Year: 2010

This weekend’s dual meet result. Top 3 AA and Team.

1. Sam Oldham GBR 85.15
2. Reiss Beckford GBR 84.90
3. Cameron Mackenzie GBR 84.35

1. Great Britain- 340.10
2. Switzerland- 336.20
3. France- 329.90
4. Germany- 325.30

“It is very important to see ourselves in this position so close to the European Championships in Birmingham. This result is excellent for the self-confidence of our gymnasts and also, for their image. I am particularly pleased with the attitude of our boys versus such strong and respected challengers – they looked like a team”, said British Men’s Technical Director Eddie Van Hoof.

British Gymnastics

No … actually that was techno-geek coach Don Eckert. (He loves it. And I don’t have one. Sob.)

Big Fake Smile, instead, got an old school Sears Action Gymnastics Set … on eBay. For $.99 plus S&H.

Click through to see more hilarious photos:

Big Fake Smile – …let the bells of dunder mifflin chime out your love!

International Gymnast Magazine April 2010 edition has Canadian Kristina Vaculik on the cover.

Congrats to Kristina and her coach Elena Davydova. Getting on that cover is a minor kind of gymnastics immortality.

My first reaction is to be cheered that International Gymnast is covering international gymnasts.

Gymtruthteller posted quite a compelling conspiracy theory about that cover, however:

… has decided to further its own agenda by putting the winner of the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational on the cover instead of either winner of the of the Scam Cup.

Canada’s Kristina Vaculik won Nadia fluff competition. I have nothing against Kristina I was as mad as everyone else when Canada cheated her out of her Olympic experience in 2008 and I would have no problem if Kristina being on the cover at any other time but the bias going on at IG Magazine needs to be called out.

Do you ever wonder why certain gymnasts are loved at IG but others are not? Well it isn’t to hard to figure out you have to be connected to one of the owners.

The reason Nadia gets so much play at IG Magazine is because she is married to co-owner Bart Conner. The reason Dominique Moceanu was plastered on the cover more then any other gymnast in history is because Paul Ziert is her publicist. At least that is what he was listed as on usa-gymnastics.com a month or so ago. Ever wonder why Nastia has always been a saint? well Valeri Liukin has been best friends with the owners since he came to the United States. …

read on – Gymtruthteller – IG Magazine furthers own agenda AGAIN

I think that’s overstating it … a bit. (Though their offices are located at 3214 Bart Conner Dr., Norman, OK 73072. Some inbreeding is inevitable.)

One contradiction in the Gymtruthteller post: If Valeri Liukin is part of the conspiracy, why wouldn’t his gymnast Rebecca Bross be on the cover?

The more Publisher Paul Ziert stays away from his magazine, the better, it’s true. Let Editor Dwight Normile take the lead.

Still, overall, since Ziert acquired the original I.G., I’d say it’s improved. If you disagree, do not subscribe to the mag. Don’t visit their website. Simple.

Or … you can only follow the (free) website, boycotting the dead tree version. Amanda Turner posts some great web only stories.

… Kristina has verbally committed to Stanford University, by the way. A superb recruit. Perhaps she’s on the cover because she’s a charming gymnast, a reader favourite, and they happened to get a good photo of that release.

It’s possible …

MostepanovaFan:

In preparation for next months European Championships I am making montages of previous champions on each piece of apparatus. I don’t like this one much because I couldn’t get any music to work with it, but hopefully the other events will be better.

1971 – Ludmilla Tourischeva (USSR)
1973 – Angelika Hellman (GDR) and Ludmilla Tourischeva (USSR)
1975 – Nadia Comaneci (Romania)
1977 – Nelli Kim (USSR)
1979 – Nadia Comaneci (USSR)
1981 – Cristina Grigoras (Romania)
1983 – Olga Bicherova (USSR)
1985 – Elena Shushunova (USSR)
1987 – Elena Shushunova (USSR)
1989 – Svetlana Boginskaya (USSR)
1990 – Svetlana Boginskaya (USSR)
1992 – Tatiana Gutsu (Ukraine)
1994 – Lavinia Milosovici (Romania)
1996 – Simona Amanar (Romania)
1998 – Adrienn Varga (Hungary)
2000 – Simona Amanar (Romania)
2002 – Natalia Ziganshina (Russia – the vault shown is from the all-around)
2004 – Monica Rosu (Romania)
2005 – Francesca Benolli (Italy)
2006 – Anna Grudko (Russia)
2007 – Carlotta Giovannini (Italy)
2008 – Oksana Chusovitina (Germany)
2009 – Ariella Kaeslin (Switzerland)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The giant leap forward in the sequence was Shushanova. She was revolutionary on Vault. What an athlete!

Ioannis Melissanidis … born on March 27, 1977) is a retired Greek artistic gymnast and the 1996 Olympic champion on the floor exercise. He was also the 1994 European Champion on floor and the first Greek gymnast ever to medal at the World Championships. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Certainly some of the most effortless “stuck” landings ever. His effeminate style was slightly controversial at the time.

