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I’d seen Kyle Shewfelt show Arabian Double Layout (Tamayo) with 1/1-out on to mats in the pit. (Easy.) But this was the first time I had seen a similar skill done in competition.

UPDATE – the trick is named after Diego Hypolito

One of the girls from Steven’s gym (WOGA) told us that USA Championships 2007 was the first time he had competed the element.

Click PLAY or watch the first tumbling line on YouTube.

Incidentally, all of the WOGA male gymnasts were using double fronts and double front pike skills on many pieces of equipment. Looks like this is part of a coaching strategy for the future.

WOGA continues to be the most interesting gym to watch in the world.

Just saw the great heist film Entrapment .

I like the scene where Zeta-Jones manipulates through a net of laser beams to avoid a laser alarm system. Choreographer Paul Harris.

Click PLAY or watch her on YouTube.

Entrapment

UPDATE: Shannon Miller and Carly Patterson will be special guests of the competition. Meet them at the Ice Cream Social with the Olympians, Saturday afternoon 3:00-4:15.

Dave Adlard, Funtastics Gymnastics, Coeur d’ Alene, is expecting close to 2000 competitors (boys and girls) for 2008.

Their goal:

TO MAKE THIS THE SINGLE BEST COMPETITION YOU WILL ATTEND THIS SEASON, AND PERHAPS EVER!

This year the meet will again be held in the ball rooms of the world famous Coeur d’ Alene Resort and North Idaho College.

State of the art AAI equipment, Amazing Awards includng the ever popular hand carved bear team trophies, wonderful Goodie Bags and every athlete receives a commemorative plaque!

Top rated (and most cheerful) judges for every level that you will find at any invitational you will ever attend!

You feel important at the GWGF because it is based out of one of the best resorts in the States, the gorgeous Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Get your registration in soon if you plan to attend. Call Dave Adlard with any questions: 208 664-0135

Great West Gym Fest – official website

related posts

I last took gymnasts to this big Men’s competition in California in 2004. Highly recommended for those coaches looking for a high profile competition in a beautiful location.

For more information or a meet packet…

Call Maureen Miller (Meet Director)

818 247-8149 or 310 450-0012 ext 23

or email at maurlar@worldnet.att.net

official website – PeterVidmarInvite.org

I’ve been anticipating the decline of the Romanian Women’s Gymnastics team. But they continue to surprise me finishing 3rd at Worlds.

One important reason was the leadership of Cătălina Ponor, triple gold medallist from the 2004 Olympics. Now a veteran, she can still compete with the best.

Ponor’s a beautiful gymnast. Click PLAY or watch a tribute video on YouTube.

More on Ponor and the Romanian team from Gymblog:

Two bright spots on a Romanian team that was otherwise seemed to be lacking in form and spirit at the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart were 20-year-old veteran Catalina Ponor, back in shape after post-Olympic partying and a bout in retirement, and 15-year-old newcomer Cerasela Patrascu. Both displayed a lot of style — in Ponor’s case, there was even passion — for being from a country known for its uninspiring routines.

I admired both Ponor’s floor, somewhat old-school for having only three tumbling passes, as well as Patrascu’s beam, which featured the usual Romanian difficulty but with attractive lines and arm movements — none of this slashing at the air with one’s arms and calling it choreography. Both, particularly Ponor, showed a lot of style, something that seems to be in short supply on the Romanian team.

With Ponor and Patrascu, the Romanians are moving forward « Gymblog

A very well edited video promoting Inspire Athletics in Elkhard, Indiana.

http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/806668/inspire_athletics.swf
Inspire Athletics – MetaCafe

Head Coach Andrei Rodionenko took action, as he promised he would, after problems with the Russian team at Worlds.

Andrei is taking some heat over this decision.

But I’m a great admirer of Rodionenko. I expect this discipline was warranted.

It might not be as bad as a trip to Siberia, but in the tightly controlled world of Russian gymnastics, it’s close.

The Russian gymnastics federation banned Maxim Deviatovski and Julia Lozhecko from its main training camps for the rest of the year for what it said were disciplinary violations at last week’s world championships, according to the Russian Web site All Sport. …

ESPN – Two Russian gymnasts barred from training camps – Gymnastics

JumpClub posted a tribute video to the mixed martial arts group Sideswipe featuring their successful run on the TV show America’s Got Talent.

Great publicity for street acrobatics.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Good, if Amerocentric, article published by Sports Illustrated.

Here are the key takeaways from this week’s World Gymnastics championships in Stuttgart.

SI.com – Writers – E.M. Swift: Five things we learned at gymnastics worlds – Sunday September 9, 2007 1:28PM

For example:

Nastia has surpassed her famous father in total number of World Championships medals.

When Kyle Shewfelt was bumped to 4th from the Bronze medal position in the Vault Finals at the 2004 Olympics, he handled the injustice with class and dignity. I wish everyone in our sport had Kyle’s cool under pressure.

The Gymblog put together a good post titled Gymnasts behaving badly, an overview of poor sportsmanship at Worlds.

Athletes named include:

Maxim Deyvatovsky – Russia
Yulia Lozhechko – Russia
Alicia Sacramone – USA
Li Shanshan – China

Even the public statements of Valeri Liukin and National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi are questioned.

A very interesting and important topic. Check it out:

Gymnasts behaving badly « Gymblog

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