Chinese specialists to Olympics?

China is the defending Olympic Team Champion in both Men’s and Women’s Artistic.

Should they adopt a goal of winning as many individual apparatus medals as possible in London? Rather than trying to win Team?

Sun Xiaochen in the China Daily:

China’s national gymnastics teams have already accepted that they won’t repeat the dominant Olympics they enjoyed in Beijing …

The international powerhouse bagged nine gold medals – including the prestigious men’s and women’s team all-around competitions – out of the 14 categories at home four years ago, which comprised a big portion of the nation’s 51-gold haul in Beijing.

However, it is unrealistic to expect an equally exceptional result in London. …

“It will be extremely hard for us to defend the team event title this time,” said Chen Yibing, men’s captain and Beijing Olympics rings gold medalist.

“We lack the all-around talent now, so everybody has to dig deeper and try to make up for each other’s weak event.”

Inspired by Chen, pommel horse Olympic champion Xiao Qin has started to work out on the rings, an event he dropped for 10 years. …

The golden age may be over

The odds of the women defending are far, far worse. With the resurgence of Romania, Team China could easily finish 4th.

China could send He Kexin, for example, abandoning the chance for a team medal.

1. He Kexin 7.100 8.550 15.650
2. Huang Huidan 6.600 7.575 14.175
3. Tan Jiaxin 6.100 7.950 14.050

Click PLAY or watch He Kexin win Bars at Chinese Nationals on YouTube.

The first day of the event finals at the Chinese Nationals saw the girls kicking it old school, with senior citizens Cheng Fei and He Kexin emerging as apparatus champions on their pet events. …

Couch Gymnast – Chinese Nationals: Event Finals

related – IG – Chinese Women Face Uphill Battle for Olympics

Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion.

legally blind gymnast

Lola Walters.

Talk about inspirational. The best feature I’ve yet seen on this girl.

Lola, from California, is legally blind, suffering from a condition called Nystagmus, which means her eyes move constantly, causing her to see double.

It means she has no depth perception whatsoever and when she’s running up to the bar she cannot see it until she’s just five feet away. …

Lola feels the tag “legally blind” is not accurate. She can see. But not with much precision. She wants to be treated the same as every other athlete.

Click PLAY or watch it on the Daily Mail.

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_14vere41/uiconf_id/6501142

(via the Tumbl Trak email newsletter)

gymnast body piercings policy

Has this ever been a problem for you as a coach?

British Gymnastics Policy on Body Piercing and Adornments (PDF)

There are some workarounds. For example, fake magnetic jewelry.

(via Gymnastics Wales on Facebook)

EU event finals highlights

Romania is back. They won 3 gold medals in the apparatus finals. Sandra Isbaza (Vault), Catalina Ponor (Beam) and Larissa Iordache (Floor) dominated the competitions. Russia saved the honour with Victoria Komova (Uneven Bars). …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Andy Thornton – Five takeaways from gymnastics Europeans

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook)

USA J.O. MAG – who cares?

Ron Noe of Stick It Media is often the lone blogger promoting and publicizing age group Men’s Gymnastics in the USA.

He’s frustrated with the just finished Men’s J.O. Championships in Cincinnati:

… I’m going to be perfectly blunt about this. Aside from a nice Facebook page and very minimal print coverage, the promotion of this event during the course of the competition, was virtually non-existent. No active Twitter updates, no videos, no live scoring, no nothing. It’s an Olympic year, for crying out loud. Failure to promote this year’s men’s JO Nationals was unfathomable to me. …

Howard, Kimble & Bock Dominate Event Finals

I’d love to do more to promote the 700+ best age group guys in the USA. But I need news, photos and videos to link. Please leave a comment if you know of good sources online.

Here are the best links I’ve found:

• 2012 US Men’s Jr. Olympic Championships Facebook page

• P&G National Championships home page (poor)

• USAG J.O. Championships Results and Photos

No “news”, but results are posted. And that page does link to a few small photos.

USAgym.org has a teaser photo link right now.

Follow and share Stick It Media posts if you care about MAG J.O.

European Championships medalists

VAULT
Sandra Raluca Izbasa (ROU) (14.900, 14.866) 14.883
Oksana Chusovitina (GER) (14.933, 14.433) 14.683
Giulia Steingruber (SUI) (15.216, 14.033) 14.624

BARS
Victoria Komova (RUS) 15.666
Anastasia Grishina (RUS) 15.200
Nataliya Kononenko (UKR) 15.133

Bars final was fantastic. Unfortunately on Beam everyone fell aside from the 3 medalists.

BEAM
Catalina Ponor (ROU) 15.200
Larisa Iordache (ROU) 15.133
Hannah Whelan (GBR) 14.333

Click PLAY or watch Ponor’s Beam on YouTube. Shaky start.

FLOOR
Larisa Andreea Iordache (ROU) 15.233
Catalina Ponor (ROU) 14.633
Hannah Whelan (GBR) 14.533


Sandra Izbasa did not compete Floor, but wants to be put into the line-up for the Olympics. A FX medal is her #1 goal.

Full Twist – Results & Videos: Senior European Apparatus Champions 2012

So … the main story is the grand return of Romania as an Olympic Team contender. Their prelims score was only a point less than the US need to win Tokyo. Romania fans are excited.

Old and wise Romanian team coach Mariana Bitang warns, “Let’s not get drunk with cold water”.

For more in depth analysis:

Stoi – Our take on European TFs

And European Championships – The E Panel’s Highlights:

… For me, this team centres on Ponor, whose statuesque presence draws instant attention from spectators. Catalina has always been thrilling to watch: her feline features are matched by a catlike ability for solidity on the balance beam. Her new routine looks comfortable and rock hard, and is the closest she has looked to her 2004 self since her golden heyday. …

With Ponor back, and Iordache the superstar up-and-coming AA contender, Romania truly could get on to the medal podium in London.

Bars — still — is the big question mark.

P.A. Team Cup a success

Very well attended, everyone I spoke with totally enjoyed the 1st Annual P.A. Team Cup yesterday.

Hosted by Mike Amouri and Prince Albert Aerials, the first thing kids recall about their gym is the purple Floor.

One gymnast told me that the competition felt like a training day at our own gym. She could wear whatever leo she wanted, with or without shorts. And use a yoga mat on the Beam with no deduction. Cool.

There were no individual awards. Only the Team Cup at each level.

… since my Team didn’t win one, it must not have been all that prestigious. 🙂

Most kids had their faces painted. … I have no idea why Cindy and my team decided to go with goatee and moustache. 🙂

I took 5 girls to try “moving up a level”. It’s beneficial for them to see with their own eyes the expectations for next season.

Highlight?

For me it was Can-Am coach Christina who competed the AA — her first competition in 11yrs!

Many other coaches pulled the grips out of storage and competed, as well. Expect an old-timers division next year.

The competition continued today with an event for beginner girls.

Oksana Chusovitina plans retirement

Couch Gymnast:

Oksana Chusovitina may be focused today on winning another gymnastics title, but it seems those days of collecting hardware are soon to be over.

This weekend German sports site Ran reported that gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina has decided to end her decades-long career after the London Olympic Games.

This is huge news from the woman whose career has seen her competing for the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, Uzbekistan and Germany. At 37 she is the oldest gymnast competing in the elite international scene. …

Oksana Chusovitina Calls it a Day

Brigid’s already speculating on when Oksana will unretire to inspire her Uzbekistan team. She’s National Coach.

At Europeans, Oksana finished 1st in Vault prelims.