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Rhythmic Gymnastics continues to be one of the weakest of all Olympic sports for the USA.

PATRAS, Greece — Only those who managed to keep their heads survived this incredibly tensed, last day of the individual contest in Patras. It has ended with the long-awaited coronation of the Ukrainian Anna Bessonova as the the 2007 all-around champion.

What seemed to be disastrous Championships for Ukraine last Sunday, finished as a fully deserved triumph Bessonova fought for this title as a real Gladiator — the music for her Clubs routine — and in the end, was received the standing ovations with tears in her eyes.

The Silver went to Vera Sessina or Russia, and 2005 champion Olga Kapranova won bronze.

The list of the top 20 gymnasts who won the Olympic visas for Beijing is also, finally clear. The nations which will be represented by two gymnasts in 2008 are: Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Israel, Azerbaijan and Ukraine while Canada, Spain, Greece, Korea, Uzbekistan, Austria, Estonia and Poland will be represented by one gymnast in the individual event.

Three more places will be designated by the FIG and one by the IOC.

The group all-around will be decided on Saturday and group finals on Sunday.

WCSN.com: News

UPDATE: FIG allocated three wild cards to Xiao Yiming of China, Odette Richard of South Africa and Naazmi Johnston of Australia. A fourth wild card will be announced by the IOC.

Gold medallist Anna Bessonova from Ukraine, center, stands on the podium with silver medallist Vera Sessina from Russia, left, and bronze medallist Olga Kapranova after the individual final at the 28th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships…, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

ESPN

We all know this kind of gym Mom.

larger original – flickr

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

International Gymnast has results and a good update on the Rhythmic World Championships:

Russia Takes Control of Rhythmic Worlds

September 19, 2007

Russia’s Olga Kapranova and Vera Sesina each won two titles in the event finals at the 28th Rhythmic World Championships, taking place in Patras, Greece.

Kapranova, the 2005 world all-around champion, won the gold medal with hoop and the silver medal with rope on Monday. Sesina won the gold medal with rope and the the silver medal with hoop.

Kapranova added her second gold with the clubs on Wednesday. Sesina won the ribbon title and bronze with the clubs.

Ukraine’s Anna Bessonova picked up silver medals with the ribbon and clubs and the bronze medal with hoop. Inna Zhukova of Belarus won the bronze medal with the rope and 2004 Olympic champion Alina Kabayeva won the brone medal with the ribbon.

Canada’s Alexandra Orlando was the only gymnast from North America to qualify for the finals. Orlando, winner of six gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, finished seventh with hoop.

The all-around final will take place Friday, and group finals will take place Sunday. …

International GYMNAST Magazine Online

Olga Kapranova, Longines Sports Ambassadress of Elegance – Longines

more artistically edited Rhythmic photos – FotoGym

French actor, stuntman, gymnast, martial artist Cyril Raffaelli was most recently seen in the film Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

Click PLAY or watch the stuntman highlight video on YouTube.

Music : Lex B

Cyril Raffaelli – official website

(via Jump Club)

Wright Thompson of ESPN posted a comprehensive, balanced profile of one of the world’s most successful coaches, Al Fong of GAGE Gymnastics in Missouri.

Al and his partner wife Armine Barutyan-Fong coached one of my favourite gymnasts of all time, Courtney McCool, and dozens of other fantastic athletes. Currently they coach the brilliant Ivana Hong.

I would love to travel to GAGE to see how they develop such superb athletes.

On the other hand, for old-timers like myself, the name Al Fong is one of the darkest clouds on our sport.

He reminds us of his gymnast, 15-year-old Julissa Gomez, who was tragically paralyzed at a competition in Japan leading up to the 1988 Olympics. Julissa died three years later. Her mother still blames Fong.

Another of his gymnasts, Christy Henrich, missed making that 1988 team by 1/10th of a point. By 1991, anorexia had whittled her down to 61 pounds. Christy died of multiple organ failure three years later, at age-22.

Was that Al’s fault?

He might not have been guilty, but he was hardly innocent.

The ESPN article intimates Al is a changed man. A more balanced, rational person than he was in the past:

Gymnastics, of course, is notorious for fanatical, overbearing coaches, but the old Fong was the worst. He pushed. He insulted. He started practices at the crack of dawn and late at night. …

Much of the article speaks of the near bankruptcy of GAGE and the Fongs personally after building a wonderful new gym.

