Rick at Gymnastics Coaching thinks it could happen.
I disagree. Despite having three incredibly talented freshmen (Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Vanessa Zamarripa and Aisha Gerber), UCLA is not strong enough to break the Georgia jaggernaut.
But if the Bruins keep this up, this year they seem to be heading toward a Pac-10 Championship over rival Stanford, and perhaps a top three showing at the Super Six.
U.S. Olympian Alicia Sacramone with new guy Eric Hall, a Brown football player, and a friend.
Sacramone’s alleged new guy is Eric Hunt, a defensive back on the Brown University football team. (Cute, no?)
As The Big Lead blog put it, “He’s lucky, she’s hot, and she has hot friends.”
Speaking of Alicia, she recently took a star turn with E! at the Golden Globes, helping with some of the red-carpet commentary. She dressed for the occassion with a pretty, glam hairdo and an haute one-shoulder black gown from designer Aiden Maddox. Here’s the Youtube video, taken from TV:
Parts two through six can be found thanks to Youtube user Annaed884.
First, the big news: No. 1 Florida, which was out of the gate like a racehorse this season, was defeated — by Arkansas, 196.375-195.425. Hmm. The Arkansas program, only in its seventh year, may someday become an SEC powerhouse like Alabama, Georgia, etc. It certainly made steps toward doing so Friday.
This was Florida’s first-ever defeat by the Razorbacks, and the teams have met 19 times. Florida ran into big trouble on beam, where top performers Amanda Castillo, Corey Hartung and Alicia Goodwin all fell. Arkansas’s Casey Jo Magee won the all-around with 39.525.
Utah pounded the rebuilding University of Washington team 196.85-193.45. German Olympian Daria Bijak scored a career high 9.9 on bars and tied her career high of 9.9 on floor.
Georgia, which struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season (OK, it struggled by Georgia standards) is staging a mid-season comeback. The charge was led, of course, by Courtney Kupets, who posted a whopping 39.825 in the all-around, the fourth highest all-around score a Gym Dog has ever had. (Karin Lichey, a former Georgia competitor, scored a 40 as a freshman in 1996.)
Kupets scored perfect 10s on bars and beam, while NCAA beam champion Grace Taylor earned a career-best 9.975 on her specialty.
UCLA keeps getting better. Freshman Vanessa Zamarripa scored her first 10 against Cal State Fullerton, a meet the Bruins won 196.6-193.875. Former Canadian Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs also had a great night, scoring 39.525 to win the all-around. Supervaulter Brittani McCullough (the distance she gets is truly incredible), vaulting for the first time since rupturing her Achilles tendon in 2008, earned a 9.95 on that event.
Other scores: LSU beat Kentucky 196.575-195.225, and senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney won the all-around with 39.600…on Thursday, Stanford beat Pac-10 rival Arizona State 196.775-194.600.
Nastia Liukin shows off her toned body. Liukin has said she'd like to help raise fitness awareness among children.
There’s a lot of the same — winning the all-around gold was the highlight of her Olympics, she’s been modeling for BCBG Max Azria and promoting her Vanilla Star Jeans line, Nastia Gold. But there’s also talk about a theme song (no joke!) and some philanthropy work to keep kids in shape.
CGG: What’s your ultimate goal for the future now that you’re already an Olympic champion?
NL:I am going to continue training and competing. The 2009 Visa Championships are in Dallas this year, my home town! So I am very excited about that! Aside from gymnastics, I am going to be actively working on getting more kids and teens involved in sports, and over all be healthy. Teenage obesity is a huge problem in the U.S. and I would really like to help make a change.CGG: You’ve been involved in so many charities. What’s the cause that above all else is closest to your heart?
NL: I feel like so many people and great causes have been behind me and have supported me to achieve my ultimate goal at the Olympics. I love the feeling of giving back and helping others.CGG: What are the challenges of being a gymnast? Do you feel pressured to keep a certain body image?
NL: Gymnastics is such a great way to stay in shape! I have never been worried about the way my body looks. I am thankful for what I have and the way I look. But I do know, that I work hard for that! Now that I am not in “competition shape” I am doing a lot more cardio work to get back in shape!
2008 U.S. Champion David Sender is one of the excellent men's gymnasts to come out of Stanford.
AP source: Stanford considering cuts to athletics
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stanford’s athletic department is projecting a $5 million loss in revenue over the next three years and is considering cutting staff and eliminating some sports teams, The Associated Press has learned.
The school is expected to decide in the next 30 to 60 days on staff cuts, a Stanford employee familiar with the budget issues told the AP on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss the shortfall.
The person also said Tuesday it wasn’t clear which teams, if any, would be considered for elimination — and it likely wouldn’t be until next season so at the earliest in the fall.
