Author: Rick Mc

I-Gym:

At the London Test Event there was merchandise on sale at the venue – except for the one thing I wanted, the Artistic Gymnastics pin badge (why they never thought to stock these, I have no clue!) so I made a trip to the olympic shop which is inside St Pancras station. What a disappointment that was! They only had the Rythmic badge and very little of anything else!

…

I stopped by the St Pancras store today myself. The stock looked junky to me. 😦

What do you think? Are the official Olympic souvenirs disappointing? … They were a HUGE hit at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Queen Elizabeth suggests checking out John Lewis online. Here are their most popular Olympic items.

Lots of excitement in the NCAA this weekend.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Oklahoma 197.45, Arkansas: 197.225 new school record, record crowd at home (5,537) … Katherine Grable … 39.725

Rank Team Season Average according to GymInfo: 1 Arkansas 196.775 – UCLA 196.775 3 Utah 196.713 4 Nebraska 196.575 5 Oklahoma 196.433 6 Alabama 196.325 7 Georgia 196.275 8 Florida 196.158 9 Penn State 196.000 10 Oregon State 195.675

The men’s rankings are less meaningful, many of the top guys focused on Winter Cup.

Sandra Izbasa is more essential than ever if Romania hopes to challenge for Team podium in London.

Right now I’d rank Romania something like 10th in the world on Bars. And I don’t see wonderful Juniors coming up to improve that apparatus.

Fangymnastics translated an excellent interview:

– So, when did you go back to full capacity training?

– In December I started to follow the normal program again.

– Anything new in your routines? Where are you with the difficulty?

– Everything is new. Adding difficulty and working on the execution is normal if we want to do well in the next competitions. I won´t tell anything else because we want this to be a surprise.

– Have you started training bars as well? Do you see yourself in the all-around?

– My palms hurt, I just moisturize at night and I start again the next day. For the all-around, it all depends on how they will want to approach this.

– How´s beam going?

– I´m training to help the team. I am fighting for every apparatus.

– Why couldn´t Ana Porgras fight through it for 6 more months?

– I don´t know if I should comment on this subject. What I do know is that everyone tried to talk her into staying, we all did.

read the entire interview – Izbasa, looking forward to London: “I cannot wait!” @ GSP

Despite the awful economy, many Gymnastics clubs in Ireland have waiting lists. And they are anticipating an Olympic bump in membership.

Newly announced Olympian Kieran Behan is generating a lot of publicity.

Renmore, Galway

Links and photos from my visits last week on RecGymnastics.com.

The inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are ended.

Like the first Summer YOG, they’ve been called a great success. Here’s the IOC wrap-up post:

… The athletes helped to make Olympic history by participating in a number of events that appeared for the first time on an Olympic programme in Innsbruck ahead of their inclusion in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. These included women’s ski jumping, ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle. The Games also featured innovative new formats such as the mixed country doubles competition in curling; the mixed sport event cross-country/biathlon; mixed gender luge and ice hockey skills challenge. …

Another hit at the Games was the innovative, interactive USB key known as the Yogger, which was given to every athlete and official. In addition to providing the athletes with essential information in a paperless format, the Yogger acted as a virtual business card, allowing users to share information such as names and email addresses simply by touching their keys together. Swiping the keys against the various CEP booths allowed the athletes to collect electronic material about the activities. …

The next edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Lillehammer, Norway, while the second Summer Youth Olympic Games will take place in Nanjing, China in 2014.

IOC – Innsbruck 2012, the First Ever Winter Youth Olympic Games Exceed Expectations

Innsbruck, Austria – January 12, 2012: Free Style Skiing athlete Beau-James Wells (NZL) at his training session in Kuhtai, Austria, Jan 12, 2012.

Photo by Xu Liang/Xinhua/IOC

related – Rogge Warns Not to Make YOG Too Costly

… 2008 Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin will lead an impressive cast, including members of the men’s and women’s 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympic teams. …

USAG

(via Nastia on Facebook)

They are training for London.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (Cheng Fei)

… Alicia Sacramone, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games silver medalist, will serve as an ambassador for P&G beauty brands including COVERGIRL®, Olay®, Pantene® and Secret®. Sacramone’s involvement is in addition to P&G’s partnership with USA Gymnastics and its global marketing partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in support of the Olympic Movement, which will reach through the next five Olympic Games from London 2012 through the 2020 Olympic Games. …

“Our goal is to inspire young women with the message that when you believe in yourself, anything is possible,” said Gina Drosos, Group President, P&G Beauty. …

read more – P&G Beauty Partners with Alicia Sacramone, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Silver Medalist
Sponsorship Expands on USA Gymnastics Partnership

(via Full Twist)

Click to see the original on Facebook.

via Donald Glenn Anweiler and Trish Quinney on Facebook

For the top nations, gymnasts are under intense scrutiny.

Jonathan Horton knows the routine. First comes the injury, then comes the speculation, then comes the doubters.

The two-time Olympic medalist understands. Rip up your left foot the way he did in the world gymnastics championships last October and there’s no stopping the whispers.

“You get hurt 10 months before the Olympic games and people start questioning, `is he going to lose a lot of skills?'” Horton said. …

AP – Injured left foot not deterring gymnast Jon Horton

… Horton plans to compete on pommel horse and still rings at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas early next month even though a pair of screws in his injured foot will likely prevent him from completing full routines….

Smart.

Inconsistent Pommel Horse is the only thing that will stop a healthy Horton from qualifying for London.

I think Jon’ll be there. And I’ll be cheering.

(via Full Twist)