I hope Al Fong has things much more in perspective in 2007.

Our community has much to learn from Al. He is dedicated. And a fantastic technical coach.

Do you agree?

Read the entire article for yourself: ESPN – Al Fong’s iron fist – Olympics

Espen Jansen is twice as old as some of his competitors! Congratulations.

Three months shy of his 39th birthday, Norway’s best gymnast competed in his 13th world championships Monday. Though he had mistakes on his first three events – high bar, floor exercise and pommel horse – his overall score of 82.875 was still more than a point better than last year.

…

“I’ve said I’ll do it as long as it’s fun and as long as it’s going the right way,” said Jansen, the oldest gymnast at worlds.

Nearly 39, Norwegian gymnast can still hang with the kids – Yahoo! Canada News

photo – Pravda

Back in the day I had the privilege of coaching Debbie Broderick.

Today she is Debbie Rodriguez, club owner (Byers), Mom, elite coach and Beam guru. I was thrilled to see her gymnast — Katelyn Mohr — hit eight routines for eight at USA Championships 2007.

After the success of Debbie’s introductory beam video — It’s About Stability — the good folks at Gym Smarts quickly released two more:

1. Balance Beam – Back Tumbling Step-out Series

A continuation of Debbie Rodriguez’s It’s About Stability Series. Learn the back handspring to layout-stepout tumbling series on the balance beam

2. Balance Beam – Round-off Dismounts
A continuation of Debbie Rodriguez’s It’s About Stability Series, learn to perform and sucessfully complete round-off Dismounts with confidence.

Debbie Rodriguez

With over 30 years of gymnastics experience as gymnast, Canadian Elite Gymnast, Collegiate Athlete, Coach and Club Owner, Debbie Rodriguez is recognized as a leader in the gymnastics community. She coaches all levels of gymnastics from beginners to elite athletes. Debbie holds a bachelors Degree in Physical Education, Physical Therapy, is a Certified Weight Trainer, Nutritionist and a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. Combining over 20 years of coaching and her international competitive experience with her extensive educational background has helped Debbie create some of the most successful gymnasts in the United States today. She was 2006 Region 1 Optional Coach of the Year.

Go to GYMSMARTS.com for details on these DVDs and many more at about US$30 each.

I’m no beam coach, but those I’ve spoken with really like Debbie’s approach to the apparatus.

Good news.

Despite the “epidemic” of overweight youth, more are taking part in school sport in the States.

More than half the nation’s high school students participated in sports last year, and for the first time more than 3 million of them were girls.

The National Federation of State High School Associations released the results of its annual participation survey Wednesday, listing a record 7,342,910 high school athletes in the 2006-07 school year among its member associations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This the 18th straight year the number of participants has increased.

… Tennis, swimming and diving, archery, badminton, cheerleading, crew and gymnastics were among sports in which girls outnumbered boys.

The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

photo source

Over a year ago Steve McCain of American Gymnast showed me a demo of their on-line coaching videos.

Finally, the new system has launched. And I couldn’t be more impressed. The wait was worth it!

The easiest way to see how Gymnastics on Demand works is to watch their video introduction — See it in Action.

Details:

Gymnastics on Demand is an all-new, online gymnastics video training system offered as a monthly subscription. Gymnastics on Demand features hundreds of gymnastics training videos, complete with narration and descriptions that explain the common technique used to learn gymnastics skills. …

* Skill Technique
* Drills and Suggested Progressions
* Common Mistakes & Solutions
* Spotting Technique

Currently, the system includes 4 events:

* Vault (includes men’s and women’s)
* Bars (includes men’s and women’s)
* Balance Beam
* Floor Exercise (includes men’s and women’s)

Gymnastics on Demand will be continuously updated to include the remaining men’s events, as well as other important topics, such as Strength & Conditioning and Flexibility.

What is it? – American Gymnast

At about US$10 / month for a 1-year introductory subscription, the service is a good investment for Women’s Artistic clubs and Head Coaches. And anyone involved in Coach Education.

The Floor videos are certainly geared towards Cheer, as well.

I’ll be posting frequently about Gymnastics on Demand. This is the future.

At Taiso Gymnastics we did our share, over the years, of acrobatics off a wall. From trampoline and from a run.

But this video includes tricks we never tried nor even imagined (double twist off a tree !!).

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Be sure to train these stunts in a club with proper matting, coaching and spotting.

(via Jump Club)