Gymnastics Coaching.com

Artistic Gymnastics has ended.

Day 2 of Finals was “dominated by China and Great Britain (looking great for 2012!)”.

China, no surprise.

But to see the Men from Great Britain so successful at so many recent Junior competitions is a treat. And the GB Women did surprisingly well, too.

Past & Present Gymnastics – commentary on the meet.

Floor
1. Jie Cui (CHN)
2. Danusia Francis (GBR)
3. Liufang Wu (CHN)

Balance Beam
1. Liufang Wu (CHN)
2. Sixin Tan (CHN)
3. Danusia Francis (GBR)

Vault (M)
1. Zhanteng Liu (CHN)
2. Reiss Beckford (GBR)
3. Luke Wadsworth (AUS)

Parallel Bars (M)
1. Ashley Watson (GBR)
2. Lixiang Fang (CHN
3. Max Whitlock (GBR)

High Bar (M)
1. Xiaodong Zhu (CHN)
2. Michael Mercieca (AUST)
3. Ashley Watson (GRB)

official results

Interesting mount, perhaps first performed by American Michelle Goodwin in 1982. (Front tuck somersaults over the low bar were big back then.)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Years later it was done by former Soviet star Olesia Dudnik — without the butt bounce off the low bar. (video on Gymblog)

In the most recent code it’s an E-part. No gymnast’s name is attributed to the skill. Sorry Dude.

CalicoIzzy on College Gymnastics Board is keeping an updated list of serious injuries in Collge gymnastics.

We might learn something from the list. So far:

ACL
Mariel Box, UGA
Genny Salvatore, Arkansas
Justine Foster, Auburn
Jac Shealy, Bama (ACL)

Achilles
Natasha Kelley, Oklahoma
Kareen Kaveh, Auburn

Other
Ashlee Hinkle, ASU (leg/knee injury, both legs?, boat accident)
Madison Snowden, ASU (severed achilles, shower accident)
Kelsie Montgomery, Auburn (ankle surgery, pre-college injury)
Kristina Comforte, UCLA (shoulder, injury retirement)
Stephanie Neff, Utah (back, injury retirement)

Probable/Possible outs
Carrie Finley, ASU (shoulder)
Nicole Ferrandino, ASU (ACL)

Season-ending injury list

NatashaKelley.com

UCLA is looking good, I feel. They are young — and only going to get better.

troester – full list

UCLA Women

UCLA Freshman Vanessa Zamarripa won the AA last meet with 39.4.

hopes-and-dreams.net has many Photoshopped gymnastics pics. I like this one.

(Homer Simpson was a High School gymnast, by the way.)

See more on their 2009 University of Minnesota v. Arizona page.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

The ninth-ranked Oklahoma women’s gymnastics squad (1-1) posted the highest score in the NCAA this season en route to a 197.175-189.600 victory against Texas Woman’s University (0-1) on Saturday night. The Sooners claimed every team and individual event title of the dual meet in front of a capacity crowd of 1,107 inside Kitty Magee Arena on the TWU campus. …

“It’s a real confidence builder as we continue our season,” said head coach K.J. Kindler. “In all honesty, I saw ten times as much energy, confidence and enthusiasm as we showed at Florida. It started out with a bang with a great bars set. I thought we did a much better job with our dismounts and stuck landings and it’s always nice to end with one of those beam nights that you’ll never forget.” …

Sooners Post Top Score in the NCAA

Right now in Peoria, Illinois.

Bridget Sloan of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team and Kalon Ludvigson of the U.S. Senior National Tumbling Team attended the annual fund-raiser.

… Wearing her Olympic silver medal won last summer in Beijing, Sloan addressed the crowd during the opening ceremony Saturday.

“It’s a really incredible competition,” she said afterward. “It’s cool to see (fans’) eyes get really big. Just the reaction is priceless.” …

PJ Star

Thanks also to Central Illinois Tumbling and Trampoline.

The 18th Annual St. Jude Benefit Meet will take place on January 17th & 18th, 2009 at the Peoria Civic Center . During one weekend a year, athletes complete not only for individual and team awards, but also to help sick children live. Event organizers donate 100% of all net proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To date, this event has donated over 3/4 million dollars to St. Jude for the research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. …

official website

more photos from last year’s meet

related – NCAA president Myles Brand has pancreatic cancer. Our thoughts are with him.

Deja Vu all over again. Cal beats crosstown rival Stanford in a dual meet.

The No. 1 Stanford men’s gymnastics team fell to No. 5 California, 342.200-338.400, on Friday evening at Haas Pavilion. With the loss, the Cardinal drops to 0-1 in its first meet of the 2009 campaign. …

Top-Ranked Stanford Falls To No. 5 California In Season Opener

Just like last season, it’s time for me to predict an upset Team Victory for Cal Berkeley at NCAA Championships 2009.

Or is it?

Cal Coach Barry Weiner:

… I know Stanford is going to get a lot better, but so are we. …

Cal Bears

I’ve been researching climbing ropes.

The cheapest materials are “good enough” for most gyms, I understand.

But contacts in Cirque du Soleil love the covered Spanish web ropes they use.

In North American you can buy it from:

USA – CBE Circus – Spanish Webs

Canada – Barry.ca – Braided Spanish Web

It’s expensive at something like $10 / foot.

Leave a comment if you know something about Spanish web.