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Not a sell out. But a good crowd for Men’s gymnastics.

photo via FIG on Facebook

Of the 40,000+ tickets available for the Test Event, most have been sold. It’s still possible to get one, though. Take advantage of this — the next best thing to the Olympics.

The O2 Arena is a 23,000 capacity venue, primarily used for live music. It is located at the centre of The O2 and is the first American-style, multi-purpose arena in London. It is the joint largest indoor arena in Europe. …

Click PLAY or watch a feature on Entertainment Avenue at The O2 on YouTube.

it’s like a small city surrounding the arena.

As much as I’d like to see fewer roll-out skills on Men’s Floor — and an option to get a high score with none — Brandon does them as well as anyone.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

14.266 (Difficulty : 5.300; Execution : 8.966).

Fact is he had a problem learning these as a young gymnast. His problem? … Intelligence. Why should we deliberately try to land on our heads?

Update: Bob notes that Brandon missed his front layout 2/1 twist dismount. Therefore gets no dismount and no skill as he had done front layout 1 1/2 twist earlier in the routine. Merde.

France 350.659
Canada 345.892
Belarus 335.824

I’m thinking France will finish top 4, for sure. Belarus is out for sure. Canada will be close. … It’s going to be a long day waiting to find out.

For Canada, Casey Sandy’s Floor score was raised after appeal. The D-panel had him 0.8 too low!

Canada also appealed Kevin Lytwin’s Ring start score. But it was not upheld.

Four of the eight teams advance to the London Olympics. The team ranking 5th will be very unhappy. 😦

Examiner – Quick hits: Men’s team/individual qualifications at the London Test Event

THE ALL AROUND – Test Event: MAG Qualification Subdivision 1

Likely a finalist.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

15.000 (Difficulty : 6.500; Execution : 8.500).

Love that Victorian Cross. And I’m glad he’s only doing one of them, not two as he’s used in the past.

That’s from the FIG Olympic Qualifications London 2012 (Visa Gymnastics 2012) playlist on YouTube.

What’s your excuse? 🙂 … what’s MY excuse?

He’s getting BIG applause in London.

IG: How many hours a day do you train? Do you train consistently year round, or do you take breaks for weeks/months at a time?

JJ: No, I don’t train the entire year. For the most part I prepare a few weeks before the big championships, like Europeans, worlds, etc. I don’t really go to World Cup events anymore either. At my position I really can’t afford to train full year around. There is a lot of administrative work with the federation and of course at my age I have to be careful and rest my body too. I train when I find time… many times at the end of the business day, on weekends, with my busy schedule that is the only way!

IG Online Interview: Jordan Jovtchev (Bulgaria) (Sept. 2011)

LIVE scores available from Omega via this link.

From there you need to download a (horrible) Java app. Follow the prompts. And keep your fingers crossed hoping it works. 🙂

It’s last chance for Teams and individual AA stars to qualify for London. Nathan Gafuik plans to get back to the Olympics with his Team Canada competing in the first subdivision of three.

LIVE coverage available via the Quick Links atop the home page and by searching for #FIGTest12 on Twitter.

Coach Jason:

… After considering about a dozen different options, I decided to try a mixture of super glue/sealant and wood. …

details on Coaching Gymnastics in the New Millenium … or Millennium?

That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone trying to repair one.

Between the Olympics has been linking training video footage on this page. Thanks!

Click PLAY or watch Grishina’s Floor on YouTube.

At first glance I thought she was Komova come to London. … And she has a lot of Vika’s best qualities. But not the leg power on Floor & Vault.

Vault is easily the weakest apparatus, Bars the most impressive in podium training at the London Test Meet.

Click PLAY or watch Yao Jinnan on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch Jessica Lopez VEN on YouTube.

France is excellent on Bars — Blythe called Spain the “China of Europe”, but France is even better. (Thanks TimAlan)

… Putting it another way, many nations are getting better than Romania on Bars. 🙂

Podium training has ended.

The 2012 season officially begins Tuesday with the second and final Olympic gymnastics qualification at London’s O2 Arena, site of this summer’s Olympic Games. …

Nations which already qualified also had the opportunity to send up to two gymnasts for experience. The world champion U.S. women and Chinese men passed on the invitation, as did Romania. The Chinese women, however, sent world balance beam champion Sui Lu and world all-around bronze medalist Yao Jinnan. Both gymnasts are expected to do battle with Russian first-year senior Anastasia Grishina, a triple gold medalist at the 2010 Junior European Championships in Birmingham. …

IG – Final Olympic Qualification Begins Tuesday

For MAG it’s tough to call. The roof of the O2 will collapse atop 15,000+ spectators tomorrow night if Great Britain does not finish top 4. They will.

Belarus
Brazil … missing Hypalito
Great Britain
Canada
Spain
France
Italy
Puerto Rico

FIG Facebook album: Visa International Gymnastics 2012

It’s showtime for coach Elena Davidova and Team Canada.

For WAG many pundits have predictions. Most, including me, like the teams in bold.

Belgium
Canada
Brazil
France
Spain
Italy
Korea
Netherlands

I was quite impressed with Spain for the last Olympic berth, but others disagree.

Brazil will certainly be top 4 on Floor and Vault. They’ll need a very good meet on the other 2 apparatus to qualify, though.

The Korean girls are superb gymnasts. But I predict landing errors will take them out of contention. They’re still being spotted on many skills.

At one point I felt Netherlands would be there for Olympics. But injuries have put them in a tough spot.

Belgium lacks depth.

… I could be wrong. 🙂 Any of the 8 teams with a brilliant meet could be there. Good luck to all.