A good starting point is Bea’s article on great Romanian talents injured out in the 1990s under Head Coach Octavian Belu. This is the first of a two-part series published in the new Couch Gymnast magazine.

Let’s talk about a controversial period in the history of Romanian gymnastics. The nineties.

Back then, the Romanians were dominating the team contests, winning five consecutives World titles and the Olympic gold in Sydney. But the way in which those medals were gained is still a very debated subject. …

A total of 10 Romanian gymnasts won World or Olympic individual medals between 1991 and 2000: Cristina Bontas, Maria Neculita, Mirela Pasca, Lavinia Milosovici, Gina Gogean, Andreea Cacovean, Simona Amanar, Alexandra Marinescu, Maria Olaru and Andreea Raducan.

I would like to bring to your attention those gymnasts that never won a World or Olympic individual medal although they showed immense potential. Here are gymnasts that could have won maybe the same amount of medals (although Gogean’s record is most likely unbeatable). Moreover these are gymnasts that would have had the ability to change the face of Romanian gymnastics, showing artistry, difficulty and elegance. Here they are:

Nicoleta Onel
Ana Maria Bican
Daniela Maranduca
Andreea Isarescu
Angela Ghimpu …

Click through for details on each: The Lost Girls of Romania

If you like that article, check out Bea’s blog as well: Gymnastics, No Ceiling

I’m subscribed.

• German gymnastics talent Maike Roll
• Italy’s rising star Serena Licchetta
• Reconstructing Russia
• Lost talents of Romania (1990s)
• Form vs Execution
• Russia Rising – Juniors
• Why we love YouTube
• gymnastics photographer Iris Van Den Broek
• gymnastics cross stitch
• Aussie gymnast Nicola Cairns persists
• Amy’s Gym diary (ouch)
• International Gymnastics Quiz

Don’t forget, if you are interested in contributing to the mag- just go to the CONTRIBUTE tab and read the relevant information.

Check it out – Couch Gymnast magazine – issue #2

That’s the only gymnastics site I know using the Squarespace hosting platform. Nice.

It’s a great program. Check out these impressive stats:

… Utah drew 15,552, the largest crowd in NCAA gymnastics history, to its Jan. 22 dual meet against Georgia, which it won, 196.550-196.500. The following week the Utes defeated Washington on the road in front of 1,851. I asked Utah coach Greg Marsden if his team ever experiences a motivational letdown on the road when there is a sparse crowd.

“To be honest, that can be a problem at times,” he said. “We have to work hard to create our own energy. At home, the crowd does that for us.”

For the record, Utah’s 15,552 eclipsed its own single-meet record of 15,447 against BYU, March 28, 2008. Perhaps even more impressive is that of all women’s NCAA sports, Utah ranked second in home attendance in 2008-09 to Tennessee basketball, 13,999-13,861. Alabama gymnastics was fourth (10,484), behind Connecticut basketball (10,529) …

Stretching Out: Georgia’s lows, Utah’s highs and much more

Nice to see such detailed coverage from International Gymnast online.

Just released is an associated online magazine. From the editor:

… I was inspired to do this project by my readers and their comments. … I wanted to make a space where people who don’t have time to make their own blogs… could contribute to this ongoing discussion about our favorite sport. …

NEW COUCH GYMNAST PROJECT!

And who are these contributors?

Greg Marsden, Nicola Cairns, Amy Kleefisch, munchthesilivasfan, Nastiafan101, Sing Hon Lo, Nicole Langevin … and many more.

It’s a huge project! Here’s the table of contents:

YOUR SAY: what would you change about elite gymnastics if you could?

Q&A: with Utah coach Greg Marsden

ARTICLE: Rare Birds- a look at Romanian’s best ‘performers’

OPINION: Why don’t gymnasts get enough support?

AMY’S GYM DIARY: What it’s like to go back to the Gym after a looong break!

FEATURE: Ceresela Patrascu, not going home empty handed- not if she can help it!!

