Athletes from 16 countries will compete in the 2012 Kellogg’s® Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships, March 16-18, Everett, Washington … near Seattle.

Friday, March 16
10 a.m. – Rhythmic Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 1)
1:30 p.m. – Women’s Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 1)
3 p.m. – Rhythmic Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 2)
7 p.m. – Women’s Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 2)

Saturday, March 17
1:30 p.m. – Men’s Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 1)
3 p.m. – Rhythmic Individual Event Finals
7 p.m. – Men’s Team & All-Around (Sub Div. 2)

Sunday, March 18
9 a.m. – Trampoline Junior Team Competition
11:30 a.m. – Trampoline Senior Team Competition
12 p.m. – Men’s & Women’s Junior Individual Event Finals
4 p.m. – Trampoline Individual Event Finals
6 p.m. – Men’s & Women’s Senior Individual Event Finals
7 p.m. – Synchronized Trampoline Competition

USAG

Blythe Lawrence will be there for Examiner. She’s from Seattle.

… The inclusion of six of the top eight potential Olympic teams on the women’s side and Japan, China, Russia and the U.S. going head-to-head on the men’s makes this meet a bona fide Olympic dress rehearsal. …

Lauren Hopkins will be there for The Couch Gymnast. I’ll be there, too. I’m particularly interested in this opportunity:

In conjunction with the 2012 Kellogg’s Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships, USA Gymnastics is offering two days of coaching, judging and business educational opportunities during the event at the Tulalip Resort. To attend for free, you will need to show your Pacific Rim Championships event ticket.

details

Jim Jarrett, Quin Shannon, Susan Jacobson, & Linda Metheny Mulvihill are a few of the presenters.

more information & tickets

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I agree with Nadia:

… the host nation should have a rhythmic gymnastic presence at the Olympics to inspire the next generation of young women.

“It is important,” said Comaneci, noting that this was a rare opportunity for the sport to promote rhythmic gymnastics at the highest competitive level.

“How many times are the Games in your home country …

Telegraph

Even if they finish last, it would be be a good news story. And a finish in second last place would be a win.

Nadia’s in London for the Laureus World sports awards.

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Top Rhythmic gymnasts are superstar athletes in Russia.

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Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Why are they so unsupportive of Rhythmic Gymnastics?
Funding was cut in 2009. She has a volunteer coach.

The good news — an anonymous donor, after seeing her situation on TV, sent a cheque to support Frankie‘s training.

(via Gymnation on Facebook)

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Examiner – Israeli requirement puts Olympics in jeopardy for Maksyuta, Aronovich

Telegraph – London 2012 Olympics: qualification dream over for Great Britain’s rhythmic gymnastics group

Even if FIG approves your athlete for Olympics, most nations have additional requirements. “Evidence that the athlete will finish top half of the field”, for example.

In the case of GBR Rhythmic, it’s British Gymnastics that is refusing to nominate the team to the British Olympic Association.

I was involved in one of these dramas in 1999, the Canadian Olympic Committee initially unwilling to approve Kyle Shewfelt for the 2000 Olympics. (He was the youngest competitor.)

Kyle nearly qualified for Finals in Sydney and went on to be the most successful Canadian in history. It’s examples like this that coaches should cite as a reason to approve athletes / teams for Olympics.

It’s crazy that the host nation won’t approve their Rhythmics Team. Imagine what kind of boost the sport would have in the U.K. with all that Olympic exposure, regardless of result.

Leave a comment if you know of other athletes who made the Olympic qualification standard, but were denied participation by their own nation.

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Gymnastics fans are in for a treat this year, with the 2012 MG, WG, RG, TRP & ACR National Championships all combined into one massive event at Sydney Olympic Park.

Having qualified a full team at the 2011 Artistic World Championships, Australia will look to select a full women’s team to compete at the Games. …

GA – 2012 National Championships to Play a Big Role in Olympic Selection

Anyone else heard the rumour that Peggy Liddick was considering NCAA coaching opportunities after this cycle?

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The Rhythmic Gymnastics Finals concluded the Visa International Gymnastics, which as part of the London Prepares series functioned as Test Event for the 2012 London Olympic Games as well as the final Olympic qualifier. …

Individual All-around

Gold KONDAKOVA Daria RUS 110.450
Silver RIZATDINOVA Ganna UKR 108.750
Bronze ALYABYEVA Anna KAZ 108.075

Group All-around

Gold ESP – Spain 53.250
Silver ISR – Israel 50.525
Bronze FRA – France 50.400
Bronze GRE – Greece 50.400

FIG

Lord Sebastian Coe, Bruno Grandi

Prof. Bruno Grandi:

… “I am pleased that our gymnasts now have a second chance at participation in the Games, an initiative that aims to bring greater justice to the sport. But as with all new concepts, we will need to revisit certain criteria, details, that some feel are still too complicated. …”

… the Finals in Artistic and Trampoline enjoyed spectacular audience success from a media standpoint. “This is the first time that the FIG has independently produced the signal of a Final. We have chosen to embrace a modern philosophy by live broadcasting on our “Gymnastics” You Tube channel. We have integrated social networks into our global communication package, which has proven very successful. …

read more …

I’d agree. Overall the event was excellent, especially for the YouTube Finals feed and videos.

Dwight Normile was more critical of the new system:

… The biggest losers were the Canadian men and Spanish women, both of whom would have qualified under the old rules with their 12th-place finishes in Tokyo.

It would make a lot more sense to use the test event specifically for individual qualification. And if the FIG really wants to raise the level of competition at the Olympics, then it should reduce the number of all-around berths and add more top specialists via the previous worlds apparatus finals. …

IG – Stretching Out: Grading the Olympic Test Event

I’d say the least happy nations under the new scheme are:

MAG: Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Belarus
WAG: Belgium, Korea, Spain, Netherlands

I’m en route to Belgium and will survey some of the WAG coaches.

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Rhythmic Gymnastics. Spain, 5 Balls – : 26.900 (Difficulty : 9.000, Artistic : 9.000, Execution : 8.900). Rank : 1

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here’s the FIG wrap-up post for day 1 competition – Rhythmic gymnasts sparkle at Greenwich. It has results and links to more photos / videos.

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Until @KateBamberPA tweeted …

Is this the ugliest sofa in world sport? #rhythmic #gymnastics #FIGTest12

via @BBCSport_Ollie

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But many love the Galas at major FIG events.

Matthew Greenwood, Gymnastics coordinator at the O2, confirmed the bad news. FIG and the London Olympics organizing committee both wanted to schedule a Gala … but logistics were too difficult. The Artistic / Trampoline venue is shared with Basketball. And Rhythmics scheduled after the (possible) Gala date.

Finals in London will be again held over 3 days, not two — taking away a potential Gala date.

Here’s a glimpse from the Beijing 2008 Gala — Rhythmic gymnast Aliya Garaeva. Click PLAY or watch it on Daily Motion.

Aliya Garaeva Gymnastics Gala Olympics 2008

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