Year: 2011

Many in the gymnastics community attended the Calgary premiere of OVO this week. I was going to write a review … but Heath McCoy in the Calgary Herald pretty much nailed it:

… as in most Cirque shows, the storytelling plays a distant second to the spectacle, and, happily, the latter aspect of OVO is grand.

The staging, with its vibrant ecosystem, complete with giant-sized webs, cocoons and a monolithic egg (a thematic symbol of the bugs’ life cycle, ovo means egg in Portuguese) is spectacular.

The dazzling costumes — an inspired hybrid of superhero spandex and historical suits of armour — are suitably outlandish.

And the stunts — played out to the Brazilian electro-pop sounds of a cockroach band, which run the gamut between romantic and sizzling — are nothing short of stunning. …

Magnifique! Cirque du Soleil’s OVO must be seen to be believed

Click PLAY or watch the Calgary preview on YouTube.

OVO IN CALGARY

At intermission we chatted with gracious Head Coach Eric Heppel. He informed that slack wire solo performer is by far the best in the world. He shows handstand, handstand walking and 1-arm handstand on a pendulum. Rock solid. No balance adjustments.

I never get tired of Tramp wall. OVO is another superb variation.

Overall … the highlight of this show are the costumes. (That caterpillar is enough to give you nightmares.)

The weakest element, as usual, are the clowns. … Though I somewhat liked Flippo. He grew on me as the show progressed.

Disclosure – As a Casting consultant, Cirque gave me 4 tickets. Merci. … I took a former gymnast who wants to audition.

I had her watch the House Troupe performers, rather than those specialists in the spotlight.

Here’s another edit of the drunken Paul Hamm police video.

Click PLAY or watch it on CNN.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2011/09/08/mxp-diaz-hamm-arrested.hln

If Paul was going to apologize and declare mea culpa, he should have done it by now. The sooner the better.

…I’m guessing he’ll, instead, lawyer up and try to find someone else to blame.

Good news from Jean-Paul Caron, Gymnastics Canada President and CEO / Président & directeur général, via email:

GCG in partnership with CBC, has secured the TV rights for all 3 World Championships – RG, Artistic and TR. With this partnership, GCG has secured 10-12 hrs of prime time National visibility through the CBC broadcasts.

… One year out from the start of the 2012 Olympics, 2004 Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt sized up Canada’s chances in gymnastics in an interview with CTV’s Sandie Rinaldo. Kyle will be part of CTV’s broadcast team for the Games …

Gymnastics Canada

Linked above is a video interview with Kyle Shewfelt – CTV News (July 2011)

____ Update:

Kyle will be doing Olympic commentary from London with CTV.

For Tokyo Worlds he’ll be voicing the show with CBC out of Toronto.

related – kyleshewfelt.com

Tsuk the Pain (on a new Tumblr URL) reads between the lines of one of her tweets.

Selection camp has ended. But the final team roster has not yet been announced.

… Alicia and Nabieva are the two most entertaining gymnasts IMHO.

In less than a year, the former Olympic gymnast, Amy Chow, has gone from a recreational diver to possibly qualifying for Olympic trials.

Here’s what she’s doing for fun.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Magnificent talent.

Olympian Amy Chow dives into a new challenge :

Former Olympic gold-medal gymnast from Castilleja and Stanford has resurfaced as a doctor and a potential elite diver …

… The former gymnast-turned-pole vaulter is now a diver with unlimited potential, but with limited time. Chow is competing in the Zone D qualification meet, Friday through Sunday, in Tucson, Ariz. There, a top-12 finish would qualify her for the AT&T National Championships in Los Angeles on Aug. 9-14. From there, the next step would be the 2012 Olympic Trials.

‘That’s a very big step for Chow, who is now 33 and just celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary on July 10 with Dr. Jason Ho, an orthopedic surgeon. Chow works in pediatrics …

“I’ve coached some of the best (divers) in the U.S.,” (coach) Schavone said, “and no one has trained tower like this.”

During a training session on March 6 at Stanford, Chow plunged off the tower some 26 times. Schavone said that’s unheard of for an American diver.

“I can’t imagine anyone but the Chinese doing that,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.” …

Palo Alto online

Brigid linked to the story on Facebook.

HGB Backstrand out of Sweden has signed on as an advertiser. Support them supporting this site.

They are big into gymnastics, tumbling, Team Gym and Cheer.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Since we started the production of the air4tumble we have sold over 300 airfloors around the whole world!

