Gymnastics Coaching.com

Smart.

The less media frenzy the better throughout the Games.

Though the team is stacked with experienced superstar veterans, the more psychic energy saved for the competition, the better.

… All-round favourite Yang Wei and his team mates slipped out of the National Indoor Stadium unnoticed on Wednesday after going through their paces in their only training session at the Olympic arena.

With a nation of 1.3 billion people expecting the hosts to pick up the majority of the 14 golds up for grabs in artistic gymnastics, the Chinese made sure no one would distract them. …

Gymnastics-Chinese build great wall of silence – Yahoo Sports

A fall on Horizontal Bar cost Yang Wei big time in 2004. … And in podium training he showed no release parts on Bar.

… Interesting.

Photo by Grace Chiu – Inside Gymnastics

Any of the finalists will have a shot at a medal in Beijing. (Qualifying for the Final is the most difficult step.) Vault for men is the craziest apparatus, years ahead in difficulty over the Women.

Of the many good vaulters, Leszek Blanik from Poland has the best chance of winning. His two super vaults are relatively “easy” (for him) and he should take smaller landing deductions.

Click PLAY to see Blanik winning the 2007 World Championships (to qualify for Beijing) on YouTube.

Blanik won the Bronze in 2000 but did not qualify to compete in Athens. He also won the 2008 European Championships on Vault (video).

See the rest of our Olympic Gold Medal predictions.

… “I would like to offer my greetings to the People’s Republic of China, the organisers and the athletes participating in the forthcoming Olympics games in Beijing,” said the Tibetan temporal head in a message released from the headquarters of Tibetan government in-exile Dharamsala.

“Right from the time of China’s application to hold the Olympics Games, I have supported China’s right to host the mega event,” he said. …

Dalai Lama wishes success to Beijing Olympics – NDTV

What a wonderful man.

Support the Games. Support non-violent protest of China.

Right on.

(via Beijing Olympics Fan)

Here’s a non-violent protest of Chinese totalitarian state. A “pirate radio station” just launched in Beijing:

A media watchdog took over a frequency on China’s tightly-controlled airwaves Friday in a symbolic protest calling for free speech just hours before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Reporters Without Borders broadcast the 20-minute programme in Chinese, English and French beginning from 8:08 am (0008 GMT), exactly 12 hours before the Olympic opening ceremony. …

“China is the country of censorship, and this programme is our way of making fun of the Chinese authorities who still keep hundreds of journalists and Internet users in prison,” said a voice at the start of the broadcast. …

Media group takes over Chinese frequency in symbolic protest – AFP

And another. The USA Olympic Flag Bearer is from Darfur:

… Joseph Lopepe (Lopez) Lomong … was unanimously elected as flag-bearer by the captains of the US Olympic sports at a meeting today and with spectacularly good timing hurled himself into the politically murky waters of China’s relationship with his native land at the precise moment President Bush arrived in Beijing. Depending on whose figures you believe, the UN puts the death toll in Darfur at 300,000, while an estimated 2.2 million people have been displaced in the war. …

Lopez Lomong’s Olympic role tells important tale to world audience – Times Online

China is much criticized for economic involvement in Darfur.

A billion+ TV viewers worldwide will be reminded of Darfur during the Opening Ceremonies. I love it.

Frustrated that you cannot see the coverage you want from where you live?

Silicon Alley Insider may be the best source of information on how to watch the NBC Olympics stream online. And others — including the BBC. Check these two posts:

… NBC … paid $800 million for the U.S. rights to the Beijing Olympics alone, and $3.5 billion for five Olympic games through 2008. The Olympics are a vast money-losing operation for NBC, meant to provide a ratings halo for the network’s other shows and help promote the fall TV season. NBC expects to lose even more money on the online broadcast, but nevertheless sees it as an opportunity to build an audience that will surely seek coverage elsewhere if NBC doesn’t provide it. …

NBC’s Online Olympics Policy: Big Win For Pirate P2P Sites – Silicon Alley Insider

How To Watch The Beijing Olympics LIVE On The Web — Even If NBC Doesn’t Want You To – Silicon Alley Insider

The Beijing “piracy fest” may be the beginning of the end for ludicrously complicated internet broadcast restrictions. Death to the lawyers negotiating those contracts.

UPDATE

… Looks like I’ve got NBC streaming on my MacBook Pro using the Safari browser. Could not get it working on Firefox 3. I’m in the USA right now.

My favourite gymnastics photographer Grace Chiu already has many great shots up on the WWW. A few …

Ana Claudia Silva

Nansy Damianova

Li Shanshan

There are plenty of American photos too.

Inside Gymnastics – Photo Gallery: Women’s Podium Training

The 2-time world rings champion Chen Yibing is the favourite to win the strong man apparatus in Beijing.

He scored a 17.000 to win the event at a World Cup in Tianjin, China in May.

Click PLAY or watch the routine on YouTube. (starts at 2:25)

Olympic judges are inevitably conflicted in the Final as to which of the superb routines should win. But this year I predict the home town hero will not really be challenged. His unique mount — which I would call “Butterfly to Maltese” — is the edge he needs to separate himself from the field.

See the rest of our Olympic Gold Medal predictions.

Not getting good reviews.

But I like them.

(via Lightbulb Hands)

Of course you can.

