Heresy on the High Beam

Dvora Meyers:

… I’ve self-published a short book of personal essays called Heresy on the High Beam: Confessions of an Unbalanced Jewess on Amazon for Kindle. (But you don’t have to own a Kindle to read it. I don’t have one yet. Simple download the free Kindle Cloud Reader App).

It’s a classic love story: Girl meets balance beam. Girl trades long skirts for leotards. The rest, as Hillel once wisely said, is commentary.

Unorthodox Gymnastics – Heresy on the High Beam

Get it from Amazon (78 pages) $2.99

It’s not called Jewnastics. Yet.

two unlikely Olympic contenders

If you’d asked me a year ago if Ellie Black and Hugh Smith from Halifax would be “in the mix” for the Canadian Olympic team, I’d have said … no.

Hugh is age-28. Ellie had disappeared. …

They’ll be in Regina at Nationals. Showing international level routines.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jr Euros – superlatives

1. Russia
2. Italy
3. Romania
4. Great Britain
5. Germany
6. Netherlands

1. Maria Kharenkova
2. Elisa Meneghini
3. Yevgenia Shelgunova
4. Andreea E. Munteanu
5. Sophie Scheder
6. Enus Mariani

… The Russian women’s team has been undefeated at the Junior European championships since 2000. …

results and commentary on IG

by Tandoori Poulet on Facebook - Andrei Rodioenko celebrates Russia's junior team victory

Blythe:

Biggest surprise of the day — team: Germany

Biggest surprise of the day — individual: Evgenia Shelgunova, RUS.

Standout routines of the day…

Vault: Roxana Popa, ESP. Nailed a terrific DTY after balking her first attempt.

Bars: Sophie Scheder, GER. A woman as tall as Khorkina at 14 or 15, she nevertheless dominated her routine — and the event — in the qualifying round.

Beam: Eythora Thorsdottir, NED. What a wonderful routine for this young lady and her country!

Floor: Enus Mariani, ITA. A wonderful dancer with the capacity to do any style.

Longines Prize for Confidence: Gabrielle Jupp, GBR.

details on Examiner – B & B’s Junior European team finals summary

"team of the future"

More photos by Grace Chiu

Canadian WAG Olympic Team

Grace Chiu:

Someone, who has montaged my photos again, posted their choices for the Canadian WAG team. The GCG logo doesn’t mean this is official in any way. There’s still Regina and Gatineau …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m putting my money on Savona. She’ll end up competing in London.

Europeans Sr podium training

Blythe:

… The Couch Gymnast’s Bea Gheorghisor and I (roomies for this week) sat down together post-senior women’s podium training to put together some superlatives about what we saw.

Biggest surprise of the day — team: Great Britain. Two DTYs, out of the blue!

Biggest surprise of the day — individuals: Ruby Harrold …

Mariya Livchikova … looks better than ever

Biggest surprise of the day — skill: Vanessa Ferrari’s full in tuck to immediate back tuck second pass. Um, wow. Honorable mention: Anne Kuhm’s triple full off beam.

Top three teams and why: Russia, Romania and Britain or Italy. Italy looked stronger on beam, Britain better on vault …

Top three individuals: Anastasia Grishina, Larisa Iordache and Mariya Lichikova. Not necessarily in that order …

read more on Examiner – B & B’s Senior Europeans podium training summary

Komova

Men’s Europeans May 21-27, 2012

Women’s European Championships are underway. The Men go later in the month in Montpellier, France.

The last big international before the Olympic Games in London …

Germany. GBR. France. Russia. Ukraine. …

Philippe BOY is the defending AA champ.

details

Team Visa – Lauren Mitchell

Seems Visa has issued take-down orders for others who posted this clip on YouTube. Here’s their official version.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Interview with Team Visa athlete Lauren Mitchell about her training and dedication getting to the London 2012 Olympic Games.