Not the First Time We Have Heard Lola’s Story

Two years ago, Rick at GymnasticsCoaching.com and others, first let us know about the ABC News story about thirteen year old, legally blind gymnast, Lola Walters and the video about her. Then last year (2011) the above video came out about Lola on King 5 TV.  Her story has continued to spread and an article appeared about Lola Walters today (Feb 23, 2012) in the Daily Mail news from Great Britain. Her story continues and continues to inspire.

New Article in British News

Today there is a Daily Mail new article out about her, this time from the United Kingdom, to which Lola’s story has now spread and continues to spread and inspire.

Heroic and Stoic

Lola does not consider herself a hero (that seems to be a common characteristic of those who the rest of us do consider heroes) and does not tell others about her “problems.” She went to Bela Karolyi’s summer camp a couple of years ago, told no one of her condition and no one was the wiser. it is not only her training and competing with her condition that is heroic, but her stoic and heroic attitude about her situation. She is an inspiration to her teammates and should be an inspiration to all the rest of us in the sport of gymnastics.

Imagine Beam and Vaulting Blind

Lola Walters is currently a USA Gymnastics Level 6 gymnast, which means she is doing handspring vaults, jumps to the high bar and flyaways on bars, back walkovers and leaps on beam while being legally blind. She has a special condition which allows her no depth perception at all, severely limits her vision to only a few feet, causes her to see double sometimes and also causes her eyes to flutter – conditions which should normally cause havoc, when trying to compete and train in gymnastics. Her mom, Beth Walters, says “She can see. It’s just that what is in front of her constantly moves and she can not judge distances or focus.”

Her Coaches and Gym Owners are Heroes as Well

Lola Walters, now age 13 in 2012, trains at Black Hills Gymnastics in Lacey, Washington. Black Hills Gymnastics says on their web site that their gym “specializes in teaching life skills through the sport of gymnastics.” Lola and her teammates, who work with her and learn alongside her, prove that is most certainly true. We salute the gym and gymnastics coaches who allow this inspirational miracle to happen.

Related posts:

1. Can I As a Blind Person Start to Learn and Train to be a Gymnast?
2. A Gymnastics Champion Who Happens to be Deaf and Blind in One Eye

2012 Nastia Liukin Cup

March 2, 2012
Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.

March 3, 2012 AT&T American Cup at Madison Square Garden

For the first time, the (third annual) Nastia Liukin Cup will be held in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. On March 2, 2012, the qualifiers for the 2012 Nastia Liukin Cup will compete on the same equipment equipment set-up used for the AT&T American Cup, which will be held, the next day, on March 3rd.

Gymnasts competing in the Nastia Liukin Cup qualify through invitational meets during January and February. One or two gymnasts from each invitational meet advance to the Nastia Liukin Cup.

Qualifying Gymnasts

CGA Parents Club Coaches Spectacular, Covington, Ky., Jan. 13-15, 2012
Kathryn Kluz – Oakland Gymnastics
Jessica Ling – Oakland Gymnastics

FlipFest Invitational, Knoxville, Tenn., Jan. 13-16, 2012
Lisa Burt – Ace Gymnastics

Lady Luck Invitational, Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 20-22, 2012
Caitlin Atkinson – Cypress Gymnastics
Wynter Childers – Spearfish

The Atlanta Crown Invitational, Duluth, Ga., Jan. 20-22, 2012
Alexandra McMurtry – Richmond Olympiad
Kendal Moss – Everest Gymnastics

Circle of Stars Gymnastics Invitational, Indianapolis, Ind., Jan. 20-22, 2012
Alexis Cappalli – Illinois Gymnastics
Sydney McGlone – Universal Gymnasts

San Diego Classic, San Diego, Calif., Jan. 20-22, 2012
Kristen Nogaki – Wildfire Gymnastics
Taylor Rice – Gymcats Gymnastics

Wisconsin Dells Gymnastics Vacation Classic, Wisconsin Dells, Wis., Jan. 27-29, 2012
Alyssa Nocella – Silvia’s Gymnastics

Parkettes Invitational, Allentown, Pa., Jan. 27-29, 2012
Lauren Beers – Southern Tier Gymnastics
Meredith Sylvia – Parkettes Gymnastics

Pikes Peak Cup, Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 3-5, 2012
Lauren Marinez – Orlando Metro
Polina Shchennikova – TIGAR Gymnastics

