Going for Gold

Canadian Figure Skating Championships

2012-01-23T20:31:00.002Z

It's a busy 10 days for figure skating with superpowers Canada and the USA holding their national championships and the first major international of 2012, the European Championships being held in Sheffield, UK.

The first of these to wrap up was the Canadian championships in Moncton, New Brunswick. Full results here. World Champions Patrick Chan and Virtue and Moir re-established their dominance, winning their umpteenth straight national championships respectively. The upset of the event came when Amelie Lacoste beat fellow Quebecois skater and reigning champion Cynthia Phaneuf to the national title.

Skate Canada has been cautious in naming the single ladies skater who will represent Canada at the world championships in Nice. Canada desperately needs a strong and consistent ladies skater to match up to their stronger men's pairs and dance teams.

As it stands the Worlds teams are listed below (with additional athletes for the 4 Continents Championships in brackets)

Men

Patrick Chan , Kevin Reynolds, (Jeremy Ten)

Ice Dance
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir , Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje, Kharis Ralph/Asher Hill (Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam replace Ralph & Hill for 4CC)

Pairs
Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford , Jessica Dubé/Sebastian Wolfe, Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers

Ladies
The top two finishers from the national championship will compete at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and Canada's one entry for the world team will be named following their performances at that competition. (Amélie Lacoste, Cynthia Phaneuf, Alexandra Najarro)

The Novice and Junior rounds of the US championships and the qualifying rounds of Europeans are also underway, I'll endeavour to update on these results throughout the week.

Posts are a bit scarce at the moment as I revise for my clinical exams coming up, keep checking back!

Winter Youth Olympics

2012-01-11T19:37:00.000Z

With qualification to London 2012 on most people's minds, the upcoming inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck are flying somewhat under the radar.

As with the Singapore youth olympic games 2 years ago, several of the most promising young athletes are using this to build experience for bigger and better things at the next olympic games proper. Amongst those competing in the figure skating competition in Innsbruck are Russian phenoms Adelina Sotnikova and Elizaveta Tuktamisheva. Other names to look out for are Zijun Li of China (pictured, above) So Youn Park of South Korea and Risa Shoji of Japan.

The games kick off on Friday. Click here for the event website.

GB dominant as test event.

2012-01-10T21:28:00.001Z

They did much more than finish 4th, the British men put in a fantastic team performance to easily win the team competition at the olympic test event and qualify a full team to London 2012- yippee!!

The british men also qualified 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the all around rankings with plenty of high ranking individual apparatus scores too.

GB will be joined by the teams from France, Spain and Italy. The Canadian men will be kicking themselves for lost tenths, finishing narrowly outside in 5th place.

UPDATE: The FIG has today confirmed the men's qualifiers for the olympic games: view the full list here. They include Ireland's Kieran Behan and nominative spots for the top-scoring all-arounders from the test event aswell as a single entry for those countries who missed out on team qualification.

Test Event - Intermediate Results

2012-01-10T18:00:00.000Z

With all important olympic qualification on the line, Great Britain's male gymnasts will compete in the last of 3 subdivisions today at the O2 arena, starting their competition at 19.15 GMT

The second rotation has just wrapped up with the scores around the middle of the table (and that 4th place cut-off for an olympic spot) very very close.

For a bit of perspective, the qualifying scores of the test event nations at the 2011 worlds were:
9. France 349.818
10. GB 348.742
11. Spain 348.725
12. Canada 347.076
13. Brazil 346.626
14. Puerto Rico 344.460
15. Italy 343.642
16. Belarus 342.575

Corral Barron of Mexico leads the all around qualification with 88.465 ahead of Cyril Tommasone of France. Full results will be updated after the conclusion of men's qualification this evening.

London 2012 Test Event

2012-01-08T11:54:00.000Z

The Olympic year is finally here and this week all gymnastics disciplines will have a final chance to qualify teams or athletes to the olympic games.

Katie from Full Twist and other bloggers will beat the O2 to report on the event. Here is her great preview on the event.

The main event will be the team qualifications for artistic gymnastics, with the teams ranked 9th-16th at the Tokyo worlds competing for the final 4 team spots to London. The teams are:

MAG

Belarus
Brazil
Great Britain
Canada
Spain
France
Italy
Puerto Rico

WAG

Belgium
Canada
Brazil
France
Spain
Italy
Korea
Netherlands

As well as the team competition, for many of the lower ranked gymnastics nations this is their one chance to qualify individual gymnasts to the games, and an opportunity for the nations who have had a disappointing year and failed to qualify teams to the event to regain some pride, particularly Switzerland and Ukraine, countries with a strong medal record on the world stage who due to injuries and retirements had a disappointing 2011.

Being the first major international event of 2012, the test event will also be a chance for us to finally see some of the 'rookie' seniors who were too young to compete in 2011 but will definitely be in contention for a spot on their nation's teams in 2012.

The full list of participants is here, Some of the new or rising names to look out for will be:

Victoria Moors (Canada)
Erika Fasana (Italy)
Rebecca Tunney & Jocelyn Hunt (GB)
Ana Sofia Gomez Porraz (Guatemala)
Anastasia Grishina & Julia Inshina (Russia)
Nadia Muelhauser (Suitzerland)

Along with established names:
Sui Lu & Yao Jinnan (China)
Jessica Lopez (Venezuela)
Giulia Steingruber (Suitzerland)
Jade Barbossa (Brazil)
Kristina Vaculik & Peng Peng Lee (Canada)
Vanessa Ferrari & Carlotta Ferlito (Italy)
Youna Dufournet (France)

The event is sadly not being broadcast on TV but there will be plenty of online coverage from the following bloggers

Full Twist – Twitter – Facebook
The All Around - Twitter – Facebook
Gym Power – Twitter – Facebook
Gymnastics Examiner – Twitter - Facebook
Gymnastics Coaching - Twitter – Facebook
Gym Blog Brazil – Twitter – Facebook
Grace Chiu will be taking photographs at the event

as well as from British Gymnastics, the FIG event website and youtube channel.

Faces for 2011 - an end of year report

2012-01-01T00:44:00.000Z

About a year ago I wrote a post previewing some of the promising junior gymnasts who would be turning seniors in 2011 and had a chance to rock the international gymnastics scene. Well, here is their end of year report.

Tan Sixin (China)

Grade: B+

Tan was one of the most pleasant surprises at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. In a country known for it's young stars, she was set to shine for China in her first senior year. 2011 was by no means a disaster for Tan, she made the world team in Tokyo and performed well on uneven bars in the pressured team final. However she was overshadowed somewhat by the successes of Sui Lu and fellow new-senior Yao Jinnan. With her artistry and strong execution (and with the possible fading star of He Kexin) Tan is still very much in the running for a spot on the 2012 olympic team.

Viktoria Komova (Russia)

Grade: A-

Everyone knows of Komova's rocky path through 2011. Following the injury to Aliya Mustafina, the pressure of soviet expectation shifted to the slight shoulders of Komova, who herself was coming back from an ankle injury. She performed admirably, helping a depleted team to world silver and became world champion on bars herself. She will be rueing her 0.033 point loss in the all around though. Look out for a Komova with serious attitude in London!

Jordyn Wieber (USA)

Grade A+

If anyone could say that 2011 was a year of undiluted success, it would be Wieber- American Cup Champion, National Champion, World Champion, Professional Athlete, All she needs now is the title of Olympic Champion in 2012 and the world is her oyster! Mustafina, Komova and others may have something to say about that though...

Diana Bulimar (Romania)

Grade B+

Romania will be looking very closely at what went wrong for them to come away with zero medals from the 2011 worlds. It wasn't for lack of trying! One of their major chances of a medal came from young bulimar who, whilst inconsistent on several of the other pieces, qualified comfortably to the floor final before having to withdraw from injury. She also in the process got her name in the code of points with her signature leap. Bulimar has a reasonable shot of making the Romanian team in 2012, although her weakness on bars and nagging injuries may be what holds her back.

Laura Mitchell (Great Britain)

Grade: C

She was GB's top junior in 2010 and looked like she would be a useful asset for the senior team in 2011. It never really happened for Mitchell this year aas she was fighting injuries right up to the worlds selection competitions. She'll still be in the running for 2012 but a lack of senior international experience will disadvantage her, and GB also has several strong first year seniors for 2012.

Sabrina Vega (USA)

Grade A-

2011 was a very successful year for Vega, as well as all the 1st year seniors on the Gold Medal winning machine that was team USA. Vega was strong and consistent at worlds contributing to the team victory on nervy pieces like balance beam. However, with the depth of talent in the USA she is not quite close enough to the top of the all-around rankings to be sure of an olympic spot. The more difficulty and consistency she can build (whilst avoiding injury) the better her chances will be.

Natsumi Sasada (Japan)

Grade: B-

4th place all around at last year's Youth Olympics. We haven't seen much of Sasada this year. She competed at the Cottbus challenger cup finishing 4th on floor. She was 8th at Japanese nationals and didn't make the cut for the world Championship team. Hopefully we will see more of her in 2012 as she had some great qualities.

Carlotta Ferlito (Italy)

Grade: B+

Ferlito made a smooth transition into Italy's senior ranks this year, qualifying to the European and World teams. In Berlin at Europeans she won a bronze medal on balance beam and placed 7th on floor and all-around. The disappointment of the year came when the Italians finished 9th in Tokyo, so a good performance is vital at the upcoming test event in London.

Special Mention: Yao Jinnan (China)

Grade: A+

Jinnan wasn't even on my list of new faces a year ago, but she was the pleasant surprise of the year, helping the Chinese team to bronze and also taking home all-around bronze and balance beam silver for herself. She may not be the most consistent gymnast on the chinese team but she has a lovely sparkly quality similar to what we enjoyed from Jiang Yuyuan in Beijing 2008. She competes in January at the test event and with her great talent it would be a shame not to see her back in London next summer.

With the size of the olympic team shrinking, the class of 2011 must prove themselves against the new seniors of the class of 2012 including Anastasia Grishina & Anastasia Sidorova of Russia, Kyla Ross of the USA, Larisa Iordace of Romania (Pictured below), Venus Romaeo and Rebecca Tunney of GB and many others.

Mao Asada wins national title.

2011-12-25T17:48:00.001Z

Short programme leader Kanako Murakami suffered jump issues in her free skate in Osaka, Japan today, finishing 6th place in the free skate and 3rd overall. Mao Asada waas able to win her 5th national title less than 3 weeks after the death of her mother. She'll head to worlds as one of the favourites, even without her triple axel, which she skated without in Osaka.

LADIES (final standings)
1. Mao Asada – 184.07
2. Akiko Suzuki – 179.27
3. Kanako Murakami – 172.69
4. Haruka Imai – 166.67
5. Miu Sato – 163.86
6. Satoko Miyahara – 163.85
7. Risa Shoji – 156.47
8. Yuki Nishino – 156.45
9. Haruna Suzuki – 156.23
10. Kana Muramoto – 154.11
11. Kako Tomotaki – 148.99
12. Satsuki Muramoto – 146.90
13. Miyabi Ohba – 146.83
14. Yuka Kouno – 135.68
15. Shoko Ishikawa – 133.66

World Championships team
MEN - Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Yuzuru Hanyu
LADIES - Mao Asada, Akiko Suzuki, Kanako Murakami
PAIRS - Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran
DANCE - Cathy Reed/Chris Reed
Four Continents Championship team
MEN - Daisuke Takahashi, Tatsuki Machida, Takahito Mura
LADIES - Mao Asada, Kanako Murakami, Haruka Imai
PAIRS - Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran
DANCE - Cathy Reed/Chris Reed
World Junior Championships teamMEN - Keiji Tanaka, Shoma Uno, Ryuju Hino
LADIES - Miu Sato, Satoko Miyahara, Risa Shoji

(Figure Skating Examiner)

Murakami leads Asada,Takahashi wins Japan Nationals

2011-12-24T17:14:00.001Z

After a somewhat lackluster grand prix season this year, youngster Kanako Murakami has taken the lead after the short programme at Japanese Nationals. 2-time world champion Mao Asada is close behind skating 3 weeks after the death of her mother. Akiko Suzuki stands in 3rd.

Unlike the ever-plighted USA, Consistent international performance by the Japanese means they have 3 men's and 3 women's spots for Worlds.

Here are the short programme results and videos (courtesy of Figure Skating Examiner)
LADIES (top 15 after the short program)
1. Kanako Murakami – 65.56 VIDEO
2. Mao Asada – 65.40 VIDEO
3. Akiko Suzuki – 59.60 VIDEO
4. Yuki Nishino – 58.52
5. Haruka Imai – 57.82
6. Kana Muramoto – 54.20
7. Miu Sato – 54.14 VIDEO
8. Satsuki Muramoto – 53.16
9. Haruna Suzuki – 53.04 VIDEO
10. Kako Tomotaki – 52.02 VIDEO11. Risa Shoji – 51.50 VIDEO
12. Mutsumi Takayama – 48.48
13. Miyabi Ohba – 48.26 VIDEO14. Shoko Ishikawa – 47.62
15. Satoko Miyahara – 47.06

In the Men's event Daisuke Takahashi was leading by a country mile after the Men's short programme and despite 3 falls in his free skate was able to hold off Takahiko Kozuka for his 5th national title.
MEN (final standings)
1. Daisuke Takahashi – 254.60
2. Takahiko Kozuka – 250.97
3. Yuzuru Hanyu – 241.91
4. Tatsuki Machida – 213.48
5. Takahito Mura – 204.21
6. Daisuke Murakami – 203.41
7. Keiji Tankaa – 201.45
8. Kento Nakamura – 195.94
9. Shoma Uno – 190.42
10. Ryuju Hino – 188.30

Tearful Mao returns to Japan, vows to compete at Nationals.

2011-12-13T16:12:00.000Z

In an article from Universal Sports, World Champion Mao Asada has spoken of her grief to return to Japan to find that her mother Kyoko Asada had passed away (aged just 48) whilst she was travelling back from the Grand Prix Final in Canada.

"When I got to Narita and checked my e-mail, I had a text from my father that said, ‘Mom couldn't make it.' I just cried and cried," Asada told Kyodo News.

But the 21-year-old is determined to compete at Nationals in Osaka, which begin on December 23.

"My mother would rejoice that I'm determined to do what I must do as I aim to achieve my dreams for the future,"

We all wish Mao and her sister Mai the very best at this incredibly difficult time. Losing your mother at such a young age is terrible for any person, but to do so in the media spotlight and with the pressure of competing for your country is doubly hard.

Mao has great courage to compete again so soon (memories of the brave Joannie Rochette come to mind). Japanese Nationals are one of the most competitive in the world. Good Luck Mao!

(Images of Mao returning to Japan, and of her mother Kyoko from Daylife.com)

Lord Coe visits the Chinese gymnasts

2011-12-13T16:02:00.000Z

In this photo from Getty Images, Chairman of the London Olympic Commitee, Sebastian Coe visits with the Chinese gymnasts at their training centre in Beijing as part of a democratic trip to see the preparations of the Chinese for London 2012 and to promote the UK's readiness to take over the torch (so-to-speak) from Beijing 2008.

Coe, himself a 2 time olympic champion in the 1500m said to the athletes:

"Welcome, all of you, to London, We have lots of gymnastics fans in Britain, and you will be great draw there."

Coe said one of his goals is for the London Games to be athlete-centered.

"We have built the best athletes' village for you - athletes are always the most important people," he said.

(Article: China Daily)

Lord Coe also visited some of China's elite swimmers and promoted the launch of "Olympic Bicycles" at the British Embassy.

It's good to see Cheng Fei as part of the group, even if, like Shawn Johnson was in her return to training, she seems to be the only one not in a leotard!

JGPF - Pairs results

2011-12-09T17:51:00.001Z

China's Sui & Han won the junior pairs title in Quebec city this afternoon. The achievment would be great for any up-and-coming junior pair. But these two are no ordinary up-and-coming junior pair. Having already won the junior title 2 years ago, Last year they entered the senior ranks and won bronze at the senior final. They also have two junior world titles and a quad throw and quad twist to their name.

It was perhaps unexpected then that they should stay on the junior circuit this year. They had a sub-par senior grand prix season, finishing 2nd in Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of China finishing outside of a qualifying spot for the senior final.

Here they were a coomfortable 8 points clear of the junior field having thrown everything in their free skate. Their quad salchow throw was given full credit (execution was -1 from most of the judges and +3 from one - go figure!). Their quad twist was downgraded. The next 3 teams actually had higher element scores than the chinese, but their programme components (and I dare say, a bit of reputation) kept them ahead of the field. Results.

Maybe I'm getting synical in my old age!
The rest of today includes all the senior short programmes and the junior ladies free skate.

Mao Asada out of Grand Prix Final

2011-12-08T19:51:00.002Z

2010 World Champion Mao Asada has sadly had to withdraw and fly home early from the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City. Her mother has fallen seriously ill and Mao has flown back to Japan to be with her.

The first alternate for the event is world junior champion Adelina Sotnikova. However the organisers say it is too short notice to call in a substitute at this stage.

