Author: Rick Mc

Live from the 2007 National Championships …

Watching warm-ups I sat in the Georgia cheering section. Everyone is still incredibly psyched with the three-peat team win the night before. Excited to host Championships in 2008.

I spoke with the injured Georgia gymnasts — seniors Ashley Kupets and Kelsey Ericksen — as well, disappointed they couldn’t compete. But thrilled the team was still able to win without them.

The biggest knock against NCAA Women’s gymnastics in the past has been the high injury rate. This is well documented.

But here at Championships the girls look very healthy. Very fit.

Perhaps I am not seeing those who were injured and never made it to Salt Lake City.

The laser light show has begun.

It’s SHOW TIME!

Georgia’s planned Stegeman Coliseum Annex and Gymnastics Training Facility opens in the next few months.

Turns out I’m not the only one writing live (actually Neil was blogging from afar by watching live scoring on the internet) on the NCAA Championships.

For example, here’s a post by Neil:

Georgia wins third straight NCAA title

Katie Heenan, who had a 9.9 on floor and beam, and a 9.95 on vault, has three national championship rings and has already predicted winning another one next year, when Georgia hosts the 2008 NCAA Championships.

“I’m not leaving here without four championships,” she said. “I’m going out 4-and-0.”

southchild » Blog Archive » Georgia wins third straight NCAA title

New European Champion men individual allround Maxim Deviatovski of Russia performs on the rings during the European Championships Artistic Gymnastics in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday April 28, 2007.

Fabian Hambuechen of Germany won silver, Yuri Ryazanov of Russia bronze.

ESPN.com – OLY – Photo 1558136

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

UPDATE: Check the comments on this post. They concern the number of men’s gymnastics teams cut using Title IX as an excuse.

The women’s NCAA Championships has only been held for 26 years. It started in 1982.

Very successful today, how much credit can be given to Title IX legislation?

From the NCAA website:

In June, we will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the historic legislation that assured equality for men and women in education. In the 1950s, there weren’t many opportunities for women in higher education, but when Birch Bayh pioneered the legislation that prohibited gender discrimination in any federally funded education program, the world changed forever.

If you think my words are overly dramatic, think again. In the last 15 years, Stanford has added seven varsity teams in women’s sports, increased the number of its female student-athletes from 220 to 400 and more than doubled the amount of athletics financial aid provided to female student-athletes.

The advancements have occurred on campuses across the nation. Title IX alerted colleges and universities to blatant inequity, and in the last 35 years, significant progress has been made.

There is still a long way to go, however, and that’s why I’m on the campus of Stanford this morning, attending the “Title IX Today, Title IX Tomorrow” conference.

Some of the most influential people in women’s sports history are here, including Billie Jean King, Donna Lopiano, Anita DeFrantz and Judy Sweet. Today’s itinerary will serve as a celebration, but also an idea exchange, as we look for ways to progress women’s athletics in today’s world of college sports.

Double-A Zone

Sounds good.

So why do only 65 of 365 division 1 NCAA Universities have women’s gymnastics teams? When you add in division 2 and 3 schools, the total is still only 86.

Why are numbers still declining? (Though Arkansas added a team in 2003 and has been very successful.)

Other women’s sports are growing: rowing and bowling, for example.

Seems to me that economics at each University is a far more important factor than easily skirted Title IX legislation.

Leave a COMMENT if you have an opinion.

After having become all-around World Champion last year in Aarhus Vanessa Ferrari from Italy also won this competition today with the score of 61.075 and is the 2007 all-around European Champion!

The silver medal went to Sandra Izbasa from Romania (59.900) and the elegant Ukrainian Alina Kozich won the bronze medal (59.300).

Overall quite a few insecurities and falls were seen today, only the top 3 remained without falls or major mistakes…

descriptions of routines on GymMedia

GymBox

After watching the rock solid consistent routines of the NCAA women, I suspect I’d be discouraged by the number of falls and errors seen at Europeans as those competitors struggle to meet difficult FIG requirements.

The most detailed article I’ve yet seen on the art of Parkour including Insightful personal interviews with the founder:

Parkour was created in Lisses, a medium prosperous suburb of Paris, in the early nineteen-nineties, by a reserved and restless teen-age boy named David Belle.

His father, Raymond, who died in 1999, was an acrobat and a hero fireman. In 1969, he appeared in newspaper photographs hanging from a cable attached to a helicopter above Notre Dame. The night before, someone had hung a Vietcong flag on the cathedral’s tower. Raymond was lowered like a spider on a thread, and he grabbed the flag.

David Belle is now thirty-three. …

The Sporting Scene: No Obstacles: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

from the movie District B13

ESPN has a photo stream including:

Utah’s Kristina Baskett competes in the floor exercise individual event during the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships on Friday, April 27, 2007, in Salt Lake City.

(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

ESPN.com

Well, it was an honour to watch this competition.

This is gymnastics done right.

I feel international FIG coaches have a lot more to learn from the NCAA than visa versa.

The fans love it. TV loves it.

The SUPER 6 is thrilling. Congratulations to everyone.

Team results.

That said, NCAA women’s scoring is an insult to any sentient being. Why don’t they improve it?

If you judge the competition over again on video using any sensible set of rules, you’ll get a different result. Certainly Florida would be at least second.

Still, I fell Georgia deserved to win. Despite injuries to two key team members, they pulled it out. Great bars and vault.

I predicted Georgia would win.

But they have their work cut out after the first rotation!

Florida hit BIG on beam. Cory Hartung has the best routine at Championships, I feel. (Regardless of scores.)

Fantastic.

The No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team advances to the NCAA Super Six team final after posting its highest score ever, 197.40, in NCAA Championships competition.

For the first time this season, the Gators didn’t finish or tie for the top position in the team standings. Georgia won the NCAA Championships Session I Team Qualifier at 197.70, its third-highest team score of 2007. Florida’s runner-up total of 197.40 is the highest ever in NCAA Championships’ competition and the top road mark ever for the program.

Gator Gymnastics News @ Gatorzone.com

Utah Fans on Flickr – Photo Sharing!