Author: Rick Mc

You’ll only want to watch this one if you’re something of a history buff.

Gymnastike:

This weeks Flash Back Friday looks at some our sports greatest female gymnasts.

These gymnasts are considered to be the 10 greatest female gymnasts in history based on the following criteria:

1) Gymnast must have won at least one all around World or Olympic Title

2) Must have a least 2 World or Olympic titles on any apparatus.

3) Gymnastike requirement- at least 5 years removed from competition

Who is the Greatest Female Gymnast in history ?

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://videoplayer.flocasts.org/player.swf

Not many would dispute that Khorkina is #1.

As for the rest of the list … you simply can’t compare Shushanova v the women in the first Olympics.

Without looking at medals I’d rank them 1. Khorkina, 2. Comaneci … 3. Kim or Shushanova.

Of those Shushanova was the toughest competitor in the toughest era. Just to make the Soviet team at that time meant you were one of the best few gymnasts in the world.

They were all great innovators. … Leave a comment if you’ve your own top 3.

related post – Gymnastike’s top 10 male gymnasts all time

I love Cirque du Soleil for the acrobatics.

Great dance, song, acting, humour are bonus.

The first time I saw Kooza I dismissed it as the “clown show”. Many from the acrobatic side feel that clowns are the weakest element in many of the shows.

But seeing Kooza again last week, I was more impressed. The non-gymnastics friend I brought along felt the 3 main characters were brilliant:

Cirque clown casting:

… finding performers who pass Cirque’s tough standards is not an easy task, Sheriff says.

“In this world, there are a lot of clowns,” he says. “But there is not a lot of good clowns for circus. You have to be very talented. It’s a very particular thing. …

Calgary Herald – Hail king clown Campbell of Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza: Photos, videos

Love ’em? Hate ’em? … Leave a comment.

Fangymnastics:

… Flavius Koczi won the all around gold medal after a faultless perfomance. …

Men’s Vault is insane.

Check out his Kazamatsu plus 2 twists on YouTube.

Final score VT: 16.300 average. He was Universiade 2009 Vault Champion over the even more insane Korean gymnast RI Se Gwang.

Click through for more results and video – Flavius Koczi – the 2010 All Around National Champion

AT&T posted a well-edited summary fluff piece. No embed code. I guess they’re afraid it might go viral. People might start liking AT&T. … Can’t have that.

When are big corporations going to figure out social media?

Update from Gymnastics Examiner via KP:

… in Sacramone’s case this is perplexing, because she announced her unretirement in the summer of 2009, a full 11 months before she competed at the CoverGirl Classic this past July. She also stated in interviews that she knew she had to be in the doping pool for six months before she could compete again.

Turns out Sacramone was enrolled in the U.S. anti-doping program, and has been tested twice during the past year (both results were negative.) But she was not enrolled in the FIG’s program, which is what spurred the warning. That comes down on USA Gymnastics, and the FIG recognized it.

“This decision was taken to protect these two world-class gymnasts from the negligence of their Federations,” the FIG stated in a press release. …

Oops. USAG bad.

_____ original post:

Nations must get more organized in the official retirements and unretirements of their National Teams.

The FIG Presidential Commission has sanctioned USA Gymnastics and the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation with a strong written warning for their failure to announce the return to competition of their gymnasts Alicia Sacramone (USA) and Natalia Godunko (UKR), six months prior to taking up competition, thus violating WADA and FIG Anti Doping Rules. …

FIG – Strong written warning!

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js

This will help prevent the sanction faced by Dragalescu.

An oldie, but a goodie, from MunchTheSilivasFan.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Couch Gymnast)

Saturday, Sept. 18th.

details

I’m loving the Raw Ambition series of videos.

Women’s Artistic Gymnastics is a tough sport. Young girls need ambition and persistence to do it. Gymnastics parents need to watch this one.

Over the past few years, Chris Burdette of Texas Dreams Gymnastics has traveled the country giving a lecture called “Raw Ambition” and was nice enough to share the videos with us here at gymnastike. This is the 2nd of 4 videos in the series.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://videoplayer.flocasts.org/player.swf

Great edit.

The Cirque du Soleil Casting team is hosting open acrobatic auditions in Las Vegas in September 2010 for the following disciplines:

Gymnasts – Tumblers – Trampolinists – Sports Acrobats – Divers
September 18 from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Callback session for the above disciplines: September 19.

Professional Martial Artists – Inline Skaters – Extreme Sports – Rhythmic Gymnasts
September 20 from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M.

details

Normally athletes should be age-18 or older to attend. Ask permission from Cirque if they are younger or they will likely be turned away at the door.

There were some good comments on blantonnick’s Healy post.

ryantroop suggested teaching it from early pirouette, something I’d never even considered.

blantonnick linked to Dylan Carney. This is truly a different skill, it’s so early. Forward giant with full twist to el-grip.

I love it!

Click PLAY or watch Dylan Carney on YouTube. (Healy at 9sec)

Many girls do that skill. And more. But I can’t recall another male gymnast doing anything like it.