Ferrari wins Europeans

After having become all-around World Champion last year in Aarhus Vanessa Ferrari from Italy also won this competition today with the score of 61.075 and is the 2007 all-around European Champion!

The silver medal went to Sandra Izbasa from Romania (59.900) and the elegant Ukrainian Alina Kozich won the bronze medal (59.300).

Overall quite a few insecurities and falls were seen today, only the top 3 remained without falls or major mistakes…

descriptions of routines on GymMedia

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GymBox

After watching the rock solid consistent routines of the NCAA women, I suspect I’d be discouraged by the number of falls and errors seen at Europeans as those competitors struggle to meet difficult FIG requirements.

New Yorker on Parkour

The most detailed article I’ve yet seen on the art of Parkour including Insightful personal interviews with the founder:

Parkour was created in Lisses, a medium prosperous suburb of Paris, in the early nineteen-nineties, by a reserved and restless teen-age boy named David Belle.

His father, Raymond, who died in 1999, was an acrobat and a hero fireman. In 1969, he appeared in newspaper photographs hanging from a cable attached to a helicopter above Notre Dame. The night before, someone had hung a Vietcong flag on the cathedral’s tower. Raymond was lowered like a spider on a thread, and he grabbed the flag.

David Belle is now thirty-three. …

The Sporting Scene: No Obstacles: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

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from the movie District B13

ESPN photos from NCAA Championships

ESPN has a photo stream including:

Utah’s Kristina Baskett competes in the floor exercise individual event during the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships on Friday, April 27, 2007, in Salt Lake City.

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(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

ESPN.com

the SUPER 6 NCAA Teams

Well, it was an honour to watch this competition.

This is gymnastics done right.

I feel international FIG coaches have a lot more to learn from the NCAA than visa versa.

The fans love it. TV loves it.

The SUPER 6 is thrilling. Congratulations to everyone.

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Team results.

That said, NCAA women’s scoring is an insult to any sentient being. Why don’t they improve it?

If you judge the competition over again on video using any sensible set of rules, you’ll get a different result. Certainly Florida would be at least second.

Still, I fell Georgia deserved to win. Despite injuries to two key team members, they pulled it out. Great bars and vault.

Florida starts strong 1st rotation Super 6

Hartung.jpgI predicted Georgia would win.

But they have their work cut out after the first rotation!

Florida hit BIG on beam. Cory Hartung has the best routine at Championships, I feel. (Regardless of scores.)

Fantastic.

The No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team advances to the NCAA Super Six team final after posting its highest score ever, 197.40, in NCAA Championships competition.

For the first time this season, the Gators didn’t finish or tie for the top position in the team standings. Georgia won the NCAA Championships Session I Team Qualifier at 197.70, its third-highest team score of 2007. Florida’s runner-up total of 197.40 is the highest ever in NCAA Championships’ competition and the top road mark ever for the program.

Gator Gymnastics News @ Gatorzone.com

Chinese Acrobat Show photos

Ann Lovell, who has lived in Asia for 8 years, posted a terrific series of visuals. Great colours.

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The Beijing Chinese Acrobat Show features the countries top gymnasts, many whom are just children.

Chinese Acrobat Show – a photoset on Flickr

host UTAH wins NCAA qualifying flight

Only the top 3 teams from this second qualifying session advance to the Super 6 Team Finals.

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Utah Fan favourite Kristina Baskett started with a fall on FX. The loud home crowd grew nervous.

But the Utes really impressed me. They got stronger as the evening progressed.

Actually, the second session was notably weaker than session one. Consistency, difficulty and artistry were not as stunning. There were fewer HITS and STICKS overall.

But the Super 6 is “sudden victory”. Everyone starts over from zero.

It’s going to be a great fight.

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Utah Gymnastics

new media artist Pam Rocks

Who does Cirque du Soleil boss Guy Laliberté call when he wants something “special”?

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Pam Rocks of Moment Factory.

Directing insane multimedia shows and events is all in a day’s work for Rocks.

She describes some of her favourites to plan: Guy Laliberté’s private parties (a.k.a. “test runs” for the Cirque du Soleil), which have involved a “virtual Guy” and a 100-foot dome turned into a smoking pumpkin, crystal ball, enchanted forest and “rocking cathedral.” …

Currently, most of Rocks’ contracts (about 70 per cent) come from the “New Adventures department” at Cirque du Soleil, a place where the interactive arts (video, lights and live performance) are pushed to extremes, and where there’s room to play under a big budget. …

Pam Rocks is off to the circus

Those in charge of lighting and special effects are at least as important as choreographers.

Courtney Kupets – felt like a little kid

Kupets.jpgThe top AA score in the NCAA TEAM competition (first session) was Courtney Kupets of Georgia.

She was solid as a rock.

But that’s not how she felt:

Question: “Talk about your all around performance, since it looks like you’re on your way to another individual title.”

Answer: “I was kind of nervous today. I felt like a little kid competing for the first time. As a team, we really got into it and today was all about the team and what I could do individually to help the team.”

2007 NCAA Gymnastics Championship Quotes :: Press conference quotes from Session I on Thursday, April 26.

The pressure is unbelievable in the qualifying round.