Gymnastics Coaching.com

I’ve made all the “easy” predictions for Beijing.

In the last few days, I’ll try to scramble to fill in as many blanks as possible.

Most will pick Diego Hypolito from Brazil to win Floor Exercise. He’s the defending World Champion. He’s very consistent. He’s young and, I think, healthy.

Personally I’ve never been a fan of Diego’s style.

Romania’s Marian Dragulescu is back out of retirement. He actually tied Shewfelt in Athens … but lost the Gold on Floor in the tie break.

However — being a Canadian — I think I’ll double my chances by calling for either Kyle Shewfelt to repeat as champion. Or his teammate Brandon O’Neill to take the Gold on Floor.

photo Sam Sanford Blades

If all the top guys HIT, I feel Brandon is the man to beat. But over the past 15yrs I’ve learned never to count out Shewfelt. If he can get into the Final, Kyle’s super tough under pressure.

Recall that Canada was the top team on Floor in prelims in Athens. I expect they will be in the top 3 on Floor in Beijing as a team.

UPDATE:

… O’Neill’s status for the BrandonOlympic gymnastics competition is up in the air after he injured an ankle in training earlier this week.

The Edmonton native was doing a tumbling pass at the National Indoor Stadium on Monday when he suffered the injury. “He landed quite short and when he hit the ground he felt something move in his ankle,” said Canadian coach Tony Smith said Tuesday. …

Canuck gymnast suffers ankle injury – CP

What a shame.

Kyle Shewfelt says the Canadian men were “hitting routines like they were going out of style”. And Canuck Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs is ‘good and ready’.

Dasha Joura says the Aussie girls “exude confidence and consistency”.

Podium training for the Chinese teams was called “normal” by the coaches. (no injury)

… OK, OK. This is the calm before the storm. LET THE GAMES BEGIN, already.

Here are the Sports Illustrated MEDAL PICKS:

GYMNASTICS

Men
Team
G: China
S: Japan
B: Russia
Also favored in 2004, China tumbled to fifth in Athens.

Individual all-around
G: Yang Wei, China
S: Fabian Hambüchen, Germany
B: Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan
Yang led all-around in ’04 before crashing from high bar.

Floor exercise
G: Diego Hypólito, Brazil
S: Zou Kai, China
B: Marian Dragulescu, Romania
Hypólito’s sister survived bus wreck, won worlds medal.

Pommel horse
G: Xiao Qin, China
S: Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan
B: Yang Wei, China
Yang proposed to fiancée at a fake press conference.

Rings
G: Chen Yibing, China
S: Jordan Jovtchev, Bulgaria
B: Yang Wei, China
Bad (early-group) U.S. draw may cost Kevin Tan a bronze.

Vault
G: Marian Dragulescu, Romania
S: Leszek Blanik, Poland
B: Daniel Popescu, Romania
Dragulescu was on Romanian Dancing with the Stars.

Parallel bars
G: Mitja Petkovsek, Slovenia
S: Li Xiaopeng, China
B: Kim Dae Eun, South Korea
Former world champ Li is finally healthy after foot ailments.

Horizontal bar
G: Fabian Hambüchen, Germany
S: Vlasios Maras, Greece
B: Justin Spring, U.S.
Hambüchen was Germany’s ’07 sportsman of the year.

Women
Team
G: China
S: U.S.
B: Romania
U.S. beat China by a point at worlds last year.

Individual all-around
G: Shawn Johnson, U.S.
S: Steliana Nistor, Romania
B: Yang Yilin, China
Rain flooded Johnson out of her Des Moines gym in June.

Vault
G: Cheng Fei, China
S: Hong Su Jong, North Korea
B: Alicia Sacramone, U.S.
Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina, 33, could win a medal.

Uneven bars
G: Nastia Liukin, U.S.
S: He Kexin, China
B: Ksenia Semenova, Russia
Liukin’s dad, Valeri, was first man to do a triple back on floor.

Balance beam
G: Li Shanshan, China
S: Steliana Nistor, Romania
B: Shawn Johnson, U.S.
Li’s routine is so good she fell at ’07 worlds and still won silver.

Floor exercise
G: Cheng Fei, China
S: Shawn Johnson, U.S.
B: Alicia Sacramone, U.S.
Brown junior Sacramone has won two world floor medals.

Rhythmic
Individual all-around
G: Anna Bessonova, Ukraine
S: Vera Sessina, Russia
B: Olga Kapranova, Russia
Anna’s dad was Ukrainian soccer player of year in 1989.

Group
G: Russia
S: Italy
B: Bulgaria
U.S. didn’t qualify anyone in rhythmic gymnastics.

Trampoline
Men
G: Ye Shuai, China
S: Dong Dong, China
B: Yasuhiro Ueyama, Japan
Ye is a former diver and artistic gymnast.

Women
G: Irina Karavaeva, Russia
S: Huang Shanshan, China
B: Karen Cockburn, Canada
Cockburn’s husband is Sydney medalist Mathieu Turgeon.