… it rewards your air time if you are tight enough during the tumbling-pass …

… safer on all landings.

The company is adding new apparatus: an inflatable incline, the flip & jump trainer and air barrel.

Details on air4tumble.se

Phone: +46 (0) 31 64 00 34
SMS/MMS: +46 703 64 00 32
Fax: +46 (0) 31 54 58 54
Skype: eurogymnasticequipment
Facebook: Euro Gymnastic Equipment

I’m impressed by this workout at CGA. Especially by the contest for toe-on fulls in sequence.

Today’s gymnastics workout video takes you inside an afternoon uneven bars workout at the well-known Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy. This was the second workout of the day for the elite team. They trained skills and routines in the morning and for this workout Mary Lee Tracy coached them through her uneven bars complex which focuses on basics and trains proper form for pirouettes.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NTI2NTA2MTc3?related=1

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

Every gym has some kind of homemade floor bar. This one is at Phoenix Gymnastics, Vancouver.

… I’m a little worried that kids will fall on the end of the rail, above the base. Lets pad both ends.

Coach Peter Soul makes homemade equipment. Here are a few of Peter’s latest creations: Floor Bars.

A great floor bar is very stable. Regardless of what the kids do on it.

Peter’s got many more floor bars in the works. (PHOTOS)

He’s been coaching at IEGA in Idaho for most of the summer.

Our 2004 Olympic Champion Paul Hamm is charged with assault, criminal damaging and for not paying for a service.

… Hamm was a three-time Olympic medalist. He won the all-around competition at the 2004 Olympic Games. He was hired by Ohio State in the spring of 2011.

Ohio State University said they were aware of Hamm’s arrest and will allow due process and then make a determination on a course of action. …

read more on 10TV.com – Former Olympian, Current Ohio State Asst. Gymnastics Coach Arrested After Assault

The video via that link is damning.

Paul will be a lot less popular after this. Especially with the Men’s NCAA program. They don’t need national publicity this bad.

Court date = Sept. 15th.

Is his comeback finished?

Isle of Man in the U.K.

GYMMIN’ MIEL!:

…Men aged between 14 – 18 years (born in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997) and Women aged from 13 – 15 years (born in 1996, 1997 and 1998) are able to compete in the Games. …

WOMEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS:
Alexandra Eade (AUS)
Maddi Leydin (AUS)
Emma Jane Nedov (AUS)
Sydney Mason (BER)
Lauren Hill (CAY)
Charlie Fellow (ENG)
Gabrielle Jupp (ENG)
Rebecca Tunney (ENG)
Emily Rose Dale-Beeton (IOM)
Rebecca Johnson (IOM)
Kaitlin Kneen (IOM)
Kirsty Rosalind Caruana (MLT)
Adreana Zammit (MLT)
Samatha-Lee Gibbons (NAM)
Nicole Mawhinney (NIR)
India McPeak (NIR)
Sarah Stawbridge (NIR)
Rebecca Morrison (NZL)
Brittany Robertson (NZL)
Charlotte Sullivan (NZL)
Kirsten Beckett (RSA)
Shannon Archer (SCO)
Cara Kennedy (SCO)
Carly Smith (SCO)
Thimasha Devindi Pathirage (SRI)
Kiera Brennan (WAL)
Angel Romaeo (WAL)
Raer Theaker (WAL)

MEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS:
Tyson Bull (AUS)
Kent Pieterse (AUS)
Declan Stacey (AUS)
Zachary Clay (CAN)
Curtis Graves (CAN)
Kal Nemier (CAN)
Michalis Krasias (CYP)
Xenios Papaevripidou (CYP)
Christos Soleas (CYP)
Brinn Bevan (ENG)
Dominick Cunningham (ENG)
Brandon Garrett (ENG)
Jay Thompson (ENG)
Anand Patel (IOM)
Morihei Anderson (NAM)
Jack Neill (NIR)
Reid McGowan (NZL)
Jamie Carpenter (SCO)
Liam Davie (SCO)
Douglas Ross (SCO)
Aizat Bin Muhammad Jufrie (SIN)
Timothy Kai Cheng Tay (SIN)
Terry Wei-An Tan (SIN)
Gajitha Chandramal Paththapperuma (SRI)
Harry Owen (WAL)
Robert Sandsby (WAL)

official website

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

No WAG from Canada. I’ve not heard why.