The Long Beach Open, Long Beach, Calif., Feb. 3-5, 2012
Kennedi Edney – Precision Gymnastics
Randii Wyrick – Brown’s Gymnastics

The 38th Annual Fiesta Bowl, Chandler, Ariz., Feb. 3-5
Briley Casanova – WOGA
Felicia Hano – West Coast Elite

Charity Choice Invitational, Tacoma, Wash., Feb. 10-12, 2012
Baely Rowe – Auburn Gymnastics Center

IGI Chicago Style, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 10-12, 2012
Laren Bancroft – Gedderts’ Twistars USA
Grace Williams – Gedderts’ Twistars USA

Glider Invitational, Ontario, Calif., Feb. 11-12
Charlie Owens – Charter Oak Gymnastics

The Magical Classic, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 17-18, 2012
Emily Brauckmuller – Orlando Metro Gymnastics
Hollie Minichiello – Orlando Metro Gymnastics

Buckeye Classic, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 17-19, 2012
Nia Dennis – Buckeye Gymnastics
Alyssa Shermetaro – Olympia Gymnastics Academy

Presidential Classic, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Feb. 17-19
Ashleigh Gnat – Ace Gymnastics
Alexandria Ruiz – Ace Gymnastics

WOGA Classic, Frisco, Texas, Feb. 17-19, 2012
Alicia Boren – North Start Gymnastics
Charity Jones – Dynamo Gymnastics

Arizona Sunrays Classic Rock Invitational, Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 17-19, 2012
Kari Lee – Flames Gymnastics Academy
Lauren Ramirez – Gold Medal Gymnastics

Tickets

$25.00 – $35.00 at Madison Square Garden
TicketMaster
$25.00 Ticket + $7.50 Fees = $32.50
$35.00 Ticket + $10.00 Fees = US $45.00

2011 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVZcRMSrw8k

2011 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWOzsaY68tU

2011 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcl0dAAaKwI

2011 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dochBoPUjzc

2011 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99zXNZbgD3A

Related posts:

1. 2012 Nastia Liukin Cup Series
2. 2012 American Cup Video Preview with Aly Raisman & Jordyn Wieber
3. A Young Nastia Liukin Competing Level 6

An FIG World Cup Event
March 3, 2012
Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.

March 2, 2012 Nastia Liukin Cup at Madison Square Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucUK_IFxZmU

Music in video: Erica Williams – Bring It On

2012 AT&T American Cup Participants

Women:
USA: Alexandra Raisman
USA: Jordyn Wieber
Australia: Georgia Simpson
Canada: Victoria Moors
Germany: Lisa Hill
Great Britain: Rebecca Tunney
Romania: Diana Chelaru
Romania: Larisa Iordache

Men:
USA: Danell Leyva
USA: John Orozco
France: Cyril Tommasone
Germany: Marcel Nguyen
Great Britain: Daniel Purvis
Japan: Ryuzo Sejima
Ukraine: Mykola Kuksenkov
Ukraine: Oleg Verniaiev

Television coverage

Live Webcast on UniversalSports.com

Universal Sports: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. LIVE
Universal Sports Television will broadcast the first 90 minutes of the AT&T American Cup live from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on March 3. Find your Universal Sports channel in your area.

Network Broadcast: NBC Sports: 1-3 p.m. LIVE

NBC Sports. Live coverage of the AT&T American Cup will air on NBC Sports beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on March 3rd, immediately following the conclusion of the Universal Sports broadcast.

Tickets

Tickets are Available from Ticketmaster
Ticket Price Range: $29.50 – $225.00

2011 American Cup – Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RkxqSNi9yY

2011 American Cup – Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtZuN0Shp3Q

2011 American Cup – Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoEY7g6zi9o

2011 American Cup – Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7yVETb0BwE

Related posts:

1. March 2, 2012 Nastia Liukin Cup at Madison Square Garden
2. 2011 American Cup Results
3. Jordyn Wieber

Two time Russian Olympic gymnastics champion, Maria Filatova, now age 50, is battling to regain her official Russian passport/citizenship status, so she can travel outside of the United States and return to her home town and home country. Maria Filatova won gold medals at both the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games.

Her current Russian passport and immigration problems arise from the fact that her Soviet passport expired almost twenty years ago in the early 1990s. She originally left Russia to coach and choreograph in Northern Ireland, because in that old Russian economic climate, she felt she needed more money to feed her family.

