Comments is Brewing

The main purpose of comments on Gymnastics Coaching is to share information. Or, more often, to correct a mistake that’s been posted.

If you want to debate Nastia vs Shawn ad nauseum, head over to one of the gymnastics forums. If you want to get nasty about it, there are invitation only private forums. If you can find them.

Is Britteny Cox too young to compete in the Vancouver Olympics?

The International Gymnastics Federation would not allow her to be an Olympian, were she a gymnast.

Skyrider 95 points out I got this wrong. Britteny turns 16 in 2010 so she would be old enough under the gymnastics rules.

The rest of the post is still valid, I think.

… Her inclusion in our team to represent Australia at the Vancouver Winter Olympics is testimony to her rapid rise through the ranks …

From eight years of age Britteny has been winning titles at state and national level in her chosen alpine discipline – mogul skiing. …

15 year old falls creek skier to become our youngest winter olympian

I did a quick search of the news reports on her surprise selection. Not a single “concern” that she might be too young to handle the Olympics. Or that her coaches have pushed her too hard.

Why is it that only Gymnastics is convinced that a minimum age of 16 is necessary? Not Diving. And not Skiing.

We look like idiots in the international sporting community for putting that age rule in place. Perhaps Grandi will realize his mistake Feb. 26th.

Aunt Joyce’s Ice Cream Stand is a controversial blog, often profane and over critical.

But you can’t deny that the editor knows his stuff. He calls himself an “insider“. An insider who has a journalism degree.

He’s posted interesting updates on Georgia’s problems, Alabama’s early success, and UCLA’s inconsistency. I recommend this particular post:

Aunt Joyce’s Ice Cream Stand – NCAA Update

It’s much more interesting than the official (carefully massaged and messaged) press releases we get from the NCAA or the Teams themselves.

Click over to Gymnastics Examiner for highlights from the last week, including:

Do you like the new sticking rule for women’s floor?

Nowadays elite gymnasts are deducted for lunging backwards out of their tumbling passes. Amy Van Deusen at About.com Gymnastics would like to hear your thoughts about this. …

Ana Claudia Silva changes gyms

The 2008 Brazilian Olympian, 17, has signed a contract to compete for Rio de Janeiro’s Flamengo Club this season, as has 2009 World team member Khiuani Dias. Other Flamengos include Diego and Daniele Hypolito and Jade Barbosa. …

Spotlight-ready

Stanford freshman Ashley Morgan is the daughter of baseball’s two-time National League MVP Joe Morgan … Says her Hall of Famer dad, “I’m more proud of her than I am of anything I ever did as an athlete.” …

Why Paul Hamm deserved to win the 2004 Olympic all-around gold, once and for all

Andrew Thornton dissects Yang Tae-Yung’s high bar performance from the 2004 Olympic all-around final. … Yang’s start value on high bar was incorrectly tabulated…

details and links – The gymnastics week in review

I’m not completely convinced by Andy’s conclusion in the Hamm scandal in Athens. But he’s right that Yang Tae-Yung was over-scored by 0.1 in the start score on Horizontal Bar. Yet another blunder for the Men’s judges in that meet that went unnoticed until now.

Thanks Andy.

This is Brian McKeever, winner of seven medals at the Paralympics in Salt Lake City and Turin.

He’s just made Olympic history.

… The 30-year-old cross country skier from Canmore, Alta., who is legally blind, was one of six men and five women named to the Canadian Olympic team Friday, making him the first athlete to compete in both the Winter Games and the Paralympics.

He’ll also be the first Canadian – winter or summer – to do so in the same year.

McKeever, who will race in the 50-kilometre event, won the Canadian trials last month. …

Vancouver 2010 – Blind skier makes Olympics history

Do you think he should withdraw from the 2010 Paralympics, having now qualified for the Olympics?

Should he have to choose between the two? … Or be allowed to compete both?

If you don’t like the open-ended code of points …

If you don’t like minimum age rules for gymnasts …

Then, you probably don’t like the International Gymnastics Federation President Bruno Grandi.

