Author: Rick Mc

A fascinating profile on one of my favourite gymnasts, Jessica Lopez.

It is no wonder Jessica Lopez now sits among the top ten gymnasts in the world. Her gymnastics is exact, beautifully executed and it is performed with an astonishing quickness and precision. Her pirouette work on her favorite event- bars- is comparable to that of China’s most renowned bar workers. Blessed with a gift for twisting, her tumbling work is a feat of tight, corkscrewed saltos. And, after months of working to overcome some tightness in her spine the twenty-four-year-old shows great flexibility and style in her beam work. …

read it on Couch Gymnast – A Great Partnership….

A great post. Thanks Brigid.

Lauren Hopkins was at WOGA, posting some commentary on sessions not yet mentioned on this site:

… Casey Jo Magee, former Arkansas Razorback, competed and was what you’d expect from a college gymnast…great technique but VERY low difficulty.

Her technique almost makes you forget you’re watching a basic routine, until you see her scores…I was very impressed by her bars, even though it was something you’d see from a much younger girl. She did win beam, something she’s kind of an expert at. …

read more – Couch Gymnast – WOGA Classic: The Elite Qualifiers

Casey Jo warming up my favourite Beam mount.

related – Lauren Hopkins’ commentary on the the international elites:

… I nearly forgot to mention the Russians…because they were horrendous! I don’t really have anything to say about them, other than they were very messy form-wise on each event, and Irina Yashina vaulted INTO the vault table at one point…they were flipping around like mad on the bars, falling down, etc. It was pretty discouraging to watch…they’re nothing like their counterparts who performed at worlds! …

Dave Holcomb: on Facebook:

The 2011 Buckeye Classic was a huge success! Over 2,200 gymnasts and close to 9,000 routines and we had only a couple of sprains, bumps, and bruises. …

Congratulations. … Every meet I attend I check injury statistics with the medical staff. This was a healthy one.

Buckeye Classic

Check the video linked from that page.

Mar 4th, 2011 in Jacksonville, Florida in conjunction with American Cup.

Gymnastike:

The last of the 2011 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup official qualifiers concluded this weekend and we now have the complete list …

CGA Parents Club Coaches Spectacular, Covington, Ky.
Amelia Hundley – Cincinnati Gymnastics – jr international elite
Kayla Williams – Cincinnati Gymnastics

Folger’s New Year Invitational, Wichita, Kan.
Brittney Sooksengdao – McCracken’s Gymnastics
Kaitlyn Hall – Kansas Gymnastics and Cheer

Lady Luck Invitational, Las Vegas, Nev
Lauren Marinez – Orlando Metro
Mykayla Skinner – Desert Lights

Flip Fest Invitational, Knoxville, Tenn.
Katie Bailey – High Point Gymnastics
Georgia Dabritz – Ace Gymnastics – senior international elite, signed with Utah

Circle of Stars, Indianapolis, Ind.
Mary Jane Horth – Gymnastics World
Kathryn Kluz – Oakland Gymnastics Training Center

Wisconsin Dells Gymnastics Vacation Classic, Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
Maile’ana Kanewa – Gymnastics Academy
Jordan Naleway – Aerial Gymnastics Club

Parkettes Invitational, Allentown, Pa.
Annette Miele – Parkettes – Senior international eltie, dropped back to level 10 this year, signed with Michigan
Ashley Lambert – World Class Gymnastics – level 10, former junior elite

Metroplex Challenge, Fort Worth, Texas
Rachel Spicer – Metroplex – 2010 JO National Champion, committed to Florida
Sachi Sugiyama – Top Flight Gymnastics – level 10, signed with Michigan

2011 Rock-n-Roll Classic, Broadview Heights, Ohio
Jennie Laeng – Olympic Dreams
Kelsey Lawless – Elite Gymnastics Academy

Pikes Peak Cup, Colorado Springs, Colo
Mackenzie Brannan – Capital Gymnastics – jr international elite
Kiersten Wang – Colorado Aerials – level 10, signed with Florida, 2nd year NLSC qualifier

The 37th Annual Fiesta Bowl, Chandler, Ariz.
Caitlin Mann – Tumbleweeds
Asi Peko – Brown’s Gymnastics – level 10 and former jr elite

IGI Chicago Style Meet, Chicago, Ill.
Maggie Nichols – Twin City Twisters – level 10, just qualified elite
Grace Williams – Gedderts’ Twistars – Jr International Elite, 2010 JO National Champion
Tory Wilson – Gold Cup
Michaela Woodford – Sun Country

Buckeye Classic, Columbus, Ohio
Lisa Burt – Ace Gymnastics
Ali Jackson – Xtreme Gymnastics

Presidential Classic, Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla
Miya Dotson – Oakland Gymnastics
Alyssa Nocella – Silvia’s Gymnastics

Excalibur Cup, Virginia Beach, Va.
Alexandra McMurty – Richmond
Rebecca Tutka – Parkettes

WOGA Classic, Frisco, Texas, Feb. 19-20
Stefani Catour – Desert Lights
Alina Cartwright – Legacy Elite

Classic Rock Invitational, Glendale, Ariz.
Megan Jimenez – Precision Gymnastics
Kassandra Lopez – Tumbleweeds Gymnastics

Gymnastike

Some routines are linked on that page. … Or filter to see some of those gymnasts via the new Gymnastike Routines Page.

Supergirl Cup 2011 home page

At times written off this season, the defending champions are suddenly joining the log jam of teams hoping to pounce, should Florida falter.

… In its first home meet in six weeks, the ninth-ranked UCLA Gymnastics team scored a season-high 197.475 …

The Bruins (7-6) earned seven scores of 9.9 or better and had 21 out of 24 routines score at least 9.8. …

UCLA Bruins

Sydney Sawa won the AA 39.275. Peszek again only competed Bars.

Results.

This is a repost. It’s worth watching this routine again, in any case.

Katelyn’s routine was awarded 6.9 difficulty, higher than any at Worlds 2010. Yet Katelyn Ohashi is not age eligible for the London Olympics.

She misses by a few months … as did Nastia Liukin in 2004.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NTIxNDY1MDE3

Watch more video of 2011 WOGA Classic on gymnastike.org

I suspect her coach will be chatting with the FIG Women’s Technical committee. Valeri is strongly against the age restriction.

Valeri Liukin with WTC Chair Nellie Kim

related – littlemissgymnast – Is the 16 age rule conducive for the sport

Utah is missing from this ranking. I assume they don’t have an RQS, as yet.

… You’ll notice that the rankings look a bit different this week.

… switched over to the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS). Beforehand it was only based on season average.

The RQS is based on the six best regular season meet scores, three of which must be away meets, then the high score is dropped. You then average the five remaining scores. …

Gymnastike

That link takes you to videos of many of the top routines.

Check the high scores. Who has potential to put up the highest number, if they hit?

see all rankings on GymInfo

Valentine girl Kylee Botterman is atop the RQS AA rankings.

MAG Floor – Handspring forward salto to stand.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Canada has another Nailya Mustafina.

Here’s Shallon Olsen, age-10, winning Canada Winter Games 2011 on Floor ahead of Junior and Senior National Team members. (results PDF)

original on Facebook

She’s 4′ 3″, 54lbs.

Almost every coach I talk to thinks Shallen’s doing too much difficulty at a young age.

But there’s a school of coaching that feels kids should learn difficult acrobatic tricks as young as possible, then stabilize and refine as they grow. You lay off hard ‘pounding’ during peak growth velocity.

Here’s her prelims FX routine at last week.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

She looks safe to me. Leave a comment if you have an opinion.

Note: Shallen was not the youngest athlete at Canada Games. That was Edward Guo, a table tennis player.

Other teams had underage gymnasts compete, but (so far as I know) only if they could not fill the team with age eligible athletes.

related – littlemissgymnast contrasts Shallon with Catherine Lyons from the U.K.

littlemissgymnast is a new blog dedicated to ‘young’ gymnasts.

A recent post discusses super talent prodigies that are for various reasons unable to fulfill the incredibly high expectations as they grow.

… To me, a tragic example is Nailya Mustafina, the most impressive 10 year old I have ever seen on all 4 pieces. She is Natalia’s little sister and many suggested she was the more talented of the two. She broke her femur and has had an uphill struggle to stay at an elite level …

Protecting Young Elite Gymnasts

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

When FIG raised the minimum age to compete at Olympics the intention was to have coaches plan to ‘peak’ kids later in the career.

That’s not happened in every case. Obviously.