She currently lives and owns a gym in Rochester, New York and has applied unsuccessfully for a new Russian passport a number of times. Her application has always been rejected with the stated reason being “lack of merit.” There are many things that one might say about Maria Filatova, but none of them could ever involve her displaying a lack of merit.

Now there is no doubt that those of us in the United States want her to continue to develop gymnasts here in the United States, for selfish and nationalistic reasons. But such a decorated and hard-working icon on the sport should have the choice to live, work, travel and coach where she wants. GymnasticsZone firmly supports her right and desire to get her Russian passport, return home and visit, whenever she wants.

We call on any and every Russian coach, gymnasts and former gymnast, who has any influence to support her petition and to take positive action to help her in her quest to allow her to return to obtain a Russian passport immediately and be able to return to her home town of Leninsk-Kuznetsky or even just to be able to travel outside of the United States. We cannot understand why anyone, especially in Russia, would have any problem with this at all. Maria Filatova

This is not the first time, Maria and her family have had to deal with bureaucracy. Her daughter, Alexandra, qualified for the US JO National Championships, but was not allowed to compete, because she was not yet an American citizen.

Some of the above information for this part of of our story, originally came from RIANOVOSTI at http://en.ria.ru/.

Name: Maria Evgenievna Filatova (Russian: Мария Евгеньевна Филатова)
Married Name: Maria Filatova Kourbatova
Nicknames: Masha, “The Russian Sparrow” or the “Siberian Sparrow”
Born: July 19, 1961
Born in: Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Siberia
Height: 4′ 6″ tall (the smallest competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics)
Coaches: Innokenty and Galina Mametyev
International Gymnastics Career: 1975 – 1981
USSR National Team: Beginning in 1974 – USSR Junior National Team
Vault Original Skills: Tsukuhara with full twist (1976 USSR Nationals Event Finals)
Uneven Bar Original Skills: Giant, cross hands, half turn into straddle front somersault to catch high bar
Balance Beam Original Skills: Flip-flop layout & flip-flop two layouts in a row, Beam dismounts – 2-foot Flip-flop, double twist/double back/double pike
FX Original Skills: Round-off flip-flop, double back/double pike/full-in (1st on Soviet team)
Retired from Gymnastics Competition: 1982/1983
Education: Novosibirsk State Pedagogical Institute – 1984 graduate
Moscow Circus: 1985 & 1986
Husband: Soviet power tumbler Alexander “Sasha” Kourbatov
Daughter: Alexandra Kourbatova (“Sasha” or “Shashenka”)
Coaching Career: Minsk, Belarus (1987 – 1991) Coached at Salto Gymnastics and the Irish National Team in Belfast, Ireland (1991 -1996), Buckeye Gymnastics Center, Columbus, Ohio (1996) and coached at Rochester Gymnastics Center in Rochester, NY for 8 years
Current Gym: Kour Magic Gymnastics Center, Rochester, New York
Gym Address: 121 Lincoln Ave Rochester, NY 14611/3535 Winton Place
Rochester NY 14623
Gym E-mail: KourGym@gmail.com
Current Gym ownership: Maria, her husband Alexander and daughter Alexandra own Kour Magic Gymnastics Center
Gym Web Site: Kour Magic Gymnastics Center
Gym Phone #: 585-943-3296

Maria Filatova – National/International Gymnastics Awards

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1981
1981 Antibes International: 2nd All-Around, 3rd FX
1981 University Games: 2nd Place Team, 5th All-Around
1981 World Championships: 1st Place Team, 2nd All-Around

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1980
1980 Olympic Games: 1st Place Team, 3rd Uneven Bars
1980 Riga International: 3rd All-Around
1980 USSR Cup: 5th All-Around
1980 World Cup: 13th All-Around

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1979
1979 Paris Grand Prix: 1st All-Around
1979 Riga International: 1st All-Around, 1st Vault, 1st Balance Beam, 1st FX
1979 University Games: 2nd All-Around
1979 USSR Spartakiade: 4th All-Around
1979 USSR Nationals: 2nd All-Around
1979 World Cup: 12th All-Around
1979 World Championships: 2nd Place Team, 4th All-Around

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1978
1978 Moscow News: 2nd All-Around, 2nd Vault, 1st Uneven Bars, 1st Balance Beam
1978 USSR Championships: 2nd All-Around
1978 World Championships: 1st Place Team, 4th Uneven Bars
1978 World Cup: 1st All-Around, 1st FX

