Category: Olympics

Giarnni Regini-Moran documentary

Giarnni’s quest for Paris.

The comeback from posterior cruciate ligament injury.

Inspiring.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Authorized Neutral Athletes – Belarus

FIG has published a list of gymnasts and support personnel who can return to FIG sanctioned events starting 1st January 2024 only in an individual neutral capacity.

Ad hoc rules are posted here.

So far, the entire list is from Belarus. None from Russia.

It includes Tokyo Olympics trampoline champion Ivan Litvinovich.

Belarus fully supports Putin’s war, but claims not to have their military attack Ukraine directly.

I fear that this is a first step. And that Russian athletes will be added to the list soon.

A mistake, in my opinion.

Of many bad options, least bad is a full ban of Russia by FIG until Putin ends the war.

Morinari Watanabe, the President of the International Gymnastic Federation (FIG), led a minute’s silence in remembrance of a young Ukrainian gymnast called Kateryna Dyachenko and her father who were killed during the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

George Eyser – amputee Olympic gymnast

George Eyser was a German-American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics, earning six medals in one day, including three gold and two silver medals.

Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg, having lost his real leg after being run over by a train. Despite his disability, he won gold in the vault, an event which then included a jump over a long horse without aid of a springboard. …

The Paralympic Games began 1948. Most physically challenged athletes now compete there.

Prior to 2008, Eyser was the only person with an artificial leg to have competed at the Olympic Games. In 2008, Natalie du Toit, a South African swimmer who lost her left leg in a traffic accident, participated in the 10 km marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and finished 16th …

Read more ➙ George Eyser: Medals, mystery and the Games’ first amputee

Thanks Jim Holt for remembering Eyser, one of the most amazing Olympic stories of all time.

USA National Team Camp

January 2024.

No Gabby Douglas. But Trinity is there.

Youth Olympic Games 2024 metaverse

Gangwon 2024 (Korean: 강원 2024), are an upcoming youth winter multi-sport event scheduled to be held between 19 January and 1 February 2024 in Gangwon, Korea.

… From virtual tours of the venues to games and challenges where fans can compete against other users in online mini games of ski jumping, bobsleigh and curling, the Gangwon 2024 Metaverse enables fans to engage with the YOG in new and exciting ways. …

To ensure the metaverse is as accessible as possible, it features automatic translation of six languages (Korean, English, Spanish, French, Japanese and Chinese), while users are also able to create custom avatars for their digital experience.

Olympics.com

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hashimoto Daiki or Zhang Boheng?

One BIG question for 2024 …

Will Olympic Champ Hashimoto Daiki defend his title in Paris? 

Or is it time for Zhang Boheng to finish atop the podium?

Ep. 2 Becky Downie documentary

Episode 2: Coming off of a disappointing performance at English Championships, Becky must regroup quickly if she wants to be in contention to represent GB at the 2023 European Championships.

Deanna Hong:

My goal is to share Becky’s incredible story as far and wide as possible. A lot of high-quality gymnastics content is geo-blocked/paywalled nowadays, which is why I’ve chosen to release this documentary on YouTube.

The first two episodes of “Comeback” were self-funded. It was important to me to compensate all of my friends who helped bring “Comeback” to life, which I have done, but all of my time filming and editing this passion project was done in my free time outside of my paid work.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (28min) Features Nick Ruddock.

Yuri Korolev interview

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics posted a year end remembrance of the 1981 and 1985 World Champion who died suddenly April 2023 at age-60.

Average life span in Russia is short compared against the rest of the developed world. 

Would you have won the AA at the 1984 Olympics?

I’m 90 percent sure that I would have won it. It’s impossible to say one hundred percent in sports, but there is no doubt that I could have fought for first place. …

Yuri Korolev interview

Yuri Korolyov (Russian: Юрий Николаевич Королёв; 25 August 1962 – 29 April 2023) was a Soviet artistic gymnast who competed during the 1980s, winning many World and European Medals. Part of a deep Soviet team that, throughout the 1980s, featured such names as Dmitry Bilozerchev, Valeri Liukin, Vladimir Artemov, Valentin Mogilny, …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.