Swiss Cup 2023 preview

On November 5th, athletes from across the globe will compete in the Swiss Cup – known for being one of the most lucrative opportunities in gymnastics.

The competition utilizes a knock-out round format! …

Neutral Deductions

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Injuries in Elite WAG – research in France

In addition to a study in Australia (Kolt & Kirkby), this is the only other I know that has had elite female club gymnasts in the sample.

It confirms that WAG is a dangerous sport. These gymnasts had a serious injury every 500 hours of training, on average.

A large percentage of injuries affected the growth plates — so coaches need be cautious during rapid growth phases.

Click through for details. It’s short and easy to read compared with many academic studies.

Background Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) is a sport well known for requiring a heavy and difficult training load from a younger age to reach a high level of performance. This also is associated with an injury risk. Epidemiological studies are thus needed to improve injury prevention strategies.

Objective We aimed to determine the injury epidemiology in French high-level WAG.

Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of injury data collected prospectively over six seasons from the 2014–2015 season to the 2019–2020 season among French high-level Women’s Artistic Gymnasts from the France Gymnastics National Centre of Saint-Etienne. We performed descriptive analyses, including the calculation of the 1-year injury prevalence.

Results 43 gymnasts were included in this study, representing 111 gymnast-seasons. A total of 285 injuries were collected over the study period, that was, an average of 2.6 injuries per gymnast per season. On average, 91.4% of gymnasts had at least one injury per season. The estimated injury incidence rate was 1.8 injuries per 1000 hours of gymnastics practice. The knee was the most affected joint (16%), followed by the elbow (12%) and the ankle (12%). The most frequent injury type was physis pathologies (16%) and bone injuries (15%). Eighty- eight per cent of injuries required a modification of the gymnastics practice.

Conclusions The results of this study allowed a description of the epidemiology of injuries in this population of young and elite gymnasts. This very high injury prevalence supports the need to improve injury risk reduction strategies in WAG.

BMJ Journals

Sportswashing – Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is an oil rich semi-dictatorship under ‘President‘ Ilham Aliyev.

Capital Baku — which hosts many FIG competitions — can be accused of sportswashing, trying to improve their international reputations tarnished by wrongdoing.

In fact, the first usage of the term “sportswashing” may have been applied to Azerbaijan hosting the 2015 European Games in Baku.

September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against Armenians in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh — internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but populated by Armenians.

Human rights organizations and experts in genocide prevention issued multiple alerts, stating that the region’s Armenian population was at risk or actively being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide.

I post this information here because the world seems to have mostly ignored the most recent attacks on Armenians. We should be aware of the situation every time we talk about the World Cup in Baku.

And every time we talk about Artur Davtyan, 2022 World Champion on vault.  From Armenia.

Gracie Kramer – professional gymnast

Gracie has a few different revenue streams, including coaching.

Former UCLA Gymnast Gracie Kramer @graciekramer14 ended her career early because of covid shut downs.

Now at 25, Gracie is considered “old” for a pro gymnast. But, Gracie is determined to go against the age stereotypes, continue flipping, and make a living doing it.

Watch to see how Gracie makes a living as a former college gymnast.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Arthur Gander 2023 results

Brazil’s Julia Soares and the U.S.’s Yul Moldauer won the women’s and men’s titles, respectively, at the 40th Arthur Gander Memorial on Wednesday in Morges, Switzerland. …

Moldauer regained the title he first won in 2021, after placing second in 2022. …

International Gymnast

Women (three apparatus):

  1. Julia Soares BRA 39.85
  2. Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos FRA 39.75
  3. Kaylia Nemour ALG 39.55

Men (four apparatus):

  1. Yul Moldauer USA 57.20
  2. Kaya Kazuma JPN 57.10
  3. Felix Dolci CAN 56.70

Lukas Dauser on the Russia ban

The world P Bar champion is dubious about reasons to reintegrate Russians — especially those who represent police or military.

Cirque Trampoline Acts

If you are creating a new show for Cirque du Soleil, you brainstorm new and different ways to use trampolines. Must be FUN. 😀

R.I.P. Vladimir Markelov

The great Vladimir Markelov is almost exactly my own age.

Dead far too soon. Age-66.

It does seem many former Russian gymnasts die young.

He was a 1976 and 1980 Olympian for the Soviet Union.

His name is remembered for the Markelov release on Bars and H Bar.

It was pointed out to me that in 2021, life expectancy at birth for women in Russia was about 74.77 years, while life expectancy at birth for men was about 64.21 years on average.

Putin’s kleptocracy seems to be bad for citizen’s health.

It’s Movember …

Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.

It is a portmanteau of the Australian-English diminutive word for moustache, “mo”, and “November”. …

One spokesperson for men’s mental health is our own Nile Wilson.

He’s been very open about his own personal struggles with mental health issues and gambling addiction.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (2022)