Year: 2011

With all the changes at the top, these must be interesting days for the coaches and gymnasts in Spain.

Spanish gymnastics site Gymnastas posted some photos of the most recent WAG camp.

see more – Google Translate

Shaun White takes fourth consecutive Snowboard Superpipe gold medal (in skinny jeans):

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Arriving somewhat out of shape for this event, he took a bad crash in training. … Missed the final completely in Slopestyle. Yet still won the Snowboard Superpipe for the 4th time in series. This guy is mentally tough.

Attendance for this year’s Winter X Games in Aspen broke all previous records by nearly 40 percent. An estimated 114,200 people …

(via Outside – The Top 10 Things You Missed at The Winter X Games)

We’ve posted on this topic before.

Dr. Bill Sands is doing some research on the innovative new springs at Mesa State College:

Bills Sands:

Here are my criteria for evaluation of the spring floor:

1. Stability

2. Tuned response frequency that matches the gymnast’s take off actions

3. Reliability, no matter when you hit it, or where you hit it, the spring floor reacts the same. There is some evidence that the spring floor can act like a trampoline and the athlete can experience a “double bounce.”

4. The floor should not “tip” the foot or shank at impact due to inconsistent foam or floor characteristics.

read more on Facebook (from March 2010)

Bill feels that the spring is on the right track, but that confirmation awaits testing.

There is no evidence (yet) that the Weller spring reduces the incidence of Achilles tears.

If you don’t want to wait for scientific confirmation, each spring is $2.95 right now, on sale.

Jonathan Horton told IG he hopes to fully recover from a recent thumb injury to challenge world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura (Japan) for the American Cup title next month. …

Horton said finishing third behind Uchimura and Germany’s Philipp Boy in Rotterdam has helped him assess the improvements he needs to make by this fall’s worlds in Tokyo.

… “I have one thing I need to focus on — execution!” Horton told IG.

… it’s pretty obvious that Uchimura’s success is not only because he has great difficulty but he is super clean. I need to get to that level.”

read more – Horton Ready to ‘Push Uchimura’ for American Cup Victory

The Utes move up to #3 this week.

See more National rankings on GymInfo.

Kent State is a contender. Congratulations to Head Coach Brice Biggin and the Golden Flashes.

Mounting with Style

A tribute

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Who is LadyBeaverhausen?

related – MostepanovaFan – Uneven Bars Mount Guide Gymnastics

Torstein Horgmo … is a Norwegian pro snowboarder. …

In the Winter X Games XV Finals Torstein landed the first Triple cork in competition in the Big Air Final on January 28, 2011 …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A triple cork is “three off axis flips before coming back in contact with the ground”.

Looks similar to a 1/1-in triple, to me.

Geoffrey Taucer calls it more as a 1/2 in triple back.

… The one thing we can all agree on is that he does 3 “flips” around the transverse axis.

Apparently the only voting in that event is by spectators texting.

Jay Thornton has updated the American-Gymnast.com Gymnastics on Demand landing page:

That’s the best online database of gymnastics drills by far. And it’s free.

Support American-Gymnast.com if you use that service.

Alaina (A-Train) Johnson is tearing it up in the NCAA this season.

A few of her scores from Friday:

Vault 9.95
Bars 9.95
Floor 9.925
All-Around 39.60

Click PLAY or watch her Bars on YouTube.

Florida scored 197.50 for an NCAA team high this season. They’ve had 3 of the top 5 team scores, so far.

Johnson, Dickerson, Macko. … Can anyone stop Florida?

This is a repost from Dec. 2007.

I put it back up in response to the discussion on the UCS Rounders covered foam post.

That foam atop the super durable Jim Walker suspension would be the ultimate. And probably costs less over the long term.

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Jim Walker uses a unique design, suspending a grid of special cables one foot above the floor, supporting foam and matting above.

You cannot yet order one of Jim’s pits yourself, as he only custom builds them for friends. (Friends like WOGA, Beigers, Hills, Parkettes, Karolyi Ranch. Those kind of friends.)

If you want to know more, email him:

jwalker AT excalibur-gymnastics.com