Category: Olympics

men’s team final recap

Many felt this was the most exciting team final in years.

I was impressed by how many guys HIT, actually. Just a couple of days ago we were convinced this Pommel Horse was faulty.

It was generally a good competition despite the pressure of 3-up, 3-count.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.

related:

KUKSENKOV: ALMOST ALL THE GUYS WERE CRYING

China Edges Out Russia for World Team Title; U.S. Men Take 4th

Russians suffered just one fall during the competition, while the victorious Chinese had three.

You can certainly argue that RUS should have, could have been slightly ahead of CHN. It was that close. But none of the 8 teams had a perfect meet.

Valentina Rodionenko didn’t blame judges for stealing the gold medal as she so often does.

E Judges did — as usual — box the scores. They go low on those with the best execution, high on those with the worst execution. This keeps them in range but tends to give advantage to those with higher difficulty. It’s most obvious on Vault.

CHN, RUS, JPN to Olympics

Super exciting. The new finals format makes it even more dramatic, but more confusing to follow. Teams alternate competitors.

As so often happens in MAG, it came down to the final competitor on the last apparatus.

Olympic team qualification

1. CHN 256.634
2. RUS 256.585
3. JPN 253.744

4. USA 251.994
5. GBR 248.628
6. SUI 244.294
7. BRA 243.994
8. NED 240.660

full results

Nikita NAGORNYY could have won it with a perfect H Bar routine, but made some small errors. Russia will get them next time.

Considering the pressure of 3-up, 3-count I thought it was a quality competition. Not one team went through without a fall, however.

Worlds Men’s team finalists are set

Unofficial.

Top 24 teams qualify to Worlds 2019.

Top 8 to the 2018 team finals. Top 3 from the team final earn a team spot for the Olympics. It’s 3-up, 3-count so there could be some surprises. Especially on Pommels.

Russia
China
Japan
United States
Great Britain
Brazil
Netherlands
Switzerland
Ukraine
Germany
Spain
France
South Korea
Italy
Turkey
Kazakhstan
Chinese Taipei
Canada
Belgium
Hungary
Romania
Norway
Finland
Belarus

Australia reserve

Bolshy points out that one nation from Austaliasia and one from Africa will be added for global representation. Therefore possibly 26 men’s teams.

This is the first Worlds team final for Netherlands.

BIG in Japan

There are a lot of Japanese media in Doha.

With the Olympics coming up, Gymnastics is one of their highest profile sports.

Heart this. It’s signage in Japan promoting  Worlds.

 

YOG highlights reel

Olympic.org put together a multi-sport highlights video. It’s not yet on their YouTube channel as I post.

It looks quite the success.

Click on the image to watch it.

Jim Thorpe’s shoes at the Olympics

Associated Press named him the “greatest athlete” from the first 50 years of the 20th century.

Here’s a great story – triumphing over racism and adversity.

James Francis Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as “Bright Path” … was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist.

A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States.

Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball.

He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals. …

cannabis STILL banned in sport

… Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) would like to remind athletes that cannabis remains banned in sport, and a positive test for cannabis may still result in a sanction after October 17, 2018.

Cannabis will remain banned in sport in Canada because the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) follows the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List, an international standard that is not affected by changes in Canadian law. Once legal, cannabis will be just one of many substances that is legal in Canada, yet prohibited in sport. …

CCES Reminds Athletes that Cannabis Will Remain Banned in Sport After October 17

YOG Apparatus finals