Gymnastics Coaching.com

@IntlGymnast:

UPDATE: The exact diagnosis of Mustafina’s injury is expected Saturday. We are retracting the update that she tore her meniscus.

I still fear ligament damage, requiring longer recovery.

Reigning world all-around champion Aliya Mustafina of Russia withdrew from the 2011 European Championships after the first rotation of the all-around finals. …

Universal Sports – Mustafina injured at Europeans, needs surgery

The most insightful reaction I’ve seen so far is by Aunt Joyce:

… Aliya Mustafina went down at the European Championships with a knee injury that we can only suspect will keep her out for much of the next year. For Aliya and the sport, this is terrible. Knee injuries are bad news. A torn Achilles is devastating, but we’ve seen improvements in surgical technique that now has athletes back up to speed within a year. …

… Back in the 80s and early 90s, difficult skills were performed but they were highlights of the routine. Now every skill and combination needs to possess great risk. This has led to sloppy, mistake-filled routines and it has also resulted in a tremendous increase in severe injuries. Gymnastics is no longer a sport where one can escape uninjured. A gymnast’s success often depends on when they are injured as opposed to ‘if’ they suffer a serious injury. …

… When the FIG continues to ask older bodies to perform more and more difficulty that is better suited for younger gymnasts, injuries like this are inevitable. …

read more – Disaster At The European Championships

There’s a disconnect between the new (2006) FIG Code that rewards difficulty … and the push to increase the age of the young women competing.

Older girls have more chronic overuse syndromes. And more ‘old’ injuries that are only partially healed. As well, they have heavier bodies and longer limbs to maneuver.

Sooner or later FIG must address that disconnect. If this injury had happened to anyone else, it would be soon forgotten. But since it’s happened to the World Champion, I’m hoping that now’s the time to take action.

Bruno Grandi is not afraid to take action.

The easiest way out of the current dilemma would be to actually enforce the Execution scores. To reward those athletes with superb form, line and artistry with medals.

Cal State Fullerton today announced that its intercollegiate wrestling and women’s gymnastics programs will be terminated.

The action was considered at the end of the 2009-10 academic year, but the programs were given the opportunity to continue operating if they could fund their own annual budgets. Extensive fund-raising campaigns enabled them to compete in 2010-11 but came up short of a subsequent goal of a two-year funding commitment by a Mar. 1 deadline given to them.

All pre-existing scholarships will be honored until the student-athletes’ eligibility has expired. Wrestlers and gymnasts who wish to transfer to other schools will be given blanket releases. …

read more – Cal State Fullerton University Wrestling

A sad day. My home club has had a number of girls go to this storied program.

I’m trying to contact one of the current gymnasts for comment. …

(via Greg Marsden on Facebook)

____

There is some good NCAA news, however, relayed by Ono:

Baseball program will continue at UC Berkeley

Baseball has raised $9 million of the $10 million demanded by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

…. Our men’s gymnastics community has taken the same “never say die” approach as our baseball community. They are hard at work on raising the funds needed to support the team’s continuation or eventual reinstatement.

To date, philanthropic pledges gathered by “Cal Gymnastics Forever” amount to just under half of the $4 million that would be required to support the team’s net expenses over the next 7-10 years. However, here too we will continue to do everything in our power to support the fundraising activities in support of men’s gymnastics. I believe that baseball’s success will add new momentum to the efforts and I am hopeful of a successful outcome for men’s gymnastics.”

Coldplay, Muse and Damon Albarn have reportedly been approached to write the official anthem for the London 2012 Olympics.

According to the Daily Mirror Chris Martin and co are the organisers’ top pick for the job, and have been asked to write “something inspirational” for the official song of the event. …

The Olympics 2012 opening ceremony is being put together by Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours director Danny Boyle. …

NME

Artistic Gymnastics is a dangerous sport.

That’s for sure.

… Mustafina dodged a bullet by only tearing her meniscus, an injury that often requires surgery but is not considered career-ending. Bridget Sloan tore her meniscus in March of 2008 and made the Olympic team in July. …

Gymnastics Examiner

Gymnastike:

… World champion Aliya Mustafina of Russia was by far the favorite to win today’s all around final at the European Championships in Berlin, but she went down in the first rotation of night after landing her yurchenko 2.5 twist vault …

read more

I’ve got my fingers crossed that further examination doesn’t reveal additional damage.

You can send a message to Aliya on her Facebook Get Well Soon page. Or on her Aliya Mustafina Online Facebook page.

Danusia Francis competed the AA European Finals for GB, including this cool sequence. (video from an earlier meet)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

@IntlGymnast:

… suffered a torn meniscus and will need surgery, coach Valentina Rodionenko says

Let’s hope there’s no ligament damage.

Many are blaming Aliya’s loose form and ‘bad technique‘ for the injury.

I don’t buy that, in this case.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The vault is not all that poorly executed.

Instead, blame the Code that values the extra half twist at so much higher a start value than double twist. And the Execution judges who differentiate only 0.2 – 0.3 between a good Amanar, and a poor one.

Because this injury happened to the World’s best, FIG (Nellie Kim and Bruno Grandi) will have to answer to the general public why the new code (2006) results in such serious accidents.

In reality, her injury is very similar to what happened to Kyle Shewfelt in 2003, old Code, on the same Vault. It’s easy to do if you are still twisting while landing with that kind of impact force.

(via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook)

1. Anna Dementieva
2. Elisabeth (Elizabeth) Seitz
3. Amelia Racea
4. Diana Chelaru
5. Carlotta Ferlito
6. Vanessa Ferrari

The 2011 all-around Russian National Champion, Anna Dementieva (Dementyeva) is European Champion. (57.475)

Congratulations.

Recall she was picked Couch Gymnast Prize for Elegance 2010.

I’m amazed you can win Europeans with only a Yurchenko 1/1 twist.

Yet the competition looked quite good, from what I could watch on Romanian TV.

Details on Gymnastics Examiner LIVE blog.

Try this Romanian link.

(THANKS Full Twist Gymnastics Blog on Facebook for the link.)

She injured her knee landing Amanar on Vault. (photos)

What a shame …

THE ALL AROUND at European Championships:

… The answer seems to be: Probably not.

The All Around has yet to find a coach that would happily send his or her gymnasts to Japan in October. With many of the female competitors at Worlds likely to be minors, the main concern is the pressure parents face in making a decision of whether to let their children compete despite the potential health hazard. …

… The FIG has taken the decision to wait [before making a final decision] until the Council meeting May 19-20 in San José. …

The General Secretary of the Japanese Gymnastics Federation is due to arrive in Berlin over the weekend to discuss the situation with FIG officials.

According to FIG Executive Committee member Wolfgang Willam stated that so far the only official offer to take over from Tokyo had been received from Moscow …

Notes from Berlin I

Blythe is hearing the same thing.

This guy is smiling.