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The gymnastics blogosphere has been cluttered the last few months with ‘favourite Floor” routines.

Here are more.

On the International Gymnast Forum numblemon picked two great eras: 1979-1983 and then 1987 to 1992.

… I picked this based on both innovative tumbling (Groshkova, Strazheva, Priakhina) unique and well-performed dance (Voinea, Silivas, Bogi, Dobre, Mitova) …

Instead of her choices, I’ll post the shocking routine of Oksana Omelianchik at the 1985 World Championships in Montreal.

In the Soviet Union there were dozens of stronger tumblers. But the charm of this routine won over everyone who saw it. Will we never see this kind of originality every again?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Wordsmith feels she was one of the most expressive gymnasts ever on Floor. Check the comments for another routine with more delightful facial expression.

click through for the links to numblemon’s picks – Golden Age of Floor

Russia continued its domination of the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere on Thursday by winning both all-around titles.

All-around champion Viktoria Komova (Russia) is flanked by silver medalist Amelia Racea (Romania) and bronze medalist Celine van Gerner (Netherlands).

After leading Russia to team victories earlier this week, Viktoria Komova and David Belyavsky claimed the all-around gold medals Thursday. …

read the entire article on International Gymnast – Komova, Belyavsky Win EYOF All-Around Titles

Thanks gymnasticgirl.

On the International Gymnast Forum numblemon lists her Golden Age of Beam.

From 1979-1985, I found beam to be the most innovative and graceful.

It’s an excuse to post likely my favourite gymnast of all time, Natalia Shaposhnikova.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A reminder on why we no longer allow flash cameras at gymnastics competitions!

Hey, that was 30yrs-ago!

Where are the 1-arm handstand skills in 2009?

Click through to IG Forum see other examples from that era: Filatova, Agache, Illienko, Mostepanova (of course).

Thiago Simões has started up a new Brazilian gymnastics blog, in English.

… Artistic Gymnastics has become a huge success in Brazil thanks to incredible world class gymnasts like Daiane dos Santos and Diego Hypólito. However, outside of Brazil very few people know about Brazilian gymnasts other than these two athletes. This is the main reason why I decided to create this blog: to make people around the world aware of Brazilian gymnasts …

Check it out and subscribe to encourage gymnastics blogging worldwide: Brazilian Gymnastics blog

For some reason, Brazilians really excel at all acrobatic sports.

I’ve not yet seen this documentary on performance enhancing drugs.

… The documentary examines the steroid use of the director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, Mark and Mike Bell, who all grew up idolizing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone, and also features professional athletes, medical experts, fitness center members, and US Congressmen talking about the issue of anabolic steroids.

Beyond the basic issue of anabolic steroid use, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* examines the lack of consistency in how America views drugs, cheating, and the lengths people go to achieve success. …

wikipedia

But Valentin Uzunov of The Gym Press found it very unsettling. He’s not nearly so sure now that gymnast, especially male gymnasts, are not experimenting with them … for Rings.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer for Bigger, Faster, Stronger on YouTube.

… On December 14, 2008, Mike Bell, brother of director Chris Bell, who was prominently featured in the film, died at 37. …

At my gym the most frequently mentioned gymnasts are Tsukahara, Yurchenko and … Elise Ray. She has 3 skills named after her on Bars for cripes sake.

What an innovator!

Elise Ray on bars at the 2000 US Gymnastics Championships.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is one of the routines picked by numblemon from her Golden Age of Bars 1994-2000.

Click through to see why. Other routines shown as examples: Maloney, Bi, Chelsea Otto, Doni Thompson. Like Elise Ray, these are not routines often mentioned in 2009.

Could you use one of these? I saw it at Island Gymnastics Academy, PEI.

Coach Jim Rand used it for a fitness testing contest. Standing long jump.

I first learned of this drill from watching videos of Soviet male coaches back in the 1980s.

Tkachev layout to STAND ON THE BAR.

(Normally we pad the bar. And use 2 spotters to start. You need to be a strong spotter to do it the way shown in the video.)

Click through to watch it on Gymnastike.

Terry Walker began his career in coaching in 1983 and has coached gymnasts at the national and international level since 1987. A coach of two former Olympians, Terry coached with Cypress Academy from 1988 to 1995. He returned to Cypress with his wife, Tamara, in May of 2003 and became the Competitive Girls Director in 2004.

I recently learned that US Glove has spun off a new site dedicated only to wrist health of gymnasts called TigerPawWristSupports.com

Aside from Paws, it offers accessories … not that Tiger Paws have become a fashion item.

Recently we recommended neoprene wrist bands on a post called preventing Bar wrist rips.

You can get those here, as well. Cheap.

home page – TigerPawWristSupports.com

Thanks Steve Karr for the new site. Wrist and hand problems are one of our biggest concerns with Artistic gymnasts.