Year: 2010

… the No. 2 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team beat No. 12 Kentucky in Memorial Coliseum, 197.225-195.650. The Crimson Tide scored a 49.65 on the vault, its highest total since 2004 and its second highest vault score ever during the regular season. It was Alabama’s fourth 197-plus score of the season, the most in the nation this season.

Senior Morgan Dennis led the way with a 9.975 on the vault and a 39.55 in the all-around. …

GymTide

Gymnastics Examiner posted a good overview of the Chinese age falsification investigation:

… Yang, who is married to 2008 men’s Olympic all-around champion Yang Wei, was said to be 16 in Sydney. But in 2008 she gave an interview on Chinese television and stated that she was 14 when she competed at the Olympics. Yang later said she misspoke. She also won a bronze medal on uneven bars at the Sydney Games. …

Decision about age of Chinese gymnasts Yang and Dong expected soon

The decision just announced is that her teammate Dong Fangxiao is guilty, but that there’s insufficient evidence that Yang Yun was underage.

I guess this admission on National TV in China was not deemed conclusive.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (3min 30sec)

I don’t believe for a second that Yang Yun was old enough for the 2000 Olympics. My guess is that she will admit her actual age in the massive media onslaught to come.

If China and her teammate are to be punished, I don’t think she and her Olympic Champion husband will stay quiet. He’s a national hero there.

Update with a few new details is posted on Gymnastics Examiner.

FIG dropped the hammer …

By NANCY ARMOUR AP National Writer:

Dong Fangxiao was 14 during the Sydney Games, according to an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation. Gymnasts must be 16 during the Olympic year to compete.

A second gymnast on the 2000 squad, Yang Yun, also was suspected of being underage. But there was insufficient evidence her age had been falsified, and the FIG said it was giving her a warning.

The FIG has “cancelled” all of Dong’s results from Sydney and forwarded its investigation to the International Olympic Committee. Because the case involves the Olympics, it is up to the IOC to decide if China should lose any medals.

The IOC has said previously it would take “necessary measures” if any gymnasts were found to be underage. The United States was fourth at the Sydney Games.

“We can confirm that we have received the ruling from the FIG in the case concerning Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, and we take due note of their decision,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “Clearly, we need to take time to consider the findings before the Executive Board can consider the matter. …

Investigation: 1 Chinese Gymnast Underage in 2000

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

Most gymnastics experts feel the age requirement is the wrong way to protect young gymnasts around the world. But if FIG is going to make stupid rules, they should enforce them.

Next … why was Yang Yun found innocent? I saw much more convincing “evidence” that she was underage than for her teammate.

And will IOC actually strip Dong Fangxiao and the Chinese Olympic Team of their 2000 Olympic medals?

Update: commentary from Andrew Thornton

I was really moved by the story Georgia gymnast Kat Ding tells in this, one of the Know a Gymnast series of articles:

(barely)controlledchaos: A recent article on the Red and Black website says you just wanted to get away from Reno. What were you looking to get away from? What was your gymnastics experience as a child and teenager like? To be honest, I hadn’t heard of you until you landed at UGA, so I’m curious to know how such talent escaped my notice!

KAT: I was looking to get away from an environment that wasn’t suitable to a positive lifestyle. There are gangs, drugs, and just bad things that are going around there and that isn’t me. My gymnastics experience as a kid was nothing exciting or glamorous. I worked hard, cried a lot, and felt like I never got anywhere.

In the end, obviously the hard work has paid off, but there were definitely times when I was ready to quit. If it weren’t for my mom, I would have… You didn’t hear about me until I came to UGA because I wasn’t that good. I had a talented coach for a few years, but when he left to become a college coach, I coached myself practically for the last 3 years of high school. You can only do as good as you know how to be, so after I had a great year placing 2nd at nationals in the all around, I fell by the way side and just competed when I had to and practiced when I felt like it. It was amazing Jay still wanted me!! …

read the entire interview – Know a Gymnast: KAT DING

UPDATE: The link is down right now. Hopefully it will be restored soon.

That photo is from The Peripheral, a photo blog by the wonderful Kelly Lambert who covers Georgia Sports. Check it out.

Detailed advice on hand position from the great Hideo Mizoguchi.

Click PLAY or watch it on Mizo’s GymSmarts blog.

Some Chinese coaches do drills with both hands in undergrip. And many coaches introduce single pommel circles to beginners with both hands in overgrip.