NCAA PROFILE: UCLA’s Lone Senior, Anna Li

PROFILE: Making British Gymnastics History- Avril Lennox

TECHNICALITIES: Decoding the Code of Points with Marcus

THE ITALY UPDATE: Giulyx16 tells us what is new in the world of Italian gymnastics

PROFILE: Gymnastics photographer, Sing Hon Lo

INTERVIEW: Precision Choreography’s Nicole Langevin

THE LIST- TCG’s favorite gymnasts without medals

FROM THE VAULT: “It’s not the Olympics”

Random Photo Fun!

QUIZ: How much do you know about gymnastics?

Contributions for future issues are welcomed.

I’ve just started digging into it.

See for yourself by clicking over to The Couch Gymnast Magazine issue #1.

It’s one of those emagazines that are getting so popular. The ones where you flip pages as if it’s a real magazine.

But this one has integrated video. Gymnasts literally tumble across the pages!

Here’s a screen shot:

You need a fairly fast internet connection. After flipping each page, allow time for the video overlay to load.

Go Beavs.

Shout out to Oregon’s Bar coach, John Carney. I hadn’t noticed that last year Oregon set their team record Bar score. CONGRATS on that.

One of the many tidbits I learned from the Oregon Gymnastics emagazine.

Click twice to ZOOM.

Check it out at insidegymnastics.com/magazine/.

May / June 2009 edition

Nice!

… I just noticed the magazine finally removed the link to the seemingly still born IG TV page.

I’ve criticized Inside Gymnastics in the past. Let’s give them credit for this innovation.

They’re doing a great job on Twitter and Facebook too. Far better than International Gymnast magazine.

Viktoria Komova – Talks about her background, rising status, and hopes for the future.

Elena Zamolodchikova – Reflects on her career and how she is enjoying life as a judge.

Alexei Nemov – How he keeps in shape after his career.

Olga Mostepanova – Her role on developing youngsters and how they’re coming along (there’s nothing about her career in the article).

Ksenia Semyonova – Talks about this past year, how’s been dealing with her growth, and what goals she has left to accomplish.

Yury Ryazanov – His last interview before his death.

I can’t seem to open it from the Russian website.

Leave a comment if you find a way to do so.

Related post: new – Russian Gymnastics magazine

If only I could read Russian. This looks terrific.

Issue #1 is posted online. But it’s in one of those new magazine formats that cannot be translated. (Leave a comment if you know of some way to do it.)

Production values are high.

This issue has a lot of Liukins.

I truly hope we can find a way to make it available in other languages.

Thanks Jennifer Isbister for sending us the link.

The URL for the mag is SportGymRus.ru. Leave a comment if you know anything about how we can get our hands on it.

UPDATE: more information in the comments.

ESPN RISE is a high school sports magazine published monthly during the school year in 25 markets around the United States. …

… during the 2007-08 school year, RISE began publishing GIRL, a first-of-its-kind magazine dedicated solely to girls’ high school athletics. …

A younger Shawn Johnson is cover girl for the fall 2009 edition.

Nice promotion for our sport.

ESPN has already posted the article online:

… When Shawn began competing at local meets, believe it or not, she spent a lot of time at the back of the pack. “In gymnastics, the ribbons for third, second and first are red, white and blue,” she says. “The farther out you go, the prettier the ribbon.” And for a long time, Shawn came home with pretty ribbons. “I got the lowest scores and came in 33rd place all the time,” she says. …

read the rest – For Johnson, mind is what matters

(via the GKelite blog)

1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu and her husband, former-gymnast-turned-surgeon Michael Canales, blog on the hits and misses of the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships, taking place this week in London.

Dominique Moceanu was a wonderful gymnast. But her involvement in gymnastics since has been controversial:

• suing for legal emancipation from her parents
• coming out of retirement in 2005 (after 5yrs)
• competing in 2006

Whenever the media needs someone outspoken, they go to Dominique. Especially to get a negative viewpoint on her former coaches, Marta and Béla Károlyi.

You could call Dominique a loose cannon. Or “flaky”.

Yet, I was very surprised how insightful and interesting I found their commentary on International Gymnast magazine. Check it out at:

From the Stands: Women’s Qualification

Kathy Kelly and Marta Karolyi

Yes, there are shots at the Karolyis.