Update: Mao's mother Kyoko passed away this morning, aged 48. Condolences to Mao and her family at this difficult time.

A New Look NHL

2011-12-06T21:29:00.000Z

On December 5, 2011, the NHL (National Hockey League) Board of Governors approved a conference realignment plan that will eliminate the current six-division setup and move into a four-conference structure.

Under the new plan, which is designed to better accommodate the effects of time zone differences, each team will play 36 or 38 intra-conference games, depending on whether it is in a seven- or eight-team conference, and two games (home and road) against each non-conference team.

The four new conferences are generally based on the current divisions, with the two more westerly based ones consisting of teams in the current Western Conference (plus Winnipeg, a new team that has spent this season playing largely in Florida- 2 time zones and thousands of miles away!) and the easterly ones consisting of teams in the current Eastern Conference. The Southeast Division will be broken up, while the Pacific and Northwest divisions merge into one. Each of the other three divisions (currently known as Central, Northeast and Atlantic) will pick up two or three teams resulting from those moves.

The Current Setup (Souce - Wikipedia)

The new alignment will take effect at the start of the 2012-13 season, pending the approval of the NHL Players Association.The currently unnamed conferences will align as follows:

Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks

Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets

Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs

Carolina Hurricanes
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals

3 Golfers, 2 Cricketers, No Women!

2011-11-30T14:07:00.001Z

There has been a fair amount of outrage amongst the public and press that amongst the 10 nominees for the British BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, there are no female athletes named.

The shortlist (in alphabetical order) is: Mark Cavendish (cycling), Darren Clarke (golf), Alastair Cook (cricket), Luke Donald (golf), Mo Farah (athletics), Dai Greene (athletics), Amir Khan (boxing), Rory McIlroy (golf), Andy Murray (tennis), Andrew Strauss (cricket).

The nominations list is made up by a panel of sports editors and journalists. Swimmer Rebecca Adlington was just outside the list with 6 votes (1 behind Amir Khan) according to BBC News.

Adlington, Keri-Anne Payne and Chrissie Wellington all won gold medals in their sports this year. British swimmer Payne said: "Are they voting for the people who are most popular? Or who has achieved the most in their sport this year? The line is fuzzy."(Telegraph). Nominee Dai Greene, the World, European and Commonwealth 400m champion, said he thought there should have been a woman on the shortlist.

The last women to recieve the award were Zara Phillips in 2006, Kelly Holmes in 2004 and Paula Radliffe in 2002. There was some discruntlement at the last 2 years winners, journalist AP McCoy (2010) and Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs (2009).

Gymnast Beth Tweddle has twice been nominated but never been that high on the list due mainly to the lack of global popularity for gymnastics.

Grand Prix Final Qualifiers

2011-11-29T19:45:00.000Z

Following an eventful grand prix series with plenty of ups and downs, the following skaters have booked spots at the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City.

Websites - Senior Grand Prix, Junior Grand Prix

I'm pleased to see surprise qualifiers such as Fernandez of Spain and Canada's Duhamel & Radford. Like many a skating fan I am overjoyed to see Mao Asada's return to form. Hopefully next year we will see an even more improved Mirai Nagasu earn a spot in the top 6.

MEN
Patrick Chan - Canada
Daisuke Takahashi - Japan
Jeremy Abbott - USA
Michal Brezina - Czech Republic
Javier Fernandez - Spain
Yuzuru Hanyu - Japan
Substitutes
Song Nan - China
Takahiko Kozuka - Japan
Adam Rippon - USA

LADIES
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - Russia
Mao Asada - Japan
Carolina Kostner - Italy
Akiko Suzuki - Japan
Alissa Czisny - USA
Alena Leonova - Russia

Substitutes
Adelina Sotnikova - Russia
Mirai Nagasu - USA
Ashley Wagner - USA

PAIRS
Tatyana Volosozhar & Maksim Trankov - Russia
Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy - Germany
Yuko Kavaguti & Aleksandr Smirnov - Russia
Zhang Dan & Zhang Hao - China
Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran - Japan
Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford - Canada

Substitutes
Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch - Canada
Vera Bazarova & Yuri Lariyonov - Russia
Sui Wenjing & Han Cong - China

DANCE
Meryl Davis & Charlie White - USA
Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir - Canada
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani - USA
Yekaterina Bobrova & Dmitry Soloviyev - Russia
Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat - France
Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje - Canada

Substitutes
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte - Italy
Yelena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov - Russia
Isabelle Tobias & Deividas Stagniunas - Lithuania

GB trampoline girls earn spot at London 2012

2011-11-17T20:00:00.000Z

Congratulations to GB's Kat Driscoll for qualifying 7th to the individual final at the World Championships and for the GB girls for qualifying 3rd in the team competition. The result guarantees GB a spot at the London Olympics.

I'll update the full results when they are finalised - Check the official scoring page here.

Missing Kimmie (still)

2011-11-17T19:44:00.000Z

About this time last year I wrote a post on the former US, World and Four Continents champion Kimmie Meissner. Kimmie was and is one of the best examples of an athlete using fame to do good in the world. Following her world championship she became co-founder of the Cool Kids Campaign, a charity supporting paediatric cancer patients and their families. Kimmie has stayed loyal to all her charity work even as she has grown older and moved out of the skating limelight.

I found this interview with Kimmie online, I'm not sure exactly when it's from but some time in the last 6 months or so. It tells how Kimmie injured her knee, taking her out of the running for the Vancouver olympics- in true Kimmie style she was trying to avoid hurting a small child who got in her way as she was practicing her triple axel jump, Kimmie bailed on the jump, dislocating her kneecap in the process.

After a long recovery period Kimmie is now back into full intensity training, alongside studying and working in a physical therapy office. For the moment she is skating in shows but hasn't ruled out the possibility of skating competitively again.

It may be too much to hope for but I would love to see Kimmie skate again.

Are there any other skaters you would love to see return to competitive ice? (I'm pretty sure Yu-Na Kim is high on a lot of people's lists!)

Trampoline & Tumbling World Champs

2011-11-15T13:55:00.001Z

The 2011 Trampoline & Tumbling World Championships take place this weekend at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. I myself will be attending to cheer on Britain's best with my university trampolining buddies.

For individual trampoline, these championships will act as the first qualification event for the Olympic Games. To qualify places in London, British gymnasts must either make the final (top 8) at the Worlds (where two places per individual class are available) or failing that go on to the Olympic Test event in January (where just one place is available per class).

British Champion Katherine Driscoll is the current world number one woman, with Bryony Page (8^th) and Emma Smith (10th) joining her in the top ten. British Champion Luke Strong (18^th) and James Higgins (20^th) are the top placed men.

Other disciplines (not part of of the olympic games) are synchronised trampoline, tumbling and the crazy-dangerous looking double mini trampoline.

International faces to watch include reigning olympic champions in trampoline, He Wenna and Li Chunlong of China (The chinese should have no difficulty at all qualifying a full quota to London 2012, they have also been men's and women's world champions at the last 2 world championships)

Here is a list of last years results and this years entries.

The competition will be preceded by the world age group championships (a sort of junior worlds) giving a chance to see the names who will appear beyond 2012.

Click here for the event website and full media guide.

Schedule

Thursday 17 November
Qualifications:
Trampoline Individual men
Trampoline Individual women

Friday 18 November
Qualifications:
Double Mini Trampoline men
Double Mini Trampoline women
Tumbling men
Tumbling women

Opening Ceremony

Finals:
Trampoline Team Final men
Trampoline Team Final women

Saturday 19 November
Qualifications:
Synchronised men
Synchronised women

Finals:
Double Mini Trampoline Team Final men
Double Mini Trampoline Team Final women
Tumbling Team Final men
Tumbling Team Final women
Synchronised Final women
Trampoline Individual Final men

Sunday 20 November
Finals:
Double Mini Trampoline Final men
Double Mini Trampoline Final women
Tumbling Final men
Tumbling Final women
Synchronised Final men
Trampoline Individual Final women

Closing ceremony

Mustafina Back?

2011-11-08T19:39:00.001Z

7 months after tearing her ACL at the European championships in Berlin, 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina is listed to compete at the DTB World Cup in Stuttgard this weekend. If it is true there has been little publicity of her return. Film snippets of the Russian Camp since the injury have shown her training bars and beam.

Other gymnasts due to compete include Russians Maria Paeska & Alena Polyan, Australia's Lauren Mitchell and Germany's Oksana Chusovitina.

I hope the Russian's are cautious of Mustafina allow her to progress without further injury towards London 2012.

Grand Prix Series - Thoughts at half-way house.

2011-11-08T12:21:00.001Z

There's been a fair bit of change in the skating world since the delayed world championships in Moscow earlier this year. The new skating season has started with the absense of last years world medallists Pang & Tong, Miki Ando and Yu-Na Kim. Add to that the fact that almost every North American ice dancer or pairs skater seems to be skating with a new partner, and the new season is wide open.

Now 3 events into the Grand Prix series, here's what we've learned.

Russia want to rule in Sotchi
Despite the upset of no Russian ice dancers on the podium at worlds for the first time in God knows how long. Russia looks as strong as ever with contenders in every discipline and plenty of new talent on the way. We've seen the much heralded debut of Tuktamisheva and Sotnikova on the senior stage (sadly they're still too young for worlds this year) Volosozhar & Trankov decimated the field at Skate Canada and a revitalised Kavaguti & Smirnov delivered one of the most beautiful and polished performances of the season so far last week at Cup of China. Russia have the coaching expertise and the financial support to nourish their athletes on the road to a home olympics. The goal: Bring back good old Soviet Dominance!

USA ladies: Contenders again at last?
It's been 4 years now since the US ladies have managed to secure 3 spots to worlds and 5 since Kimmie Meissner won their last worlds medal. So far 3 different american ladies have medalled on this years series, Alissa Czisny (Gold, SA) Ashley Wagner (Bronze, SC) and Mirai Nagasu (Silver, CoC). Of these, Czisny has the most realistic shot of making the grand prix final, but hopefully all these ladies will perform up to standard at Nationals and the 2 who make it to the Worlds in Nice will secure that much wanted 3rd spot and, without Ando & Kim, challenge for a spot on the medal stand again.

My personal hope is that Mirai can learn to love her Spartacus long programme and really challenge as the season goes on, she has such a painful history of falling short at the big events (not discounting her Olympic success!)

Still on top of the World.
In the great partner switcheroo, thankfully some things have remained constant, the undisputed dominance of Virtue & Moir and Davis & White. These skaters have raised the standard of ice dance in current times. My hope is for an injury-free path and many more showdowns on the road to 2014.

GB is rebuilding
I had all but given up hope for any success for Great Britain on the international scene this year with the Kerr siblings retirement and Jenna McCorkell's disaster at worlds failing to qualify her for this year's grand prix. Why can the country that produced Torville & Dean and Robin Cousins not produce any contenders? Then Penny Coombes & Nick Buckland finished just 0.58 outside the medals at Cup of China hope springs eternal! They don't have a second event scheduled but it's a great marker for the future.

Raising the standard?
The series itself has changed somewhat with the opportunity for skaters to compete in 3 events, rather than the usual 2, and for the first time (that I know of) the ISU has set a minimum score cutoff that skaters must earn prior to competing in a Grand Prix event. The scores are calculated as 2/3 the top scores at the 2011 Worlds. Men- 168.60, Ladies- 117.48, Pairs- 130.71, Dance- 111.15. The fields have generally been smaller this year than previous years (10 in Ladies and Men), (8 in Pairs and Dance). The general standard does seem to have risen a bit too, less of the usual splat fest.

Still to come....
Expected contenders we have yet to see include Mao Asada (who has been very much under the radar aside from her own ice shows back in Japan this summer), Brian Joubert (Who missed his first event due to illness), Brandon Mroz (He of the quad Lutz), Thomas Verner, Kiira Korpi, Agnes Zawadski & World Jr medallists Stolbova & Klimpov. It 'aint over til it's over.

Results so far- Skate America, Skate Canada, Cup of China
GP Standings - Mens, Ladies, Pairs, Ice Dance
Coming up - NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan

Swiss Cup - a different kind of gymnastics competition!

2011-11-06T17:22:00.002Z

The post worlds period is often a quiet one, with teams regrouping and strategizing for the year ahead. However, that hasn't stopped many of the best countries fielding a team for the Swiss Cup in Zurich.

The Swiss Cup is a mixed pair competition (one female and one male gymnast from each country) the competition is divided into a preliminary, semi-final and final round with the 10-pair field being reduced to 8 after 2 apparatus and only 4 for the final event.

The finalists were Romania (Ana Porgras/Flavius Koczi), Switzerland (Giulia Steingruber/Claudio Capelli), Germany (Elizabeth Seitz/Fabian Hambuchen) and Russia (Anna Dementyeva/Nikita Ignatyev).

Romania's Ana Porgras and Russia's Nikita Ignatyev won the Arthur Gander memorial cup (also in Switzerland) earlier this week, where athletes compete on their top 3 apparatus. Most of the gymnasts made it a two-stop trip.

In the end it was the home team of Steingruber and Capelli who won the day, making it Switzerland's first victory at the Swiss Cup. They were helped by Steingruber's two strong vaults. Porgras's first beam outing was the highest ladies score of the day.

Here are the scores of the finalists (source- International Gymnast)

the other teams competing were-
5. Kim Bui/ Sebastian Krimmer (Germany 2)
6. Jo Hyunjoo/Yang Hak Seon (Korea)
7. Angelina Kysla/ Nikolai Kuksenkov (Ukraine)
8. Jessica Diacci/Pascal Bucher (Switzerland 2)
9. Lizzie Beddoe/Ruslan Panteleymonov (GB)
10. Jessica Mattoni/ Paolo Principi (Italy)

Tokyo 2011 - Closing Thoughts

2011-10-19T17:22:00.001+01:00

Work and placements have had me snowed under the last week so this is going to be a few of my own subjective (and possibly biased thoughts) on the worlds in Tokyo rather than delayed reporting of results.

Consistency wins the day (sometimes)

No-one could doubt that the USA team was the dominant force at these world championships, with all 5 active members doing their job marveously to win the team title. They were error free for the whole team qualification and team final- showing what a young and 'inexperienced' team can do with the right training. Such a contrast from day 1 of the US nationals this year where everyone was falling and we doubted that from that hot mess a team could be fielded to cope with the demands of the high pressure '3-up-3-count' team competition. Martha - we salute you!

The only other team to compete cleanly in the team final was Great Britain, another team who had a long selection process with many pre-world competitions. Even I criticised this process as asking for injury but it seems to have worked. The GB girls can focus on training with a team spot to London 2012 already in the bag. Shame we couldn't say the same for the boys!

That said, consistency doesn't count for everything or Great Britain would have a silver medal around their necks right now. China had (I think) 3 falls in finals and still managed to beat out Romania for the bronze medal. There has been plenty of bashing of the current scoring system this week and even calls to go back to the 'Perfect 10'. I wouldn't go that far - I think difficulty and innovation should be rewarded otherwise it opens the door to subjectivity and staleness. Yes, the demand for high levels of difficulty can sometimes be blamed for injuries (case in point- Aliya Mustafina), but careful coaching should be able to guard against this and there are rewards for doing what you can do and doing it well.

The All Around Arguement

The lasting memory and possible sore point of these championships will be the 0.033 point victory of Jordyn Wieber over Viktoria Komova. That's less than the deduction for a toe out of place!

Yes, I thought she'd won too. I think we all did. And it was devistating to watch the diminuitive Komova so disappointed after her narrow defeat. Maybe it was simply her own disappointment, but you get the feeling the tiny 16 year old felt the weight of Russian expectation on her as well. It's tough to live up to the reputation of Mustafina, who won so dominantly and easily last year, particularly when you yourself are coming back from an injury and not quite at full form.

Komova and Mustafina will both be back with a vengeance next year (touch wood, injuries aside) and who knows, If Wieber is 2012's Shawn Johnson, One of the russian's could well be 2012's Nastia Liukin and pip her to the post with a class performance. Still, Wieber deserves her dues, she has been the strongest most consistent gymnast in the world this season and fully deserves to call herself a world champion.

Reputation counts for nothing...
...If you can't hit! There were no repeat champions in the ladies event this year. The second day of event finals particularly was, I feel, a testament to good judging and the gymnast who hits on the day getting the reward. Few of us would have picked Ksenia Afansyeva as the world floor champion before the competition started. No-one would have thought Romania would go a whole world championships without a medal of any colour. Another blogger said that the sport was in need of 'celebrities', but gymnastics is not a show. It is a sport and the best athlete on the day should win the race.

Watch out for China.

We don't see a great deal from China throughout the year, but they usually find a way to come out and surprise us. This year that surprise was in the consistency and quality of Yao Jinnan and Sui Lu, who have been quietly training at home and came here fairly unheralded to take home 4 individual medals between them. China may not be the unstoppable force that they were in Beijing and their team performance her was far from faultless. But you can bet they have a regimented training programme to ready themselves for the olympics next Summer and we'll be seeing a lot of them in the O2 arena next August.

