Year: 2010

Tom Forster’s gym, Aerials Gymnastics in Colorado Springs, has these floor bars that Tom made, with octagonal wheels on the ends- 4 sides longer than the other 4.

A common drill for swinging is to have gymnasts practice backward roll to push-up to reinforce the candlestick shape and scooping action that becomes critical for good barwork. With Tom’s floor bar, the gymnast can actually grab a real bar to simulate a baby giant or extend the shoulders open and bring it up to a handstand to simulate the giant swing. The octagonal ends forces the gymnast to work on shifting the wrists ….

Click PLAY or watch it demonstrated on YouTube.

(via Gymnastics Crossing)

Afanasyeva scored 58.350. Uchimura an intimidating 93.450.

Breaking via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js

Fabian Hambuechen on Facebook:

” I hate pommel horse and I will hate it forever…my all around was good, just PH sucks…but I´m back in the all around and it feels great…I´ll be back at worlds!!!”

Fab scored a disastrous 12.550 on Horse, still finishing with 88.70 AA, 6th.
UPDATE – watch his PB, HB and FX on YouTube

MAG and WAG AA results (PDF)

I actually prefer straddle giant. … When well done.

Great giant on the girls uneven bars showing an excellent straddle tap technique narrated by Tom Forster.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

One additional tip: If the girls “toe out” while straddling, they often feel more confident that they won’t hit their toes. It also makes the feet look more stretched from the side, the judge’s angle.

Tom has 2 GymSmarts Bars DVDs.

(via Gymnastics Crossing)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Home audience at the Japan Cup this past weekend loves it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Now his Horizontal Bar. Amazing Kovacs. STICK.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I positively hate the composition of Horizontal Bar routines in 2010. But you’ve got to admire this guy, the world’s best all-around gymnast.

Next watch Kohei’s Floor. (Less impressive than the two routines above. But STUCK dismount.)

Some criticized USAG for not jumping on the bandwagon in supporting threatened Cal Berkeley Gymnastics.

They now have … guardedly.

USA Gymnastics statement regarding University of California, Berkeley gymnastics
07/01/2010

USA Gymnastics is aware of the challenges intercollegiate athletics in general, and gymnastics specifically, may face at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as some of the initial efforts of support for the gymnastics programs. We are speaking with the athletic director to understand the circumstances and the most effective way to address them. Once we have a better understanding of the matter, we will work with the appropriate entities to develop a full-fledged and targeted effort.

Steve Penny
President/CEO
USA Gymnastics

Go to Cal Gymnastics Forever to find out how you can help save that fantastic College Gymnastics program.

by site editor Rick McCharles

I enjoyed the second of three Cirque special performances at the Charlottetown Festival in PEI.

Cirque du Soleil will give three performances — Wednesday, June 30, Friday, July 2, and Sunday, July 4, at 9:15 p.m. …

Flight over P.E.I. inspired Cirque du Soleil director

It got great reviews in the local paper. I felt most got good value for the $40 ticket.

Obviously it’s not easy to put together a show for only 3 performances.

The troupe was invited for a local barbecue.

Thanks to hosts Lea and Jim Rand.

All’s good. … Right Jim?

more photos from Charlottetown

Gymnastics Examiner has a great write up on the results from prelims at the Japan Cup:

The Japanese men and the Russian women led the way on the first day of competition at the Japan Cup, being held this weekend in Tokyo.

The host men posted top team scores on five of six events to defeat second-place Germany by nearly 10 points (276.1-266.9). The U.S., propelled by the second highest team scores on rings and parallel bars, finished only seventh on vault and ended third (265.4), a point and a half behind the Germans.

The competition used the three-up, three-count formula also used at the World Championships and Olympic Games. …

Fabian Hambüchen was pretty psyched that his team, Germany, finished ahead of the USA.

… The U.S.’s Alex Naddour, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, posted the highest score on pommel horse (14.75). …

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js

The women’s meet was much weaker than the MAG.

… the day belonged to Afanasyeva, 19, who was left off the A-team European Championships squad earlier this spring and sent as the veteran of the team to the Pacific Rim Championships in Australia. Afanasayeva posted the highest score on floor exercise (14.7) and was second on vault (14.75) and beam (14.55) in this Russian intrasquad …

Gymnastics Examiner – Japanese men, Russian women win team titles at Japan Cup

OKYO (AP) — World champion Kohei Uchimura has led Japan to the title in the men’s team event at the Japan Cup gymnastics competition.

Uchimura, the individual all-around world champion, scored more than 16 points in the vault and high bar disciplines Saturday and had 15.650 points in the floor exercise for defending champion Japan, which won with 276.100 points. Germany was second with 266.900 points. …

USA Today

1. Russia 173.850, 2. Japan 169.850, 3. KOR 150.650

full team results (PDF)

via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook