tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
Universal Sports coverage.
From Nastiafan101:
Vault – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=41BCCI11
Bars – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HMLGGOAR
Beam – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MCTUCNM0
Floor – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4TAO5FR1
There’s a 45 second wait before you can click FREE DOWNLOAD. (That gives you time to ponder purchasing the Premium service, $80 for 2yrs.)
All-in-all, it was not the best World Cup Final ever.
But don’t tell that to the Champions.
All 3 Aussies took home a medal. Congratulations!
Philippe Rizzo scored a silver on high bar and Lauren Mitchell won beam. Prashanth Sellathurai took bronze on pommels.
Rizzo – source
The Dutch men impressed. Holland took gold — Epke Zonderland on high bar, silver — Jeffrey Wammes Vault — and bronze — Yuri van Gelder Rings.
van Gelder – source
… Globoesporte reported that Diego Hypolito was over the moon with his gold medal on floor.
“I really needed this result,” said the man who suffered a dramatic fall at the end of his Olympic floor routine. “I was psyched and eager to win when I walked onto the floor. … I had to fight back the tears at the end of my performance. I’m very happy to be the first gymnast in the world to win a title in a grand final three times,” said Hypolito, who also won the floor finals at the 2004 and 2006 World Cup Finals. He went on to say, “It was one of the best routines of my life …
China was the most successful nation. But that’s expected now. It’s no longer news.
Gold Bars – He Kexin – source
In fact, the Olympic Champion He Kexin had best upgrade at least one more apparatus if she wants to stay on the Team for Worlds 2009. There are plenty of good bar workers in China. FIG rules have changed to make it more difficult for a specialist to contribute to Team score.
more excellent photos on the official website
Triple Full has been posting follow-up articles on the World Cup Final:
The multi-billion dollar extravaganza in Beijing is history. Perhaps we’ll never see anything like that again.
The dollars and cents of the Olympics – Money.CNN.com
And though the Olympics is STILL all about the money, the IOC is looking at more frugal events in future.
IOC President Jacques Rogge:
… the size and cost of future Olympics must be kept in check, saying, “We are in a mode for lean Games.â€
Alan Abrahamson – Universal Sports
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada just announced a “revised budget” which it says will make it better equipped for the global economic downturn.
The host for 2016 will be decided in Oct. 2009.
Chicago, I think, is the favourite over Rio, Madrid and Tokyo.
But all 4 of those cities will be fighting hard over who will gain the economic windfall of hosting those Games.
It’s hard.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
-Diego Hypolito (BRA)
-Dariya Zgoba (UKR)
-Cheng Fei (CHN)
-Yann Cucherat (FRA)
-Epke Zonderland (NED)
-Lénika de Simone (ESP)
-Alicia Sacramone (USA)
-Jade Barbosa (BRA)
-Diego Hypolito (BRA)
-Daiane dos Santos (BRA)
-Marian Dragulescu (ROU)
-Nastia Liukin (USA)
-He Kexin (CHN)
-Anna Pavlova (RUS)
I’m still impressed with how well Alicia handled it. Her performance was disastrous.
(via gimnastas.net)
Hypolito planned a super hard floor routine for the World Cup Final. And HIT it. His fall in Beijing was the biggest surprise of all to me.
If you are just starting to think about College Gymnastics, check out an excellent preseason preview published by Inside Gymnastics:
… Poised to break through is Florida, ranked No. 3 pre-season, who many tap as future champions. To date only four squads—Georgia, Utah, Alabama and UCLA—have ever won the women’s team title, but with a bevy of stars, including former National Team members Corey Hartung and Melanie Sinclair, and strong leadership from coach and former Olympian (1988 alternate) Rhonda Faehn, Florida has been this-close the past few years and the Gators are poised to snap up the top spot—if not this year, soon. …
My favourite team the past two seasons was Florida.
But beating Courtney Kupets and Georgia seems impossible to envision.
Love the UCLA Gymnastics poster this year. (I’ve got a good feeling about them, too.)
WidescreenPenguin posted a few of the routines including Gold medalist on Floor.
I’ve never been a fan of this routine, but she is looking a little stronger than at the Olympics.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Do you like the widescreen format?
More World Cup Final videos.
(via The C Score)
An excellent montage from addicted2gym.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
All the old “knocks†against the Chinese women’s gymnastics team have faded one-by-one.
They can’t Vault. They can’t Tumble. The Chinese body type is not strong. They can’t handle the pressure of a big meet. Chinese coaches don’t understand Sport Psychology.
I had predicted the USA would beat China at the 2008 Olympics. And I was wrong.
Olympic Champions – AP Photo/Amy Sancetta – ESPN
In 2009 China is the team to beat.
But I still believe, long-term, that the USA will surpass them. It’s a matter of when. The free market ultimately will produce the best athletes.
I waited all weekend for routines from the World Cup Final in Madrid to be posted.
Monday … I’m not nearly so interested. (There’s something special about LIVE sports coverage.)
Check them out – UniversalSports.com
Thanks Katrina.
If you do not live in the USA, you might need a utility like Hotspot Shield. Otherwise, this may be all you see.
UPDATE: Everyone needs Windows Media Player for this too, I understand.
I have not done this in years.
But it worked well last time I tried it, IF you have people skilled with their hands doing the gluing.
From Spieth Anderson:
Your beam or horse top can be factory recovered to look like new, even after years of hard use! With our factory recovery, the top will be completely stripped, padded and recovered in identical materials to our brand new products.
… Beam recovery can also be done in your own gym with our convenient recovery kits. The kit includes all the required materials, so all you have to do is provide the labor.
Any advice for us?
Is it worth buying the kit?
Or better to pay the difference and simply buy a new beam?
Leave a comment if you have experience with these kits, good or bad.
Andrew Thornton on Gymnast is doing his best to change the world. He’s far more thoughtful than anyone in the FIG.
Thanks!
His latest post asks …
what changes each of you would most like to see in gymnastics at this point in time?
Brainstorming, to get you thinking, Andrew throws out these ideas:
Reinstate compulsories Have all gymnasts compete all-around again at world and Olympics Get rid of the women’s age requirement Get rid of the two-per country rule for all-around and event finals Increase the number of gymnasts who qualify to all-around finals Change the 3-up-3-count team finals format (and suggest another format) Forget the new scoring system and bring back the “10” Keep the new scoring system but reduce the number of skills required Bring back bonus for originality and virtuosity Give bonus for great artistry Don’t require D level dismounts Upgrade some of the multiple flipping skills on floor for men Upgrade some of the swinging skills on men’s rings Allow for connection points between swinging skills on men’s rings Upgrade/downgrade any skill of your choice! Have women do two vaults again and take the best score Have women do two vaults again and take the average score Reduce the angle deductions on women’s bars Get rid of the full-turn requirement on women’s beam Judges stop taking execution deductions that don’t exist Get rid of “individual world championships” Hold a full world championships every year Go back to holding a full world championships every other year
Leave your own comments and counter suggestions on Gymnast – What changes would you most like to see in gymnastics?
Gymnastics Coaching.com 