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Nastia Liukin is a media superstar.

Not just in the gymnastics community, but worldwide.

The most recent evidence of this is her video profile on the AT&T program called “Home Turf Online” which interviews top American athletes. The host is former baseball and football great Deion “Primetime” Sanders.

To watch the streamed video you need a fast computer and fast internet connection.

It’s entertaining. A glimpse into the WOGA gym and home life with Papa coach Valeri Liukin.

See How They Live – Nastia Liukin – video

Some years just an excuse of a meet to highlight American gymnastics on TV, this competition had some great stories in 2007.

It was the Senior breakout of wondergirl winner Shawn Johnson who is a treat to watch. Not that #2 Natasha Kelley is not a wonder herself. And fantastic Shayla Worley could not even get to the finals as only two Americans could quality.

Potential Olympic champion for 2008 Fabian Hambüchen of Germany was the favourite in the men’s competition. But instead crowd pleaser Jonathan Horton took the all-around title, his second in two years.

photo – interview with Jonathan Horton – Inside Gymnastics

details on American Cup 2007 – GymMedia.com

I spent many days at Kingborough Gymnastics in Tasmania, one of a handful of Aussie clubs who have been awarded a 5 Star rating by Gymnastics Australia.

Club 10 has been developed by Gymnastics Australia. This scheme is an accreditation system that provides a framework for continuous improvement across ten key club operational areas.

The Club 10 vision is ” An accredited network of vibrant and successful affiliated Clubs providing a comprehensive range of Gymsports, to Australians of all areas and abilities”.

A Club achieves a Star rating, from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), through and comprehensive auditing scheme. Australia wide in 2004 only 5 clubs where awarded a 5 star rating.

Kingborough FQA’s

It seems to me that a rating system for gym clubs is a good idea. But many Aussie coaches told me that the new program is flawed. That achieving a high rating was far too much trouble. And that it will be some years before the 5 Star rating system is widely recognized by the general public.

We wait on that day.

In the meantime, I posted a few photos of Kingborough on flickr if you want to see what a 5 Star club looks like.

Friend of this site, Olympic Floor Champion 2004 Kyle Shewfelt let us know about 50 more photos (flickr) of himself and the Canadian Men’s Team linked from KyleShewfelt.com.

All pics by our favourite photographer – Grace Chiu

In Melbourne, Australia I saw an interesting variation on the Russian “tramp catcher”.

Interesting, but not nearly as safe.

I saw this one in Australia.

The bungie was tight. Quite challenging to hold alignment against the resistance of the rubber rope.

The Worlds #2 in 2006, Jana Bieger, had a problem. No place to train.

Bieger, 17, returned from the World Gymnastics Championships in Denmark last year with three silver medals, including all-around. But saying Bieger returned “home” with those medals is pushing things, because athletically speaking, Bieger had no home.

Three gyms, two counties, one possible squabble, one auto accident and one major financial investment — that’s the recent scorecard for one of America’s 2008 Olympic hopefuls.

“Hmmm, where are we going to work out next?” Bieger says, repeating the family refrain from late last year.

Good news. Biegers have opened a new gym just 5-minutes from home. This optimizes Jana’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics.

more details

Jana Bieger – official website

At Funtastics, north Idaho, I saw kids riding a “horse” while the coach double bounced them on trampoline.

They could even use a “rope” to try to hang on to the “buckin’ bronco”.

This is cowboy country. In fact, one of the 4-6-year-old boys has tried to ride a lively, wooly sheep for five seconds in a real rodeo. This is good training.

Roger Wangler, a 29 year old Swiss PE-teacher with a strong recreation background, is looking for an international position. His English is good.

In the future, Roger would like to work with a men’s competitive program.

rogerwangler (AT) bluewin.ch

Like most everyone else, we love Shantessa Pama. She is one of the most artistic, original gymnasts in the world.

Watch an interview and training video on GymnastTV.com (episode 21).

Shantessa Pama – official website

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