Hambüchen – EU Gymnastics Champion

Two-time German Olympian Fabian Hambüchen won the men’s all-around title Saturday at the European Gymnastics Championships in Milan.

Despite a fall on parallel bars, Hambüchen defeated top qualifier Daniel Keatings (Great Britain). Russia’s Yuri Ryazanov finished third, defending his bronze medal from the 2007 European Championships in Amsterdam. …

Amanda Turner on International Gymnast once again has a succinct summary of the All-Around competition – Hambüchen Takes European Title

The big story of the meet is the Brits, however:

19-year-old Daniel Keatings nearly beat Hambüchen. And will in future unless Fabian improves his Pommel Horse.

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source – Keatings

Gymblog has a post highlighting the up-and-coming star — coached by Paul Hall — including videos:

The Daniel Keatings 411 post

Liverpool’s Daniel Purvis, only 18-years-old, finished seventh.

England COULD medal as a team at the 2012 Olympics. Certainly the British media will be reading it this way.

Semenova – EU Gymnastics Champion

Click through to IG for full results and commentary:

2008 Olympian Ksenia Semyonova (Russia) captured the all-around gold medal Saturday at the European Gymnastics Championships in Milan.

Semyonova (58.175) and teammate Ksenia Afanasyeva (57.600) finished 1-2 in a strong comeback for the Russia women, who won no medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Switzerland’s Ariella Käslin (57.275) won the bronze, a historic best for the Swiss women. …

Both Semyonova and Afanasyeva hail from Tula, and are coached by Marina Nazarova. …

International Gymnast – Semyonova Captures European Crown

Russia’s Ksenia Semenova performs her floor exercise routine on her way to win at the women’s individual All-Around Final during the European artistic gymnastics championships in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 4, 2009.

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(AP Photo/ Antonio Calanni) – ESPN

12 teams – NCAA Gymnastics Champs

Here are the amazing teams that advance to NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska:

Georgia………….394.955
Utah……………..394.865
Alabama………..393.925
LSU………………393.635
Florida…………..393.490
Oregon St………393.320
UCLA……………393.205
Oklahoma………393.065
Stanford…………392.025
Arkansas………..392.740
Illinois…………….392.715
Penn St………….392.040

… Utah and Georgia both put up WOW! scores today, with a 197.675 and a 197.700, respectively …

College Gymnastics Board – NQS Seeding for NCAAs

Congratulations to Penn State!

Penn-State.jpg

My sympathies to host Nebraska, narrowly edged out for one of the spots.

Kylie Stone qualified as an individual for the NCAA Championships as the No. 13 Nebraska women’s gymnastics team finished third at the NCAA Southeast Regional at N.C. State Saturday night. The Huskers (16-7) posted a score of 195.45 to finish behind Georgia (197.70) and Penn State (195.80). …

Stone will perform as an all-arounder at the Championships in Lincoln on April 16-18.

“I’m happy for Kylie,” Head Coach Dan Kendig said. “After sitting out a year, it says a lot for her to come back and qualify, but nothing is going to replace the fact that we won’t be there as a team. I’m heartbroken for Tricia (Woo) and Brittney (Williams); they both came so close, down to the last competitor. The thing is, I love this team and I can’t tell you that enough. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do and I’m heartbroken for them. They’ve made sacrifices and worked hard all year long.”

Stone led Nebraska’s all-around rotation, with a score of 39.20 for a fourth-place finish. The Huskers narrowly missed out on qualifying individual on bars and beam, with Williams (9.90) and Woo (9.90) each taking second in their respective events. Georgia took the spotlight, tallying two 10.0 marks on the night on vault and beam. …

Stone Advances to NCAA Championships, Huskers Come in Third at Regionals

gymnastics training – wide pommels

Coach Ed Vincent at Altadore built this interesting training device.

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He uses the wide pommels under a pommel bucket.

gymnastics in Jamaica

I saw an article about two gymnasts from NISHIDA’S GYMNASTICS & FITNESS CENTER in Kingston, Jamaica competiing well at a meet in Florida, the 2009 Gasparilla in Tampa.

NISHIDA’S offers a full range of gymnastics programs. As well as Cheer.

gymnastics-Jamaica.jpg

Mr. Shin Nishida has built a strong program there. Congratulations.

Another Japanese led gymnastics facility – ISHIMOTO GYMNASTIC School – is only 3000 square feet. But is looking for more.

Leave a comment if you know more about what’s happening with gymnastics sports on the Island.

athletes playing in pain

Like most gymnastics clubs, we have a number of girls out with injury right now, right in the middle of our competitive season.

One kicked the low bar by accident doing Pak. One tripped over her feet at the gym … we are claiming she was training triple back off beam.

Another suffers chronic pain. Cause not clear. All modes of treatment including extended rest does not alleviate it.

