Gymnastics Coaching.com

Kelly Manjak recommends this Canadian documentary.

… by director Paul Cowan is about four athletes and a team that competed in the 1976 Olympics. They had trained courageously to be among those who would mount the podium to receive a medal. None of them did, but was it worth the effort?

I’ll Go Again answers the question.

You can watch it for free on the National Film Board site. Or click PLAY. (41min)

http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/flash/ONFflvplayer-gama.swf

It features gymnast Phillippe Delasalle.

That was the Olympics where the East Germans were rumoured to have a drug boat off-shore.

… East German swimmers won 11 of 13 events, journalists started asking questions about the broad shoulders and deep voices …

Athletes were tested for Drugs as early as 1968. A few even tested positive in 1976, mostly Weight Lifters.

The biggest surprise for me at Worlds last year was that China won Team on Rings, not Pommels nor Parallel Bars.

Click PLAY or watch 2011 Chinese Ring Championships on YouTube.

1. Chen Yibing Tianjin 6.8; 8.975 ; 15.775
1. Yan Mingyong Shanghai 6.9; 8.875 ; 15.775
3. Liao Junlin Guangxi 6.8; 8.725 ; 15.525
4. Luo Xuan Hubei 6.8; 8.550; 15.350
5. Liao Qiuhua Guangdong 6.7; 8.525 ; 15.225
6. Guo Weiyang Liaoning 6.5; 8.650 ; 15.150
7. Liu Yang Army 6.5; 8.525 ; 15.025
8. Tao Zhuyong Army 6.5; 8.250 ; 14.750

This is one apparatus where the new Code has worked. Routines are more amazing than ever before in history, yet there’s not much more risk of injury.

(via All Things Gym)

They don’t make them like Rowland “Flip” Wolfe any more. He was born 1914.

Click PLAY or watch him on YouTube.

…Wolfe was way ahead of his time particularly when one considers the surfaces tumblers had to contend with in the 20s and 30s. …

Had the International Gymnastics Federation recognized elements by naming them for one performer or another, a double twisting stretched back somersault might today be recalled as a “Wolfe”.

He was the first to perform this element in the Olympic Games.

… Wolfe could also perform a double back. He related that he did not perform a double back in the Olympics since his coach was not a reliable spotter. He describes a pile of corrugated cardboard arranged loosely in one corner of the gym along with rags and other soft material. He would then attempt double backs into the corner!

… He had a famous teammate, Charlie Pond, who later coached at the University of Illinois. Another DAC tumbler, Barbara Galleher Tonry, won nine NAAU tumbling titles. Every acrobat owes Pond a debt of gratitude since it was he who developed the twisting belt that bears his name. …

Highlights from the 2010 worlds and 2011 Europeans.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m in awe at how difficult Men’s gymnastics is today. Butterfly to Invert Cross on Rings !? … Merde.

Secondly, that (somehow) male gymnasts have found a way to manage the escalation of difficulty since 2006. It can’t go on like this forever, though. Nor can the value of your house keep increasing forever. 🙂

Great edit. Thanks RedNasvw from Netherlands.

EYOF = European Youth Olympic Festival. To be hosted in Turkey. Official website.

From the Facebook album: Wall Photos by Fangymnastics

Mary-Anne Monckton from Australia is competing a release similar to the over-valued (G) Shushanova (VIDEO).

Click PLAY or watch it in a 2010 routine on YouTube.

related – Between the Olympics – Monckton in the Lead After Day 1 of Victorian Championships

Mary Lee Tracy is quite particular on how she wants the glide performed.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The purpose of a kip is to connect from a value part and/or to a value part. The high position on both of these might help some girls kip ‘late’, making the subsequent cross support swing easier.

But not necessarily.

In 2010 Hardy Fink, Director of FIG Education & Academy Programmes, organized 30 courses worldwide. Yet it seems there’s no slowing down.

During the remainder of 2011 there are four confirmed Level 3/Brevet Academies:

For Acrobatic Gymnastics (Lisbon, Portugal, June 22-29),

Rhythmic Gymnastics (Tokyo, Japan, December 5-12)

Artistic Gymnastics (Cancun, Mexico, November 14-21 and Tokyo, Japan, December 13-20).

FIG is looking for host nations for these courses to be held in early 2012:

MAG-WAG French/English proposed for Europe;
AER in Europe and Spanish in Central/South America;
RG February 18-25 in Portugal and Spanish in Central/South America;
TRA proposed January 15-22 in Europe and Spanish in Central/South America;
ACRO English/Spanish proposed for Europe.

Details

I recommend Iceland for the MAG/WAG.

For coaches, gymnasts and Moms.

SGP – Recommended Reading for June 7

… I like the 7 Mommy Musts for Chaperoning a Bunch of Girls on Mommy Warriors – Fighting the everyday battles of motherhood

It’s great fun watching boys set new ‘records’ for themselves on Pommel mushroom.

Click PLAY or watch Noah on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/embed/Mzk1NDk0MDc4?related=1

Does this little guy really need a mushroom at home?