Gymnastics Coaching.com

If you, like me, have been confused about the controversy regarding Olympic selection, read closely the best article posted to date. From Inside Gymnastics:

… The wild card announcement confirms that three silver medalists from Stuttgart–Aljaz Pegan (high bar, Slovenia), Yuri Van Gelder (rings, Netherlands) and Krisztian Berki (pommel horse, Hungary)–will not be in Beijing. Pegan, the 2005 high bar world champ, has never made it to a Games, despite more than a decade as a superstar on his best event.

…

All told, 11 men, all of whom were/are either event finalists at the 2007 World Championships or currently ranked in the top ten of the World Cup standings (as of 2/15/08), will NOT be in Beijing. That number includes three former world champions, four 2007 world medalists and one defending Athens medalist. That’s almost a dozen legitimate medal threats shut out of what is supposed to be the sport’s preeminent event.

In addition to Pegan, Van Gelder and Berki, also MIA in Beijing will be…

Regulo Carmon (Venezuela): Fifth on rings in Stuttgart and currently ranked 2nd in the World Cup standings.

Vlasios Maras (Greece): The 2001 World Champ and silver medalist in 2006, he’s currently ranked 2nd in the World Cup standings and was a finalist in Stuttgart.

Ri Se Gwang (North Korea): The bronze medalist on vault in Stuttgart.

Ri Jong Song (North Korea): Fourth on vault in Stuttgart.

Philippe Rizzo (Australia): Currently ranked fourth in the high bar World Cup standings.

Yevgeny Sapronenko (Latvia): The current Olympic silver medalist on vault and 3rd in the current World Cup rankings.

Robert Seligman (Croatia): Currently ranked 6th on horse in the World Cup standings.

Jeffery Wammes (Netherlands): Stuttgart high bar finalist, currently ranked 4th on vault and 9th on floor in the World Cup standings.

Yernar Yerimbetov (Kazakhstan): Eighth on vault in the current World Cup standings.

Filip Yanev (Bulgaria): Tenth on vault in the current World Cup standings. …

Inside Gymnastics

Not to mention Prashanth Sellathurai (Australia) who everyone knows could win an Olympic medal on Pommels.

These are potential Olympic finalists. Frustrating the fans in those countries is a mistake. Obviously FIG has to rework the selection criteria for Men. Perhaps only 6 full teams should qualify, instead of the current 12 teams. That would make room for more individual competitors.

Does it make sense to you to leave a superstar like this out of the Olympics? Click PLAY or watch Sapronenko on Vault on YouTube.

UPDATE: See Van Gelder win rings at Doha with 16.650 – YouTube video

It’s not an issue on the Women’s side:

… none of the female event finalists from Stuttgart, nor any women currently ranked in the top ten of the World Cup standings on any event, is shut out of Beijing.

Fact is that far fewer nations are able to train female gymnasts to the Olympic level. The rules are simply too tough.

original – flickr – inspir8tion

more inspir8tion photos tagged with “gymnastics”

Flashback Theater Productions

Kudos to History Channel for posting some of their shows on YouTube. Internet savvy users (like you and I) will see it there and later tune in their channel on TV.

Mixed martials arts is booming, as you know. Here’s a variation I had not heard about.

Hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff journey to Moscow to learn Sambo street techniques from some of the toughest dudes in Russia.

The hour long program is posted in 9min blocks starting with Part 1.

The Wordsmith from Nantucket recommended some gymnastics acrobatics and interesting 3D biomechanical analysis shown in Part 3.

screenshot

If you love martial arts, check out Part 3 on YouTube.

Dan Bachman, National Technical Vice President, National Gymnastics Judges Association has his name on a document titled “2005-2008 NGJA/USAG Rules Interpretations #13” dated March 21, 2008.

Coaches and Judges of FIG gymnasts should look them over. The American interpretations are often more detailed than in other nations.

The MS Word document can be downloaded from National Gymnastics Judges Assoc., Inc.

No doubt many, many more changes will be announced to start after Beijing.

In my opinion, Annie Leibovitz is the best magazine cover photographer in the world.

That she agreed to shoot Artistic gymnasts for the April American edition of VOGUE magazine is a huge tribute. Another sign that media coverage of gymnastics in Beijing will be bigger than ever before.

much larger version – NastiaLiukin.com

The accompanying article by Eve MacSweeney will not impress gymnastics fans.

Thanks to difficulty plus execution for breaking this story.

Well known coach / author Rik Feeney has a wonderful new offer on his website GymnasticsTrainingTips.com:

Every month a new gymnastics calendar will be sent only to those who request it. Click the … link to request your free calendars now.

Here are (much smaller) versions of the first two distributions:

more of Rik’s books, articles, artwork, etc. on GymnasticsTrainingTips.com

With the regular College season winding down, it’s time for backseat coaches and fans everywhere to start predicting the winners. Last week I announced that Georgia will win team.

