The U.S. men’s team stunned World Champion China to take gold at the 1984 Olympic Games. The Japanese men, led by eventual all-around winner Koji Gushiken, placed third. The L.A. Times has a nice mini-retrospective.
Twenty five years later, not a lot has changed — except the gymnasts, the skills, the requirements and the order on the podium (at the 2008 Olympic Games, China was first, Japan second and the U.S. third.)
All have been successful post-Olympics. Peter Vidmar is a motivational speaker; Tim Daggett, an NBC commentator and gym owner; Bart Conner, a gym owner, International Gymnast Magazine editor and husband to Nadia Comaneci; Jim Hartung is assistant coach for the men’s team at the University of Nebraska; Mitch Gaylord, a stunt double and frequent guest on Hollywood Squares; and Scott Johnson, a gym owner and promoter.
USA Gymnastics today announced that the 2010 Tyson American Cup will be held at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., on March 6. This will be the first time this prestigious international invitational has been held in Massachusetts.
“Worcester and the DCU Center will be a great location for the Tyson American Cup, which has a storied tradition of previewing the world’s top gymnasts,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “This event remains an important cornerstone in the showcasing of our elite athletes as they prepare for international competition at its highest level, including the World Championships and the Olympic Games.”
Massachusetts Sports Partnership, Destination Worcester, and the SMG-managed DCU Center, worked together to attract the event to Central Massachusetts.
“I have taken this decision without thinking about my image. The projects are very nice, but they remain just projects. In this moment, the Ministry is blocked because of some reasons we all know. Nobody has anything to sign in the Ministry. In this moment, sport functions from inaction. I hope the problem of the Minister will be solved as soon as possible and positively.
Belu and coaching partner Mariana Bitang were both offered positions with the Romanian Ministry of Sport after they resigned from their gymnastics posts in 2005 after several national team members were photographed sneaking out to a nightclub.
Certainly the state of Romanian gymnastics is not as strong as it once was, but the new generation, including up-and-comer Ana Progras, Larisa Iordache and Amelia Racea, seems promising.
Ana Progras, 2009 Spain vs. Romania, Balance Beam:
By the way, Romanian national team coach Nicolae Forminte reportedly does not have cancer after all, according to this article in Romanian newspaper ProSport. (Thanks, some guy.) The article says that a biopsy revealed that Forminte’s skin growth was benign, as results of a biopsy were negative.
“Without question, a brilliantly spirited performer,” observed one spectator at May’s Level 10 National Championship meet in Seattle. She was talking about WGA Texans’s Elizabeth LeDuc, whose big smiles and difficult beam routine have marked her as one to watch for the next several years.
Lizzy LeDuc on floor at the CoverGirl Classic:
Without question, a spirited performance. The question is, when you’re as obviously talented as LeDuc, when should you turn elite? New blog Aunt Joyce’s Ice Cream Stand opines that LeDuc, who will be too young to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games, is being hurried along too quickly.
While I wish LeDuc success, I do not see anyone slowing her down in the near future. Lizzy, her parents and her coaches are on the fast track. They are going to shove skills down her throat to make her D scores competitive at the junior level so she receives assignments. Ultimately, I foresee another talented junior injured and burnt out before she ever reaches the senior ranks.
But before we pronounce LeDuc another Kristal Uzelac or Annie Fogarty, we ought to consider that she’s been an elite gymnast for all of a month, and got there after winning the Level 10 National all-around and beam titles.
It isn’t just the burnouts who were competing elite before age 12, either. Dominique Moceanu, Jennie Thompson, Chellsie Memmel, Shannon Miller and Jordyn Wieber were all elites and elementary schoolers at the same time.
At the same time, new floor/vault standout Kayla Williams, 16, who also turned elite a month ago and is being talked about as a specialist on the World team, also seems to have done everything right.
So on the one hand, don’t do it before you’re ready. But on the other, it may be better to wait (even though you’re ready) to avoid injury/stress/burnout, even at the expense of exposure and attendance at those oh-so-important National Team training camps.
What do you think? When’s the optimal time to turn elite?
