Gymnastics Coaching.com

This is Brian McKeever, winner of seven medals at the Paralympics in Salt Lake City and Turin.

He’s just made Olympic history.

… The 30-year-old cross country skier from Canmore, Alta., who is legally blind, was one of six men and five women named to the Canadian Olympic team Friday, making him the first athlete to compete in both the Winter Games and the Paralympics.

He’ll also be the first Canadian – winter or summer – to do so in the same year.

McKeever, who will race in the 50-kilometre event, won the Canadian trials last month. …

Vancouver 2010 – Blind skier makes Olympics history

Do you think he should withdraw from the 2010 Paralympics, having now qualified for the Olympics?

Should he have to choose between the two? … Or be allowed to compete both?

Brett MacAulay linked to this inspiring sports video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

There’s a new show landing on the Style Network called What I Hate About Me. The show claims to offer, “brutally honest expert advice and practical tips to help women who are trying to gain confidence and improve their lives.” …

TV.com

shergymrag saw our uber confident Olympian on one episode. Note that the link below has upgraded her medal to GOLD.

Olympic gold medalist Alicia Sacramone shows Amanda how to dress her athletic body in feminine clothes that flatter.

What I Hate About Me

Even better, I noticed Alicia Sacramone is listed as one of the gymnasts headed to camp at Karoli Ranch. She must have something to show.

Gymnastic Examiner has a good wrap-up of the Friday night meets.

By Monday it looks like Alabama will be ranked #1. Coach Sarah Patterson is smiling. Her team had it’s highest score since 2007, 197.450.

Senior Morgan Dennis used a career-high 9.975 to win the vault and a 9.95 to win the floor exercise, she also came away with the all-around title, posting a 39.675, just .050 off her career-best score.

“I think tonight is just the beginning and everything just clicked for us,” Dennis said. “It was a huge improvement from last week and I am just really excited for where the season is going.” …

Gymnastics Beats Arkansas, 197.450-195.500

UCLA scored only 194.425 Friday night but competes again Sunday at Stanford. The Bruins will need to put up a HIGH number if they want to hold the #1 team ranking.

… Mac, in the comments, points out UCLA used this meet to get some new routines into the meet. It wasn’t their top line-up.

Still … this season is getting interesting!

Susan Jackson (LSU) is #1 in the All-around. She scored 39.525 last night and won or tied for first place on all four events. This girl’s on a mission.

NBC is hoping their Winter Olympics TV coverage will help viewers forget about Conan O’Brien.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Colbert Report, comedian Stephen missed out on his personal bid to qualify to the Vancouver Games as a U.S. Olympic athlete. (He thought it owed to him after he led a fundraising drive that collected $300,000 for USA Speedskating.)

It came down to this: a race between world champion speedskater Shani Davis and Colbert. The winner would get the last position on the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team to Vancouver.

Shani had called Colbert “a Jerk”. This was a grudge match.

Davis won by 13 minutes.

On the bright side, after the loss Colbert was named “Assistant Sports Psychologist” to the Team. He’s coming to Vancouver.

Event better, on the same T.V. show, NBC Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol invited Colbert to join NBC as a colour commentator, saying he could give updates on Shani Davis.

Colbert will be one of the highlights of these Games for me.

We’ve posted this before.

But it’s worth looking at again.

Michelle Browning is still competing this amazing vault, scoring 9.825 last weekend.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

Who else has done this vault in College?

… former Penn State gymnast Michelle Ilg. … Gina Bruce of Nebraska …

(via gymfan86 on College Gymnastics Board)

UPDATE: Kristine Garbarino from WMU does a variation of this vault, too. Training video 2009.

UPDATE: Level 10 Ebony Walters is competing this vault, as well. (several errors in that article, BTW)

Translation of an interview with the Romanian gymnast who finished 4th on Rings at the last World Championships.

…
There have been rumors in the gymnastics world that this new Code of Points discourages gymnasts from training for AA competition. What is your position regarding this statement? You have been training and competing on various events during the last years. What about now? Will you just focus on rings or will you try to train and compete on some other events too?

It is not just the Code of Points that discourages gymnasts from training and competing in the AA. It is also the fact that in the whole world more and more gymnasts become specialists on only one or two events. However, if I stay healthy enough, I will definitely help the Romanian team on as many events as I can. …

Fangymnastics

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

196.55 – 196.5

Looks to have been a great battle.

UPDATE: “Alabama Gymnastics team came away with its best score of the season by more than a point, downing No. 7 Arkansas, 197.450-195.500, in front of 13,506 fans.”

Roll Tide!

Gymnastics Examiner fills us in on the big picture:

NCAA week three, and UCLA is the team to beat. The Bruins, surging on the power of sophomores Vanessa Zamarripa and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs as well as senior Anna Li, are fast emerging as the team of 2010. Catch them if you can.

Chasing UCLA is a surprising Oklahoma squad led by senior Hollie Vise, sophomore Megan Ferguson and redshirt freshman Natasha Kelley, who is competing with a partially torn ACL (and doing fairly well, too.) Alabama and Florida, both loaded with underclass talent, should also post big scores this week. …

details on all meets – NCAA week three: UCLA on top, Georgia looks to gain ground against Utah

Georgia vs. Utah tonight, Friday.

Dory Dynna linked to a highlights reel. Very cool … but they seem to fall down, a lot. ☺ He’s got tickets to see them in Vancouver as part of the arts festival held in conjunction with the Winter Olympics.

Promotional video for STREB with highlights from Wild Blue Yonder, STREB VS GRAVITY, Cirque du Soleil and the David Letterman Show

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… “It’s a mixture of slam dancing, exquisite and amazing human flight, and wild action sport,” says Elizabeth Streb, the daredevil founder of the Brooklyn-based STREB Extreme Action Company. …

Streb, an exuberant 60-year-old with spiky black hair, has won a MacArthur “genius” award for her work with the company she created in 1985. She remains fit a decade after she stopped performing her own choreography — so physically demanding, each move is calculated mathematically to avert catastrophe. …

read more: Daring dancers ready for Olympiad