I certainly respect the FIG president for making the extra journey on behalf of the worldwide Gymnastics community.
Category: ethics
Gymnast sues Club for unsafe Pit
Level 10 gymnast Cody Bennett was injured when he landed on the edge of the foam pit training H Bar at Evolution Gymnastics Academy during an open gym, according to a $350M lawsuit.
Attorneys for the family of the Chesapeake teen are alleging a “loose foam pit” caused the boy to sustain a major spinal cord injury in 2024, resulting in his quadriplegia.
The lawsuit alleges that the gymnastics foam pit was too shallow and did not have enough foam cubes, which resulted in Cody Bennett, then 16 years old, sustaining a spinal cord injury.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
speaking to your gymnast AFTER a competition
female gymnasts from Saudi Arabia
I’ve been to Riyadh a couple of times for FIG. Coaches told me there were no competitive female gymnasts in the nation at those times.
Happily, there are girls and young women training today in Jeddah, coached by Elena Eremina and her partner, Yuri Sherevin.
The team will soon (mid September) be competing at the newly FIG-accredited Pharoahs’ Cup in Cairo. This is the most important WAG competition in Africa.
via Rewriting Russian Gymnastics on Facebook
NEW – Olympic Brand Book
The Olympic Games have always been more than just a sporting event.
They are a celebration of our Olympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship, as well as a testament to unity and the indomitable human spirit.
It is this very spirit that has driven us to create the first-ever Olympic Brand Book, inspired by our Olympic motto, “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.”
NEW Gymnastics book – Historic by Emma Webb
Emma trained at the Olga club in England, coached by Monica & Brian Phelps.
Coach Brian Phelps was jailed in 2008, aged 64, after admitting a string of historical indecent assaults against three children aged between six and 15, in the 1970s and 1980s.
The rapist later escaped to France. Whereabouts unknown.
Emma’s e-book comes out worldwide on Sept 2nd, paperback on the 9th.
If interested in knowing more, register interest here.
I’ve signed up.
Thanks Jess.
former Chow’s Gymnastics coach arrested
… young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions.
Liang “Chow” Qiao, the owner of Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club’s premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls. …
Last week, more than three years after being suspended from coaching, the FBI arrested Gardner, 38, on a federal child sexual abuse images charge. But his disciplinary case has still not been resolved by SafeSport, which handles sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports.
stretching the front of the ankle
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Of course there are some risks overdoing these kinds of drills.
Ortho resident physician here:
Although I love a gorgeous toe-extension line in artistic activities, this sort of technique, commonly used with gymnastis coaches can be quite destructive to the extensor tendons and stabilizing ligaments of the foot and ankle.
Often, relying on this method can easily lead to ankle and foot instability, premature osteoarthritis, and what is known colloquially as “turf toe” in athletes.
This method discussed by Ms. Mary-Lee Tracy relies on brute force, ergo passive plantar flexion as opposed to active plantar flexion (which athletes are using mid-maneuver).
I encourage techniques that involve active extension and strengthening, rather than brute force, to avoid unnecessary damage to athletes’ feet and ankles.
Iranian gymnast killed in war
Asian Gymnastics Union:
With deep sorrow, the Asian Gymnastics Union mourns the loss of Tara Hajimiri, an 8-year-old Iranian gymnast whose life was tragically taken in the recent conflict.
Tara was more than a gymnast — she was a symbol of hope and grace. Her light will never be forgotten.
We stand with her family and the Iranian gymnastics community in this time of grief.
May she rest in peace.
Enhanced Games are too dangerous
As they stand now, I’m strongly for everyone boycotting the proposed Enhanced Games.
Hopefully it won’t be financially feasible. Who’s going to pay for another multi-sport Games?
They plan to include Gymnastics — which is surprising as our sport has had so little doping compared with others.
Without question, some athletes will suffer health complications and possibly even death as they try to out-dope competitors.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 