Author: Rick Mc

This looks like it might be good.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Nigel Lythgoe:

“We’re bringing class to NBC” …

NBC’s ‘Superstars of Dance’: a global competition

International Gymnast reports:

… Five-time Olympian Jordan Jovtchev was elected president of the Bulgarian Gymnastics Federation on Thursday in a unanimous vote.

Jovtchev, 36, was elected unanimously by delegates of the federation’s general assembly. …

silver medal on still rings at the World Cup Final 2008, Madrid

… 1996 Olympic high bar silver medalist Krasimir Dunev was elected secretary general of the federation.

IG – Jovtchev New President of Bulgarian Federation

Like so many other foreign gymnasts, Jovtchev and Dunev immigrated to the United States (after the 1996 Olympics). Then later returned home to take up leadership posts.

President Jovtchev plans to compete at least through 2009.

Impressive routine from a young gymnast at the 2008 Voronin Cup.

Junior Women’s All-Around Champion from Russia 61.250.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… Komova is the daughter of 1986 Goodwill Games champion Vera Kolesnikova. …

International Gymnast – Komova, Imai Top Voronin Cup

Vladimir Novikov was one outrageous gymnast in his day. Virtuous, dynamic and original on every apparatus. (video evidence)

But this tumbling pass is what I remember best.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

He did land that in competition. I have it on an OLD VHS tape … somewhere.

This video was linked in one of the Smooth Skills series on Gymnast. Click through for more astonishingly unique tumbling passes – Smooth Skills – Part 20

… “I get up, I’m weighed, I have breakfast, and I go to school from 8.00am to 10.15am. Then we train, eat, sleep, train and get treatment [massage and physical therapy] if we need it. Then we sleep. …

Reuters

Triple Full translated an excellent interview with Olympic Floor Champion Sandra Izbasa.

She’s one of them most fascinating stars in our sport. AND she plans to keep training through to 2012.

Triple Full has a detailed post on the shake up in Russia.

It seems that Ukrainian coach Oleg Ostapenko, fresh from a long stint coaching the Brazilian girls, is not to work with the Ukrainian girls after all. Gazeta reports that Ostapenko … has been appointed senior coach of the Russian junior team. …

… At the recent conference of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation (FGSR), Alexander Alexandrov was assigned the post of senior coach for the Russian national women’s artistic gymnastics team. …

Rodionenko, we assume, will be the team supervisor, rather than a coach actually working with the girls.

Ostapenko to Take On Russian Juniors; Alexandrov Confirmed As Senior Coach of Senior Team

Wow.

Russia must be seriously disappointed with results over the last quadrennial.

Happily it looks like Rodionenko will stay on.

Commentary – The C Score – Really weird: Ostapenko to Russia

Hannah tipped us to the very pretty new site Down Under.

screenshot

It’s got a lot of AJAX, which translates to speedier online experience. I like the prominent Club Search feature, even better than the USA Gymnastics version.

Cheer is HUGE in Australia, hence the big button taking you to Aus Cheer. Cheerleading and Gymnastics there both managed by Gymnastics Australia, unlike North America where cheer is mainly private enterprise.

They’ve embedded YouTube videos on the site, for example on the MAG page.

The GymShop is pretty basic. I’m surprised they don’t link to a third party site that knows how to sell product. National Associations are notoriously bad at retail.

But all-in-all, I think it’s the best National Gymnastics website in the world. (Leave a comment if you know of one that is better.)

Gymnastics Australia

… My biggest complaint, as usual, is that it does not have any RSS feed that I can find. So I won’t be visiting very frequently.

Tkachev is not nearly as difficult a skill as most gymnasts believe.

In the end, the most common problem is insufficient counter rotation.

A good strategy is to spend a lot of time at the beginning working that “action”.

Gymnast posted several drills.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnast.
http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/RevHect-W/4-TrampDrill.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnast.
http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/RevHect-W/3-TumblTrakDrill.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

This next drill should not be done into the foam pit as shown. A strong landing mat atop the foam cubes would be much safer.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnast.
http://gymnast.com/flashplayer/FlashPlayer.swf?v=http://www.gymnast.com/media/gymnast//upload/Videos/TTs/RevHect-W/5-TimerPit.flv&eb=1&ap=1&av=sportnet.gy.videos&pv=video&szv=320×240&apv=doubleclick

There are more free Tkachev videos on Gymnast’s Training Tips page.

Subscribe to hundreds more (not-free) gymnastics training videos at GymnasticsOnDemand.com

Another great video from saltocafe.

AWESOME.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Coach Geoff Eaton.

Thanks George.

The single best thing about Romanian gymnastics in 2008 is this “tall” girl.

Romania’s Sandra Izbasa won the gold, United States’ Shawn Johnson the silver and United States’ Nastia Liukin the bronze. AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENE OLY-2008-GYMNASTICS-FINAL-PODIUM-ROU-USA ~ larger original

She makes Nastia look short!

… Sandra IzbaÅŸa is not a typical Romanian gymnast. Tall (1.64m – 5’5”), blond, expressive, and with an impressive beauty, the leader of the women’s team always has a smile on her face. Serious and focused before every routine, she relaxes afterward, posing for the judges and the crowd. …

Triple Full – Sandra Izbasa Reviews 2008

She provides inspiration for taller gymnasts everywhere.

Truly one of the best personalities in the sport today, too.

… She says that her goal for 2009 is to win gold on floor in London at the 2009 World Championships. Of that, she says, “It will be hard, but not impossible.” …

The C Score – Nice Izbasa profile in Pro Sport