Category: Gymnastics

Brittany Rogers – Bars

Brittany turned age-23 today.

I was at her Gym for two days this week. No rest after Nationals for Olympic team contenders. 🙂

In person – at 5′ 6″ – Brittany is even more impressive than on YouTube. Her Bars are particularly shocking. She rips through half routines like Beth Tweddle. Her toe 1/1 is toe hop 1/1 catching (sometimes) before handstand.

Check the height on this Shap half. Almost horizontal. That’s as high as anyone in the world.

Brit Shap half

The list of 12+ gymnasts who will be invited to the Canadian Olympic trial camp has still not been finalized. Brittany is certainly top 3 on Bars and Vault.

related – I felt Brit’s YDT last year at Worlds was as good as any competed.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Kate Foster – Spirit of the Flame Award

Congratulations, Kate. You inspire us all.

Kate

Kate Foster named 2016 Robert Miller Spirit of the Flame Award recipient

coach Eric Harrison to prison

French / American Gymnastics coach Eric Harrison was sentenced to 2 years in prison with 1 year suspended.

Amongst his other crimes, he had a video camera in the locker room in Guise, France. It looks like a pen.

pen video camera

Harrison edited the website Gymnet.org, now gone from the internet. We’ve deleted all links to Gymnet.org from this site, as well.

I want to thank a member of the former Gymnet forum for alerting us to this criminal.

Morgan Hurd – 2016 Secret Classic

Wow. What potential. Morgan is fantastic.

Click PLAY or watch her Vault on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Bars on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Floor on YouTube.

BEAM did not go so well. (VIDEO)

Watanabe’s FIG vision

With Bruno Grandi retiring, there are two candidates in the running for FIG President: Georges Guelzec (FRA) and Morinari Watanabe (JPN). Guelzec runs the European Gymnastics Union while Watanabe is Secretary General of the Japan Gymnastics Association.

Guelzec is well known worldwide. Watanabe is not. He did not declare until the last minute.

Read Watanabe’s campaign pitch.

Watanabe

BIG deductions on Men’s H Bar

At Canadian Nationals, Mike Burns remarked that forward pirouette is a very risky skill. You can easily suffer a 0.3 deduction on an A-part. 😦

Click PLAY or watch a breakdown of angle deductions on YouTube.

McKayla Skinner slide show

NBC is doing something interesting in advance of Olympic Trials.

click on the image to see the slide show
click on the image to see the slide show

related – Lauren Hopkins will be a research assistant for NBC through the Olympics. They should be better informed than any time in the past. 🙂

Canadian Championships rebroadcast

Watch Senior WAG here. (3 hours)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGRv3QPkxxD/
 
(via Fans of Canadian Gymnastics on Facebook)

If you ARE the Greatest, it ain’t bragging

Click PLAY or watch the Champ on Facebook.

I’m no boxing fan. But Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson are two of the very best athletes I can name in all sports.

Even more than his sporting achievements, I admired his brave personal stance as a conscientious objector. He strenuously opposed the Vietnam war.