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USA Men’s Olympic Team

Stick It Media:

A terrific spreadsheet is making the rounds, detailing the recent results of every Senior qualifier in the 2012 VISA U.S. Championships field.

… the men’s Olympic selection committee will also be taking these results into consideration, along with those accomplished at Nationals and Trials. The committee is looking for consistency, so if four days of competition isn’t enough, these past results will likely come into play.

The top two all-arounders, determined by their combined scores at Nationals and Olympic Trials, will automatically qualify for spots on the 2012 Olympic Team. A gymnast can also automatically qualify by placing in the top 3 on 3 events, also determined by combined scores at Nationals and Trials. …

read more – 2012 U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Championships 1st Stop on Road to London

screenshot

Thanks to Ono No Komachi for sharing her database of USA MAG Past Performance 2012 (Google doc).

meanwhile, in Russia …

… Rodionenko considers the U.S. team the main threat to the Russians at the Olympics.

… Alexander Alexandrov, named the four countries likely to compete for medals: the U.S., China, Romania and Russia. But I believe that the Americans are our main rivals.

Three of the total five spots on the team have already been assigned. Head coach Andrei Rodionenko has announced that Viktoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina and Anastasia Grishina have already been confirmed …

We’ll know more after next week’s Russia Cup in Penza. Keeping the top girls healthy is highest priority, I’m sure.

… Alexandrov described the daily routine of Russian female gymnasts at their training camp at Lake Krugloye. With school already over for the summer, training for the London Olympics is in full swing. The athletes get up at 7:30 a.m., and after some warm-up exercises, they go out for a walk or a jog. A half-hour later, they have their breakfast, and at 10 a.m. sharp their first training session begins; it lasts for about 2.5 hours. Then they take a break, do some recovery exercises, and have some personal time. Their second training session lasts from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., followed by massage and personal time. They have no second training sessions on Thursdays. They turn in at 10:30 p.m., and have a day off, just like everyone else, on Sundays. …

Russia Beyond the Headlines – Training for Olympics in full swing

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics links to the latest issue of Gymnastika online. (Russian)

related – Alfosov and Rodionenko speak – men’s team selection

Thanks Alan.

muscular vs skinny gymnasts

DVORA MEYERS has another good article on Deadspin, explaining to the general public the issue of body type in women’s Artistic Gymnastics. Shawn and Nastia are used as examples.

… “In America, we’ll score the stocky, athletic builds normally,” 1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes said, in response to Johnson’s comments. “Internationally, there still remains a stigma to that type of body type.”

Given Johnson’s success, it’s hard to make the case that she has suffered much under-scoring internationally—she won nearly every senior meet she entered in 2007 and 2008—and many similarly built gymnasts have also fared well in competition, including Mary Lou Retton and 1991 World Champion Kim Zmeskal. …

“Athletic” Shawn Johnson Retires: How Gymnastics Talks About Bodies In Code

Do you need the “international look” (rail thin) to be competitive in London?

In 2012 there’s less stigma than ever before. It’s far more advantageous to be built like Shawn than Nastia in an open-ended Code. Ask the Chinese coaches.

Highest difficulty score will usually beat highest execution score. Regardless of body type. Good leg and foot form has never been less rewarded than in this cycle.

related – response on Rewriting Russian Gymnastics – ‘The Artistry Fallacy’

on Alicia …

… At 24, the Beijing captain was already on borrowed time, competing against gymnasts in their mid-teens for a spot on her second Olympic team. Then, eight months ago, she blew out her right Achilles, a devastating injury made that much worse for its timing.

“I’ve been to one Olympics and I would love to go to another,” Sacramone said Wednesday, two days before she returns to competition at the U.S. gymnastics championships.

“If all things work out, great. If not, I went down giving it a hell of a shot.” …

NANCY ARMOUR – Neither injuries nor age can slow Sacramone

photo by USA Gymnastics

Nastia’s Bar dismount

Not bad.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Can she pull that out end of routine?

… I wish she’d gone back to double layout.

Somebody calculated Nastia’s routine at 16.5 start. Or 16.6. A hit routine with that dismount would easily put her in contention for the Bars “specialist”.

Here’s the full routine without the dismount. (VIDEO)

next gen Canadian girls

Grace Chiu GraceClick on Facebook:

Junior AA Top 16 results from the Salamun Memorial in Maribor, Slovenia with Team Canada sweeping the podium! Bravo Girls!

1. Shallon Olsen 55.20
2. Victoria-Kayen Woo 52.80
3. Rose-Kayen Woo 52.00

Alicia at Visas

Kick open that front.


via Pushy Queen


Talk about tearing your Achilles in training at 2011 Worlds.

In Japan, I was in a good amount of pain. We were actually testing out different methods of tape to try and alleviate my Achilles pain. I woke up one day and something just felt off. I was actually doing a dismount off beam and I was like, I think I’m going to tear my Achilles today. It hurt so bad. Second pass on my floor routine I just hear this pop and I landed flat on my back. I looked around and I was like, I think I broke the floor. Does somebody want to check this? Everybody pauses because they heard it over the music. It was that loud. They’re humoring me, checking the floor, but I was like, oh man. It’s my Achilles. I know it. I flew back to the states two days later and had surgery. …

That’s from a profile piece by NBC – Getting to know Alicia Sacramone

I first became a fan of Alicia Sacramone at Visa Championships oh so long ago. She’s larger than life in person. Dominating the gym with personality.

related – Beam training VIDEO

related – Chellsie (not competing) has signed on for the post-Olympics Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions