Category: Uncategorized

Viva ELVIS closing

The King is leaving the building. Surprisingly, Cirque du Soleil’s tribute show is closing. The final performance Aug 31st, 2012.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… I wonder if they’d sell me that Trampo wall. 🙂

Mustafina, Komova, Afanasyeva

Lauren Hopkins posted 2012 Visa Championships – The Almighty Wrap-Up. A long, but worthwhile read.

She argues that the most likely Team to be announced in San Jose is Wieber, Douglas, Raisman, Ross, and Maroney.

That’s the default team, I think, too, at this point. But if any of those gymnasts are inconsistent — or are not able to recover from possible concussion 😦 — look for the most consistent alternate to step in, not necessarily the highest scoring.

I could see Marta calling up Elizabeth Price, for example. If she can hit FX, Vault and Bars over and over again in training.

A consistent meet may be all the USA needs.

Check the Qualifications scores at Russian Cup:

1.Aliya Mustafina 14.667 15.834 14.667 14.167 59.335
2.Viktoria Komova 14.800 16.134 14.000 14.300 59.234
3.Ksenia Afanasyeva 13.267 13.634 14.467 14.067 55.435

Sure Russia MIGHT peak in London. Add Paseka’s Amanar. … In a 3-up, 3-count competition they MIGHT beat the USA.

… But I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on it.

China might be secretly preparing another Gold medal team.

But I could equally see …

1. USA
2. Romania
3. Russia

Those scores via The All Around – Russian Cup: Moscow Wins, Mustafina Leads

Grishina did not compete due to injury. They certainly need her, Aliya and Vika healthy in London to have any chance to win Team.

Not much depth.

They’d be happy to award Russian citizenship to this girl …

Elizabeth Price - Photo: Stew Milne/US Presswire

Denis Vachon – Double Mini Tramp

A couple of passes from the Canadian National Champion 2012.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Anna Li – consistent Bars

Anna trains to hit 4 routines in sequence a day. I do believe she can hit a higher percentage of routines than anyone else on the Team … aside from, perhaps, Aly.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/MTgyNjQxNTAy?related=1

Inspiring.

I still see the “old dog” as the best Bars specialist for London, IF they took a Bars specialist. Unlikely at this point.

Marta does love consistency, though …

How many routines does Nastia hit every day, by the way? 🙂

staying POSITIVE in the gym

🙂

Where I live June is the most difficult month to stay motivated. School is ending. Season is over.

What’s the best way to keep up Gym Momentum?

Simon Rego, PsyD, director of psychology training at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City … shares some methods … for breaking the cycle of negativity.

STOP RUMINATING

RETIRE YOUR CRYSTAL BALL

DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST

REACH OUT TO OTHERS

STICK TO A STRUCTURED ROUTINE

AVOID BLACK AND WHITE THINKING

REALITY CHECK YOUR THOUGHTS

CHOOSE SMART GOALS

FAKE IT A BIT

TREAT YOURSELF WELL

See the details – WAYS TO FEEL BETTER IN THE GYM

Emma Curry and Jeb Silsbury

highs & lows in Ghent

I highly recommend one final post from Ghent by Bea Gheorghisor:

… I was extremely happy to see two Swedish girls (Ida Gustafsson and Jonna Adlerteg) and two Czech gymnasts (Jana Sikulova and Kristina Palesova) qualify in top five for the uneven bars finals. …

… I was surprised by the intensity with which the gymnasts and the coaches from Canada were living every routine and by how close they were. …

… Alexa Moreno of Mexico had two extraordinary (if not perfect) days in Ghent. …

Her two vaults were Rudi (very well executed – she has good power and the amplitude) and a Tsukahara 1 ½ (which she does not manage to control in the same manner as the Rudi but is still a breath of fresh air to see someone attempting something else than Yurchenko’s). …

read it – Couch Gymnast

This photo from the Beam awards podium is getting widely shared. 🙂

Is this a sport for women? Or little girls? … Or both?

(via Vasiliki Millousi Official on Facebook)

UPDATE: Finally. Zonderland and Van Gerner have been confirmed as the two Olympians for Netherlands. Wyomi Masela and Jeffrey Wammes are reserves.

Sho Nakamori retires

Ono recommended a summing up on ShoNakamori.com:

… I never believed it when retired gymnasts told me that they had to stop training because their bodies just couldn’t handle the beating of training anymore. It takes a lot of physical stress to be able to prepare and compete at the highest level. As I was preparing for the US Championships, I finally started to understand this. From being an all-arounder, I had to cut floor and vault to just focus on 4 events because my knee just couldn’t keep up with the stress anymore. Sadly, it never fully recovered from the ACL tear a couple of years ago. …

… it’s easy to categorize success and failure based on whether you make it all the way to the Olympics or not. For every athlete who prevails on the highest stage, many thousands fall short. Sometimes the difference between them is not a matter of talent or effort. It’s a given that the best athletes train hard…we all want “it”. Sometimes it just depends on the vagaries of time and circumstance. …

To The Beginning of the Rest of My Life

That’s a great read. A great truth.

Sho is one of our most eloquent gymnasts. And a class guy all around.

There is a long, long list of wonderful athletes who will retire this summer. A sad reality of the Olympic quadrennial.