2010 Pan-Am Championships, Guadalajara

The members of the U.S. Men’s Team are:

Dylan Akers of Kingwood, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
Alex Buscaglia of Cary, Ill./Stanford University
Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./University of Oklahoma
Bryan Del Castillo of Laguna Niguel, Calif./University of California, Berkeley
Wesley Haagensen of Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Olympic Training Center
Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif./University of California, Berkeley

USAG

I haven’t heard much about these two international meets, as yet:

Pan American Championships, Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico qualifies to Pan American Games, 2011, also in Guadalajara.

Komova routines from YOG

She won prelims with these perhaps slightly inflated scores:

UB : 15.55
BB : 15.25
FX : 14.55
VT : 15.7

Click PLAY or watch her Amanar on YouTube.

Somewhat scary landing. But it’s amazing such a skinny kid can do this.

Click through to Aunt Joyce to watch her other apparatus.

Update: becca reminds us that they are using the modified JUNIOR F.I.G. code at this meet. It reduced her potential start value AA.

Komova kills Youth Olympic Games

Wow. She just dominated the prelims. All hail.

Top score on V, Bars, Floor. Second on Beam to Tan Sixin.

ALL-AROUND preliminaries


Viktoria Komova (RUS) – 61.000
Sixin Tan (CHN) – 58.100
Carlotta Ferlito (ITA) – 55.750
Diana Bulimar (ROU) – 54.700
Tess Moonen (NED) – 54.250
Gomez Porras (GUA) – 54.050
Angela Donald (AUS) – 54.050
Madeline Gardiner (CAN) – 53.850
Jonna Adlerteg (SWE) – 53.600
Natsumi Sasada (JPN) – 53.550

full results

Viktoria Komova of Russia competes in the uneven bars in the women's qualification during the artistic gymnastics competition at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore August 17, 2010. REUTERS/Issei Kato (SINGAPORE - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS GYMNASTICS)

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photo – Viktoria’s signature inside Stalder to Shaposhnikova-half

How about Carlotta Ferlito from Italy in 3rd!

Read Amanda Turner’s commentary on IG – Komova Dominates Youth Olympics Qualification

1980 American Olympic gymnasts

At the USA Gymnastics Championships last weekend two special events were scheduled for Olympic Teams past:

1) Bronze medal awarded to the 2000 American Women’s Olympic Team

2) Reunion of the 1980 American Olympic Teams MAG and WAG (boycotted)

Blythe Lawrence:

… The press got to meet with members of both the 2000 U.S. women’s Olympic team, who competed in Syndey yet felt like failures, and members of the 1980 men’s and women’s teams, who didn’t compete in Moscow but have recognized that just being selected for the team makes them winners.

The difference, I think, is in age. Twenty years from now, the 2000 Olympians may have a different perspective. …

Gymnastics Examiner

Like the rest on the 1980 team, Ron Galimore never made it to Moscow. The closest he got to Olympic glory was a trip to Washington designed to honor the hundreds of athletes who weren’t allowed to take the trip they really wanted to take. …

Universal – Reunion brings back emotions for 1980 Olympians

Aunt Joyce linked to the fabulous interview with Marcia Frederick, one of the first internationally successful American gymnasts.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://videoplayer.flocasts.org/player.swf

Watch Marcia’s Bar routine in Finals of the 1979 World Championships in Texas.

Grace Chiu at Youth Olympic Games

My favourite gymnastics photographer is in Singapore. She’s posting a few pics on Facebook. Eventually all will go up on her site GraceClick.ca

WAG Podium Training Subdivision 2: TAN Sixin, CHN — … Podium Training Champion

Maddie Gardiner at Youth Olympic Games

If you are on Facebook, you can follow the Canadian gymnast in Singapore: Maddie Gardiner’s Youth Olympic Games Experience (:

gymnast teaches orangutans how to climb

A Dutch zoo called in the services of an Olympic gymnast to re-teach orangutans how to climb trees in their enclosure.

The zoo Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen, located in the centre of the country, said it had renovated the enclosure to allow the orangutans to swing from tree to tree in an outdoor setting above the public — but they’ve forgotten the skill of climbing.

Olympian Epke Zonderland showed the orangutans his skills in the hope of re-teaching them how to swing.

‘It was very funny to teach the monkeys today, I didn’t have any experience with those animals to train, and I was very curious if they would copy me, but I think they did their best,’ Zonderland said. …

Big Pond

From the looks of the video, it seems Epke has more to learn from the beasts.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

gymnastics results – Youth Olympic Games

qualifying round at the Youth Olympics in Singapore …

1. Yuya Kamoto JPN 87.200
2. Sam Oldham GBR 86.850
3. Oleg Stepko UKR 86.800
4. Xiaodong Zhu CHN 86.100
5. Danill Kazakhov RUS 85.400
6. Andrei Muntean ROU 83.800

Going For Gold

full results

Shout out to Canadian Robert Watson (fan favourite) who hit 6 for 6 to finish 11th. American Jesse Glenn was 20th, an alternate for AA Finals.

Robert with coach Frank
Yuya Kamoto, Japan

Grace Chiu is posting a few pics on Facebook. Eventually all will go up on her site GraceClick.ca

Oleg Stepko, Ukraine
Sam Oldham, GBR

Commentary on Gymnastics Examiner – Japanese newcomer Yuya Kamoto leads men’s qualifying at Youth Olympic Games

And more commentary on the official FIG siteArtistic boys heat things up in Singapore

Canadian gymnasts Worlds, Commonwealths

From Lise Gosselin-Simard by email:

Canadian Team for the 2010 World Championships:

Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, Gym-Richelieu, St-Hubert
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, Gymnix, Montréal, QC
Charlotte Mackie, Aviva, Coquitlam, BC
Dominique Pegg, Bluewater, Sarnia, ON
Jessica Savona, Oakville Gymnastics, ON
Kristina Vaculik, Gemini, Oshawa, ON

The coaching team is composed of Kyna Fletcher, Dave Brubaker, Elena Davydova, David Kenwright, Galina Larchina, Kelly Manjak and one coach from Gymnix to be named. Additional members are judges Hélen Laliberté and Liz Armitage, Team Leader Lise G. Simard and one doctor/therapist to be named later.

… Commonwealth Games in Delhi:

Catherine Dion, Gymélites, Gatineau, QC
Kristin Klarenbach, Champions, Edmonton, AB
Cynthia Lemieux-Guillemette, Gym-Richelieu, St-Hubert, QC
Gabrielle May, Panthers, Winnipeg, MB
Emma Willis, Bluewater, Sarnia, ON

The coaching team is composed of Michel Charron, Valérie Oudin and Elizabeth Brubaker who is also WAG Team Leader. The judges are Lois Laquerre, Andrée Montreuil and Gord Bennett.

It’s nice to see a male judge (Gord) being assigned such a big international meet.

Mar. 13, 2010 - Cottbus, Germany - epa02078094 Canada's gymnast Kristina Vaculik in action during the women's final on the uneven bars at the Masters World Cup Tournament in Cottbus, Germany, 13 March 2010. Vaculik won with 14.050 points.

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photo Kristina Vaculik

Thanks Jeremy Mosier.