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1977
1977 European Championships: 5th All-Around, 3rd Balance Beam, 1st FX
1977 Moscow News: 1st All-Around, 3rd Vault, 2nd Uneven Bars, 1st Balance Beam, 1st FX
1977 Paris Grand Prix: 1st All-Around, 2nd Vault, 1st Uneven Bars, 1st Balance Beam, 1st FX
1977 Riga International: 1st All-Around
1977 USSR Cup: 4th All-Around, 1st Balance Beam, 2nd FX
1977 USSR Nationals: 1st All-Around
1977 World Cup: 1st AA, 2nd V, 2nd UB, 5th BB, 1st FX

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1976
1976 Riga International: 1st All-Around
1976 Olympic Games: 1st Place Team
1976 Moscow News: 2nd All-Around
1976 USSR Cup: 7th All-Around, 3rd Balance Beam
1976 USSR Nationals: 4th All-Around

National/International Gymnastics Awards – 1975
1975 Chunichi Cup: 5th All-Around
1975 Druzhba: 3rd All-Around
1975 JPN-USSR Dual Meet: 2nd All-Around
1975 Jr. USSR-ROM Dual Meet: 3rd All-Around
1975 Milk Meet: 2nd All-Around

Maria Filatova – 1976 Olympics Floor Exercise Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKGELwdrBBE

Maria Filatova was known for her expressive, artistic and alluring floor exercise show-stopping performances and her high level of tumbling skills. In 1975, she became one of the first female gymnasts to do double back somersaults on floor.

Maria Filatova – 1980 Olympics Event Finals – Uneven Bars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj6ZGejKjIg

Maria Filatova 1977 Europeans Event Finals Beam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX-nCUdQCIY

Maria Filatova – Balance Beam – 1980 USSR Gymnastics Cup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFziMLEWsiM

Maria Filatova – 1981 Worlds AA – Layout Tzukahara Vault

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDVOTIfndE

Maria Filatova Articles

Elizabeth Booth’s article: Maria Filatova: Russian Sparrow Made in the USSR

RIANOVOSTI article: Soviet Star Fights to Return Home

Related posts:

1. Olympic Gymnastics Gold Medalist Nikolai Andrianov Dies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEPtW13mIG8

Chelsie Veilleux, the coach of Pinkerton Academy’s gymnastics team was asked by her boyfriend, Jason Burland, to marry him at the awards ceremony of the February 2012 New Hampshire’s Gymnastics State Championships at Salem High School. As her team members and fans listened, Veilleux’s boyfriend, took the microphone and told the packed gymnasium he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Incidentally, she said, “Yes.”

Some of her team girls, other coaches at the gym and team parents knew this was going to happen, but Veilleux was concentrating on coaching her team to a second consecutive State Championship win and was completely surprised.

For a gymnastics coach, whose entire world occurs virtually in the gym, this was a fitting marriage proposal and a fitting place to do it. Congratulations and good wishes from the whole gymnastics community to the happy couple.

This is a symndicted post. The original article was published at the New Hampshire Sunday News
Article By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
Published Feb 19, 2012 at 3:00 am (Updated Feb 18, 2012)

This is definitely an area that needs more humorous and hilarious input, so please feel free to submit your own additions to the genre.

#Gymnast Pickup Lines

Is your name @McKaylaMaroney’s Amanar? because you’re PERFECT!
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

@Aly_Raisman @McKaylaMaroney @jordynmarie2013
If this were a selection camp, I’d pick you first!
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

@Aly_Raisman @McKaylaMaroney @jordynmarie2013
You stole the meet, but why did you have to steal my heart? D=
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

In reply to Alexandra Raisman
@Aly_Raisman @McKaylaMaroney @jordynmarie2013
I incurred a 0.8 deduction from falling for you. ^_^
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

@Aly_Raisman @McKaylaMaroney @jordynmarie2013
So if the Elite Code of Points no longer has perfect 10′s, how does that explain YOU?
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

In reply to Alexandra Raisman
I’m sorry I mistook you for @Aly_Raisman ‘s tumbling, because you are absolutely GORGEOUS!
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

@Aly_Raisman @McKaylaMaroney @jordynmarie2013
You make me feel like I crashed on high bar, I’m seeing STARS
@CSaccullo #gymnastpickuplines

“Girl, I spotted you right away.”
@ArtisticGym Emerald

Please Submit Your Own Gymnast Pickup Lines

Please add comments with your own gymnast pickup lines. This is already a fun and funny category, thanks to Chris Saccullo and Emerald.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxWXQsORBI

Gymnastics is Not Even Considered An Extreme Sport

There was a time when gymnastics ranked as the most extreme sport in terms of risk, courage and personal danger. That time is long gone. What that means for our sport is not yet determined. But it is clear that gymnastics is no longer the most extreme sport and probably cannot even be classified as an extreme sport.

