Year: 2011

Barb Durfee sends us the list of elite competitors for the 2011 WOGA CLASSIC, Feb 19-20th.

That includes Madeline Gardiner and Anysia Unick (CAN), Anastasiya Marchuk and lrina Yashina (RUS) to name just a few of the great international gymnasts traveling to Texas, the centre of the gymnastics world IMHO.

Gymnastics Examiner links to photos and a full list of the elite competitors.

Of course the WOGA Classic is one of the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup Series.

The Optional Elite Qualifier is one of only a handful of chances for U.S. elites to qualify to go to the CoverGirl Classic, which is a qualifier to VISA Championships. This is the first U.S. Elite Qualifier of the year, so a lot of girls are hoping to qualify to CoverGirl early, then they can train at a measured pace up until July. If they don’t qualify at this event, they’ll have a couple other changes later in June and July.

See the full schedule including participating teams.

Celebrities not competing include Nastia Liukin, Carly Patterson, Hollie Vise & Rebecca Bross.

Many saw Amanda Turner’s link on Facebook to a fascinating interview in Sport.ua, a Ukrainian sport website with Lyudmila Korolenko, who is Ukrainian but judges for Russia.

Honest and insightful.

Brigid wrote it up …

… as much as she looks on the Ukrainian gymnasts, she still hasn’t seen any stars- not for a while. There is one girl, however, the same that many gym fans have been talking about in the last year, the very promising Masha Livchikova, whom she describes as something to watch, a “textured beautiful blonde, born in 1995.”

Two big time tumbling lines.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

read the entire excellent translation / interpretation on Couch Gymnast – Lyudmila Korolenko: The State of Ukraine

Korolenko mentions that new Senior Russian Maria Paseka is capable of a triple twisting Yurchenko.

Cracked magazine (Mad wannabe) did a number on the infamous Kurt Thomas movie Gymkata.

… It has developed a minor cult following as an unintentional comedy for its dubious premise, poor production quality and low budget. Maxim lists the film as the 17th “Worst Movie of All Time” …

Click through if you need a laugh today – 5 Reasons ‘Gymkata’ Is The Funniest Movie of the 80s

One of the great personalities of recent years joined her former team as a coach this season.

Click PLAY or watch a profile on YouTube.

(via Gym Dogs and Aunt Joyce)

Just when I was going to write off the defending champions, they put together a meet tonight:

UCLA 196.675
Oregon State 196.625

Due to a depleted Bruin lineup, they had to use 4 all arounders !! (Sawa, McCullough, Hopfner-Hibbs, Courtney)

The Beavers had some problems.

Miss Val will be a little happier this week.

Florida posted an NCAA season high 197.5, so she won’t get too excited.

#2 Stanford 196.825 defeated #4 Utah 196.500.

Is this true?

Gymnastics was one of the founding sports at the Australian Institute of Sports, 30yrs ago.

Now I’m hearing the residential program was canceled December 31st, 2010

The official website states:

… In 2011 AIS Gymnastics will be delivered as a camps based program. This means that up to 20 gymnastics camps will be held at the AIS for Olympic squad members. …

Leave a comment if you can confirm.

Thanks for the tip, Bob.

This is on the TV Sport highlights tonight.

A boy dunks himself by accident through a basketball hoop during the halftime of a Phoenix Suns game.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

UPDATE: 18yr-old gymnast Nick Corrales plans never to make that mistake again.

The Men’s Technical Committee, after the World Championships in Rotterdam, during its meeting in December, Tel Aviv, ISR made some decisions on new skills submitted & evaluated at the 2010 World Championships Rotterdam.

Click to open it on your computer – FIG_MAG_Newsletter_25

Note: That PDF links to YouTube video examples. But you can only watch the video after clicking through via the PDF.

… I’ve no idea why that privacy feature is necessary. Seems to me the more widely and transparently code changes are circulated, the better.

The most important change is a good one:

After careful review, the MTC has determined that the original Hypolito element cannot be developed with further turns.

Men’s Floor was including far too many double Arabian type skills.

Blythe Lawrence:

A few days ago Thierry Large, director of the Complexe Sportif Gymnique in Arques, France sent out some beautifully shot images of the city’s new gym, which was finished in 2010 and christened with a celebration just it hosted the 2010 Pas-de-Calais International. (Videos of that event here.)

The Arques complex is being marketed as the ideal training spot for countries who want to train near (but not in) London during the summer of 2012. Among the first teams to think this is a good idea are the British, who have reportedly made arrangements to travel to Arques in order to avoid the madness of London during the Olympic run-up. …

read more – Gymnastics Examiner – Photo gallery: Where 2012’s Olympians will prepare

more photos

GymNOVA is providing equipment for the London Olympics.

Most of the top Artistic gymnastics nations designate national team training centres. (Karolyi Ranch, Australian Institute of Sport, Lilleshall, etc.)

If you don’t have such a centre (I’m looking at you Canada) you’re not likely to be competitive with the top nations.

In the glory days of the former Soviet Union (and the new Russia) the centre is Round Lake.

Some athletes live there year round, some come to “camps” on a regular basis.

Brigid discovered a book called The Russian Heart: Days of Crisis and Hope (1992).

It includes some interesting content concerning Round Lake, back in the day:

… While the training is completely professional and disciplined, the facility is rudimentary and the dormitory conditions sparse. Though the food is much better that that available to the general public, it is, by Western standards, very basic. …

details on Couch Gymnast – Soviet Gymnastics: Days of Crisis and Hope