All Hail Kohei(enough said!)

Next Stop, London
The next big event on the artistic gymnastics calendar will be the test event in the Olympic venue, 7-19 January 2012. Out of the 8 teams in each discipline, 4 will qualify a full team to the Olympics.

On the women's side those teams are Italy, France, Canada, Spain, Holland, Brazil, Korea and Belgium. Italy definitely should have the strength to qualify and it would be strange to see Brazil not there at the olympics (they and France were the teams that pipped GB into the team final in Beijing). I sentimentally would like to see Canada qualify. Rather like GB they seem to practice safe, good quality gymnastics and hold onto their talent for longer than other countries. If Spain continue to improve at the rate they have in the last 12 month, who knows- they could be winning team medals by next August!!

On the men's side the teams yet to qualify are France, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy and Belarus. To be honest I don't really care so long as the GB boys qualify! They won't really contend for team medals, but they would have done a darn sight better than Romania had they made team finals in Tokyo. The GB men's team has come a long long way since 2008 and did not quite live up to potential in Japan but give them a chance and they should impress infront of a home crowd next Summer.

Anyway- if you stuck with all that - thanks and feel free to comment below. Here are the full worlds results and, to get you in the mood, the schedule for January's qualifying event.

07 January , 2012	Arrival Day for MAG and WAG
08 - 09 January 2012	MAG and WAG Training and Podium Training
10 January 2012	WAG Qualification
11 January 2012	MAG Qualification - Arrival Day for TRA
12 January 2012	TRA Training and Podium Training TRA Qualification - Men’s Floor Final - Women’s Vault Final Men’s Pommel Horse Final - Women’s Uneven Bars Final
13 January 2012	Trampoline Final (Men) - Men’s Rings Final Trampoline Final (Women) - Men’s Vault Final Men’s Parallel Bars Final - Women’s Beam Final Men’s High Bar Final - Women’s Floor Final
14 January 2012	Departure Day for MAG, WAG, and TRA - Arrival Day for RG
15 January 2012	RG Training and Podium Training
16 - 17 January 2012	RG Qualification
18 January 2012	RG Individual and Groups Finals
19 January 2012	Departure Day RG

Women's All Around

2011-10-12T19:27:00.000+01:00

It's a showdown many have been hoping for all year, seen as a trailer for next year's olympic all around final in London. The power of Jordyn Wieber vs the style of Viktoria Komova...

The USA have looked unflappable all week. Wieber is well trained, well coached and seemingly ready take on the world. Like Mustafina last year she just seems to be in no doubt that she will hit everything. Whilst the americans never like to rest on their laurels, Coach John Geddert has set his student up for success.

Komova on the other hand has had mixed fortunes in Tokyo, rough training sessions and a fall on beam in the team final, by the end of her floor exercise the diminuitive russian looked tired . But she pulled enough out the hat to lead qualification and a day of rest and careful rehab and she should be ready to defend a russian all around gold.

Also, from the inconsistency of the Chinese camp rose a new, stylish, accurate young talent, Yao Jinnan. She will be facing off against more American firepower in the form of Alexandra Raisman for a first all around medal. Veterans ofn Rotterdam, Ksenia Afanaseva and Huang Quishang close out the top group. Many, including myself would love to see the elegant but so often Afanaseva gain some individual recognition after being such a rock for the team.

The field is deep this year. I'm hoping for Jessica Lopez and Hannah Whelan to compete to their potential and strike at the top ten.

Full Twist has posted the full starting orders, here is the list for the first rotation. Click the image to enlarge.

USA dominate team final- GB finish 5th!

2011-10-11T13:48:00.000+01:00

Martha will be wanting to shake off the team USA curse. For the past 2 olympics team USA have dominated the pre-olympic worlds and fallen short one year later to gain silver in Athens and in Beijing. Well the young and 'inexperienced' american girls have done it again, they were dominant and consistent right from the word go - clocking up magnificent difficulty with business-like consistency.

Russia were still very confident in second, but the young Komova made their one major error falling off beam and looking, dare I say it, rather tired on floor. China held on to bronze narrowly ahead of Romania. I dared to hope for an upset there with China making several errors, but it wasn't to be. Romania will squeak back on to the podium soon, I'm sure.

The GB girls shook off their nerves from qualification and competed with only very minor errors to finish 5th, their highest result ever. Congratulations to the GB girls - What a lift on the way to London :-D

WOMEN'S TEAM FINAL:
1. United States 179.411
2. Russia 175.329
3. China 172.820
4. Romania 172.412
5. Great Britain 169.670
6. Germany 168.479
7. Japan 167.122
8. Australia 166.439

I'll be back with more commentary later. Sadly it's back to the grindstone first.

GB men miss out on olympic spot

2011-10-10T14:07:00.003+01:00

The British men had a tough outing in the second day of men's qualifying.

1. Japan 364.191
2. USA 361.583
3. China 358.226
4. Germany 354.132
5. Russia 353.725
6. Korea 351.331
7. Romania 350.900
8. Ukraine 350.434

9. France 349.818

10. Great Britain 348.742

This means GB will join France, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy and Belarus in the second qualification competition at the test event in January. Top 4 teams from there advance to the olympics. GB can be comforted that even with several errors and falls, they are less than 2 points outside the top 8 so qualification shouldn't be too hard and a team final spot in London is still more than possible with the help of a home crowd.

Louis Smith qualified for the pommel horse final (even without all hos difficulty in the routine) and Daniel Purvis qualified 5th to the all around final. Japan's Uchimura leads the qualifying, making 5 event finals, first place in the all around and Japan holding out in first for the team.

All Around qualifiers Click Here. Event Final qualifiers below.

Japan and Uchimura lead after day 1

2011-10-09T17:20:00.001+01:00

Half way through the men's qualification Japan hold the lead over their rivals the USA, Germany and Romania. 2-time world champion Kohei Uchimura leads the all-around standings by a fairly comfortable 1.7 points, with the USA making up 3 of the top five spots so far. 2010 world bronze medallist Jonathan Horton will likely not compete in the all around final, finishing third of the US men.

Defending team champions China and the GB boys qualify tomorrow.

Team Results
1) Japan 364.291
2) USA 361.583
3) Germany 354.132
4) Romania 350.900
5) Ukraine 350.434

Thoughts on qualifying

2011-10-08T15:41:00.001+01:00

Ok, like most of the world I am commenting on what I have heard rather than what I have seen of the qualifications- I really hope the BBC (and whichever broadcaster it is where you are) have full coverage of the qualifications next year in London!

The Highlights

Making the Olympics! (naturally) well done to team GB and all the others for holding their nerve in a close competition - We knew USA, Russia, China and Romania would be going but beyond that the competition was open. Looks like the second qualifying event in London will be a good'un too.
USA and Japan - winning the consistency prizes for rising to the pressure and having no falls. USA had to deal with the loss of their team leader (Sacramone) and Japan rose beautifully to the challenge of being the home team.
The young'uns - Komova, Wieber and Yao lead the all-around in their first worlds. Also Inshina, Bulimar and Douglas for making individual event finals.

The Upsets

Porgras, Tweddle and Mitchell missing event finals where they are defending world champions
Jiang Yuyuan missing the all around (none of last years medallists will be back this year)
He Kexin falling off bars (again)
Spain, Korea, Canada and Belgium in the running still for olympic team spots (a good upset!)
Pena of Dominican Republic on vault (I hope she can land on her feet in finals!)
Vault in general! Still the weakest event overall for the ladies - but the most exciting for new faces making a name for themselves.

I'm sure there will be more surprises in store before the end of these championships....

Here is Imogen Cairn's opinion, courtesy of Ollie Williams
World Gymnastics: Imogen Cairns on Britain"s 2012 qualifying nail-biter (mp3)

The Olympians

2011-10-08T13:36:00.000+01:00

Team Standings after qualification

1. USA 234.253
2. Russia 231.062
3. China 230.370
4. Romania 227.228
5. Japan 223.543
6. Australia 221.846
7. Germany 221.163
8. Great Britain 220.553

Hooray for team GB - 8th is good enough!!
Those fighting for a team spot at the qualifying event in London

9. Italy
10. France
11. Canada

12. Spain
13. The Netherlands
14. Brazil
15. Korea
16. Belgium

and the teams that just missed out

17. Mexico
18. Switzerland
19. Ukraine
20. Hungary
21. Venezuela
22. Uzbekistan
23. Slovenia
24. Greece

All Around Finalists

2011-10-08T13:35:00.004+01:00

1. Komova RUS 60.157
2. Wieber USA 60.032
3. Yao CHN 59.031
4. Raisman USA 58.432
(5. Douglas 57.657)
6. Afanasyeva RUS 56.941
7. Huang CHN 56.932
8. Seitz GER 56.732
(9. Vega USA 56.665)
10. Haidu ROM 56.465
11. Tsurumi 56.365
(12. Maroney USA 56.324)
13. Mitchell AUS 56.324
14. Ferrari ITA 56.198
(15. Tan CHN 56.065)
16. Jarosh GER 55.500
17. Whelan GBR 55.465
17. Van Gerner NED 55.500
19. Tanaka JPN 55.432
(20. Jiang CHN 55.074)
(21. Shintake 55.032)

22. Porgras Ana 54.832
23. Little AUS 54.732
(23. Minobe JPN 54.732)
25. Lopez VEN 54.731
26. Izurieta ESP 54.698
27. Lee CAN 54.632
28. Hypolito BRA 54.557
29. Steingruber SUI 54.498
30. Malaussena FRA 54.365
(31. Dementyeva RUS 54.333)
32. Ferlito ITA 54.332

R1. Brevet FRA 54.332
R2. Francis GBR 53.965
R3. Heo KOR 53.932

Event Finalists!

2011-10-08T13:28:00.001+01:00

What an upset! No event champions from last year will defent their titles!

VT STANDINGS
1. Maroney USA 15.083
2. Chusovitina GER 14.833
3. Pena DOM 14.466
4. Steingruber SUI 14.299
5. Barbosa BRA 14.266
6. Moreno MEX 14.249
7. Nabiyeva RUS 14.224
8. Phan VIE 14.216
R1. Jo KOR 14.149

UB STANDINGS
1. Komova RUS 15.733
2. Dufournet 15.066
3. Tsurumi JPN 14.933
4. Huang CHN 14.900
5. Nabiyeva RUS 14.883
6. Douglas USA 14.866
7. Wieber USA 14.800
8. Yao CHN 14.566

R1. Tanaka JPN 14.466

BB STANDINGS
1. Komova 15.400
2. Sui 15.400
3. Wieber USA 15.233
4. Yao CHN 15.066
5. Ponor ROM 15.000
6. Raisman USA 14.933
7. Racea ROM 14.733
8. Inshina RUS 14.566
R1. Millousi GRE 14.450
R2. Whelan GBR 14.4

FX STANDINGS
1. Raisman USA 14.833
2. Sui CHN 14.600
3. Wieber USA 14.566
4. Yao CHN 14.533
5. Komova RUS 14.491
6. Ferrari 14.466
7. Tweddle 14.433
8. Bulimar 14.400
R1. Mitchell AUS 14.391

Liukin targets London (officially!)

2011-10-08T11:11:00.001+01:00

After 3 years of yes...no...maybe... 2008 Olympic all around champion Nastia Liukin has announced to the world that she is back in the gym and training full time for London 2012. Recent tweets from Liukin said she was training but didn't specify the goal. Most of us felt the clock was ticking down to London too quickly.

Liukin is back training under her father Valerei - who is once again building her a 'crazy' bar routine (Universal Sports). If Liukin makes it onto the team for London it will likely be for this apparatus. She has stated she is not aiming for the all around (a wise move given the mighty difficulty shown by Komova and Wieber today!) but is focussing on her two better events - Uneven bars and balance beam.

Nastia will also be tweeting from the FIG's official account for the women's all around final this week- keeping an eye in her future competitors perhaps....

Despite the USA's strong showing under difficult circumstances today, A top Liukin bar score would be much welcomed by Martha Karolyi!

The Body Issue

2011-10-07T19:22:00.002+01:00

Day 1 of worlds is over and sadly we already have one torn achilles and one ACL injury to count. Both the Alicia Sacramone (USA) and Mariya Livchikova (Ukraine) were injured in training, puttung worlds out the window and their olympic chances at risk (Ukraine have a big task ahead of them just to qualify a team).

In an unusual turn of events, Sacramone is also getting publicity for her body for another reason. The veteran of the USA team posed naked for the ESPN body issue. Sacramone said- we only compete in 25% clothing anyway so it wasn't too hard losing the rest of it! Wishing you a fast recovery Alicia- the gymnastics world is more interesting with you in it!

Romania's Day

2011-10-07T12:10:00.001+01:00

The FIG youtube channel is starting to post videos from today's qualification. Here are some of the highlights and hiccups from Romania's qualification.

The general consensus from bloggers and journalists was that whilst not diasterous they were somewhat underwhelming. Reigning beam champion Porgras may well be kept out of her beam finals by the stumble on her leap. A sign of how quickly things can slip away in gymnastics.

Scores after day 1 of qualifying:

Team
1.Romania 227.228
2.Australia 221.846
3.Canada 215.328
4.The Netherlands 212.828

All Around
1.Raluca Haidu (ROU) 56.465
2.Lauren Mitchell (AUS) 56.324
3.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 55.465
4.Ana Porgras (ROU) 54.832
5.Emily Little (AUS) 54.732
6.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 54.731
7.Peng Peng Lee (CAN) 54.632
8.Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) 53.416

Vault

1.Yamilet Peña (DOM) 14.466
2.Alexa Moreno (MEX) 14.249
3.Thian Phan (VIE) 14.216
4.Valeria Maksyuta (ISR) 14.016

Bars
1.Larrissa Miller (AUS) 14.300
2.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 14.166
3.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 13.966
4.Raluca Haidu (ROU) 13.833
5.Peng Peng Lee (CAN) 13.800

Beam
1.Catalina Ponor (ROU) 15.000
2.Amelia Racea (ROU) 14.733
3.Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) 14.450
4.Celine Van Gerner (NED) 14.300

Floor
1.Diana Bulimar (ROU) 14.400
2.Lauren Mitchell (AUS) 14.391
3.Diana Chelaru (ROU) 14.233
4.Elsa García (MEX) 13.966
5.Jessica Lopez (VEN) 13.933

USA's chances take a beating.

2011-10-06T07:44:00.001+01:00

In a reminder of the 2003 worlds or the 2008 olympics. The USA gymnastics team has once again found itself struck by last minute injuries. Both Alicia Sacramone and Ali Raisman injured their ankles in this morning's training session. Raisman's injury seems the less serious of the two but Sacramone's injury seems to put her competition status in question.

"She is currently being evaluated and we will provide an update on her condition when we know more information," said Leslie King, vice president of media at USA Gymnastics. Source International Gymnast

The question now is whether to keep the also injured Anna Li on the team in place of Sacramone (Li, a bar specialist is definitely not a replacement for sacramone whose strengths are vault, beam and floor), or whether non-travelling alternate Shawn Johnson can be flown out in time to adjust and get at least one training session in before USA's qualification on Saturday. Sentimentally I would love Shawn to be there, but it's a big ask to get her to overcome jetlag and perform well.

With the USA down Sacramone's high vault score, the consistent looking China could now be favourites to take the team title.

UPDATE - it looks as if the US has chosen neither option, using their 5 remaining healthy gymnasts (Vega, Douglas, Raisman, Maroney & Wieber) on all apparatus in qualification. Sacramone is now out with an achilles injury and the pressure is on this inexperienced team to carry the high expectations of a nation. Only Raisman has competed at worlds before.

I think team gold may now be a step too far. Their new goal may be an all around medal for Wieber, vault for Maroney and perhaps a floor medal for Raisman.

Almost Time.

2011-10-05T13:12:00.000+01:00

I've been keeping fairly quiet this week as Gym Examiner, Gymnastics Coaching and The Couch Gymnast have been providing great live coverage direct from the venue in Tokyo. Anything I write would be regurgitated.

The ladies have completed podium training and the general consensus is that USA and China look the most competition ready (but never count Russia & Romania out!) The men's podium training takes place today and tomorrow, followed by 4 days of all-important olympic qualification.

If you haven't already - visit Full Twist for the full and detailed competition schedule.
Fri 7th (WAG) including Romania, Australia, Canada
Sat 8th (WAG) including China, USA, Russia, GB & Japan
Sun 9th (MAG) including USA, Japan, Germany
Mon 10th (MAG) including GB, France, China, Korea, Russia.
In all cases some of the 'favourite' countries are late in the draw meaning nothing can be known for sure until all teams have competed

I'll be back from Friday with my own coverage and analysis....
(Image - Anna Dementyeva - FIG facebook page)

Team North America wins Japan Open

2011-10-01T11:46:00.000+01:00

Full results and video coverage will likely be on the way shortly, but the results according to the FSU forum are-

Interesting bit of news though is that last minute replacement Elizaveta Tuktamisheva took the women's competition by storm with two triple-triples and a score of 118.59. Japan lost out mainly due to Miki Ando's disaster on the ice and score of just 88.11, ouch!

