Though he died at age-21 in April — (I’ve still not heard the cause.) — popular and influential gymnastics video editor Aleksas still has a live site on the world wide web.
Rest in peace.
Romanian Olympic Gymnastics Team
Romania, the defending Olympic team champion, will be represented in Beijing by:
Sandra Izbasa
Steliana Nistor
Ana-Maria Tămârjan
Gabriela Dragoi
Andreea Acatrinei
Andreea Grigore
UPDATE:
These six girls plus Daniela Druncea are the only “healthy†Romanians currently training; hence they are the Olympic team. “Healthy†is quite stretch when you consider that most of these girls are sort of walking wounded right now.
Given the precarious state of health for these girls, Cerasela Pătraşcu might still have a chance to be on that team, but no one wants to rush her after her knee injuries at Europeans. Most agree that she can score higher on UB than Tămârjan, Grigore and Dragoi, and Tămârjan is injured at the moment. If Tămârjan somehow doesn’t heal up in time, Romania should have the option of putting Pătraşcu on the team.
Otherwise, they would have to use Grigore on bars in TF along with Dragoi and Nistor, which may be undesirable as she sets the team back several tenths.
Brazil Olympic Gymnastics Team
From Bernardo of Gymblog Brasil:
The Brazilian Team for Beijing:
Jade Barbosa
Daiane dos Santos
Daniele Hypolito
Lais Souza
Ana Claudia Silva
Ethiene Franco
Juliana Santos
Reality Check – USA vs China – Olympics
The Chinese men are unbeatable. No other nation is seriously “in it to win it”.
But can the Chinese women’s gymnastics team be beaten?
Here are the start scores as estimated by Gymnast.com:
… Were you as surprised as I was that China ended up over 2 points ahead? Actually, if they put Sui Lu on the team they would gain even a couple more tenths on floor, but I’m not sure she’s quite shown the consistency to make this Olympic team so I put in Xiao Sha for that last spot instead. What does this all mean? I would say it means that despite how awesome the USA looks, China STILL has a huge advantage if they hit. …
read the rationale: Andrew Thornton – Reality check for the Women’s Team – Gymnast.com
Note that scores for both teams have been grossly inflated in some competitions.
Personally I believe China has very little chance of winning.
Why?
The Americans can easily handle the pressure. I’ve not one shred of evidence, aside from Cheng Fei, that the little girls of China can.
In 3-up, 3-down team finals the USA will have zero falls. China will have two or three falls, as well as more deductions in the B-score.
Related post: Reality Check – USA vs China Men
vault – bent elbows on Yurchenko
Beginners should do many drills for straight elbows while learning Yurchenko vaults.
But at the highest level we often see this:
(AP Photo/Rob Carr) – ESPNSamantha Peszek, U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials 2008, in Philadelphia.
Technical error? Form deduction?
Of course not. The gymnast should bend the elbows if they can generate more force on the push than they lose while absorbing the impact. The more powerful the vaulter, the more likely they are to bend the elbows.
Long ago at a coaching course I stated, “All vaulters bend their elbows on Yurchenko.”
My buddy, coach Dan Niehaus, proved me wrong, bringing in video clips of a number of strong vaulters who do not.
safe gymnastics – padding the low bar
Airex brand mat I saw being used at the University of Calgary Gymnastics training centre.
Thick, soft, light and easy to clean.
I like it.
the IMPOSSIBLE photography of Li Wei
Acrobatic performance art. This Chinese photographer stages astonishing scenes.
His website: liweiart.com
(via Gymnast.com)
That hurt. In my bathing suit place.
Canada’s funniest comedian Rick Mercer is introduced to 10m diving by Olympic medalist Alexandre Despatie.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (6min).
related post: Shewfelt interviewed by comedian Rick Mercer
Level 2 Technical Gymnastics coaching course
I assisted Lisa Smith with a 5 day coach education course at her gym, University of Calgary.
Here Lisa (in pink) leads the coaches in an Artistic Preparation session.
larger version – flickr
Highlights of the course included interesting, unusual drills recommended by Belgian coach Yves Hauglustaine from Capital City Gymnastics Club in Edmonton:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Beautiful.
Yves and I are right now at the Funtastics HPTC Gymnastics Camp in Idaho. I will try to get more video of his work.
NBC sucks, Microsoft sucks
NBC came so close to hitting the Olympic target with their unprecedented online coverage of the Beijing Olympics.
In the end, they shot themselves in the foot.
Fans not in the USA already hate NBC.
Now fans inside the USA will hate them too:
NBC is offering complete streaming of the Olympics over the internet for the first time ever …
Unfortunately, it will only be available to Microsoft Vista users.
In an age where even the most basic computer can watch YouTube videos, the decision to only work with the Vista operating systems seems quite ludicrous.
To make it even worse it will only be available to the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Vista …
NBC will be selling targeted advertising in the video feeds which will become available after the event has been shown live.
So of the worldwide audience, what percentage have those two versions of Vista?
Far, far less than half. NBC will frustrate more than half the people logging in to try to watch coverage.
Cutting a deal with Microsoft is getting into bed with the devil. Bad call NBC.
Top ten terrible tech products 2007 – Microsoft Vista – Cnet
Gymnastics Coaching.com 