tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
Anthony Napolitan was the first to land a BMX double front at Big Air, X Games 2009. He didn’t win, actually.
Click PLAY or watch the historic moment on YouTube.
How do YOU flip a single? … It’s not that difficult, so long as you have a foam pit.
Click PLAY or watch the tutorial on YouTube.
(via Woodward)
Steve Penny was named president of USA Gymnastics in April 2005. Penny, who joined USA Gymnastics in 1999, is responsible for the overall management and strategic planning for the association. …
A sports administrator for more than 20 years, Penny’s professional experience includes vice president of Bob Walsh Enterprises, a private sports marketing company in Seattle, and managing director of USA Cycling. He also worked for Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) on its premier international multi-sport event, the Goodwill Games, and for the Seattle Mariners in community affairs and public relations.
Personally, I really like Steve. He’s doing a great job and (I hope) bringing in the bacon to pay that salary.
link – Tennis boss paces US sport leader salaries: report
(via About.com Gymnastics)
Terrible.
Bo Frese, known worldwide for his gymnastics stunts, broke his neck during a practice session this weekend at ArtSports World in Colorado Springs. He died Sunday.
Frese, 37, apparently missed a padded landing area as he dropped about 30 feet.
A coach at ArtSports World told KKTV 11 News that Frese was in the happiest time of his life.
He says the facility will be closed Thursday for memorial services for Frese, and a tournament this spring will be named in his honor.
I’ve linked a number of times to ArtSports World, “the world’s largest trampoline gymnastics center“.
Bo was a coach there.
Good luck catching up to Kohei Uchimura guys.
At Japanese Nationals:
Vaults: a triple-twisting Yurchenko and a Dragulescu (both 7.0 value), a 7.1-value high bar routine (almost perfectly executed layout Kolman) and a 6.9-value parallel bars routine.
He won floor exercise (16.200), vault (phenomenal 16.787 average) and high bar (16.150)
His AA was 92.750. Ono No Komachi reminds that Japan has some bonus points in addition to FIG.
read more on IG
One of the toughest skills ever competed is named after Tina.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Tina Erceg is the only female gymnast ever to represent independent Croatia at the Olympic Games.
related – IG interview
Eileen Langsley has 4 excellent portfolios of photos from the World Gymnastics Championships.
On her blog she recaps the challenges of shooting there:
In Rotterdam TV introduced the Spidercam for the first time at a gymnastics event. This was a remote overhead camera, supported on four strong cables which were slung across the arena. …
For the photographers, the camera and its cables proved to be a real headache in that you would find yourself a nice clean angle to shoot a piece of apparatus then at the last moment Spidercam would move into the background and become a feature of the image. …
… A number of people were accredited as photographers who had little or no experience of working in this kind of environment. Not only did they shoot as if there was no tomorrow, creating the most unbelievable amount of motor drive noise but they felt it was quite alright to speak to the gymnasts, try to get them to pose for pictures and so on. On a number of occasions I had to move away from some of these snappers …
Inevitably with photographers at the same level as the gymnasts and coaches, it was very easy to get images blocked when they moved around, warmed up or a TV crew moved in for a shot. …
An interesting read. Certainly Japan next year will have even more media. Coaches and athletes should be better protected than in Rotterdam.
(via Full Twist)
The 2010 Asian Games (XVI Asiad) in Guangzhou
… The two-week-long competition triggered spending of 122 billion yuan ($18.3 billion) on projects including stadiums, roads and subway lines. That compares with the 9.3 billion-pound ($14.7 billion) budget set in March 2007 for the London Games.
Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, will host the Youth Olympic Games in 2014. …
This 2001 purpose built structure is called the “Olympic Stadium“, as originally it was meant to be used for some events of the 2008 Olympics.
Capacity 80,012.
Guangzhou (Canton), China has a greater population of around 25 million.
There’s no recession there. Growth was 11.5% last fiscal year.
Guangdong justifies the amount of spent as mostly infrastructure. I partly buy that argument in light of the fantastic rate of growth.
In qualifications.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
He did half out (Dragalescu) in Finals. … Is there anything he can’t do?
Thanks Skyler. Thanks Ono.
Recall that French gymnast Youna Dufournet was still injured for the World Championships. (She was 5th AA at the same meet in 2009.)
Check her 14.80 Bars on YouTube. No Def.
That was at the French National Championships this weekend.
AA
WAG senior:
1. Marine Petit
2. Youna Dufournet
3. Laurie Antoniazzi
4. Marine Brevet
5. Aurélie Malaussena
6. Sophia Serseri
WAG junior:
1. Anne Kuhm
2. Doriane Thobie
3. Toscane Bougeard
4. Sarah-Line Errin
5. Manon Cormorèche
(via IG forum)
I’ve got to stop making light of this girl.
She scored 58.30.
IG – Nabiyeva Wins Pas-de-Calais International
Blythe Lawrence is there. Details on Gymnastics Examiner including this post – Notes on the training hall and other things at Pas-de-Calais
In fact, Blythe has already linked videos from most of the routines in finals.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 