Author: Rick Mc

See low resolution previews of some of the official photos at Elite Canada by following Grace Chiu GraceClick on Facebook.

Gymnastics Canada preview – Elite Canada gymnastics meet highlights 2012 Olympic contenders:

… Peng Peng Lee of Toronto, the other member of the team in London, elected to skip this year’s event to focus her preparations on upcoming Olympic selection meets. …

The men’s Elite Canada senior all around has a different flavour this year with many of the veterans taking a break while a group of younger gymnasts working towards the 2016 Olympics take centre stage. …

Although Canada failed to earn a full team berth in men’s gymnastics for the 2012 Games, there is one spot up for grabs in the individual competition, also to be determined after a selection process. …

Two-time Olympian Nathan Gafuik of Calgary and current Canadian all around champion Jackson Payne of Edmonton are the only two members of the 2011 world championship team competing this year …

After London I felt Grishina might not make the Russian Olympic team. That Bars / Beam might not be enough.

BARS were great in London. But she looks even better here, adding double double dismount.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Lauren reports from Moscow Championships:

Anastasia Grishina really, really wants to make this Olympic team, and the coaches want her on the team, too. She did not have the best meet today. She sat her DTY after putting one (albeit somewhat under-rotated) to her feet in warmups. She only scored 14.0 on bars, mostly due to one of her new skills, a toe-on Shaposhnikova-half. She caught it, but it was pretty messy and, of course, there was the incidental touch by the coach. But who thought a month ago that she’d be throwing DTYs, Shaposhnikova-halves and double double dismounts come February? …

read more on Couch Gymnast … Moscow Championships Report

The “new” Triple Twist blog posted an interview with Irina Paun.

In late 2011 Irina was forced to retire from the sport due to a non-gymnastics related injury. We caught up with Irina to talk about training in Romania, her retirement, and how she thinks Romania will do without their star Ana Porgras.

Triple Twist: How many hour’s did you train a day?

Irina: During my first 2 years of training I only went 2 days a week for 4 hours. After another 2 years, I trained everyday for 4 hours. Up until my retirement I trained for 6 hours a day 6 hours a week.

Triple Twist: What was a typical day like for you?

Irina: I would wake up at 6:30 and have breakfast at 7:00.

From 8:00 -11:00 we train and then have lunch at 12:00. We get to rest from 12:30-1:30 and then we have our second training from 2:00-5:00.

At 5:00-7:00 I do my school work and have some dinner at 7:30! After all that is done I go back to the room to shower, relax, and watch TV! My favorite show is Make It Or Break It and the Voice! …

read more – Romanian Gymnast Irina Paun- A Career Short Lived

Information on the competitive structure was posted by Alina on Gimnastica:

1. Age 4-8 years – Beginners.

2. Category IV – Little gymnast
a. Level 1: 8-10 years old
b. Level 2: 10 years old

3. Category III (Junioare III)
a. Level 3: 11 years old
b. Level 4: 12 years old

4. Category II
Age: 13-14 years old

5. Category I
Age: 15 years old

details

Leave a comment if you have more specifics on the Romanian system in 2012.

photo by mackie on GymNet

Recall 4yrs ago? …

Canada missed qualifying a full team to Beijing. Only 2 gymnasts could be sent.

Kristina Vaculik and other candidates felt obliged to compete as often as possible in order to gain POINTS.

Kristina:

… that year leading up to the Olympics was really not good …

I competed every weekend up to the Olympics trying to gain points [to qualify]. By the time I was named as the reserve, my elbow was just not good. So I had to pull out and get surgery.” …

CTV

😦

We won’t make that mistake again.

related – Brittany Rogers, who broke her ankle on a Beam dismount at Pacific Rim Championships in 2010, was recently awarded an important “Comeback” award. Congratulations.

The Oregon State University grad is BACK at Elite Canada:

… Today was all about getting comfortable. Checking out the equipment, moving my body around after flight, adjusting to Gymnova equipment, and saying hi to coaches and gymnasts from across the country. It was pretty exciting to reunite …

Older and wiser.

… I want to be able to leave the competition arena tomorrow feeling satisfied, no matter how the results end. I want to be able to truly say that I did everything in my power to give a performance to the best of my ability. I am going to leave my heart out on that floor. The worst feeling is thinking to yourself, “If only I…” or “I wish I …” after a meet. Tomorrow, there will be no regrets. …

read more on her blog – Elite Canada Training Day

Do you get the feeling that the media frenzy for Jeremy Lin is over the top?

NOPE.

His story is historic.

And he’s BIG enough to turn down Letterman.

Click image to enlarge

Source: Infographic World

Great show. Big shock.

The Cirque du Soleil’s Asian invasion has just suffered another setback. Not long after pulling its ZED … out of Tokyo, the multinational entertainment company is about to shut down its Zaia, directed by Gilles Maheu, out of Macau, after three and half years, interrupting a 10-year contract.

Three and half years is a long run for any show. But with Cirque, a decade is the norm. In Japan, an earthquake and tsunami damaged the ZED box office take at Tokyo Disney.

Why Macau?

Apparently, unlike Las Vegas, where fine dining and entertainment are popular diversions, the people who visit casinos in Macau actually prefer gambling. And there is a bit of a world economic crisis. …

Montreal Gazette – Cirque du Soleil’s Asian Retreat: First ZED, Now Zaia

I saw the beautiful performance in November. The cast had no hint, at that time, that their show was at risk. 😦

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It only seems that Cirque keeps opening new shows, and never closing any.

In fact, 4 shows are closing within a fairly tight time period. The two in Asia. Also Banana Spheel – which closed October 2010

Viva Elvis will likely be shuttered in 2012.

… It would be the first of Cirque’s seven Las Vegas titles to close since the opening of “Mystere” in 1993. …

“Viva Elvis” is produced in partnership with CKX Inc., owners of the Presley estate. The title, which drew mixed to negative reviews, was said to be more creatively restricted — by the estate — than Cirque’s “Love” venture with The Beatles. …

Catch Viva Elvis sometime this year. Ticket sales boomed at Zed after the announcement it would be closing. I’m guessing the same thing will happen with Elvis.

Most performers, but not all, will be relocating to other shows.

Alan Owen:

Vika and her coach decided to compete at the Moscow Championship in two events, the Beam and Bars.

During the All Around, Vika scored 15.6 on the Uneven Bars, and 15.1 on the Beam. Vika also dismounted the Beam with the Patterson. Although the results aren’t officially published and the full results aren’t available yet, I can confirm Yulia Belokobylskaya finished in 1’st in the AA final, with Anna Dementyeva finishing in second, only .05 points behind Yulia. Aliya only competed on the Uneven Bars.

Click PLAY or watch Komova’s Beam on YouTube.

Quite a few problems. But she does look a little stronger tumbling than in Tokyo. Great dismount upgrade.

Russia has a bonus system in scoring.

See more routines from that competition on triplefull368’s channel.

Commentary and some results on Couch Gymnast.

She fell on Bars during the competition.

But hit this second set, perhaps a “demo” routine.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

If Aliya’s to win the Olympic AA she’ll need a BIG score on Bars.

See more routines from that competition on triplefull368’s channel.

Game on!

Gymnastike jumps into the What _______ Thinks I Do meme.

Click over to Facebook to see the the full thing.