Year: 2011

Universal streamed the competition and has highlight videos online right now, yet some folks have trouble watching Universal online. Others don’t want to download the Microsoft Silverlight software required by Universal. Some sites cannot use the Universal embed code, including this one.

But if Universal works for you, here are 2011 CoverGirl: Chellsie Memmel highlights on Universal.

Inevitably, some of those routines end up on YouTube where they are lower quality, but stream faster on most computers. One example …

Click PLAY or watch Chellsie Memmel’s Bars on YouTube.

More of the top routines on YouTube are linked from Full Twist.

Yuri Freyk, Ukraine.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

via Brett MacAulay on Facebook

It’s new.

It’s somewhat similar to Facebook.

It’s by invitation only, so far.

Click PLAY or watch a brief intro on YouTube.

It’s getting heaps of praise from experts. Facebook is worried.

The little Google +1 symbol is similar to the Facebook LIKE button, but it’s more powerful. When you click that +1 it tells Google to recommend that page in Google search.

I’m just experimenting with the new social network now. So far I like it better than Facebook.

read more on how it works – Google, takes on Facebook

USAG:

In the senior all-around, Raisman won the title with her 57.250 total. 2008 Olympic team silver-medalist Chellsie Memmel of West Allis, Wis., the 2005 World all-around and 2003 World uneven bars champion, made a solid return to competition earning a total 56.950 to finish in second place. Sabrina Vega of Carmel, N.Y., was third at 56.850.

… 2010 World vault champion Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., competed on three events for the first time since her comeback. She won the vault at 15.100 and also tied for first with Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Geddert’s Twistars, on balance beam with a 15.200. Her first floor exercise since her comeback yielded a 13.900 and third place.

Wieber, the 2011 AT&T American Cup champion, was first on the uneven bars at 15.200, followed by Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Chow’s Gymnastics, at 14.950. Bridgette Caquatto of Naperville, Ill./Legacy Elite, rounded out the top three at 14.900.

Raisman, who was third on beam, had the top score for the floor exercise at 14.700. Raisman’s first pass was a 1.5 twist to double Arabian, punch front. Vega of Dynamic Gymnastics was second at 14.250. …

Details and links to full results on USAG

… UCLA grad Anna Li competed on UB, hitting her new skills but coming off on the low bar as she prepped for her stalder hecht. Casey Jo Magee, the ex-Arkansas star, competed extremely well but just missed qualifying to the Championships on all four events (she previously qualified in three). Florida sophomore MacKenzie Caquatto hit her UB and BB routines well, scoring over 14 points on each. …

College Gym Fans

Gymnastics Examiner – Quick hits: 2011 CoverGirl Classic, senior COMPETITION

Gymnastics Examiner:

If you want to win a CoverGirl Classic — or any other meet, really — you need to find a balance between difficulty and execution. Kyla Ross and her coaches have found that balance. So have the team from Cincinatti Gymnastics Academy, and the girls from GAGE. And, with the exception of the supertalented Katelyn Ohashi, those are the people who did really well in the junior division of the CoverGirl Classic.

Lexie Priessman … tumbling a double twisting double tuck on floor and adding a tucked full to her already loaded beam routine. …

… Ross, whose bar routine does not look as complicated as many others but is still worth a good 5.7-5.9 (she scored 15.0, same as Ohashi). Ross is helped a lot by her calm, collected style on all events …

Click PLAY or watch that Bar routine on YouTube.

Continue reading on Examiner.com

USAG – Full Jr Results

2011 Cover Girl Classic
Chicago, Ill.

Junior division final results

1. Kyla Ross, Aliso Viejo, Calif., 58.850
2. Lexie Priessman, Cincinnati, Ohio, 58.050
3. Katelyn Ohashi, Plano, Texas, 57.950
4. Sarah Finnegan, St. Louis, Mo., 56.650
5. Brenna Dowell, Odessa, Mo., 55.350
6. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 55.200

Couch Gymnast:

