Author: Rick Mc

Leyva

And here’s Roman Kulesza from Poland, Marta Pihan’s husband.

Because last year’s Super Six and the subsequent discussion was all about the close margin between Alabama, Florida, and UCLA, it’s easy to forget that Utah finished less than half of a point behind the champions. Now, I would make the argument that a lack of proper separation between scores was a problem there (and throughout the season, and always, a point I will be sharpening for, oh, the next six months), but even taking that into account, Utah wasn’t completely blown away by the top three last year.

The single biggest deficit that the Utes faced when compared to the eventual champion Alabama came on vault, which accounted for nearly half of the difference in scores. Utah fans should therefore be pleased that the new freshman class features two standouts on that event (Taylor Allex and Breanna Hughes), both of whom boast solid Yurchenko 1.5s that were consistently scoring in the 9.750-9.800 range in JO. With these two, Utah should be able to withstand the loss of Kyndal Robarts on this event and improve on last season’s scores …

The less pleasant news comes when we rotate to bars. …

read more on Balance Beam Situation

Click PLAY or watch Breanna Hughes’ vault on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/Njk1NjM0OTYy?related=1

It’s a tad early to be picking Team China for the 2016 Olympics. But HuangQiushuangFan gives us a hyperbolic glimpse at some of the new contenders.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Highlights of Brenna Dowell and her 1st place finish in the AA at the Mexican Open.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

At Al Fong’s Easter clinic I was super impressed with Brenna’s training. She’s a machine.

By far the most detailed summary I’ve seen on the Russian Team’s restructuring is posted on Because FAN is short for FANatic:

A (not so) brief history of the Russian gymnastics saga as it relates to the firing of Alexander Alexandrov

Part 4 – The fallout.

It’s funny. Insightful. Ideal for those who love a good conspiracy theory.

Personally I’m ready to move on. Let’s give Grebenkin a fair chance.

Russia does need to change and improve if they want to challenge the USA in 2016.

related – Rewriting Russian Gymnastics – Interview with new WAG Head Coach Evgeny Grebenkin

Feel good edit. Great music.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Arabian Punch Front – Montage Monday: More Olympic Montages)

Shawn’s back in the public eye big time. Good exposure for Gymnastics.

Check this unusual and unusually understated edit.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Full Twist reports that Chow has begun work on an autobiography with help from former Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen.

These are either elite gymnasts trying to learn some choreography. … Or a Gymnastraeda group on holiday in Mexico. 🙂

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

1st annual was a success.

The 2012 Fall Congress, AGF Annual General Meeting, Assemblies and Awards Gala took place in Calgary. It was an amazing and most successful weekend!

.. 175 participants and 12 presenters …

more photos

Janna Ball of Calgary Gymnastics Centre was honored with Coach of the Year Award.

The Athletes of the Years were presented to the following: Anysia Unick for WAG, Nathan Gafuik for MAG, Lexi Giesbrecht for the T&T female and Keegan Soehn for the T&T male. …

Here’s a full list of presenters. Non-cowboys and cowgirls got white-hatted. (PHOTO)

(via Alberta Gymnastics Federation on Facebook)

After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier …

Felix reached a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833mph) through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20 minute long freefall. The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

He won’t be doing it again.