HARTFORD, Conn. – The head of USA Gymnastics says Hartford has been chosen as the site of the 2010 national championships and the main world championship qualifier.
An official announcement is planned for noon Wednesday at the state Capitol. Legendary women’s gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi and Gov. M. Jodi Rell are expected to be among those attending.
USA Gymnastics President and Chief Executive Steve Penny says the Visa Championships will be held at the XL Center Aug. 11 to 14 of next year. He says Hartford was chosen for its compact, walkable environment and the ability to use the XL Center’s adjoining expo center for warm-up and practice gyms.
State government and sports officials say it’s one of the biggest events Hartford has ever landed.
A still from the pilot episode of ABC Family's "Make It or Break It."
Commenter Samantha wonders:
Am I the only gymnastics fan who slightly LIKES Make it or Break it? I know it is a crappy portrayal of the gymnastics world but still, it is really fun to watch and I love Payson! I only wish they showed slightly hardr gymnastics – the kind of standard they had in the film Stick It – NCAA rather than Olympic level, but acceptably difficult gymnastics – a bit silly to imply Lauren, the world’s ‘best beamer’ does a flic tuckback dismount! However, any exposure of gymnastics on primetime has to be an improvement! I just wish they had a bit more time focussing on the training the girls are always doingin the background.
Samantha, you’re not alone — I kinda like it too. Sure, none of the girls carry themselves like gymnasts, or look like they’ve ever been forced to do more than 10 pushups. Sure, it passes off level 9 skills as Olympic-caliber gymnastics. But in spite of that, it’s not a bad show. And at least there’s some real gymnastics, and some real gymnasts.
"Make It or Break It" is turning into a hit for ABC Family, which ordered another 10 episodes made earlier this week.
Entertainment Weekly concurs. Although it acknowledges that MIOBI is “cheese-tastic,” EW published an article listing six reasons to watch Make It or Break It, which is turning into ABC Family’s most well-received show — other than The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
1. The cute rocker boy Emily (the scrappy one from the wrong side of the tracks) works with at the pizza place (where she’s not supposed to work because it’s a distraction from her Olympic training…omg dramz everywhere!). Emily, upon his expressing interest in coming to her meet: “I could use the moral support.” Cute Rocker Boy: “The morality of my support is definitely in question.” Sorta dirty, sorta hot, sorta nonsensical. Just the way I like it.
2. The love triangle among the girl who looks like Whitney Port, good girl Kaylee, and Kaylee’s boyfriend (who, oops, had sex with the girl who looks like Whitney Port). Here’s why you do a show about gymnasts: Because they have a “no dating” rule to — like the work rule — cut down on distractions. Everything’s more interesting with rules to break. And will-have-sex vs. will-not conflict is better than watching folks on Secret Life of the American Teenager talk sex to death.
3. More fun with gymnasts: What other show could have a cortisone-shot plot line? Except maybe a show about people with arthritis, which would probably be a tough sell on ABC Family. There seemed to be hints of possible eating disorders to come, too, when Kaylee’s dad made her weigh in at home — a great issue for a show like this to tackle responsibly.
4. The hot new blond, scruffy coach. Age appropriate goodness for anyone over 21! Bonus points for Kaylee’s pop star mom having an affair with the old coach, who ditched the gym for a shinier, bigger one (under threat of blackmail…man, there’s a lot going on here).
Yang Wei and Yang Yun wed in an ultra-lavish ceremony.
The China Daily is reporting that former gymnastics stars Yang Wei and Yang Yun are expecting a baby in November.
Rumors that Yang and Yang already know the sex of the child (it’s said to be a boy) have persisted and are causing some ire. In China, people are not allowed to know a baby’s gender before its born, but allegations of special treatment for the members of China’s gymnastics royalty seem to be emerging.
Yang, the double gold medalist at last year’s Beijing Olympics, and his wife Yang Yun, a bronze medalist in the uneven bars at the Sydney Games, have asked site visitors to their personal website to name their son. Yang Yun is set to deliver her baby in November.