… The first and most obviously impressive part of this competition was, of course, Kyla Ross. To me, Kyla Ross already looks, sounds and seems like a senior. It is like she does not belong with this group of juniors- like a kid who was forced to repeat a grade in school. Being age eligible for 2012, unlike so many of these girls, means she has so many skills in place. You could say the same about Ohashi and Priessman, of course But it is not just that, it is the way she performs. She has that quality of a gymnast who has all the experience that she does indeed have. Veteran-like, she can pull out routines when needed and warms up like she is in the gym at home. She also knows what it takes to win. She can sit down an Amanar twice in training but pull it out and land it when needed in competition. This girl continues to grow on me every time I see her. …

Covergirl Classic Junior Impressions

Interview with the Champ.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NzE2NTAxNjE4?related=1

Watch more video of CoverGirl Classic 2011 on gymnastike.org

Gymnastics Examiner – Jr Quick Hits

An important sub-plot of Covergirl this weekend. Is the USA finally going to have some depth on their weakest apparatus, Bars?

Gabrielle Douglas on … bars during podium training at the 2011 CoverGirl Classic.

If so, I’m thinking to change my prediction that Russia will win Olympics 2012. The Red, White and Blue would be near impossible to beat if they are somewhat competitive with Russia and China on Bars.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/Mzk1NTAxNDk3?related=1

Watch more video of CoverGirl Classic 2011 on gymnastike.org

It was Hideo Mizoguchi who first pointed out to me that the USA will eventually be the dominant sports nation.

Why?

Because the USA has the most genetic diversity. Mizo postulated that over time more unique talents will emerge from that national gene pool than any other.

… Leave a comment if you have a strong opinion on that theory, pro or con.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which, according to Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, … supposed to be “the new Pirates of the Caribbean” …

Bruckheimer had a lot more money to spend on it than Pirates 1, but I’d still say it’s inferior to all the films in Pirate franchise.

The movie is much more realistic than I expected, though, considering it’s based on a video game.

David Belle was stunt coordinator and he made an effort for the free running stunts to be somewhat based on the laws of physics. More than most other pics.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Audiences generally like it as a mindless action film. Critics are more … critical.

26th Summer Universiade in August in Shenzhen, China. Canada and China are tight these days. The MAG team wouldn’t miss this one.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER: MEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

Nathan Gafuik – Athabasca U – Calgary, Alta.
Jayd Lukenchuk – U of Saskatchewan – Saskatoon, Sask.
Kevin Lytwyn – McMaster U – Stoney Creek, Ont.
Jackson Payne – Athabasca U – Edmonton, Alta.
Casey Sandy – Seneca College – Brampton, Ont.

STAFF

Coach: Liang Cheng – Edmonton, Alta.
Coach: Mitsugu Ikeda – Abbotsford, B.C.
Therapist: Karie Farrer – Vancouver, B.C.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER: WOMEN’S RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS

Kelsey Anderson – Okanagan College – Vernon, B.C.
Jessica Ho – UBC – Vancouver, B.C.

STAFF

Coach (Ho) Dajana Kosarac – Vancouver, B.C.
Coach (Anderson) Camille Martens – Vernon, B.C.

Aerobics will be included, as well.

Wikipedia – Gymnastics at the 2011 Summer Universiade

Do you know the name?

He was the first president of the European Gymnastics Union, eventually evolving into the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

He started all this July 23, 1881, 130yrs-ago today.

Cupérus held the post of President for 43yrs, perhaps the only FIG President to have made more changes than our current leader, Bruno Grandi.

Cupérus argued with Pierre de Coubertin against the idea of bringing back the Olympic Games. Cupérus felt that events like Gymnaestrada would better serve health, fitness and peaceful relations between nations:

“… I dream of the day when competitions will be superfluous, when gymnasts will compete for the infallible prize of their own effort, the exact equivalent in health, strength, flexibility, tenacity.”

Later he was to concede to the majority opinion, and join the Olympic movement:

“I admit defeat, and accept mankind and the things of this life as they are”.

The first FIG international competition took place in 1903 in Antwerp.

Read more about this little known history on FIG – History of the World Gymnaestrada

Here’s the monument to the great man, in his home town of Anvers, Belgium.

(via FIG)