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Bronze medal-winning Olympian Adam Rippon has a new memoir. In it he recounts his feud with famously homophobic Vice President Mike Pence who lead the U.S. Olympic delegation to South Korea.
Here’s one of the best of his life stories.
Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.
Give RΔducan a Gold medal for the AA at the 2000 Olympics. Weβve always considered her the deserving winner.
Shot in 2015 and 2016, the documentary The Golden Girl centres on Romanian gymnast Andreea RΔducan, who won the all-around gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, only to be forced a day later to renounce her title and her medal following a controversial doping test. β¦
We meet RΔducan, now a retired gymnast and a successful businesswoman, in 2015, as she starts to investigate the possibility of convincing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to give her back her medal. β¦
Click PLAY or watch a highly dramatic trailer on YouTube.
Tony Retrosi:
Gymnasts who could choose to become coaches are choosing not to. …
As gym owners we need to make coaching a profession. Educate our staff. Make them proud of what they do. We need to charge for classes and team enough to pay our staff a sustainable wage. If we do that we will see the ranks of coaches grow. Making coaching and teaching gymnastics a competitive profession.
Most people agree on these points:
To shorten Worlds I’d first cut the Team competition. It would be decided through the qualification round.
IOC and FIG have broad missions. Handing medals to the best of the best is one objective amongst many. Developing sport in Sri Lanka is another.
PROPOSAL – Elite WorldsΒ
In Canada we have always had two major competitions each year:
At Elite Canada only the best of the best qualify. We might have 12 gymnasts from Ontario and only 1 from Nova Scotia, for example.
I’d love to see an FIG sponsored Elite Worlds. Cash prizes. 15 American gymnasts competing Floor, for example.
I was last in Cairo December 2017, surprised at how quickly the sport has advanced for both WAG and MAG in that nation. Aside from the excellent National Training Centre, they have modern private clubs with great facilities.
As we heard much about during Worlds, one of the missions of IOC and FIG is to develop the sport worldwide.
Good move FIG.
Click PLAY or watch a BBC news feature on Facebook.
Katelyn has been one of the most prominent athletes speaking in support of the new California rules to come into effect 2023.
Florida is considering similar legislation. But it might go into effect in 2020.
Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.
Bad idea. π
I’m be OK with additional awards for Elegance. Or E-score. But rewarding difficulty for the sake of difficulty could be dangerous.
“The gymnast must never attempt to increase the difficulty or the βDβ score at the expense of aesthetic and technical execution. …”
Today at Worlds,Β Fujitsu held a press conference telling us where they are at with the technology.
Former FIG MTC Chair Steve Butcher is our liaison.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
It’s being used at Worlds 2019, but only in case of appeal or ‘blocked score’. Blocked score is when the Superior Jury disagree with the D-panel start score.
MAG Vault, Rings, Pommels and WAG Vault.
WAG Beam looks near ready but is not being used here.
Steve said it had been used on Rings already and that judges had found it valuable.
IOC has not approved it for use at the Tokyo Olympics but FIG and Fujitsu plan to roll it out increasingly through to the 2024 Olympics.
I’m most excited about it being used by coaches in the Gym. Fujitsu will offer it to National Training Centres (or equivalent) worldwide.
some FANS are FANatics.
Fans experience euphoria during moments when play is going well for their team, and stress when play is going against their team. This tension between the two emotions generates an unusual sense of pleasure or heightened sensations. …
The more fans a sport has, the greater the number of haters, people who mostly participate in negative ways.
The sport of Figure Skating, I believe, has more haters than Gymnastics. Hiking far fewer.Β
We have a lot of young athletes, so it’s even more important to protect.Β
Best strategy is to BLOCK trolls when you first encounter them. Don’t engage β that’s what they want. Live in a social media bubble of people you like and respect. Ask your athletes to do the same.
When I think of FANatics I recall the 1996 film where Robert De Niro (the fan) is obsessed with baseball player Wesley Snipes.
Fandom to the extreme.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 