Author: Rick Mc

Amanda Turner:

Tweddle, who scored 15.900 in qualificiation, did not connect her planned back-to-back transitions of toe-full to toe-on Tkatchev-half to Yezhova into a Maloney-half. But the three-time world champion still pulled out a victory, scoring 15.125 over China’s Jiang Yuyuan (14.875). Hoping for an Olympic victory in London this summer, Tweddle could follow in the tradition of He Kexin, who won the bars title in Doha in 2008, a few months before taking gold in Beijing. …

Women’s Vault Final
1. Giulia Steingruber
2. Nadine Jarosch
3. Teja Belak

Uneven Bars Final
1. Beth Tweddle
2. Jiang Yuyuan
3. Lisa Katharina Hill

Click PLAY or watch Jiang Yuyang’s Bars on YouTube.

Men’s Floor Exercise Final
1. Zou Kai
2. Tomislav Markovic
3. Vlad Cotuna

Still Rings Final
1. Liao Qiuhua
2. Vahagn Davtyan
3. Danny Rodrigues

Full results and commentary on International Gymnast.

Cool.

To celebrate the Games, the names of 361 tube station stops have been changed to the names of Olympic athletes. …

Inside the Games

Map via that link.

American swimming star Michael Phelps gets the main London 2012 Olympic stop of Stratford.

Gymnasts include:

Vitaly Scherbo, Alexei Nemov, Nikolai Adrianov, Sawao Kato, Wei Yang, Nadia Comaneci, Mary-Lou Retton, Larisa Latynina, Aleksandr Moskalenko, Viktor Chukarin, Olga Korbut and Ludmilla Tourischeva.

(via GymPOWER)

Bar Finals:

1. Beth Tweddle 15.175
2. Jiang Yuyuan 14.875
3. Lisa Katharina Hill 14.575
4. Larisa Iordache 14.525

Click PLAY or watch Beth on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Larisa on YouTube.

14.525 for a Romanian Bars routine. Congratulations.

iLITTER montage.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is very well done. Features coach Paul Hall.

As Olympic gymnast Louis Smith prepares for London 2012, Form and Function — a documentary by Richard De Aragüés, director of TT 3D Closer to the Edge — explores the tensions between delivering both form and function in his performance as he aims for gold at London 2012, and the parallels in the development of the BMW i8.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Louis broke a finger on Horizontal Bar and is out for about a month. UPDATE: He’s already back training. Turned out to be more minor than prognosis.

THE ALL AROUND – A first look at the next Codes of Points

TAA on Facebook:

Russia changes teams for Jesolo. Senior: Anastasiya Grishina, Yulia Inshina, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Anna Rodionova. Junior: Maria Bondareva, Marka Kharenkova, Viktoria Kuzmina, Ekaterina Baturina, Anastasiya Dimitrieva.

One of the best edits ever on why acrobats take to the streets.

NY Times – TOM SIMS:

… Ryan Doyle, one of the world’s most prominent practitioners of the sport of parkour, who can be seen here in action in Santorini. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… the 2010 Men’s NCAA Champions, the University of Michigan. The Wolverines are gearing up for the 2012 Big 10 Championships which will be held next weekend at Iowa. Sophomore Sam Mikulak is the reigning Big 10 and National All Around Champion and will work to defend his title. He’s also in the running for the 2012 USA Olympic team.

Look for the smart connection on Floor after Arabian. Next Code will allow only one roll-out skill … so we’ll be seeming much more of that kind of thing.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NDU4NjIzOTg3?related=1

Watch more video of University of Michigan 2012 Gymnastics on gymnastike.org

Thanks once again to Anne and team for all the work spent putting together these Workout Wednesdays, my favourite regular feature.

Sadly I won’t be getting to Men’s NCAA Championships 2012. It’s scheduled the same weekend as the Women’s meet in Georgia.

Penn State has the highest score this season. Unlike WAG, anything can happen in Men’s Collegiate Gymnastics.

The best source for information on the Russian Team is the Russian National Women’s Coach.

When asked about gymnasts not prepared for Russian Championships in Penza he gave straight answers:

Victoria Komova – minor operation to ensure blood flow to her ankles

Tatiana Nabieva – can’t decide whether or not she wants to commit to what’s being asked of her … and has many colds

Yekaterina Kurbatova – no longer in the Olympic selection pool

Anastasia Sidorova – flew over the handlebars of her bike = broken arm.

Anna Dementieva – tonsillitis

Aliya Mustafina – good progress, but only now starting serious Floor / Vault training.

A translation of that interview is available on Couch Gymnast – “Everyone has their own trump card”

Sounds like Nabieva is back training at Round Lake. But I’m sure Alexander is worried about their depth for London.

The Russian Europeans Team will be announced after a competition in Switzerland April 18th.

Fangymnastics – Romanian gymnastics blog:

Usually, we dont post about gymnastics from other countries, but this time I’ll make an exception because the routine I want to speak about really impressed me. In the last few days I have watched 3 uneven bars routines from Aliya Mustafina, the ones she performed at the Russian Nationals. …

Aliya Mustafina’s D score:
Stalder full (D) + toe-on Khorkhina (E) +0.2;
Inbar stalder with half turn (D) + Piked Jaeger salto (D) +0.1;
Inbar stalder with full turn (E) + Pak salto (D) + stalder Khorkhina (E) +0.4;
toe-on with full turn (D) + Mustafina (E) + 0.2;
Final score: 7.0

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.