Author: Rick Mc

Opens June 9th at Radio City Music Hall, NY.

Then on to Madrid and Moscow.

An 80-second look at Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil, coming to Radio City Music Hall this summer! For more info, visit: cirquedusoleil.com/zarkana

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Megan.

This just gets worse and worse.

A paralyzed Chinese gymnast has added sexual abuse claims against her caretakers to her $2 billion lawsuit over Ted Turner’s allegedly broken promise to provide her with lifetime medical coverage. …

Chinese gymnast Sang Lan suffered spinal cord injuries when her head hit the ground during a training exercise at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, organized by Turner. She was permanently disabled from the chest down. …

The amended complaint adds claims that Liu and his stepson, Wilson Xue, sexually abused Lan. They unnecessarily bathed her nude and touched her inappropriately, according to a report she says she filed with the Westchester County, N.Y., district attorney’s office. …

read more – Paralyzed Chinese gymnast adds sex abuse claims to $2 billion suit

A new text for coaches from Routledge Sport Science is now available everywhere, contributors including Bill Sands and John Salmela, titled The Science of Gymnastics.

Several people have told me it’s good.

• energetic, physical and physiological assessment
• training principles
• diet, nutrition and supplementation
• growth and development issues
• kinetics and kinematics
• angular and linear motion
• angular momentum
• stress, anxiety and coping
• motivation and goal setting
• mental skills training for practice and competition
• the psychology of learning and performance.

Amazon

It’s available in paperback or ebook for $54.95. From that same Routledge link you can preview some pages free. University instructors can request a Complimentary Exam Copy.

Moscow, having concluded the 2011 FIG World Cup Series with Individual Apparatus Finals, also awarded the following winners of the overall series.

Men
Floor: BOUHAIL Thomas (FRA)
Pommel Horse: SELLATHURAI Prashanth (AUS)
Still Rings: BALANDIN Aleksandr (RUS) and PLUZHNIKOV Konstantin (RUS)
Vault: BOUHAIL Thomas (FRA)
Parallel Bars: PETKOVSEK MITJA (SLO)
Horizontal Bar: ZONDERLAND Epke (NED)

Women
Vault: MUSTAFINA Alina (RUS) and TKALCEC Tijana (CRO)
Uneven Bars: SEITZ Elisabeth (GER)
Balance Beam: DEMENTYEVA Anna (RUS)
Floor: DEMENTYEVA Anna (RUS)

FIG

I don’t think we can call the new World Cup format a success. The main story at each meet was how many of the qualified gymnasts failed to show up.

… But I’d be interested to know how much prize money Prashanth won, for example. It was a success for him.

(via Full Twist)

Are you getting pumped for the first ever Global Planking Day? More than 10,000 people who like to lie face down straight as a board sure are.

Planking, a phenomenon that started in Australia, is simple enough: “You must always lay face down, ensuring your face remains expressionless for the duration of the plank. Your legs must remain straight, and together with toes pointed.” …

Globe and Mail – Let’s get this straight: All the cool kids are ‘planking’?

Like the official Planking Facebook Page.

It’s just a laugh. Be careful, though. One bloke fell to his death from a seventh-floor balcony while being photographed.

Thanks Kate.

One of my favourite coach interviews, yet.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/OTkxNDg1ODY1?related=1

Watch more video of Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy on gymnastike.org

related – part 1 of this interview

Tanis Tzavaras and Kelsey Arnold, two coaches from Calgary, have opened their own company distributing grips and wrist supports.

(403) 650-7078
info@gymstuff.ca

GymStuff.ca

The Canadian gymnast Jessica Dowling (16) wants to play for the upcoming World Championships Netherlands. Dowling, daughter of a Canadian father and a Dutch mother, wants to try at the national championships in Heerenveen …

… a “unique opportunity”. “I will do my utmost to me at the Dutch Championship …,” said the Canadian. …

Google Translate – © GymPOWER article with information from the Leeuwarden Courant

She scored 52.867 at Wild Rose. Click PLAY or watch her Bars on YouTube.

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook)

I’m a big fan of this girl. It would be fantastic if she could qualify to compete with the Dutch team. She feels her odds are better than in Canada.

Gymnastike posted a nice summary. It includes a few videos.

This meet, however, had less media coverage than any other nationally prominent competition in 2011.

Why is that?

World Stars FIG World Cup Moscow (RUS) 2011 May 13-14

The best link for WAG final results and videos is Between the Olympics.

Click PLAY or watch the winning Bar routine on YouTube. Check the unusual free hip 1/1.

5.9 8.375 14.275

Jessica Lopez is age-25. And still improving. Watch her Beam from Moscow. (VIDEO)

(via College Gymnastics Board)