Year: 2011

1. Bouhail FRA
2. Ait Said FRA
3. Golotsutskov RUS

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

9.50 execution on that first vault.

… The World champion will be attempting to set the bar high since he’s first up…he was the winner in the qualifying round here as well…Tsuk double pike, AMAZING. Just a tiny hop back. Made that look downright easy. Wow. 16.5. Well deserved. WOW — almost overrotated his Dragulescu, so much power. Big step back, but that might have been the highest I’ve ever seen anyone do that vault — including Dragulescu! 16.362 average. I can’t get over how good that second vault was — he was a couple feet above the horse when he opened out of his half twist.

Gymnastics Examiner LIVE blog.

How many gymnasts who competed first in the final ended up winning?

1. Anna Dementyeva (RUS)
2. Carlotta Ferlito (ITA)
3. Elizabetta Preziosa (ITA)

Congratulations Italy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gymnastics Examiner LIVE blog.

I love Woodward. But this promotion video could have been much better edited.

Click PLAY or watch it on the official camp website.

http://gymnastics.woodwardtv.com/libs/mobilerider/mobilerider.min.js
mobilerider.embedVideo(310, 40833 ,”, 640, 360, ‘osmf’, {extras:’skin:169,muteOn:,autoplay:0,autohide:1′});

They do a far better job on their Action Sports videos.

After the AWFUL injury on Vault to our World Champion, Aliya Mustafina, many are concerned that she’ll not be able to recovery in time for the 2012 Olympics.

She has time.

Many gymnasts have come back from knee ligament surgery. It’s a long, long list.

Here’s one, a ‘power’ gymnast, Jessica Savona. She was credited double arabian layout (G) at Wild Rose and Gymnix 2011. (Second girl in the world to do that skill?)

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

Savona finished 2nd AA at Wild Rose (54.450), winning Floor with a 14.35. Her knee is strong.

Keep the faith. Aliya Mustafina will be back by London.

Andy Thornton on the AA WAG Final:

… The highlight of the meet for me was Elisabeth Seitz’s floor. What a great choice of music, and perfect to get her home crowd involved the entire routine. I thought her score might have been a little higher here as well (felt like a 14 but she received a 13.725), but overall what a clutch performance in what has to have been the meet of her life. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Love it.

A world class Parallel Bar routine with no double salto elements to upper arm.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

What’s the 5/4 Diamodov with the extra pirouette valued at?

Epke is in the European P Bar Finals tomorrow.

(via GymNiceTic at the meet)

Jay Thornton:

I am excited to announce that we will have an event truck for the 2011-2012 season, providing equipment rental for girls AND boys meets in the Southeast. …

We just need to know the date and location of your competition and what equipment you need, and we will send you over a quote right away.

… and will also be offering online marketing services for the event host.

details on American Gymnast

Brittany Johnson of Texas Woman’s University won the all-around on the first day of the USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate Championships in the Cadet West Gymnasium at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. …

All-around
1. Brittany Johnson, Texas Woman’s University, 39.075
2. Brittany Dutton, U.S. Air Force Academy, 38.925
3. Jen Larsen, U.S. Air Force Academy, 38.750

In addition, two teams from each semifinal round advanced to the team finals on Saturday,

1. University of Bridgeport, 192.775
2. Seattle Pacific University, 191.050

1. Texas Woman’s University, 194.125
2. U.S. Air Force Academy, 193.200

April 9, and the top 10 finishers for each apparatus will compete in the individual event finals on Sunday, April, 10. …

read more including full results on USAG

Thank Leslie King for the link.

The 16-year-old Muscovite tore her ACL landing an Amanar vault during the women’s all-around final. The injury, at first thought to be a less serious torn miniscus, was confirmed as an ACL tear …

Worst case scenario is the unhappy triad:

The mechanism for this injury occurs when a lateral (outside) force to the knee is received while the foot is fixed on the ground in external rotation.

The classic O’Donoghue triad is characterized by an injury to three knee structures:

• the anterior cruciate ligament
• the medial collateral ligament (or “tibial collateral ligament”)
• the medial meniscus (however, lateral meniscus injuries are more commonly seen among athletes.) …

We’ll likely find out before the scheduled April 12th surgery in Munich.

Recovery is often cited 6-9 months. But ultra fit, young and motivated athletes often make faster progress than average.

On the other hand, gymnasts need total recovery.

… Mustafina’s injury dramatically changes the landscape for the 2011 World Championships, which may or may not be held in Tokyo in October. Without her, the Russian team is weakened but still deep, with Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Viktoria Komova and in a pinch Anna Dementyeva available to do the all-around. …

read more commentary on Gymnastics Examiner – Aliya Mustafina to undergo surgery for torn ACL, will be out until 2012

The target now is Olympics 2012. Aliya may need to take out some of the advanced twisting skills, replacing those value parts with more somersaulting skills. Shawn Johnson is trying to do that right now, after her own knee surgery.

Good luck, Aliya.

Andrew Thornton:

… The men’s floor champion with a 15.5…well deserved! His twisting skills are almost like illusions at times – his 2 ½ looks like a 1 ½ and his 3 ½ tends to look like a 2 ½. Incredibly difficult and original passes. …

Click PLAY or watch him on YouTube.

Andy defends Men’s Floor in 2011:

There is quite a bit of criticism out there regarding men’s floor, with some fans stating there is TOO MUCH tumbling nowadays and the routines are a bit overloaded, with little concern for artistry and presentation. Personally, I think men’s floor is one of the most revolutionized events in all of gymnastics, as the tumbling passes done today are absolutely mind-boggling compared to what was done just ten and twenty years ago. I do agree that presentation has often been lacking, but if the routines above are an indication, perhaps we are seeing some improvement in this area. …

I have to agree with regards to that particular routine. It doesn’t feel rushed. And actually has some style.

Another point:

… I MUCH prefer men’s tumbling nowadays compared to women’s. Note that they use the exact same floor in competition, but never before in gymnastics history has there been such a disparity between the level of difficulty in the tumbling between men and women.

…. Can someone please explain that one to me?

Fact is that Men have somehow handled an open-ended Code counting 10 skills. Women are struggling to do the same, counting only 8 skills.

For Andy’s complete analysis and more MAG Floor routines, click over to American Gymnast – Men’s Floor Routines From Berlin