But Andy Thornton says, not as weak as you might think.
Why all the distress, then?
… The answer is He Kexin, the Chinese phenom who popped up in 2008 with the best bar routine the world had ever seen. Though she’s equally well known for the worldwide skepticism she generated regarding her true age in Beijing, it was her out-of-this-world bar routine that began to spread worry among USA gymnastics fans – and the USA women’s selection committee.
Before He Kexin came along, the USA had beaten China on bars in 2007 and finished just 0.025 behind them in 2006. But with China’s new secret weapon and the full point or more she surely would add to their team tally, the USA was going to have to have to come up with an answer very quickly. Even with three hit sets in Beijing from Liukin, Memmel, and Johnson, the USA was outscored by 1.65 on bars by China – a big reason why China won the Olympic team gold. …
It’s now two years later, so how have things changed? With Nastia Liukin out of the picture, her WOGA teammate Rebecca Bross has filled in beautifully as the top American on bars. Her high D-score of 6.2 and aggressive and confident style have made her one of the best bar workers in the world over the last two years, and her consistency as only gotten better. …
Looks very efficient, not easy when you have so many good kids.
… Coaches Chris Burdette and Kim Zmeskal-Burdette will have 6 gymnasts representing Texas Dreams next week in Hartford at the 2010 US Championships.
They have 5 junior elite qualifiers: Kennedy Baker, Dare Maxwell, Claire Boyce, Ashton Kim, and Peyton Ernst (Kiana Winston qualified but won’t compete due to injury). Their lone senior elite is former national team member Chelsea Davis who will be competing in her first major national competition since the 2008 Olympic Trials. Watch how former World Champion and Olympian Kim Zmeskal-Burdette prepares her athletes for US Nationals, a meet she herself has won numerous times. …
2008 Olympian Ksenia Afanasyeva and newcomer Dmitry Stolyarov won the all-around titles at the 2nd Summer Youth Spartakiada, which concluded Sunday in Saransk. …
Afanasyeva took her second victory in a month, having won the Japan Cup in Tokyo in early July. The 17 year old defeated training mate Ksenia Semyonova during the two-day all-around competition, with 2010 European vault champion Yekaterina Kurbatova placing third.
“Ksenia Afanasyeva competed very smoothly and steadily,” national coach Valentina Rodionenko reported …
“Stolyarov from Moscow Dinamo looked great,” Rodionenko said. “He made no errors throughout the competition. …
On Chalk Bucket coaches are discussing, as they love to do, Reverse Hecht.
There are many, many different ways to do that technically easy, psychologically difficult, trick. Best advice is to look at the ultimate performances to date. Cade Raggio, for example.
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.
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.
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
He was lying on the ground after peeling off on a dismount before he discovered what had happened.
The manufacturer is Reisport, as good as any of the competitors, I’d say.
Over the years I’ve seen many Reisport grips break in only a matter of days, but never Ring grips. Horizontal Bar grips normally get stretched and break sooner.
NOT unheard of. Our friend, Mario West, had the exact same thing happen at the Winter Cup a year and a half ago — High Bar was his first event, and it happened during warmups. It didn’t injure him badly, but it affected the whole meet.
Since then, he’s been going to a gentleman in Gaithersburg, MD named “Tien” (not sure of the spelling), who handcrafts his grips. Apparently, the Japanese and Chinese national teams both buy from this craftsman as well, and Mario seems to have more confidence in his grips.
Leave a comment if you have any advice on where to get gymnastics grips more durable than Reisport.
Canadian gymnast 
