Year: 2010

I’d heard the rumour that Hong Su Jong was underage at the Beijing Athens Olympics. The complaint is now official.

details on IG – North Korean Gymnast’s Age Under Dispute

That post can be updated. …

… Hong Su Jong will be given a chance to explain the discrepancies at a hearing and in written statements, the International Gymnastics Federation said Saturday.

Hong’s birthdate is March 9, 1989, on the entry list for the world championships later this month in Rotterdam, Netherlands. But she had a March 9, 1985, birthdate at the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 world championships, and a March 9, 1986, birthdate at the 2007 world championships, where she won the silver medal on vault.

If Hong was born in 1989, she would have been ineligible to compete in Athens. …

ESPN FIG probing Hong Su Jong’s birthdate

No nation bungles bigger than North Korea. I recall judging with a fellow from North Korea in the early 1990s in a major international competition. He literally was some sort of bureaucrat who knew nothing about gymnastics. And could not distinguish between vaults.

Interviews:
• Thema Williams – Trinidad’s gymnastics star
• Nica Hults – the junior US gymnast
• Ten Quick Questions – Cassie Whitcomb
• Carlotta Ferlito (Italy)
• Angela Donald (Australia)
•  Sofi Gomez (Guatemala)

• Ghent World Cup – observations, questions and interviews
• Romanian Report – with Sandra Izbasa and Ana Porgras
• German Nationals – with Oksana Chusovitina
• Gymnastics in Trinidad – coach Annette Telfer
• SUI-GER-ROM – report
 

• No ‘I’ in Team- Diana Gallagher on college gymnastics
• Opinion- Suna Zekioglu tells why three-up three-count rule should go
Team Talk – with Tasha, coach Cassie Rice, Georgia Bonora, Maria Olaru, Danusia Francis, Brittany Rogers

• Amy’s Gym Diary – Amy Kleefisch. 
• The List- some exciting B+C+D beam connections
• The Quiz – Test your gymnastics knowledge

Click through to Couch Gymnast to read any post

Thanks Brigid. This looks to be the best yet.

by site editor Rick McCharles

You and I know that “gymnastics” is fundamental to sport. All kids need to … Run, Gym, Swim.

Scheduled to teach a week long gymnastics course in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Oct. 11th – 18th, I was interested to see this article on Gulf News:

Dubai: The secretary-general of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has called for the implementation of gymnastics at the national level if the country is to taste success in sports at the international level.

“We have a belief that gymnastics is the basic ingredient of any sport, be it individual or team. And this is the only reason why we should have gymnastics as part of the national sports psyche in the UAE,” Dr Ahmad Sa’ad Al Sharif, Secretary-General of the DSC told Gulf News.

read more – Sports official pushes gymnastics

This concept is new in that region.

(via Full Twist)

This is the 5th year that the Banff Mountain Film Festival has sent a mini-festival of their best climbing films on the road.

Click PLAY or watch the extreme trailer on YouTube.

Ueli Steck, Paul Robinson, Daniel Woods, Lisa Rands, Dean Potter, Peter Croft, Chris Sharma, Cedar Wright, …

international calendar

official home page

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

1954 — Agnes Keleti (Hungary)
1958 — Larissa Latynina (USSR)
1962 — Irina Pervushina (USSR)
1966 — Natalia Kuchinskaya (USSR)
1970 — Karin Janz (East Germany)
1974 — Annelore Zinke (East Germany)
1978 — Marcia Frederick (USA)
1979 — Ma Yanhong (China) and Maxi Gnauck (East Germany)
1981 — Maxi Gnauck (East Germany)
1983 — Maxi Gnauck (East Germany
1985 — Gabriele Fahnrich (East Germany)
1987 — Doerte Thuemmler (East Germany) and Daniela Silivas (Romania)
1989 — Fan Di (China) and Daniela Silivas (Romania)
1991 — Kim Gwang-Suk (North Korea)
1992 — Lavinia Milosovici (Romania)
1993 — Shannon Miller (USA)
1994 — Luo Li (China)
1995 – Svetlana Khorkina (Russia)
1996 – Svetlana Khorkina (Russia) and Elena Piskun (Belarus)
1997 – Svetlana Khorkina (Russia)
1999 – Svetlana Khorkina (Russia)
2001 — Svetlana Khorkina (Russia)
2002 — Courtney Kupets (USA)
2003 — Hollie Vise (USA) and Chellsie Memmel (USA)
2005 — Anastasia Liukin (USA)
2006 – Elizabeth Tweddle (Great Britain
2007 — Ksenia Semenova (Russia)
2009 — He Kexin (China)

Michael T. Jones has set up a video training site for WAG.

It shows drills using an animated gymnast. Interesting concept.