Russia Prepares

2011-09-30T17:01:00.001+01:00

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has linked to some beautiful photos of the Russian gymnasts in training prior to the world championships, at a controlled workout attended by the Russian minister for sport.

The photos show Aliya Mustafina also in training, although she is not back to full strength yet. Interestingly Tatiana Nabiava is pictured in the same new competition leotard but no photos of her actually doing gymnastics! Could there be a team shake-up in the pipeline?

The rest of the team includes Viktoria Komova, Anna Dementyeva, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Ksenia Afansyeva, Yulia Inshina & Alyona Polyan.
View the Couch Gymnast's Get to know the team article here.

Happy Birthday Aliya Mustafina!

2011-09-30T17:00:00.000+01:00

Russia's injured diva is 17 today.

Following her ACL repair and long rehab Aliya is back training with her team-mates and almost back to full level difficulty. We wish her a successful and adversity-free road to 2012

Romania without Izbasa

2011-09-30T14:36:00.001+01:00

Universal Sports and Gymnastics Examiner have reported that European Floor and Vault champion Sandra Izbasa has withdrawn from next week's world championships due to a sore achilles tendon. If this is the case she is a smart girl. Sandra tore her achilles in 2009 and returned to almost full strength for the 2010 worlds.

She is to be provisionally replaced by Catelina Ponor. The rest of the team includes Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Diana Chelaru, Diana Andrei and Diana Bulimar.

Izbasa's absense may hurt the team score somewhat but they are still in contention for a team medal and event titles on beam and floor.

Here's hoping for no more last-minute injuries!
Countdown to Tokyo: 7 Days!

Japan Open 2011

2011-09-28T17:25:00.002+01:00

The worlds best gymnasts are beginning to descend on Tokyo for the world championships. Team GB is flying tonight, Team USA is already there, but that's not all happening in Tokyo this weekend.

The Japan Open is the only major international pro-am event (where professional and current elite skaters compete with and against each other) As well as giving nostalgia by allowing us to see retired skaters back on competition ice, it's a good measuring stick for some of the world's best.

The event is a team competition for singles skaters between Team Japan, Team Europe and Team North America.This years roster is as impressive as ever.

Team Japan
Miki Ando (2 time and reigning world champion)
Akiko Suzuki (Narrowly missed out on the Japanese World Team)
Takahiko Kozuka (2011 World Silver Medallist)
Daisuke Takahahi (2010 World Champion)

Team Europe

~~Sarah Meier~~ UPDATE injured

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (2011 Jr World Silver Medallist)

Alena Leonova (4th at 2011 Worlds)
Florent Amodio (2011 European Champion)
Artur Gachinski (3rd at 2011 Worlds)

Team North America
Joannie Rochette (2010 Olympic Bronze Medallist)
Alissa Czisny (2011 US Champion)
Patrick Chan (2011 World Champion)
Jeffrey Buttle (2008 World Champion, now retired)

The most exciting match-ups will probably be amongst the men, all of whom have been on or near the world podium and particularly the match up between Chan and the Japanese men could be a preview of what to expect this season.

Personally I'm looking forward to directly comparing Buttle and Chan again, the two best mens skaters from Canada for the last decade, they've skated in shows but not competed directly since Buttle's retirement in 2008.

Interesting not to Mao Asada here. Hopefully it's a sign that she is hard in training for the upcoming grand prix and not that she is nursing an injury or backing away from competition this season.

Mirai Wins Nebelhorn Trophy

2011-09-24T13:07:00.003+01:00

Finally Mirai Nagasu has held it together to take gold at a major international. If she skated close to her potential she should have easily won over a largely European field at Nebelhorn Trophy.

Mirai fell on her opening 3 Loop - 2 Loop combination but made all the rest of her routine to score 109.08 in the free programme and 167.46 overall.

Medallists (Full Results to follow)
1. Mirai Nagasu (USA) 167.46
2. Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) 146.92
3. Joshi Helgesson (Sweden) 138.73

Mirai's true test may come next month at Cup of China - the event where she has twice won the short programme comfortably and bombed in the free skate. This season is key for Mirai, to prove she is no longer the talented but inconsestent youngster but a contender with the longevity to make it throgh to 2014.

Russia's Ksenia Makarova had to withdraw before the free skate with an aggravated hib injury. Hopefully she will be recovered enough to contend on the Grand Prix Series.

Watch Mirai's short programme here.
Full Nebelhorn Results

BBC Worlds Coverage

2011-09-24T12:10:00.000+01:00

Becky Downie tweeted this morning - Excited to be going home today !!! 2 sessions to go and we are done :) then only 3 days till we fly to Tokyo :O :O

It's getting very close now and thankfully the BBC will have (almost) full TV coverage of the event. Olympic Sports reporter Ollie Williams will also be there in advance to report on qualifying. Below are the timings of BBC Sport's coverage.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tokyo
Tuesday 11 October
Women's Team Final
1050-1310, BBC Red Button/online
1300-1500, BBC Two/online
Wednesday 12 October
Men's Team Final
0950-1240, BBC Red Button/online
1330-1530, BBC Two/online
Thursday 13 October
Women's All Around Final
0950-1155, BBC Red Button/online
1300-1500, BBC Two/online

Friday 14 October
Men's All Around Final
1050-1350, BBC Red Button/online
1300-1500, BBC Two/online
Saturday 15 October
Individual Apparatus Finals
0520-0830, BBC Red Button/online
1630-1800, BBC Two/online
Sunday 16 October
Individual Apparatus Finals
0550-0905, BBC Red Button/online
1600-1730, BBC Two/online

New gymnasts join US National Team.

2011-09-24T09:35:00.000+01:00

After Martha Karolyi was required to invite extra gymnasts to the selection camps to fill the teams for 2 major international events back to back (by the end of camp she only had 9 healthy gymnasts on the national team and about 14 spots to fill). It's not surprising that 8 new names were added to the national team roster yesterday.

Bridgette Caquatto, Naperville, Ill./Legacy Elite
(I thought Brigette was already on the team - she was in the team photo!)
Jessie DeZiel, Rogers, Minn./Twin City Twisters (Univ. of Nebraska)
Brandie Jay, Ft. Collins, Colo./GK Gymnastics
Anna Li, Aurora, Ill./Legacy Elite
Grace McLaughlin, Allen, Texas/WOGA
Hallie Mossett, Los Angeles, Calif./West Coast Elite
Bridget Sloan, Pittsboro, Ind./Sharp’s Gymnastics
Mackenzie Wofford, McKinney, Texas/Zenith Elite

All of these gymnasts are either team members or alternates for Worlds or Pan-Ams.

Also (and this is disappointing for all die hard Memmel fans) Grace McLaughlin (pictured) has replaced Chellsie Memmel on the Pan American Games team due to Memmel's nagging shoulder injury. I can't help thinking this was Memmel and her dad's strategic planning made after the world team announcement. She probably would have battled through if she was on her way to Japan.

Here's a question for you readers - do national team members get automatic qualification to next year's nationals?

Pretty Leotard Watch

2011-09-24T09:25:00.001+01:00

USA (and Cincinnati) Gymnasts Lexie Priessman and Amelia Huntley went 1-2 at the Japan Junior international competition in Yokohama this week.

Could this be one of the USA leotard designs we see in Tokyo? I think it's a nice change from the norm, more akin to the european teams styles.

I also think the Japanese gymnast's design is lovely!

(Photo credit - Mary Lee Tracy's Facebook page)

Team GB!

2011-09-23T12:07:00.001+01:00

At 12.00 today British Gymnastics Announced it's world championship teams - It may be the strongest squad we have ever sent.

Men’s team

Daniel Keatings – Huntingdon

Daniel Purvis – Southport YMCA

Kristian Thomas – Earls

Louis Smith – Huntingdon

Max Whitlock – South Essex

Ruslan Panteleymonov – Hinckley

Sam Oldham – Huntingdon

Women’s team

Beth Tweddle – Liverpool

Danusia Francis – Heathrow

Hannah Whelan – Liverpool

Imogen Cairns – The Academy

Jennifer Pinches – Liverpool

Laura Edwards – Dynamo

Rebecca Downie – Notts

Great to see Becky Downie is well and truely back and young Laura Edwards making the team.
Good luck team GB!

Nagasu leads at Nebelhorn

2011-09-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

As I've said in many previous posts, If there is one skater I REALLY wish success to it is Amerian firecracker Mirai Nagasu. Following yet another madly timed setback at last years Nationals she is back with a vengeance, winning the free short programme at Nebelhorn trophy with a very respectable 8 point lead over the field.

Now, a goal for the competition and for the rest of the season- Hold it together in the free skate!!
Mirai is due to compete at Skate Canada and Cup of China in the Grand Prix.

Full Nebelhorn Results

1	Mirai NAGASU	USA	58.38	1
2	Elene GEDEVANISHVILI	GEO	50.56	2
3	Sarah HECKEN	GER	49.07	3
4	Shion KOKUBUN	JPN	49.07	4
5	Joshi HELGESSON	SWE	47.91	5
6	Ksenia MAKAROVA	RUS	45.95	6
7	Joelle FORTE	USA	45.80	7
8	Yretha SILETE	FRA	45.41	8
9	Viktoria HELGESSON	SWE	43.36	9
10	Nathalie WEINZIERL	GER	40.58	10

Nebelhorn Trophy and the great figure skating shake-up.

2011-09-22T17:24:00.000+01:00

The first major senior event of the skating season is kicking off in Germany with the Neblhorn Trophy. A new season always brings new thinks, but this season more than most, the competitive field will look very different.

Kelli at State of the Skate has posted this summary of the great partner switch that has been going on, particularly with the US and Canadian pairs and ice dance couples. Add to that the retirement of the Kerr siblings (GB) and the retirement and subsequent un-retirement of Faiella & Scali (Italy) and this years skating season could be full of surprises!

1) Pairs team Denney/Barrett (of U.S.) split
2) Pairs team Dube/Davison (of Canada) split
3) Dube teams up with Sebastien Wolfe (still of Canada)
4) Pairs team Yankowskas/Coughlin (of U.S.) split
5) Dance team Piper Gilles/Zach Donahue (of U.S.) split
6) Dance team Madison + Keiffer Hubbell (of U.S.) split
7) Coughlin teams up with Caydee Denney (still of U.S.)
8) Dance team Crone/Poirier (of Canada) split
9) Dance team Chock/Zuerlein (of U.S.).split
10) Dance team Samuelson/Bates (of U.S) split
11) Chock/Bates team up (still of U.S.)
12) Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier team up (Gilles now representing Canada)
13) Madison Hubbell/Zach Donahue team up (still of U.S.)
14) Emily Samuelson/Todd Gilles team up (still of U.S.)

Several of those not mentioned in new partnerships are retired or taking time out to focus on studies or coaching. Notably however US champ Caitlin Yankowskas (pairs) and Canadian champ Vanessa Crone (dance) partnerless at the start of the new season.

Several of these new pairings are competing at Nebelhorn Trophy this weekend. Hubbell & Donahue currently sit second in the ice dance competition following the short dance.
Full Results Here.

1	Nelli ZHIGANSHINA / Alexander GAZSI	GER	55.03	1
2	Madison HUBBELL / Zachary DONOHUE	USA	54.82	2
3	Kharis RALPH / Asher HILL	CAN	52.03	3
4	Isabella TOBIAS / Deividas STAGNIUNAS	LTU	49.06	4
5	Cathy REED / Chris REED	JPN	47.90	5

I'll update further results as they come in later this evening. Dube & Wolfe and Denney & Coughlin are due to compete in the pairs short programme tonight.

Thoughts on team USA

2011-09-22T07:43:00.004+01:00

Unlike the dedicated Katie from Full Twist (who like me is on GMT) or many of the North America based bloggers, I didn't stay up until 3am to find out who Martha and others had picked for the World and Pan-Ams teams, but I did check first time this morning -

2011 Women's World Championships Team
Oct. 7-16, 2011, Tokyo, Japan
Gabrielle Douglas,
Anna Li
McKayla Maroney,
Alexandra Raisman
Alicia Sacramone
Sabrina Vega
Jordyn Wieber

Non- traveling alternate: Shawn Johnson
Head coach: John Geddert of Geddert's Twistars USA
Asst. coach: Jiani Wu of Legacy Elite

2011 Women's Pan American Games Team
Oct. 24-29, Guadalajara, Mexico
Bridgette Caquatto
Jessie DeZiel
Brandie Jay
Shawn Johnson
Chellsie Memmel
Bridget Sloan

Replacement athletes
Grace McLaughlin, Allen, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics
Hallie Mossett, Los Angeles, Calif./West Coast Elite Gymnastics
McKenzie Wofford, McKinney, Texas/Zenith Elite Gymnastics Academy
Head coach: Marvin Sharp of Sharp's Gymnastics
Asst. coach: Jiani Wu

My heart goes out always to those who just missed out - Particularly Shawn Johnson who, knowing the USA's habit for last minute injuries may still get her chance at worlds. Shawn said on twitter afterwards Came up an inch short but you know what look at the progress Ive made! So I wasnt the best pick for the team...YET! But I will be.

The team for Tokyo is an interesting one, particularly as a building block for the Olympics. Only Sacramone and Raisman are worlds veterans. All 4 of what I considered the 'high profile new seniors' (Wieber, Maroney, Douglas and Vega) made the team despite having mixed fortunes at Visa Championships. There is room for several nervy errors to occur in Tokyo and this could harm USA's grasp on the world team title.

Anna Li is also a wild card here, I'm sure picked purely for her ability on bars. I do wonder if everyone else is showing good bar form she may be an easy pick to drop when they get to Tokyo (7 athletes have been named, only 6 will actually compete). Although it may be a kick in the teeth given that her coach Jiani Wu has been named team coach.

I'm very sure had she not sprained her ankles Mackenzie Caquatto would have been named to a team (probably Anna Li's spot on the Tokyo team). Like Rebecca Bross she will have to wait, rest up and hope her time will come in 2012.

I like the look of the Pan Ams team - a mix of new names (and rather long shots for 2012) with 3 former world AA champions on their way back to form. This team should do well and give Martha something to think about on the way to 2012. It will be great to see Shawn and Bridget back and hopefully doing more than we've seen so far this year.

So, Countdown to Tokyo....... 15 Days!
Look forward to the GB announcement tomorrow!

Wow! Beth Tweddle's new tumbling pass

2011-09-20T19:34:00.000+01:00

A new video has appeared on youtube (not sure of the original source) showing Beth Tweddle training a double Arabian FULL OUT! She hasn't performed it in competition yet but it's sure to be a jaw dropper if and when she does.

As mentioned in my last post the GB worlds team is to be named Friday. As I see it Tweddle, Whelan, Pinches and (if she is injury free) Francis are locks, leaving 2 spots open to the rest of the team hopefuls.

First olympic athletes named (and a gymnastics update)

2011-09-20T18:59:00.002+01:00

Image: Iain Percy, Annie Lush, Nick Dempsey, Lucy Macgregor, Hannah Mills, Ben Ainslie, Kate Macgregor, Bryony Shaw, Saskia Clark and Andrew Simpson of Great Britain pose during a photocall at the announcement of the first athletes to officially join Team GB ahead of the 2012 Olympics at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich on September 20, 2011 in London, England. (Daylife.com

The first athletes to be named to Team GB for London 2012 have been announced. The British Sailors have been picked including 3 time olympic champion Ben Ainslie. Sailing is one of GB's strongest medal events, with 4 golds from Beijing.

It's interesting that due to the more consistent nature of sailing, the athletes can be nominated so far in advanced, compared with many sports where national teams are picked in the month leading up to the games. These athletes can now focus their training on preparation rather than qualification.

Speaking of qualificaiton, the Team USA gymnasts are at the final selection camp for Worlds and the Pan American games. The team should be announced soon after the final competition tomorrow. There is rumour that one gymnast (supposed to be Mackenzie Caquatto) has injured both ankles on a double pike. If so this is a real shame as of the USA's nominated 'bar specialists' she was one of the best all-arounders. Link here (on facebook so you will have to logon).

The British gymnasts are also at the final worlds training camp in Lilleshall, the final teams for MAG and WAG are to be confirmed on Friday.

London 2012 Paralympic Medals

2011-09-19T15:49:00.000+01:00

First of all apologies on my blogging absense. Placements and life have both kept me rather busy recently and it's all too easy to fall off the blogging horse after a while!

Today the London 2012 organising commitee unveiled the medals for the upcoming paralympic games, tickets for which are also on sale at this time. I'm not sure what exactly is going on with the front side design but the reverse is elegant and as I said before the general medal design is pretty likeable and not too enormous or out there. Whilst I liked the sentiment and originality of the medals at Vancouver 2010 - the medals were HUGE!

Blogging should get busier in the coming weeks with the gymnastics worlds and grand prix of figure skating approaching fast. The GB women's gymnastics team is due to be announced some time this week.

