Author: Rick Mc

Igor Cassina from Italy was 2004 Olympic Horizontal Bar champion in the final that was delayed 15min by audience disapproval of Alexei Nemov’s score.

He’s known for the Cassina, full twisting layout Kovacs.

Click PLAY or watch his routine in the Olympic Final on YouTube.

Now check out the Cassina 2. Outrageous.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (lousy quality)

Obviously he actually only caught one. And the video clip was looped.

Here’s an even worse video clip of the skill.

Related:

Courtney McCool won Floor. And deserved it.

Her wild techno music and wonderful choreography is a crowd pleaser. And there is no one else in the NCAA with better leg form on tumbling.

I’m very happy for Courtney, winning this event in Athens, GA. She’s had some tough times making the the transition from the “best gymnast in the world” in Athens, Greece in 2004 (my opinion) to they grown student athlete she is today.

1. Courtney McCool, Georgia
2. Tasha Schwikert, UCLA
3. Nicola Wills, Florida

full results and photos

Click PLAY to see Courtney’s routine earlier this season on YouTube.

Beam is almost always the best apparatus in NCAA competition. Tonight was no exception.

Performances are amazingly stable.

The maturity and confidence shown is wonderful — especially after watching little girls in FIG competitions chuck as many difficult skills in sequence as they can, regardless of wobbles or falls.

1. Grace Taylor, Georgia
2T. Ashley Postell, Utah
2T. Emily Parsons, Nebraska


full results and photos

I love Grace Taylor, by the way. She was “inspired” by the all the “fun” McCool was having over on Floor. The home town crowd was going nuts for McCool. Grace competed immediately after.

Click PLAY or watch her routine from earlier in the season on YouTube.

Some of the best vaulters did not qualify to Finals. I wanted to see Em Parsons from Nebraska, for example. She didn’t make it.

It’s easy for me to predict scores in the NCAA. Except on vault. Those can mystify. A “perfect” vault will score only 9.80. Yet the next girl will show a flawed vault and score 9.90. Those rules need to be revised.

Vault Finals was a let-down. The weakest apparatus of the four in Finals.

Under NCAA rules the girls qualify with ONE vault. Then are required to compete TWO “different” vaults in Finals. That format is almost always a mistake. It’s unfair. It’s unsafe. (I know some of the top NCAA coaches feel this way too.)

As a result, many of the finalists tonight had either a relatively simple second vault. Or a difficult second vault with which they are less comfortable. We saw errors and even falls.

Congratulations to those who survived the stupid regulations to get to the podium:

1. Susan Jackson, LSU
2. Kristina Baskett, Utah
3. Julie Dwyer, Auburn

full results and photos

Baskett did good and safe Yurchenko 1/1 and Yurchenko 3/2.

Coach D-D Breaux confirmed what I expected. Even the champion did not train two vaults regularly:

Susan trains one vault throughout the year. … she trained for two routines in loose foam just towards the end of the season. It was just pure athleticism.

Marcia Newby said she had not done her second vault in 4 years.

Eighteen competitors qualified for Finals. Wow.

It was a great show. The “winners” are not much separated from the rest of the field.

1. Tasha Schwikert, UCLA
2. Katie Heenan, Georgia
3. Kristina Comforte, UCLA

full results and photos

Highlights:

Dismounts were strong, in general. Seeing Ashley Postell get big deductions on double front (form and landing) reminded me why it is not good dismount for most kids. Double layout has far more potential.

It’s strange seeing high level gymnasts still doing simple sole circle bar transfers, allowed under NCAA rules.

As goes Ashley Postell, so go the Utah Utes, Head Coach Greg Marsden is oft to say.

Utah’s team finish in the last four years has mirrored Postell’s all-around finish. Postell was third as a freshman in 2005 and placed second the last three years.

Though she never won the NCAA All-Around, Ashley is arguably the greatest college gymnast ever.

• Postell tied the Utah record for all-around wins in a season with her victory tonight. She had 11 all-around wins this season, tying the record set by Suzanne Metz in 1995.

• Postell finishes her career with every Utah victory record:
– Career Wins: 120
– Single Season Wins: 47
– Career All-Around Wins: 30
– Single Season All-Around Wins: 11

• Postell has won more All-America awards than any gymnast in NCAA history. Her 20 All-America citations – the most possible – breaks the old mark of 18 held by Alabama’s Jeana Rice (2001-04). Postell’s 17 first-team All-America awards ties her for first with Alabama’s Dee Foster (1990-93).

Team Information & Notes – Georgia Dogs

Today she was named AAI Senior Gymnast of the Year. No debate on that.

Ashley is in 3 event finals tonight. She’s the defending champion on beam.

Utah’s Ashley Postell performs on the beam during the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships Friday, April 25, 2008, in Athens, Ga. Utah finished in second place.

(AP Photo/John Amis) – ESPN

Leave a comment if you can name a better College gymnast, all time.

Congratulations to Head Coach Suzanne Yoculan and the entire program. After 4 consecutive wins we have to call this a DYNASTY.

Georgia Dogs

1. University of Georgia 197.450
2. University of Utah 197.125
3. Stanford University 196.750
4. University of Florida 196.700
5. Louisiana State University 196.350
6. University of Alabama 196.125

full results

… Georgia is now tied with Utah with nine NCAA titles and is the first team to win four straight titles since the Utes ran off a string of five consecutive championships from 1982-86. …

“I can’t say enough about this team,” Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan said. “They just get it. They know what it takes to win at the highest level and under extreme pressure, and proved that again tonight.

“This senior class will leave Georgia with four titles in four years,” she continued. “Not many athletes in any sport get to accomplish that, but these girls have deserved everything they’ve gotten. They are the kind of gymnasts that make being a coach worth it.” …

Gym Dogs Win Fourth Straight NCAA Title – Georgia Dogs

You can already buy the t-shirt. $18.95

Football Fanatics

Team Finals Photo galleries: Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor

Utah coach Greg Marsden on Georgia’s win: “Hats off to Georgia. They are the dynasty, the juggernaut …” – Deseret News

After falling on bars, Katie Heenan sealed the win for Georgia, I project, with a 9.95 on beam.

The Dogs may not even need Courtney McCool’s final 9.90. Last routine.

I don’t believe anyone can catch Georgia. There is one rotation left. Utah would need an astonishing 49.675 on bars to tie. By my unofficial reckoning.

Stanford is on vault.

After 2 rotations:

Host Georgia has the momentum. The crowd is LOVING it.

UPDATE: Everyone in the arena jumped out of their seats (including me) when Georgia’s anchor on bars, Katie Heenan, missed the regrasp on her HUGE Jaeger. It did not hurt the team score much though: 49.375.

Vault photos.

A report on IG includes some information on the secretive Men’s Olympic preparation. As well as the Chinese Women’s Team.

Newcomer He Kexin scored 17.000 on uneven bars this past week at a two-day internal test for the Chinese team in Beijing, site of the 2008 Olympic Games.

With a 7.700 A-Panel (difficulty) score, He earned 17.000 for her routine, which includes a Jaeger to mixed grip to straddled front flip and a layout Jaeger. It is likely the first time a female gymnast has hit that mark, though Chinese men’s team members Chen Yibing and Yang Wei have both scored 17.000 on still rings. …

read more – International Gymnast

We can’t compare in-gym scores with those of an international judging panel. Still, few doubt that He Kexin is capable of 17.0.

Some do doubt she is actually old enough to compete at the Olympics.

They are Olympics crazy in China. Anything goes, I’m afraid.

Boomtown Beijing