Author: Rick Mc

This is the big story of the friendly competition held this past weekend:

1. Shawn Johnson (USA) – 61.700
2. Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) – 60.100

Americans generally don’t like competing in Europe as their scores are often lower than at home.

It took guts for Shawn to face off against her top rival for the Olympics in her own country. This means people were pretty confident Shawn could still win, even in Italy.

The bigger question is … Why did Ferrari compete?

Vanessa had no chance to win competing only a Yurchenko full vault. It would have been better to sit out rather than lose at home to her top competitor the way she did.

Shawn Johnson is the Olympic favourite, no question, if she has no major errors in the AA competiton.

The second biggest story was the 3rd place finish of Samantha Peszek. She looks like a lock for the Olympic team at this point.

More results – GYMmedia

CONGRATS to Jordyn Wieber (USA) who won the all-around in the Junior meet. Rebecca Bross finished 2nd with a fall on beam.

Amanda Beard has won seven medals at three Olympic Games and is hoping to compete in the next Beijing Olympic games in 2008.

She’s was tabbed the “world’s sexiest athlete nude” after appearing in the July 2007 edition of Playboy.

Recently:

I’ve actually talked to my agents a lot about producing my own swim meets where we’d do a couple different swim meets in different locations and mix it up like that — not having your traditional races and having someone like Budweiser or Go Daddy be big sponsors and make it more risqué, make it more fun for the fans to get really into it. That kind of stuff could really draw a lot more people to swimming and then, maybe, they’ll continue watching year-round instead of every four years for the Olympics.

Beard Constantly Swims Against Tide – AOL Sports

Aquatics meets are even duller than traditional gymnastics competitions. I recall the empty spectator bleachers at the USA Diving Championships 2006.

(via Olympic Games blog – Amanda Beard says swimming should be more risque)

Gymnastics is not the only sport trying to find a way to draw spectators.

Related: Great West Gym Fest BIG SHOW

The Behind the Team channel on AT&T blue room posed a few professional photos of the American Cup Champion.

Nastia Lunkin at practice – flickr

Nastia on Bars – flickr

The new judging regulations have “improved” Bars for the best few gymnasts in the world more than any other apparatus, I would say. There is no way Nastia would be starting with a 7.6 routine if we still had the code from 2004.

AT&T blue room.

Check the new video profile on Nastia, as well.

An actress playing a 16-year-old elite gymnast — who was abused by her gymnastics coach — is getting good reviews:

A young actress from Australia with no formal acting training is delivering the finest performance you’ll see anywhere on TV this season.

She’s 18-year-old Mia Wasikowska, who plays a 16-year-old emotionally damaged gymnast on “In Treatment,” HBO’s nightly series, now in its sixth week (out of nine), about the relationship between a therapist (Gabriel Byrne) and his patients.

Wasikowska’s character, Sophie, is the featured patient on Wednesday nights (at 9:30). Whenever the topic of “In Treatment” are raised with people who’s watching the series, they nearly always cite Sophie, an Olympic hopeful who broke both her arms in a suicide attempt, as the one who intrigues them most. …

read the review – SOPHIE’S FLIPPED OUT TALE – New York Post

There’s not much gymnastics shown. The “elite gymnast” is simply a back story for a very disturbed but charismatic young woman.

HBO posted the full premiere episode on YouTube.

What is your score for this somersault?

It’s the signature victory backflip Carl Edwards performs after a win, something he did twice lately with victories in California and Las Vegas. (He’s the defending Nationwide Series Champion in case you know as much about NASCAR as I do.)

9.35 out of 10 – Suzanne Yoculan, Georgia Coach
9.5 out of 10 – Kevin Mazeika, USA Olympic Coach
9.6 out of 10 – D-D Breaux, LSU Coach

Edwards gets high marks for his post-victory backflip – ESPN

The campaign for Aljaz Pegan to be selected as the last competitor for the Beijing Olympics is well known. Though there are several other strong candidates.

What about the single spot available for a woman?

Dwight Normile of International Gymnast has convinced me that Elsa Garcia should be the pick. Problem is, her teammate Marisela Cantu has already qualified.

… Garcia is a worthy exception to any rule that suggests Mexico shouldn’t have two gymnasts in Beijing. She deserves to compete in the Olympics because she’s a medal contender in more than one event. Her presence would make a positive difference in the competition. …

Says Garcia: “I am supposed to get an answer between March and May. I really hope they grant me a place in the Olympics.”

So do I. Elsa Garcia deserves the chance to make the 2008 Olympics, because she’ll make them even better.

IG – Stretching Out

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) – ESPN

One of my gymnasts from long ago, Mark A. Cordingley, decided (for some reason) he’d learn to drop from handstand on pommel horse to “stick” a handstand on the pommel mats.

I was impressed.

The fall from this similar trick is a little longer:

… An acrobat, balancing upside down, piles two parallel rows of wooden blocks on a bench while establishing various poses along the way. The performance in which the acrobat pushes away the piled blocks and drops himself onto the bench is particulary impressive …

Lost Art of Hand Balancing

Adult gymnasts in the Atlanta area.

original – flickr – brookenovak

How long can Chusovitina continue to compete at the highest level?

Indefinitely, it would seem.

She won in Doha:

It was a great competition for the veterans, with 32-year-old Oksana Chusovitina smoking the field for the vault win. Chusovitina topped second place Anna Pavlova, 13 years her junior, by more than two and a half tenths.

“It’s a great start to the season. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from here,” Chusovitina told the Gulf Times. “My aim is to win a medal for Germany at the Olympics. There has always been a keen rivalry between me and the Chinese girls and they will really test me. I have kept myself in better shape so far and will keep up the good show.” …

Inside Gymnastics

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images

The most interesting competition this weekend. Georgia without Courtney Kupets will try to fend off unexpectedly strong UM.

The Michigan women’s gymnastics team has never won a national championship in its 32 years as a varsity program.

Georgia has won eight titles in the last 21 years. …

But tonight, it’ll be a surprise if the Wolverines lose by more than a slim margin.

The fourth-ranked Wolverines (5-0 Big Ten, 14-0 overall) come into the showdown with something that’s been missing in recent years – confidence.

Michigan coach Bev Plocki said this is the first time in six years that Michigan feels confident it can compete with the nation’s top-ranked team. …

Even after recently posting a season-high 197.125 score against N.C. State on Feb. 22, Curtis said the team still hasn’t strung together its best performances on every event in the same meet. The Wolverines need to put everything together, because Georgia averages 197.075 a meet. …

Wolverines up to the task against No. 1 Bulldogs – Michigan Daily

Lindsey Bruck – wallpaper

UPDATE: OK, perhaps I’d rather be at Stanford v Nebraska v Alabama. What a show!

Georgia might “rest” some of their top competitors in Michigan. I get the feeling UM will win.

=== UPDATE – Predictable, you might say:

Michigan Wolverines a season high 197.600 – 196.950 upset win over #1 ranked University of Georgia.