Gymnastics Coaching.com

Click through to the slideshow. A gorgeous Olympic champion. She’s never had better form.

Liukin captures all-around gold – Reuters

YANG Yilin BRONZE. Shawn Johnston SILVER.

Congratulations USA. Congratulations to Nastia, her father Valeri and her many, many fans.

This is fantastic for the sport.

Hey, WOGA had the last 2 Olympic Champions in series!

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

unofficial results

These superb athletes will fight it out on Floor:

My home club is looking for their next Head Coach. (Current Head Coach Jeremy Mosier is moving on.) It’s a great opportunity, I think.

… I’m a consultant and elder statesman for the program.

Altadore Gymnastics is looking for a Head Coach for our Women’s competitive program.

Be close to Rocky Mountain skiing and hiking in Calgary, Alberta. Calgary is an oil economy boomtown with a fast growing population.

This full time position is ideal for someone with a positive, kids come first attitude. We have had Olympians, even an Olympic champion from Altadore — but our mission is to instill a lifelong love for the sport of gymnastics in every athlete.

Applicant needs experience coaching to the National Level (Minimum NCCP Level 3 in Canada), with good spotting skills. Pay commensurate with experience.

Email your resumé. Please contact us by phone or email if you have any questions.

Altadore Gymnastics
www.altadoregymnasticsclub.com
Contact: TC Edwards, Executive Director
Email: agcexecutivedirector@shaw.ca
Phone: (403) 720-2711
Fax: (403) 720-3110

>>>>live results

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

>>>>live results

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.