Year: 2011

IG2 – What are your plans for the 2012 Olympics?

Paul – Well the plan is to be there and be healthy.

IG2 – Do you have any steps you are going to take to make sure that happens and make sure you don’t have any more injuries?

Paul – Well this recovery is about 6 months, so probably by the fall I’ll be back in top shape. Injury is always a concern with a gymnast, and especially as you’re aging, so the only thing I can do is really design routines that I think are doable as far as getting through them on a regular basis, without too much wear and tear on my body. Maybe not pushing that extra little bit to get a tenth or two in start value, but focusing more on a solid routine that I can perform well and limit the execution errors. …

Inside Gymnastics has an interview detailing the injuries he’s had since a broken hand took him out of the 2008 Olympics.

GymNiceTic has an update on the (still confusing) new FIG World Cup Gymnastics meets:

… invited are the eight finalists on each apparatus from Rotterdam and the four best gymnasts from the 2010 World Cup Ranking List.

… The host country may nominate one gymnast (one male & one female) who competes with a ‘Wild Card’ ….

For example, here’s the start list on Bars for the World Cup in Paris, March 19-20th.

From prelims, only 4 go to Finals. The winner pockets 3000 CHF, about $3160.

There’s much more on that GymNiceTic post – FIG World Cup 2011 / Paris

Surprise surprise …

An announcement on whether the five sports teams slated to be cut by the end of this academic year will be reinstated has been put on hold indefinitely, despite initial campus reports that an announcement would be issued Thursday by noon. …

Campus Decision on Athletic Teams Reinstatement Delayed

linked by University of California, Berkeley Men’s Gymnastics on Facebook

Hang in there, Cal.

UPDATE: Ono links to a more recent article saying a decision will come Friday.

Hurry up and wait.

by site editor Rick McCharles

Eileen Langsley from Great Britain was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2010, the first photographer to be so honoured.

Left to right – Eileen Langsley (UK, AAI International Order of Merit Recipient), Henrietta Onodi (Hungary) and Cathy Rigby (USA) – IGHOF

I follow her blog Where Sport Meets Art but don’t often any more see her photos. Not since she left as the position of official photographer for FIG in 2002.

The best account of her amazing career is on her site:

About my life in sport:

… in 1980 I set up my agency Supersport Photographs and embarked on a career at a time when there were few if any women working full time in this profession.

My specialist areas became Gymnastics, Figure Skating and all sports for women and girls. …

During my time with the FIG I had the great challenge and thrill of producing two photographic books – ‘Gymnastics – The Art of Sport’ and ‘Gymnastics in Perspective’ – and it was a great learning experience for me to work with Dwight Normile (editor of International Gymnast magazine) who designed and structured these publications. …

I have had a truly wonderful career, full of challenges and new experiences during which I have been present at some great sporting events. I have travelled extensively, worked in many countries and cultures and am blessed with great friends and colleagues all over the world …

read more – Where Sport Meets Art

Eileen is very eloquent. That’s a great read.

You can support Eileen’s work by purchasing photo calendars and greeting cards. Or by purchasing photos from her website.

LangsleySports.com

_____

I write this post because some felt my disagreement with one point in her recent article in the International Sports Press Association magazine was disrespectful. Even a personal attack.

That’s not the case. I’m old enough to have appreciated her work since 1980. Thanks so much, Eileen, for everything you’ve done to promote gymnastics and women in sport.

For international gymnasts spending big bucks to compete in the States, the best bang for your buck is probably registering for both of these blockbuster meets:

• 2011 Nadia Comaneci Invitational in Oklahoma (Feb 11-13th)

• 2011 WOGA Classic in Texas (Feb. 19-20)

Isis Lowery of Jets Gymnastics in Australia is competing both.

I was speaking to one international coach who’s attended both in recent years. He told me that both are excellent experiences. But that Nadia treats her international guests even better than does WOGA.

GymNiceTic has a link to the gymnasts from Romania, Australia, Canada, Venezuela and Mexico competing at Nadia. … Good luck Emily Lennon.

… Personally, I’d recommend the Great West Gym Fest in Idaho.

Click PLAY or watch a WOGA preview on YouTube.

The February 2011 issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine, featuring Shawn Johnson on the cover, is in the mail to subscribers.

IG2

I’m impressed with Shawn’s commitment to training. While Nastia is still constantly on the road, Shawn’s been in the gym.