… On January 22, 2010, the Chinese … newspaper Tianjin Daily released an interview of the FIG President Grandi …

Gymnastics has become accessible to everyone. It has created a social status and contributed to individual and collective fulfilment. It plays an incredible economic role, and continues to fascinate fans worldwide and inspire and galvanize us into action when we need it most.

For worse? There is the corruption that goes hand in hand with money, doping and cheating. I have been fighting against it since first I entered the world of sport. …

FIG – Get more for your money!

Surprisingly, the article doesn’t mention the elephant in the room, the looming disciplinary proceedings involving Chinese gymnasts Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, suspected of having violated minimum age requirements for participation in the 2000 Olympic Games.

That bomb will drop February 26, 2010.

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook)

These days my favourite blog post is Gymnastics Examiner’s The gymnastics week in review.

And this week’s edition by Blythe Lawrence is the best yet.

Some highlights and lowlights:

… $1.5 million settlement for gymnastics abuse case: A Chicago-area gymnastics club’s insurance company has agreed to pay $1.5 million in a civil suit against former gymnastics instructor Michael Cardamone, who was first arrested in 2002 …

Gymnastics on skis: Aerial ski coach Peter Judge calls China’s aerialists “unbelievable classic overtrainers.” “I found it astounding — and they were wondering why all their athletes were getting injured and blown up,” ….

… China’s aerial skiiers are poised to win medals next month in Vancouver. One reason is a 19-year-old former gymnast named Xu Mengtao, who Chinese aerial ski coach Dustin Wilson said “will change the sport.” …

Mary Lou Retton interview: The U.S.’s first Olympic gymnastics champion speaks out about the pressure on young athletes to win today, as well as being born with hip dysplasia, a condition that has led her to have hip replacement surgery before the age of 42.

click through for links to these stories and many, many more.

Gymnastics Examiner – The gymnastics week in review

This image of Gael Mackie seems to have been quietly removed from the new Utah Gymnastics website.

Did someone in Salt Lake City cave after the mild backlash on the internet?

(via FeelersOut)

Sydney was a disaster in many ways.

Andreea Raducan was the legitimate 2000 Olympic Gymnastics Champion.

… but was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal shortly after the competition concluded, when it was revealed that she had failed doping controls, testing positive for pseudophedrine, at the time a banned substance. She and her coaches maintained that she had been given the substance in two cold medicine pills by a Romanian team physician, and that they had not impacted her performance in any way. …

Does she look like a drug cheat to you?

Everyone. I mean everyone agreed that this was a gross injustice.

… Her case was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the fall of 2000. Raducan herself was exonerated of any personal wrongdoing by the CAS, the Romanian Olympic Committee and the International Gymnastics Federation, and was not subject to any disciplinary measures. However, her medal was not reinstated, and the team doctor who administered the Nurofen was banned for two Olympic cycles. …

That drug Pseudoephedrine was, in fact, removed from the banned list in 2004, Raducan seemingly vindicated.

Well … it’s back on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list as of Jan. 1, 2010.

Once again, athletes who are subject to testing in competition need be very careful before taking cold medicines like:

Sudafed
Actifed
Contac
Claritin-D
Cirrus

Some of them no longer contain pseudoephedrine and have phenylephrine (not on the list) instead.

Andreea

You’ve got to see the “new” Utah Gymnastics site.

It’s certainly different than the boring old CMS sites used by seemingly every other University in the NCAA.

Greg Marsden has worked tirelessly to add new promotional innovations for his program.

Congratulations on this latest one. … Who will be the first College Team to follow Utah in a site redesign?

Check it out – Utah Gymnastics

(Click through the top links to see some cool graphics.)

Utah opens against UCLA on Saturday.

Update – some feel the images go too far – Sexualizing Collegiate Gymnastics

OK, we all know that College gymnasts are sexy. But should the official website be pushing that theme? … Would it be better to have images that might offend at arms distance, perhaps a Booster Club website?

Update – commentary on Gymnastics Examiner