Author: Rick Mc

Philippe Rizzo, of Australia, performs a release move on the high bar his during the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008. Philippe Rizzo won the gold medal in the high bar competition.

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar) – ESPN

In Australia last year I was lucky enough to spend time with Philippe’s father, Andre Rizzo. A respected coach, former competitor for France. What a shame Andre won’t get to see his son contend for an Olympic medal.

Philippe is one of the medal contenders not qualified for Beijing.

Shout out to Brandon O’Neill who won Floor with a 15.550.

photo – Grace Chiu

The chalk dust still settling, check the “live” reporting on International Gymnast. Both Men’s and Women’s results are included.

Oklahoma Sooners remain undefeated. Win the Big 12.

TEAM RESULTS

Oklahoma, 195.875
Iowa State, 195.775
Missouri, 195.225
Nebraska, 194.975

more NCAA coverage – Inside Gymnastics

On the women’s side, here’s the current GymInfo ranking list:

full list

Only one competition remains before the 12 qualifying teams are announced.

commentary on Gymgemz

The best Rhythmic photos anywhere are on James Glader’s site:

rhythmicgymnastics1.com

I ask James here and now what’s going on with Rhythmics USA? He and I were at Championships last year. The American girls did not look all that strong. Yet they bested both Canada and Russia at Pacific Rim.

Rhythmic team and all-around final results

Team
1. USA, 236.325
2. Canada, 228.700
3. Russia, 218.300

Senior all-around
1. Alexandra Orlando, Canada, 63.925
2. Lisa Wang, USA/Buffalo Grove, Ill., 62.325
3. Rachel Marmer, USA/Los Angeles, Calif., 59.575
4. Lina Gnirovskaya, Russia, 58.100
5. Demetra Mantcheva, Canada, 56.450
6. Naazmi Johnston, Australia, 56.325

USA Gymnastics

Historically Rhythmic has been one of the worst Olympic sports for the USA. Has it been turned around James?

In any case, check out the work of James Glader for yourself:

rhythmicgymnastics1.com

Cody has always been one of my favourite drills coaching trampoline. I love the psychological challenge of learning it. (Needless to say, I hated it when I competed tramp.)

It’s difficult to rotate backwards, unless your technique and timing are good.

Here are some MASTERS of Cody:

Click PLAY or watch Ronny do triple back Cody on YouTube.

Neil Gulati quad twisting Cody super slow motion. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Josh Dilworth – Cody Quadruple Full on Trampoline. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Leave a comment if you know of other Cody variations of this difficulty or better. What can Jason Burnette do out of Cody, for example?

Known as the “Bhardwaj” after the wonderful American Olympian 2004 Mohini Bhardwaj, the first international star to compete it, this skill is rarely performed today.

Gymblog editor Blythe Lawrence and myself (as well as many of the coaches) rushed over to watch one of the Level 10 competitors at Battle in Seattle 2008.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Update: That’s Alicia Asturias from Technique Gymnastics.

Compare that one with Mohini herself at Olympic Trials 2004:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It is easy to do with spot. And the Level 10 girl makes it look EASY. (Leave a comment if you know her name.) All her warm-up turns were equally good.

Canadian super talent Christine “Peng Peng” Lee fell on the skill at the Pacific Rim Championships 2008, so perhaps it’s more difficult than it appears.

Wow.

The best of the NCAA is the Southeastern Conference, in my opinion. Check how close the team scores are for the top 3 squads.

What parity!

Team Scores

Georgia 197.350
Alabama 197.325
Florida 197.325
LSU 196.500
Auburn 196.100
Arkansas 194.650
Kentucky 194.025

Alabama Gymnastics

But that’s not the BIG story of the night.

Florida seemed to have this meet locked up. An unexpected fall from Amanda Castillo made it close.

Then the Georgia Head Coach made this statement: “Alabama was great tonight,” Yoculan said. “They nailed it on vault and they deserved to win it.”

In the end, due to a judging error, after over 30min of number crunching, Georgia was named the winner of its 16th SEC title.

I’m the one claiming the Women’s NCAA has our sport all figured out. But a judging debacle like this reminds me of some of the worst FIG competition disasters.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the whole story: Gym Dogs win 16th SEC title

Senior All-Around

1. Nastia Liukin (USA) – 62.85
2. Jana Bieger (USA) – 59.925
3. Dasha Joura (Australia) – 59.20
4. Ashleigh Brennan (Australia)
5. Kristina Vaculik (Canada)
6. Lauren Mitchell (Australia)

full results

International Gymnast online posted live coverage of the competition in San Jose, California.

Junior and Senior Team combined:

1. USA – 245.275
2. Canada – 233.475
3. China – 233.075
4) Australia – 232.675
5) Russia – 230.250
6) Japan – 224.925

Considering Canada has not even qualified a full team to the Olympics, I have to see this as a terrible result for China, regardless of who they sent. CONGRATS to Canada, of course. The Canuck Juniors are strong.

… Grabbing attention with her long, elegant lines and flying blond ponytail, Liukin earned the top scores on the uneven bars and balance beam Saturday to win the women’s all-around … She won the American Cup all-around event earlier this month. …

LA Times

Perspective from Down Under – Australian Gymnastics Blog

more Nastia photos from the competition – NastiaLiukin.com

From John Crumlish on the fantastic all new International Gymnast online:

Yemen’s Nashwan Al-Harazi told IG he is “still in shock” after recently receiving a wild-card berth for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

coach Jim Holt and Nashwan Al-Harazi

… Al-Harazi will be the first gymnast from Yemen to take part in Olympic competition, after a tripartite commission selected him and female gymnast Thuong Di Thi Ngan (Vietnam) for the two available wild-card berths for Beijing.

The tripartite commission consists of the International Olympic Committee, the International Gymnastics Federation and the Association of National Olympic Committees. Geographic representation at the Olympics is one of the factors for designating wild-card berths.

“I know that there are gymnasts with greater accomplishments than me who have not been invited to Beijing,” Al-Harazi told IG from Yemen this week. “I feel a great responsibility to them and to the international gymnastics community to perform my best, and to be a worthy example of what the Olympic spirit is supposed to mean.”

…

“I’m looking to have my floor, pommel horse and vault Start Values in the top 15 in the competition,” said Al-Harazi, who placed 27th on vault at the 2006 Worlds and 21st on vault at the 2007 Worlds. “Ensha Allah, my goal is to perform my exercises cleanly!”

…

“Jim started me on the path that led to Beijing,” Al-Harazi said. “It was a dream come true for me to be able to live and train in America with him and Hannah this past year, and to be at Worlds with ‘my second parents.'”

In 1996 Holt conducted an IOC Solidarity Course in Sana’a, Yemen, where he asked a group of 40 Yemeni coaches and gymnasts to define their goals.

“They said, ‘We’d like to be competitive with the Arab countries,'” Holt recalled. “I responded, ‘That’s too small. If you’re going to do this, you need to pick an impossible dream and chase it. There’s no reason that Yemen can’t have a gymnast compete at the World Championships or even qualify for the Olympic Games.'”

Al-Harazi, then age 9, was among the group of gymnasts standing on a mat next to a homemade vault board. “I pointed to Nashwan and said, ‘This could be your guy. This could be the first gymnast from Yemen to compete at Worlds,'” Holt said. “And as Nashwan told you, he believed me.”

Al-Harazi “Still in Shock” Over Wild-Card Olympic Berth – IG

An inspiring story. Dream BIG is the lesson learned.

Related post: top gymnasts NOT going to Beijing