China, a world superpower in gymnastics, is sharing the stage this week with a small but determined Canadian team in Kunshan City, marking the first time a foreign country has been invited to compete at the Chinese national championships.
The two countries also share a common desire to alter the growing and potentially dangerous emphasis on increasingly difficult skills at the expense of the artistry that once was a defining characteristic of the sport.
“We’ve been training with China for many years we share many common beliefs about competitive gymnastics,” says Jeff Thomson, the program director for the Canadian men’s gymnastics team.
“We both fear that the scoring system in men’s gymnastics is putting too much pressure on athletes to go for ever more difficult moves which in turn increases the risk of injuries and takes away from the artistic side of the sport.” …
Asian Games champion Sui Lu topped junior Zeng Siqi in both women’s events Thursday as the Chinese national championships concluded in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. …
Wow. The girls looked great today during training. Happy. Enthusiastic. And on their best behaviour under the watchful eyes of dozens and dozens of College coaches.
The women’s Level 10 Junior Olympic Nationals are this weekend in Long Beach, California.
In addition, USA Gymnastics is holding the JO National Invitational Tournament, an event intended to give broader exposure to athletes who missed qualifying to Nationals. This is a massive recruiting opportunity, as the vast plurality of college-bound athletes come from the Level 10 ranks. College recruiters will be lined up to watch how the athletes handle the pressure of a National-level, high stakes competition. …
That’s Nebraska Head Coach, Dan Kendig, front and centre.
I take that as a sign of how respected the Nebraska program is across the NCAA.
SCHEDULE (all times are Pacific Time Zone):
Friday, May 13th, 2011
Session 1, 11:30 am: Senior As and Junior As — many of the Senior As are in the 2012 high school graduating class
Session 2: 5:00 pm: Senior Bs and Junior Bs — nearly all of the Senior Bs are in the 2012 high school graduating class
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
Session 3, 11:30 am: Senior Cs and Junior Cs — most of the Senior Cs are in the 2011 high school graduating class
Session 4, 5:00 pm: Senior Ds and Junior Ds — nearly all of the Senior Ds will graduate in 2011; a few Junior Ds will graduate in 2012
Sunday, May 15th, 2011
The NIT meet will be held in four sessions with two age groups each, all day long.
This is Chrystal Hinchliffe, 27, who’s charged with taking fees just days before shutting down her gym in Florida. She’s posted $20,000 bail on a charge of organized scheme to defraud.
Get ready for a stream of rumours regarding underage Chinese gymnasts leading up to the London Olympics.
They cheated before. Are they cheating again?
… That will be the story line from Bela and others.
Young looking girls from Japan and Russia (PHOTO), for example, are not so closely scrutinized. We trust that those more open societies do not systematically alter birth dates as China and North Korea, for two, have done.
… Somebody should approach Dong Fangxiao for a book deal on what she remembers about the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics.
Xiao Fang Dong, 25, was last year stripped of an Olympic medal for being underaged.
She is now head coach at Rotorua’s Mid-Island Gym Sports club, teaching women’s artistic gymnastics. …
She retired from competitive gymnastics in 2001 after a hip injury, and later worked as a gymnastics judge at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Although she was awarded a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, Ms Dong was later found to be only 14 when she competed, instead of the minimum age of 16, and her medal was revoked. …