Melissanidis has two vaults named after him in the Code of Points; both are variations of the Yurchenko double back.

Greece has had astonishing success in International gymnastics since. And there are future start developing. Vassiliki Milloussi and Christos Lympanovnos are the current National Champions.

Via the The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook:

Romania names European Championships teams:

MAG Senior: Flavius, Koczi, Adrian Bucur, Ovidiu Buidoso, Alin Jivan, Cristian Bataga;

MAG Junior: Andrei Muntean, Daniel Raducanu, Andrei Groza, Ioan Nistor, Adelin Kotrong;

WAG Senior: Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, Cerasela Patrascu;

WAG Junior: Diana Bulimar, Larisa Iordache, Anamaria Baicu, Maria Balea, Madalina Neagu.

(Note that names in Romanian use font characters not available on some websites.)

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

Marian Dragulescu not named due to ankle injury, but could be included later.

Aunt Joyce says Marian’s remarried. True?

Sadly I’m missing Wild Rose this year. But my spies tell me the Chinese girls are awesome.

Canadian national beam champion Miranda Meyer, left, and Chinese Olympic gold medallist LinLin Deng pose for a photo at a news conference for this weekend’s Triple Flip Wild Rose International gymnastics competition.

Photograph by: Bruce Edwards, The Journal, Edmonton Journal

… Deng, a pixie-like four-foot-six who still looks to weigh about 70 pounds, was only part of a team at the Olympics, but she began emerging as an individual star when she won the balance beam gold medal at the 2009 world championships.

She brings that growing reputation to Edmonton this weekend for the Triple Flip Wild Rose International Women’s Gymnastics Invitational. The event runs all day today and Saturday at the Northlands Expo Centre with the finals beginning Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

More than 500 athletes, including three from China and three from Great Britain, will be competing in the event. Most eyes will be centred on Deng and teammate Yuguan Jiang who was also a member of the Olympic gold-medal team, who aren’t expected to have much difficulty dominating the various categories. …

… Saying her first impression of Canada was the “fresh air” Deng smiled, then laughed when asked if her title has raised her profile back home.

“I was really happy, it was the highlight of my career,” she said of the world title. “But I am not famous in China. Yet.” …

• official website – Triple Flip Wild Rose International
• live results and video streaming
• title sponsor’s blog – flipgirl.ca
• full Edmonton Journal article – Shining star falls on Edmonton

Here’s that routine from Grishina’s dominating all-around score at the Jesolo meet last week in Italy.

Click PLAY or watch her Bars on YouTube. 15.9 (9.4 E score)

Great stoop Stalders.

Aunt Joyces calls Grishina Reason #43525 Why Team USA Is Screwed. (Click through to see Beam and Floor.)

Couch Gymnast had a Grishina-gasm over that Floor routine.

Aunt Joyce has a caution:

… Anastasia owned the meet. Based on her scores, it was a little worrisome that she may have peaked before Europeans. Based on her performances, there are loads of little little areas to work on. They’re the little things any other girl would dream to have as her only areas in need of improvement. Grishina vs. Komova at Junior Europeans is going to be quite epic. …

Projecting forward to London, it’s difficult to see how the U.S.A. is going to be competitive with either Russia or China on Bars.

Every time I see one of these tragedies reported, my first reaction is: “I wish she had been in sports.”

… The prosecutor brought charges Monday against nine teenagers, saying their taunting and physical threats were beyond the pale and led the freshman, Phoebe Prince, to hang herself from a stairwell in January. …

NY Times – 9 Teenagers Are Charged After Classmate’s Suicide

When we sport coaches are challenged that our training / competition environment is “too tough” or “too dangerous”, ask:

What about the alternative? Real life.

It’s not easy being a teenager today. There are more bad options tempting kids than ever before.

Growing up with a high priority on sports is one of the best, very best, ways to survive your teens. The gym is a tightly controlled environment with much higher ethical standards than High School.

The next Artistic World Championships will be hosted in Rotterdam, Oct. 16-24, 2010.

The official website is posting informed and entertaining preview updates called, “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth …”

How are gymnasts across the globe preparing for the 2010 Worlds, and what are their dreams, intentions and expectations? We are keeping an eye on the various teams’ and individual gymnasts’ preparations for Rotterdam. Watch this space for frequent updates…

They have mini-profiles on Oksana Chusovitina, Celine van Gerner, Igor Cassina, Daria Joura, coach Peggy Liddick, coach Eddie van Hoof, and others. The most interesting story, by far, is fan favourite turned bad boy, Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder:

In July 2009, Yuri van Gelder made headlines for all the wrong reasons when news broke that he had tested positive for cocaine at the 2009 Dutch Nationals. The story got even bigger when the rings specialist was revealed to have been addicted to cocaine for quite some time. In the months following the scandal, Van Gelder lost his job with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, was suspended for a year and spent several months in a Scottish rehab clinic. …

… Van Gelder still very much intends to compete in the 2010 Worlds, held on his home turf. …

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, Part 2

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(via Full Twist)