Anything can happen with close-scoring NCAA judging. But today I’m predicting #1 ranked Ashley Postell from Utah will be Champion.

After losing her first all-around competition of the season two weeks ago against Florida (she finished 5th), Ashley is now in perfect position to win it all at Championships in Athens, Georgia.

Postell first fell on her bars routine. After completing a maneuver on the lower bar, Postell lost momentum and slipped off the bar right onto her feet.

“I knew something wasn’t really right when I was doing the skill before I fell,” Postell said. She said she broke in new grips this week and wasn’t comfortable with them during her routine.

Postell later got on beam and was flowing through her routine before slipping after a pass midway through the performance.

“Ashley doesn’t struggle like that typically, so if she does, you know it’s not her night,” Marsden said.

Postell’s fall on the bars ended a streak of 49 straight routines without a fall. After her vault performance earlier that night, she was just 14 routines shy of Suzanne Metz’s team record of 63 straight routines without a fall that extended from the 1994 to the 1995 season.

Marsden approached Postell after she fell on beam and asked her if she wanted to sit out the floor exercise. She agreed that it was the right thing to do.

Daily Utah Chronicle

Postell’s closest competitors include Ashleigh Clare-Kearney (LSU), Kiara Redmond-Sturms (Oklahoma), Jessica Lopez (Denver), the dazzling Corey Hartung (Florida), Jami Lanz (Oregon State), wonderful Kristina Baskett (Utah), Anna Li (UCLA) and many others.

That shocking, terrible competition in Florida Oregon puts Ashley in a much better position psychologically, I feel. It’s mentally easier to “come back” than to “hold the lead”.

In fact, a week later, Ashley won the all-around AND three aparatus, leading her team over previously unbeaten Michigan. Wow!

As a coach, I get very nervous if an athlete has no problems leading up to the biggest competition. I prefer them to have to struggle somewhere along the line. It helps to refocus on the goal.

The World Champion may benefit in the same way as will Ashley. As did Carly Patterson in 2004:

Yet with that one big mistake on her first event at the American Cup, Johnson became human again. “Actually, she seems to have had a huge load lifted,” Teri Johnson, Shawn’s mother, told IG. “She seems much more light-hearted and back to the old Shawn. I think it’s really great to have some of the spotlight dimmed for a while.”

A similar situation emerged in 2004, when Carly Patterson began the year by winning the all-around and every event at the American Cup. After tying for first with Courtney Kupets at the U.S. National Championships later that season, the spotlight’s glare was at least shared. But when Patterson fell off beam (both days) and placed third at the U.S. Olympic Trials, she could finally relax and focus on Athens.

“[Carly] felt like trials was a blessing in disguise because she was on a winning streak, as well, and that it would have to come to an end,” says Natalie Patterson, Carly’s mother. “It was better to end at trials, which gave her that much more motivation to come back and prove what she was capable of doing. People talk when things like this happen. They write you off as the pressure got to her. This only gave Carly a stronger vengeance to come back and prove herself.”

Fueled by a deeper resolve, Patterson won the 2004 Olympics over then-world champion and main challenger Svetlana Khorkina. …

Now Johnson has something to prove as well. “Personally, I think this is the best thing that could have happened for her,” Teri says of her daughter’s runner-up finish at the American Cup. “Don’t get me wrong. I never want for her to ‘lose,’ but I do think she will be hungrier now. I’ve always told her that knowing how to lose is as important as knowing how to win. You have to experience one in order to fully appreciate the other.”

Johnson’s loss at the American Cup was also her gain – Dwight Normile – IG

If you have your own favourite for NCAA Champion, please leave a comment.

A great challenge, though possibly damaging for the wrists:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

As an alternative, he could walk forwards and backwards on parallel bars.

Click through to GymnasticBodies.com, edited by conditioning guru Coach Sommers from Arizona, for more very tough conditioning ideas. Thanks Coach!

(via Straight to the Bar)

I’ve never been a big fan of handstand trainers for bars and horizontal bar. Not that I have anything against the devices, but alternate drills work just as well, in my experience.

I do have friends who love them:

The Handstand Trainer will develop and strengthen, in your gymnasts, that tight “hollow body” shape so critical in our sport’s basic technique! It will also develop the ability of your gymnasts to “planche” and to “push” back from that planche …

American Gymnast

robbie emailed to let us know of this version used in Belgium:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Coaches, leave a comment if you like handstand trainers. Perhaps I can be convinced.

Clinton Portis was NFL Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Denver Broncos. Clearly he’s a better Running Back than gymnast:

Clinton Portis Washington Redskins – 16×20 Autographed Photograph

UPDATE: Word is … the photo was taken mid-cartwheel. (see the comments)

all of our handstand posts