Another of my shots from the last show I saw at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. This is one of the members of Kataklo (an athletic dance theatre group from Italy, composed of former Olympic gymnasts). This has NOT been rotated from the vertical. He was performing a routine based around a football (or soccer for you folks in The Colonies! 😉 ).
China tops at Worlds 2006
The competition has just ended.
First report on the internet …
“A Chinese river of gold medals flows towards Bejing…”
And in a later summary article:
The sleeping giant of gymnastics has come alive at a very interesting time.
China won two more gold medals at the world championships Saturday to close the meet with eight. That’s more than half the 14 golds awarded over nine days in Denmark – a record, and a staggering display of dominance for the upcoming host of the Olympics.
“China will hold the Olympic Games and the Chinese people have a passion for the Games,†said women’s coach Lu Shanzhen, whose team won three of the eight golds. “There has been a great movement to push gymnastics in our country. There are great expectations and hopes.â€
… This was a program that suffered through an embarrassing Olympics in Athens, where the men finished fifth and the women seventh. Was that really only two years ago? It didn’t seem like it this week.
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised,†Yang said. … I hope we can do this again in 2008.â€
How did Vanessa Ferrari win Worlds?
… (she) has a very likeable personality and really got the crowd behind her. And at the conclusion of the meet, after learning she had won the gold medal with her all-around total of a 61.025, someone handed her a flag, and she did a victory lap around the arena. It was a picture-perfect moment.
read more on the Inside Gymnastics News, Notes and Quotes from Worlds
photo – Grace Chiu
“I was ready to compete against anyone,” Ferrari said. “I am not afraid of anyone and I knew I could win.”
video – martial arts – Double Leg
I love this trick, something like a twisting standing back pike.
Wikipedia credits the Double Leg to Capoeira, but it has certainly been adopted by all sorts of acrobats.
To see the skill (several times) performed by James Solis click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.
more video – Double Leg with 1/1 twist
Italian World Champion
Wow.
Congratulations to Italy. This will be great for gymnastics in that country.
It was an error filled finals. Here are the results of the Women’s All-around:
1. Vanessa Ferrari – Italy
2. Jana Bieger – USA
3. Sandra Raluca Isbassa – Romania
4. Steliana Nistor – Romania
5. Daria Joura – Australia
6. Panpan Pang – China
7. Hollie Dykes – Australia
8. Beth Tweddle – UK
official results – FIG (.pdf file)
Not everyone was happy with the outcome:
Romanian coach Nicolae Forminte lashed out at the judges at the world gymnastics championships after Vanessa Ferrari was declared the winner of the women’s all-round contest despite falling off the beam.
“Apparently you have to fall off an apparatus in order to become world champion. It’s laughable,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“In the whole history of gymnastics, it never happened that a gymnast who falls won the world title.”
… Forminte was critical of the judging process since both Bieger and his charge, Romania’s Sandra Izbasa who finished with bronze, did not fall off from any of the four apparatus but were still outscored by the Italian.
San Francisco sport psychology student
Melissa is looking for gymnastics coaches in California who might like to have their athletes participate in sports psychology research. She is pursuing an internship/fellowship to pay for that study.
Melissa is a former gymnast, diver, swimmer, runner and boxer who went on to train in the field, currently finishing her MA-MFT in California.
Clubs in the Bay area, (santa cruz/san jose/palo alto/menlo park/san francisco) should contact her if interested:
melissa@the-river.org
boys in gymnastics
Michael Sanders alerted me to a great blog post from a gym Mom:
I have run across a few people who are shocked that I enrolling my BOY in gymnastics. …
I view gymnastics as being very much a manly sport but other people? Notsomuch. …. Boys should be running around bases or catching footballs; not spending time in a gym learning the fundamentals of gymnastics. Never mind the fact that those fundamentals- strength, flexibility, and coordination are integral to every aspect of athetics.
… “What? Is the local karate studio full?” and “Wouldn’t he prefer soccer?”.
Gavin has already shown signs of mad gymnastics talent. He is super strong. … The kid can spin and spin and spin and never waver (again, a result of all his sensory stuff). … He can stand on his head, flip around a bar at the playground, hang forever and a day while swinging from a bar, do a somersault, and do splits. When we went to visit my nieces, they were performing all their gymnastics moves and the boy could totally do or at least try to do everything that they did and they have already had years of lessons. Plus, he wanted to do what they did.
Gymnastics: Not just for girls – by Officially a Mom.
A boy doing gymnastics in the 1970s, I can’t honestly say I got much criticism. Once I got good at it, I only recall getting respect from my peers.
In 2006 any stigma about boys doing gymnastics should be dismissed as ignorance.
Gymnastics is great for EVERYONE. But it’s long been my conclusion that the sport benefits 6-year-old boys most. That is the ideal target age and gender in my experience.
Men’s Worlds – AA finals
1. Yang Wei – China
2. Hiroyuki Tomita – Japan
3. Fabian Hambuechen – Germany
4. Yibing Cheng – China
5. Maxim Deviatovski – Russia
circus – Zumanity
More cabaret than acrobatic performance, still Zumanity is the favourite Cirque du Soleil show of many insiders.
Human sexuality in all its forms is the theme. It’s adults only — though I’d be surprised if many ticket holders are offended. It’s more camp, than graphic.
Liza Minnelli was there one night across the aisle from me and laughed as loudly as anyone else in the fantastic Las Vegas theatre. Zumanity pays homage to her film Cabaret (1972), I think.
Cirque does not sell video of this performance. But you can get sneak peaks on two web pages:
More detail on the official Zumanity website.
Women’s Worlds – team finals
As some predicted, China upset the USA. This makes things far more interesting for Beijing.
1. China 182.200
2. United States 181.350
3. Russia 177.325
4. Romania 175.450
5. Ukraine 174.250
6. Australia 173.225
7. Brazil 172.975
8. Spain 170.475
Gymnastics Coaching.com 