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A really superb article with photos by Ayako Murao on International Gymnast names names.

With over 90 days left until the Olympics, that seems very early to me. Especially for the Women’s Team.

2008 Japanese Women’s Olympic team: Kyoko Oshima, Miki Uemura, Yu Minobe, Koko Tsurumi, Yuko Shintake, Mayu Kuroda

Kyoko Oshima

Only two of the Gold medal men’s team from the 2004 Olympics qualified again for 2008.

2008 Japanese Men’s Olympic team: Hiroyuki Tomita, Kohei Uchimura, Koki Sakamoto, Takehiro Kashima, Makoto Okiguchi, Takuya Nakase

Scores look good for the men. And judging in Japan is traditionally very severe.

read the article on International Gymnast

(via Gymblog)

Surprisingly, the Olympic flame was carried to the top of the highest elevation with very little problem. Quite a technical accomplishment. Weather cooperated.

… Chinese officials did not publicize the flame’s travel to the Everest base camp, apparently to avoid protests.

Beijing has also exercised its diplomatic clout, persuading Nepal to bar climbers from border-straddling Everest’s southern face to keep potential protesters from reaching the peak and spoiling the torch’s moment.

… While it may face some protests when it is run through Hong Kong and neighboring Macau (Friday) and Saturday, the torch then moves to less-contested territory for a three-month journey across China. …

Boston.com

That’s the title of a guest post on International Gymnast magazine, the most venerable in the industry.

All sorts of nonsense gets posted on “blogs” — but when the best known publication in the industry questions the veracity of your book, you know the game is up. There’s no way Jennifer Sey is getting on Oprah now.

Sey memoir not all it’s chalked up to be

By Lisa Lazar

Perception is not always the same as reality, writes former Parkettes gymnast Lisa Lazar after reading Jennifer Sey’s new memoir, “Chalked Up.”

…

I grew up within the Parkettes organization, was an elite level gymnast and two-time U.S. junior national team member in the mid-’80s. I trained with Jennifer Sey and was coached by the same people she writes about in “Chalked Up.” I find myself admiring Jen for letting people see the depth of her childhood trials and tribulations, which she reveals as having begun long before she ever went to the Parkettes gym. I struggle, however, to understand how some of her detailed recollections are so very different from mine.

…

… read the entire article on International Gymnast

Lisa Lazar is a former elite gymnast who trained at the Parkettes from 1977 to 1990. She now resides in Baltimore.

Related post: is ex-gymnast author Jennifer Sey a liar?

Wow.

The internet is buzzing with these videos just posted from China. (How hard could the government be clamping down on the internet?)

fanbutterfly tried to film both He Kexin (17.300 bars) and Li Shanshan (16.950 beam) simultaneously.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

more from the competition – fanbutterfly’s Videos on YouTube

They’ll definitely be watching these routines at Karoli Ranch with the new WiFi provided by AT&T.

More commentary:

Chinese Women Hit New Heights – IG

Chinese Nationals – Gymnastics and stuff

Jiang Yuyuan’s Amânar, etc. – difficulty plus execution

Jiang Yuyuan’s Amanar and Chinese Nationals – Gymblog

Game on. This is getting fun.

Hilarious.

Stephen Colbert complained that Korean pop star Rain bested him on the Time.com poll of the world’s most influential people (Rain was #2 while Colbert came in third). So at the end of the show, they did what most movers and shakers do to settle the score: they staged a dance-off.

Huffington Post

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Try this link, instead.

I’ve got no complaints with this one: Are U.S. Gymnasts Pushed too Hard? – ABC News video

In the U.S. every year 11,000 people suffer spinal cord injuries and are paralyzed to some degree. …

Last year one of those was Arizona Desert Devils coach Garrett Tanner.

From his website:

I had just finished teaching my last group of students at the gym. A couple of other coaches and I decided to practice some variations of double front flips off the trampoline onto the mat. This was something I had been doing since I was nine years old and that night I had already done like ten double front flips. Well, on about the 11th one I just didn’t get all the way around on the second rotation and landed right on my forehead. …

Read the details — and check out the fundraising events — on GoGarrett.org

I know Garrett would want coaches everywhere to know about his accident. To remind others that double fronts are dangerous, even for experts.

Actually, Garrett is making good progress and is optimistic about the future. He plans to travel. And have a family.

I only wish he could make a miraculous recovery like Dutch gymnast Imke Glas. Doctors are astonished at her progress. Imke plans to go back to sport, but likely not elite gymnastics.

Related posts:

coach killed landing in pit (forward somersaulting)

update – Drew’s life after paralysis (forward somersaulting)

(via College Gymnastics Board)

You have to feel a little badly for Utah, finishing second — again — at NCAA Championships. The 3rd year in a row. To Georgia.

This team and Head Coach Greg Marsden invented the success story that is modern NCAA gymnastics. Utah did everything right this year. And, incredibly, did not not count a single fall in any competition.

Congratulations. Best of luck in 2009.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Related post: unique gymnastics slideshow – Georgia Gym Dogs

2008 USAG Junior Olympic Women’s Artistic Level 10 National Championships in Orlando, Florida.

Saturday, May 17

SESSION I Junior A / Senior A
11:30 am Competition

SESSION II Junior B / Senior B
5:00 pm Competition

Sunday, May 18

SESSION III Junior C / Senior C
10:00 am Competition

Session IV Junior D / Senior D
3:30 pm Competition

competition web page

If you’ll be there too and want to meet-up, leave a comment.

Hosted in conjunction will be the College Bound competition. Every Head Coach in the NCAA will be there looking for gymnasts to fill their roster for 2009 and beyond. Thursday, May 15 – Orlando, Florida, Silver Spurs Arena.

details – 2008 USAIGC / NACGC College Bound Invitational

I’ve never been to this meet. But really looking forward to it.

24 Hour Fitness, the largest privately-owned U.S. fitness chain, announced May 1st that U.S. Olympic hopeful Alicia Sacramone has joined their “team”.

Congratulations. She will be a great spokesperson for fitness.

photo – Brestyans Gymnastics

24 Hour Fitness Announces Partnership with Six U.S. Olympic Hopefuls for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – press release