Brian Cazeneuve – SI

So says LBLG.

Anything would look cute on these tiny — supposedly Olympic-age — girls.

These pics from Andrea’s Live.Breath.Love Gymnastics Olympic Photos page.

Japanese Gymnasts

Raj and Joseph USA

see more

China will soon dominate internet traffic, I predict.

The favourite to win Parallel Bars at the Beijing Olympics, Li Xiaopeng, has started his own blog. Here’s an English translation of one post:

July 27, is my birthday and it coincides with the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Village! I feel so lucky and am so happy at this.

I was scheduled to take part in today’s opening ceremony, so I got up at 6:30 am to dress myself up. The suit I wore to the ceremony was borrowed from our coach since I , like some of my other teammates, hadn’t got the outfit yet. Although it was not my exact size I was so happy wearing it. …

read more … – Li Xiaopeng: A more meaningful birthday

The Chinese original version has more photos.

1996 Olympian Mo Huilan has a new blog as well. Read a sample post in English – To talk about my little sisters

Mo says “… if Jiang Yuyuan can keep calm and compete at her normal level on balance beam, this team will have 60 to 70 percent chance of beating the American women’s team.”

Much press goes to Olympic coach Liang Chow. Always smiling, always upbeat, always positive. A wonderful role model.

But ask the gymnasts what really goes on at the gym.

Shawn Johnson’s other coach – Liwen Zhuang, the unheralded wife of Liang Chow – is said to scorn the spotlight and lead such intense conditioning drills that Chow would plead with her not to kill the gymnasts while he was gone.

“I’m the fun dad,” Chow says. “And she is the real strict mom.”

Liwen Zhuang, above, runs Chow’s Gymnastics with husband Liang Chow. She has coached Olympic athlete Shawn Johnson on the beam and choreographed her floor exercise. Zhuang’s superior knowledge of conditioning is key to Johnson’s success and has helped her avoid serious injury. Zhuang and Chow were both on China’s national team in the 1980s.

Read an excellent article on the “strict mom” – Coach Li sees all – Des Moines Register

Immediately I was reminded of how much stricter Marta Karolyi was than Bela, back in their heyday day.

The favourites to win Team at the Olympics, the Chinese Men’s Gymnastics Team, finally arrived at the Olympic venue. Their training has been ultra secretive up to this point.

How do they look?

From Kyle Shewfelt’s blog:

… We are in a training group with China and they have been MIA until today. We saw them at morning training and they looked awesome. I don’t envy the pressure they are under though. In China, Gold is the only colour that matters. If I was to make a prediction, I would say that they will win. They are so strong, well prepared and deep. I am a sucker for Japanese gymnastics (they are so calm and they just seem to love what they do), but I think China will be the victor here…I at least hope they are. Their futures will be much brighter if they pull of the win!

Imminent Deadline – KyleShewfelt.com

Lu Bin – 2007 Beijing World Cup held at the National Indoor Stadium – GOLD on Vault
gymnastics2007.org.cn

Nice pic. Brae is a Canadian gymnast.

From her Facebook photos page.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the legislative body for 17 sports including Artistic Gymnastics.

… According to the 2006-07 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, 1,516 schools offered girls gymnastics in 2006-07, and 18,929 high school girls participated nationwide. …

Girls Gymnastics Rules Changes Announced – SGMA

(via Shergymrag)

one odd High School gymnast photo – source

Still expected to compete in the Olympics.

Chellsie Memmel, who missed the 2004 Athens Games, sat out most of the 2006 and 2007 seasons with injuries. She returned to form in 2008, finishing third at the U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials.

BEIJING — Chellsie Memmel, one of the most capable all-around gymnasts on the U.S. women’s team, has sustained an ankle injury in practice, perhaps setting the stage for the most pressure-packed comebacks of all of Chellsie Memmel’s many comebacks.

Memmel, 20, of West Allis, Wis., the 2005 world individual all-around champion, apparently hurt herself Saturday. Full details were not immediately available. …

Alan Abrahamson on NBCOlympics.com

Not many gymnasts get “rich” from the sport.

But Nastia is one of them.

Mimi SWARTZ wrote an excellent article for the NY Times on Nastia’s agent, Evan Morgenstein:

… Liukin, who before this year was virtually unknown to all but devout gymnastics fans, can be seen performing aerial magic on a Visa commercial narrated solemnly by Morgan Freeman; appearing online in the AT&T blue room; touting CoverGirl makeup and Secret deodorant; and soon smiling from billboards in ensembles from Vanilla Star jeans. Morgenstein called these endorsements his effort to “help a kid achieve a dream.”

The rewards of this dream can vary, from $50,000 to $100,000 per deal before the Games to possibly millions if an athlete wins gold. Gymnastics in particular is a sponsorship bonanza. …

This Olympic Performance Made More Beautiful by Cover Girl – NY Times

source