Frustrating.

Pain and Beth Tweddle have been constant companions since the 2006 world asymmetric bars champion broke her left foot warming up for the British championships eight years earlier.

In 1999 pins were removed from her ankle. A year later the joint required manipulation under a local anesthetic.

Flaking bone was removed in 2001 before surgery on both ankles in 2002. Two years later she underwent surgery on a torn bicep tendon.

“I’ve had enough injuries to last me a lifetime,” Britain’s first world gymnastics champion told Reuters in a telephone interview during a break from training for the Beijing Olympics.

“In a way it’s made me a stronger person, it’s made me more determined to go out and prove to people that an injury isn’t going to stop me.”

“I think every athlete competes through certain aspects of pain. I guess that’s just part of the sport. …

Pain is gymnast Tweddle’s constant companion – Yahoo News

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credit – British Olympic Association

Beth does not plan on training through to the 2012 Olympics in London. Neither has she signed with any NCAA gymnastics team, so far as I have seen.

All older, high level competitive gymnasts are “injured”. They do things in training that would be avoided by non-gymnasts.

I recall Russian coaches using the term “functionally healthy” to mean “injured, but still able to do the training program”.

Pain management is essential. Smart coaching is essential.

Beth was “was the talk of the town” after the WAG preliminary competition in Milan.

Beth Tweddle – Wikipedia

EU Championships Men – Prelims

Unofficial Results:

AA: 1.Daniel Keatings 89.150; 2.Fabian Hambuchen 89.050; 3.Yuri Ryazanov 88.900; 4.Benoit Caranobe 87.775; 5.Flavius Koczi 86.950; 6.Alexander Shatilov 86.050; 7.Jeffrey Wammes 86.025; 8.Dimitry Savitski 86,025; 9.Philipp Boy 85.625; 10.Manuel Campos 85.150

bottom of live blog page – The All Around – MAG Quick Hits Subdivision 3

I think that is final.

The “kid” Keatings bests favourite Hambuchen.

What does British Gymnastics think about that?

Event finalists posted on Gymnastics In Europe.

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Photograph: Brandon Malone/Action Images – Guardian

Wild Rose Gymnastics Meet begins

Competition is underway in Edmonton, Alberta.

Wild-Rose-Gymnastics.jpg

WildRoseGymnastics.com

I’m coaching today. Heading up this evening in time for the coaches social at Champions Gymnastics Club.

I saw this photo posted by Shaena Bunce on Facebook.

NCAA Regional Championships April 4th

This is a repost. A reminder to check out one of the 6 fantastic gymnastics meets being held this Saturday.

Another step in the confusing system used by the NCAA to determine who earns the right to compete at Championships 2009. The top 2 teams from each meet advance:

This young fan is cheering for UCLA. Click PLAY or watch the hilarious video on Gymnastike.

West Region – in Seattle, Washington (University of Washington, host)
Teams
1. Utah
2. Auburn

3. Illinois
4. Boise State
5. Washington
6. San Jose State

North Central Region – in Iowa City, Iowa (University of Iowa, host)
Teams
1. Florida
2. UCLA

3. Minnesota
4. Denver
5. Iowa State
6. Iowa

South Central Region – in Fayetteville, Arkansas (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, host)
Teams
1. Stanford
2. Arkansas

3. Michigan
4. Arizona
5. Arizona State
6. Southern Utah

Central Region – in Columbus, Ohio (The Ohio State University, host)
Teams
1. LSU
2. Oregon State

3. Ohio State
4. Kent State
5. Kentucky
6. Michigan State

Northeast Region – in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, host)
Teams
1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma

3. Missouri
4. Central Michigan
5. New Hampshire
6. Maryland

Southeast Region – in Raleigh, North Carolina (North Carolina State University, host)
Teams
1. Georgia
2. Penn State

3. Nebraska
4. West Virginia
5. North Carolina State
6. North Carolina

commentary on College Gymnastics Board

The teams I’ve bolded are expected to qualify to one of the 12 team positions at Championships. But upsets happen. Nebraska will be fighting hard to finish in the top 2 in the SE Region, for example. Michigan could pull an upset, too.

All 6 Regional Championships are held the same day, starting at 6PM local time. If you can attend any of the 6 competitions, do it. They are a blast.

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Finals April 16-18, 2009
Bob Devaney Sports Center
Lincoln, Nebraska
Host: University of Nebraska, Lincoln

details – NCAA

new blog – The All Around

I’ve just subscribed to an interesting site called The All Around.

I became a fan of their Facebook page.

And even subscribed to their Twitter Feed.

Like most who try it, I think Twitter is cryptic, limited and initially useless.

But I’ve always thought it had potential for live blogging gymnastics competitions. The All Around did exactly that at European Championships.

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screenshot – Twitter – theallaround