Once Every 4 Years Worldwide TV Coverage is Propping Up Gymnastics

Since the official name of the sport is “Artistic” gymnastics, perhaps many feel that not being ranked, as an extreme sport, is a good thing. But were it not for the worldwide TV popularity of the sport every four years at the Olympics, gymnastics might have already begun to fade into the woodwork of ancient sports. Especially in the United States, for whatever reasons, the national federations have been particularly inept at getting gymnastics on TV regularly. Sports(?), like bowling and poker are on TV every week. Gymnastics is not. Sports, that did not even exist a few years ago, are now regularly on TV and in the Olympics, or about to be.

Gymnastics is Growing Only at the Lower Levels

Gymnastics seems to be still growing as a sport, in terms of numbers of participants, and this Olympic year should be no different. But the growth has primarily been at the base of the sport, the lowest levels of the sport – the participatory levels of the sport. USA Gymnastics has steadily lowered the level for competition, which has increased its membership rolls (and not incidentally, its membership fee revenue). That’s not necessarily a problem and it is certainly not the real problem.

Federations Have Masked Losses by Taking Over Other Sports

Gymnastics federations worldwide, including in the United States, have taken over the management of other sports, like acrobatics, tumbling and trampoline (and double mini-tramp), aerobics and rhythmic. While this was a good move for federations, it does not necessarily mean that it is good for the either the new or the old sports in the federations. Some of the newly taken over sports feel like the poor stepchild in the federations and do not receive equal financing or attention. And the increased power and financial windfalls, taking over other sports brought, has masked the true strength and position of artistic gymnastics.

What is the Real State of the Sport of Gymnastics?

Granted, many of these sports’ old federations did a remarkably poor job of management, which is what primarily led to the takeovers. But the takeovers and increasing growth at the bottom of the sport are masking longer term problems, and just because artistic gymnastics was the strongest, in terms of finances and management, of this group of sports, does not mean that artistic gymnastics is really still a vibrant, healthy sport that will continue to grow. Taking in new sports and lower level gymnasts into the federation is only hiding and delaying a noticeable decline in the overall strength of the sport.

The Real Problem Is Gymnastics has Shrunk Radically at the Highest Levels

Because the real problem is the sport of gymnastics has shrunk radically at the Elite level, and also at the collegiate level. The number of Elite gymnasts and collegiate gymnastics teams is a mere small fraction of what it used to be and certainly collegiate numbers are continuing to shrink at an alarming pace. Even Level 9 and Level 10 participation in some states has decreased, either in terms of the number of participants, or in the skill level of those participants. How many Level 8 and Level 9 gymnasts do you see competing handspring vaults, when internationally, a higher difficulty vault now often determines the All-Around winner.

Masked Losses Will Eventually Become Evident

This video of other extreme sports and the the “decline” of higher level gymnastics should be a warning sign to everyone in the sport. At some point, taking lower level and lower age gymnasts into the official competition and membership system will no longer mask the decline in the sport. At some point, there will be no new related (or even unrelated) sports to take over that have poorer management. At some point, the “continued watering down”(?) of levels and routines will no longer mask the fact that the sport is not growing at the top. And the reasons for that will have to be faced and dealt with, or those who love the sport the most will be forced to watch it visibly decline.

There Needs to Be a Revolution in Gymnastics

It is readily apparent that the highest levels of artistic gymnastics are declining rapidly. The reasons for that need to be investigated. Solutions need to be developed and implemented. The steps already taken by the federations have given gymnastics some additional time to do this. But if the problem is not dealt with now, there easily could come a time when it will be too late rescue Elite, high level and collegiate gymnastics.