Check it out for yourself – GymnastTraining.org

And leave a comment if you have an opinion. If it works, many coaches could use similar software to share their favourite drills online.

(via Gymnastics the Great)

Nicole Cooper has a site called Gymnastics the Great:

For All The: Gymnastics, Gymnast, Coaches, Judges, Gyms, Skills, Drills, Handstands, Cartwheels, Splits, Leaps, Flips, Rolls, Jumps, Twists, Falls, Breaks, Bruises, Lessons, and Beauty

Browsing the archives there are a number of posts on injury prevention and the benefits of gymnastics.

I’ve subscribed.

Gymnastics the Great

Articles are available free online in PDF format.

vol.2, num.3, 2010 – Ivan Cuk – editor

Lauren A. Burt, Geraldine A. Naughton, Dean G. Higham and Raul Landeo
TRAINING LOAD IN PRE-PUBERTAL FEMALE ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

Maja Bucar Pajek, Ivan Cuk, Marjeta Kovac and Barbara Jakše
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GYMNASTICS CURRICULUM IN THE THIRD CYCLE OF BASIC SCHOOL IN SLOVENIA

Lurdes Ávila-Carvalho, Maria da Luz Palomero, Eunice Lebre
APPARATUS DIFFICULTY IN GROUPS ROUTINES OF ELITE RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS AT THE PORTIMÃO 2009 WORLD CUP SERIES

Thomas Heinen, Pia Vinken in Patrick Ölsberg
MANUAL GUIDANCE IN GYMNASTICS: A CASE STUDY

Ivan Cuk and Warwick Forbes
HOW APPARATUS DIFFICULTY SCORES AFFECT ALL AROUND RESULTS IN MENS ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

current issue

previous issues

Word from Commonwealth Games in Delhi is that all is well.

Canadian coach Elizabeth Brubaker says “Things are awesome here!!”.

Despite the furor (“athlete housing not fit for humans”) in advance of the Games, so far as I can determine, only 1 gymnast dropped out of the meet voluntarily – Adam Cox of Scotland.

That’s him on the right, winning a Bronze medal on H Bar at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. A National hero.

Why would Adam give up a couple of weeks before his 3rd Commonwealth Games?

… coach Tan Jia En was made redundant by Scottish Gymnastics last week from his post as national coach and Adam Cox, a gold medal hope in the high bar, announced he would not be heading to India in protest….

… (Adam) said, “I wasn’t prepared to go without him. Training had been going really well and there was a chance I was going to medal. To me it was out of the blue and I’m really upset not to be going. It had to be Tan, at this stage I would not feel safe going to the Games without him.”

The 23-year-old, who has trained with Tan for 13 years, added, “That is me officially retired now. It is a shame this is how I’m going to finish but I don’t really want anything else to do with the association.”…

Gymnast quits in protest as coach is axed

Herald Scotland:

… Anglo Scots Daniel Keating (a world and European medallist) and Daniel Purves, members of the Great Britain team at the world championships, which has caused them to be unavailable for Delhi, are reported to have said they have no interest in competing for Scotland in future, if Tan is out of the frame….

Scottish Gymnastics axe top coach on eve of Delhi Games

… could Scottish Gymnastics have bolloxed this any worse?

… Scottish Gymnastics chief executive Catriona O’Shea then asked him to continue as coach to the Delhi team, offering him £250 per day. …

Coach Tan declined the money. Devastated.

… The other male gymnast in the Scottish squad, Ryan McKee, will now head to the games with his club coach, Marius Gherman….

press release response from Scottish Gymnastics
(Sept. 22nd)

If you’ve an opinion, don’t leave a comment … Email info@scottishgymnastics.org, instead. Tell Catriona O’Shea what you think of the decision.

I did.

Their most recent initiative:

… Woodward U will offer a boarding program at the Woodward West campus in Tehachapi, California.

The Woodward U programs will ultimately include a winter tutorial program at Woodward Copper in Colorado; a semester-abroad program will provide students an opportunity to study at Woodward Beijing; and Woodward Everywhere will allow students to take Woodward U courses remotely with periodic visits to Woodward facilities to ensure a tie-in to The Woodward Family and Woodward U community.

Woodward U is now accepting applications. Whether you are an aspiring BMX rider, Snowboarder, Skateboarder, Photographer, Film-maker, Musician, Artist or someone interested in all of these things, Woodward U is the place to refine your skills while getting a high quality college-prep education. …

For more information about Woodward U, please visit woodwardu.com or call 661-750-2126.

Woodward

No mention of Gymnastics or other acrobatic sports. But there’s no reason why those athletes could not apply. I’m assuming it will be made up of mostly High School age kids.