Author: Rick Mc

She won prelims with these perhaps slightly inflated scores:

UB : 15.55
BB : 15.25
FX : 14.55
VT : 15.7

Click PLAY or watch her Amanar on YouTube.

Somewhat scary landing. But it’s amazing such a skinny kid can do this.

Click through to Aunt Joyce to watch her other apparatus.

Update: becca reminds us that they are using the modified JUNIOR F.I.G. code at this meet. It reduced her potential start value AA.

Wow. She just dominated the prelims. All hail.

Top score on V, Bars, Floor. Second on Beam to Tan Sixin.

ALL-AROUND preliminaries

Viktoria Komova (RUS) – 61.000
Sixin Tan (CHN) – 58.100
Carlotta Ferlito (ITA) – 55.750
Diana Bulimar (ROU) – 54.700
Tess Moonen (NED) – 54.250
Gomez Porras (GUA) – 54.050
Angela Donald (AUS) – 54.050
Madeline Gardiner (CAN) – 53.850
Jonna Adlerteg (SWE) – 53.600
Natsumi Sasada (JPN) – 53.550

full results

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

photo – Viktoria’s signature inside Stalder to Shaposhnikova-half

How about Carlotta Ferlito from Italy in 3rd!

Read Amanda Turner’s commentary on IG – Komova Dominates Youth Olympics Qualification

At the USA Gymnastics Championships last weekend two special events were scheduled for Olympic Teams past:

1) Bronze medal awarded to the 2000 American Women’s Olympic Team

2) Reunion of the 1980 American Olympic Teams MAG and WAG (boycotted)

Blythe Lawrence:

… The press got to meet with members of both the 2000 U.S. women’s Olympic team, who competed in Syndey yet felt like failures, and members of the 1980 men’s and women’s teams, who didn’t compete in Moscow but have recognized that just being selected for the team makes them winners.

The difference, I think, is in age. Twenty years from now, the 2000 Olympians may have a different perspective. …

Gymnastics Examiner

Like the rest on the 1980 team, Ron Galimore never made it to Moscow. The closest he got to Olympic glory was a trip to Washington designed to honor the hundreds of athletes who weren’t allowed to take the trip they really wanted to take. …

Universal – Reunion brings back emotions for 1980 Olympians

Aunt Joyce linked to the fabulous interview with Marcia Frederick, one of the first internationally successful American gymnasts.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

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

Watch Marcia’s Bar routine in Finals of the 1979 World Championships in Texas.

My favourite gymnastics photographer is in Singapore. She’s posting a few pics on Facebook. Eventually all will go up on her site GraceClick.ca

WAG Podium Training Subdivision 2: TAN Sixin, CHN — … Podium Training Champion

If you are on Facebook, you can follow the Canadian gymnast in Singapore: Maddie Gardiner’s Youth Olympic Games Experience (:

A Dutch zoo called in the services of an Olympic gymnast to re-teach orangutans how to climb trees in their enclosure.

The zoo Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen, located in the centre of the country, said it had renovated the enclosure to allow the orangutans to swing from tree to tree in an outdoor setting above the public — but they’ve forgotten the skill of climbing.

Olympian Epke Zonderland showed the orangutans his skills in the hope of re-teaching them how to swing.

‘It was very funny to teach the monkeys today, I didn’t have any experience with those animals to train, and I was very curious if they would copy me, but I think they did their best,’ Zonderland said. …

Big Pond

From the looks of the video, it seems Epke has more to learn from the beasts.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… qualifying round at the Youth Olympics in Singapore …

1. Yuya Kamoto JPN 87.200
2. Sam Oldham GBR 86.850
3. Oleg Stepko UKR 86.800
4. Xiaodong Zhu CHN 86.100
5. Danill Kazakhov RUS 85.400
6. Andrei Muntean ROU 83.800

Going For Gold

full results

Shout out to Canadian Robert Watson (fan favourite) who hit 6 for 6 to finish 11th. American Jesse Glenn was 20th, an alternate for AA Finals.