Gymnastics Coaches’ Training/Consulting

Free Phone Consultation

Consulting in every area of the gymnastics business and industry, including high level and Elite gymnastics coaching training for your staff and coaches

25 Years Experience
—

Use our comprehensive, Innovative Coaches Training Seminars, Clinics and Programs so your gymnasts learn faster and better

We offer the most innovative and most comprehensive training for your gymnastics coaches and instructors from the preschool level to high level optional coaches!

Not for one second in this sport can you get complacent, can you rely on any kind of sure outcome.  And never, ever can you expect things to stay still- not even for a moment.

Think back to 1980, when the reigning Olympic queen Comaneci- the girl who only four years ago had done things to a sport that no one ever imagined possible- was no longer even able to retain the crown.  Older, larger and less blithely confident, she could no longer be assured of a win as all the new young gymnasts- the pixies she helped create- rose around her. Like Turischeva had to be wary of the rise Korbut and Comaneci, Nadia had to contend with the Davydovas and Eberles on the rise.

Gymnastics stops for no gymnast. Think back as recently as the 2011 European Championships where the question was less whether reigning World Champion Aliya Mustafina would win the AA crown, but by how much.   That certainty was cut short by the devastation of injury, the saddest way. Now, the focus is on another rivalry, another Russian star.

In just the space of the last year we have seen a newfound rivalry emerge as Jordyn Wieber and Viktoriya Komova became seniors, one that was infused with drama and uncertainty in Tokyo.  Now, fans have been anticipating another great showdown between them in London.

But gymnastics never lets it happen like that. So the earth turns, another year rolls around and more brilliant young gymnasts enter the senior fray, diluting this rivalry.  There is just as much chance the next all-around winner could be a newbie, another brilliant rookie.

It is time and the age rule that causes things to change so quickly in this sport. Olympic Games seem eons apart.   The Beijing Olympics were the apex of a fan-made rivalry between Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, a rivalry that had been played out in a few short years.  Four years later and they are not even contenders for that same crown.  Rivalries are like that in gymnastics and four years is so long in this sport.

They say Jordyn Wieber must be wary of the curse- that no US girl who has won the World AA crown goes on to win the Olympic title a year later.  That says more about the sport, I believe, than the tenacity of the US girls.  So much changes in even a year.

We are reminded of the quick march of change in our sport by the appearance of yet another incredible video of young Japanese upstart Mai Murakami training some insanely difficult skills.  We are reminded by the imminent appearance of young Romanian firecracker Larisa Iordache in her first rookie senior competition.  We are reminded by the promise of Rebecca Bross, ever a contender, who is returning to competition shortly.

Rivalries  never last long in this sport.  Not because they are fought out to the bitter end, but because of the inexorable influx of new young talents to threaten even the greatest talents at the top and to re-arrange the pecking order.  There is rarely a slow build in the senior years, but a seismic shift every time one of these upstarts joins the party each new season.

It is incredible difficult to say what is going to happen in London, where the top will be very, very crowded.  This will make it both exciting and tragic because ever more will the outcome rely on who can bring it on the day. Gymnastics champions are so often created from circumstance as much as ability and there are more that are worthy of the crown than ever this year.

Four years is so long to measure greatness in this sport. Think, the duelling brilliance of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson- the last bona fide gymnastics rivalry- seems so long ago. Maybe this is why I prefer World Championships to the Olympics.  As exciting as the Olympics is, the time lapsed between gymnastics’ greatest meet is so long that you can never feel a sense of continuity, but rather only a sense of history.  If Nastia and Shawn feels like a million years ago, Patterson vs. Khorkina seemed to have occurred in the black and white era, a silent movie memory.

Besides, if we happen to see a different pair of gymnasts battle it out at the top in London this year, would this make Komova and Wieber’s short-lived showdown less memorable, or even Mustafina’s unbelievably decisive AA win in 2010 less memorable, because it did not happen in an Olympic year?  This is one thing I don’t like about our sport, the precedence of the the Olympic year over any other World Championship year, and I often wish that Worlds had the same importance as the Olympics.  I wish that, like tennis, the sport’s big meet still happened in an Olympic year and the Olympics were just a bonus competition. But I digress.  Even if this was the case, it wouldn’t wouldn’t stem the tsunami of change in gymnastics where youth rules.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the Olympic Games is treated like the apex of a build-up toward something, a build-up over four years.  But gymnastics moves too quickly for that and I feel like whatever happens in London on the day of the AA may not reflect any of the last four years, but something new altogether, so this idea that all roads lead to the Olympics is kind of arbitrary.  That is why I wish the Olympic weren’t the be-all and end-all because sometimes, in this way, if you think about it, in this fast-moving sport it is just another AA crown won a year later from the last.

