I’m predicting this World Championships the Men’s competition may finally start to approach the WAG in popularity with fans and the media. Even those who normally pay no attention to men’s gymnastics will start to get interested.
Fabian - click image for more World's preview photos
Andy Thornton has relaunched his Smooth Skills video blog on American Gymnast. (He formerly posted on the currently defunct Gymnast.com.)
In Episode 2 he looked at the Mo Salto (Gaylord 1 for Men) on Bars, comparing 4 different Chinese gymnasts who competed it.
One of those was Zhang Yufei, a name I only barely recognize. She was an amazing gymnast but her only big international meet was the 2005 World Championships.
…love the Yaeger to Pak salto! It’s amazing how we NEVER see this combination anymore (except from He Kexin), and I don’t understand why. Everyone in the world is doing these Pak saltos from a cast handstand nowadays, and I’m sick of seeing it! So many Chinese gymnasts in particular are doing these huge Yaegers but for some strange reason don’t do the Pak salto immediately out of it – this reminds us how much better this looks when done connected.
Does anyone know what happened to this amazing gymnast?
Click through to American Gymnast to see her other apparatus. And the 4 Mo saltos, including the one competed by Zhang Yufei.
The Couch Gymnast has been posting like crazy of late. And very good stuff !!
She linked to a must see video.
MunchTheSilivasFan… sure puts together some great clips. One of my favorites is the Random Gymnastics montage because it is a truly amazing collection of some of gymnastics wldest, whackiest, most beautiful and most original moves in both dance and acrobatics. AND because there were a few things I had never seen before. …
One of the best gymnasts in the World … deemed too young to compete at the upcoming World Championships.
Welcome to Viktoria Komova Online, the Official Website dedicated to the talented Russian Artistic Gymnast Viktoria!
Viktoria is a 3-time Gold Medallist for the All Arounds, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam at the 2009 Japan Junior International and at the 2009 European Youth Olympic Festival! …
Generally I have been critical of the 2008 code of points for Women. (It’s too soon to say regarding the 2012 revisions.) But it’s certain that we would NEVER have seen Bar routines anything like this without an open-ended scoring system.
I could even concede that Bars and Vault have been a success under the new rules.
Floor and Beam were more interesting and entertaining back in the days of a 10.0 maximum.
… Judging from the results I’ve seen on my former club’s website (Christchurch School of Gymnastics), the Canterbury Team had a brilliant competition. Congratulations!
The last time (2002) I saw Holly Moon she was so tiny she could only barely clear the vault horse on a Handspring. This year she’s the winner of the Junior International division.
Thanks Jenny Jujnovich, meet director.
And shout out to Avril Enslow, who will be judging World Championships in London.
Blythe on Gymnastics Examiner linked to the this video from U.S. VISA Championships.
… 13-year-old teammate McKayla Maroney became the third U.S. gymnast ever to land an Amanar vault (Yurchenko 2.5 twist), which she did on the second day of competition. Shawn Johnson, who performed the vault successfully in 2008, and Jordyn Wieber, who did it at the American Cup earlier this year, are the only other Americans who have ever even tried Amanars in competition. …
It’s a great read, especially to hear the philosophy of coaches Jian Hua (Jenny) Zhang and her husband Hao Quan (Howie) Liang.
Notes: Ross and Maroney aren’t the first Gym Max gymansts to make a splash on the national scene. Ivana Hong trained at Gym Max before moving to Iowa to work with husband and wife team Al and Armine Fong in 2004, and 2006 Pacific Alliance and Gymnix gold medalist Shantessa Pama trained at Gym Max as an elite.
==== Update:
MostepanovaFan just posted a video called The Amanar Club, inspired by Blythe’s post. It shows all the gymnasts who have competed the Yurchenko 2.5 twist in chronological order.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 