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FIG:

World Pommel Horse Champion Krizstian Berki of Hungary and his coach Istvan Kovacs have been named best athlete and coach of the year respectively in Hungary …

Yesterday Great Britain’s Louis Smith joined some other stars of the GBR sporting world to promote BMW as the official automotive partner of the London 2012 Games. …

The trampoline has magically disappeared in that pic. Who’s the trampolinist?

Sweet:

… Each athlete will have the use of a BMW car

See more photos and links to the originals on Full Twist.

Aunt Joyce posted a succinct season preview:

Put on your face paint and whip out your tiger claw: the NCAA season kicks off on Friday and it is a cause for celebration for some and panic for others. Given that the first week’s rankings are determined by high score, the start of the season is always taken with a grain of salt. We’ve seen teams that go on to win conference and national titles score in the 194s and we’ve seen teams open close to a 198. Every year is different and dramatic. …

Some of the meets this weekend:

January 7th
Penn State @ Alabama
Arkansas @ Oklahoma
Nebraska @ Florida
LSU @ Oregon State
Michigan @ Michigan State Quad Meet
UCLA @ Utah

January 8th
Georgia @ Denver Quad Meet

January 9th
UCLA Pac 10 Preview (Vs. Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington)

read more – Aunt Joyce – NCAA Preview: Week 1

related – Couch Gymnast – NCAA Update: No Kytra for Florida

Coverage of Women’s gymnastics will be better than ever this season. … But I’m worried, once again, for NCAA Men’s Gymnastics. Everyone needs to promote the guys or we may not have the guys in a few years.

In browsing Blythe’s comprehensive Gymnastics Year in Review on Gymnastics Examiner, one thing was obvious.

It was a GREAT year for Russia. At least for Rhythmic, where they were dominant, and for WAG (Women’s Artistic Gymnastics).

The Russian women overcome three falls on bars in finals to win their first-ever Worlds team title.

Aliya Mustafina is World Champion and early favourite to win the Olympics 2012. The next strongest contender most feel is Viktoria Komova. And there’s Anastasia Grishina coming up behind her. Both were stars at the European Jr. Championships, leading their team to victory.

Russia won the senior European Championships, as well.

Tatiana Nabieva must be the most talked about non-American gymnast in the world. The strongest personality since Khorkina.

On top of all that, fan favourite Anna Pavlova didn’t retire.

Everyone else is chasing Russia right now.

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics posted a theory I’d never heard before … That the current Russian success, and former Soviet success, was not due to stability or consistency, but instead brilliant, innovative, unpredictable and inconsistent innovation.

It’s had to argue. Nabieva could be the poster girl. Check it out for yourself – Success factors of Soviet gymnastics ….

Between The Olympics explains:

Since the upgrading of the double tuck from C to D, it has become more and more common. It has trickled into the routines of gymnasts who are certainly capable of more difficult tumbling passes. …

If you want a D-part, the double tuck is less deductible than other skills. For example:

… Viktoria Komova had been competing a full in as her second pass since 2007. But recently, she has been playing it safe with a double tuck. I think it is a smart move, and that she should probably keep the double tuck. As you can see, the landing on her double tuck would be defined as “good position.” …

Click through for the detailed explanation. Makes sense.

For most gymnasts the double tuck is safer, too.

My favourite handstand drill. Be alert to wrist pain, however.

January 4, 2011 by Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center on Facebook.

College Gym Fans updated their list of which College teams most strengthened their roster over 2010-2011:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. UCLA
4. Utah
5. Stanford
6. Georgia

CollegeGymFans.com Top Recruiting Classes of 2010-2011

I saw Aunt Joyce speculate that, due to injuries and late arrivals, Alabama may be the team that comes out strongest at the start of the year.

Likely Florida and UCLA will be favoured at Championships. I’m calling Stanford to be the biggest happy surprise.

The Chinese system (WAG, not MAG) has been fairly criticized for not innovating. Yet I was surprised how many skills were first competed by Chinese girls. Mostly Bars.

Those include the brilliant Mo Salto and 1-arm giant.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Skyler Wang.

DScore is a simple little app. A good way to check your routines.

You decide on one of 5 different sets of rules:

FIG
NCAA
Level 10 J.O. (USA)
Level 9 J.O. (USA)
Level 8 J.O. (USA)

DScore is a program, designed for Gymnastics coaches, athletes, and enthusiasts, that assists in the creation of Men’s Gymnastics routines and calculates start value. …

DScore is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, and also supports live updates to the Code of Points. You can download it for free and try it for 10 days, but then to continue using it you must purchase a license key using the button above.

Version 1.1.0 Release – $14.99

Author Michael L. Wilner has just updated for 2011.

come back Kathy pointed out that it would be a tight squeeze for any gymnast to compete both these major competition:

World Championships, Tokyo – Oct. 7-16, 2011
Pan-Am Championships, Guadalajara, Mexico – Oct. 22-29, 2011

On the other hand, the MAJOR meet is first. The less important meet second. And Juniors can compete Pan-Ams.

It’s not as daunting (for nations like Canada) as 2010 when Commonwealth Games preceded Worlds.