Watch more gymnastic training videos on the Gymnastic Minute Channel.

Follow them on twitter @gymsmarts

How do you like your club website … ??

It’s the first thing most new customers see when checking you out. First impressions are critical.

Direct Works Media sells website packages to clubs. Check out a few of their sites:

• Twister Gymnastics, Florida
• Gym-Nest, New York
• Black Diamond Gymnastics, Utah

Disclosure: Direct Works Media has signed on as an advertiser for this site on a 3 month trial basis. Please click through and, if you like what you see, recommend Direct Works to your club management.

Lydia Ierodiaconou Lassila just won the Women’s Aerial skiing Gold Medal for Australia.

Australia ??

… Lassila took a congratulatory phone call from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and showed her same knack for twisting and turning on the slopes by urging him to increase funding for better facilities at home.

“I was trying to persuade Kevin, my mate Kev, to build us a water ramp so that we can spend more time at home and also encourage some other youngsters to get involved with this sport,” said Lassila, who spends more than nine months a year training abroad. …

Reuters

Lydia was an Artistic gymnasts as were the Silver and Bronze medalists from China.

The judging I find quite confusing. Many of the athletes do similar jumps with similar performance. Here Lydia tries to explain the rules for the rest of us.

Click PLAY or watch it on Olympics.com.au.

http://media.olympics.com.au/swf/mediaplayer.swf

The gymnast that defined the word “pixie”. The latest from MunchTheSilivasFan.

… Music: Cartoon Heroes – Aqua

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Great West Gym Fest competition in Idaho has the best awards system I’ve ever seen. Awards are as important to the organizers as the competition itself.

First, they have a wonderful space with Lake Coeur d’Alene as a backdrop. It’s beautifully lit and decorated. Seating for parents is comfortable.

It’s easy to set an impressive stage in the beautiful Coeur d’Alene Resort, one of the advantages of hosting a meet in a hotel.

When kids finish competing they move immediately to the Awards room. On arrival a video of their competition is already playing. A roving cameraman was careful to get some footage of every competitor.

The video keeps kids and parents entertained until everyone arrives. Scores are ready by that time too, done correctly and promptly. (Scoring is the biggest potential disaster in other meets.)

The video is stopped. An Olympian introduced by a skilled M.C., this year and last it was Scott Crouse from Texas. Scott’s short inspirational speech is very much geared towards the parents.

Next, the Olympian takes over. Here’s 2004 Olympic Floor Champ Kyle Shewfelt telling kids stories about his days as an age group gymnast. Certainly Kyle was one of the best of the 40 Olympians to take on this role over the past 9yrs.

The Olympian next gives a plaque and personally shakes hands with every single athlete.

Organizers divide huge age groups into age divisions of about 10 kids each. (born March, 1999, for example) Gymnasts all get an award on every apparatus.

Placements are acknowledged by sticky tags that are added to the individual plaques. For example, if you finish 3rd on Beam in your small age group category, you get a 3rd place sticky. Announcing results and distributing those tags is fast and efficient. And done in a fun and encouraging way.

When all awards have been handed out, there is an additional set of different (bigger) trophies given for OVERALL COMBINED. We might have 6 different age divisions of Level 6 girls, for example, combining those to find out who had the highest vault score from all ages of Level 6.

This takes time, but is worth it, I feel. It rewards the very best kids in the meet.

Finally, the Bears. The Great West Gym Fest is famous for hand carved bear and moose statues given out only for Team Competition.

You’ll find these bear statues in gyms all over the U.S.A. and Canada.

Olympians enjoy this meet. They are not overworked. Raj Bhavsar has been an Olympic celebrity at events in 8 nations since Beijing. He felt this was his most enjoyable event yet.

Kids have plenty of opportunity to meet and get photographs with their favourite Olympians. This year the Olympians Ice Cream Social was held out on a boat on the lake. Nice.

Trust me, this is only a brief overview of the elaborate awards system put in place by meet organizer Dave Adlard. There’s much, much more. Too much to cover here. But leave a comment if you have any questions.

Thanks David Hill of ECLIPSE GYMNASTICS in Australia.

Micah Marino, currently at Mismo Gymnastics, posted a tightly edited montage including a number of “stupid human tricks” I’d never seen before.

There are enough comedic touches and “crash” outtakes to keep you going.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(Hopefully the Mismo owner, Kelley, will never see this video. Better she not know who’s jumping off the roof.)