August 26th, 2009 by Gymbit
In the 1990s, Dominique Dawes captured the attention of gymnastics fans around the world with many fantastic skills: a Hindorff on bars, three consecutive layouts on beam, two flip-flops to a full-in dismount, and back-to-back tumbling on floor. Though her lengthy competitive career spanned three Olympic Games and five World Championships, Dominique’s most successful competition was undoubtedly the 1994 U.S. Championships where she won all five available gold medals (Shannon Miller won all five silver medals, leaving only the bronze medals for all the other gymnasts!). Coached by Kelli Hill in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Dominique was the first Hill’s Angel to achieve national prominence.
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July 24th, 2009 by Gymbit
Three years ago, Toronto’s Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs made history as the first female Canadian to win a medal at the World Championships. In recent years, this country’s medal hopes had rested on Olympians such as Stella Umeh, Yvonne Tousek and Kate Richardson, but it wasn’t until 2006 that a Canadian gymnast stood proudly on the most prestigious podium of all. Only seasoned competitors Irina Krasnyanska (UKR) and Sandra Izbasa (ROM) scored higher than Elyse’s 15.475 on the balance beam.
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June 1st, 2009 by Gymbit
Gymnasts display so many difficult skills with such grace that it’s easy to forget just how tricky the sport really is. There are times, of course, when things don’t go quite as planned and a Blooper is born….
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May 27th, 2009 by Gymbit
Just for a bit of fun, let’s look back at gymnastics comedian Paul Hunt. He was at his competitive peak in the early 1970s, but took to a different kind of performance in the 1980s: creating parodies of women’s gymnastics. He performed in exhibitions under such names as Pauletta Huntescu (ROM) and Paulette Huntinova (URS).
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April 30th, 2009 by Gymbit
Vault isn’t the only culprit when it comes to equipment problems (see “The Faulty Vault”). There have been quite a few incidents on uneven bars in which a cable has snapped during a routine and the entire apparatus has collapsed. Fortunately in all three cases I found, no one was injured…just a little bit shaken up!
Ludmilla Tourischeva’s fall is perhaps the best known case of such an occurrence. During the 1975 World Cup, the bars fell just as the Soviet gymnast completed her routine. It didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest, and she ended up winning the event.
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April 22nd, 2009 by Gymbit
Quick, who were the Olympic All-Around Champions in 2000? Alexei Nemov and, um, Simona Amanar? It always takes me an extra second to remember that Amanar’s name is officially at the top of the list. With 50% of the field competing on a vault that was set 5 cm too low, the playing field was hardly fair. American Elise Ray suffered a scary crash when she missed the vault entirely in warm-ups, and then proceeded to fall on both vaults during the biggest competition of her life. “It really scared me. I felt something was wrong but I didn’t know what it was. I was so disappointed. It carried over to the next three events. I can’t believe a setting could be wrong at the Olympic Games.” (source: International GYMNAST magazine, November 2000)
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March 11th, 2009 by Gymbit
The inaugural Montreal World Cup was a great success in the men’s field. Seasoned veterans such as Razvan Selariu (ROM), Krisztian Berki (HUN) and Daniel Popescu (ROM) won Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse and Vault, respectively. Danny Rodrigues (FRA), a finalist at the Beijing Olympics on Rings, won this event in Montreal with two Victorian Crosses!
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March 11th, 2009 by Gymbit
Gymbyte and I have just returned from L’International Gymnix 2009, and it was an amazing weekend in Montreal! This was the inaugural year as a World Cup event and it was a great success, especially on the men’s side where many of the world’s top competitors were present.
The Junior Cup portion of the competition included female gymnasts from Canada, France, Russia and the USA. The International Cup female competitors competed alongside the juniors, with gymnasts representing Canada, Australia, USA, France and Peru.
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March 2nd, 2009 by Gymbit
Last week I witnessed a performance of The National Acrobats of China with my sister, Gymbyte. It was a fantastic show, and I could tell by their technique that many of the performers were former gymnasts. I wonder if there are any well-known names among them.
One of my favourite acts was the Hoop Diving, where the guys did all sorts of flips through hoops that appeared to be at least 8 feet off the ground. Most of the acrobats went through the hoop on the pre-flight, but the last guy went through on the post-flight. One gymnast even did a full-twisting salto through the hoop! I also loved the Icarian Acrobatics, where the gymnasts flipped on each others’ feet, and the Grand Acrobatics & Martial Arts act which included swords and a huge red flag.
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February 16th, 2009 by Gymbit
Over the years, Cuba has produced an array of highly talented gymnasts. Olympian Erick Lopez Rios springs to mind as the AA Champion in four consecutive Pan-American Games (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003). Annia Portuondo Hatch brought a Vault medal home to Cuba from the 1996 World Championships, and then won a Silver medal on the same event at the 2004 Olympic Games while competing under the American flag. Another Cuban World medallist who would like a chance to compete for the USA is Charlie Tamayo. Though he defected from his homeland in 2003 during the Anaheim World Championships, citizenship paperwork prevented him from striving for a spot on the 2008 American team. Now his goal is to represent his adopted country at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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