Author: Rick Mc

She had tougher tumbling and a more difficult vault in Montreal …

Dwight Normile, IG editor interview:

“Nellie,” I began confidently, “I remember you at the 1976 Olympics. You did a double back on floor, and you kept your knees together and your toes pointed.”

Nellie melted in gratitude. She thanked me — ME! — for noticing and remembering. This led to further discussion of her greatness. At those Montreal Games, she also introduced the full-twisting Tsukahara, using an inferior board to the contraptions used today. And hers was the real deal; she did the whole 540 degrees. It wasn’t the Kasamatsu-kind, where you can cartwheel on, cut the corner and get away with a lot less twist. Again, her form was impeccable.

IG Online Interview

Even we gymnasts at the time (I am the same age as Nellie) recognized that Nadia was “special”. She had a style and charisma that exceeded everyone else at the competition. At the 1976 Games, in fact. Nadia was the main story of those Olympics for all sports.

Yet today Nellie Kim is President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee.

(How do we contact you Nellie?)

Click PLAY to see Nellie Kim – 1976 Olympic Gold Medal Vault on YouTube.

The Floor was very, very hard back then. Click PLAY for Montreal 1976 – USSR – Nellie Kim FX on YouTube.

Nellie Kim – Wikipedia

Nellie awarded the Golden Star of Russia

Not sure this is even worth posting.

It’s a football recruiter under the microscope. Only one of the issues is whether or not he called the football player’s girlfriend, gymnast Maranda Smith. And whether or not that was a violation of NCAA rules.

It’s still being investigated.

Gainesville, FL– The U.Florida compliance office is currently gathering information about a possible secondary recruiting violation involving Gators football coach Urban Meyer and his communication with a junior college transfer and his girlfriend, a Gators gymnast.

According to a Jan. 16 article in The Gainesville Sun, gymnast Maranda Smith said Meyer called her about signing with UF in hopes of luring her boyfriend, Carl Moore, a five-star wide receiver from Sierra (Calif.) College, to Gainesville. Moore signed his letter of intent with the Gators on Dec. 19 and enrolled in classes earlier this month. Smith competed for UCLA but transferred to Sierra last year before enrolling at UF. …

Gator Coach Possible Recruiting Violation

Brett on the Trampoline and Tumbling blog is doing something cool with Google Maps:

… My goal for this map is to list every USAG member gym that has a competitive Trampoline and Tumbling program. As I find lists of gyms (and have the time to enter them), I will add gyms to the map. If you would like me to add your gym to the map, just drop me a note in the comments. …

screenshot

Click through to try the real map, especially if you want to add a gym: Google map of USAG Tramp and Tumble gyms

Amy Van Deusen wrote a great post on About.com Gymnastics: Cool Trick: The Layout Full on Beam.

She linked to this fantastic example performed by Kui Yuanyuan (Simplified Chinese:奎媛媛) in the 1997 Worlds Beam Event Finals. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

Circus performers have done double twist and far, far more on “beam-like apparatus”.

Who and how soon will we see an Artistic gymnast compete double twist? Or will the beam need to be sprung more first?

PS

I had forgotten about the Kui Yuanyuan controversy:

Kui went on to win two bronze medals at the 1997 Worlds with her team and on the balance beam.

The balance beam results turned into one of the most disputed events in gymnastics history. Kui performed one of the most difficult routines of all time, yet finished .012 behind Romania’s Gina Gogean, who competed one of the easiest sets performed in World competition during the 1990s. Kui’s rare full-twisting back layout on the beam drew gasps, as did her three split leaps to back handspring, 2 layout step-outs. Kui lost the silver medal as well, when a tie-breaker was put into effect. The results prompted the president of the Federation of International Gymnastics to publicly chastise the judges and tell them they were wrong. …

Wikipedia

One example, an (older) photo of Gael and Charlotte Mackie from Canada.

… a thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute.

More cuteness – Australian Gymnastics blog

How many revolutions can you spin on one hand in handstand?

Click PLAY to find out on YouTube.

These are Capoeira martial artists BBoy Punisher and BBoy Demon from France.

(via … as usual … Jump Club)

Check the comments for more information.

I can’t believe this guy has ever done this maneuver before. It’s WWF stuff.

http://embed.break.com/NDM3MjMy
http://view.break.com/437232 – Watch more free videos

(via Straight to the Bar)

Corvallis, Ore. – The Oregon State University Department of Athletics is one of 11 Division I programs in the nation that has received an “A” for gender equity, in a letter dated Jan. 14, 2008 from Charles L. Kennedy, senior instructor of political science at Pennsylvania State University-York. Oregon State earned a national ranking of seventh, up from 30th the year previous.

The Gender Equity Scorecard V graded 115 universities in 11 major conferences of Division I athletics. The Scorecard staff evaluated the programs’ degree of commitment to women’s sports for the 2005-2006 academic year. The study’s criteria was based on participation, scholarship, coaches’ salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses. The data was obtained utilizing the Chronicle of Higher Education’s study on gender equity via the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA).

Oregon State was joined in the top-11 by North Texas, Nevada, Buffalo, Stanford, Idaho, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Utah and Toledo.

OSU Beavers

Congratulations to those schools.

Related posts:

I’ve said many times before that discrimination is wrong and unethical. But that “reverse discrimination”, while still wrong, is preferable to discrimination.

What happens in arenas of sport that do not monitor gender equity as closely as does the NCAA?

… “For Women, It’s Nearly Ex Games”

The Danza de los Voladores de Papantla (Dance of Papantla’s flyers) is a ritualistic dance in Veracruz performed by the Totonac Indians.

Five men, each representing the five elements of the indigenous world climb atop a pole, one of them stays on the pole playing a flute and dancing while the remaining four descend the pole with a rope tied by one of their feet. The rope unwraps itself 13 times for each of the four flyers, symbolizing the 52 weeks of the year.

Danza de los Voladores de Papantla – Wikipedia

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’ve seen this impressive display a couple of times. It’s a tourist attraction these days in Mexico.

Coach Markos Baikas at Taiso in Saskatoon has an excellent group of young gymnasts coming up. Club founder Keith Russell calls them the best generation ever.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is the first YouTube upload from my new camera:

The HDC-SD5 uses the AVCHD format to record full-HD video with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. …

The HDC-SD5, which records video onto SDHC/SD Memory Cards, debuts as the world’s smallest palm-style 3CCD full-HD camcorder. It is even smaller than its predecessor model, HDC-SD1, giving the SD5 superb portability. The SD5 also features a new USB Host function that significantly improves data storage and playback ease. With an optional newly released DVD burner (model VW-BN1), users can copy or play back video recordings in the original AVCHD format to deliver the ultimate high-definition viewing experience on a large-screen TV.

Amazon.com: Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilization (includes Panasonic VW-BN1 DVD Burner): Camera & Photo

photo – Gizmodo

I’m using new software called iMovie 7.1 which comes free on new Macs.

This is the best video work flow I’ve ever had.