Thinking back over the years, most of the gymnastics “spectacles” were lame at best, embarrassing at worst, from the point of view of a gymnastics coach. Watered-down difficulty. Goofy costumes. (The General Public often appreciates these shows, however.)
From Sports Girls Play:
Tylenol Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular
This past week the Tylenol Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular was televised. The event featured nine world class gymnasts, nine world class ice skaters and Chinese pianist, Lang Lang. Here is video of the finale:
The gymnasts featured were: Nastia Liukin, Catalina Ponor, Paul Hamm, Jonathan Horton, Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar, Ivan Ivankov, and the acro team of Arthur Davis and Shenea Booth. The ice skaters included: Shizuka Arakawa, Evgeni Plushenko, Xue Shen, Hongbo Zho, Surya Bonaly, Michael Weiss, Yuka Sato, Violetta Afanasieva and Peter Dack.
What do you think of these types of “sport meets show†events? Personally, I think they are a wonderful way to expose larger audiences to the sports while giving the athletes an avenue to continue performing.
I hate to admit it, but this one looks pretty good. The local paper in Oklahoma gave it a good review too.
I like the live piano of Lang Lang. And the somersaults shown by ice skaters.
Thumbs up.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 