Gymnastics Coaching.com

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Shawn on Bars?

… disappointed in Athens, Yang was ready to quit at the age of 24. What a loss that would have been for China.

And for the sport.

“After the Athens Games, I wanted to retire from the national team because I thought I was in very good shape back then. If I couldn’t win a gold medal then, I thought I could never get a gold,” said Yang, who had the gold medal for the taking in Athens but couldn’t close the deal, falling — literally — to seventh.

“Extra training would not have had an effect. I was worried that even if I could have adjusted myself to the best standards in 2008, I could not get a gold.

“But my coach, Huang Yubin, kept on encouraging me. He took me on a vacation and told me that the 2008 Games would be the greatest chance in 100 years, and I should have a try at it. He kept pushing me, and then he kicked me to the highest position on the podium.” …

Despite his Gawd-awful Horizontal Bar routine, Yang Wei …

… won so decisively Thursday (by 2.60 points) that the gap between him and Uchimura was the same as between the silver medalist and the 19th-place finisher.

More on Yang Wei’s gymnastics triumph – Dallas News

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All 4 coaches watching with me predicted: 1. Shawn, 2. Nastia, 3. Steliana Nistor

… Seems none of us are convinced that the Chinese girls can crack the medals. (They will make mistakes.) Nor that Romania is yet a formerly great Olympic nation.

… On Thursday, the 28-year-old Caranobe stayed consistent when many of the top gymnasts fell. Germany’s Fabian Hambüchen erred on parallel bars and high bar, Japan’s Hiroyuki Tomita peeled off still rings, Russians Sergei Khorokhordin and Maxim Devyatovsky messed up vault, and China’s Chen Yibing didn’t even finish the competition.

Caranobe, 17th in Athens, was not on anyone’s radar. He isn’t even France’s top all-arounder, finishing third at this year’s French nationals. He said his Olympic goal had been getting into the vault final, and he wanted to merely have fun during the all-around final. …

French Flip for ‘Incroyable’ Bronze – IG

He looks just as astonished at winning the Bronze as we were:

Actually, I like his artistic style. Congratulations Benoit!

UPDATE: Oops. I got so excited about this miracle result that I wrongly awarded him the Silver medal … in the original post title.

photo of Nathan at 2007 World by Grace Chui

Fantastic guys!

Congratulations.

All of Canada has been cheering for you.

After being disappointed by just missing the Team Finals (Canada finished 9th with some controversially low scores) the Canucks from Calgary, Alberta did a good job in Individual AA Finals.

A fan favourite, Nathan Gafuik finished 17th in Beijing. He’s young and is still improving. He hit 11 out of 12 routines at the Olympics. In fact, a mistake on Pommels dropped him from the top 10 to 18th All-around.

Superman, Adam Wong, finished 15th coming off a recent Achilles tendon injury. Adam was an AA Finals alternate in Athens 4-years ago.

Canada’s gymnast Adam Wong performs on the vault during the mens’ gymnastics individual all-around finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008.

(AP Photo/Rob Carr) – original – ESPN

… “An amazing experience,” said Adam Wong. “After Athens, I was super-pumped to get back in the gym and train hard for four more years to get to this moment. I’m totally satisfied with how it went. It wasn’t a great day for me, I made little mistakes here and there, but I thought both Nathan and I handled the situation pretty well.” …

read more in a good article by Canwest – Canadian gymnasts look to the future

Yesterday we streamed NBC Olympic video on to the wall of the Funtastics gym using a projector and laptop.

A great idea … though it did not work perfectly in my case. (The image was too “washed out”.)

Friday I think I’ll display it on a big screen TV, instead.

NBC Olympic video on demand was a bold and brave initiative. I give them props.

The reviews have been “mixed”, to say the least. The features and system requirements confusing.

Though Bela and others are still ranting, a consensus is forming — I think — that the age rule restriction must be eliminated.

First we should ask those athletes affected by Age Falsification in the past. Shannon Miller, for one:

… This is not a new phenomenon in gymnastics. One scandal affected me.

It started at the 1991 World Championships with a North Korean gymnast. Her coaches claimed she was 15 years old on documents for three consecutive years. She then competed at the 1992 Olympics with no front teeth while claiming to be 17 years old.

