Gymnastics Coaching.com

Piked has been tracking who confirmed and who declined invitation to the World Cup Final, Dec. 15-16 in Madrid. The timing is terrible, of course, for Olympians from Beijing.

Vault
1. Cheng Fei
2. Yelena Zamolodchikova
3. Jana Komrskova
4. Ariella Kaeslin
5. Dorina Boczogo
6. Aagje Vanwallenghem
7. Marissa King
8. Elsa Garcia

Uneven Bars
1. Dariya Zgoba
2. He Kexin
3. Jana Sikulova
4. Yang Yilin
5. Anastasia Koval
6. Jiang Yuyuan
7. Koko Tsurumi
8. Daniele Hypolito

Balance Beam
1. Cheng Fei
2. Sandra Izbasa
3. Li Shanshan
4. Yulia Lozhecko
5. Daniele Hypolito
6. Lauren Mitchell
7. Dariya Zgoba
8. Alina Kozich

Floor Exercise
1. Cheng Fei
2. Sandra Izbasa
3. Jiang Yuyuan
4. Alina Kozich
5. Suzanne Harmes
6. Daniele Hypolito
7. Yelena Zamolodchikova
8. Koko Tsurumi

Piked

Hopefully it will still be an entertaining competition despite many of the highest ranked gymnasts giving it a miss. (See the original list of invitees.)

If you are wondering where the Americans are … be informed that the World Cup Circuit has always been Eurocentric, even now only slowly expanding to Asia.

Past Men’s Technical Chairman Hardy Fink made a real effort to have FIG turn the series into truly a “World” Cup. But faced stiff resistance.

Elsa Garcia – official website

Over 200,000 views.

There’s a lot of truth in this short montage about what it’s like to get older as a gymnast.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Music by Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love.

Thanks Sarah.

Gymnast has posted a terrific photo gallery from the World Cup.

Geng Ruo Wei – Uneven Bars – 2008 Massilia Gym Cup

Copyright Melissa Perenson

A second photo gallery from the meet is posted here.

As selected by PIKED. (Formerly Gymnicestics)

The #1 is Ludivine Furnon winning the 2000 European Championships. Choreographed by Adriana Pop.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s got some great stuff. And NCAA quality choreography.

2. Yvonne Tousek 2000
3. Svetlana Khorkina 2000
4. Isabelle Severino 2008
5. Kate Richardson 2004
6. Sabina Cojocar 2001
7. Daiane Dos Santos 2003
8. Cheng Fei 2004
9. Alona Kvasha 2002
10. Zhang Yujiao 2008

read the rest of the list – PIKED – Top 100 Floor Routines of the Last Eight Years

In a related post on Double Salto … the top ten funkiest gymnasts on Floor.

Two expert coaches are consulting at my club. Sue Raffin (flexibility) and Ed Louie (strength).

Both know the “big picture”. Sue has coached at an elite level for decades. Ed works with Canadian National Team gymnasts as a massage therapist.

Both believe in preventing — or minimizing — chronic overuse pain by preventative exercises.

… The five worst words in the English language are “maybe it will go away.” If something hurts, it means that something is wrong. Figure out what that something is and correct it before it turns into a bigger problem.

Oftentimes, little, nagging problems can be fixed by incorporating some stretching and corrective exercise into your daily routine. This doesn’t mean you have to join a yoga class or stop lifting heavy and pick up five pound dumbbells and wave them around like an idiot on one leg. But, it does mean that you need to be aware of what is going on with your body and know what to do to fix it.

Corrective exercise and stretching are not stressful on the system and can help with your recovery and regeneration. …

Straight to the Bar – Recovery and Regeneration for the Strength Athlete

We have a number of older gymnasts that train in near constant pain. Several wear devices to relieve knee pain, for example.

The Fluk provides support without discomfort at the back of the knee. For Osgood-Schlatter’s disease or other knee cap conditions. A uniquely designed foam pad that can be placed according to the gymnast’s needs is the secret of this new brace’s success.

Ten.0

Right now I want to improve our “injury prevention” conditioning programs.

Leave a comment if you have exercises that work for you.

