Gymnastics Coaching.com

Polina Astakhova 1936-2005

Polina Astakhova was was a Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast who won ten medals (five gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals) at the Summer Olympics, where she participated as a member of the USSR team in 1956, 1960 and 1964.

She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2002.

If you show this tribute video to gymnasts today, they’ll laugh.

They’ve never known an era when adult women were World Champions. And when grace and artistry won the competition.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via The Couch Gymnast)

The first of the young, big trick gymnasts was Olga Korbut at the 1972 Olympics. She lost to the more mature traditional routines of Ludmilla Tourischeva.

Nadia and Nellie Kim ushered in the sport we know today in 1976. Young girls doing very big difficulty.

Despite a disastrous start to the season, Georgia is still ranked 9th.

As entertaining as the first 4wks of competition have been, when we get to Nationals 2010 I expect it will be the same contenders as usual.

see the full team ranking list

see the full AA list

Troy Wright has started a great discussion on Coaching Gymnastics in the new Millenium:

… The biggest thing that I would stress about FHS on floor is that I try and do about a gazillion times more front handspring step-outs than front handsprings to two feet. …

His article is supported by videos posted on Troy’s YouTube channel. Click PLAY or watch one sample on YouTube.

If you’ve got a comment, post it on the video or on New Millenium: Basics, Basics, Basics!!! Training the Front Handspring on Floor – Part I

I have a question.

Is he not worried about very flexible gymnasts doing too many “fast forward walkover” type handsprings early in the development phase? Flexible kids should be doing mostly tight flysprings, I feel.

… But I’ll post that question on the blog.

I’m still thinking UCLA will be the team to beat at Nationals. They have so much depth.

And sometime soon they’ll find a consistent line-up.

… UCLA Gymnastics team recorded season-high marks on three events and came within .05 of its season-high team total in a 196.55-193.475 victory over Arizona State on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins had nine scores of 9.9 or better and earned season-highs of 49.475 on floor and 49.35 on vault and bars.

Bruin senior Anna Li won the all-around with a 39.45 …

Bruins Near Season-High Team Score In Win Over Arizona State

After seeing the The Grable – Jaeger 1/1 low to high, ch recalled a similar skill.

This is Lindsay Borkan, who competed for Penn State.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Still difficult to do without deduction, but much “cleaner” than the Grable.

I’ve seen this skill before done by other gymnasts. I assume it was not named the Borkan.

From American Academy of Gymnastics, as a club gymnast, Lindsay was coached by the great Leonard Issacs in Wheeling, Ill.

Aerial skiing became an official medal event at the 1994 Olympics. It’s extreme, to say the least.

Anton Kushnir will be officially crowned World Cup men’s overall aerials champion at the this weekend’s Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix at Mont Gabriel and head into the Vancouver Olympics as the favourite to win the gold medal. …

In aerials, anything can happen, Omischl says

Quadruple somersaults are not allowed in competition.

Roll Tide!

This score should keep them at the top of the team rankings.

The No. 1 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team posted its second highest score of the season, a 196.600 here Saturday night on the Penn State campus to beat the No. 19 Penn State Nittany Lions (196.025) and No. 23 Minnesota Golden Gophers (192.825) in front of 2,046 fans in Rec Hall. …

“The biggest thing for us tonight was we displayed great teamwork,” Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. “We had some inconsistencies to work through – adjusting to the equipment and people who weren’t 100-percent – and I altered our lineup to ensure our success in the future. I’m very proud that the people we inserted stepped up and performed well. We must have had six different lineups at different points tonight, it was definitely a long working night at the office.”

GymTide.com

Morgan Dennis won the AA with a 39.275.

Olympic gold medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson will be a judge of the 2010 Miss America Pageant. …

The pageant takes place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 7:00PM CST. You can watch it on TLC.

KCRG

Great honour? … Rush Limbaugh is one of the other judges.

2008 Level 10 Nationals Bar Routine – Katherine Grable from Oshkosh Gymnastics Center.

I’ve never even dreamed of this Bars transition. Very cool though it may be impossible to do without major deduction.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (25sec)

She committed to Arkansas for September 2010.

(via Twistandflip on IG forum)

The annual Men’s “Winter Nationals” meet in Las Vegas looms.

2008 Olympic horizontal bar silver-medalist Jonathan Horton of Houston and his 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalist teammates Alexander Artemev of Lakewood, Colo., and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif., are among the 136 male gymnasts currently in the field for the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge, Feb. 4-6, at the Las Vegas (Nev.) Sports Center. Five members of the 2009 World Championships team are also entered, including Tim McNeill of Falls Church, Va., who was seventh in the all-around finals. In addition, 11 members of the senior national team and 13 gymnasts on the junior national squad are in the field.

Performances at the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge will help determine the 15 men who will comprise the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team through the 2010 Visa Championships in Hartford, Conn., Aug. 11-14. Ten will qualify for the team using the National Team Points System, and the remaining five will be selected by the Men’s Program Committee from among the Winter Cup participants and athlete petitions. …

USAG

Hey, Charlie Tamayo (Cuba) is on the competitors list. Cool.