Grace Chiu is posting a few pics on Facebook. Eventually all will go up on her site GraceClick.ca

Commentary on Gymnastics Examiner – Japanese newcomer Yuya Kamoto leads men’s qualifying at Youth Olympic Games

And more commentary on the official FIG site – Artistic boys heat things up in Singapore

From Lise Gosselin-Simard by email:

Canadian Team for the 2010 World Championships:

Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, Gym-Richelieu, St-Hubert
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, Gymnix, Montréal, QC
Charlotte Mackie, Aviva, Coquitlam, BC
Dominique Pegg, Bluewater, Sarnia, ON
Jessica Savona, Oakville Gymnastics, ON
Kristina Vaculik, Gemini, Oshawa, ON

The coaching team is composed of Kyna Fletcher, Dave Brubaker, Elena Davydova, David Kenwright, Galina Larchina, Kelly Manjak and one coach from Gymnix to be named. Additional members are judges Hélen Laliberté and Liz Armitage, Team Leader Lise G. Simard and one doctor/therapist to be named later.

… Commonwealth Games in Delhi:

Catherine Dion, Gymélites, Gatineau, QC
Kristin Klarenbach, Champions, Edmonton, AB
Cynthia Lemieux-Guillemette, Gym-Richelieu, St-Hubert, QC
Gabrielle May, Panthers, Winnipeg, MB
Emma Willis, Bluewater, Sarnia, ON

The coaching team is composed of Michel Charron, Valérie Oudin and Elizabeth Brubaker who is also WAG Team Leader. The judges are Lois Laquerre, Andrée Montreuil and Gord Bennett.

It’s nice to see a male judge (Gord) being assigned such a big international meet.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js
photo Kristina Vaculik

Thanks Jeremy Mosier.

full RESULTS WAG, MAG, Rhythmic, Trampoline Sports

Rebecca Bross

For American coaches ….

From Judge Judy of JustGymnastics.com by email. (I’m quoting just a few of the highlights. Confirm these changes in your region.)

JO rule changes and clarifications to come out of the annual May meetings effective as of August 1, 2010.

COMPULSORIES
– The “air-o-board,” a cross between a mini-tramp and a vaulting board, has been approved for use at Leve1-3 and Prep Optional. Tiny gymnasts formerly unable to get anything out of a stiff board will be able vault without that drawback.

OPTIONALS
Bars
– climbing onto the LB after a fall, then jump to HB is no longer considered a “bar change” fulfilling a Special Requirement. A listed value part element must be performed on the LB.

– Level 7 and 8 may do the “C” skills Back Stalder Circle and Back Pike Sole Circle to Handstand (also with 1/2 turn)in addition to the already permitted Clear Hip Circle to Handstand (also with 1/2 turn). No other “C” skills are permitted.

– Level 7 only may perform a counter swing without an extra swing penalty (0.30) prior to a front (salto forward) flyaway dismount.

– The maximum deduction for multiple extra swings after an element is 0.60, i.e., stop deducting after 2 extra swings per element. (Applies to all levels.)

Balance Beam
– Continuous but slow connections on all series receive the same deduction – Up to 0.20. (Exception remains unchanged: Backward acro series with at least 1 flight element does not receive Special Requirement [0.50] if performed “continuously but slowly.”)

Floor Exercise
– C+C dance elements may be the SAME element and receive +0.10 Bonus e.g., Popa + Popa = +0.10 Bonus

– Definition of dance passage Special Requirement has been expanded to allow any kind of turn on 1 or 2 feet to be performed between the 2 dance Value Parts, and it doesn’t matter if a jump used as the first element lands on 1 or 2 feet as long as the passage keeps moving.

– Balks on the final salto Special Requirement or falls with failure to initiate the salto receive an additional 0.30 deduction resembling the “no dismount” deduction on bars and beam.

– Coach on the FX mat deduction has been reduced to 0.50 (Levels 7-10).
(There is no deduction for Coach on the FX mat for Compulsories or PREP Opt.)

The winning Bar routines in L7 and L8 will be using more Stalder and, especially, toe-on, toe-off. It’s the easiest of the 3 allowed C-parts.