Gymnastics Coaching.com

Get a glimpse of Cirque du Soleil HQ in a funny video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s promoting the big OneDrop.org performance art event Friday, October 9th.

disclosure – I love Cirque du Soleil

I can’t find any good overview article summing up the Kiwi Championships 2009.

There are some photos online from Championships 2008, this one of Ashleigh Wade.

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

… 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.

UPDATE: photos from 2009 Championships. Thanks Erin.

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. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Man, those GymMax girls can vault.

This came from an article about her teammate, 12-year-old Kyla Ross – Kyla Ross, coaches taking things one year at a time

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.

In response to a recent post:

We apologize for the crash of our site during the Inside Gymnastics radio show. However we will be posting the radio show as soon as possible on our website and through iTunes. We have lots of great things coming in 2010 and hope the gymnastics community enjoys what is on the horizon.

Remember – follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@insidegym) for live updates. Our Worlds section of InsideGymnastics.com is launching very soon. A big shout-out to our sponsors for making this great section possible!

Shane Womack
Director of Marketing
Inside Gymnastics Magazine

Thanks Shane. Looking forward to your audiocasts being posted on iTunes. As well as the archive being available to stream from your site.

Who is MunchTheSilivasFan?

WOW.

She put together an epic edit, almost 9min long. (When is the last time you saw a gymnastics montage of this length?) Plenty of slow motion and close-ups.

This is the first video in months that I’ve downloaded to my computer. It’s perfect for showing non-gymnastics types simply how amazing are gymnasts. By far the most impressive female athletes in the world.

Click PLAY or … much better, watch it on YouTube in the biggest size.

… If you saw only this video you’d believe WAG is still Artistic. Unfortunately, we know better.

Rachel from the U.K, age-18, has 164 videos posted. Check them out at MunchTheSilivasFan channel on YouTube.

Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté is orbiting the Earth. He spent $35-million to become only the 7th “tourist” to leave the planet.

Some have criticized him for the extravagence during a global recession.

Personally, I agree with this assessment from the Montreal Gazette:

… Laliberté provides jobs to thousands and pleasure to hundreds of thousands, and got rich in the process. Now he is spending some of his money to have fun. More power to him.

Guy Laliberté slips the surly taunts of critics

Guy has not made a serious mistake in the past. What makes people think this is a blunder?

His space trip is part of a huge campaign to raise awareness of the need to provide clean water to everyone in the world.

The main event is happening this Friday though the specific details are not yet revealed. You can get some hints on what to expect from the OneDrop.org website.

Some of those who will be appearing live:

Actors Matthew McConaughey and Salma Hayek, singers Joss Stone, Elisapie Isaac, Helene Segara, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michel Fugain, Natasha St Pier, Lorie and Zazie, musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer Nicolai Tsiskaridze and poet Touria Ikbal join their voices with previously announced Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, A. R. Rahman, Cirque du Soleil, Claude Challe, Dr. David Suzuki, Fnaire, Frank De Winne, Garou, Gilberto Gil, Gregory Colbert, Jean Lemire, Julie Payette, Maud Fontenoy, Patrick Bruel, Peter Gabriel, Peter Lik, Shakira, Simon Carpentier, Tatuya Ishii, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Tiffany Speight, U2, Vandana Shiva and Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

PR Newswire

It’s big.

Laliberté has already pledged $100 million for the cause of clean drinking water. This is part of that ongoing campaign.

Genius is almost always artistic. Or mad.

History will remember Guy Laliberté as a genius.

You might want to put these dates on your calendar. The first two days, qualifying rounds, will not be broadcast.

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
LIVE: Men’s All-Around Final
Thu, Oct 15 1:30 PM ET

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
LIVE: Women’s All-Around Final
Fri, Oct 16 1:30 PM ET

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
LIVE: Individual Apparatus Finals Day 1
Sat, Oct 17 7:55 AM ET

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
LIVE: Individual Apparatus Finals Day 2
Sun, Oct 18 7:55 AM ET

Universal Sports – Gymnastics

Hopefully we’ll be able to watch the coverage from any nation in the world. Gymnastics is streaming for me right now in Canada.

If you are one of those affected by DirecTV dropping Universal Sports from their line-up, you can email DirecTV on this page to ask them to reconsider.

Or, if you a DirecTV customer, you could call 1-800-DirecTV to request that Universal Sports be continued on DirecTV’s channel package.

An unusual and interesting edit from the Australian Gymnastics Blog.

… A montage of Australia and Great Britain 2008 OG prelims floor to the music of Basement Jaxx. I loved both of these teams! …

It’s got the feel of a dual meet, at the Olympic Games.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Just saw this on The Couch Gymnast:

… Mostepanovafan has posted the top ten most successful gymnasts of all time montage. She has done quads, but now its the whole of elite history. …

Mostepanovafan explains:

… the most successful gymnasts ever based on World and Olympic individual medals.

Success was worked out by: total number of World and Olympic individual medals won (no team medals counted), if there were ties it was split by number of golds, then number of silvers, then number of bronzes.

Who are the top 10? … This will surprise you.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Seems to me the quality shared by these women is “toughness“. They were successful for a long time. And could HIT under the pressure of the biggest meets.

None (except #10) would be on my list of favourite gymnasts.

This is quite a poor video montage … with a great message.

Gymnastics
Its being able to do things most people can only dream of doing
Its being with your team more than anyone else
Its being able to remember every routine you’ve ever done
Its never having time to do anything else Its ripped and blistered hands and feet. Its always being sore- but never contemplating a night off
Its not being able to understand how some people can’t touch their toes
Its using chalk more than soap
Its never using the words “can’t” or “impossible”
Its owning more leos and warm ups than actual clothing
Its knowing you work ten times harder than any other sport
Its that dizzy, happy feeling when you stick that one landing
Its having your own language and using it non stop.
Its not just a sport…
*Its a way of life*

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Craig Smith for linking to it on Facebook.