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Who is the top gymnast in the world today?
Rebecca Bross.
She’s got the highest AA start value for difficulty. And it’s only going to get higher over the coming years.
Click PLAY or watch her Beam from AA Finals on YouTube.
No, Rebecca is not my favourite gymnast. But this code of points favours girls who are tough and consistent. Gymnasts like Shawn Johnson and Rebecca Bross.
Rebecca’s got a smart coach in Valeri.
She’s the girl to beat.
Organisers of the London Olympics may be forced to rethink plans to move rhythmic gymnastics and badminton to Wembley after receiving a frosty response from the world governing body of gymnastics.
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details – International Gymnastics Federation unhappy with Wembley switch for London 2012
After every age group competition I check on injury trends. Talking to the medical staff on site is usually the best way to get a feel for what happened.
What about the World Championships?
Some called it a “Splatfest” … I think that’s a bit too harsh.
The first thing you need tell a non-gymnast about Artistic Gymnastics is that it’s difficult. Second, that it’s dangerous.
We saw a lot of falls like this …
Yang Yilin of China tumbles as she dismount from the uneven bars during the World Gymnastics Championships women’s all-around final at the O2 Arena in London, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009
(AP Photo/Matt Dunham) – ESPN
Most gymnasts pick themselves up. And go on. They are tough as any athlete anywhere.
Reuters published an article on the dangers:
The risks faced by young gymnasts in the chase for medals were again highlighted on Sunday when Jessica Gil Ortiz‘s bid to win the floor exercise title ended painfully with a suspected neck injury.
The 19-year-old Colombian was attempting to finish off a high-flying tumbling sequence with a double front somersault when she banged her head at an uncomfortable angle, hushing almost 12,000 fans at the O2 Arena into silence. …
Reports are that the injury turned out to be not serious. (Jessica trains at Universal Gymnastics in Miami.)
Other athletes injured in London include Fabian Hambuechen (GER) and Shona Morgan (AUS). Leave a comment if you know of others who withdrew from competition.
Shona had a dislocated kneecap. No ligament damage. That’s good news too.
It seems inevitable to me that all Floors will one day be constructed with the new springs designed by Scott Weller.
Weller Spring Floor gymnastics tumble test with Olympian Justin Spring
Powerful gymnasts, both male and female, test it at Illinois …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Note that Scott, a former gymnast, couldn’t resist leaving a clip of Horizontal Bar at the end of the video.
For more information, click through to softer Floor – Weller springs.
The springs are available from King Bars Sports, LLC.
From Inside Gymnastics:
Still Missing Artistry.
The new Code was meant to encourage artistry, but so far, it doesn’t seem to have been too successful. The judges aren’t allowing enough separation in the Execution score among gymnasts to really distinguish in a significant fashion. And so many gymnasts and coaches seem to be neglecting this side of the sport still, with unimaginative choreography and still not enough focus on the details. The judges have 10 full points to work with in the Execution score, but they’re not using enough range. …
Nobody names either Bridge Sloan #1 or Rebecca Bross #2 as one of the most “artistic” gymnasts in the world.
Both are fantastic athletes. Both could contend for Olympic AA medals in 3yrs if they can stay healthy.
Actually, my opinion of Rebecca went way, way up at this her first major international meet. That kid is tough. She handled catastrophic disaster perfectly. Impassive. … In fact she reminded me of the psychological toughness of Ludmilla Tourischeva.
Sounds like her coach and Nastia did not handle Rebecca’s fall on the last tumbling line of the last apparatus nearly as calmly. Disappointing.
Later, Valeri put a braver face on it:
… said Bross’s fall was a good learning experience.
“She’s still very great,” Liukin said. “She’s still very young. We learn.” …
Gymnastics Examiner
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In any case, the majority of bloggers were naming Ana Porgras the most artistic gymnast. Check a thread on the IG Forum comparing Ana against the best switch ring leaps in history.
Certainly Ana cannot contend against the best gymnasts in the world under this code without getting much, much stronger. We can hope she improves to the level of former Romanian World Champion, Aurelia Dobre.
Perhaps the most artistic gymnast at World’s in the AA was Yang Yilin. What do you think?
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Elsa Garcia won the Longines Prize for Elegance. … But I’m wondering how much her being disallowed to compete in Beijing factored into that award.
I only saw some of the routines broadcast on Universal. … Leave a comment if you have your own ARTISTIC World Gymnastics Champion.
Seems “highlight” clips are available on this page.
Some in Europe are not able to stream Universal, I’ve been told.
The international Gymnastics Federation did a fantastic job at getting out information from World Championships in London.
And they negotiated the best TV / internet video contract in history.
Kudos FIG. Kudos to Longines.
Only hours after the competition they’ve distributed the official Longines Results Book. If you are a stats junkie, download to your computer London_Book (PDF).
On that document you can check the official FIG Passport age of all competitors. (Ha!)
Check the Execution scores for each routine. Individual judge’s names are not listed in preliminaries. But for finals the Nationality of each judge is shown.
You can see who liked Dragalescu’s execution on Floor, for example:
See the medal total by nation. And much more.
The best wrap-up report I’ve seen as yet was posted by Anne on Gymnastike:
Dragalescu did not crash his second vault this competition. He cranked a half-on, Front Layout with 2 1/2 twist. He just might be the greatest vaulter of all time. Him… or Scherbo.
For his first vault, Marian launched his trademark vault, handspring double front with a half twist out, aka the Dragulescu. This vault was competed by nearly all of the vault finalists, but performed the best by Dragulescu who earned 9.550 exectution. His second vault had the highest start value of the competition at a 7.2. There was a lot of hype surrounding Ri Se Gwang of North Korea, but you just never know what he is going to do. Today he threw 2 scary vaults, the first was a piked Dragulescu which he landed on his head. ouch.
Click PLAY or watch 28yr-old Marian Dragalescu win Vault on YouTube.
Regarding Olympics 2012, Marian was quoted as saying: “… But maybe next time, you never know …”
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… Crowd favorite Beth Tweddle was the first competitor up, and hit her insanely difficult floor set. To the delight of the crowd, her score held throughout the competition. …
Click PLAY or watch Beth Tweddle’s Gold Medal on Floor on YouTube.
At age-24, she’s not committing to 2012.
Click through for the other apparatus. Gymnastike – 2009 World Gymnastics Championships Recap
Gymnastics Coaching.com 