Olympics – Page 219 – Gymnastics Coaching.com

Oksana MUST qualify to the Olympics

The one thing everyone agrees upon. 🙂

Rio Test Meet WAG podium

I watched 4 training sessions over 13 hours. Four of these 8 will qualify a full team to the Rio Olympics:

Australia
Belgium
Brazil
France
Germany
Romania
South Korea
Switzerland

4for4.info crunched numbers concluding that the teams with the top scoring potential are Brazil, Germany, Romania and France.

After watching training (crunching no numbers) I’d concur that Brazil could score highest. They have Rebeca Andrade back. Home court advantage. And 3-4 DTYs on Vault.

Winning teams most often have a mix of newcomers and experienced veterans. Like Brazil.

Romania MUST qualify a full team. How could you have an Olympics without Romania?

If they hit Bars reasonably well first rotation, first flight of 4, ROM will qualify.

France impressed me. They looked well prepared. As did Germany and Belgium.

Many assume Australia has had too many injuries to get through. Don’t underestimate Aussies. 🙂

Those 4 teams are fighting for two qualifying spots, in my opinion. E score may end up being more important than D score this time. The first rule of Test Meet = Don’t Fall.

Individual competitors

There are between 31-33 AA Olympic spots available not counting those who’ve qualified with a team, Continental and Tripartite selections.

Oksana Chusovitina should be given automatic qualification. In her 7th Olympics, Chuso will be one of the bigger news stories in Rio. 🙂

That leaves 30-32 spots for the top AA gymnasts from this Test Event.

Jessica López (Venezuela) looks very likely to qualify to her 3rd Olympics here, for example.

(Gymnasts who earn a spot at the Olympics then must convince their National Olympic Associations to send them. Canada – for example – only very reluctantly sent Kyle Shewfelt to the 2000 Olympics because he wasn’t good enough. He won a Gold medal 4 years later.)

Click PLAY or watch the FIG Olympic selection process on YouTube.

In addition we have many top gymnasts here for the experience: China (Zhang Jin, Gong Kangyi), Great Britain: (Gabby Jupp, Becky Downie), Canada (Isabela Onyshko, Victoria-Kayen Woo), etc. Their teams have already qualified.

Last word. Dipa’s Handspring double front looked quite good in podium training. Not scary. Perhaps the best we’ve seen on to competition mats since Produnova.

Courtney McGregor at Olympic Test Meet

Courtney took the Bronze medal on Vault at Pac Rim.

Then directly flew to Brazil.

Courtney: ”It’s great to be here in Rio competing with some of the best athletes in the world”.

… Without a team place for New Zealand the only opportunity to gain an individual place for Rio is through the Olympic test event, but she needs to be on her game.

… the biggest hurdle is still the New Zealand Olympic Committee criteria as McGregor qualified easily through to the test event and the estimated score needed to gain that FIG quota place for Rio is approx 51.00.

McGregor has bettered this at the worlds and at the Pacific Rim championships scored 53.55, her best ever internationally. However it is not the all around score NZOC are looking for – they require a top 16 finish.

She competes on Sunday in Rio and will not know until mid May whether she has achieved her Olympic dream.

Meanwhile, a college scholarship awaits her at Boise State University in Idaho. She signed her letter of intent last year and intends to do summer school in May.

Stuff – Christchurch gymnast Courtney McGregor wins bronze before Olympic test event

So far, so good.

Coach Mary Wright yesterday reported Courtney ahead of their projected training goals after 3 sessions in Rio.

Podium training for Courtney today.

UPDATE – For you every-4-years Gymnastics fans, Courtney does not actually compete Pommels. 🙂

Thanks Avril.

do not underestimate Australia

Not many have predicted Australia to qualify a full team to the Olympics.

They’ve had problems. Injuries. Two competitions back-to-back.

But I doubt any team trains harder than the Aussies. They are fierce. These girls could do it.

Georgia Rose-Brown (173cm) should be nominated for some sort of Elegance award. She’s stunning.

Olympic Test Meet WAG podium training

Women’s competition starts Sunday.

Schedule.

I’ll be tweeting LIVE @GymCoaching.

