Author: Rick Mc

Seems to me Women’s College gymnastics is getting more and more R-E-S-P-E-C-T from everyone these days.

It’s a great program. Check out these impressive stats:

… Utah drew 15,552, the largest crowd in NCAA gymnastics history, to its Jan. 22 dual meet against Georgia, which it won, 196.550-196.500. The following week the Utes defeated Washington on the road in front of 1,851. I asked Utah coach Greg Marsden if his team ever experiences a motivational letdown on the road when there is a sparse crowd.

“To be honest, that can be a problem at times,” he said. “We have to work hard to create our own energy. At home, the crowd does that for us.”

For the record, Utah’s 15,552 eclipsed its own single-meet record of 15,447 against BYU, March 28, 2008. Perhaps even more impressive is that of all women’s NCAA sports, Utah ranked second in home attendance in 2008-09 to Tennessee basketball, 13,999-13,861. Alabama gymnastics was fourth (10,484), behind Connecticut basketball (10,529) …

Stretching Out: Georgia’s lows, Utah’s highs and much more

Nice to see such detailed coverage from International Gymnast online.

Gymnastike posts an NCAA Routine of the Week. It’s nice to see an East coast team getting some love.

… University of Maryland Junior Abigail Adams on beam in their home quad meet against West Virginia, Maryland, and Rutgers. With Abigail’s help, the unranked Terrapins upset #16 Denver in taking 2nd overall. Abigail was the beam champion of the meet with a 9.85 and their combined team score on beam of 48.800 was their highest team beam score of the year by more than .700.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Shout out to David F. Pendrys for this one. He’s doing his best to bring more attention to College gymnastics in the Northeast on his site GymnasticsReport.net.

Is the Olympic Floor champ switching to a new sport?

Kyle dons the most advanced skating suit in the world!

Only for the TV show hosted by comedian Rick Mercer.

… though Shewfelt vs Colbert would be a GREAT battle.

related post – Shewfelt interviewed by comedian Rick Mercer (2006)

UPDATE. The Couch Gymnast noted that the journalist dissed below was given an apology phone call from D-D.

It took a lot of class to pick up the phone.

==== original post:

#1 Alabama travels to LSU this weekend, a showdown between the two top ranked all-arounders:

LSU’s Susan Jackson vs Alabama’s Morgan Dennis. (I’d bet on Jackson.)

I laughed after reading this article on TideSports.com: LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, quite possibly the rudest interviewee ever

I just got off the phone with LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, and I’m speechless. I’ve never really encountered someone as combative and rude as she was from the start of the conversation. Here is what happened …

I laughed because I once had the chance to ask D-D a question at a press conference, and got a bit of a snarky answer.

On reflection, I realized that you must be one tough cookie to be a Head Coach in the S.E.C.

D-D does not suffer fool reporters gladly. She doesn’t have time.

Looking forward to this meet. I expect LSU will have their best competition of the season. They are due.

1984 Olympic Vault finalist Warren Long posted some of his pics from the OLD, OLD days.

Some from his years on the Cal Berkeley team (hippy) and some from his long Canadian international career. He was one of the most popular gymnasts worldwide.

There are a few of other gymnasts from that era.

more Warren Long photos

He’s still doing some coaching at Taiso in Saskatoon.

Some gymnastics “Floor Exercises” I’d never seen before. This is the kind of creativity no longer rewarded in Artistic gymnastics.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Comment on that post from explodingp:

… Next video Floorgy? 😉

Tumbl Trak is my favourite gymnastics equipment company.

SA Sport (Spieth Anderson) is not my favourite company. In Canada they’ve had a near monopoly for decades. And you know how customers get treated by monopolies.

However, Spieth just got a whole lot better in my estimation. As of January 1st they became an official distributor of Tumbl Trak equipment.

Good move for Spieth. They’ve been under increased competitive pressure from AAI in the West, GymNova in the East. Not to mention Inspire Sports (Gaofei) in Alberta.

More choices for coaches in Canada. That’s always a good thing.

Vanda Maria Hadarean (born May 3, 1976 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast who competed in international events between 1990 and 1993. She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world bronze medalist with the team and a European all around bronze medalist.

Vanda is also a successful fitness model and she has won various world class fitness competitions. She is a three time Ms. Fitness World (2008, 2009 and 2010).

You may have seen her on the newsstand.

more amazing photos

In recent years she’s been coaching at Tumbler’s Gymnastics Centre in Canada. She still rents space there, coaching competitive Aerobics and Fitness.

Check her official home page – InspiredByVanda.com

(via Senor Nico on IG forum)

You know those Japanese reality TV game shows?

Here’s the real thing.

The 24th annual Tough Guy Challenge took place last weekend, on Sunday, January 31st, on South Perton Farm, near Wolverhampton, England.

… this year’s race still attracted over 5,000 men and women – all of them signing a disclaimer saying “It’s my own bloody fault for being here”. …

The Challenge is annual event to raise cash for charity with funds going to the Mr. Mouse Farm for Unfortunates.

more photos – The Big Picture

Wow.

She makes it look easy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Alexandra is a junior international elite who trains at Brestyan’s Gymnastics in Massachusetts. Alexandra turned elite in 2009. See an August interview with her on Gymnastike.

Thanks MostepanovaFan.