Category: Uncategorized

Chinese Championships end

Tan Sixin won the women’s all-around title.

IG has a nice wrap-up on the apparatus finals:

Asian Games champion Sui Lu topped junior Zeng Siqi in both women’s events Thursday as the Chinese national championships concluded in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. …

Sui Wins Twice as Chinese Championships End

That link has day 2 finals results for both men and women.

podium training J.O. Nationals

Wow. The girls looked great today during training. Happy. Enthusiastic. And on their best behaviour under the watchful eyes of dozens and dozens of College coaches.

The women’s Level 10 Junior Olympic Nationals are this weekend in Long Beach, California.

In addition, USA Gymnastics is holding the JO National Invitational Tournament, an event intended to give broader exposure to athletes who missed qualifying to Nationals. This is a massive recruiting opportunity, as the vast plurality of college-bound athletes come from the Level 10 ranks. College recruiters will be lined up to watch how the athletes handle the pressure of a National-level, high stakes competition. …

That’s Nebraska Head Coach, Dan Kendig, front and centre.

Two of Dan’s assistants have recently departed:

• Tim Garrison – new Head Coach at Kentucky
•  Danna Durante – new Head Coach at Cal

I take that as a sign of how respected the Nebraska program is across the NCAA.

SCHEDULE (all times are Pacific Time Zone):

Friday, May 13th, 2011
Session 1, 11:30 am: Senior As and Junior As — many of the Senior As are in the 2012 high school graduating class
Session 2: 5:00 pm: Senior Bs and Junior Bs — nearly all of the Senior Bs are in the 2012 high school graduating class

Saturday, May 14th, 2011
Session 3, 11:30 am: Senior Cs and Junior Cs — most of the Senior Cs are in the 2011 high school graduating class
Session 4, 5:00 pm: Senior Ds and Junior Ds — nearly all of the Senior Ds will graduate in 2011; a few Junior Ds will graduate in 2012

Sunday, May 15th, 2011
The NIT meet will be held in four sessions with two age groups each, all day long.

College Gym Fans – Level 10 Junior Olympic Nationals: Weekend Ahead

J.O. Nationals 2011

Parents v coach Chrystal Hinchliffe

Here’s an odd story.

This is Chrystal Hinchliffe, 27, who’s charged with taking fees just days before shutting down her gym in Florida. She’s posted $20,000 bail on a charge of organized scheme to defraud.

details – Gymnastics-school owner spurns ‘haters’ on Facebook with tongue photo after leaving jail

Chinese gymnasts innocent until proven guilty?

Get ready for a stream of rumours regarding underage Chinese gymnasts leading up to the London Olympics.

They cheated before. Are they cheating again?

… That will be the story line from Bela and others.

Young looking girls from Japan and Russia (PHOTO), for example, are not so closely scrutinized. We trust that those more open societies do not systematically alter birth dates as China and North Korea, for two, have done.

… Somebody should approach Dong Fangxiao for a book deal on what she remembers about the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics.

Xiao Fang Dong, 25, was last year stripped of an Olympic medal for being underaged.

She is now head coach at Rotorua’s Mid-Island Gym Sports club, teaching women’s artistic gymnastics. …

She retired from competitive gymnastics in 2001 after a hip injury, and later worked as a gymnastics judge at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Although she was awarded a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, Ms Dong was later found to be only 14 when she competed, instead of the minimum age of 16, and her medal was revoked. …

read more from New Zealand – The Daily Post

She’s the only Chinese gymnast so far found guilty of competing underage. But she knows of at least one more.

I’d buy that book.

fire ant handstand

A fire ant appears to be pulling off a one-handed breakdance move on a log. The insect held the pose – known as a hand freeze in breakdancing circles – for 30 seconds. Robertus Agung Sudiatmokos photographed the unusual sight using a macro lens in the village of Cibinong, Indonesia.

source

Thanks Kathryn.

ESPN biomechanics of gymnastics

Kat Ding, Kayla Hoffman, and Geralen Stack-Eaton.

ESPN’s Sport Science lab takes a look at the science and biomechanics behind elite gymnasts.

http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf

Don’t go dissecting those numbers. We should be happy that ESPN is helping explain just how amazing are gymnasts. 🙂

Links to this video are widely distributed on the web right now. I first saw it linked by Amy Van Deusen on About.com Gymnastics.