Cal qualifies for Championships

Recall 2010? Cal Berkeley announced that both Gymnastics teams would be CUT. For budget reasons.

Both team survived. And both teams have thrived. 🙂

Both will be competing with full teams at Nationals 2016.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

related – TONI-ANN WILLIAMS will miss Championships. She’ll be competing for Jamaica at the Olympic Test Meet.

Belgium defeats Romania

26187155036_85c3c1cb97_bBelgium 222.900
Romania 219.200

Both nations have a good chance to qualify a full team to the Rio Olympics from the Test Meet.

1 Axelle Klinckaert Belgium 56.500
2 Laura Waem Belgium 55.600
3 Diana Bulimar Romania 55.400

full results

On Bars Belgium went 56.550, Romania 51.350. The lowest Belgium start score was 5.6. The highest for Romania 5.5. 😦

Mouscron Friendly: Senior results

Read the Belgian Gymnastics blog report.

Germany did not compete their full Test Meet team at this event but certainly is another favourite to qualify a full team to the Olympics.

The Junior competition was dominated by Romania.

Kuksenkov tests positive for Meldonium

Amanda Turner:

New national champion Nikolai Kuksenkov has withdrawn from the Russian men’s championships in Penza after it was revealed he tested positive for the banned substance meldonium. …

According to Russian coach and spokeswoman Valentina Rodionenko, Kuksenkov’s test was conducted two weeks ago but the results were only just discovered. …

I can say that on the Russian national team in gymnastics we stopped using the drug even in August 2015! Then the representatives of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency consulted with our doctors, and then withdrew all the supplies of Mildronate from our first-aid kits. …

IG

Nikolai Kuksenkov

Simone Biles – Cheng

In a media phone interview Simone said she’d compete Cheng for the first time at Pac Rims.

If successful, that would make her the Olympic Gold favourite for Rio.

Click PLAY or watch one on YouTube.

Japanese Nationals qualification

Preliminary completion.

1 Mai Murakami 57.200
2 Aiko Sugihara 56.500
3 Asuka Teramoto 56.050

full results

Lauren posted commentary.

Recall that Mai was the surprise star of the Japanese team at Worlds 2015.

murakami_mai_3

1. Ryohei Kato 90.150
2. Yusuke Tanaka 89.800
3. Shogo Nonomura 89.100

link to results

Kato

At the press conference, Kato said his goal was to win gold at the Rio Olympics. He also said he could use an overseas vacation.

Kenzo Shirai scored 16.200 on floor and 15.300 on vault.

Yusuke Tanaka scored 16.000 on pbars and 15.550 on high bar.

Kohei Kameyama scored 15.700 on pommels.

Kohei did not compete but gets automatically entered into Sunday’s AA Final.

Aussies training for Pac Rim

A few training clips.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – Rio Olympics, 2016: No more room for error for Australia’s gymnasts

Josh Dixon interview

Out magazine – Gymnast Josh Dixon on Why It’s Important to Be an Out Athlete

A good read. He’s healthy and training for Olympic trials.

Josh Dixon

Ryohei Kato TV news spot

Kato was injured last year – where else? 😦 – on competition Vault landing mats. He’s pleased the ankle has recovered sufficiently to compete the AA.

… focusing on Ryohei Kato’s performance at the American Cup last month, and his preparation for the All Japan Championships this weekend (4/1-3). In Japanese and English.

a1tumbling

If you wear headphones one earpiece is in English, the other Japanese.

Click PLAY or watch it on Daily Motion.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x40h3ri_20160328ryohei-kato-news-bilingual_sport