Category: Olympics

Gymnastics Worlds too Restrictive?

Working with the FIG dues paying Bermuda Federation, I can tell you it’s getting near impossible for any gymnast training there to compete at Sr. Worlds.

The career would have to go perfectly through the PAGU qualifying system.

Hardy Fink has attended more Worlds and Olympics than anyone. He feels that the restricted-access World Championship in this quadrennial and the next are a mistake. In an effort to make Worlds shorter, we’ve reduced the opportunities for elite gymnasts from developing nations. And for specialists worldwide.

In the case of Bermuda, for example, should the Federation continue with FIG? I’d still say YES for Commonwealth Games and PanAm Games, but there is an argument for withdrawing from FIG competition completely.

Read Hardy’s detailed analysis:

figs-assault-on-world-championship-participation-an-open-letter-by-hardy-finkDownload

Worlds 2023 tickets on sale

The MOST IMPORTANT Worlds in any quadrennial is the one where most of the Paris Olympians qualify.

Antwerp.

Details.

Suni returning to Elite

It’s great to live in an era where gymnasts can choose College — choose Elite — or choose both.

One more season at Auburn. Then Suni will focus exclusively on qualifying for Paris.

Worlds PHOTO Competition

Hundreds of thousands of photos were taken in Liverpool.

After each competition, one was named PHOTO OF THE DAY.

If you are on Facebook, you can see the collection HERE.

The sample above was host GBR learning they had qualified a full team to the Paris Olympics — after a truly weird and bad Team Final.

I didn’t get a chance in Liverpool to congratulate GBR Men’s Head Coach Paul Hall.

Congratulations Paul !

Fujitsu Infinity ➙ CAN & GBR

I’m no longer confused on this new award begun 2019.

Canada’s women and Great Britain’s men were awarded the Infinity Award presented by FIG partner Fujitsu at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool (GBR) on Sunday evening.

The award honours a national federation in Women’s and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics for its achievements at the World Championships. The winners are selected based on a combination of results, artistic merit, virtuosity in performance and challenges overcome.

FIG

U.S. $10,000 to each team. Actually it was U.S. $5000 to each team.

51ST FIG ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS LIVERPOOL (GBR) 29 October – 06 November, 2022

Nordic nations support Ukraine

If Putin successfully takes over Ukraine, why would he stop there?

Recall Hitler invaded Poland first. To justify the action, Nazi propagandists accused Poland of persecuting ethnic Germans living in Poland. Does that sound familiar?

If Putin successfully takes over Ukraine, why wouldn’t the Chinese dictator-for-life take that as a green light to invade Taiwan?

There’s a very good argument for banning Russian and Bellarusian judges & officials from FIG events, as well as athletes.

It sounds like FIG need to change their rules and regulations before taking that step. Perhaps that can be done at the upcoming FIG Congress in Turkey.

It’s November 2022. On what date will IOC ban athletes from the Paris Olympics? Right now it seems unlikely Putin will stop bombing civilians any time soon.

our-hearts-go-out-to-the-ukrainian-people-signDownload

Worlds Liverpool wraps-up

Worlds Liverpool went surprisingly well.

One of the better worlds in recent memory. Not Glasgow 2015 good — but very good.

35,000 tickets sold and sell-out crowds for the final weekend.

Local fans had much to cheer about. Men & women’s teams both were top 3 — automatic qualification to the Paris Olympics. Six medals total including Gold on Floor for Giarnni Regini-Moran & Jessica Gadirova.

The FREE Championships Fan Zone was great for the kids.

406 volunteers worked 15,000 hours total.

Despite no covid precautions, I didn’t hear of even one gymnast having to withdraw due to the virus. (One medal contender from Taiwan didn’t travel to Liverpool because he had covid, however.)

Nicolas Buompane, FIG secretary general, answered the toughest question at the final Press Conference: Norway and 6 other nations opting not to attend FIG Congress 2022 in Istanbul.

Nicolas explained that FIG currently has no process for banning delegates. It would need to be added to their rules. And that their lawyers have concluded that FIG would lose any court challenge to such a ban.

Watanabe was more philosophical. An international democratic organization should listen to all view points. He respects both the Russian Federation and those who oppose those delegates attending Congress. He hopes that all member Federations will soon be back together as a family.

Personally, I’m worried about China invading Taiwan. In that case, I expect Chinese athletes to be banned from FIG events.

Tang Chia-Hung (TPE) – 9th AA

Taiwan wants again to qualify a full team to Paris. They were the miracle team of the last quadrennial, a surprise qualification to Tokyo.

On bouncing back from 17th to 9th:

“I am happy with my performance today, especially on horizontal bar. I will give myself seven out 10 for my HB routine. This is not all I have in my pocket. I hope I can improve my difficulty in the future. And show the world ‘a better me’ next time in a world wide competition.”