But to get back to my original point, sometimes I wish things would just slow down.  As much as I love the injection of new talent into this sport every year, it is hard to come to terms with how quickly and how often things re-arrange themselves.  Sometimes I just want to pause and watch something play out, but there is never any time!

As Tillie Olsen once said;  ”And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total?”

What I wouldn’t give for gymnastics time to stand still a moment- to see Komova and Wieber fight it out at the top again- a replay of the same battle a year later.  But then again, how excited am I to see what the addition of  young women like Murakami, Iordache and Bross might do to this rivalry?

Unfortunately, the swift passage of time is just a fact of gymnastics- a fact I will probably never, ever get used to.

Follow The Couch Gymnast on Twitter and Facebook

Article: Brigid McCarthy

Gymnast who witnessed Hitler refusing to shake Jesse Owens’ hand at 1936 Games to take part in second Olympics… in 2012 torch ceremony

By JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK
Last updated at 7:42 PM on 10th February 2012

As a gymnast at the closing ceremony of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin she witnessed one of the most notorious scenes in the Games’ history.

Hildegard Fraser had just turned 13 and had no idea why Adolf Hitler had refused to shake the hand of black athlete Jesse Owens, who had just won four gold medals.

Now, 76 years on, German-born Mrs Fraser is looking forward to her second Olympics – this time as a torch carrier in a ceremonial procession to mark the 2012 Games in London.

The 88-year-old grandmother, who has lived in Forres, Morayshire, for the last 60 years after marrying a Scottish soldier she met during World War 2, says she is thrilled to be back on Olympics duty after such a long break.

Back in 1936 she had no idea her country was on the brink of a world war sparked by the Nazi leader who, in her naivete, she admired at the time.

But her memories of the day remain fond. The performance she and around 1000 other gymnasts delivered on August 16, 1936, was a highlight of the first ever closing ceremony and she was thrilled to be chosen to be part of it.

She said: “Back then, I remember mostly Hitler moving away when Jesse Owens got all his prizes at the podium.”

I saw Jesse Owens go towards Hitler, and then Hitler got out of his way and walked away from him. We didn’t understand at the time that it was because of his colour.

I do remember some booing but it wasn’t enormous.’

She added: “We had trained for a full year and it was the first time gymnastic movements played to music was performed. To be chosen from thousands of schools in Germany made me feel very proud.”

This year Mrs Fraser will take part in Moray’s Olympic Flame Trail, organised by the Walk, Jog, Run Moray Partnership after it emerged the real Olympic Torch would only be passing through Tomintoul – some 67 miles away.

The pensioner will complete around 100 metres of the Forres leg in June with the aid of her daughter, Patsy Fraser-Mackenzie.

Mrs Fraser said: “It is very exciting, just like back in 1936.”

Both her parents, Richard and Klara Melke, were gymnasts, but the couple feared their daughter may be left unable even to walk when, at 20 months, she broke her neck after toppling from a treadle sewing machine.

She spent most of the next year in hospital, but gymnastics later restored her movement and the strength in her neck muscles returned.

At 12 she was her school’s top gymnast and won selection for the finale of the 1936 Games.

But it was the years which followed that truly shaped Mrs Fraser’s life. At the outbreak of war, her father, a sergeant in the German Army, was called into action. Her mother fled Berlin for the country when the bombs started to fall on the city and her sister, Traudi, went into the Women’s Land Army.

When a bombed-out family was moved into the Melke family home, young Hildegard left for the Rhineland with a friend in search of work.

On the trek to Essen, she dodged Allied planes flying low overhead by jumping through a window. She still has a large scar on her arm from the narrow escape.

She said: “We were running towards an old house for shelter and the window was cracked, so I just pushed it and jumped through. There was no hospital. We just tied a piece of cloth around it.”

In the spa town of Bad Oeynhausen was where she encountered her future husband, Lewis Fraser.

She said: “The British soldiers surrounded the town with barbed wire. They came into the villages with a megaphone and said, “Come and get a hot meal if you come and work for us.” That meant a hell of a lot.

She said the first time she was attracted to the Scot straight away – despite his initial distrust of her and her friend.

