… Acrobatic Gymnastics has been withdrawn from the competition program of the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships due to only two countries entering teams into the event …

Gymnastics Australia

What a shame.

=== original post from Feb. 10th:

These days my favourite form of competitive gymnastics is Acro. What amazing things can the human body do without any apparatus?

I keep hearing that discipline is dying. But here’s some good news:

Never before seen as part of the program, Acrobatic Gymnastics will be a demonstration sport at this year’s Pacific Rim Championships. The world’s best acrobats will be on show from April 29 – May 2

Click PLAY or watch a promo on YouTube.

FIG calendar page

UPDATE: Cirque’s Stacy Clark confirms this is Artur Bezkorinnyy, a graduate of the Kiev Circus School.

Click PLAY or watch Artur on YouTube.

(via Lost Art of Hand Balancing)

Igor is outstanding. The video will begin at 2min 40sec, a unique 1-arm handstand if you click here.

Or, you can watch the entire thing by clicking PLAY below.

maRin creation in Kiev, Ukraine is the brainchild of Vladimir Marin.

The International Gymnastics Federation moved from Moutier to a new building in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this year.

It’s conveniently located close to the train station.

This past summer, on recommendation from Keith Russell, I visited the new digs. And was very impressed with the operation.

Meike Behrensen, F.I.G. Media Operations Coordinator, gave me a tour.

(You’ve probably noticed how well and widely Meike has been getting information out to the world in recent months. I’m getting updates every couple of days from multiple sources. Thanks.)

I felt a bit sheepish entering the lovely historic building after all the less than positive things I’ve had to say about F.I.G. over the years. But you won’t find Bruno Grandi at the FIG offices. Nor
Nellie Kim.

Here the FIG employees work frantically trying to keep all the events and programs worldwide on track.

It’s not easy.

I was impressed with everyone I met: young, enthusiastic, energetic, multi-lingual. To survive working for FIG you must have a lot of good qualities.

On this blog we mostly cover Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. But in Lausanne they administer Trampoline Sports, Rhythmic, Aerobic, Acrobatic, Gymnastics for All, … and much, much more.

Consider this a shout out for the F.I.G. Staff. We really appreciate what you are doing for coaches and athletes.

Related:

But don’t expect to see a male version of the Women’s sport.

This is must see video. Great artistry, precision, synchronicity. Difficult tumbling. Sections that could be called Acrobatic Gymnastics.

In fact, this team could go to work for Cirque du Soleil tomorrow. A riveting performance.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Japan has been doing male team performances like this for over 50yrs.

For the first time I found this Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics website. It’s not kept updated, however.

Rhythmic Gymnastics is a competitive sport under the authority of F.I.G. (International Gymnastics Federation). Currently, only the women’s portion of rhythmic gymnastics is recognized by FIG – men’s rhythmic gymnastics is yet to get FIG approval. The possibilities and opportunities men’s rhythmic gymnastics presents are endless. It is up to each and everyone of us to work hard to make the dream a reality.

MenRG.com

Thanks Chris Houston for sending us the link.

==== original post:

Shani Isseroff reminds us that European Championships is in progress right now in Portugal.

24th European Championships for Seniors and 8th European Championships for Juniors and 4th European Age Group Games in Acrobatic Gymnastics take place from 25th September to 4th October in Vila do Conde (POR).

Russia and Great Britain dominated the Age Group competition (11-16).

GymNiceTic

Shani points out that it’s not getting much coverage on either old media or the internet. Perhaps Senior finals will be interesting enough to generate some press.

Fact is, Acrobatic Gymnastics is my favourite gymnastics discipline. And there are no athletes more sought after for Circus jobs.

GymNiceTic covers Acrobatic Gymnastics.

FIG does a good job of providing an overview, but not much commentary:

… Some 422 gymnasts from 18 national federations will compete at the Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships end of September and beginning of October in Vila Do Conde (POR) in the categories Women’s Pairs, Men’s Pairs, Mixed Pairs, Women’s Trios and Men’s Groups. …

FIG – Europe’s ACRO elite meet in Portugal

Videos are being streamed from France. (Click on the pulldown menu to choose what to watch.)

The British Acrobatic Gymnastics blog is good.

More links have been compiled here.

But Shani is correct. There are not nearly enough Acrobatic Gymnastics websites on the net. Leave a comment if you have more to recommend.

related link – The quadruple back has now been banned in FIG competition, I understand.

They’d planned to make it a members only subscription model, “in a few weeks”.

But now in April it’s still free to all worldwide.

Check it out via the British Gymnastics website – BGTV. An interview with Beth Tweddle and her coach Amanda Kirby is featured on the home page.

Right now I’m watching highlights from the British Acrobatic and Tumbling Gymnastics Championships from March 20-22nd.

She’s a Hungarian athlete herself.

I collected all the triple saltos from the tempo exercises of the European Championships in 2007.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Wow. This sport is crazy.

Are they competing quadruple salto yet?