Gymnastics Coaching.com

I’d like to respond to the latest Big Fake Smile post …

But it’s on Gym hair.

As a male coach I decades ago learned not to offer my opinions on anything to do with the clothing, make-up, accessories, periods, piercings or tattoos of female gymnasts.

Click through to read spanny tampson’s opinion.

Actually, we’ve got bigger hair problems on the MAG side right now.

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Was Justin Bieber competing?

Leave a comment if you want to dogpile.

Three time defending Ms. Fitness, Vanda Maria Hadarean, is AGAIN on the cover of Oxygen Magazine, May 2010.

She won a silver medal in the Team competition for Romania at the 1992 Olympic Games. Amanda Turner linked to her 1992 Compulsory Floor routine, age-16.

Admit it guys, Vanda makes you look like a marshmallow.

(photo via Senor Nico on IG forum)

related – Oxygen Magazine Cover Girl Insider

I never get tired of saying that.

It must be the Canuck’s most successful Summer Olympic Sports since introduced in 2000.

At the Pacific Rim championships in Australia …

… First to reach the podium with double gold medals were the high-flying synchro trampoline teams of Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh Maclennan, both of Toronto, and Jason Burnett of Toronto and Charles Thibault of Quebec City. …

Gymnastics Canada

In women’s junior synchro Mariah Madigan of Toronto and Joanie Pothier of Three Rivers finished second.

Qualifying round.

Gymnastics Examiner:

The Russian women were the top qualifiers to Saturday’s team final at the 2010 European Championships in Birmingham, England.

In a competition format where the top three scores on each event counted toward the team score, Russia had the highest totals on vault and floor to top Romania 168.325-166.8. Romania, competing with only four athletes and using only three per event, had the highest score on beam.

Third-place Great Britain (165.3), backed by exceptional bars and floor performances from star Beth Tweddle, had the highest team mark on uneven bars. France (162.8), Italy (161.525), Ukraine (161.15), the Netherlands (158.675) and Switzerland (156.75) rounded out the top eight teams. …

Russian seniors lead team qualifying at European Championships; Beth Tweddle best on bars, floor

More amusing commentary with videos by Aunt Joyce.

full team results (PDF)

One of the stranger stories you’ve heard all year.

A dispute over an autograph session between World vault champion Kayla Williams’s parents and coaches at Bozhi’s Gym Nest in Charleston, West Virginia, has caused the U.S.’s most unexpected star to stop training while she searches for a new coach, USA Today reported Thursday. …

Gymnastics Examiner – After rupture with longtime coaches, Kayla Williams out of training

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The funniest response I’ve seen to the news that Team USA is getting a Bronze team medal for the Olympics 2000:

Dominique Dawes (triple Olympian) …

“Thanks to the due diligence of the IOC and FIG, the truth has been revealed. I could have never imagined receiving another medal after 10 years. Maybe this will inspire me to come back for a fourth Olympics. Oh wait, is there a maximum age?”

USAG

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The best summing up of the entire sorry story can be read on the American Gymnast blog, posted by the always thoughtful Andy Thornton:

Coming out of the mouth of one of the biggest opponents of the age requirement to begin with…I must say I am very proud of the IOC. If the FIG is going to try to enforce such strict rules that have such a huge impact on world and Olympic competition – no matter how absurd they may be – there HAS to be consequences for violators. …

read more – IOC Made the Right Decision

Andy lists a few of the gymnast who didn’t cheat: Russian Natalia Ziganshina and perhaps even Anna Pavlova (2000), Kristal Uzelac (2000), Uzelac (2001), Romanian Sabina Cojocar (2000), Nastia Liukin (2004), and Samantha Shapiro (2008).

You could name dozens more.

Andy links to Blythe Lawrence’s summing up on Gymnastics Examiner. It talks of the underage gymnast in the 1996 Olympics, never investigated by FIG or IOC.

Both Andy and Blythe conclude with the obvious. The minimum age requirement for competitive gymnasts must be eliminated once and for all.

Sweet.

These clips are hand-picked by Olivier Strebel, “coordinator of all things TV and new media” within the FIG.

Production values look pretty good.

Here’s a sample edit, highlights and lowlights of the MAG World Championships 2009.

Click through and subscribe to the F.I.G. YouTube channel .

Congratulations to Olivier and everyone involved with this initiative at the International Gymnastics Federation.

The U.S. men’s team won the men’s team title at the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships at Hisense Arena today in Melbourne, Australia.

2009 U.S. junior all-around champion John Orozco of Bronx, N.Y., won the junior all-around title with a total that would have captured the senior crown.

The men return to competition on Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m. for individual apparatus finals.

Scoring a team total of 345.950, the U.S. men earned the team title, finishing first on pommel horse (54.950), still rings (58.750), and parallel bars (58.850).

“The team is always our priority,” said U.S. men’s national team coordinator Kevin Mazeika. “We are very happy with this result.” …

USAG – USA men win team title, Orozco takes junior all-around at Pacific Rim

2. China 340.500
3. Canada 337.250.
4. Australia 333.0

Russia was 5th fielding only 4 athletes. Their A-team is at European Championships.

team results (PDF)

UPDATE

China respects the IOC will be returned within one week punishment Olympic gymnastics bronze

A Chinese site, sports.qq.com, seems to confirm:

… China news agency, Beijing, April 29 (Reporter Gao Kai) – The Chinese Olympic Committee and the Chinese Gymnastics Association, said the International Olympic Committee will respect the penalties handed over within a week the Sydney Olympics bronze medal women’s gymnastics team.

Google translation of the article

It quotes General Administration of Sport Gymnastics Management Center Director Luo Chaoyi, so should be official.

Thanks ZhongguoJiayou for the link.

==== original post:

This is a surprise.

I expected a complete denial. Or that some scapegoat would be blamed, capital punishment the solution.

An article several hours old by ANITA CHANG:

The Chinese Gymnastics Association said Thursday it is “pained” by the ruling to strip its women’s team of a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics for using an underage athlete but respects the decision.

The International Gymnastics Federation found that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 during the 2000 Games. The International Olympic Committee then ordered China to return their medals, which will now be awarded to the United States. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.

“We are pained over this incident. We will learn a lesson and further strengthen all kinds of administrative work on athletes and resolutely prevent a similar incident from happening again,” the Chinese association said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. “The attitude and stance of the Chinese Gymnastics Association is completely the same as that of the IOC.”

News that China was losing its bronze over age falsification was reported only briefly in the country’s entirely state-run media. Such an incident is considered hugely embarrassing to the communist government in the sports-crazy country that puts heavy emphasis on Olympic achievement.

The Chinese statement did not say who was responsible for the apparent age falsification or whether the gymnastics association was involved. …

AP – China respects IOC decision on underage gymnast

Update:

AP – China says no evidence gymnast was underage

AP – STORY REMOVED: The Associated Press has withdrawn its story …

What is the official reaction, then, of the Chinese government?

1 Gafuik (CAN) 86.250; 2 Offord (AUS) 85.850; 3 Yuguo (CHN) 85.550

via The All Around on Facebook

Congratulations Nathan and coach Tony Smith, from University of Calgary.

all-around results (PDF)

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That’s an older photo. Here’s Nathan in action at Pac Rim, posted by Grace Chiu on Facebook.