China leads at JGP Latvia

2011-09-01T20:25:00.000+01:00

The first official day of the new skating season kicked off today with the ladies, mens and pairs short programmes at the JGP Volvo Cup in Riga Latvia. Chinese skaters have taken the lead in all 3 disciplines. Full Event Results

In the ladies event Zijun Li has taken a narrow lead over russian Polina Agafonova. 14 year old Li is the 2010-11 Chinese national champion and was 9th at the 2011 Junior World Championships. She landed a clean 3Flip-2Toe combination and a 3Lutz with an edge call. She trains in Beijing under Mingzhu Li (Former coach of Lu Chen and Caroline Zhang) and but has some american influence with her programmes choreographed by Karen Kwan-Oppegard. American Ashley Cain sits in 3rd place, a clear 5 points behind the 2 leaders.

Zijun LI

CHN

55.09

Polina AGAFONOVA

RUS

54.60

Ashley CAIN

USA

49.14

Gerli LIINAMAE

EST

48.90

Polina SHELEPEN

RUS

47.92

Yasmin SIRAJ

USA

46.75

3 Asian skaters sit atop the mens standings after the short programme. Separated by a little over a point He Zhang (China) leads over Ryuju Hino (Japan) and June-Hyoung Lee (Korea). All of these skaters are relative newcomers, but have strong jump arsenals to build on. Sadly Canadian wonderkind Nam Nguyen botched his jumps and sits in 12th place with a score of 47.08. Perhaps this one will just have to go down to experience.

He ZHANG

CHN

59.26

Ryuju HINO

JPN

58.10

June-Hyoung LEE

KOR

58.06

Timothy DOLENSKY

USA

56.52

Jiaxing LIU

CHN

55.20

Pavel IGNATENKO

BLR

54.87

The pairs event was much more decisive. Sui & Han hold an 8 point lead over second place skaters Petaikina & Kurduykov of Russia. Sui and Han are knocking on the door of senior world medals this season, particularly if they can add mature style to their arsenel of tricks. The junior grand prix should very much be a warm-up act for them. The 3 american pairs sit 7th, 8th and 9th.

Wenjing SUI / Cong HAN

CHN

54.22

Ekaterina PETAIKINA / Maxim KURDUYKOV

RUS

46.30

Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN

CHN

44.32

Margaret PURDY / Michael MARINARO

CAN

43.95

Tatiana TUDVASEVA / Sergei LISIEV

RUS

41.31

Ekaterina KRUTSKIKH / Vladimir MOROZOV

RUS

40.55

Full Event Results

Junior Grand Prix kicks off international skating season

2011-08-29T18:13:00.000+01:00

Even with the delayed world championships, it seems like a long time since we've had a chance to watch major international figure skating. The new season kicks off this week with the first leg of the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) from Riga, Latvia

Last year's JGP graduates Adelina Sotnikova and Elizaveta Tuktamisheva have moved on up and are ready to compete with the seniors this year. This years JGP series could give us a glimpse of the future. Skaters eligible for the JGP this year will also be eligible for the 2014 olympic games in Sochi.

Here are a few names to look out for at JGP Latvia
(Full list of entries here).
Canadian junior men's champion Nam Nguyen (pictured) who beat skaters several years his senior and well over a foot taller than himself to claim his 4th national title (he also holds novice, pre-novice and juvenile golds) and also skated at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Gala. He is pipped to be one of Canada's brightest takents for the coming 2 quadrennia. Read my previous post on Nam here.
Russian Ladies Polina Shelepen and Polina Agafonova. Both have medalled on the JGP before and will be contenders this season aswell.
American Yasmin Siraj, who won two silvers of the series last year and placed 7th at the JGP final.
2 time World Junior Champions, and last year's Senior GP bronze medallists Wenjing Sui & Cong Han who seem to still be competing on the junior circuit alongside their senior exploits. No conclusion has been made following a controversy over Sui's age last year, questioning whether she was old enough to compete on the senior circuit.
These and many more could be names we hear more about over the coming years.

The rest of the JGP season looks like this...
31/8-4/9 Riga, Latvia*
7-11/9 Brisbane, Australia
14-18/9 Gdansk, Poland*
21-25/9 Brasov, Romania
28/9-2/10 Innsbruk, Austria*
5-9/10 Milano, Italy
12-16/10 Tailinn, Estonia*
(*includes pairs skating event)

8-11 December - JGP and GP finals - Quebec City, Canada
Also, the ISU site has announced that the 2012 GP and JGP finals will infact be held in Sochi, Russia.

You can also preview the entries for the senior Grand Prix series (starting with Skate America 21-23 October) here.

German World Teams Announced

2011-08-29T12:57:00.001+01:00

See a theme here? There's going to be a run of these posts as the countdown to Tokyo continues. Germany held it's National Championships this weekend and from there named it's men's and women's world teams.

Women's World Team (14th in Rotterdam)
Elizabeth Seitz
Kim Bui
Oksana Chusovitina
Nadine Jarosch
Pia Tolle
with Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Lisa-Katherina Hill or Anja Rheinbay in the final spot.

Men's World Team (3rd in Rotterdam)
Philip Boy
Fabian Hambuchen
Marcel Nguyen
Eugen Spiridinov
Sebastian Krimmer
with Helge Liebrich, Thomas Taranu or Andreas Toba in the final spot.

The Men should definitely be looking at Olympic qualification and a few medals on the side. For the women a top 8 team finish in Rotterdam may be too much to ask, but top 16 with a view to making it to the second qualification event in London is very reasonable. Individual performances from European medallists Seitz, Bui and Chusovitina should also be a treat for us the audience.

Countdown to Tokyo - 39 Days.

Canadian World Team Announced

2011-08-28T19:22:00.000+01:00

I the wake of their recent selection meet, Canada too has announced the gymnasts they will send to the World Championships in Tokyo.

Dominique Pegg
Talia Chiarelli
Kristina Vaculik
Peng Peng Lee
Mikaela Gerber
Coralie Leblond-Chartrand
Madeline Gardner

Canada is another one of those countries on the edge of an olympic team berth. I wish the Canadian girls all the best in their quest. It's great too to see Chrisine 'Peng Peng' Lee complete her successful comeback from injury to make a world championship team. Is it too much to hope to see her special and individual beam work in event finals?

Russian World Team Announced

2011-08-23T08:26:00.000+01:00

Russia has announced it's team for the World Gymnastics Championships in October. It includes A good smattering of all-arounders and a mix of 'youngsters' and 'veterans' (if you can say that about 16-19 year olds!)

Russia clearly has confidence that Viktoria Komova will be ready to give Jordyn Wieber a run for her money for the all-around crown.

Russian World Team
Viktoria Komova
Ksenia Afansyeva
Anna Dementyeva
Yulia Belokobylskaya
Tatiana Nabieva (VT and UB)
Maria Paeska (VT & FX)

Alternates - Yulia Ishina & Alyona Polyan

Hopefully other teams will follow on soon. With GB and Romania facing off on Onesti this week it shouldn't be too long until they pick their team too.

Gymnastics can be so cruel.

2011-08-21T11:49:00.003+01:00

This morning I woke up and went straight away turned on my computer, having set time aside to watch last night's coverage of the Visa Championships. Firstly I was slightly miffed when the Universal Sports front page told me everything I needed to know before the first minute of video played. Jordyn Wieber wins, Rebecca Bross is injured. Damn it!

Universal sports/NBC did some great, poignant filming in the moments following Bross's disaster. Instead of focussing in the carnage of the vault run, they panned around the many many faces of gymnasts and coaches around the arena. Shock, disappointment and resignation. They all knew that in that moment the reigning national champion and multiple world medallists dreams for this years worlds, and possibly a full strength 2012 had flown out the window.

Bross's injury status is not yet confirmed. The initial spot diagnosis was a dislocated kneecap. Bross has come back from a lot, winning world medals on a stress fracture of her ankle, but this one will take some coming back from, and probably another trip under the surgeons knife, followed by best part of a year of rehab. The clock is ticking. The one year to london mark has been and gone.

Meanwhile, Jordyn Wieber did what everyone expected her to do. Win her first national title in devistating, consistent fashion.

All-Around

1.  Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich., 121.300

2.  McKayla Maroney, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 115.150

3.  Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 114.600

4.  Mackenzie Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 112.500

5.  Sabrina Vega, Carmel, N.Y., 112.050

6.  Bridgette Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 111.500

7.  Gabrielle Douglas, Virginia Beach, Va., 110.350

8.  Chellsie Memmel, West Allis, Wis., 109.850

9.  Sophia Lee, Plano, Texas, 109.200

10.  Grace McLaughlin, Allen, Texas, 108.600



Vault

1.  McKayla Maroney, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 30.700

2.  Alicia Sacramone, Winchester, Mass., 30.600

3.  Brandie Jay, Ft. Collins, Colo., 27.825

(And of course Wieber & Maroney with awesome amanars!)



Uneven Bars

1.  Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich., 29.750

2.  Mackenzie Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 29.700

3.  Anna Li, Aurora, Ill., 29.450

3.  Gabrielle Douglas, Virginia Beach, Va., 29.450

5.  Amanda Jetter, Milford, Ohio, 28.650

6.  Shawn Johnson, West Des Moines, Iowa, 28.600



Balance Beam

1.  Alicia Sacramone, Winchester, Mass., 30.100

2.  Chellsie Memmel, West Allis, Wis., 30.000

3.  Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich., 29.900

4.  Shawn Johnson, West Des Moines, Iowa, 29.400

5.  Sabrina Vega, Carmel, N.Y., 28.850

6.  Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 27.900



Floor Exercise

1.  Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich., 29.900

2.  Rebecca Bross, Plano, Texas, 29.500

3.  Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 29.150

4.  Sabrina Vega, Carmel, N.Y., 28.900

5.  McKayla Maroney, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 28.150

6.  Chellsie Memmel, West Allis, Wis., 27.900

With Bross out the team USA selection commitee has to regroup, and recruiting strong bar workers has become more crucial, now being without Bross and Bridget Sloan, currently 3rd and 4th in the world on bars. That said, there's also room for a strong all-arounder. Step-up Ali Raisman & McKayla Maroney.

Looking to Tokyo:

Vault - US has no trouble here, put up Sacramone, Wieber & Maroney and they could already have a large lead over the field.
Bars - The top two consistent workers from Visas were Wieber and Mackenzie Caquatto. Based on that I'd take both of them to Tokyo, particularly as Caquatto can contribute elsewhere and has experience. I don't buy into Anna Li making the team as she had one job to do here and was wobbly on both bars and beam. Also, if youre taking Sacramone, everyone else will have to compete bars in qualifying. Who knows, Shawn Johnson or Gabi Douglas might make the team after all! And for all it's slack, Ali Raismans bar routine may contribute to the US qualifying to London.
Beam - Again not really a problem for the US but consistency is the name of the game. For their likelihood to stay on the beam I'd pick Wieber, Memmel, Sacramone & Raisman.
Floor - The US could do with some big numbers here too, and whilst most of the competitors have moments of brilliance, they also have moments of inconsistency. I'd put up Wieber, Raisman, Sacramone and either Memmel or Maroney.

So based on that event by event plotting, my likely wrong, new-look US team would be.

Jordyn Wieber

Alicia Sacramone

Alexandra Raisman

McKayla Maroney

Mackenzie Caquatto

Chellsie Memmel

Alternate - Shawn Johnson/Gabrielle Douglas/Sabrina Vega.

It may not be the prettiest team in the world but should be capable of getting the job done.
Hopefully that ice pack on Chellsie's shoulder was nothing too serious either!

Never mind Valerei Liukin, your top junior, Katelyn Ohashi made easy work of taking the US junior title. What, she's too young for the 2012 Olympics? Damn it!

GB vs Spain vs Portugal

2011-08-20T22:30:00.004+01:00

In the run-up to worlds, the whole GB senior team are to compete in two international events, to aid the powers-that-be select the 6 member world team. The first of those events, a tri-meet between GB, Spain and Portugal took place today at Pipers Vale Gymnastics in Ipswich.

GB fielded two teams in order to allow all senior gymnasts to compete. Team GB 1 (Hannah Whelan, Jenni Pinches, Charlotte Lindsley, Niamh Rippin, Jocelyn Hunt & Lizzie Beddoe) took part in the team competition whilst GB 2 (Beth Tweddle, Danusia Francis, Becky Downie, Imogen Cairns, Kelly Simm, Laura Mitchell & Laura Edwards) competed on indidual events only for event final qualification or simply for verification.

Rather like the US nationals, there were plenty of errors from the GB girls, allowing Spain (Ana Maria Izurieta, Ainhoa Carmona Urbano, Maria Paula Vargas, Beatriz Cuesta, Claudia Menendez, Claudia Vila & Silvia Colussi) to squeak in and take the team gold. Granted, Team GB 1 was not the team we are likely to see at worlds, but really, they should have walked this!

1) Spain - 217.750
2) GB 1 - 216.500
3) GB 2 - 193.750
4) Portugal - 137.950

Team Portugal (Zoi Lima, Alexandra Choon & Ekaterina Kislinskaya) could not contend the team competition, as it was a 6-5-4 competition format and they only had 3 gymnasts, but they performed well enough and gained experience. It will be a big ask for this team to qualify to London 2012, Portugal was 32nd at the 2010 worlds (Spain 18th and GB 5th in qualifying, 8th in team finals).

In some level of redemption for the GB team, Hannah Whelan posted a very respectable score of 56.000 to win the all-around gold. Hannah had a few minor errors (out of bounds on floor, a dodgy beam dismount) but nothing very major. She is GB's best AA hope for worlds and on a good day could place in the worlds top 10. Jenni Pinches was a bit more mistake riddden, with a fall on beam.

AA Results.

1) Hannah Whelan (GB) - 56.000
2) Maria Paula Vargas (ESP) - 54.500
3) Beatriz Cuesta (ESP)- 53.850
4) Jenni Pinches (GB) - 53.600
5) Claudia Menendez (ESP) - 53.250
6) Silvia Palaez Coulussi (ESP) - 53.000
7) Jocelyn Hunt (GB) - 52.850
8) Ana Maria Izurieta (ESP) - 52.750
9) Lizzie Beddoe (GB) - 52.550
10= Claudia Vila (ESP) - 52.200
10= Laura Edwards (GB) 52.200

Beth Tweddle competed in the GB 2 team and only performed on floor. She had taping on her neck + shoulder so likely avoided doing bars to protect an injury. Danusia Francis also was taped up at the shoulder and conpeted a watered down competition (she performed her floor routine without tumbling, but had some of the best artistic choreography of the day).

Becky Downie was also testing the water again following her achilles injury. She cometed solid beam and bars routines with watered-down dismounts. I'd be surprised to see her in Tokyo, but her recovery is coming on well with London 2012 in mind. It's good to see her out on the floor again. A pleasant surprise of the meet was Lizzie Beddoe. She doesn't have the most difficult gymnastics, but showed some beatiful elegant work on beam and floor especially.

Event Finals take place tomorrow and in a slightly prescribed format, each final will have 3 gymnasts from GB, 3 from Spain and 1 from Portugal.

Here were the top scores on each apparatus from today.

Vault (Each gymnast only competed 1 vault)
1) Claudia Menendez (ESP) 14.600
2) Imogen Cairns (GB) 14.550
3) Hannah Whelan (GB) 14.350

Bars
1) Hannah Whelan (GB) 14.000
2= Beatriz Cuesta (ESP) 13.850
2= Maria Paula Vargas (ESP) 13.850
4) Jennifer Pinches (GB) 13.750

Beam
1) Hannah Whelan (GB) 13.950
2) Silvia Palaez Colussi (ESP) 13.350
3) Jocelyn Hunt (GB) 13.300

Floor
1) Beth Tweddle (GB) 14.750
2) Niamh Rippin (GB) 13.750
3) Hannah Whelan (GB) 13.700

Click here to see many more photos from the event.
Full Results (British Gymnastics)

Things didn't get much better for GB in the event finals - granted the coaches decided to rest Hannah Whelan and Beth Tweddle from all events and give other gymnasts the experience. Spain came away with all the gold.

Vault
Gold - Claudia Menendez (ESP) 14.300
Silver- Imogen Cairns (GBR) 14.100
Bronze- Niamh Rippin (GBR) 13.700

Bars
Gold – Ma Paula Vargas (ESP) 14.000
Silver- Beatriz Cuesta (ESP) 13.750
Silver- Claudia Vila (ESP) 13.750

Beam
Gold - Ainhoa Carmona (ESP) 13.250
Silver- Ana Maria Izurieta (ESP) 13.050
Bronze- Laura Edwards (GBR) 13.000

Floor
Gold - Claudia Menendez (ESP) 13.800
Silver- Ma Paula Vargas (ESP) 13.700
Bronze- Imogen Cairns (GBR) 13.650

The GB girls will be boarding a plane on Tuesday evening to compete in the Romanian national championships in Oneti (Nadia's home town). Hopefully this will give us a more promising measure of how they are likely to compete on the world level.

