Year: 2011

Sweet.

Watch it on Gymnastics Examiner.

Note Aliya’s leg and foot form on Tkachev.

See more of Anne Sophie Henri’s photos from Bercy on Couch Gymnast.

And check the start list for each apparatus. Only the TOP 4 will move on to the Final.

Day 1 of a two day combined competition used to select National Teams.

Senior:

1. Jackson Payne 87.050
2. Tariq Dowers 83.200
3. Casey Sandy 83.050
4. Jayd Lukenchuk 82.450
5. Hugh Smith 82.400
6. Anderson Loran 81.750

CONGRATS Jackson and coach Liang.

Canadian #1 Nathan Gafuik is resting a sore ankle, I understand.

results for all competitive divisions are posted on Gymnastics Canada.

Simon Porter is leading in Junior. Teagan Marsden in Tyro. And Samuel Zakutney is dominating the (normally) super competitive youngest Argo division.

Grace Chiu is posting photos on Facebook.

How NOT to get linked by blogs.

• do NOT provide an embed code
• use deadly slow brightcove rather than the fastest streaming service, YouTube.

British Gymnastics TV decided to make both of these mistakes, in an effort (I assume) to force viewers to go to their website to see BGTV videos.

Right now there’s a tutorial with coach Paul Hall. … But will you bother to click over to watch it?

… If I email British Gymnastics, they are gracious enough to send me an embed code. But why not simply include the embed code for one and all?

Thanks for the link, Sarah.

I LOVE Gymnastics Examiner … but Examiner videos are even worse than BGTV. If you have a fast internet connection and a tolerance for pre-roll ads, click over to watch podium training at the French Invitational.

Blythe Lawrence is at the French Invitational in Bercy. Watch for detailed coverage on Gymnastics Examiner. And @GymExaminer.

Podium training:

… Aliya Mustafina looks…well, better than she did during American Cup training (though she still missed her piked Jaeger on bars the one time she did one). It looks like her new floor combo, the one she biffed at the American Cup, is going to be a 2.5 twist to Rudi. Yes, a 2.5 to Rudi third pass. Ooh. A natural upgrade for her, and very exciting to see.

She also tossed the new combination on bars she didn’t throw in Florida: Tkatchev to Pak to immediate stalder Khorkina II. Nabieva looks exactly the same on bars as she did five months ago. …

… On beam, Deng Linlin flirted with but never quite made her two bhs to layout full to Korbut. It was very obvious that the combination was weighing heavily on her mind. Too heavily, perhaps — she did several timers, and also two or three with the layout full, but never actually threw the entire series. To my eyes she doesn’t have enough room at the end of the beam. But I guess we’ll find out…

Click PLAY or watch Deng Linlin on YouTube.

There’s much much more: Epke Zonderland, Lauren Mitchell, Jessica Lopez, Elisabeth Seitz, Ana Porgras, Sandra Izabasa (new Floor), Chen Yibing.

read about it on Gymnastics Examiner

It’s a HUGE meet.

… bit of a shame the Americans are over at a smaller Invitational.

Couch Gymnast has more videos from the French Invitational as well as Jesolo and links to the GBR, NED, GER competition.

GymNiceTic kicks off the discussion on what nations will qualify a full team to the Olympics at the first qualifying competition, World Championships Tokyo in October:

… Gerhard Pfisterer, predicted the first seven qualification spots will go almost certainly to China, the USA, Russia, Romania, Australia, Great Britain and Japan.

And Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland and the Ukraine will fight for the eighth spot, with which they can qualify directly to the Olympics. …

The Eighth Place in Tokyo

Individual medallists in the Apparatus Finals in Tokyo will also qualify to the Olympics. (Ties for Bronze?)

What’s the strategy for the ‘bubble teams’?

Peak for Tokyo? … And worry about London if you must?

With 3-up, 3-count, anything could happen.

… The final 4 teams spots (9,10,11,12) will be decided at the London Olympic Test Meet in January 2012.

Some girls not age eligible for Tokyo are age eligible for London. Those athletes might well make the difference for the final 4 teams qualifying.

Weird.

related – FIG – Olympic qualifications

This week’s gymnastics workout video features the Big 10 team who will play host to this weekend’s conference Championships, the University of Minnesota. The Gophers have had a season of ups and downs but are coming into the conference meet following a couple solid team scores and with a few key gymnasts recovered from injuries.

This workout was filmed Monday, March 7th after the team’s tie at Iowa State. Minnesota is currently ranked 21st nationally with an RQS of 195.255 but a season high of 196.125. They’re looking to delight their home crowd this Saturday with an upset for the 2011 Big 10 Championships Title.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/MjgyNDc3NDc2

Watch more video of Workout Wednesday, Season 5 on gymnastike.org

Both Bronwyn and Clara are predicting:

1. ALIYA MUSTAFINA
2. ANA PORGRAS
3. ANNA DEMENTYEVA

Komova and Dufournet will not be there.

Who are they overlooking?

Read and comment on Stoi! – Euro’s Predictions – All-Around.
Part 1 of their 5-part predictions series.

I empower my Cheerios to be champions.

Do they go onto college? I don’t know, I don’t care.

Should they learn Spanish? Sure, if they wanna become dishwashers and gardeners. But if they want to be bankers and lawyers and captains of industry, the most important lesson they could possibly learn is how to do a round off.

imdb

HELPING JAPAN | Gymnastike April 2nd LIVE coverage WAG NCAA Regionals | CollegeGymFans.com |

The Chinese Gymnastics Blog is following the story of Chinese judge Shao Bin sanctioned by FIG for blatantly cheating during the Floor Exercise final of the Asian Games.

From what we’ve heard, that judge is guilty.

Pan Chenfei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Gymnastics Association, in a March 17th press conference made the expected noises on the issue.

But some interesting new questions were raised:

Adrian Stoica, FIG Men’s Technical Committee President and President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, served as FIG technical representative during the 2010 Asian Games. He was responsible for signing off on the results of that meet.

Why the 4+ months delay?

Was this the only case of score changing at that meet?

… It sounds like there might have been more.

Check out that post for yourself on the Chinese Gymnastics Blog – Follow up on the score-fixing scandal