Year: 2016

Bridget Sloan talks about Marvin Sharp

Bridget Sloan does not recall bad moments with her former coach. Only good.

The Pittsboro gymnast has had nearly seven months to process events surrounding Marvin Sharp, who was held on four counts of child molesting and three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. He was found dead in his Marion County Jail cell Sept. 19, 2015 in what was ruled a suicide. Sharp was 49.

“I definitely had a few rough weeks. It was a very big shock,” Sloan said. …

“I told my parents, ‘I want to be kept out of it,’ ” Sloan said. “There was nothing I could do in Florida to help or fix anything.”

She added: “Marvin was a very, very important person in my life. He will always be an important person in my life. No one will ever be able to take away what we went through and what we accomplished together.” …

“When we were in the gym, it was strictly coach and athlete,” she said. “Nothing else.” …

Olympic gymnast Bridget Sloan opens up on coach’s death, final meet

(via papaliukin)

Brazil at Olympic Test Meet

Marcos Guerra translated a Globo Esporte article from April 12.

Daniele Hypolito:

“The test event in 2012 was very exciting, especially on beam. I was the last athlete to compete, and we could not have any more mistakes because Jade had just fallen. She came down from the podium looking at me as if saying, ‘please fix what I’ve done.’ We have those secret codes in competition, our looks at one another. As I was chalking up before my routine, I looked down at the girls and they were all praying. I was calm because I knew I could hit my routine. The decision would be up to the judges. Thank God it worked. …

The veteran believes that this time, Brazil will have no need to pray in the final rotation to earn their spot at the Games, as their outlook next Sunday is much more encouraging. The host team is among the favorites this year, with Dani, Jade, Flavia Saraiva, Lorrane Oliveira, and Rebeca Andrade set to compete (Carolyne Pedro and Milena Theodoro will vie for the final spot to be named following podium training). … “

“We are nervous because we are competing at home. It’s different. You want to show everyone in the country that we’re good as a group. We have psychologists, we have our technical staff, we practice meditation to reach the point of tranquility we’ll need during the competition.

… All teams there have the ability to fight. At the moment, we’re training, not thinking about the other teams, but Romania, Belgium, Germany, and France are all going to be very close. We just have to compete the way we did at worlds,” Dani said, noting that Brazil ranked ninth in 2015, one spot away from qualifying into the team final. …

Hypolito Hoping for Quiet Road to Rio

Brazil

Russian team to Europeans

Sara Dorrien-Christians reflects on the Russian teams for Europeans and Olympics:

Following the conclusion of the Russian Championships in Penza, team manager Valentina Rodionenko confirmed via sportgymrus.ru that Aliya Mustafina, Angelina Melnikova , Ksenia Afanasyeva, and Maria Paseka earned their spots on the team bound for the European Championships in late May.

She said the last spot would go to Viktoria Komova if she is ready. Alternatively, Daria Spiridonova, Seda Tutkhalyan, or Maria Kharenkova could get the call. …

Couch Gymnast

 

Click PLAY or watch Afan’s new FX on YouTube.

Damien Cachia – Pommels

Interesting routine construction. He spends half his time moving into and out of handstand.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Damien has had some excellent results in his last two international competitions. #PacRim2016 and the Canadian friendly at University of Calgary. Many are wondering why he wasn’t named to Canada’s Rio Test Meet team.

NAIGC Nationals 2016

Sacramento CA. April 14th – 16th.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) is expecting its 28th annual National Championships to be the largest one yet. This year’s event will showcase over 1,100 male and female gymnasts from almost 90 clubs throughout the nation. …

Club membership in the NAIGC is open to any collegiate and/or adult gymnastics club in the United States.

Click PLAY or watch a preview on Facebook.

details

Newfoundland comedy Olympics

Every 4 years fans like myself can enjoy a unique take on the Summer Games held at Campia Gymnastics.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

Simkin and the City

Daniil Simkin (born 12 October 1987 in Novosibirsk) is a Russian ballet dancer and Principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. …

Simkin has been noted as one of the first ballet dancers to be active in Web 2.0 media such as YouTube andTwitter, and has spoken in interviews about the need for ballet to open up, demystify itself and modernize the way it connects with audiences.

Click PLAY or watch him on Facebook. 🙂

Bruin Banter – Peng-Peng Lee

Watch it on UCLA Bruins. Christine has one more year left in Collegiate gymnastics. Decided not to try for Rio because of her thumb and patellar surgery.

Peng
click image to watch the video on UCLA

Courtney TULLOCH – Rings

Awesome strength if you credit his Victorian.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Masters Rings champ at British Championships.