Gymnastics Coaching.com

Good article:

… FIG raised the minimum age from 14 to 15 in 1981. In 1997, it went to 16. Boosting the minimum age was supposed to encourage coaches to go easier on younger athletes.

U.S. Olympic gold-medalist Bart Conner has his doubts.

“In many ways it was a knee-jerk reaction from the gymnastics federation to remind coaches to not push so hard,” Conner said. “But I’m not sure that’s really worked. I’m not sure if, in the gym, that causes a coach to back off a little. Maybe it does. …

I think the age rule has had some overall influence. Some coaches do more long-term career planning. But the “cheating” problem, outweighs the benefits in my opinion.

Read the whole article:

Tom Daley’s age hasn’t been an issue. The British Olympic diver is 14 and his youth—his braces were only recently removed—makes his story compelling.

Nor has anyone made a fuss about Antoinette Joyce Guedia Mouafo. At 12, the swimmer from Cameroon is the youngest athlete in the Beijing Olympics and had never swum in a 50-meter pool.

…

Age rules at the Olympics are set by the federations that run the sports, and many don’t have any limits. …

Arne Ljungqvist, head of the IOC medical commission, said age-manipulation is a problem that’s tough to detect. Ljungqvist runs the IOC’s effort against doping and concedes age manipulation is another form of cheating.

“This is a problem when you have an age limit that there is a temptation for manipulation,” Ljungqvist said. “How to prove that is very difficult. There are ways and means of establishing the age, or the supposed age of a person, but it isn’t absolutely scientifically accurate—nor a legally accurate way of doing it.”

Minimum age rules vary widely at Olympics – AP

Antoinette Joyce Guedia Mouafo – Reuters

Top 8 move on to Finals.

full results

I carry an expensive video camera on my hip in the gym. It provides instant feedback for the athlete, time allowing. And the video can be analyzed later on the computer.

A simple camcorder that costs less than $200 that might be ideal for coaches is getting great reviews. A tiny unit.

Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black)

Leave a comment if you have an opinion on this product.

As Crossfit advances as a sport, I’m seeing more and more similarities between their conditioning and gymnastics. In fact, many of the best Crossfit coaches do a lot of gymnastics conditioning.

From one article:

One of the questions I get asked most often is: What exercises do gymnasts do to train their abdominals? People are always in awe of the strength gymnasts possess. Gymnasts are small athletes, but pound for pound some of the world’s strongest.

Gymnastics is an extremely demanding sport which asks its athletes to do things the body physiologically just shouldn’t do and core strength is a major part of any gymnasts conditioning routine. Without a rock solid core there is no way these athletes could perform the skills and routines they are required to do.

Below are 5 common exercises gymnasts use to train their abdominals. Please note that these exercises are fairly advanced. Make sure you have the necessary basic abdominal strength before attempting them. …

read more – 6 Pack Abs – Gymnast Style Abdominal Exercises – Shapefit.com

photo – Nicole – CrossFit.com

Irina Karavaeva qualified 2nd to Finals. I’d say she’s still the favourite.

full results

How about those Canucks? Go Rosie! Go Karen!

Canadian’s Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh MacLennan both advanced to the women’s trampoline final on Saturday.

MacLennean, of King City, Ont., qualified third, and Toronto’s Cockburn finished fourth.

Only the top eight move on to Monday’s final where the competitors’ scores won’t carry over from the qualifying round.

CBC

Though Nastia Liukin vaults to the very highest tier of Gymnastics Greats with this win, I’m certain that we will remember these two together for all time.

Steve McCain gives a heartfelt tribute to the new Champion.

… My favorite female gymnast of all time, Nastia Liukin, won the women’s All-Around finals today. With beauty and style, she flowed through every routine with swan-like grace. It was one of those competitions where it all seemed to click for her. We all knew she could do it. She just needed to put together the 4 best routines she had already performed so far at this Olympics. I’m not sure how it looked on television, but in real life, she appeared to have total control over her body. I honestly was not even that nervous because I couldn’t imagine her falling. …

Nastia Liukin, the All-Around Queen of Gymnastics – Gymnast.com

You may have seen the old “Packman” mat used for introducing backward handsprings to beginners.

Norbert’s Handspring Machine

OK for Rec. But these mats have been criticized by many coaches. The technique is not ideal as the knees and hips are too bent.

Norbert’s has made a huge leap forward with their newest trainer:

Unique “single flat side” design ensures Boulderâ„¢ is stable at starting position and always automatically returns to it after eash use. …

Three sizes available: 35″ Small Boulderâ„¢ (users up to 60″ tall), 40″ Medium Boulderâ„¢ (users from 60″-66″ tall) or 44″ Large Boulderâ„¢ (users 67″ or taller).

Looks weird, right? But check the video to see how well it works. AWESOME.

She deserved it. Absolutely. No question.

(Photo credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images) – source

Talk about peaking at the right time. This was the best competition I’ve ever seen from her. That vault was, I think, the best 3/2 Yurchenko ever done by a female gymnast. (Where are the deductions, again? … Women’s B-score judging is idiotic.)

… Consider this. Nastia said this year she may not retire after the Olympics.

It would be easy to stay on the National Team as a Beam and Bars specialist. I hope she does.

At the Olympics:

Melinda Gates holds an American flag along with her husband Bill Gates at the women’s all-around.

original – flickr

USAG should ask them to sponsor a National Training Center for Gymnastics.

Ngan Thuong

… kicked out of the Olympics after testing positive for the diuretic furosemide. …

…

Ljungqvist said he thought the gymnast’s use of furosemide was inadvertent.

“My interpretation is this was probably the result of poor information given to the athlete, who did not have the knowledge of what to avoid and what she was allowed to take,” he said.

2 more athletes fail doping tests – CBC

What a shame. In 2000, Romania’s Andreea Raducan was stripped of her all-around gold medal because of a positive test for pseudophedrine, a banned substance at the time, that she ingested via cold medication. This sounds similar, though no medal is on the line.

related: Top gymnast to bid adieu after Olympics