“That’s the last thing they want to consider. They don’t want it to affect student-athletes,” the person said, noting another department was looking to eliminate 50 positions from a staff of about 140. “We do have some serious budget problems. We’re looking at other ways (to save).”
Reducing travel costs also was being discussed.
Stanford has 35 sports teams, 19 for women, 15 for men and one coed squad
Article here.
Bilozertchev’s departure from the Ohio State University gymnastics team, where he was about to be a key freshman, stirred up questions about his commitment to the sport.
In an interview with International Gymnast Magazine, Bilozertchev has confirmed that no, he isn’t done with gymnastics, and intends to stay in school at Ohio State.
Bilozertchev, 18, said he is more motivated than ever, and wants to put to rest any rumors that he has left the sport.
“My focus right now is on Winter Cup [Feb. 5-7],” he told IG on Monday. “I’m going to try to make national team and just continue with gymnastics. There’s no plan to quit anytime soon — just to get that rumor squashed.”
OSU head coach Miles Avery announced Thursday that Bilozertchev, a freshman, had left the team “for personal reasons.” The No. 7 OSU Buckeyes began the NCAA season Saturday.
“His departure will and has affected the team,” Avery told IG. “It is like any team that had a guy they were counting on quit days before the season began without warning. It is hard. It takes a moment to regroup and we are.”
This is good news for USA Gymnastics. Bad news for Ohio State.
Australian Dru Troon is preparing for the Masters Games in February.
Gymnast Dru is not too old
DRU TROON’S philosophy on sport is that you’re never too old to try something new.
Healesville’s [Victoria, Australia] 62-year-old gymnast is preparing for her first Masters Games this February where she will be competing in the women’s gymnastics on floor, mini trampoline and uneven bars.
Mrs Troon is familiar with late starts, competing as a gymnast for the first time at 40 years of age.
Involved in horse riding as a child, Mrs Troon says she began gymnastics after she and a group of parents started up the Healesville Gymnastic Club in 1978.
Watching her own children learn and through her involvement with the gymnastics club Mrs Troon says she decided to take up the sport herself because it looked like so much fun.
While her children grew older and left the sport, Mrs Troon decided that it was a hobby she wanted to continue.
“It was just enjoying the sport. I love rolling, jumping and hanging upside down,” Mrs Troon said.
“I love the feeling of excitement and dread that you get before a competion. It also gives me something to aim for throughout the year,” she said.
“I’m aiming to keep going. I’d like to see what I can still do and how long I can do it for,” she said.
Mrs. Troon is hosting an afternoon tea for other Healesville athletes who are competing in the Masters Games this February.
Former Canadian Leslie Mak is an Oregon State freshman this year, and she could be the first in the NCAA to perform a Bhardwaj, or a Pak salto with a full twist on bars. (Has anyone else performed this super-difficult skill in the NCAA yet? I don’t know of any.)
Leslie Mak, 2007 Gymnix International, Uneven Bars:
UCLA easily knocked off Arizona over the weekend, 196.375-193.675. If they aren’t this year, the freshman and sophomore-heavy Bruins will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010 and 2011. Freshman Vanessa Zamarripa won the all-around with a 39.4, and Mizuki Sato won vault and floor (9.9. each). UCLA is currently ranked no. 2 in the nation, behind Florida, which seems to start off the season strongly and fizzle a bit later.
The highly-anticipated Utah-Georgia showdown was something of a bust for the perennial no. 2 Utes, who lost 197.150-196.725. Georgia was led by Courtney Kupets, who took her third straight all-around title at this meet. The Utes may take a little comfort in the fact that when they went against Georgia early in the season last year and won, only to lose at the NCAA Championships.
Jade Barbosa at the 2007 World Championships.
The first thing to note is an article from Globoesport that discloses that Brazilian star Jade Barbosa is doing better, thanks to her work with a sports psychologist. “I find that it has helped me sufficiently,” she is quoted as saying.
For some reason there isn’t much heard about gymnasts seeing sports psychologists before the NCAA level, although many elites probably do (or should).
Barbosa said she is happier, despite the fact that her club, Flamengo, allegedly owes her a year’s worth of back wages. In the midst of the media frenzy around Brazilian gymnastics (Jade, her parents, Lais Souza and Daiane dos Santos claimed they’d been overtrained, that the coaches had restricted their water intake, forced them to keep going through injury, etc.) Apparently Jade’s stepmother even told the newspaper that Jade had been invited to train in the U.S., where she would make a living off of her gymnastics (how would that work?)
It’s hard to say where Jade and her family are with her training and injuries. Her club, where Diego and Daniele Hypolito also train, is reportedly doing away with its elite program, although there’s talk they may all go train at a similiar club in Rio de Janiero.
The article, for those who can read Portugese, is here.
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