Year: 2011

JBS on Chalk Bucket forum started an important thread:

Top Injury Prevention Practices in Gymnastics Training :

We vault onto soft surfaces (resi) 100% during training
We use the JF vault table in our club because it has a more forgiving top
We use the “sweet spot” (air floor) during all floor take offs
We use tumble track for 50% of our tumbling training
We use the an extra suede beam pad
All of our optionals are required to vault with Tiger Paws

Log in to Chalk Bucket to add to the discussion.

… That’s the first gym I’ve heard to make Tiger Paws mandatory on Vault. Hmm …

photo taken at HPTC, Idaho

Anne Abernathy (born April 12, 1953) is a luge athlete from the United States Virgin Islands and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics were her sixth.

Despite her age, she is a consistent competitor with frequent World Cup podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as “Grandma Luge.” …

OK, I’m impressed. … Especially that a Luge Olympian can live in the Virgin Islands. 🙂

shergymrag mentioned this inspirational athlete because of her use of a new medical therapy.

… Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany in January 2001 that resulted in a severe brain injury. To recover from the injury, she used an alternative medicine treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas.

The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The story of Abernathy’s crash and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel series Impact: Stories of Survival. …

Wow.

by site editor Rick McCharles

I have a difficult to attain media credential for Worlds Uchimurafest 2011. Just now working on flights and accommodation. Leave a comment if you have advice. Likely I’ll extend that trip in Asia before and after the meet.

Click PLAY or watch a promo video on YouTube.

2011tokyo.com

Update: Annie was a gymnast at Gerpla until age-16. Why am I not surprised. Thanks for the info, Gummi Brynjólfsson.

Annie Mist Thorisdottir from Iceland won the CrossFit world championships over the weekend in Los Angeles and has now been personally congratulated by President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. …

Annie Mist won the CrossFit world title at the weekend, including ISK 30 million in prize money. She won three out of ten events and came third in four events; putting her on 842 points — 43 points ahead of Kristan Clever from the USA who came in second. …

Read more …

Next Annie heard from the taxman. She owes the Icelandic supertax. They want about $111,000, nearly half the prize money.

Annie is welcome to move to Canada. Any time.

… I’m still not convinced CrossFit is a healthy competitive sport, however. Watch Annie at an earlier competition this season (VIDEO) and you’ll see what I mean.

Couch Gymnast has a Tuesday Miscellany with many stories I had not linked to as yet including: Mattie Larson, Mariya Lvichkova, Mizuki Sato, Diana Chelaru, Marissa King, Waverley Gymnastics (Australia), Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa, Australian WAG trials for Worlds, Janine Berger (Germany), Lisa Top and Tess Moonen (Netherlands), the next James Bond girl, Margarita Levieva, a former Russian Rhythmic gymnast … and more.

check it on on Couch Gymnast

Greg Marsden innovating again:

The Utah gymnastics team are joining the Social Media Brigade by hosting their first ever social media day this month. It will happen on August 18th and fans are able to submit question. They can address athletes, coaches and the athletic director. Stephanie McAllister will be one of the hosts of the event and it will be conducted via Twitter and Facebook. Check out the Utes Site if you want to know more.

… Originally, Fabian Hambüchen, who tore his Achilles tendon in January, planned to come back at the first German trials for the Worlds in Altendiez next weekend. But then he decided to test his routines (except floor and vault) before the trials at the fifth competition of the German Bundesliga.
… high bar: 16.65/7.5 including a Kolman, a layout Tkatchev and a layout Jaeger full (E). That’s the routine he plans to keep until the 2012 Olympics. …

read more on GymNiceTic

Watch part of that routine on this site.

Nice Rybalko to layout Jaeger full!

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s Timo Niemelä from Finland.

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook)

World Champion Kohei Uchimura dominates the sport at (seemingly) 70% effort, 70% of the difficulty he can do in the gym.

Click PLAY or watch his Japan Cup Pipe on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/ODQ2NDk5MDY1?related=1

A healthy Paul Hamm might challenge him in the AA.

19yr-old Danell Leyva is trying to catch him:

What kind of goals have you set for Worlds?

I definitely want to win, but it’s going to be really hard with Kohei Uchimura. My main goal is to shake him. To make him think, ‘Oh man, this guy is really close to me now.’

Why do many consider Uchimura unbeatable?

It has to do a lot with his form. He’s really really clean in everything he does. The thing that makes us different – he does his job really well, but I feel like I can bring a little more flair. Bring a little more of that artistic part back into artistic gymnastics. When he goes, everyone is like, ‘Wow, that was beautiful.’ When I go, I want to make people say, “Ohh, oh my gosh, did you see that. That was impressive!’

Read the entire interview with brashly confident Danell on Universal – Leyva to world: “I’m coming”

It ain’t bragging if you can do it.

Gymnova Canada on Facebook posted a series of photos showing the construction of this trampoline.

… Needless to endlessly repeat, Gymnastics Coaching believes backyard trampolines should be banned. Kids, instead, should be practicing at clubs with qualified coaches.

Ya, right.

How much longer do we have to live this lie?

… For now, the 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion is focused on the 2012 Games. But while in England, she does plan to sneak over to Buckingham Palace for a peek at Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, which is on display there.

“Oh, that’s on my list,” she says. “That’s my No. 1.”

Inside Gymnastics

She’s focused on Team USA: Britain Bound, not getting her Bar routine back together.