Gymnastics Coaching.com

Gymnastics fans were irked when a 14-year-old qualified to the Olympics in Diving.

“Why can’t a 14-year-old gymnast qualify?”

Is there a double standard? Or is each sport doing what is right for them?

Interview with Thomas Daley:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Now I hear Tom Daley’s mother is worried about getting tickets to the Olympic events.

Obviously the Olympics should block a “family section” at each sporting venue, and allot a given number of tickets / country based on the number of participants. They could even charge a premium for those tickets.

Related post: 14yr-old diver to compete at Olympics

This video is the “making” of the first movie pitting Jet Li against Jackie Chan. It should be good.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Straight to the Bar)

Here’s a related fan video:

Click PLAY or watch the top 10 Jackie Chan stunts on YouTube.

(via Straight to the Bar)

#1 and #2 clips are where Jackie REALLY went too far.

Jackie Chan – Wikipedia

Philippe Rizzo, of Australia, performs a release move on the high bar his during the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008. Philippe Rizzo won the gold medal in the high bar competition.

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar) – ESPN

In Australia last year I was lucky enough to spend time with Philippe’s father, Andre Rizzo. A respected coach, former competitor for France. What a shame Andre won’t get to see his son contend for an Olympic medal.

Philippe is one of the medal contenders not qualified for Beijing.

Shout out to Brandon O’Neill who won Floor with a 15.550.

photo – Grace Chiu

The chalk dust still settling, check the “live” reporting on International Gymnast. Both Men’s and Women’s results are included.

Oklahoma Sooners remain undefeated. Win the Big 12.

TEAM RESULTS

Oklahoma, 195.875
Iowa State, 195.775
Missouri, 195.225
Nebraska, 194.975

more NCAA coverage – Inside Gymnastics

On the women’s side, here’s the current GymInfo ranking list:

full list

Only one competition remains before the 12 qualifying teams are announced.

commentary on Gymgemz

The best Rhythmic photos anywhere are on James Glader’s site:

rhythmicgymnastics1.com

I ask James here and now what’s going on with Rhythmics USA? He and I were at Championships last year. The American girls did not look all that strong. Yet they bested both Canada and Russia at Pacific Rim.

Rhythmic team and all-around final results

Team
1. USA, 236.325
2. Canada, 228.700
3. Russia, 218.300

Senior all-around
1. Alexandra Orlando, Canada, 63.925
2. Lisa Wang, USA/Buffalo Grove, Ill., 62.325
3. Rachel Marmer, USA/Los Angeles, Calif., 59.575
4. Lina Gnirovskaya, Russia, 58.100
5. Demetra Mantcheva, Canada, 56.450
6. Naazmi Johnston, Australia, 56.325

USA Gymnastics

Historically Rhythmic has been one of the worst Olympic sports for the USA. Has it been turned around James?

In any case, check out the work of James Glader for yourself:

rhythmicgymnastics1.com

Cody has always been one of my favourite drills coaching trampoline. I love the psychological challenge of learning it. (Needless to say, I hated it when I competed tramp.)

It’s difficult to rotate backwards, unless your technique and timing are good.

Here are some MASTERS of Cody:

Click PLAY or watch Ronny do triple back Cody on YouTube.

Neil Gulati quad twisting Cody super slow motion. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Josh Dilworth – Cody Quadruple Full on Trampoline. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Leave a comment if you know of other Cody variations of this difficulty or better. What can Jason Burnette do out of Cody, for example?

Known as the “Bhardwaj” after the wonderful American Olympian 2004 Mohini Bhardwaj, the first international star to compete it, this skill is rarely performed today.

Gymblog editor Blythe Lawrence and myself (as well as many of the coaches) rushed over to watch one of the Level 10 competitors at Battle in Seattle 2008.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Update: That’s Alicia Asturias from Technique Gymnastics.

Compare that one with Mohini herself at Olympic Trials 2004:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It is easy to do with spot. And the Level 10 girl makes it look EASY. (Leave a comment if you know her name.) All her warm-up turns were equally good.

Canadian super talent Christine “Peng Peng” Lee fell on the skill at the Pacific Rim Championships 2008, so perhaps it’s more difficult than it appears.

Wow.

The best of the NCAA is the Southeastern Conference, in my opinion. Check how close the team scores are for the top 3 squads.

What parity!

Team Scores

Georgia 197.350
Alabama 197.325
Florida 197.325
LSU 196.500
Auburn 196.100
Arkansas 194.650
Kentucky 194.025

Alabama Gymnastics

But that’s not the BIG story of the night.

Florida seemed to have this meet locked up. An unexpected fall from Amanda Castillo made it close.

Then the Georgia Head Coach made this statement: “Alabama was great tonight,” Yoculan said. “They nailed it on vault and they deserved to win it.”

In the end, due to a judging error, after over 30min of number crunching, Georgia was named the winner of its 16th SEC title.

I’m the one claiming the Women’s NCAA has our sport all figured out. But a judging debacle like this reminds me of some of the worst FIG competition disasters.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the whole story: Gym Dogs win 16th SEC title