We can’t know the baby’s gender in advance but you can?” someone was quoted as saying in Metropolis Express.
Afterwards, they held a press conference to explain themselves, with Yang Wei stating that he had promised to give Yang Yun a fantasy wedding for supporting him during his pressure-filled march to the Olympic gold medal he won in Beijing.
Yang Yun and 2000 Olympic teammate Dong Fangxiao are still being investigated by the International Olympic committee, who suspects that China faked their ages so she could compete at the 2000 Olympic Games. The matter has been turned over to the IOC Disciplinary committee, and a ruling is expected soon.
Yang, who also won bronze on bars in Sydney, stated on Chinese television last year that she was 14 during the Olympic Games, and Dong applied for a credential to the Beijing Olympics and listed her birth year as 1986, which would have made her 14 as well. Beginning with the Sydney Games, athletes had to turn 16 within the Olympic year to be eligible to compete.
Former Stanford gymnast David Sender won three gold medals at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel earlier this month.
2008 U.S. Champion David Sender, who considered giving up gymnastics after being passed over for a spot on the Olympic team last summer, was thrice golden at the recent Maccabiah Games, the premier sporting event for Jewish athletes around the world.
In the open, singles male division, Sender took three gold medals, winning on still rings, vault and horizontal bar with 14.65, 15.575 and 14.6 respectively. He earned silver in the open all-around with a final score of 84.225 and on pommel horse with a 13.05. Benjamin Rudolph of Naperville, Ill., finished third in the all-around with 80.25. David Frankl of Franklin Lakes, N.J., won an individual event bronze on pommel horse with a 12.5 and parallel bars 12.55. Joshua Steves of Houston, Texas, took bronze on vault with 13.6. Joshua Ungar of Longmeadow, Mass., scored a 13.1 on horizontal bar, earning bronze. Frankl also won gold in the all-around in the junior, individual division, while Steves took bronze.
Simone Freidman of Annandale, Va., and Ilana Gordon of San Carlos, Calif., each earned silver medals in the women’s junior, individual division; Freidman on floor with a 12.625 and uneven bars with 10.825, and Gordon on vault with 13.075. Hannah Popper of Forest Hills, N.Y., won bronze on floor with a score of 11.9.
2008 Olympic floor finalist Alexander Shatilov (he placed 8th), who immigrated to Israel from Uzbekistan in 2002 and represents Israel, won the senior all-around title.
Sender also got to carry the U.S. banner during the Games’s opening ceremonies at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv.
It will be quite interesting to see how Sender stacks up at next month’s U.S. Championships, now that that ankle sprain from last summer has healed.
2008 Olympic hopeful Xiao Sha showed she’s still competitive at this weekend’s Chinese National Championships, winning the all-around title over Olympic team member Deng Linlin and Japan Cup all-around champion Huang Qiushuang.
Xiao also won balance beam with a 15.525. Tan Sixin, who impressed everyone with her lovely beamwork at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival earlier this year, was second (14.65). Other winners: Jiang Tong on vault, He Kexin on uneven bars (of course), and Sui Lu on floor exercise.
Xiao Sha, 2009 Chinese Nationals, Balance Beam:
Xiao, like Sui Lu, has been called a headcase, someone who can’t perform under pressure. But when she hits, she’s great.
On the men’s side, Deng Shudi overcame a weak field to win the all-around title. Several of China’s best — including triple Olympic gold medalist Zou Kai – only competed their specialties. Here’s Zou’s new floor routine, with a 6.8 A score.
Zou won men’s floor exercise, while Zhang Hontao was first on pommel horse. Notably absent from the competiton was three-time Olympic medalist Cheng Fei, who injured her leg at the World University Games earlier this month.
Halfway through its 10-episode freshman run, the drama series set in the world of competitive gymnastics has received an additional 10-episode order.
The second batch of 10 segments is slated to air in the first quarter of 2010.
Airing behind ABC Family’s top-rated series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Make It” ranks as the network’s second-highest rated series ever.
I’d love to know whether the Olympic champions are going to make a cameo at some point.
