Some Chinese coaches do drills with both hands in undergrip. And many coaches introduce single pommel circles to beginners with both hands in overgrip.
This is a video of the 2007 Jr MAG Tirrenia training camp, hosted by the European Union of Gymnastics held in Italy every year. This DVD was produced specifically for the Swiss Gymnatics Federation, and thus has only partial translation in English. Majority of DVD is in German and some French, with very limited english translations. However a lot of the concepts and ideas are understandable even without a translation. …
DVD CONTENT
PHYSICAL PREPARATION – (3min)
POMMEL HORSE- presented by Valeri Belenki (GER)(Former Olympic and World Champion and member of the German coaching staff) (8min)
PARALLEL BARS – Valeri Belenki (GER) (16min)
HIGH BAR – presented by Rudolph Bouché (FRA) (professor of sport and technical framework at the Training Center of Antibes) (12min)
Gymkata is a 1985 film filmed in Yugoslavia and starring Kurt Thomas as Jonathan Cabot, an Olympic gymnast who combines his gymnastic ability with ninjutsu to enter a deadly competition in a fictional country, Parmistan. It is based on the novel The Terrible Game (1957) by Dan Tyler Moore.
The film has developed a minor cult following as an unintentional comedy for its dubious premise, poor production quality and low budget. Maxim lists the film as the 17th “Worst Movie of All Time”.
You might assume the Chinese men will be “weak” at World Championships considering the retirements after the Beijing Olympics.
Andy Thornton has posted analysis on the American Gymnast blog.
… Who’s going to make it? Well, you’d have to think that Zou Kai is probably a lock, given he has established himself as China’s best on two out of the six events. I think they may end up ditching any medal opportunities on vault and focusing on the other five events, but we’ll have to see. The question may be whether they even put any all-arounders on the team or simply go for individual event medals. …
Here are a couple of no names that might not make the team.
Click PLAY or watch Huang Yuguo Vault 2009 Chinese National Games AA on YouTube.
Incredible.
What a fight it must be in China to be considered the “best” on one apparatus. (Aside from HBar. They don’t have anyone competitive with the best in the world on that apparatus.)
Alberto Braglia (March 23, 1883 in Campogalliano (Modena) – February 5, 1954) was an Italian gymnast. He won gold overall at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, 3 olympic gold medals throughout his career.
A detailed projection of scores by Andy Thornton on the American Gymnast blog puts Jon 3rd in the world:
I put together a chart below that shows the highest scores I could find on each event from any competition this year for Uchimura, Hambuchen, and Horton – this included the Japan Cup where Uchimura and Hambuchen competed head-to-head (Uchimura won by 0.65), the American Cup, the national championships for all three gymnasts, and Hambuchen’s recent Champions Trophy competitions. Then I totaled them up to get a theoretical comparison of their all-around potentials:
Uchimura – 94.0
Hambuchen – 92.9
Horton – 91.95
… it’s clearly POMMEL HORSE that is keeping both Hambuchen and Horton away from Uchimura. You’ll notice that Hambuchen’s all-around is about 1 point behind Uchimura, and that’s exactly how far back his pommel horse is as well. Similarly, Horton’s total is 2 points behind Uchimura, and that’s exactly how far his pommel horse is away from Uchimura’s too! So if we look at the other five events combined, these three guys are incredibly evenly matched.
To make it even clearer, here are these three guys’ totals WITHOUT pommel horse:
From Andrew Thornton on his new American Gymnast blog column:
… this guy was in the last “individual-only” world championships in 2005, where he competed only pommel horse. He did make the finals, but ended up finishing 6th, (teammate Xiao Qin took the gold). Although Zhang’s amazing swing has been around for several years, he hasn’t been given another shot at a world medal since his 2005 debut. While Xiao Qin dominated the world on this event throughout the entire last quadrennium, there likely wasn’t room on the powerful Chinese team for two pommel horse specialists. Now that Olympic champion Xiao is retired, I have a feeling we will be seeing this guy in London in a couple of months, where he will now be the one to beat. …
Click through to see Olympic Floor Champion Zou Kai’s new routine. Second pass has never been competed before.