Messy Day 1 at Visas

2011-08-19T12:57:00.000+01:00

Everyone knows the team competition at Worlds is going to be a close one. The team champions will likely be those who go out and hit as close to 12 perfect routines as possible. Putting together a US team that can do that is the job of Martha Karolyi. And her gymnasts didn't help her out much on the first day of the national championships.

Rebecca Bross seemed to be fighting an uphill battle back from her ankle injury. Uncharacteristic mistakes on bars and beam left her in the alien spot of 10th at the half way point. A clean, if not stellar performance of her new floor routine and a vault just about to her feet left her a bit closer to contention in 4th place at the end of the evening. But that is the face of an unhappy defending champion.

Last years Comeback Kid Alicia Sacramone wasn't as seamless as we have seen her in recent past. Her vaults were too overpowered and both had big steps, and a fall on her floor routine (reminiscent of her team final fall in beijing) might seed a few doubts in the mind of Mama Martha as well. Her team-mate Aly Raisman had one of the cleanest nights of all, playing safe on her vault with a double-twist rather than a dodgy amanar. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to punching a worlds ticket.

Olympic Veterans Chellsie Memmel and Shawn Johnson had solid evenings but they will still need more numbers and more difficulty to prove they are worthy of international competition. Shawn had one of the best saves of the night to stay on the beam!

Even Jordyn Wieber, predicted champion and wearing a gold leotard for good measure didn't have a perfect evening, a large wobble on balance beam and a less than perfect bars showed even she is human but her superior difficulty has left her infront and half-way to the 2011 National title.

It wasn't the coming out party for the new faces either, Sabrina Vega, McKayla Maroney and Gabrielle Douglas all had events they would rather forget, and in the junior event Katelyn Ohashi leads after night one after favourites Kyla Ross and Lexie Priessman also had to count falls.

Martha will not be a happy lady tonight!

Senior AA results (Top 12)

1. Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich., 59.850
2. Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 58.000
3. Chellsie Memmel, West Allis, Wis., 57.350
4. Rebecca Bross, Plano, Texas, 56.900
5. McKayla Maroney, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 56.300
6. Mackenzie Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 56.000
7. Bridgette Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 55.600
8. Sabrina Vega, Carmel, N.Y., 55.250
9. Grace McLaughlin, Allen, Texas, 54.700
10. Sophia Lee, Plano, Texas, 54.450
11. Brandie Jay, Ft. Collins, Colo., 54.300
12. Gabrielle Douglas, Virginia Beach, Va., 53.450

Top Vault - Alicia Sacramone - 15.500
Top Bars - Anna Li - 15.050
Top Beam - Chellsie Memmel - 15.250
Top Floor - Jordyn Wieber - 14.900

Junior AA results

1. Katelyn Ohashi, Plano, Texas, 60.950
2. Sarah Finnegan, St. Louis, Mo., 57.900
3. Kyla Ross, Aliso Viejo, Calif., 57.500
4. Lexie Priessman, Cincinnati, Ohio, 56.450
5.= Kennedy Baker, Flower Mound, Texas, 56.300
5.= Brenna Dowell, Odessa, Mo., 56.300
7. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 55.550
8. Kiana Winston, Fort Worth, Texas, 54.750
9. Mykayla Skinner, Gilbert, Ariz., 54.700
10. Brianna Brown, West Chester, Ohio, 54.550
11=. Madison Desch, Lenexa, Kan., 54.450
11=. Ericha Fassbender, Katy, Texas, 54.450

Top Vault - Lexie Priessman 15.650
Top Bars - Katelyn Ohashi 15.050
Top Beam - Katelyn Ohasho 16.100!
Top Floor - Katelyn Ohashi 14.900

Adrian Stan

2011-08-15T10:50:00.000+01:00

Apparently I've answered my own question!

Possibly the star character of GYMNAST was straight-talking Romanian Adrian Stan. Surprisingly for such an influential and interesting character - I knew nothing of him until yesterday and he is barely mentioned on the internet.

Apparently he is still the GB team technical director, seen here in a BGTV video from the recent Glasgow Grand Prix where British junior gymnasts participated in a podium training prior to the event.

Also featured are gymnasts Amy Tinkler, Ellie Downie and Shannon Archer.

Also here are youtube links to GYMNAST
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (iplayer)

Gymnast

2011-08-15T09:45:00.001+01:00

BBC Films did something very right in the production of gymnast. Yes it's been 3 years in the pipeline, showing the selection of the british olympic team for Beijing. It's a refreshing insight into the backstage of British Gymnastics.

Refreshing because, were this the USA- we get the low down on selection pressures and what Martha Karolyi may be thinking all the time. We're spoiled with backstage fluffs and interviews. The British gymnastic world is more of a secretive one. It was a rare treat to see the british girls in their training environments.

I appreciated the fact that the film played out like a film, rahter than a traditional documentary. The only 'narration' came from the subjects themselves. Primarily by Andrei Stan, the National Coach/Co-ordinator of the time, a frank, dry-humoured Romanian and definitely the UK's answer to Bela Karolyi.
(As an aside, does anyone know what happened to Stan after Beijing- is he still on the scene?)

The film shows the british girls progression through 3 trials (I still wonder why countries insist on so many- it just asks for injuries!). The pressure is never down as the clock ticks to final selection.

Having only become an avid follower of gymnastics from 2008 onwards, and not really being familiar with the team players before hand, it's a treat to see a baby faced Hannah Whelan and others in the lead-up to the games. In the last year she has risen from injury to become British Gymnastics poster girl, but in 2008 she was the new face on the scene hoping to make the Olympics her first major international.

One of the most heartbreaking moments was seeing Laura Jones, who appeared to make the team by the skin of her teeth (with 2 falls at the final trial) then be side-lined by injury at the 11th hour. Stan's words to her did little to help her distress. "Yeah it's a bitter pill to swallow, but zat is life. The most important thing is to mend your back... Come back January with pull power. Sadly Laura and and fellow near-miss Hannah Clowes careers faded away after their 2008 disappointment.

By contrast, all 6 of the eventual beijing team members are in the running for another shot at London 2012. Who would do all that again?! Here's what some of the gymnasts themselves thought of the film.

Hannah Whelan: Really appreciates having 'gymnast' as a memory of the Olympics, brought back memories, made me cry and love my dad in it....@michaelajw ♥

Becky Wing: I've already watched 'Gymnast' 3 times (and cried every time haha.) It's amazing to be able to relive the whole journey. Brings back so many memories #emotional

Marissa King: Great replies on ur thoughts on the Gymnast movie! Thank u 2 BBC & all u gymnastics fans out there 4 watching. I hope it was an inspiration!

Becky Downie: Just watched GYMNAST made me cry & brought back such amazing memories. Can't believe I've decided to do it all over again, I must be crazy!!

All That Skate Summer 2011

2011-08-12T17:05:00.002+01:00

Yu-Na Kim has once again gathered a collection of figure skating A-listers in Korea for her now annual summer show- All That Skate Summer.

New additions this year include Russia's 2-time olympic medallist Irina Slutskaya and Stars on Ice veterans Kurt Browning , Sale & Pelletier and Shae-Lynn Bourne.

Other skaters in the lineup include
Kiira Korpi
Sarah Meier
Stephane Lambiel
Florent Amodio
Patrick Chan
Shen & Zhao
Virtue & Moir

There will be an open practice and press conference today with shows this weekend. Expect plenty of photos and videos very soon. Yu-Na may not be debuting new programmes but she will skate her 'Homage to Korea' long programme from this season for the first time in her home country.

According to David Wilson who is directing the show: "The concept of the show is the beautiful story of figure skating -- striving to achieve our goals, and reaching the best we can be."

Visa Championships 2011

2011-08-12T15:19:00.000+01:00

Can the fragile Rebecca Bross defend her title against the seemingly unstoppable Jordyn Wieber?
Can Chellsie Memmel or Shawn Johnson make a return to the national podium after 3 years away?
Can Aly Raisman land a successful amanar without breaking something?
All things we shall know a week from now...

Official Site

Senior Ladies Start List

Name	Club	Current Residence
Rebecca Bross	WOGA Gymnastics	Plano, TX
Bridgette Caquatto	Legacy Elite Gymnastics LLC	Naperville, IL
Mackenzie Caquatto	Legacy Elite Gymnastics LLC	Naperville, IL
Jessie DeZiel	Twin City Twisters	Rogers, MN
Gabrielle Douglas	Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute	Virginia Beach, VA
Jessica Howe	WOGA Gymnastics	Plano, TX
Brandie Jay	GK Gymnastics	Ft Collins, CO
Amanda Jetter	Cincinnati Gymnastics	Milford, OH
Shawn Johnson	Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute	West Des Moines, IA
Sophia Lee	WOGA Gymnastics	Plano, TX
Anna Li	Legacy Elite Gymnastics LLC	Aurora, IL
Casey Magee	Capital Gymnastics / Texas	Austin, TX
McKayla Maroney	All Olympia AOGC	Laguna Niguel, CA
Grace McLaughlin	WOGA Gymnastics	Allen, TX
Chellsie Memmel	M and M Gymnastics	West Allis, WI
Hallie Mossett	West Coast Elite Gymnastics	Los Angeles, CA
Alexandra Raisman	Brestyan's American Gymnastics	Needham, MA
Alicia Sacramone	Brestyan's American Gymnastics	Winchester, MA
Sabrina Vega	Dynamic Gymnastics	Carmel, NY
Jordyn Wieber	Gedderts Twistars USA	DeWitt, MI
McKenzie Wofford	Zenith Elite Gymnastics Academy	McKinney, TX

Event Schedule

Controversy as Mao Asada misses national training camp.

2011-08-10T19:05:00.001+01:00

The Japan Times reported today that olympic silver medallist Mao Asada was conspicuously absent from the latest Japan Skating Federation Camp, stating that Mao was 'exhausted' after the later-than-usual world championships and a number of benefit shows following the Japanese earthquake.

This may mean nothing but instantly suspicion has been raised that Mao may choose to sit out the grand prix season. This would be a shame for two reasons-
1) World medallists Miki Ando and Yu-Na Kim have already stated their intentions to sit out the series, leaving a watered-down and fairly unexciting field.
2) We're still waiting to see a successful return from Mao after her olympic disappointment, last year she was 're-working' her technique and finished a dismal (by her standards) 5th and 8th in her Grand Prix events. It would be a shame to see this hugely talented and elegant skater fade away quietly. She should be out there looking for redemption and new gold for the trophy cabinet.

Mao is due to start her season in November at the NHK trophy in Sapporo, Japan and Cup of Russia in Moscow (the site of the recent world championships where Mao dropped to 6th). Plenty could happen between now and then.

Stay healthy and keep competing Mao!

"Yu-na Kids" aim for Junior Grand Prix & Pyeongchang 2018.

2011-08-05T15:21:00.002+01:00

Arirang News reported this week from Korea where a domestic competition has taken place for junior skaters to earn spots for the JGP series. The competition was won by 14 year old Kim Hae-Jin (pictured) who is the 2010 and 2011 SENIOR national champion and has triple-triples in her back pocket.

Other promising names to look out for are Park So-yeon and Lee Ho-jung. All of these young skaters are age eligible for Sochi 2014 and will be 21 years old for Pyeongchang 2018.

The report has a nice video (with english commentary). These young skaters do look like they have potential. Like most 14 year old skaters worldwide they have most of the big tricks in the bag but need to develop a bit more speed, power and maturity.

With growing investment and interest in korean skating post Yu-Na Kim, these skaters have plenty of support to aid their development. There is definitely a chance they could contend for medals on the JGP and grow into future Yu-Nas over the coming years.

Full Twist Profiles British Gymnasts

2011-08-05T15:02:00.001+01:00

This week british gymnastics published the names of it's 'World Class Squads' - similar to other countries National Teams it is a basis from which the teams will be picked for international competition.

The squads are devided into 3 levels
Performance Squad - 16 top senior gymnasts - this is where the 2011 world team is likely to come from.
Potential Squad - GBs top juniors and potential contenders for London 2012
Start Squad - 10 top Espoirs - names we will be likely to hear more about in the 2012-2016 cycle.

Fellow blogger Full Twist will be profiling one of these squad gymnasts in a profile Meet the Gymnast, starting with british AA champion Hannah Whelan.

Here are the lists of GB's World Class Squads

Performance Squad

Potential Squad

Start Squad

Britain after Beth

2011-07-31T22:55:00.002+01:00

I've been watching a lot of sport this week- The UK athletics world trials, The swimming world Champs, The Covegirl Classic. If one thing is clear - athletes in all disciplines are focusing their sights firmly on London, with 1 year to the opening ceremonies the starting gun has been fired.

GB's top gymnast Beth Tweddle has re-iterated in recent interviews that she wants to peak and wrap up her successful career at the games. The question is where will her departure leave British gymnastics after the games. 'Queen Elizabeth' at Rewriting Russian Gymnastics made a great comment in her latest post on the Russian team.

A gymnastics team is only as good as its reserves; if a team cannot win without its leading performer, then the chance of leading the sport more than momentarily is pretty poor.

The same stands for the GB team. Their stocks have been rising in the last olympic cycle, largely due to Beth's medal success and leadership. The difficulty will be maintaining this overall success and delivering new stars on the way to Rio 2016.

Hopefully some of the current crop of gymnasts (such as Hannah Whelan) will stick around and lead the younger gymnasts on for a few years. GB has the coaching expertise to develop new talent (albeit focussed in a few main gyms) and plenty of youngsters who could add more difficulty over the next few years.

GB is a long way off contending with the big guns (China, USA, Russia) at the moment but below that are a lot of nations whose positions can shift based on who has an 'off-day'. With enough strong all-around gymnasts and some special talents on individual apparatus, a Beth-less team could still continue to contend.

Where the US keep talking about bars as their 'weak' event. GB's scores could rocket if we could get a crop of strong vaulters capable of something bigger than a full-twisting yurchenko!

We're not there yet, but I think we will be soon...

Team 2012-2016

back row L-R - Lizzie Beddoe, Ruby Harrold, Jess Hogg, Billie Mackenzie, Ruby Straw, Loriah James...

front row L-R - Amy Sharp, Venus Romaeo, Laura Mitchell and Rebecca Tunney

London 2012 - The Medals

2011-07-27T19:42:00.001+01:00

We didn't like the logo, there was a mixed reception to the torch.

I quite like the medals- mixing traditional with dynamic. Nothing too weird and wonderful!

Larisa Iordache (Romania) EYOF

2011-07-27T15:27:00.001+01:00

Videos are arriving almost instantly from the European Youth Olympic Festival. This young Romanian talent is too young to help out her team at Worlds this year but look out for her in London in a years time. She currently leads the all around competition with a score of 57.800. That would have put her 7th at Worlds 2010 and 1st at Europeans 2011.

(Vault), (Beam), (Bars)

London 2012 - 1 year to go!

2011-07-27T07:17:00.000+01:00

In 366 days (2012 is a leap year) the games of the XXX Olympiad will be underway. The milestone is being marked by a number of events including Tom Daley making the first diive in the aquatics centre. The medal designs will also be unveiled and there will be a celebration in Trafalgar Sq where the world's athletes will be formally invited to London.

Covergirl Classic on Youtube

2011-07-26T19:21:00.000+01:00

Youtube user and regular poster of gymnastics events, Olympicgymnastics2 has posted the full universal sports coverage of the Covergirl Classic from last weekend. Great news for those of us outside of the US who missed out on watching the live feed.

Part 1 (of 7)

Being Martha

2011-07-26T08:04:00.000+01:00

It's about that time of year again, the time of year where we all like to put on our predicting hats and guess who Martha Karolyi will give a golden ticket to Worlds! Granted we haven't seen everyone out this season, and even fewer of those who compete all-around, have. But that's all part of the fun, right?

Here is the objective:
Tokyo, October 7th 2011
Six gymnasts required (NB for the olympics it will only be Five!)
Five compete on each apparatus in qualifying, Top four scores count.
The goal- Top 8 finish (ideally much higher) --> Olympic Qualification.

Anyway, if I was picking my world team, this is what it would look like...
(I got a bit carried away with this and had a bash at USA, GB, Russia, Romania and China.

Jordyn Wieber	VT	UB	BB	FX
Rebecca Bross	(VT)	UB	BB	(FX)
Chellsie Memmel	(VT)	(UB)		(FX)
Aly Raisman	VT	(UB)	(BB)	FX
Alicia Sacramone	VT		BB	FX
Another Bar Worker		UB	(BB)

I haven't yet stuck my neck out and named the last member of the team, that's up to who puts out the best consistent bar routines at Nationals. My smart bet would be Mackenzie Caquatto as she already has worlds experience and is also a decent all-arounder, but it also might be an opportunity for a new face like Gabrielle Douglas or Sabrina Vega.

The events in bold are my picks for the team final, where Team USA want to take advantage of Russian injuries and wrap up their normal pre-olympic team title. The good thing about this team is that it allows for the injury status of Rebecca Bross, If she is fit she could compete all-around but equally she would be a valuable asset on bars and beam only, with Aly Raisman or Chellsie Memmel both potentials for all-around competition.

