Year: 2010

LOVE the pull-outs to Invert Cross. A strength clinic by the reigning Olympic Champion on this apparatus.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

And kicking out of double layout full out. Sweet.

All he needs to do now is add back the Butterfly to Cross mount he used prior to the 2008 Olympics.

Thanks Jeff.

Inside Gymnastics:

National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi has announced that she will retire from her position following the 2012 Olympic in London. We caught up with Karolyi here and asked her, “Who do you think might be able to fulfill that role?” Here’s what she had to say…

“You are trying to squeeze it out of me? Yes? (Laughs) Well I don’t know, but my personal opinion is that Valeri (Liukin) definitely would be a good person.” …

Inside Gymnastics

They HIT 18 for 18, finishing strong on Pommels. The only team not suffering at least 1 fall.

Everyone counted Germany out. Even themselves.

Click PLAY or watch Fabian’s interview on Gymnastike.

http://videoplayer.flocasts.org/player.swf

The German boys are huge celebrities in Europe, … and not only with teenage girls.

Their success is good for the sport.

Rings.

I’m telling you. This is a new era.

China was almost 2 points ahead of Germany and the rest on that apparatus.

They won P Bars by only about 0.1 and finished 6th on Pommels as a team.

Chen Yibing’s 16.00 on Rings was my favourite routine on all apparatus in the competition. I’ll post video when it comes online. (Horton had the 2nd highest score, 15.50)

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

He’s number 1.

GREAT SHOW at the Men’s World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. They guys were even better, overall, than they were in qualifying.

Fantastic gymnastics.

Last rotation Japan trailed China by about 0.8 going into Horizontal Bar. I thought might overtake, having no faith in China on pipe.

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

Didn’t happen. … The first Japanese, Tanaka, came off on a pirouette. Uchimura missed a connection out of Tak full (falling the wrong way without a form break, then NAILING the routine and STICKING the dismount). … A God even when he makes a mistake.

Congratulations to team China. All hail!

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

… The USA could not make up for their weak Pommels. (Somebody phone Artemev and tell him to train harder. His country needs him.)

The happiest guys in the gym are TEAM GERMANY. Dancing and singing. … They were only ranked 5th in the IG preview post.

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

International Gymnast Magazine

FINAL RESULTS – top three repeat from 2007:

1. China 274.497 GOLD
2. Japan 273.769 SILVER
3. Germany 271.252 BRONZE
4. U.S. 268.012
5. France 263.468
6. Russia 263.170
7. Great Britain 261.103
8. Korea

… Now the Germans–Well what can I say–They just really wanted this. Everyone had pretty much counted them out with the injuries to Nyugen and Hambuechen. I guess we won’t do that again!

See the FALLS from Team Finals.

Click PLAY or watch China on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Russia on YouTube.

(via About.com Gymnastics) … more videos linked from that page.

In 2010 to make the Vault final you need two 7.0 value vaults. And have good landings on both.

Click PLAY or watch the 2010 European Champion from France qualify on YouTube.

My proposal is to improve the landing mats to those used by FIG in Double Mini-tramp competition. If that happened, they would need to be adopted across both WAG and MAG.

Here’s the routine I felt was WAY overscored to qualify home boy Epke Zonderland to the H Bar final. If this meet wasn’t hosted in Netherlands, there would have been a dozen routines rank higher.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The only team not to fall during finals was Romania. Congratulations.

They looked great. Crisis, what crisis?

Beatrice Gheorghisor is here in Rotterdam. She posted a summary on the girls in white:

… So the Romanians had a quite ok final, there were some mistakes here and there, but that’s what happens during contests :).

As a friend of mine used to say, with one or two Amanars and one more Ana Porgras in the team – things will be much better. But that just means that there is a lot of work to do. Tokyo 2011 will be a different story. We will not be satisfied with 4th place then. …

read more – Gymnastics – No Ceiling

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

Ana is still my #1 pick for the Longines Award. My #2 is the pixie Russian, Dementyeva. LOVE this girl’s personality.

Just after the triumph of the Russian Women’s team last night, comes this bad news:

… coach Boris Pilkin, mastermind behind the career of three-time world champion Svetlana Khorkina, died Thursday in Belgorod. He was 82.

“It’s terrible,” Khorkina told Russian media Thursday. “It’s an untimely loss of this decent and good man.”

read more on International Gymnast

… with the help of her lifelong coach Boris Pilkin, she created new moves to accommodate her height and exploit her strengths. She has an unprecedented 8 moves named after her in the Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points. …