FIG mini-site | Olympic site

Final places for the 2016 Olympic Games in play at the Test Event April 16-22 in Rio

Toni-Ann Williams in Rio

When California takes the floor at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas this week, there will be one notable absence in the lineup: Toni-Ann Williams.

Instead, the four-time Regular-Season All-American and two-time regional Gymnast of the Year will be more than 5,000 miles south in Rio de Janeiro, preparing for a competition equally as exciting and important to her gymnastics career. …

“When I talked to Cal’s coaching staff, they said they supported me whether I wanted to continue my international competition or not. That was a huge factor for me to choose Cal,” Williams said. “I couldn’t ask for better coaches, and since I started the university has been very supportive with my class schedule and training schedule.”

“The only question that we had for Toni was whether or not she wanted to defer or whether or not she wanted to compete with her team,” Crandall-Howell said. “There wasn’t a question in her mind that she wanted to compete with her team as long as she possibly could. That is unique to her as an individual. To me, it’s incredibly selfless and all about what a team should be.”

Williams eventually went with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. …

From Rio With Love

Hey @_toniwilliams_ – we're thinking of you! 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/gRnYQrLvbY

— Cal Women’s Gymnastics (@CalWGym) April 14, 2016

related – BBS: “… she has a better chance of making the Olympics than Cal has of making Super Six.”

(via Collegiate Gymnastics Board)

Olympic Test Meet MAG podium

The HSBC Arena was built 2007. It has capacity of 14,981 for sports, but feels smaller.

Apparatus is Spieth. But the Floor is Gymnova. They must have collaborated to get just the right shade of green. 🙂

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A post shared by SPIETH Gymnastics (@spiethgymnastics)

This competition is a rehearsal. Responsible are the IOC and the Rio Organizing Committee. Needless to say, they have far less expertise than do the FIG when they organize a World class event.

There was confusion and some minor problems day 1. I’m assuming those will be fixed by Saturday’s first competition. Lets cut them some slack. This IS the first Olympics ever held in South America. 🙂

Eight teams are fighting for 4 spots at the Olympics: Belgium, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine

It’s Men’s Gymnastics so anything can happen: Pommels, Vault landings, H Bar release moves, Pommels, Anything.

It’s Men’s Gymnastics so podium training is absolutely no indicator as to competition performance.

If Germany doesn’t qualify, it’s a national disaster. They should have qualified at Worlds 2015.

France impressed me most of all 8 teams. Don’t bet the mortgage, but I’m putting down a sizeable bet they will qualify.

Belgium is ranked lowest of the teams here. It would be a huge happy surprise for them to get through as a team. I was impressed with their discipline and seriousness today. Respect.

As for the other 5 teams, I’d advise hitting as many routines as possible trying to save every tenth of Execution deduction.
_____

Individual Qualifications

The Olympics has many goals only one of which is gathering all the best athletes together to decide whom is best on the day. “Sport as a human right”, for example. A “spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play”.

It’s not easy for Cyprus to compete against the USA, for example. But it certainly helps sport in Cyprus when they do. 🙂

Marios Georgiou of Cyprus had he best over-bar salto releases on H Bar today. HUGE. Catching with extended arms. (training VIDEO)

Sun Wei CHN hit the best Pommel routine I saw today. He scored 15.033 at American Cup. Filip Ude from Coatia is here, however. And Daniel Corral from Mexico. And more.

Randy Leru of Cuba showed the best full Floor routine all day. Small hop on 3/1 twist dismt the only obvious deduction. Great height & control.

A new favourite gymnast for me is Oskar Kirmes from Finland. Exquisite form. Excellent technique on just about everything.

The Olympics wants representation from many countries, not only the best. I cheer stars from nations with limited resources. Like Ukraine.

Saturday will be interesting. Anything can happen. 🙂

more Grace Chiu photos

Charlotte Drury at the Test Meet

Charlotte Drury, an American trampoline gymnast, has dreamed of the Olympics for as long as she can remember.

After spending 10 years training as an artistic gymnast (alongside childhood best friends and future Olympic gold medalists Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney), Drury strayed from the conventional path and started paving one of her own. After discovering trampoline gymnastics at the age of 13, Drury made the US National Team within two years and is now, at 19, in position to take her own shot at Olympic glory.

Click PLAY or watch a mini-documentary on YouTube.