Chow cautions fans not get too excited:

… Though Shawn Johnson was added to the U.S. national team, the 2008 Olympic balance beam champion is still protecting the knee she injured during a ski trip in January 2010. Johnson recently had minor surgery to clean out her left knee, but the 19-year-old Iowan is still cautious about pushing too hard, according to her coach, Chow Liang.

“Shawn still has her challenges ahead of her,” Chow told IG. “And I think one of the bigger challenges is … her knee. At this point, we don’t have a clear picture of how much she handle yet.” …

IG

Getting your knee scoped is normally no big deal. But don’t expect to see her compete before August at earliest.

Eileen Langsley has been a sports photographer for 12 Olympics Games, a legend.

Amanda Turner quoting Eileen:

…She writes that she is disillusioned by the state of the profession, and that she was horrified by the unprofessional and even dangerous behavior of amateur photographers given credentials at the 2010 Worlds in Rotterdam.

“I even saw some of these happy snappers poking gymnasts in the back and asking them to turn round and pose for a picture – incredible…” Langsley writes. “…I was pushed and thumped in Rotterdam and I know of another colleague who was hit on the head.” …

IG – Lansgley Sounds Off on ‘Happy Snappers’

Eileen exaggerates regarding Rotterdam. It was hectic, but not dangerous. Almost everyone felt that to be the best World Championships ever for media.

Tokyo and London World Championships will need to be more closely policed, however. Those meets could be dangerous.

Her quote is from the latest magazine of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS):

… My comments come more from a sense of disillusionment and concern than anything else and are written more in sorrow than anger, though I realise that in some ways the profession is past the point of no return and it is not now possible to return to the standards and mores of what was a golden age – a time when it was a challenging and satisfying profession. Having worked at recent major and world class events in a variety of sports I find more and more that professionalism and the standards of skill, behaviour and respect that go along with it are rapidly diminishing. …

read more (PDF)

Search for Langsley on that document.

Eileen’s probably right. It’s time for her to retire.

There’s no going back to the era of only a few paid elite photographers getting access.

I’d love to link to one of Eileen’s photos and her website from this post. But I’m afraid she’d invoice me for using it.

related posts

• in praise of Eileen Langsley
• Eileen Langsley – Rotterdam Worlds
• Eileen Langsley Photography

I’ve been looking at gymnasts nominated in the latest Gymnastics Examiner Discussion – The most underrated female gymnast in the world?

So far the most underrated is a talent I’d never seen before, Amy Regan from Scotland.

She’s as powerful a tumbler in FIG competition as anyone aside from Ali Raisman, I reckon. (Perhaps Kytra Hunter (VIDEO) is stronger.)

Click PLAY or watch Amy’s Floor routine on YouTube.

Amy was not nominated on Gymnastics Examiner. She was recommended by Admiring Gymnasts From Afar:

… This girl is tailor-made for NCCA. …

My Reflections on last year: Part 3

I wonder if any College coaches have her on the radar.

… Kohei Uchimura, the reigning World Champion, won’t compete at the first all-around World Cup in Jacksonville next month!

Lu Bo (CHN) and Sergey Khorokhordin (RUS) won’t follow the invitation either.

Still on the list are Philipp Boy (GER), Jonathan Horton (USA), Mykola Kuksenkov (UKR), Daniel Purvis (GBR), Koji Uematsu (JPN) and the 9th placed Samuel Hunter (GBR) and 12th Kim Soo Myun (KOR) from Worlds 2010. …

GymNiceTic

One downside of pre-selecting competitors months in advance is that many will be unavailable due to injury and / or yearly training plan.

If enough stars cancel, the resulting bad press could be enough to derail the entire revamped World Cup system.

My favourite videos on Gymnastike are the Workout Wednesday series. Those are the most difficult for Anne to acquire and edit.

If you have good footage of training in your gym, consider contacting Gymnastike to see if they want to edit it into a Workout Wednesday. Great promotion for your club.

Here’s the first video for Gymnastike season #5. December 7th, 2010.

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

home page – University of Maryland.

By the way, University of Maryland is one of the 6 schools in the National College Acrobatics and Tumbling Association , the organization trying to take the word “Cheer” out of a sport similar to competitive cheerleading.

…The association’s executive director, John Blake, said the group has taken the athletic aspects of competitive cheer and put them into a different format. They have cut out anything to do with cheering.
Blake said the activity is more like “simultaneous, cooperative gymnastics” . …

People still don’t ‘get it’, unfortunately.