Author: Rick Mc

OK … Greg. If you say so …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Yeesh.

An entry submitted to the Tricks and Tumble Contest run on the Vuly Trampolines forum in 2009.

Thanks to David Holcomb for the link.

Balance Beam Effect on NCAA Championships Finals:

… As we all know, the stupidest rule in all of NCAA gymnastics requires gymnasts to suddenly perform two vaults in event finals.

Either they need to do away with the second vault and just have them perform the same vault twice, or they need to require potential qualifiers to perform a second vault in Semifinals, like we currently see in elite.

Both of those solutions would eliminate the insufferable parade on non-10.0 vaults in finals. …

That’s dangerous. Chucking a second vault you don’t train regularly.

And Vault is almost always the most disappointing Women’s Final. It was again in 2012.

… In a final marked by only three athletes attempting two 10.0 vaults, Kytra Hunter came out on top. The 2012 AA champ came up with a near stick on her Yurchenko Layout 1 1/2 and then landed a Yurechenko Layout Full with a large step to secure the win. She outpaced Bama’s Diandra Milliner, who threw the same two vaults for 2nd. Georgia’s Kat Ding stuck a solid Yurchenko Layout full and then added a tucked version (with a step) for 3rd. Defending champ Marissa King had a low landing on her Tsuakahara Layout Full, after landing a Tsukahara Layout 1 1/2.

College Gym Fans

“Everyone on vault doesn’t really have another vault, so everyone feels the same about it. They’re all confused. It’s kind of hectic.” — Rheagan Courville on the two vault rule in NCAA event finals, to The Daily Reveille

“I don’t train it at all. But in the last week, we’ve been doing one or two in practice. I’m really scared of that vault (Yurchenko full). With the one and a half, I can spot my landing but that is harder for me to do with the full,” Hunter said. “I just went out there and did whatever I could.” — Kytra Hunter on her NCAA winning second vault, a Yurchenko full, to The Orlando Sentinel

Click PLAY or watch Kytra Hunter on YouTube.

In regular competition, Vault is often the most boring apparatus. Judges don’t discriminate well between an endless series of Yurchenko 1/1s.

EliteAthlete10 on College Gymnastics Board makes some recommendations for improvement – Solution to Separating Vault Scores

Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion on how to improve NCAA Vault.

Those gymnast admissions come from Examiner – The quotable NCAA Championships

Bea Gheorghisor wrote the best article I’ve seen yet on the Romanian Juniors:

… who should we expect to see at Euros? Some the same names that were sent to Jeloso and Cholet: Stefania Stanila, Silvia Zarzu, Bianca Ciobanu, Miriam Aribasoiu, Paula Tudorache, Diana Teodoru and Maria Rauta are among the favorites. Andreea Munteanu, who is coming back from injury, was recently added to the mix as well.

In both competitions mentioned above, their strongest apparatus was floor and the weakest – uneven bars. …

… The most gifted on this apparatus seems to be Miriam Aribasoiu: her lines are quite good …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

On beam things are far better compared to UB. In both aforementioned meets there were a lot of falls but even with all the deductions for the falls, they compensate a lot with their almost senior-level difficulty. …

In Brussels, at the European Championships, they will probably fight for the bronze medal in the team final. …

Couch Gymnast – The Road to Euros: The Romanian Junior Team

There’s much more, including videos, via that link.

Wall Street Journal:

Two Brothers, One Goal: Land the Only Spot at the Olympics
U.S. Can Send Only One Male Contestant to Trampoline Event; ‘We Both Want It’

… “I am not going to let my little brother beat me this year,” says Steven Gluckstein, 21 years old.

Counters Jeffrey Gluckstein, 19: “Hopefully my best is just a little better than his.” …

… Their styles are different. Steven looks and trains like a Marine, wearing a crew-cut and rising early each day to follow a strict regimen. In addition to jumping for three hours a day, Steven goes to a gym most nights to work with weights, do exercises to strengthen his core or swim sprints across the pool. He keeps meticulous notes of his practices. His sports psychologist urges him to take time off training, Steven says, but in order to aim for the Olympics, Steven put college on hold.

By contrast, Jeffrey is taking classes at a local community college. Invariably arriving late to practice, he works out with weights when he can find the time and files the required monthly log of his workouts to the sport’s national federation just before they are due. …

read more on the WSJ

Awesome article.

Thanks to Trampoline Pundit for recommending it.

Jason Burnett (CAN), Ueyama Yasuhiro (JPN) and Anna Dogonadza (GER) have all confirmed that they are named Olympians for 2012.

Stanford’s Nicole Pechanec is dating Andrew Luck.

(via College Gymnastics Board)

FIG posted a terrific photo of Christine Lee on Bars. Click through to find out how to get a high resolution version.

Canada’s women were most successful in Osijek with three Golds in all. The country’s top performer at the 2011 World Championships, Christine Lee, outscored the field on Uneven Bars (14.475), while sixteen year old Elsabeth Black won Saturday’s Vault Final (14.575) and edged out Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber for the Floor title (13.725) on Sunday …

FIG Artistic Gymnastics Challenge Cup
Grand Prix Osijek 2012

If you failed to get tickets for the Olympics, why not take part? The London 2012 video game from Sega is due for release on 26 June, for XBox, Playstation 3 and PC. You’ll be able to play over 30 different events, including highlights from track and field, gymnastics and stuff in the pool.

Londonist

via @gymnewstics

The greatest danger to children in 2012 is childhood obesity. It’s hopeless, so far as I can see. Kids are going to get fatter before they get fitter. 😦

… Some are trying to make fitness cool.

Let’s Move! Flash Workout initiative by Beyoncé Knowles is a part of a larger Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States.

The campaign was started by First Lady Michelle Obama. The Let’s Move! Initiative has the goal of “solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight”. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… Watch thousands of students from across the country and around the world dance to Beyoncé’s “Move Your Body” in the 2011 Let’s Move! Flash Workout. …

Click PLAY or watch a mashup on YouTube.

letsmove.gov

related – A big fat (cigar smoking) idiot had the nerve to criticize Let’s Move founder Michelle Obama for her diet and fitness. Talk about picking the wrong battle.

Examiner:

… super impressive beam routine of Eythora Thorsdottir. Lovely, inventive combinations, like side aerial to front aerial to Korbut, and Onodi to bhs, layout, and a brilliant three turn combo late in the routine. Sure, there’s a fall mixed in among all this, but she already has many of the qualities of many of the world’s top beamworkers, including a wonderful way of moving. Look out for her in the future. …

Dutch European Championships teams announced, and three interesting routines…

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.