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TKO has been commenting on different BIG release skills.

When asked about Gaylord 2 on Women’s Bars, I was left scratching my head. Had it ever been done?

Click PLAY or watch Chelsea Otto’s bar routine at the 1999 American Classic on YouTube.

That’s what Men would call a Gaylord 2. The unusual dismount is full-twisting double back OVER the bar.

For comparison, watch mighty Mo Huilan at the 1994 Asian Games on bars doing what Men call a Gaylord 1 (double front over the bar to regrasp). It’s now called the Mo Salto on Bars in her honour.

Click PLAY or watch Mo on YouTube.

And wrong-way el-grip dismount.

Interesting release move on horizontal bar despite deduction for extra swing.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks TCO.

Leave a comment if you know the athlete.

We’ve raved about this site before.

Have you been frustrated by the incredibly limited coverage of gymnastics by major networks? (How few routines can they show in an hour?)

If so, try WCSN instead. They show a TON of routines.

Those of you in the USA can try it for FREE this year.

World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) … announced that the entire International Gymnastics (FIG) season will be available free to everyone in the United States to watch live and on-demand.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will sponsor key gymnastics events on WCSN.com as teams prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. …

They have an impressive line-up of events planned:

* World Cup from Barcelona, Spain (Jun. 30)
* FIG World Cup from Shanghai, China (July 27-28)
* Rhythmic World Cup from Maribor, Slovenia (Aug. 31-Sep. 2)
* World Championships from Stuttgart, Germany (Sep. 1-9)
* World Cup from Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sep. 16)
* Rhythmic World Championships from Patras, Greece (Sep. 19-23)
* World Cup from Glasgow, United Kingdom (Sep. 20-21)
* Rhythmic Berlin Masters from Berlin, Germany (Oct. 13-14)
* World Cup from Stuttgart, Germany (Oct. 27-28)
* Arthur Gander Memorial from Morges, Switzerland (Oct. 31)
* Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships from Quebec, Canada (Nov. 2-4)
* Swiss Cup from from Zurich, Switzerland (Nov. 4)

Actually, the rest of us non-Americans can check it out for free, as well:

To kick off the promotion, fans around the world can watch the 2006 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on-demand today at no additional cost.

This is a great promotion. The normal $4.95 monthly subscription is an excellent deal anyway if you want to watch any of those meets. (What would it cost you to travel to see them?)

Gymnastics is only one of 60 sports included. WSCN is the future of on-line sports coverage, I believe.

News: World Championship Sports Network delivers free live and on-demand coverage of gymnastics season – Gymnastics USA

WCSN – gymnastics home page

I have noticed the odd glitch. If a page doesn’t load correctly the first time, try it again.

One of our favourite clinicians has another new and interesting release. It’s actually the video version of one of her most popular presentations:

Stall Bar Drills for Conditioning and Flexibility.

Tammy Biggs describes using the stall bar for flexibility and shows a series of conditioning drills and exercises using the stall bar.

This DVD is a must have for clubs with stall bars or one that is thinking of getting some. This is a re-digitized DVD version of Tammy’s very popular lecture on using the Stall Bar for conditioning and flexibility. This DVD is also great for staff training.

Go to GYMSMARTS.com to see this DVD and many more.

Every year I see increasingly fit Yoga practitioners.

A non-gymnast friend, Andy, recently told me he learned straddle L-sit press to handstand (in middle age) though Yoga training. That’s impressive considering he was primarily a wrestler in his youth.

This is NOT Andy.

photographer Josef Vital – original on flickr

So says an article on the topic of the “cost” of high performance sport.

Big Expenses for Small Athletes

Shawn Johnson is on a six-day-aweek workout schedule. The 14- year-old gymnast from West Des Moines trains 25 hours a week at Chow’s Gymnastics & Dance with her coaches, Liang and Li Chow. She already competes on the national team, and now she is hoping to earn a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Big Expenses for Small Athletes – Health – RedOrbit

I would be very impressed if an Olympic medal contender like Shawn trained that few hours. It would be a brave and confident decision by her coaches who are aware the rest of the National team train well over 30hrs / week.

(Shawn said in a 2006 interview that she trains 4hrs / day after school. Leave a comment below if you know Shawn’s exact training hours over the past number of years.)

Courtesy of Jason Harris – Sports Illustrated

I’d expect Shawn to be the favourite at the upcoming Pan-Am Games.

More discussion on the Gym Chat forum: What it means to be elite

…gymnastics venue for the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, July 11, 2007. The games, which will feature more than 5,000 athletes from 42 countries, begin Friday.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) ESPN – Gymnastics Photo Wire

GymnasticsCoaching.com editor Rick McCharles is confirmed for Championships:

USA GYMNASTICS NATIONAL CONGRESS and TRADE SHOW
Aug. 16-18, 2007 – San Jose, California
Held in conjunction with 2007 Visa Championships at the HP Pavilion

(I hope to schedule a coaches “meet-up” there. Look for details on this blog a few days before the event if you will be there.)

Other USA Gymnastics Congress events in 2007:

Region 6 Congress
Aug. 2-5, 2007 – Newton, Massachusetts – Boston Marriott Newton

Region 5 Congress
Sept. 21-23, 2007 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel & Suites

Region 7 Congress
Sept. 27-30, 2007 – King of Prussia, Pennsylvania – The Inn at Valley Forge

USA Gymnastics Online: 2007 Regional Congresses

Somewhat hurt since Worlds 2006, I’m hopeful the ever photogenic Nastia will be back on schedule.

She’s very tough to beat on Bars and Beam.

LIUKIN’S COMEBACK PLAN

Pan American Games (July 13-29, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): Liukin plans to ease back into competition, competing only on uneven bars and beam. Liukin competed in the Pan Am Games in 2003 and will provide leadership to a young team.

Visa Championships (Aug. 15-18, San Jose, Calif.): Liukin looks to return to all-around competition in time to defend her two-time senior national title and qualify for Worlds. She won the junior national title in 2003 and 2004.

World Championships (Sept. 1-9, Stuttgart, Germany): Liukin won world titles on beam and uneven bars and was the all-around world runner-up in 2005. In 2006, she won silver on the uneven bars, the only event she could compete in because she needed ankle surgery.

Liukin easing into competition after ankle injury | Dallas Morning News

I’ve seen a few on-line raves from Austria. Including this one from GYMmedia.

Germany and Switzerland evenings:

In addition to the FIG-Gala the national evenings of these two national gymnastics associations, which are among the biggest of their type in the world, are traditionally the cultural and sporting highlights of every World Gymnaestrada week .

The tickets for these festivals of the senses, of colours and creative ideas were much sought after …

“MU HA MA BE” was the title of the Swiss evening, which stood for “MUsik – HAndlung -MAterial – BEwegung”, i.e. music, action, material and movement, the four creative principles of choreography; the purpose of the show was to search for the very essence of gymnastics….

GymFamily.Com
The Swiss and the German Evening

Leave a comment if you have news from Gymnaestrada.