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Showing posts with label 2015 Worlds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015 Worlds. Show all posts

Round 'Em up, Boys: MAG Tidbits from Worlds - October 22, 2015

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Here's what happened today…


1. In the next episode of "Chalk Divas," the U.S. took over 10 minutes to chalk the p-bars during podium training.

In that amount of time, you could have intercourse – twice (if you're the average Joe or Jane).

Needless to say, the Americans didn't have much time to actually get on the p-bars.


And we wonder why Sam Mikulak had overtime problems at Worlds last year………





2. The pressure is on Manrique Larduet.

Carlos Gil, the main coach for Team Cuba, believes that Manrique will qualify to Rio in Glasgow. To do so, he will have to win an individual medal during event finals.

Randy Leroux is expected to qualify during the Test Event next year.


Larduet VT - Podium training
Posted by International Gymnast Magazine on Thursday, October 22, 2015


3. In case you missed it, there will not be a North vs. South Korean vault showdown in Glasgow this year. Yang Hak-Seon, the 2012 Olympic vault champion, is out with a hamstring injury.

4. Also injured: Dinh Phuong Thanh of Thailand (shoulder). He won a gold medal in the all-around at the SEA Games. While he may not be a favorite for an all-around medal in Glasgow, Thailand is counting on him for a berth to the Olympic Test Event.

5. More injuries: During podium training, Tomomasa Hasegawa of Japan fell from the high bar, further injuring his left hip. He's out.

Naoto Hayasaka, the alternate, will replace him.

6. Team Spain is shooting for the top 12. López, Abad, and Tallón will compete in the all-around. The European floor champ Ray Zapata will compete on floor, rings, vault, and p-bars.

Isaac Botella, a vault finalist at the Olympics, will fly to Glasgow – just in case Spain needs him. He has been suffering from back problems, so hopefully, they don't need him.

If you're wondering where Fabian González is, you're not alone. He retired from the sport so that he could study.

7. Daniel Corral, the 2013 silver medalist on pommel horse, broke up with his coach. He'll be heading to Ivan Ivankov in Houston. It turns out that Steve Butcher recommended Ivan to Daniel.

8. Epke Zonderland: The floppy hair, the flexed feet, the wild arch on his pirouettes…

This is what World Champions are made of.



Honestly, I'd rather watch Epke on parallel bars. Typically, he's cleaner on that event.


9. Chris Brooks: Magic Mike XXL. You'd think that they'd make shorts with drawstrings.



10. Danell Leyva had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad podium training.

He barely did anything on p-bars (partly because it took the U.S. forever to chalk the bars). He fell off high bar. He fell multiple times on floor. He almost Paul Hamm-ed his vault.

He says that the errors are the result of being too confident.



Last year, the U.S. men qualified to finals in third with a 270.369. That was 3.000 points behind China, and 14.209 ahead of the 8th place team, Germany.

I'd be shocked if Team USA didn't qualify directly to Rio. (Top 8 qualify.) Like, the only thing keeping Team USA from qualifying directly to Rio is the Loch Ness Monster.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they found themselves off the podium.

Tim Daggett, though, is always the Team USA supporter:

11. Paul Ruggeri was one of the most consistent gymnasts in podium training for the U.S.



12. Luke Wiwatowski of Team Australia lets us know what he thinks of the new setup (i.e. the judges not sitting on the floor by the podium).

13. The gymnasts now have a rockstar entrance, but it's a bit awkward for the gymnasts…

Luke, the answer is always jazz hands and/or kick line.

If that isn't your style, copy Chris Brooks.



Work that stage like a modeling catwalk. Easy, breezy, beautiful Chris Brooks.

14. Gym gods, thank you for Bart Conner! Thank you for International Gymnast!

Bart Conner and crew were all over pommels today. Here are a few of the key players. (Yesterday, we saw Max Whitlock and Louis Smith.)


Tommasone PH - Podium training
Posted by International Gymnast Magazine on Thursday, October 22, 2015



Berki PH - Podium training
Posted by International Gymnast Magazine on Thursday, October 22, 2015


Ude PH - Podium training
Posted by International Gymnast Magazine on Thursday, October 22, 2015

Lord knows that I'm all about a good straddle position and toe point. So, I vote for Berki and Ude!

15. Oleg Verniaiev decided that Under Armour really can go *under* anything – including leotards.

A video posted by Inside Gymnastics (@insidegym) on
For all I care, he could wear this:


As long as we can see his pointed toes and as long as he wins medals, there will be champagne in San Francisco.

By the way, Coach Rick predicts that Kohei will win the all-around, but he thinks that Oleg will come the closest to challenging him.

16. Cold hands, warm heart. That's what my gymnastics coach always told me.

17. Gross incident of the day:

18. Just something to think about… 

19. Marian Dragulescu has promised me a photo of him and Bruno Grandi. In the meantime, here's a video of his floor training from today:

Okay, that's the end of the line for me. Did you come across anything good today? 

