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42yr-old Level 9 gymnast

Tina Rand was a high level gymnast as a teenager, but dropped the sport until age-28 when she decided to go back to Adult Recreation class.

… Now at age 42, she is competing at Level 9 in USA gymnastics …

Tina lives in the Annapolis, Maryland area with her husband of 18 years and has two beautiful boys, ages 4 and 7. …

read more

(via Rec Gymnastics)

Paul Hamm should have resigned

Instead he lawyered-up:

… “We will fight the criminal charges vigorously,” said Michael J. Smith, Hamm’s attorney. …

Universal

That’s the way Paul Hamm rolls.

_____

Paul Vernon in USA Today:

Paul Hamm … is looking for a new place to train after he was fired as an assistant gymnastics coach by Ohio State.

The termination is effective immediately, athletics director Gene Smith said in a statement Friday. Hamm had been an assistant gymnastics coach at Ohio State since June.

“We have high standards for our coaching staff and unfortunately Mr. Hamm failed to meet those standards,” Smith said. ..

read more – Ohio State fires Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm after assault arrest

Deadspin – Paul Hamm Is Just Another Unemployed Drunk Male Gymnast Now

England wins CYG Team

In both Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

Men’s Team Final:

1. (England) – Brinn Bevan, Dominick Cunningham, Jay Thompson 238.700 – gold

2. (Canada) – Zachary Clay, Curtis Graves, Kal Nemier 229.150 – silver

3. (Australia) – Tyson Bull, Kent Pieterse, Declan Stacey – 221.950 – bronze

Women’s Team Final:

1. (England) – Abi Caig, Charlie Fellows, Rebecca Tunney 159.750 – gold

2. (Wales) – Kiera Brennan, Angel Romaeo, Raer Theaker 156.000 – silver

3. (Australia) – Alex Eade, Maddi Leydin, Emma Nedov 148.850 – bronze

isleofman.com

You can see a glimpse of the WAG competition starting at 8min 41sec on this YouTube highlights video.

USA Gymnastics Team Tokyo is …

… still not decided.

@Intlgymforum:

BREAKING NEWS: ALL GIRLS AT CAMP WERE INVITED BACK FOR ROUND 2! (Confirmed.) They’ll have a full meet there as well.

Interesting that Marta and staff could not decide. China, Romania and Russia are all looking fairly healthy at this point. USA needs to choose the best team possible.

Commonwealth Youth Games MAG

Men’s prelims are complete. England finished 1-2 AA and won the team title over Canada. Here are the top 10 AA.

official results

(via Full Twist)

Canadian L3 Practical scores

Important numbers for Canadian coaches only. (Having an athlete reach a certain score in a National competition makes you eligible to apply for coaching certification.)

Elisabeth Bureaud GCG National Development / Education Program Director:

The latest AA score requirements for recognition of the Level 3 Practical component are:

WAG 50.00 AA
MAG 72.00 AA Senior & Junior
65.00 AA Tyro

Theory + Technical + Practical = fully certified … eligible to apply for L4

Commonwealth Youth Games

WAG preliminaries are complete. ~~Wales finished 1-2-3~~.

Update: Seems I first saw an incomplete results list LIVE online.

Here are the top 10 WAG as posted on British Gymnastics.

full results (PDF)

Click PLAY or watch Angel’s Beam from Gymnix on YouTube.

(via Full Twist)

Thanks Optic.

Uchimura, Boy, Leyva, Horton

Blythe Lawrence will attend Worlds. She’s looked at routines for these four all-arounders, guestimating their Difficulty start values in Tokyo:

1. Uchimura, 40.5
2. Boy, 38.4
3. Leyva, 38.2
4. Horton, 38.1

A few of these D-scores have been estimated, given that one connection or added skill can bump a D-score up by a few tenths on several events. But the overall conclusion is the same — against his nearest competitors, Uchimura can afford to fall, maybe even fall twice, and he is still most likely to win the meet. …

see the details on Universal – Can Leyva break up 2010 podium?

Difficulty score throwdown: Leyva, Horton, Boy, and Uchimura

Andy Thornton agrees:

… Many of us commented on the tremendous depth of the U.S. men’s team at the recent Visa Championships. The competition was highlighted by an all-around battle between two world all-around medal contenders Danell Leyva and Jonathan Horton.

Boasting two legitimate international all-around threats on the same team is a rare luxury, indeed, but the U.S. men’s team has a whole lot more to be excited about than that.

The U.S. men’s team may have just found its best pommel horse lineup since Athens 2004. …

Universal – Will Tokyo be one for the books?

… These men have the difficulty and execution to not only knock Germany off the medal podium, but to perhaps even give Japan and China a serious scare. …

happy birthday Vault Table

Bruno Grandi:

… Ten years ago, on October 28, 2001, the vaulting table debuted at an official FIG competition. It was in Ghent (BEL) where the first Men’s qualifying subdivision was underway for the 35th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. …

A long re-evaluation process came to an end when the table replaced the vaulting horse. The abrupt change from tradition to contemporary has been a shock to some. And in that context, my compliments and deepest respect to the FIG Vice-President at that time, Siegfried Fischer (BRA), for fervently defending the new table as President of the Apparatus Commission.

Safety was the driving force behind the change. …

FIG

All now agree that the change was a huge improvement. But at the time it was controversial, for WAG.

On the Men’s side, under MTC Chair Hardy Fink, it was a no brainer. The first time we saw the new horse in my region — at Jurassic Classic — every FIG MAG competed on it. First day.

In fact, I can’t conceive of a better design other than to better pad the front and back, under the table. That’s best done with separate donut mats.

There have been very few innovations in 10yrs. The best would be the Tarpan TM available out of Denmark. It’s easy to move and store. And goes up to 165cm for Mini Tramp Vaulting.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.