Author: Rick Mc

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With 5 medals Ellie has become the Face of Team Canada at Pan Ams in the Canadian media.

An incredibly experienced line-up. Karen Cockburn made a comeback specifically for this competition. She wants her daughter to see her compete. 🙂

related – Rosie MacLennan – Science of Sport

Working Bhardwaj. “Kinda like Peng.” 🙂

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

via GymCastics

Uncle Tim has been on a roll lately. All Artistic coaches (MAG and WAG) should be following his blog.

He crunched some numbers from European Games Baku with some surprising results – Do Height and Weight Matter in Women’s Gymnastics?

• height wasn’t a statistically significant predictor for E scores in Baku

• weight wasn’t a statistically significant predictor for E scores

• neither height nor weight was a statistically significant predictor for D scores

* If the data supplied by the delegations is correct, we have a wide range of heights and weights. We have someone as tall as Gabriela Janik (169 cm) and someone as short as Laura Jurca (140 cm). As for weight, we’re looking at weights from 35kg to 72kg.

He concludes with an overreaching statement: “Smaller isn’t better. Lighter isn’t better.”

That’s wrong, of course. Relative strength IS critical for success in women’s Gymnastics. Correlation is not causation, as every PhD knows. 🙂 

There are many variables aside from height and weight.

You must be either strong or light. Ideally both. Being smaller and lighter make the acrobatic components easier. It’s a disadvantage for vault. A slight disadvantage on Bars.

Still, the easiest way to become Olympic Champion is to be short, light and fast twitch.

• 1980 Yelena Davydova* 4ft 10in (148cm)
• 1984 Mary Lou Retton* 4ft 9in (145 cm)
• 1988 Yelena Shushunova 1.47m (4ft 10in)
• 1996 Lilia Podkopayeva 1.49m (4ft 11in)
• 2000 Andreea Raducan* 1.49m (4ft 11in)
• 2004 Carly Patterson 152cm (5ft 0in)
• 2012 Gabby Douglas 4ft 11in (1.50m)

It’s possible to win the Olympics at Nastia Liukin’s height 5ft 3in (1.60m), but ask her if Gymnastics is as easy for her as it is for the shorter girls.

But our good Uncle’s main point is important. I am convinced that height and weight (within the small range of female gymnasts who compete at the highest level) is not as critical as it once was. I’m not sure why.

related – height of male Olympic gymnastics champions

Canada’s top male AA gymnast tore his right Achilles tendon training Floor at a Pan Am team Camp in June.

“It felt like I stepped into a hole,” said Payne, who represents the Capital City Gymnastics Club.

“I’ve never experienced something like this, where I was totally ready to go. And I wanted to medal there (at the Pan Am Games) and help the sport get more publicity in Canada.” …

Achilles injury knocks gymnastics champ out of Pan Am Games

Both Jackson and team mate Hugh Smith missed two years of training while on missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both came back to qualify to Canada’s A-team.

I don’t know how Cirque got permission to use so much fire in the Pan Am Opening Ceremonies.

Some of the tumblers literally were singed leaping the flames between Air Floors.

Miss Meghan posted a back stage glimpse of rehearsal.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A review by Tony Retrosi:

Another training camp is in the books! Every year I pick a motto for camp.

This year was: ‘WE MAKE CORRECTIONS NOT EXCUSES”

…

BEAM
1. BLACK Ellie – CAN 15.050
2. SKAGGS Megan – USA 14.050
3. WOO Victoria – CAN 13.650

Lauren Hopkins – Beam & Floor commentary

VAULT
1. LARDUET Manrique – CUB 15.125
2. WHITTENBURG Donnell – USA 14.962
3. SOUZA Caio – BRA 14.925

There’s no limit to Manrique’s potential on this apparatus. He can twist like Kenzo. And has tons of power.

FLOOR
1. BLACK Ellie – CAN 14.400
2. HUNDLEY Amelia – USA 14.200
3. GOMEZ PORRAS Ana – GUA 14.150

I really like Desch who finished 4th.

P BARS
1. CALVO Jossimar Calvo – COL 15.700
2. LARDUET Manrique – CUB 15.650
3. Mikulak Sam – USA 15.450

Fantastic final. I wouldn’t have had Calvo 1st on P Bars, however.

H BAR
1. CALVO Jossimar – COL 15.700
2. LYTWYN Kevin – CAN 15.475
3. RUGGERI Paul – USA 15.450

Once again, FIG rules reward a Handspring Double Front vault where the competitor’s feet only barely touched the mat before her butt. 😦

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Yamilet is a great athlete. An excellent vaulter. It’s hard to blame her coach for taking advantage of this loophole in the rules.

Nellie Kim was in Toronto. Again handing a medal to an athlete who fell badly in the Final. She and her WTC committee must disagree with the majority of coaching experts who feel this ranking is unfair. This is the second Code under her watch where this marginal performance has been over rewarded. 😦

Lauren Hopkins:

Here’s the problem with vault…the entire difficulty comes from one single skill. Who cares if you chuck it and fall? You can still get a medal at many competitions above gymnasts who all hit.

But throw a skill you can’t do on bars or beam or floor and the risk doesn’t outweigh the cost. For an E-rated skill, you’re only getting 0.5 for your difficulty on that single element, 0.6 for F, 0.7 for G, and so on so a point for a fall actually matters there because none of these elements are worth over a point. But for vault, what’s the big deal about a full point off when your entire skill is worth 7 points?!

Gymternet – Pan Am Games Vault and Bars Finals

This is a case where the FIG Executive and/or Medical Commission should schedule a meeting with WTC.

It’s this apparatus that really puts these two guys in the top rank of AA gymnasts in the world.

Click PLAY or watch Manrique on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Donnell on YouTube.

Manrique was born 1996. Donnell was born 1994. Both young. Both are going to get much, much stronger. 🙂

Zanetti was born 1990.