I saw this one in Australia.
The bungie was tight. Quite challenging to hold alignment against the resistance of the rubber rope.
Biegers open a new gym
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.
Jana Bieger – official website
recreation – “ride em cowboy”
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.
Swiss coach available
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
video – Shantessa Pama
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
video – Best of China
Eva (addicted2gym) posted a tightly edited montage of fantastic Chinese female artistic gymnasts.
Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.
I fear the new code will result in Chinese gymnasts with more difficulty, less artistry. That would be a shame.
photos – Great West Gym Fest 2007
I was so busy at the Great West Gym Fest that I took very few photos (flickr). And those few were not particularly good.
But if there is a better gymnastics competition hosted anywhere — I have never heard of it. This competition is excellent! They do more to make kids happy than any other event I’ve ever seen.
Close to 1600 gymnasts, a couple of hundred wooden bears — and even a few moose attended this year. It’s hosted out of one of the best hotels in the States, the gorgeous Coeur d’Alene Resort.
Funtastics Gymnastics Head Coach David Adlard runs the meet. Teams fly into Spokane airport.
Another venue was added for 2007 with a gigantic flag backdrop. I loved that it was the compulsory girls who got to compete on the stage podium, not the optional kids. What a thrill for them.
More information can be found on the Funtastics GWGF page.
Results are posted on MeetScoresOnline.com.
Links to Gymnastics
David Pendrys has a great site called “Links To Gymnastics” which references what is available out on the web.
It will take me some time to run through the hundreds of links he has identified so far.
Gymnastics can be powerful, beautiful, and acrobatic, sometimes all three at once, but the great sport of gymnastics has traditionally not received as much attention as other sports. Thus it is sometimes harder to locate sites dedicated to the various disciplines.
This site is designed to provide gymnastics fans with links to sites across the web and make it easier for those who are interested in the sport to enjoy and learn from the sites out there.
video – rings 1938
The best of the “early” gymnastics movies was produced by Leni Riefenstahl (whose most famous works are documentary propaganda films for the German Nazi Party).
Her 1938 video — Men’s Gymnastics — is very high quality. And the gymnastics performed even better!
Click PLAY or watch the very short sample clip of inverted cross to iron cross on Youtube.
Hamms announce comeback
To my surprise, Olympic Champion Paul Hamm came through with the big announcement and a dedicated website:
Morgan and I are nearly finished with our undergraduate degrees at The Ohio State University. Morgan will complete his degree in Exercise Science in March. I will finish my degree in Accounting in June. Then it is 100%, full-time gymnastics again.
official website – MakingTheOlympics.com
Read more on International Gymnast.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 