You merely need to live in the USA. Own a Windows computer with an expensive version of the Vista operating system. Download an application called Microsoft Silverlight. And have a fast internet connection.

What could be easier?

Last night I got together with friends Derek and Mary. (And not ONLY because they have the right computer.) We watched the U.S. Women’s podium training. It worked. And the quality was EXCELLENT.

I’d love to be able to stream it on my Mac in the USA. But I get variously these two error messages.

screeenshot

screenshot

Leave a comment if you have a way to see the streamed or archived NBC video using a computer that does NOT meet the very stringent NBC requirements.

Mike “made up a U.S. postcode and cable provider” and got it to work on a Windows machine with Home Edition Windows XP.

UPDATE: All kinds of computers including Macs are streaming NBC in the USA. See the comments below.

====

P.S.

I thought the U.S. girls looked quite good in podium training. Except for Floor. You don’t want to “win warm-ups”. But a HIT routine should be very, very close. Rawles gives not nearly so generous an analysis.

Doubtless the team meet with China will be close. The best chance for a U.S. victory is consistency under pressure. How will the little Chinese girls feel once that arena is packed and deafeningly loud?

The Americans can easily handle that pressure.

related post: NBC sucks, Microsoft sucks

Morgan Hamm out of Olympics with ankle injury – AP

Sasha calling Dad with the news:

… “Both Alex and David Durante (the USA’s alternates) have done an incredible job of maintaining their readiness and being prepared to step in on a moment’s notice if called upon,” said Dennis McIntyre, director for men’s program at USA Gymnastics. “The role of the alternate athlete is very difficult and both of these athletes have demonstrated their commitment to our Olympic team by staying well prepared. In this situation, we believe Alex is best suited to help the U.S. men’s team pursue a team medal. We appreciate the dedication of both men and the fact they have maintained their competitive readiness.”

“It’s an honor to be on this team, but it’s a shame that it had to happen this way with Morgan getting hurt,” Artemev said. “He’s a tremendous loss to this team. I’m ready to step in because that was my job as an alternate. …

read more on Gymnast.com

If you follow this blog regularly you know I’ve wanted Sasha on the Team all along. He’s by far the most artistic member on the Team. And — if he stays on — has one of the best medal shots for the U.S.A. – Pommel Horse.

Click PLAY or watch him on YouTube.

(via Stick It Media)

After seeing Morgan live in Houston at VISA Championships, I’ve not been enthusiastic about his contributions to the team.

Having both Hamm twins withdraw from the Olympics is a sad end to one of the great stories of the Beijing Games.

Good luck to both in future.

Many people only think about Olympic Gymnastics sports every 4yrs.

For once we are seeing articles like this:

… Olympic gymnastics provides the ultimate theater, displays intriguing rivalries, is purely amateur competition, and displays such consummate skill that it’s difficult to believe that some of these moves are humanly possible.

You want toughness boys? These girls participate in the most injury-plagued sport on the planet. It dwarfs things like wrestling and football when it comes to career-ending injuries, and is ahead of extreme sports like skate-boarding and motocross when it comes to fractures.

These girls are tough. And the margin of error is so small. Gymnastics is also one of the most grueling mental competitions, demanding nothing other than absolute focus. All this from mid-teen-year-old girls, on the world’s most intimidating stage.

You want athleticism? These girls can actually do the things that movie folks need wires, and mirrors, and special effects to produce. They can balance on a four inch beam, while twisting, and flipping, and tumbling. The can swing like spider man on a couple of flexible bars, and can land double twisting double flips on the floor. White girls CAN jump. …

Do you appreciate dedication? These girls have basically given up their childhoods to pursue the mastery of a sport that will never make them any money. Sure, maybe one athlete every couple of Olympics captures the imagination enough to get some good endorsements, but that fame is most often fleeting, and is quickly forgotten. Most of these athletes simply hope for a College scholarship, though unfortunately, their sport is not funded by the majority of NCAA schools.

We like these girls because they are more like us. They are not multi-millionaires talking about “feeding their families,” while pocketing tens of millions of dollars, and they aren’t unrepentant liars, claiming their innocence in the wake of lock-tight doping allegations. …

A Shout out to the Shorties. Gymnastics Is The Best Olympic Game. – Daniel Muth – Bleacher Report

Only every 4yrs is Women’s Artistic Gymnastics one of the highest profile sports in North America.

All coaches want to take advantage of the Olympic “boom”.

USA Gymnastics is doing something interesting. On Aug. 15th they will put an ad insert in USA Today that communicates the essence of gymnastics and makes it easy for parents to find a USA Gymnastics member club in their area.

The new website is up already:

screenshot from Begin Here, Go Anywhere

It seems to work well. Here’s a screenshot from a search in Idaho:

details – USA Gymnastics launches National Marketing Initiative for grassroots growth – USAG

(via Shergymrag)

How much of a membership “bump” will your club get from the Olympics?

… David Holcomb, owner of Buckeye Gymnastics in Westerville, Ohio, says … attendance at his gym shot up by double digits after U.S. gymnasts won medals in 1996 and 2004. In contrast, lackluster performance of the team in 2000 — the men and women’s team failed to win a single medal — didn’t move the needle at all for his gym that year. “The gymnastic community, those young girls and boys, weren’t excited,” he remembers. “So we saw nothing.” …

Gymnastics Campaign Vaults Over Stars – Wall Street Journal