Next year, as many have said, with one less person on the team Martha will likely have to choose between Aly Raisman's all around potential or Sacramone's shot at an olympic vault gold. Unless Aly's bars steps up several knotches there just isn't room for all of them.

I'll add to this post later with my picks for other teams.
What do you think Martha?

Covergirl - Results and Musings

2011-07-24T13:06:00.002+01:00

Aly Raisman may be the USA's version of Hannah Whelan. Not the most virtuoso performer or standout on a single apparatus, but capable of consistently throwing out high all-around scores.

Raisman thought she might have waved goodbye to the all around title in Chicago last night after a disaster on bars, but upgraded strong tumbling and a successful amanar vault gave her the title and likely reminded Martha Karolyi and the fans not to rule her out for the national title in a few weeks time.

Likely the happiest camper though was comeback kid, 2003 World Champion Chellsie Memmel. Whilst the other members of the 2008 olympic team have tentatively dipped their toes in with one or two events, Memmel came back all guns blazing with a complete all-around performance. With all the pre-meet publicity being on Shawn Johnson, Memmel has again amazed us with her longevity in the sport and ability to rise to the occasion.

Third place went to the always lovely but often under-the-radar Sabrina Vega, top of all the debut seniors here. These are the new faces grappling to impress Karolyi and join the big guns in the world team selection battle.

As I mentioned before, Shawn Johnson didn't have the picture perfect return, having stumbled on her bars dismount she then had a wobbly outing on the balance beam, falling on her back layout somersault. Great however to see she still took it as a positive experience and is all the more determined to perform well at Visas in 3 weeks time. In all honesty the worlds this year may be a step too far, but she's a valued presence all the same.

Looking ahead the future is still difficult to predict. Jordyn Wieber is very likely to bring her A-game to the national championships in a few weeks time. Rebecca Bross is still struggling with her injuries but will not want to be counted out. Mattie Larson and Bridget Sloan have been out of the scene since worlds but should never be counted out, and Chellsie Memmel has tasted success and wants more....

Roll-on Visa Championships!

Covergirl Classic Results

1.	Alexandra Raisman	Brestyan's	6.5	15.100	5.7	12.450	6.2	15.000	6.2	14.700	57.250
2.	Chellsie Memmel	M&M	5.0	14.200	5.6	14.400	6.1	14.700	5.3	13.650	56.950
3.	Sabrina Vega	Dynamic	5.8	14.600	5.7	13.500	6.1	14.500	5.7	14.250	56.850
4.	McKenzie Wofford	Zenith Elite	5.0	13.150	5.9	14.600	6.3	14.800	5.1	13.050	55.600
5.	Sophia Lee	WOGA	5.0	14.100	5.6	13.200	5.6	14.250	5.1	13.400	54.950
6.	Bridgette Caquatto	Legacy Elite	5.0	14.200	6.1	14.900	5.6	13.350	5.5	12.300	54.750
7.	Jessica Howe	WOGA	5.0	13.650	5.3	12.900	5.4	14.300	5.1	13.200	54.050
8.	Casey Jo Magee	Capital	5.0	13.650	4.7	13.200	5.9	14.200	4.8	12.100	53.150
9.	Brandie Jay	GK	5.8	13.800	6.0	14.200	5.2	13.150	5.1	11.650	52.800
10.	Hallie Mossett	West Coast	5.0	14.100	5.0	13.100	5.3	12.900	5.2	12.700	52.800

Sad times...

2011-07-24T01:46:00.000+01:00

2 falls for Shawn Johnson and no live feed in the UK for me.

Not the most successful evening then...

Bonne Nuit!

Classic - Jr Results

2011-07-24T00:11:00.002+01:00

2010 US Junior Champ Kyla Ross took the title in the Junior Ladies event at the Covergirl Classic.

(Photo- Greg Long)
Follow the Senior event on Twitter and blogs with the Couch Gymnast and Gymnastics Examiner who are actually there, as well as Full Twist and yours truely who will be doing the nightshift (UK time) watching in the comfort of our own homes!

Twitter: @Going4GoldBlog
@Full_Twist
@Double_Front
@Gymcoaching
@GymExaminer
The Couch Gymnast on Facebook.

Sadly the reigning US champ Rebecca Bross pulled out of the competition earlier in the day.Tt doesn't look like that ankle is fully back on form yet. The All Around title is open for the taking. Smart money would be on Ali Raisman (Jordyn Wieber is due to only do bars and beam) but there is plenty of buzz about the return of Chellsie Memmel, as well as youngsters Gabrielle Douglas/ McKayla Maroney making their senior debuts.

Can't wait to see Shawn Johnson either!.....

Here are the junior results (USA Gymnastics)
1. Kyla Ross 58.850
2. Lexie Priessman 58.050
3. Katelyn Ohashi 57.950
4. Sarah Finnegan 56.650
5. Brenna Dowell 55.350

USA's big names come out to play this weekend.

2011-07-20T13:31:00.002+01:00

Martha Karolyi is very protective of her team USA gymnasts. They generally only appear on the international scene for Worlds and a few other select competitions. For the american girls the bulk of their years competition takes place on home soil, starting this weekend with the Covergirl Classic, the largest qualification/warm-up event for Nationals.

Last year the covergirl classic marked a return to competition for 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone, who translated success at home to a world vault title and banished a few consistency demons along the way. This year it is the turn of Beijing AA silver medallist and beam champion Shawn Johnson to make her anticipated return to competion for the first time in 3 years.

There has been an ongoing saga with the Beijing girls hinting at returns to the competition floor, Spurred on by Sacramone's success in 2010, Johnson will also be joined by Chellsie Memmel, who has been undecided whether or not to leave gymnastics behind in recent years. The only 2008 team member who still keeps the world waiting on her decision to return is leading lady Nastia Liukin. There have been plenty of hints and maybes coming from the Liukin camp, but no solid evidence of a return yet.

However - heres a 'short' list of some of the familiar faces kicking off their season at Covergirl this Saturday.

American Cup champ Jordyn Wieber (pictured - above)
McKayla Maroney - a new senior with a BIG Amanar.
(pictured - right)
2010 US junior champ Kyla Ross
Strong bar-working sisters Brigitte & McKenzie Caquatto,
UCLA grad and NCAA champ Anna Li
Comeback kids Shawn Johnson & Chellsie Memmel
Brestyan's Alicia Sacramone & Ali Raisman
Artistic new senior Sabrina Vega
Cincinnati's Amanda Jetter
Johnson's training mate Garielle Douglas
Reigning US champ Rebecca Bross

With Russia's biggest names still on the mend from injury, the never-ending depth of the Team USA may be a big asset in their quest to win back the world team title this October

Ariella Kaeslin waves goodbye to gymnastics

2011-07-11T20:13:00.000+01:00

Full Twist has reported the sad and surprising news that Swiss gymnast Ariella Kaeslin has retired from elite gymnastics. The powerful vaulter who finished 5th in event finals in Beijing, followed this up with European gold and World silver medals on the apparatus. The 23 year old has been a shining light for an ever improving Swiss team and has 3 times been voted Swiss Sportswoman of the year. It will be a great shame not to see her in London.

I have listened to my body and my heart and so made this decision. “The years of total commitment and focus on only the goal to get better, have left their mark, both mentally and physically. (Kaeslin)

More medals for Liverpool as British Champs Wrap-up.

2011-07-10T20:17:00.000+01:00

No-one really expected any different. Beth Tweddle showed her world championship form to easily hold off the competition and win bars and floor gold medals in the event finals, Sunday. Below is the summary of full results from British Gymnastics.

Apparatus finals

Seniors
Vault
The senior vault saw Imogen Cairns take the gold with 13.925. She was closely followed by some impressive work from Danielle Mcnaney representing Hinckley Gymnastics Club with 13.525. Niamh Rippin took the Bronze medal. (13.475)

Bars
Beth Tweddle performed an excellent routine, much to the excitement of the crowd on the bars scoring an impressive 15.200. Hannah Whelan (13.900) and Jenni Pinches (13.500) made it a Liverpool one, two, three, taking Silver and Bronze respectively.

Beam
Danusia Francis performed a beautiful clean routine after an unfortunate fall in the all around competition, scoring an impressive 14.700. Hannah Whelan again showed great composure on this apparatus and closely followed with 14.500. Imogen Cairns didn’t have the same skill set but showed great determination and performed a very precise routine for13.450.

Floor
World Champion on the floor, Beth Tweddle, showed great expression in her dance and really performed to the crowd taking the gold with 15.250. Niamh Rippin took the silver with 14.250 with an impressive routine after being out for some time with injury. Jenni Pinches composed herself well after a disappointment on the beam to take the Bronze. (14.150)

Juniors
Vault
A very successful weekend for Raer Theaker saw her take share Vault title with
Gabrielle Jupp both scoring 13.450. A very petite but powerful Claudia Fragapane took away a deserved bronze medal with13.300.

Bars
Rebecca Tunney performed a bar routine with skills on par with many of the more senior gymnasts taking the gold with 13.450. She was closely followed by Ruby Harold (13.250) who with a few small errors looks to have more to give in the future. Raer Theaker secured her second medal of the Championships with a clean routine to take the bronze (12.700).

Beam
Gabrielle Jupp showed great confidence on the beam and some very promising work to take the title with 14.100. Bille Mackenzie, who also took the award for artistry for her work on this apparatus, followed Jupp in the silver with 13.850. Abi Caig not far behind took the bronze with 13.800.

Floor
Rebecca Tunney took her second title of the day on floor, following in her teammate Beth Tweddle’s footsteps with 13.900. Gabrielle Jupp performed some impressive tumbling and wasn’t far behind to score 13.850. Abi Caig seized her second bronze of the finals with 13.550.

Espoirs
Vault
Amy Tinkler proved size isn’t everything on vault when she scored a huge 13.075 for her two vaults. Ellis O’Reilly was equally impressive scoring13.00 only just behind Tinkler, taking the silver. Erin Mclachlan again was very close taking the bronze with 12.975.

Bars

Chantelle Halford took her only medal of the day but a deserved gold on the bars with 12.250 after fulfilling all the requirements. April Maslen followed in silver (12.600)
And Georgina Clements performed a clean routine to her home crowd to take the bronze. (11.450)

Beam
Imogen Chan took one of her two title of the day on beam with some elegane work scoring 13.450. The all-around espoir champion, Rhyannon Jones took the silver with 13.300 and Amy Tinkler added to her medal collection taking the Bronze with 13.150.

Floor
Imogen Chan took her second title on this apparatus, again showing great expression and elegance posting a 13.250. Shannon Archer took the Silver medal after a crowd pleasing routine to the music of Swan Lake with13.050. Followed by Georgina Clements who took her second bronze medal (12.900)

Hannah Whelan Defends National Title

2011-07-09T21:55:00.000+01:00

It was a good day for City of Liverpool Gymnastics at the Echo Arena. Hannah Whelan stormed easily to her second straight national title with an internationally respectable score of 56.350. She finished 3 points clear of silver medallist Danushia Francis. Fellow Liverpool gymnast Jenny Pinches took bronze despite falling on both bars and beam.

Whelan followed the Nastia Liukin/Bridget Sloan approach and led the way in BRIGHT pink. Her performances were both clean and stylish, setting her up well for a good all around placement in Tokyo later in the year. World Champ Beth Tweddle competed strong but not faultless performances on 2 events , missing her first handstand on bars and slightly overcooking her first floor landing, but plenty good enough for GB's leading lady.

Commonwealth gold medallist Imogen Cairns put out a good performance on 3 events, being the only big name other than Whelan to stay on the balance beam (!) and hitting her 2 vaults with ease.

Youngsters from the Commonwealth England team Jocelyn Hunt and Charlotte Lindsey also performed well finishing 4th and 5th respectively and made a bid to be included on team GB this October. Scotlands Amy Regan was her usual delightful self on floor.

If I had one concern for the GB girls it would definitely be the lack of consistency. 2 or 3 falls on beam and an under-par day from Tweddle or Whelan could spell disaster for their dreams of qualifying a full team to London 2012. Where's Martha Karolyi when you need her?!

In the Junior event it was more good news for Liverpool with Rebecca Tunney taking gold ahead of Gabrielle Jupp and Abi Caig.

There seems to be a relaxed atmosphere in the GB camp. Despite having the event finals tomorrow most of the gymnasts decamped to Pizza Express after the event!

Results - Senior --- Junior.

Quotes from the Senior & Junior medallists (from British Gymnastics)
Hannah Whelan -
“I’m really pleased with today’s performance, there is still a few harder skills I'm working on but they weren’t quite ready for today’s competition. The atmosphere was really great in the arena and everybody was cheering each other on. To be crowned British Champion again is a huge houour for me - especially in Liverpool with such great support.”

Danusia Francis -
“I was slightly annoyed more than anything when I fell on beam but I tried to shake it all off and get back from there so I’m really pleased. I’ve got a new floor routine which has quite a lot in it so I found it quite hard stamina wise but was happy to finish with the music!”

Jenni Pinches -
"My competition went well. I fell on bars and beam but the rest of my routines went quite well. The last two British Championships haven’t gone great for me due to injury and a bit of disaster on vault, so I’m pleased with today for various reasons. The podiums felt strange; it didn’t feel like the British but in a good way! It will definitely be great experience for the younger gymnasts tomorrow."

Rebecca Tunney-
‘I wasn’t expecting the win at all today so I’m really pleased. I’ve competed on podiums before and always find it such great experience and it was great having the support of my club here in its hometown. All the younger gymnasts from my club were able to watch and were cheering me on it was great. I'm looking forward to watching the senior competition this afternoon and will be cheering on my team mates Hannah, Beth and Jenni.’

Gabrielle Jupp-
‘I was really pleased with how I performed today but probably a bit disappointed with my bars, but I have the European Youth Olympic Festival coming up soon and I'm hoping to hit 54.000 again and put in another good performance. I’m looking forward to relaxing and watching all of the Seniors compete later.’

Abi Caig-
‘I'm really pleased with my performance today, especially that I managed to make bars final which is a big achievement for me. I've always wanted to compete on podiums and now I've done it, in front of my home crowd as well!’

Women's British Championships

2011-07-08T20:25:00.000+01:00

The first step to qualifying to Tokyo takes place this weekend at Liverpool's Echo Arena. The bigger than ever British championships has come to the home of British champs Beth Tweddle & Hannah Whelan. For the first time the competition is taking place in a large arena and on a podium, giving even the youngest competitors a taste of what a large international competition would be like. BGTV will have a live stream of all the events.

Saturday - Junior & Senior All Around (and event final qualifying)
Sunday - Espoir, Junior & Senior Event Finals

Last year I attended the champs when they were held in Guildford. This year I'll have to watch from afar, but I hope for the gymnasts that this large venue fills up enough to have a great atmosphere.

Third Time Lucky - Pyeongchang 2018!

2011-07-06T16:31:00.000+01:00

The 2018 Winter Olympics have been awarded to Pyeongchang, South Korea. The host city narrowly lost out to Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. Olympic Gold Medallist Yu-Na Kim, a public face of the bid said that she trained harder for the bid presentation in Durban today than she has done for many skating competitions!

Queen Yu-Na's Olympic Bid

2011-07-06T16:15:00.000+01:00

Here is the video of Yu-Na Kim's speech in Durban earlier today, her English continues to improve and she has proved a valuable asset to her country's bid.

2018 - The Decision

2011-07-05T21:16:00.000+01:00

The IOC will decide tomorrow the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics. The 3 Candidate Cities are Annecy (France), Munich (Germany) & Pyeongchang, South Korea. The three bidding cities will make their final presentations and the winning bid will be announced at 4 pm GMT.

2010 Olymic champion Yu-Na Kim has been one of the main faces of the Pyeongchang bid, facing off against 1988 Champion Katherina Witt, of the Munich Bid.

My sentimental bid would be for Pyeongchang as they have been narrowly beaten off in bids to host the 2010 and 2014 games, however- with the political situation in Korea still somewhat unstable, they may still not be the safe bet. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Skating - Grand Prix Assignments

2011-06-27T22:11:00.001+01:00

Today eyes shifted to the new skating season as assignments were announced for the upcoming Grand Prix series.

Big news is that Olympic Champ Evan Lysacek is due to compete in 2 events. Notably absent names include Yu-Na Kim and reigning world champion Miki Ando.

There are a few changes this year. The number of singles skaters in each event has been reduced from 12 to 10 and seeded skaters will have the option to compete in a third event for more prize money (and perhaps to draw in the punters).

With several dance/pairs couples calling it quits and many retirements recently, there is plenty of scope for new talent and upsets. Russia's world junior medallists Adelina Sotnikova & Elizaveta Tuktamisheva will be joining veterans Leonova and Makarova on the senior scene.

See the assignments here, I'll post some predictions as the events roll around.

Also I must apologise once again for the scarceness of my posts as I've been buried in medicine and moving house. Stick with me here at Going for Gold!