While she got to keep her medals, North Korea was punished by having to sit out the 1993 Worlds. One of those medals was a gold on uneven bars at the 1991 World Championships; also my first World competition. I got silver.

In retrospect, I don’t think about her age as much as I remember what a truly outstanding athlete she was. She won that gold medal with a 10.0 and earned every tenth. She was absolutely the best bar worker in that competition.

However, I strongly agree that once the rules are set you must abide by them. My hope is that one day they will do away with any type of an age limit.

I was 15 years old at my first Olympics. If I had to go by the current rules I would not have been eligible to compete in Barcelona. In fact, half our team would have been ineligible.

And if you had told me I was too young to compete I would have looked at you like you were crazy. That year I brought home five Olympic medals. Because of our experience at those Games, Kerri Strug, Dominique Dawes and I were able to lead the 1996 team to gold.

So everyone must play by the rules or “competition” is meaningless. My feelings are this:

1. It doesn’t matter if it is doping or age falsification, if competition is supposed to mean something then the International governing bodies need to investigate and make sure that everyone is playing by the rules.

2. I hope one day soon the governing bodies will revisit whether or not the minimum age limit rule makes sense. Girls with a dream will not stop training simply because they were born on January 1st instead of December 31st. It simply adds another four years to their journey.

Olympic Gold Medalist says “let them play”

I’ve yet to hear an athlete who was underage at the time of her Olympics who said she should not have been allowed to compete.

I dare you to walk up to Nadia and tell her she shouldn’t have been allowed to compete in 1976?

She was age-14.

If age could be confirmed, we could put a minimum age requirement in place that could be enforced. But what age should that be?

related: Karolyi says age limit would rob gymnasts of golden opportunity – ESPN

Of all the commentaries I’ve heard, the best is a comedy video clip by gymnastics great, 1992 and 1996 Olympian, Johnnie R.

NBC’s John Roethlisberger does the math, breaks down the women’s team competition and explains why Alicia Sacramone is not to blame for the Americans’ second-place finish. “It’s not her fault,” he says.

You can see it if you’ve managed to find a way to stream NBC video.

If you can’t stream NBC, … curse the network and their masters G.E.

Instead, read yet another we still love you Alicia article:

… other reasons for USAG to be happy and hopeful.

1) There is a LOT more gymnastics coming up. First, the headliner, the women’s all around where, if they hit, Nastia and Shawn are highly likely to go 1-2.

2) After that Shawn is in two event finals: floor, where she’s the reigning world champion, and beam, to which she qualified a strong third.

3) Nastia is in three event finals: bars where she is a former world champion and has only just missed out on gold for the past two years, beam where she is two-time and reigning world champion, and floor where she was a world silver medalist.

4) Alicia gets her chance to shake off her demons and go for it in vault finals, where she’s been on the podium for the last three years at world championships.

So, wish the ladies luck. They, especially Nastia, are going to be busy. IT SHOULD BE GOOD TIMES.

Rawles

… and when did John become an NBC comedian? His spots are some of the best I’ve seen on Olympic TV.

Many have raved about the gymnastics of a young Japanese star named Uchimura Kohei.

He is great, winning the Olympic Silver medal … despite 2 falls on Pommel Horse.

(AP Photo/Rob Carr) – original – ESPN

Most expected his veteran teammate Hiroyuki Tomita to finish higher. But Tomita took one of the worst falls on Rings I’ve seen in years. Truly horrorshow. It was amazing he stayed in the meet.

Japan’s gymnast Uchimura Kohei performs his floor routine during the mens’ gymnastics individual all-around finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008.

(AP Photo/Rob Carr) – original – ESPN

Unbelievably close!

China’s Yang Wei won his country’s third gymnastics gold medal of the Olympic Games, following up on the success of the gold medals won by the Chinese Men and Women in the Team Finals competition. Wei finished with a 94.575 total, more than 2.5 points ahead of second place Kohei Uchimura’s (Japan) 91.975. Benoit Caranobe (France) won the bronze medal with a 91.925.

China Goes 3 for 3 in Gold Medals – Gymnast.com

TCO posted Paul Hamm’s scores from the 4 meets prior to his injury:

92.80, 93.05, 94.40, 94.45

… Would have been a wonderful matchup with Yang Wei.