Shout out to Kyle Shewfelt, inspirational headliner at camp. He made a lot of kids very happy.

From the Facebook album: Wall Photos by Amber

… Many of the girls had attended the UCLA camp with Nastia earlier in the summer. They told me they didn’t see any Olympic medals there. (Likely Nastia has hers locked up in a vault.)

more photos from Go For It

… But are they are allowed to “cowboy” saltos on some skills. Leave a comment if you know the rules on that. (Perhaps we could get more specific on our gymnastics regulations.)

UPDATE: From Mike:

D 8.5.2 During the flight, the position of the dive shall be at all times aesthetically pleasing. Should any of the positions not be shown as described below, each judge shall deduct ½ to 2 points, according to his opinion.

Tuck (C)

D 8.5.7 In the tuck position the body shall be compact, bent at the knees and hips with the knees and feet together. The hands shall be on the lower legs and the toes pointed.

It’s not specifically “allowed”. But is used as judges evaluate from the side.

(… I moved the other photo to the comments)

I’ve not heard of a single overage athlete scandal.

Better athletes will be coming to the next Youth Olympics, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Thursday. ..

The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee on Tuesday blamed scheduling conflicts for the Americans’ woeful performance in the inaugural Youth Olympics, where their gold medal tally is less than Hungary and Azerbaijan. …

The Youth Olympics, which closed Thursday, were dominated by China, which won 30 gold medals and 51 overall. Russia was second with 19 gold medals and South Korea was third with 11.

The United States won only four gold medals, and U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Scott Blackmun said earlier this week that scheduling conflicts had kept some top American athletes from competing in Singapore.

The Youth Olympics featured 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 204 national Olympic committees competing in 26 sports. …

“These Youth Games have definitely exceeded vastly my highest expectations,” Rogge said. “I did not expect this level of perfection in organization. Hats off to Singapore for what they have done.”

Rogge says Youth Olympics to have better athletes

The inaugural youth winter games will be held in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012 and the summer games in Nanjing, China in 2014. Lillehammer, Norway, which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics, is the only city that has expressed an interest in hosting the 2016 winter games, and has until November to submit a formal bid, the IOC said.

related – Missing top talent hurts US team at Youth Olympics

IG editor Dwight Normile asks all the right questions.

Stoica confirms that he plans to run for F.I.G. President one day. (I’d vote for Slava Corn.)

Stoica also defends the current Men’s Code of Points, explaining that eventually coaches will invent shorter routines with fewer execution deductions. That’s not what’s been happening, so far.

There’s been a big increase in C, D and E parts. Gymnasts are trying to win by getting the highest start values.

Stoica agreed with Normile that the rules on Horizontal Bar are flawed. Changes will be seriously considered for after London.

Click through to the September 2010 issue of International Gymnast. It’s a great interview.

Gymnastics – No Ceiling posted videos of 10 of the best performances at the YOG.

One of the biggest surprises was Guatemala’s Ana Sofia Gomez Porras on Beam. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That was also posted on Amy’s The All Around tumblr blog.

Watch Beam Finals highlights on the official YOG YouTube channel.

Here’s The All Around wrap-up of the last day of Finals, including a description of his win on P Bars.

Oleg Stepko

From the Facebook album: 2010 Youth Olympic Games by Grace Chiu GraceClick

Vault: 1. Ganbat (MGL) 2. Arican (TUR) 3. Abad (ESP)

… Erdenebold Ganbat took gold in the vault to give Mongolia its most successful result in history. With a handspring double front and a double-twisting Tsukahara, Ganbat edged Turkey’s Ferhat Arican (handspring full to piked front, Tsukahara 2 1/2), 15.650-15.662. Top qualifier Nestor Abad (Spain) won the bronze (15.450). …

IG

Erdennbold Ganbat of Mongolia:

And here’s Ferhat Arican of Turkey.

How fantastic for those up-and-coming gymnasts, their coaches, their federations.

The absurdly difficult open-ended F.I.G. rules have not slowed the progress of international development on the Men’s side.

In the wake of mistake’s from all-around champion Viktoria Komova, China’s Tan Sixin claimed both women’s gold medals Sunday. Tan, the all-around and uneven bars runner-up, was near perfect on balance beam and floor exercise. Tan nailed her acrobatics on beam, including a high two-foot layout to Korbut; switch Yang Bo; front tuck; and a front aerial sheep jump. She took one step to the side on her dismount (ff, ff 2 1/2) to earn 15.550 (6.3/9.25).

Komova appeared tired after victories Thursday in the all-around and on Saturday in the vault and uneven bars. …

read more – Tan Takes Two Golds in Youth Olympics Finals

Let’s start a scandalous rumour …

Tan Sixin is TOO OLD for the “Youth” Olympics. Her age documentation falsified. I read it on the internet, … somewhere …

China’s Tan Sixin was the STAR of the final day of Finals.

Floor: 1. Tan (CHN) 2. Bulimar (ROU) 3. Komova (RUS)
Beam: 1. Tan (CHN) 2. Ferlito (ITA) 3. Donald … Komova 7th (2 falls)

Vault: 1. Ganbat (MGL) 2. Arican (TUR) 3. Abad (ESP)
Parallel Bars: 1. Stepko (UKR) 2. Muntean (ROU) 3. Edalli (ITA)
High Bar: 1. Oldham (GBR) 2. Abad (ESP) 3. Zhu (CHN)

via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook

Congratulations to IOC, FIG and meet organizers. I’m astonished how smoothly the Artistic discipline has gone. In fact, the Games themselves seem to be a big WIN for Olympic sport.

Gold for Oleksandr SATIN (UKR). Silver for HE Yuxiang (CHN). Bronze for Ginga MUNETOMO (JPN)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click through for the Women’s Tramp Final highlights video.

Gold for DONG Yu (CHN). Silver for Sviatlana MAKSHTAROVA (BLR). Bronze for Chisato DOIHATA (JPN).