Tracey Morrison linked to this pommel horse animation:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

More amusing is this commercial – Stupid Things to do in a Canoe: Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Triple Twist linked to a video of Fabian Hambüchen’s world record (7.5 start value) Horizontal Bar routine.

He does a Pineda (piked body position) and a Kolman (tucked).

I’ve got no problem with that.

But what happens when the next guy tries to compete a Pineda (piked) and a Cassina (layout Kolman) in the same routine?

They are two separate skills in the code of points.

In reality — they are almost the same skill. It would be unfair to credit them both with a G.

related post: who invented the Kolman on Hbar?

I WISH I was going to this competition.

2009 Cancun Classic
Friday, January 2, 2009
Hilton Golf and Beach Resort
Cancun, Mexico

Afternoon Session: LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, and Boise State

Evening Session: Oregon State, Stanford, Denver, and Brigham Young

It’s the first meet for those teams.

There’s also an age group competition over that weekend for Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and Open Women.

CancunClassic.com

by editor Rick McCharles

My club is still looking for an experienced Head Coach / Administrator with National experience. Altadore’s come a long way since I was a young coach:

Altadore circa 1977 – larger size – flickr

The job blub is below.

NEW is that we are going to re-advertise the position to start June 2009. (I will run the gym until then.)

The Altadore Gymnastic Club is proud to have been the home of such greats as 2004 Olympic Champion Kyle Shewfelt and 1992 Olympian Jennifer Wood. We pride ourselves on our 40+ year history and are excited to continue our legacy through a “gymnastics for all” philosophy.

We are currently seeking a Technical Director who will develop comprehensive gymnastics programs by setting level-specific standards and criteria for the technical development of the athletes and staff. The Technical Director, through leadership, expertise, and extensive knowledge in the sport of gymnastics, will provide expert advice and direction to all programs.

Pay will be commensurate with level and experience.

Resumes can be sent to the Altadore Gymnastic Club via mail:

Altadore Gymnastic Club
Attention: Executive Director
Bay 101, 6303 30th Street SE
Calgary, AB T2R 1R4

Altadore

Or, if interested, you can simply email Rick McCharles.

A detailed post on THE COUCH GYMNAST lists the 12 “greatest” international gymnastics teams of all-time.

… I love them for various reasons. Sometimes it’s a about sheer gymnastics greatness, sometimes its about achieving feats not achieved before by certain countries. Sometimes it’s about politics, sometimes its about combinations of personalities. Sometimes it’s just because i love them. …

Ukraine, 2000 Sydney Team (fourth)

U.S.A 2004 Athens Olympics Team (silver)

Italy 2006 European Champs (gold)

Australia 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Team (gold)

Spain 2001 Ghent (fourth)

Brazil Beijing 2008 Team (eighth)

Australia 2003 Anaheim Team (bronze)

Russia 2000 Sydney Olympic Team (silver)

U.S.A 2008 Beijing Olympic Team (silver)

Unified Team 1992 Barcelona (Gold)

USSR 1985 Worlds Team (gold)

Romania Athens Olympics 2004 Team (gold)

Click through for the details – The Couch Gymnast’s Top Twelve…

Pretty subjective. From this list, without question, I’d choose the USSR 1985 Worlds Team. After the Olympic boycott of 1984, the USSR had much to prove.

Shushunova and Omeliantchik tied as AA Champions. Yet they did not even qualify for the AA final. Two girls had to “claim injury” in order for those two to get into the top 36. Head Coach Rodionenko replaced Mostepanova in the AA Final, but years later Mostie is quoted as agreeing with the decision. (She had her age altered, as well, as a young gymnast.)

It was an awesome lineup: Irina Baraksanova, Vera Kolesnikova, Olga Mostepanova, Oksana Omelianchik, Yelena Shushunova, Natalia Yurchenko.

source

The Men’s meet was even better. The old veteran Yuri Korolev unexpectedly defeating Tong Fei, Li Ning, Artemov and the rest.

Those athletes impress me more than our current stars. They had to train 12 routines for Men, 8 for Women. Compulsories normally decided the winners.

Truly the good old days.

wikipedia – 1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships