Gymnastics Coaching.com

From France, Thomas Bouhail was the silver medalist in Bejing behind sentimental favourite Leszek Blanik.

Click PLAY or watch his 2 Finals Vaults on YouTube.

Thomas has committed to train through until 2012. And compete All-around.

Triple Full translated a good interview with Thomas:

… The 22-year-old gymnast from Sotteville-les-Rouen has the European Championships in Milan from April 2nd to 5th in his sights, followed by the World Championships in London from October 12th to 18th.

“In both cases, I want to confirm [that I’m a good vaulter], and not let up. Now that I have the Olympic silver around my neck, I no longer have the right to lose, especially if the Olympic champion isn’t there. In short, whatever the competition, I’m not asking for the moon,” Bouhail told Reuters. …

Thomas Bouhail: “I No Longer Have the Right to Lose”

On December 14th, Thomas did win, in the absence of the Olympic champion Blanik, the World Cup Final in Madrid.

He’s the man to beat at the moment.

Wow.

The excellent new Gymnast.com website was not updated for the past couple of weeks. Right now it is redirecting to USA Gymnastics.

Though I sometimes blog for Gymnast, I’d not heard this was coming down.

In the meantime, International Gymnast cannot seem to get their site back up and running.

Inside Gymnastics was bad. And has not been improved.

GYMmedia looks like it was designed in 1992.

Yuck.

Our T&T program is thriving at my club in Calgary, Canada.

I’ve been very impressed with the progress of our kids over the Fall.

Tryouts are scheduled the next 2 Sundays (Jan. 11th & 18th at 4PM) for boys and girls interested in competitive. Experience in gymnastics and acrobatics an advantage, but not essential.

Email Rick_McCharles@hotmail.com for more information.

We have an excellent facility with new Rod Floor, new Double-mini and our unique Powertrack.

related post – great tumbling facility for gymnasts

IG has upgraded their website using new software called Vivvo 4.

It’s up right now after having been down for the last number of days. NOPE, it’s been down for weeks.

screenshot

International Gymnast

The Inside Gymnastics magazine website falls even further behind. They’ve made small improvements, but a complete overhaul of the Inside Gymnastics site is what’s really needed.

Utah Head Coach Greg Marsden posted a Facebook training video of one of my favourite College gymnasts.

This looks potentially even more interesting than Gymnastrada.

In 2009 the first ever Gym for Life Challenge will take place during July 15-19 in Dornbirn, Austria. There is now a time constraint of five minutes for each routine. Groups are separated by age: 16 or younger, 17 or older, and mixed age groups; then sub-separated by amount of gymnasts: 20 or less, and 21 or more. The criteria for evaluation will be overall impression; entertainment value; innovation, originality, and variety; and technique (quality and skill safety). …

All Gymnastics, All the time – 2009 Preview: The Gym for Life Challenge

I’ll recommend that Cirque du Soleil attend.

Click PLAY or watch the FIG promo video on YouTube.

The man who many rank as one of the greatest coaches ever is 98-years-old.

I’ve heard more inspiring stories about John Wooden than anyone else in sport history.

His 10 NCAA National Championships in 12 years while at UCLA are unmatched by any other college basketball coach.

He still lives at home.

And his mind is still sharp as you can tell from a recent interview:

… I’m ready. I wish it would happen now. But I’m not going to try to hurry it. I’m not afraid of death. I’m not going to intentionally hurry it up, but I’m not afraid. I’ve been so blessed in my life. I’m thankful for so many things. My children, my 13 great-grandchildren, all live within an hour or less, and I see them all regularly. How many times does that happen? Within an hour or two, I can see the ocean, I can be in the mountains, I can be in the desert, I can be at Disneyland, I can be at an athletic event. There are so many things. I have been so blessed. And out yonder, I’ll be with Nellie again.

Sporting News

Nellie was his wife. She died in 1985. But Coach Wooden has not moved her nightgown from her side of the bed in the intervening 24-years.

The Salta Gymnastics Club Competitive Blog (Chalk Bowl) posted two videos showing how the Gym-Action club — to save space — suspended bars from the roof, rather than from the floor.

related post – Funtastics Gymnastics – gymnastics bar suspended from ceiling

Elena Lehniuc was born in Cernauti (in the later Republic of Moldova) in 1935.

It seems she has passed on.

That according to FanGymnastics – Romanian gymnastics blog.

Elena was one of the Bronze medal winning Team at the Olympic Games in Melbourne (1956), the first Romanian Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Read a long, rambling article on FanGymnastics – Elena Leusteanu – The First Lady of Romanian Gymnastics

Gymnastike linked to a near perfect routine from the 2001 East Asian Games.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

Whatever happened to the Chinese inquiry into Dong Fangxiao being underage at the 2000 Olympics?