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Round 'Em up, Boys: MAG Tidbits from 2015 Worlds – October 21, 2015

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Greetings, Gymternet! While the majority of the gymnastics fans wait patiently for the women's competition to begin, the excitement is just beginning for the men's gymnastics fans.

Let's take a look at what happened today:

1. The gymternet got really excited about Brinn Bevan's jump to prone fall.



Who knew that jumping to your stomach could merit 5 emojis? This is the state of men's gymnastics today.





2. Kenzo has silenced his haters. Mr. Twisty has a double salto in his routine, and it's not a wussy double salto – like a double Arabian or something. Wait for it…




Yes, folks, that was a triple-double as a second pass.


3. If you were reading Tim Daggett's tweets, you'd assume that Japan is on the verge of being sent to the Test Event. A ginormous disaster of epic proportions, you might say, awaits them.



To be sure, Kohei's parallel bar routine was a bit shaky in spots.


But it's men's podium training! Men's podium training is like taking finals during your last semester of college. No effort; you just try to make it though without dying.

I anticipate that Japan will pull through.


4.  Fabian Hambuechen needs to get his Scheisse together, and soon!


5. The Chinese have really tight butts.

Seriously, look at their pike positions. They need to do some yoga to open the hips and loosen the hamstrings and gluts!

Just watch their piked Belles (piked double backs). You'll understand.





6. Xiao Ruoteng is China's attempt to keep up with Kenzo's twisting.

When I read about Xiao's routine on Twitter's quick hits, I got really excited.


When I saw the routine on video, though, it instantly dissolved on my eyeballs, and I forgot about it – until Gymnastike told me that I should care about it:



7. If there's a place where Kohei Uchimura opens the door for his all-around competitors, it's on vault. 



Technically, there's a lot wrong with this vault. Just look at his roundoff approach:



That's how I look when I'm walking on a curb, drunk, pretending like I'm on a balance beam.

8. But man, you have to love Kohei's clean lines. A good piked Kovacs is the sweetest gift from the gymnastics gods.


9. While we're on the subject of Kohei, here's a tidbit that you might not know. He dedicated his 2011 and 2012 performances to those who were affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. You can read more about it in a piece by CNN.

10. Today, we got a preview of the pommel horse finals:



You can watch Louis Smith's pommel horse routine on Facebook.

But I'm #TeamBerki always and forever.

11. Biggest Disappointment of the Day: Liu Yang, the 2014 gold medalist on rings, did podium training today. And so did Arthur Zanetti, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist on rings.

BUT I HAVEN'T FOUND A VIDEO OF THEIR RINGS ROUTINES! If you have found one, please leave a comment below. I'll love you as much as I love Oleg Vernyayev's toe point.

12. Second Biggest Disappointment of the Day: Very few videos of Russia.

Why does this suck? We, gymnastics fans, need to painstakingly analyze Denis Ablyazin's floor routine and compare it to Kenzo Shirai's.

Uncertainty is the devil. We must know right now who's going to win. (By the way, I anticipate that this is the floor routine that Denis Ablyazin will use in Glasgow.)

We did get a short video of David Belyavskiy on p-bars:

A video posted by Inside Gymnastics (@insidegym) on

13. It's unclear how Ri Se Gwang still has legs.


14. Photo of the day:


15. Worst Google Translation of the Day: China's "You Hao" becomes "Mrs. Ho" in English. 

16. Fun Tidbit: Leading up to Glasgow, Enrique Tomás González Sepúlveda spent a month in Spain training.

The gymternet loves the porn 'stache. My guess is best chance of making it to Rio will be through the Test Event.

Run across anything good today? Leave a comment below!

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Round 'Em up, Boys: 2015 Worlds Tidbits – October 20, 2015

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Let's skip the 80s intro. Here are some tidbits on the men's side from Worlds…

1. I don't know what the German men have been doing, but it seems that they all have hand injuries.

Marcel Nguyen has a left middle finger injury. Andreas Bretschneider has a finger injury.

2. Check out this article on the Dutch gymnasts with eponymous skills. On the men's side, you have the Zonderland on parallel bars and the van Gelder on rings. For the WAG fans out there, they also mention the Wevers.

3. A breakdown of potential D-scores for Kohei Uchimura. The blog predicts around a 39.4 – provided that Kohei performs his Li Xiaopeng on vault.





4. Don't recognize most of the Italian men? It's okay. It's mostly a new crop of guys. Matteo Morandi had to have meniscus surgery, and Alberto Busnari, the pommel horse god, has been left home.

5. Ryohei Kato is at 80-90% after an ankle injury.

6. There was a long article on the Ukrainian men. Here are my key takeaways:

Oleg Verniaiev's legs are still bothering him. Unfortunately, his magical Israeli doctor hasn't been able to alleviate all his pain. It sounds like he won't have surgery until after the Olympics because he needs six months to recover.