When we were very young!

2011-06-27T22:00:00.001+01:00

I stumbled accross this flickr photo by accident the other day. It's from the 2005 World Jr Championships in Kitchener, Canada.

The photo includes 3 future World Champions, 6 future Olympians and one Olympic champion!

L-R Emily Hughes (USA), Mira Leung (Canada), Kimmie Meissner (USA),
Elene Gedevanishvilli (Georgia), Yu-Na Kim (Korea) and Mao Asada (Japan)

London Calling - Olympic Tickets

2011-06-01T19:57:00.000+01:00

Over the past weeks many have been watching their bank accounts closely to see if their bids for London 2012 tickets had come good.

As was to be expected, there are a lot of disappointed fans today, there just aren't enough tickets for everyone who wants them it seems.

I was one of the lucky ones it seems. My schoolfriend and former trampolining training mate called me at the weekend to say that from the money that had been taken, we are going to the Women's trampoline event at the O2 arena. Also today I checked my own account and from the look of things I also have tickets to the football prelims in Coventry (the football competition is spread between arenas across the county with the finals taking place in London).

So like many others my gymnastics reporting will take place via the TV set, although given the top price of tickets, that'll probably get me a lot closer to the action than my money could stretch to!

Were you lucky? Are you olympics-bound? If so, what events?

Don't forget, if you're in the UK there are several opportunities prior to the real thing. The Gymnastics test event will take place at the O2 (probably in early 2012) and the World trampoline & tumbling championships take place in Birmingham in November.

Hockey Night in Canada

2011-06-01T19:47:00.002+01:00

It's a big week for Canadian ice hockey fans an players.

Firstly the Vancouver Canucks are gearing up to face off for the Stanley Cup versus the Boston Bruins this evening. My cousin in downtown Van wrote - Vancouver is looking psyched for the game. It's a sea of blue jerseys out there today!

Also, the new season will bring more top-level ice hockey to Canadian soil with the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL after a 15 year absense. In 1996 due to financial trouble the franchise moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes, Yesterday it was announced that True North Sports & Entertainment had aggreed to a purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers, relocating back to Winnipeg. Whether they will be the Jets, The thrashers, or something new is not yet confimed.

Read the story here, there is some talk that another franchise may also make a return to Canada with the Colorado Avalanche possibly making the move to Quebec.

Canucks - Best in the West!

2011-05-25T19:56:00.004+01:00

Big congrats to the Vanouver Canucks for their win in the 5th leg of the Western Conference Final yesterday.

They'll now go on to face either the Boston Bruins ~~or Tampa Bay Lightning~~ for the Stanley Cup.
The last Canadian team to make the final was the Sens in '07
The last Canadian team, to WIN was the Montreal Canadiens in '93

Go Canucks Go!!

Hilarious sporting photo(s) of the week!

2011-05-25T19:50:00.000+01:00

US president Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron take on some school kids at table tennis yesterday during the President's state visit to the UK.

Glasgow 2015

2011-05-22T20:53:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to Glasgow for winning the bid to host the 2015 Gymnastics worlds, beating out Orlando and Paris. Glasgow was the first city to place a bid for 2015 as it will build on the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Whilst Beth Tweddle has more than hinted she will retire after London 2012, hopefully it will persuade more of the current crop of seniors to stick around for another olympic cycle. It would be great to see Hannah Whelan make 3 olympics!

On a related note, the Liverpool girls (Tweddle, Whelan, Pinches, Caig, Tunney & Jameson) have won the 2011 British team title. Scores from GymData.

1 - 167.200 - Liverpool

2 - 154.400 - Cardiff Central

3 - 153.850 - Heathrow

4 - 148.850 - Dynamo

5 - 147.600 - The Academy

6 - 147.500 - Notts "A"

7 - 145.350 - Notts "B"

8 - 142.450 - Park Wrekin College

9 - 141.950 - South Durham

10 - 141.850 - Horsham

11 - 140.300 - Europa

12 - 137.700 - City of Glasgow

13 - 136.500 - City Of Manchester

14 - 119.150 - Vernon Park

Two Worlds Decided

2011-05-21T09:52:00.004+01:00

The FIG commitee decided Friday not to move the 2011 worlds from Tokyo. IMHO this was the best decision for all, as the travel risks are mininmal at worst and the people of Japan could definitely do with the confidence boost of hosting a successful sporting event at home.

From there it is onwards and upwards.....to London 2012!

And from there......The commitee also decided to award the 2013 worlds to Antwerp, Belgium. They are also expected to decide the host city of the hotly contested 2015 worlds this weekend (Associated Press)

In other gymnastics news -

Youth Olympic Champion Viktoria Komova has undergone ankle surgery at the same hospital in Germany as Aliya Mustafina.

2 time russian olympian Anna Pavlova further cemented her comeback by winning the senior all-around at the Alexander Dityatin international in St Petersburg. Also a promising young face made an appearance, Nailia Mustafina (younger sister of currently injured world champ Aliya) came second in the junior all-around. Results and report @ International Gymnast.

Also the British Team Championships take place this weekend in Guildford. Full Twist has the list of entries, including Beth Tweddle.

Go Canucks Go!

2011-05-21T09:30:00.000+01:00

No, this is not unbiased sports reporting, The Vanouver Canucks are currently leading the Western Conference final of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 2-1 against San Jose and could do with all the best canadian (and international support). Go Canucks Go!

Russian Stars

2011-05-14T15:43:00.002+01:00

Russia's newly crowned European Champion, Anna Dementyeva led the medals at the Moscow Stars World Cup, winning gold on beam and floor and silver on bars. Here's a quick summary of the womens medallists.

Report on Double Front, Full results (in russian) here.

Women’s Vault Final

Oksana Chusovitina - GER (14.712)
Elena Kurbatova - RUS (13.950)
Jade Barbosa - BRA (13.337)

Women’s Uneven Bars Final

Jessica Lopez - VEN (14.275)
Anna Dementyeva - RUS (14.000)
Yana Sikulova - CZE (13.950)

Women’s Balance Beam Final

Anna Dementyeva - RUS (15.100)
Ksenia Afanasyeva - RUS (14.200)
Yana Demyanchuk - UKR (14.100)

Women’s Floor Final

Anna Dementyeva - RUS (14.525)
Ksenia Afanasyeva - RUS (14.200)
Jessica Lopez - VEN (13.850)

Chinese Gymnastics Nationals - The return of Cheng Fei

2011-05-09T16:54:00.000+01:00

The land of the tiny gymnasts may have a veteran to lead them again.

Cheng Fei, the baby of the 2004 olympic team and the familiar leader of the gold medal winning 2008 Beijing team has made her return to competition at the 2011 Chinese nationals (a first step to world team qualifying).

She is not yet back to full competitive form, but there is definite potential here. At this rate there could be a lot of familiar faces at the 2012 olympics in London.

Komova2012 is posting videos from the championships on youtube.
Results should be posted soon at the Chinese Gymnastics Federation.

Worlds - Kiss and Cry moments!

2011-05-01T16:42:00.000+01:00

Igor's words to Alex and Maia were "Don't have a heart attack!"

Tessa & Scott are actually thrilled when they see Alex & Maia's placement rather than their own.

It's all smiles in the Zoueva/Spilband camp

Less so from french ice dancers Pechalat & Bourzat

Mao doesn't look too disappointed with her 6th place finish. Kanako is thrilled!

Muted enthusiasm from Yuna, nothing muted from Alena!

Even the men get emotional in the kiss and cry.

A golden trio from Canton

2011-04-30T19:48:00.002+01:00

What do they put in the water in Canton, Michigan?!

Igor Spilband and Marina Zoueva must be getting requests to coach nearly every dance team in the world, but they've kept their team small and nurtured them well.

It was never in doubt that a Canton team would win gold in Moscow, but who that team would be was a mystery right until the final score was counted.

3rd from last to skate were World debutantes Maia and Alex Shibutani. These young siblings were a breath of fresh air to their Charlie Chaplin themed programme (Smile/Lets face the music and dance) they really did dance in a way that made you forget this is a sport of technical marks and split-second timings. However, the shock on their faces when their scores came up showed that they never in their wildest dreams expected to win a podium place, they pipped the french team Pechalat & Bourzat by just .15 overall but by over 4 points in the free dance. These two are 'the future'...

Next to skate were the olympic champions Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. One word for their fiery samba free skate - WOW! They were innovative, powerful, fast and furious all the way through. Whilst this programme was new to the audience (at least everything from about 30second onwards), Tessa and Scott had been skating this programme and had complete confidence in it. and it showed. Cool calm and collected as the scores came up, they looked unbeatable.

Last on the ice, having no doubt heard the reception the canadians had got. Meryl Davis and Charlie White skated calmly to their starting position. They skated their tango free skate as faultlessly as they have all season. Fast, technical and with feeling. Igor Spilband was seen bouncing up and down in celebration as his third team of the last 10 minutes skated their socks off. It was going to come down to the wire.

The Eurosport commentators thought Tessa & Scott had it, I thought they did to.
We were both wrong, a first and very deserved world title for Meryl & Charlie to cap off an undefeated season. A good ending, it keeps the friendly rivalry alive between these two fabulous teams ready for next year.

What this does mean is that Marina and Igor will have a busy autumn, their teams will be competing at EVERY Grand Prix Event!

Would I wish anything more from these dancers for next season?
Maia & Alex - a bit more power
Meryl & Charlie - a bit more fire
Tessa and Scott - just more please :-D

What an end to a fabulous championships. Well done Moscow!

Ups and Downs of the Ladies Free Skate

2011-04-30T15:10:00.001+01:00

I'm not quite sure what to think of the ladies event yet, but at least I had a chance to watch the last 2 groups live. So here is the event as I saw it. Be warned- Subjective opinions abound!

Kanako Murakami: This young thing is a talent and a joy to watch. She looked very ready in the rehearsals and was (according to the commentators) gutted to be in 10th after the short programme. Her free skate was full of energy and performed up to the crowd. She won't reach the podium this year, but bet she will in the future.

Mao Asada: This programme is beautiful and Mao's skating quality is virtuoso. Unfortunately her technical weaknesses caught up with her again, her triple axel was under-rotated as it has been much of the week, the 3Salchow deserted and she had a flukey entry into one of her spins. Thankfully she didn't look too disappointed in the kiss and cry. It wasn't to be for Mao this year. Would it have been different had the event been in Tokyo?

Mae-Berenice Miete: This young lady has risen quickly to be the leader for France. She deservedly won the qualifying round here. The jumps were a bit of a disaster in the free skate today but she has promise because she performs her programme well. Her interpretation seemed real and not simply regurgitated from memory. She's not ready yet but she has scope to improve.

Rachael Flatt: The first time we've seen the consistent Flatt have a disaster out on the ice in competition. The reasion is obvious. She has a stress fracture of her tibia and a foot injury which were playing on her mentally and physically. The question is, why was she sent out to compete in that state. She earned her spot back in January after narrowly beating Mirai Nagasu back at US nationals. But Mirai would likely have been much more competition ready and if things had been different, the USA might have their prized 3 spots back for next year. I feel for Flatt (particularly as she put off attending Stanford to focus on skating this year) but why have alternates and not use them?

Miki Ando: Skated her socks off. The technical content was all there and she put effort into her choreography. I may be biased and many will likely disagree with me, but she would win more fans if she put more real expression into her performance and threw it out to the audience. Her arm movements are pretty, but they still seem to be there for the sake of it and not because they add to the programme. That said, she says she came here to make the people of Japan smile and she has don that. She deserved her high marks and her win on the day today.

Alena Leonova: There have been many nay-sayers to this skater but all credit to her. She picked her theme and she SOLD IT. She will never be the most graceful skater with the best lines (just as her number 1 fan in Moscow, Irina Slutskaya never was) but she performed her programme the best of any skater today and who can blame her. It may be her last chance to skate a major championships in front of an adoring home crowd, with the strength of Russia's tiny teens coming up from the junior ranks. This (in my humble opinion) was the performance of the night.

Yu-Na Kim: is likely kicking herself right now. Her Homage to Korea programme is a piece of skating art and should be appreciated on its own merit. But the jumps that she has been hitting consistently all week let her down just enough to see gold slip from her fingers. One mistake and she still would have pipped Miki Ando, but two was too much to get away with. She popped the double toe on the end of combination, popped her nemesis flip jump and recieved a level 1 on one of her spins. Whether she was let down by a lack of training, a mental blip or something else we may never know. I hope we see this gorgeous programme and gorgeous skater back in competition again soon though.

Alissa Czisny: I thought for a second the Czisny of old was back in the building. She fell on her first triple lutz and it could have all gone horribly wrong from there, but it didn't. Czisny should be very proud of her US and Grand Prix titles this season, and of the vast improvements she has made in consistency and artistry. We're not sure yet how much we'll see of her next season. But I certainly wouldn't be sad to see her back.

Carolina Kostner: She wasn't perfect, but that was the most consistent we've seen Carolina Kostner in a long long time. The people of Russia may never forgive her for pipping Alena Leonova to the bronze (I too would have Alena ahead, but what can you do?) Still, congratulations Carolina on a long-awaited return to form.

Ksenia Makarova: Russsia wanted a world medal, and they wanted it bad! Makarova is a lovely skater with great performance quality. But with her lack of technical difficulty (she doesn't do a lutz) she had to be perfect and she wasn't today. Her triple-triple was under-rotated and several other errors knocked her score down the pack. Keep at it though Ksenia, and keep working on that Lutz for the future!

So it's Ando, Kim and Kostner. Not how many expected this podium to look, but good news for Japan at last.

Oh dear Jenna, oh dear :-(

Olympic champions take the lead.

2011-04-29T21:08:00.000+01:00

With the men's and pairs competitions complete, all eyes in Moscow turn to the ladies and the ice dancers. Again I have been without live coverage for most of the event so I will keep my coverage brief and speak only of what I know.

There has been much excitement about Korea's Queen Yu-Na returning to competition for the first time since Vancouver. Yu-Na Kim's new programmes and costumes have been kept almost as secret as Kate Middleton's wedding dress in the run-up to the championships. Kim delivered a steady but not spectacular programme to the music of Giselle. She stepped out of her planned combination jump on the 3Lutz but managed to add a double toe to her flip jump later in the programme. The programme was smooth and easy on the eyes but lacked the fire and performance of her previous 'Danse Macabre' and 'James Bond' short programmes. Many tweeters (no names) felt that she won the short programme based on reputation rather than performance, but there's very little not to like in this programme.

2nd place went to Miki Ando, who showed more effort in her performance to 'The Mission' than I've seen in the past (ie she looked up and performed directly to the audience, which helps!). Russia's Ksenia Makarova sits in third, hiping to emulate young team-mate Artur Gachinski and take home a medal from Moscow.

I can't really comment on the rest as I haven't watched them yet. Mao Asada is down in the rankings after her triple axel was downgraded, but not out of reach of a medal. Also the US ladies are on track to earn 3 spots to next years championships (for the first time since 2007) which will please the folks at home.

In the Ice Dance, as ever it is the teams from Canton, Michigan leading the way. Virtue & Moir hold a slight lead over training mates Davis & White, but it could go either way in the free with the Americans having clocked up much more competition experience this season. It will be a deligt to finally see the 2nd half of the Canadians free skate though!

The crazy, tiny, bendy body of Yuko Kavaguti

2011-04-28T22:11:00.000+01:00

As you may have guessed from my past postings and not-quite impartial coverage. I love this pair. They have a great commitment to their sport, a fierce desire to win, and the guts to try new things. Yuko is tiny, fragile looking (remember Sasha hugging her on the podium in Bern as she was shivvering from the cold in the arena!) but with nerves of steel. She was willing to give up her Japanese citizenship to persue an olympic dream.

It didn't quite work out for them in Vancouver 2010, or Moscow 2011. Yuko is still fighting her way back from a shoulder injury, but these two will not be happy with 4th place, and they'll be back fighting next year.

Germans Uncatchable

2011-04-28T18:20:00.001+01:00

Coming into the free skate there was virtually nothing in it between the top two pairs, Pang & Tong of China and Savchenko & Szolkowy of Germany.

The Germans came out and skated their Pink Panther programme better than they have all year. It was up to Pang & Tong to skate their very best to catch them. Sadly from the first jumps it wasn't to be. He singled his first side-by-side double axel and put his hands down on the second. Gold was out of reach and silver was in the hands of the 2 Russian pairs still to go.

Young pair Bazarova & Larionov channelled a bit of Yagudin magic skating to the olympic champ's Man in the Iron Mask music from 2002. Like the Chinese, and like their Russian team-mates Kavaguti & Smirnov they skated a lovely artistic programme but had to count a fall. It was left to the final pair. Volosozhar & Trankov of Russia. The pair had both been on or close to the podium with previous partners but in their first season together put out a near-perfect skate and pipped the Olympic silver medallists, Pang & Tong to second place on the day. Russian pair skating looks as strong as ever on the road to Sochi 2014.