tribute to Vladimir Kondratenko

Jessica Dowling on Facebook:

To the person that means the world to me.

I love you Vladi and I will always remember the good times we had together. You taught me so much and made me the gymnast I am today. This is a picture of one of my first shootovers, the skill we worked so hard on together!

I will never forget the movie we made on this skill and how proud we were of it! You are an amazing coach Vladi and you made times in the gym so much more fun. I will never forget the candy you used to sneak to us in between vaults and the stories you would share with us on bars.

I love you Vladi and you will always be in my heart!

Vladimir died of Cancer. He’s much missed by all his gymnasts past and present, and all in the coaching community. I appreciate Jessica putting it into words.

Funeral arrangements have been made …

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
6:00pm – 8:00pm
T. Little Funeral Home & Cremation Centre
223 Main Street
Cambridge, Ontario N1R 1X2
519-623-1290

Elvira has asked for privacy during her time of mourning.

next gen Canadian WAG

Between the Olympics has a nice shout out for the next generation of Canadian Seniors:

I can’t be the only one who is loving Canada’s juniors. They have originality, difficulty, and good form. …

Here are a few of my favorites …

O Canada!

Victoria Moors, Sabrina Gill, Stefanie Merkle, Natalie Vaculik

Click the photo for the larger original on Stefanie’s Facebook.

• GymCan – Canadians shine at Top Gym junior meet in Belgium

• GymCan – Dancose-Giambattisto hits for two medals at Challenger Cup in Czech Republic (Florida bound)

Trials for the Olympic Test Meet team should be much more competitive than was the trial for Tokyo.

R.I.P. Vladimir Kondratenko

This is to inform you that Vladimir Kondratenko, husband of Elvira Saadi, passed away a few hours ago after a long battle with cancer.

Vladimir was an expert in gymnastics, a coach loved by his athletes at the Cambridge Kips Gymnastics Club and more recently at Dynamo Gymnastics and a person esteemed by everyone who knew him. Vladimir and Elvira were one of the most successful teams of coaches in the history of Canadian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics and many of their athletes are renowned internationally. This is a great loss for the Canadian gymnastics community and Vladimir’s smile will be dearly missed on the competition floor.

Elvira has asked for some private time right now but we will inform you as soon as arrangements are made.

That was forwarded by Lise Gosselin-Simard of Gymnastics Canada.

competitions this weekend

In progress …

Italian Grand Prix:

BARS
Komova 15,7
Iordache 14,15
Campana 13,6

BEAM
Komova 14,85
Ponor 14,7
Preziosa 14,3

Full Twist

Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac

Tokyo:

Asian gymnasts swept the titles Saturday at the first day of the Toyota International in Japan. Japan won four gold medals, while Vietnam and Korea each picked up a title. …

IG – Asian Gymnasts Dominate Day 1 at Toyota Cup

Acapulco, Mexico:

International Gymnast Magazine on Facebook:

After the first day of competition, the results are:

Women–1. Afanaseva RUS, 2. Lee CAN, 3. Yamagishi JPN, 4. Little AUS.
Men–1. Purvis GBR, 2. Girlado COL, 3. Leyva USA, 4. Khorokhordin RUS

Peng Peng (hit 4/4) & Leyva won the “partner competition”. They had an earthquake before Danell had fnished!

CAN National Gymnastics Week

Wow.

Fantastic job on the new website for the Canadian annual event. I’m loving the new logo.

Kyle Shewfelt explains this year’s Gym Revolution Challenge — upload a video to win prizes. I’m going to get in on that, for sure.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

National Gymnastics Week

Kyle’s prepping, too, for his role as CTV commentator at the London Olympics. He’ll be attending the January Test Meet, as well.

(via RecGymnastics.com)

Zapp back at ArtSports World

I was hoping to stop sending readers to SCOTT M. REID / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

No luck.

… In October, following an Orange County Register investigation into sexual and physical abuse in top level gymnastics, Michael Zapp, a convicted sex offender, agreed to sell ArtSports to a group of investors headed by U.S. national team coach Tex Womack, according to Womack.

But Womack said he was fired via email last week from his head coaching position at ArtSports World gym while traveling in Europe after coaching at the World Championships in Birmingham, England. …

Convicted sex offender regains control of Colorado gym

Doug Boger, also fired by Zapp, is still fired.

Parents at ArtSports World should demand to know what’s going on.

Was Zapp’s departure simply a ploy to make sure the athletes were able to compete Trampoline Worlds?

Olympic tickets on sale USA

… Phase III Live Sales for individual tickets to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The sale will commence for residents of the United States today exclusively through the CoSport website http://www.cosport.com. All tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis …

details on USAG