Romania looking strong for Olympics

Final team

Diana Bulimar
Diana Chelaru
Larisa Iordache
Sandra Izbasa
Catalina Ponor

Chelaru replaces Haidu from the provisional list after a good showing at the “friendly”.

ROM v FRA v ITA v GER v Mixed Group

Romania (ROU) 180.200
Italy (ITA) 169.450
Germany (GER) 167.300
France (FRA) 160.150

1. Iordache 60.85
2. Izbasa 59.15 (competing Bars for 13.95)
3. Ferrari 57.8.

Full Twist – Results & Videos: ROM v FRA v ITA v GER v Mixed Group

details on Couch Gymnast – Romanian International Friendly: A Brief Write-Up and Romania Names Olympic Team

photo by Carmen Manda on Facebook

Russian Olympic Teams

Ksenia Afanasyeva
Victoria Komova
Aliya Mustafina
Anastasia Grishina
Maria Paseka

RESERVES: Tatiana Nabieva; Yulia Inshina

Emin Garibov
David Belyavskiy
Alexander Balandin
Denis Ablyazin
Igor Pakhomenko

RESERVES: Sergey Khorokhordin; Nikita Ignatyev

No Tatiana. 😦 London now 15% less entertaining.

Paseka must be the one landing Amanar.

(via RSport)

top 10 Trials moments

Gymnastike:


10. The Maroney/Ross Connection
9. Mikulak is Undeniable
8. Appreciative Alternates
7. The Smiling Illini
6. Bridget Sloan
5. Floor Exercise Brilliance
4. Nastia’s Graceful Exit
3. The Crowd
2. LIVE Team Announcements
1. One Word: Comebacks

details – Top Ten: U.S. Olympic Trials Moments

Here’s that emotional interview (#6) with Bridget, injured out of Trials.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/NDgzNjQ1MTQx?related=1

Watch more video of 2012 Olympic Team Trials on gymnastike.org

Carol-Angela Orchard in Ireland

The Canadian/British 🙂 coach and Beam guru, Carol-Angela Orchard, visited Renmore Gymnastics in Ireland.

see more photos from the clinic on Facebook

on fear in gymnastics

At one of his sessions at USA Congress, Dr. Bill Sands talked about the mechanism of fear. At a stage of brain development, children finally start to grasp consequences of action.

The age is predictable.

I feel it happens to both boys and girls, but there’s some sort of override in the male psyche — perhaps Testosterone. 🙂

Boys can almost always overcome fear issues in the gym. Some girls cannot.

Most often it involves backwards elements.

Fear can be a great struggle. Right now Emily Wilson’s daughter is having problems.

Try everything. Especially high reps of simpler skills.

For example, for backward tumbling balking on saltos, do endless series of backward handsprings on Tumbl Trak. At least 50 backward handsprings a day before going back to somersaults.

Fear can be overcome. 🙂

One strategy to reduce the frequency and severity of fear going backwards is to train forward elements first. For example, I like girls to do forward flyaway before backward flyaway. Forwards is not “scary”. The confidence gained later transfers to the backward. Usually.

(via Tumbl Trak on Facebook)

Pledge4Good fundraising

Here’s a good idea.

For every medal American swimmer Ryan Lochte wins at the London Olympics, you can pledge a $1 donation to Special Olympics New York Inc.

OR … you can donate $1 or more for EVERY American Olympic medal.

That site — Pledge4Good — is a for profit start-up that people can use for fundraising.

Details via Fast Company – Fast Talk: How Pledge4Good Is Like A Virtual Dunk Tank

Thanks for the link, Michael Fahner.

China Olympic Team sendoff

… The MAG Team will be leaving for Ireland on the 10th, and the WAG team will follow on the 15th. Both team will live and train in Ireland until the 20th before they move into the Olympic Village in London. …

Blossom

Many are predicting big and unexpected routines from the defending Olympic Champions. I’m not so sure.

The state of Artistic Gymnastics in China is not nearly so strong as it was in 2008. (And some economists are already predicting the decline of the Chinese economy.)

The women’s team may have peaked.

Or perhaps they are concentrating on the Junior girls (VIDEOS) for the next cycle.