Larisa Iordache wins EYOF

The European Youth Olympic Festival has finished. Medals.

I’ll be posting video highlights over the next few days.

… unsurprisingly, Larisa Iordache of Romania has taken the AA crown at the 2011 EYOF meet in Trabzon. The little Romanian s capable of massive difficulty across all the apparatus and is shaping up to be Romania’s future star performer. Hot on her heels was were two star Italian juniors, Erika Fasana and then Elisa Meneghini. ..

Couch Gymnast – Iordache Takes EYOF AA Title

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

Not bad.

Could her timing be perfect to be the surprise winner in London?

See more WAG videos on littlemissgymnast.

Russia won Men’s Team over GBR and Switzerland.

Courtney Tulloch from GBR won the Men’s AA.

Chellsie Memmel – Floor

Add the double layout second pass, and this is a top routine at any level. Smart choreography … aside from the inexplicable sequence to finishing pose. What’s with that?

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

Cirque du Soleil – Zarkana

Martha Teichner takes you behind the scenes of “Zarkana,” the new $50 million Cirque du Soleil production at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Framed around the new show, this news piece looks at the big picture, including interviews with billionaire owner Guy Laliberté.

Click PLAY or watch it on CBS News. (after the ad)

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

introducing back roll – reverse pirouette

This popular blind change drill I find more problematic than actually doing the blind change from giant on Bar.

To simplify, Al Fong recommends learning it off a box.

Click PLAY or watch the drill on YouTube.

Al really is a genius of progression. Find more great drills on his YouTube channel.

you run like a girl

LIKE A GIRL

You run like a girl
You jump like a girl
You hit like a girl
You tumble six feet over
a four-inch beam like a girl!

Author unknown

(via sophgymnast on Chalk Bucket)

2012 Olympic Medals unveiled

The London 2012 medals will be the largest Olympic medals to date. Designed by British artist David Watkins, they will be made by the Royal Mint in Wales.

See how the London 2012 medals compare to all of the medals they are following from the past 29 Olympics here. …

See more photos on Full Twist

At the Olympic Museum last week I learned that the coolest Olympic medals are from Winter Olympics. (They have far few restrictions on size, material and image than the Summer Games.)

EYOF – Italy, Romania, Germany

Couch Gymnast has been telling us that the Italian Juniors are the up-and-coming gymnasts in Europe for some time.

Here’s some evidence.

The Italian team upset Romania for the women’s team title Wednesday at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Trabzon, Turkey. ..

Defending champion Russia — competing without the services of injured gymnasts Anastasia Grishina and Anastasia Sidorova — struggled on uneven bars and balance beam to place fourth. …

Full results on IG – Italian Women Triumph in Trabzon at EYOF

Couch Gymnast has some video from Day 1 – Italy takes Team EYOF Title

Larissa Iordache (57.800) dominated the AA in prelims. AA and Apparatus Finals are yet to come.

Click PLAY or watch Larissa’s Beam on YouTube.

Despite the good results there is bad news from Italy too – Enrico Pozzo, their top male AA gymnast, has been kicked out of his gym.

Olympic sport stamps

From David Macnamara by email:

Royal Mail is issuing a set of ten 1st Class stamps on 27 July 2011 to celebrate the one year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. …

The stamps are the final set to be issued in its three year countdown which has seen a total of 30 stamps issued. The creation of 30 stamps marks the fact that this is the 30th Olympiad, and also represents every sport in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. …

details – The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games