The first time we met he told us to take our hands out of our pockets because they thought we might have grenades.

The next thing he was saying, come and meet us at seven.

It was a real love story. We communicated by drawing pictures in the sand. He got dictionaries translating English to German and German to English.

I agreed to come back after the war and I was the first German girl to marry in Forres. I initially had a difficult time because of the war, but in the long term it made me stronger.

Her daughter Patsy said: “She was extremely brave, like a lot of other German women who returned with British soldiers.”

Mr. Fraser died in the 1960s but the couple had three daughters, including Patsy, who set up an award-winning gymnastics school in Forres.

Patsy said: “She has always been active until a knee operation in 2009. But she is looking forward to carrying the torch.”

This is a syndicated post by JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK originally posted at the Daily Mail Online.

Related posts:

1. Uneven Bars History
2. Definition: Turners
3. Ancient Gymnastics History

Where In the World is Your Gym Located?

What set me off on this particular rant was yet another instance of a gymnastics gym website, I came in contact with (for very benign reasons), that did not have the location of its gym anywhere on the site. It had no address of the gym, no city or state, or even country, where the gym was located, no map – NOTHING! Literally the only clue to the location was the phone number. I suppose if you were familiar with the area codes of the country, assuming you knew what country the gym was in (this is, after all, the worldwide Internet), you might figure out what city the gym was in.

This Is Not the First Time I Have Seen This

I am not going to embarrass the gym owners (or even recommend they Fire the website builder and Hire GymnasticsZone.com to take over their site), because this is in no way the first time I have seen this problem. Just because you know where your gym is located does not mean anyone else on the Internet will. No one looking to sign up their child in gymnastics wants to waste their time clicking on a website in another state or country.

This Is Basic

Just like in journalism, you need to have your web site transmit to its readers the 5 W’s (and 2 H’s) – Who, What, When, Why, WHERE!!!, How and How Much. That is Marketing and Website 101. Go check your site right now and make sure all of those elements are readily transmitted to your potential clients and current customers.

Other Reasons Your Website Sucks

Your website is not current and up-to-date. Nothing impresses customers more than a website that has obviously not been updated in months (years). I am no longer interested in whether your gym was closing on Christmas Day 2008. Such attention to detail (or specifically lack of attention) will likely apply to their young gymnast in your gym as well, they will assume.

I Can’t Read Your Website

Whether you did it for theoretically artistic reasons, or you are just color blind, or you used your team colors, purple links on a black background are unreadable. And if there is not sufficient contrast to read your text, I can’t read or understand anything on your site. And truthfully I don’t care enough to try that hard to do so. I am just going to click away to the next gym.

Where are Your Links?

Again contrast may be a link issue or you are using some text color design choice that “looks pretty.” But if I can’t instantly find links to what I am looking for, I will click off your site in less than four seconds. I want information and I am not going to lose my patience and eyesight looking for where you have hidden them.

You Changed Your Links? Why?

If customers or potential clients have a particular web page on your site bookmarked, You do NOT want to change or delete that link. I run into this all the time with gymnastics summer camps. For some reason, gym owners do not understand that content should be evergreen (last forever, or at least, for a long time). I have a special program that detects broken links when this happens, but your customers and future clients probably won’t. Plan evergreen web pages on your website.

Spell Check?

Some of you will think I am one to talk about this one, but I have over 500 gymnastics articles and 350 definition pages published and over 700 more pages in the research, editing and development stages. It is not that I cannot spell. I just can’t type and when I work 15 – 18 hours per day and/or pull all-nighters, I sometimes don’t proofread… as well as I should.  Not an excuse.  Anyway, spell check your web site to avoid embarrassing spelling error and typos. We are gymnastics professionals, after all, right?

Yes, GymnasticsZone Does Websites

I could not even begin to tell you all I know about websites in this article or 100 like it. But virtually no one, anywhere, knows both gymnastics and websites as well as as GymnasticZone.com. If you want the latest tech, marketing, financial and communication knowledge about gymnastics web sites, we are experts.

Gymnastics Consulting

Free 20 Minute Phone Consultation

Consulting in any area of the gymnastics business and industry, including Websites

25 Years Experience
—

Use our Gymnastics Consulting services and actually save $$$

We can assure you that your investment in our gymnastics consulting services is virtually guaranteed to save you money rather than cost you money!

Related posts:

1. Extreme Gymnastics Gym Makeover