Year: 2010

“I want to be known as the gymnast who always was a pleasant gymnast. Was a happy Elite gymnast and looked like she enjoyed what she did. I had a huge heart for it and I did it because I loved to do it, and not for any other reason. That’s what I try and portray every time I compete. I really enjoy doing gymnastics.”

I really enjoyed Sam’s interview. Click through to read it.

Inside Gymnastics is proud to feature Samantha Peszek as our January/February cover story and we’re sharing a bonus online feature with more of her words about coaches, champions and her idols. Read on to find out what college has in store and her thoughts on little sister, Jessica, following in her steps! …

IN HER OWN WORDS: SAMANTHA PESZEK

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

(via Gymnastics Examiner)

Poly did some browsing on YouTube, coming up with this historic clip on Aerial Skiing.

Frank Bare performs the first triple twisting quadruple back flip in 1983. This is from Dick Barrymore’s film entitled “The Golden Years of Ski films”. Buy it at dickbarrymore.com

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Frank learned it on a water ramp he helped build in 1978. No doubt they were inspired by the swimming pool used for landing extreme dismounts off horizontal bar and swinging rings near Muscle Beach, California.

Frank’s jump was impressive for that era. Only 4 or 5 men have ever done quadruple saltos. There’s very little incentive since it’s (happily) been banned in competition.

His father, Frank Bare Sr., was the first Executive Director 1963-1980 of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF). And later (1976-1980) was elected Vice-President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

It’s been wonderful to see how both Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson translated their success as athletes into “brands”. Very few gymnasts have been able to do this in the past.

But the buzz on the blogosphere regarding her relationship with Olympic Figure Skating Champion Evan Lysacek led to this tweet …

Seems she later removed it. Sober second thought.

I’m sympathetic for Nastia. Relationships are difficult enough without a spotlight on your every move.

But you can’t have it both ways. No doubt her agent thinks this is great publicity.

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

(via Full Twist)

What are the top freestyle aerial skiers competing in 2010?

Quadruple saltos are banned. Athletes must, therefore, add twists to increase difficulty score.

Here’s Jeret “Speedy” Peterson from Idaho landing what he calls “The Hurricane“.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jeret plans to compete that jump in the Olympic Final, if weather conditions are optimal.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Just arrived in Vancouver. I’m parked in front of the high definition TV, catching up on The Games.

For every gymnastics person who loves figure skating (like my Mom) there’s one who dislikes the sport (like me).

I dislike the judging. Find the routines too long. Dislike the scandal mongering, this time involving the Artistic Olympic Gymnastics Champion.

But even I can appreciate Kim Yu-Na. She’s an awesome athlete.

Kim Yu-Na is 19 years old and is the favorite to become South Korea’s first Olympic figure skating champion. …

International Sports Examiner

Click PLAY or watch her Short Program on YouTube.

Update: Unorthodox Gymnastics takes issue with a clearly under researched article by Aileen Gallagher controversially titled Why Figure Skating Is So Much Better Than Gymnastics.

I assume Aileen is an expert in both Figure Skating and Gymnastics. Otherwise, why would NY Mag assign her to write about the topic?

This workout was filmed by Kyle Khou on January 7th just before the start of the season.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Diego Neumaire was born without ears 11 years ago to a poor family in Mexico. Despite the odds he has excelled, winning the National Championship of the Mexican Gymnastics Federation this past April.

His story has so compelled Dr. John Reinisch that the Hancock Park resident is donating his skills as a world-class surgeon in ear reconstructive surgery. He is also on a fundraising campaign to help pay $40,000 for hospital and travel fees. …

Click through for details on this good news story:

SURGEON SEEKS TO RESTORE GYMNAST’S HEARING

Impaired hearing is not much of a barrier for children in gymnastics and other individual acrobatic sports.

Taucer started a good thread on the Chalk Bucket forum:

… handsprings (both forward and backward) … are becoming less and less important to the construction of high-level routines. The front handspring seems all but extinct at the top levels of the sport (especially on the men’s side) and even back handsprings are becoming less common.

Front saltos are, more and more, being done from a punch (or connected from a backwards skill with a forward landing).

Backward saltos are, more and more, being done directly out of a roundoff.

There are a number of clear advantages to this. …

Click through to read responses and/or comment: The role of handsprings (both front and back) in development of high-level gymnasts

Some very good points. Still, I doubt you’ll find many coaches who have stopped training handsprings with developmental gymnasts. Girls need them for beam, certainly.

Olympic Floor Champion Kyle Shewfelt insists that Forward Handspring step-out > Handspring two foot > Flyspring is an essential tumbling pass for those wanting (later) to compete forward salto series. There are many mid-level gymnasts, on the other hand, for whom I’ve given up on forward handspring. And a few … very few … with whom I’ve given up on backward handspring.

What do you think?

Don Eckert nominates Eddie Crane.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (2008).

Eddie was a Team Gattaca gymnast. Leave a comment if you know what he’s doing now.

The most under appreciated acrobatic discipline is inline skating.

There’s an amazing acrobatic team from France online at 340jumperz.com.

You can also see their stuff at 340jumperz on Facebook.

Thanks to Cirque’s Magalie Coleno for this.