Author: Rick Mc

Daniel Purvis
Louis Smith
Max Whitlock
Sam Oldham
Kristian Thomas

Full Twist – Great Britain announce MAG Olympic Team

Beth Tweddle
Hannah Whelan
Rebecca Tunney
Imogen Cairns
Jennifer Pinches

Full Twist – Great Britain announce WAG Olympic Team

… BG has not yet announced the reserve athletes. Many are disappointed by the absence of Dan Keatings and Becky Downie. …

UPDATE
From the sounds of it the reserve gymnasts for women’s are Danusia Francis, Becky Downie and Niamh Rippin.

Downie on twitter: It’s finally out & unfortunately I’m a reserve for Team GB !! I’ve had a very tough ride these past 2 years but this is NOT the end ….

Going for Gold

Yeesh. The host nation leaves a fantastic 90+ 2008 Olympian off the Team. I’m a huge Keatings fan. Hope he hangs in for another quadrennial.

Update: @Bdownie:

Not gunna lie it SUCKS to be me right right now 😦 its going to be a long month ahead with many more routines to come & to not be shown 😦

Not sure how to feel now, all that work, the routines, the injuries, injections, tears, pain for what ?? & missing out on adidasUK GB kit 😦

The hard road of the alternate to the Olympics.

Click PLAY or watch a USA Olympic Team montage on YouTube.

Don Eckert:

Shushunova’s are one of my favorite release move to teach. … they are rare and once you figure them out, pretty easy to teach. I threw in a few drills …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

No lack of height on that first one.

At Byers yesterday I asked Eli Rodriguez about the Shushanova. It’s getting recognized since Anna Li took out her monster Tkachev, one of the best in the world, and replaced it with the much higher value Shushanova.

Eli has one gymnast using the release. He finds it easy. Much overvalued in the current Code of points.

Other variations including Markelov and Monckton can be similarly easy. And consistent to catch.

Downsides: Catching crooked. And lack of height deduction.

Click PLAY or watch Monckton
on YouTube.

Here’s another Shushanova.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

How do you start those skills?

Check Kori getting “the idea” of the Monckton variation on YouTube.

That’s Gymnastics Adventure, Regina.

related – Brittany Roger’s Markelov (VIDEO)

Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion on these skills. Will Anna Li get deducted big timer for hers by international judges?

From the (soon to be closing) Viva Elvis show.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (4 high pyramid at 6min 40sec)

Fangymnastics linked to a news clip with Larisa Iordache training Amanar and Sandra Izbasa a Cheng.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Andy Thornton calculates that it could help put Romania on the podium as a Team, despite weak Bars.

I’m skeptical. Many girls train those vaults on to resi-pit, but don’t compete them. Brenna Dowell from GAGE has a terrific Amanar, for example, but it isn’t consistent nor safe enough to use in competition on hard mats.

I’ll believe it IF they try them in the friendly in Bucharest this week.

… tribute to Nastia Liukin, class act, hell of a career, remix of Gym Class Heroes and Ryan Tedder’s hit the Fighter …

Listen to it on YouTube.

Or you can download the track free.

Thanks Chris.

Major women’s Olympic tune-up competition in Romania this week.

Details on Couch Gymnast.

Debbie Broderick Rodriguez and her husband Eli run one of the top gyms in the USA, Byers Gymnastics Center Elk Grove, near Sacramento, California.

I told their children that Mom was the hardest working gymnast at Altadore Gymnastics … back in the day. AND that she listened to her coaches.

Somebody named Chellsie was there yesterday.

Hard act to follow? 🙂

GIFs are very popular on Tumblr. But I’ve not seen many on blogs or on the websites of news organizations. Until now.

Check out The Atlantic – Get to Know Your U.S. Gymnastics Team Through GIFs

The RIGHT GIF can be very interesting for coaches. If they include the critical points on a skill.

Thanks Claudine.

Gymnast #391 tried to calculate possible maximum start score for Gabby Douglas 25.8 and Viktoria Komova 25.4 in London.

If Vika competes Amanar instead of DTY, her start would go to 26.1.

The highest score credited in one competition in 2012, according to The All Around WAG Rankings, was Douglas with 25.5.

Consistency is the issue for both.