top 16 teams – road to Rio

The #Glasgow2015 Worlds preliminaries were the best I can recall. Congratulations to all competitors.

And congratulations to Dutch Head coach Gerben Wiersma. Fantastic job with this team.

The Test Event is at the Olympic venue in Brazil April 16-19, 2016. (I’ll be there.)

Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari Out of Worlds

Just saw the news on wogymnast via Ginnasticando.

Ferrari

No worries. The BIG goal for Team Italy was Rio. They had a fantastic Olympic qualifications. Vanessa did help her team when it counted most. The 2006 World Champion can now take time to recover.

Her coach Enrico Casella has done a terrific job with Vanessa and the team since being named National Coach of this cycle.

Dragalescu tweets Simone Biles

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Netherland qualifies to RIO

Their 1st Olympic qualification as a full team since 1976. Congratulations. πŸ™‚

Definitely the most artistic team, many fans who’ve not had a chance to see the Dutch girls are now calling them their favourite team.

There are two more rotations left at Worlds #Glasgow2015, but statistically it’s near certain that Canada 7th and Netherlands 8th grab the final two spots. Brazil 9th will now need to qualify at the Olympic test meet in March 2016.

The Canadians are here cheering … stylish Canadian duds.

Simone and Gabby to the AA Final

Our Olympic champion absolutely drilled her first three apparatus … then had a shocking fall on standing 1/1 on Beam. But it was enough to get through to the all-around final at Worlds #Glasgow2015 with Simone. Congratulations.

Biles Dougla

Terri Laymon – Superb Day 1 For The Ladies From USA

ONLY 2 gymnasts / nation into Finals

Will Graves calls it a β€œfirst-world gymnastics problem”:

β€œβ€¦ only two gymnasts per country can advance. It’s designed to spread the wealth and prevent a medal stand sweep. … β€œ

I like the rule which was put in place by FIG.

Olympic rings

The mission of the International Olympic Committee is to promote Olympic values in all member nations. Values like ethics, fair play, coach education, non-violence, peace amongst nations, equality of women, anti-doping, safety and the development of sport for all. Sport for all in all member nations.

Determining the BEST athletes is a means to achieve those mandates. Not the only goal.

If you don’t like the Olympic Charter, don’t watch the Olympics. Don’t watch Worlds. Watch the American, Russian and Chinese championships instead. Simple. That way you can see most of the best gymnasts of the world compete AA.

Personally, I love one chance a year to see gymnasts representing smaller nations.

related – Gymternet – More of Our Favorite Small Program Heroes

Sofia Gomez, Guatemala
Sofia Gomez, Guatamala

weird beast on the competition floor

Now that all the light bulbs have been replaced (they were exploding), this is the only thing to worry about. πŸ™‚