Author: Rick Mc

Twitter users, … if you follow Michigan_WGym RIGHT NOW you can get live updates on the Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

(via Michigan_WGym on Twitter)

From Amanda Turner (appropriate name for a report from Germany) on International Gymnast:

Gymnasts from five nations struck gold Saturday at the first day of finals of the 2009 “Tournament of Masters” World Cup in Cottbus, Germany.

Olympic finalist Ariella Käslin won vault for Switzerland, making her an early favorite to win the title at the European Championships next month in Milan.

German Olympian Anja Brinker easily won the gold on uneven bars. Belgium’s Aagje Vanwalleghem took silver on both vault and uneven bars.

Top floor exercise qualifier Kohei Uchimura again defeated Brazil’s Diego Hypolito on men’s floor. Belgium’s Donna-Donny Truyens won pommel horse, and World Cup veteran Yuri van Gelder (Netherlands) won still rings over former world and Olympic champion Dimosthenis Tambakos.

Competition concludes Sunday with the remaining finals: women’s balance beam and floor exercise, and men’s vault, parallel bars and high bar.

click through for full results – IG – Five Nations Golden at Cottbus World Cup

Diego Hypolito of Brazil performs on the floor to place second during the World Cup Gymnastics challenge “Turnier der Meister” in Cottbus, Germany, Saturday, March 21, 2009.

ESPN

Commentary in English and German is posted on the official homepage of the FIG-Weltcup Turnier der Meister® – NEWS.

Gymnastike is covering the fantastic Southeastern Conference NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships LIVE.

2009 SEC Championships – March 20, 2009

Some quick highlights from the Friday practice sessions for the 2009 SEC Championships in Nashville, Tennesse

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.
http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

The girls look relaxed.

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Alabama Head Coach Sarah Patterson

“I think it is the strongest field we’ve ever seen. There are four teams in the field that were in the NCAA Super Six team finals last season and there are six teams ranked in the top-12 nationally right now. …

AUBURN TIGERS
Auburn Head Coach Jeff Thompson

… The only unblemished record is held by Georgia and I think that they, too, are beatable on the right night. … One step on one landing on just one event will separate the winner from second place.”

FLORIDA GATORS
Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

“The Southeastern Conference Championships are going to be a challenge for us. Although we are short handed due to injuries, this team isn’t giving up. We have some gymnasts stepping into the lineups with limited experience, but they want to do it for the team. The athletes are really motivated.”

GEORGIA GYM DOGS
Head Coach Suzanne Yoculan

“First of all, I am so excited for Nashville. I love neutral sites. I love being able to expose other areas and other people to what a great sport collegiate gymnastics is.”

“Our team is ready. We are looking forward to defending our title and competing against some of the best teams in the country.” …

“The win-loss records in the SEC have been all over the place. It’s certainly the most wide-open that the SEC Championship has ever been. It’s going to be a fight not just for first but also for second, third and fourth. Anyone can emerge as the SEC champ this year. It will be a fight to the end.”

more SEC Gymnastics Championship Coaches’ Quotes

Day 1 results are up for the NCGA Gymnastics Championships. (Division 3 NCAA)

host Hamline University – details

Congratulations to all competitors. Looks like it was a terrific meet. Wisconsin-La Crosse continues to be the team to beat in the NCGA. They came from behind on the last rotation to seal the victory.

vrba sends us news that the websites are up for two World Cup meets to be hosted in Maribor, Slovenia next month are up.

April 17-19 – ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CUP MARIBOR – home page

April 25-26th – RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CUP MARIBOR – home page

Both feature high quality videos of competitors from 2008.

This is the second most interesting of the NCAA Conference Championships, after the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Doors open at 3PM Saturday, March 21st at Maples Pavilion, Stanford University.

official competition website – 2009 Pac-10 Women’s Gymnastics Championships

Last year the teams finished:

1. Stanford 197.000
2. Oregon State 196.550
3. UCLA 196.200

Stephanie on the BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR.

GymNiceTic has posted the results of the qualifying round.

Here are the leaders on each apparatus:

Womens Vault:
Ariella Käslin (SUI) – 14,425 (handspring–somersault fwd. 1/1 twist & Yurchenko 1/1 twist)

Womens Uneven Bars:
Kim Bui (GER) – 14,150

Womens Balance Beam:
Hu Yuhong (CHN) – 14,750

Womens Floor:
Sui Lu (CHN) – 14,150

Mens Floor:
Kohei Uchimura (JPN) – 15,466

Mens Pommel Horse:
Saso Bertoncelj (SLO) – 15,300

Mens Still Rings:
Dimosthenis Tambakos (GRE) – 15,800

Mens Vault:
Jeffrey Wammes NED 16,016

Mens Parallel Bars:
Fabian Hambüchen (GER) – 15,600

Mens High Bar:
Yann Cucherat (FRA) – 15,500

Fabian Hambüchen (GER) qualifed second on his best event with 15,266.

As expected, the Men’s meet was much more competitive than the Women’s.

To see the top 8 finalists on each event click through to GymNiceTic – World Cup in Cottbus – final results

Commentary in English and German is posted on the official homepage of the FIG-Weltcup Turnier der Meister® – NEWS.

I’ve attended excellent presentations in the past with Tom Kovic of Victory Collegiate Consulting. Tom is an ideal consultant for those looking for best practice when applying for scholarships.

He’s just launched a new service:

Tom Kovic, current director of Victory Collegiate Consulting has developed a low cost and educational website that will help parents and their children gain valuable information on college athletics recruiting.

Collegerecruiting.tv is loaded with published articles written by Kovic who is a former 19 year women’s gymnastics college coach at The University of Pennsylvania. In addition, the website will offer podcasts and video interviews in an effort to provide families and prospects with the necessary tools to build their personal college recruiting plans.

“As an advisor to families and prospective student-athletes throughout the country, I realized the need to develop a resource website that would assist families in building a strong base of information as they develop and implement their plans for the college search. Having written dozens of articles for many online sports magazines, while conducting several interviews, I realized that there was a natural flow of information that could act as an effective step by step organization tool that families could productively use in preparing for an important life process.”

Kovic’s aim is to provide families and their children with unlimited access to a seamless source of college athletics information that will be easy to grasp and create a strong understanding about how the potentially complicated area of college recruiting works.

For further information on Collegerecruiting.tv visit: www.collegerecruiting.tv or contact Tom Kovic at: Kovic @ victoryrecruiting.com

German star Fabian Hambüchen and Olympic all-around silver medalist Kohei Uchimura headline the 33rd “Tournament of Masters” in Cottbus, Germany, which begins Friday.

The traditional “Turnier der Meister” is the second World Cup meet this year after the Gymnix event in Montreal. Several countries are regrouping after the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, but Cottbus stilll has managed to draw an exciting field of 111 gymnasts. …

International Gymnast – Hambüchen, Uchimura Headline Cottbus Lineup

Fabian Hambüchen (Germany)

Lets see. Of 111 competitors, 80 are Men. That leaves about 30 in the Women’s competition.

More women than in the woeful first World Cup in Montreal. But why such a great imbalance in the number of competitors?

GYMmedia competition home page