Category: Gymnastics

Taylor Swift is a Simone fan

Taylor has 86 million Twitter followers.

 

trampoline Spring Boards

I’m now completely won over to these devices. Even for Yurchenko.

Air-O-Board is still my favourite as it seems to most closely resemble the competition Board.

The AAI version is allowed in USAG Excel competitions.

In Netherlands some call them “plankolines“.

statement from FIG President Watanabe

You have opportunity to report incidents to FIG alongside National reporting systems.

Watanabe:

In the wake of this (Nassar) affair, the FIG has established the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation to encourage anyone to report any form of rules violation, abuse and harassment, and to provide a safe, confidential mechanism to do so. www.gymnasticsethicsfoundation.org/safeguarding

The task was not easy, but today the Foundation is fully operational and is investigating several cases.

As well as any form of physical violence clearly being intolerable, insults and threats have no place in any training hall. …

Message from the FIG President

interview with one of Nassar’s victims

Sara Teristi … “first met Larry Nassar–the most prolific known sex criminal in American sports history–at a gym in Michigan in late 1988.

She was a young gymnast in a vulnerable state, she says, having been emotionally trampled by her hard-driving coach, John Geddert, a man who made her feel worthless.

Nassar, who was volunteering as team doctor, zoomed in on her right away. …

Today, she says she wrestles more with the psychological abuse of her coach than the sexual abuse of the doctor. …

An Early Survivor of Larry Nassar’s Abuse Speaks Out For the First Time

This piece is adapted from her new book The Girls: An All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down, by Abigail Pesta. 

new – ‘National Gymnastics Association’ USA

A new non-profit Gymnastics organization has been formed in the USA.

They will offer a competitive program for girls. Membership opens August 1, 2020.

nationalgym.org

Like them on Facebook.

worldwide coaching culture in Gymnastics

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has been urged to hold a worldwide symposium “as soon as possible” to address the coaching culture within the sport in the wake of several abuse scandals.

In an open letter to the FIG, the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation (KNGU) expressed concern the culture portrayed in the Netflix documentary Athlete A is “not isolated but constitutes a risk for the entire world of gymnastics around the globe”. …

FIG urged to hold worldwide symposium to address coaching culture in gymnastics

Katelyn joins Team GK

Heart this.

They have an impressive roster already.

Dutch coach Gerrit Beltman admits abuse

This article is in Dutch.

I used Google Translate.

Beltman (64), still active as a coach … :

“The behavior I showed is in no way justifiable. I insisted on winning, at the expense of everything …

I am deeply ashamed now. Never have I consciously intended to hit, to curse, to hurt or to belittle. But it did happen….

… thought it was the only way to cultivate a top sport mentality. I blame myself for failing.” …

Gym coach Gerrit Beltman breaks silent about his inhumane training methods: ‘I mistreated and humiliated young gymnasts to win medals. I am deeply ashamed’

Recall that former Dutch gymnasts Stasja Köhler and Simone Heitinga wrote a book detailing the abusive training methods they endured as elite gymnasts. The coaches accused were Gerrit Beltman and Frank Louter.

The Dutch Federation responded but did not apologize, perhaps on the advice of lawyers:

We continue to call on all athletes of all levels to report to the Center for Safe Sports and / or the Institute of Sports Justice (ISR) if they have experienced undesirable behavior, both now and in the past. …

The Dutch Federation has also launched an independent investigation focusing on top athletes from the age of 12 who were active from 2013.

Beltman coached in Belgium and Canada, as well as Netherlands.

Riley’s Bars dismount

Excellent speed.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.