perfect 10

To my knowledge Cheng Fei of China, the reigning Olympic and World Vault Champion has only competed on Vault, Beam and Floor in the past few years. Why is that? Why isn’t she an All Around gymnast? You would think that it’s because she is significantly sub par on Bars and has therefore been relegated to a position on the Chinese National Team as a specialist. Now, granted she may not be quite up to the Chinese standard on Bars but she’s certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Check out this youtube video of her as a junior in 2003.

As you can see she certainly has the technique and body line to be fantastic on Bars. And supposing she was only so-so on this event she would still be a threat for All Around gold in any competition she entered. Don’t believe me? Check out her Beam performance from the recent Shanghai World Cup earlier this year.

She scored a 16.10 and won the gold for that routine (and rightfully so). So why doesn’t she compete Bars? Anyone know?

If you haven’t read the Ziert Alert from April’s International Gymnast, you should. Paul Ziert, publisher of International Gymnast magazine, as per usual, does not hesitate to call it like he sees it. While I don’t always agree with Ziert, I really like his style. Despite the fact that they might not be popular, he isn’t afraid to make his opinions known. April’s edition of International Gymnast is no exception.

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So as promised, here is a follow up to my earlier post on the 2007 USAG Women’s Collegiate Championships. There is not too much to say, really. I enjoyed the competition but not overly so. It was definitely not the same caliber as a Division I competition but still a worthwhile Friday night outing. Here are some of my thoughts and impressions…

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One of the hard things (among many) of moving away from Santa Barbara was that I would no longer be near UCLA for some amazing collegiate gymnastics competitions. It was great being able to drive down to Westwood for some incredible performances by one of the top teams (2006 season notwithstanding) in the nation. (more…)

What does Sean Townsend have to do to cut a break? I know that I am not as knowledgeable about Men’s Gymnastics and that there must be reasons behind this… but the US Men’s Team for the American Cup was just announced and Sean Townsend was not one of the athletes named to compete. He just won the Winter Cup. Doesn’t that count for something?

Did he not want to compete in this competition? Has he been injured in the last week and a half? I have absolutely nothing against the men who were named, who are all outstanding competitors, but shouldn’t Sean get the nod in light of his recent performance?

Somebody please explain the reasoning behind this.

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of both Paul and Morgan Hamm. When Paul won the All Around gold medal at the 2003 World Championships, I came unglued. It was one of my rare opportunities to see a live event and Paul Hamm sure delivered one exciting show. Even my husband jumped out of his seat when Paul landed his High Bar dismount. And 2004… I know it was tainted by all the controversy but Paul’s performance goes down as one of my all-time favorites. It was the best comeback of all time. Even my parent’s were in tears, who came to visit just to watch the Olympics with me. It was magic.

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3 things I dislike in the world of Gymnastics…

1. Tank leotards in competition. They seem unprofessional. Call me old-fashioned but I just don’t like it. I know that some athletes think a sleeveless look will give them longer lines and make them more aesthetically appealing to the audience and judges.

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So I was taking all these notes on the competition as I watched because I wanted to give a play-by-play blog entry on the competition. From what I could find, there weren’t any other websites offering such coverage of the competition. However I soon discovered that International Gymnast was offering routine-by-routine coverage for it’s subscribers through their Ziert Alert section. I tried to get access to the Alerts which was available to all subscribers (which I am) but I couldn’t remember my login information and therefore could not get access. They have now released the Alerts for all non-subscribers to enjoy as well. So since he actually gets paid (lucky guy!) for writing about it, I thought I would leave the extensive coverage aspect to Paul Ziert and focus on blogging my thoughts and opinions instead. Looking forward to hearing yours as well…

• Vanessa Ferrari: This gal is amazing! She is a true “all-around” athlete (great on all 4 events) and a real firecracker to boot. Just what you would expect from an Italian named Ferrari.

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Here are some of my general thoughts on the recent Pacific Alliance Championships…feel free to post some of your thoughts in the comment section.

• Holly Dykes, from Australia, is amazing. I can’t wait to see more of this athlete. She has it all. Power, precision, grace, flexibility - as Tim Daggett likes to say, “She has the whole package.”
• I know that Jana Bieger’s score on Vault was the only one that counted for Team USA but she actually placed third in the All-Around behind Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel. She missed first place by 0.05 points. Such a stellar performance surely deserved mention and a bit more airtime on NBC.
  

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When I started this blog last year, I titled it Perfect10 and I mentioned in my first post that the “perfect ten” was on it’s way to extinction. I followed up with a post titled “The Death of the Ten.” But in the back of my mind, I admit that I didn’t think it would happen. I didn’t think the powers that be (the Federation of International Gymnastics) would really go through with it. Yet here I sit, one year later, contemplating the new code and trying to make sense of scores like 15.2 and 14.6. Still reeling from the reality of it, I decided to post this photo as a memorial, taken at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. You can see the score board in the foreground, which was not created to accomodate a perfect score (so it posted a 1.00) with Nadia Comaneci, the recipient, celebrating in the background with her Romanian team. An era now gone by…