photo – Grace Chiu
A shout out to Adam Wong for his 9th place at World Championships. That’s a first (a best ever) for a Canadian in the All-Around at Worlds, ahead of the great Philip Delesalle who finished 12th in 1979.
It was a pleasure to watch Adam hit 6 for 6 in finals on Canadian TV this afternoon.
I’ve watched Adam’s steady career from the start. He was well trained by Mark Van Wyk who helped him qualify unexpectedly, I thought, for the Athens Olympics. Two years later he is one of the best in the world, now under personal coach Bin Fan at Calgary Gymnastics Centre.
Adam is a good student, a coach of younger kids, a pleasure to have in the gym. (Now if only someone would buy him some matching socks for training.)
It’s true that some of the top gymnasts — Dragulescu for example — did not compete all-around. It may be that we cannot compare gymnasts under the new code with those who competed under the 10.0 maximum code. Or those who competed 12 routines, compulsory and optional.
But there is a reason the All-Arounder is becoming an endangered species. Under these rules it is increasingly difficult to compete all six. I congratulate Adam and all the others who are well rounded enough athletes to do so at Worlds.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 