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A fantastic and unusual NCAA competition ended predictably: UCLA defeated Stanford, University of Illinois and University of Washington.

The audience was filled with young competitive gymnasts, ALL aspiring to compete one day in the NCAA. This is a wonderful motivator for kids.

UCLA, the most “famous” of the teams, was the crowd favourite.

And, once again, Anna Li won the all-around. (Another crowd favourite, she’s from Aurora, IL.)

Last season Anna competed on every event in every meet, tying for fourth overall in the all-around (39.5) at Championships. No one claims Anna is the best gymnast in the NCAA — but she’ll beat the best gymnast in the NCAA on any given day, if they miss. Anna Li is a competition machine. She looked PERFECT last night scoring a career-high (39.6).

On the UCLA website:

“This is the first time this season we’ve competed like Bruins,” said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field.

It was a team season high score. For a team that is 10-0.

UCLA coach Chris Waller said he felt all 4 teams looked great and was pleased the College girls were able to put on a good show for the gymnasts.

Enough about UCLA. Personally I felt Stanford was just as good. And even more cohesive and enthusiastic as a team. If it wasn’t for the weird NCAA competition rules, the result might have been reversed.

Many, many teams in the NCAA are much better than in 2007. Quality and difficulty of routines improved.

This is just a great season for Collegiate gymnastics.

Bruins Win IGI Chicago Style Meet With Season-Best 196.875

The Games begin in six months. Or maybe they’ve begun already.

Hard to know how quickly his words will filter across international waters, but American gymnast Sasha Artemev made a splash Friday when he proclaimed the U.S. men to be serious gold medal contenders and teammate Paul Hamm, not two-time world champ Yang Wei, as the man to beat at the Beijing Olympics.

“He doesn’t have a weakness,” Artemev said of Hamm, the defending Olympic champion. “He’s strong on all six events. Yang Wei has a high bar weakness. He’s not too good on high bar. But Paul doesn’t have a weakness. He’s strong on all events. He’s the man to beat, in my opinion.” …

Artemev says Hamm, U.S. gymnasts have shot at gold – ESPN

I love it.

Them’s fightin’ words, no doubt repeated today at the National Training Centre in Beijing. I would enjoy hearing what Yang Wei has to say.

Suddenly “Olympic Gymnastics” no longer means “Women’s Olympic Gymnastics”. The general public is going to be tuning in to the Men, as well.

Certainly Paul himself and the rest of the team are not nearly so enthusiastically outspoken, but we really do have another strong contending team.

Hamm with coach Miles Avery (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) – ESPN

It’s funny because it’s true.

T-shirt at Chicago Style competition. The only money a parent spends on themselves.

Amy Van Deusen on the About: Gymnastics site posted progressions for handstand. Excellent for the non-gymnast:

How to Do a Perfect Handstand

How old is this kid?

He’s got SKILLZ I’ve never seen before.

Click PLAY or watch him on YouTube.

(via FlipCatch)

Remember the bad old days when these were not allowed?

Double back pike – Chicago Style competition 2008

The only way we were finally allowed to use extra landing mats for tumbling in Canada was by pointing out that they were being used in Russia in National competitions.

Certainly the coach should have flipped the mat over to reduce the risk of getting “caught up” in the carrying handles.

OK, EVERYONE else will be writing about the incredible comeback of Paul Hamm who dominated Winter Cup so far, his first all-around competition in two and a half years.

Just to be different, I’ll congratulate Raj, who finished 2nd on day 1. Right on!

This great gymnast has had more than his share of frustration over the years. I’d love to cheer for him in Beijing.

Things are certainly looking up for the USA.

bio – USA Gymnastics

Day 1 results

In the Windy City, this is Chicago Style.

Hosted by elite coach Todd Gardiner and the IGI team, over 4000 girls are here to show their stuff on a really, really big stage.

The Navy Pier venue is massive.

first rotation

Six competition floors, it’s not easy to capture in one photo. (This shows less than half competition area.) In fact, it’s a good long walk from one end of the gym to the other.

Fantastic.

For the 10th Anniversary edition, IGI has added an NCAA Session featuring Stanford University, UCLA, University of Illinois and University of Washington.

Needless to say, that’s the hottest ticket in town. First come, first served, tickets go on sale 4PM today at Navy Pier. I hope to get in with my “media credential”. Yup, bloggers are media now.

Organizers look surprisingly relaxed. Hosting 4000 athletes is not ten times more difficult than hosting 400 kids.

official website – IGI “Chicago Style” Gymnastics Meet

Note: The venue has no internet access so I’m having to sneak out to Starbucks to post this weekend.

Lilia Podkopayeva (Russian: Лилия Александровна Подкопаева; Ukrainian: Лілія Олександрівна Подкопаєва) was the 1996 Olympic all-around champion. Many consider her the greatest of all time.

Podkoypayeva was often referred to as the “complete package” gymnast, possessing equal qualities of technical skill and artistic expression. Her routines were known for their melding of balletic, expressive choreography, clean execution, impeccable form and extremely difficult skills. In addition, Podkopayeva was known for being strong on all four apparatus, without an obvious weak event. She was the originator of two skills that are still included in the Code of Points: the Podkopayeva vault and a double front half-out salto on the floor exercise.

Lilia Podkopayeva – Wikipedia

Most extraordinary in that era was her front tumbling. Double front half out is still almost never seen 12ys later. Valentin Uzunov (The Gym Press) compares all other Floor routines against this one.

Click PLAY or watch Pod compete it in Floor Finals at the 1996 Olympics on YouTube.

The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame will hold its 12th annual induction ceremony Saturday, Feb. 9. …

The IGHOF Class of 2008 includes Olympic champions Shuji Tsurumi (Japan), Stoyan Deltchev (Bulgaria), Ma Yanhong (China) and Lilia Podkopayeva (Ukraine).

International Gymnast

An Alaskan likes to travel around the world.

Doing a Mayan-inspired handstand at the Chichen Itza temple complex in Yucutan, Mexico. (1992)

Photo by Rudy Brueggemann © 1992

Check Rudy’s handstand gallery.

(via About.com Gymnastics)