All-Japan qualifications

  1. Murakami Mai 56.266
  2. Hatakeda Hitomi 55.099
  3. Hiraiwa Yuna 54.132
  4. Teramoto Asuka 53.998
  5. Soma Ui 53.932
  6. Hatakeda Chiaki 53.565
  7. Sugihara Aiko 53.432
  8. Yamada Chiharu 52.966

via theGymter.net

Men’s NCAA struggle for survival

Will Graves interviewed Justin Spring, Mike Burns, Shane Wiskus, and many others putting together an article before the end of the College season.

Iowa dropped Men’s Gymnastics.

Two months later, Minnesota dropped the men’s team.

The losses will leave just five men’s gymnastics programs in the Big Ten and just 11 at the Division I level overall, not including the three service academies.

And it leaves the USA Gymnastics men’s program in the precarious position of trying to reclaim a spot among the world’s elite while dealing with a diminishing talent base.

There are 11,000 boys or men enrolled in USA Gymnastics, down from over 13,000 in 2007. With only 6.3 scholarships available per school at Division I …

Football and men’s basketball pay a massive chunk of the bills. Athletic directors are increasingly concerned about what the shifting economics mean to Olympic sports. Nearly 80% of the 558 U.S. athletes at the Rio Games in 2016 came out of an American college program. …

Olympic Gold: Men’s Gymnastics Struggling to Survive

 Minnesota will host the 2021 NCAA National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships on April 16-17.

Dutch coaches for Tokyo

Head Coach: Bram van Bokhoven
Assistant: José
van der Veen
Assistant: Aimee Boorman

Bram van Bokhoven is the Men’s National Coach, who accepted the WAG position on an interim basis.

Wevers, Kooistra, Zijp, Kiens and other personal coaches will continue to train the national team members. Some will coach on the floor at Europeans in Switzerland, as well.

If they needed to bring in a neutral, positive coach — Aimee Boorman is a good choice. It sends a message.

Simone Paris 2024?

As one of the biggest Olympic stars from all sports, the IOC should PAY Simone Biles not to retire. 😀

“Cecile and Laurent are from Paris so they’ve kind of guilted me into at least being a specialist and coming back,” Biles said with her trademark giggle. “But the main goal is 2021, the tour, and then we’ll have to see.”

Cecile and Laurent Landi have coached Biles since late 2017. Both were members of the French national team, and Cecile Landi competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. …

Olympic Channel
2024 Olympics Paris

Should PanAms be cancelled?

Recall that PanAms were moved from USA to Brazil.

The President of the Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU), Naomi Valenzo, confirmed to Gymnastics Now Monday morning that the artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline Senior Pan American Championships (commonly referred to as Pan Ams) will no longer take place in the United States.

Instead, Brazil has agreed to host the events in June …

Gymnastics Now

This meet is critical in that 4 additional Olympic spots are decided from the AA. Two for men, two for women.

BUT the pandemic is worse than ever in Brazil. Over 4,000 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time. Only 8% of the population has had the first dose of any vaccine. Their President is a COVID denier who opposes any lockdown measures.

How can Brazil be safe for international travel by June?

Is there enough time on the calendar to move it again? If so, where? Canada — for example — wouldn’t allow the international travel.

I feel PanAms will soon be cancelled. And that’s a shame for those gymnasts who’ve trained the past year for one last shot at Olympic qualification.

Cordelia linked to the FIG policy:

Jordyn Wieber to U.S. Olympic Reform Panel

The 16-member Commission will be responsible for conducting a study on matters related to the state of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement in the United States. …

There is a deadline of the end of July for it to deliver its recommendations and detailed report, but it seems certain that deadline will be extended.

Shallon Olsen’s 2 meets Friday

Cool.

Shallon LIVE helped her Alabama team qualify to the top 16 teams at NCAA Regional Championships on Friday, April 2nd.

AND she was judged in Canada on Bars and Vault in a virtual Elite Canada competition.

DAY 1
VAULT
Ellie Black 5.40 14.450
Shallon Olsen 6.00 14.250 (Cheng)
Denelle Pedrick 5.40 13.900

BARS
Ellie Black 5.90 14.400
Audrey Rousseau 4.90 13.200
Rose Woo 4.90 13.300

GBR teams to Europeans

Interesting.

Highest priority must be trying to place gymnasts in the top 2 AA who did not compete the 2019 World Championships.

That would qualify an additional Olympian.

Ondine Achampong (Sapphire), Phoebe Jakubczyk (The Academy), Brinn Bevan (South Essex), James Hall (Pegasus) and Adam Tobin (Falcons) have been named as non-travelling reserves.

racial bias in sport

With Simone and Gabby as black Olympic Champions, it’s easy to ASSuME that racial bias in sport is being reduced, at least in Gymnastics.

Not so.

At each step along the athlete’s journey — from youth sports to college to the professional world — there are glaring inequities, often along racial lines. …

Throughout history, white American athletes have been afforded the opportunity to improve unimpeded while minorities have been left to scratch and claw for every inch. …

UNEQUAL PLAYING FIELD
Simone Biles, right, hugs Gabby Douglas after the Secret U.S. Classic

Olympic Torch Relay

Begins tomorrow.

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.