In addition to talking extensively about the new floor mats, the gymnasts mention several empty promises from the Ukrainian sports federation. Radivilov, for instance, was promised housing in Donetsk after his bronze in the London Olympics. He's still waiting, and he ain't too happy.

At this time, neither Radivilov nor Oleg plans to leave the country. However, if things don't change after the Olympics, Oleg might venture elsewhere.

7. It has been 12 years since Cuba has competed at the World Championships.

For the gym nerds, here's a stroll down memory lane… At the 2001 and 2003 World Championships, Eric Lopez Rios finished 5th in the all-around. It'll be interesting to see if Manrique Larduet can top that.

So, welcome back, Cuba!


 9.637


9.600 + Uncle Tim bonus for the 'stache game

8. Brazil has confirmed what I wrote yesterday: Diego Hypólito is the alternate. No opportunity to defend his bronze on floor. BOO!

Arthur Nory, Caio Souza, Francisco Barretto, and Lucas Bitencourt will do the all-around. Zanetti will compete on floor, rings, and vault. Péricles da Silva will be on pommels, p-bars, and high bar.

9. Marian Dragulescu is a celebrity at Worlds. Everyone wants to hang out with him.

Seriously, everyone…
A photo posted by Scott Denny Hann (@scotthann) on

10. You know what they say about a man who carries a big selfie stick, right?

Yeah, nor do I… But Team GB is obsessed with their selfie sticks. How many Crown Jewels must I donate to get a picture of Team GB + the Queen, while the Queen holds the selfie stick?

A photo posted by Brinn Bevan (@brinnbevan) on

11. I love how the U.S. gymnasts look like they are about to have a snowball fight.

A photo posted by Yin Alvarez (@coachyinsanity) on

…and then, they're like, "Just kidding! ESPN Body Issue, call us."

A photo posted by Yin Alvarez (@coachyinsanity) on

12. Finally, a few training videos.

First up, Danell Leyva. I've always loved the rhythm of his pirouetting skills on p-bars, and I'd love to see him medal again this year.

I wish that he could find the same rhythm on his Rybalko on high bar.

A video posted by Inside Gymnastics (@insidegym) on
The Glasgow Worlds will be Brinn Bevan's first big meet as a senior. Here are some of his highlights from training today:

A video posted by Brinn Bevan (@brinnbevan) on
Look for Brinn's huge Tsuk double pike!

A video posted by Brinn Bevan (@brinnbevan) on

Reiss Beckford, who will be representing Jamaica, uploaded some highlights of his training, which included a big ol' Cassina:

A video posted by Reiss❌Beckford (@reissbeckford) on

That's it for today! Feel free to leave a comment and share any videos, articles, or pictures that you ran across today!

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Round 'Em up, Boys: Articles, Videos, and other Tidbits from 2015 Worlds - October 19, 2015

19:53  , , , , , , , , , ,  1 comment

When it comes to the World Championships, the gymternet blows up. Sign onto Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, or Instagram, and you'll find doctoral dissertations analyzing a single photo and what it means for team lineups.

On the men's side, though, it's much harder to find information. You gotta go looking for it, and in many cases, you need Google translate to find the good stuff.

So, I thought that I'd round up everything that I've been reading and watching and put them into blogs during Worlds. Here's what I came across today…


1. Every listicle should start with Fabian Hambiceps.

Baby Fabian was so adorable. Here he is with his ex-girlfriend in 2008:



2. Alexei Nemov hopes that Russia can take third behind China and Japan. He has high hopes for Denis Ablyazin on floor, vault, and rings. (No duh!)

You might recall that Denis won gold on floor last year – beating Super Twisty Kenzo Shirai. In Nanning, Denis was the bronze medalist on rings, as well.




3. The Brazilian press is reporting that Diego Hypólito will be the alternate for Brazil.

That's gotta suck for him. He was slated to be the alternate in 2014, as well, but he was added to the team at the last minute. Then, surprise! He won bronze on floor!



At any rate, the team is said to be: Arthur Nory, Arthur Zanetti, Caio Souza, Francisco Barreto Júnior, Lucas Bittencourt, and Péricles Silva.

Reminder: Sergio Sasaki, one of Brazil's key contributors, is out with a knee injury. Ironically, he sustained that knee injury in Glasgow.


4. Oleg Verniaiev just got a new floor mat! PRAISE THE GYM GODS!

It's a mighty fine floor, I might add. Have you ever seen sexier foam?



Alas, it looks like they could use a new pommel horse, too. (But beggars can't be choosers.) Here are a few shots from inside his gym:



5. Speaking of Oleg… There haven't been too many training videos of the men, but Tim Daggett did post one of Oleg. Thank you, Timmy!


6. Prior to Worlds, the Chinese team was training in Paris. Cheng Ran, a member of China's gold-medal-winning team in 2014, was sent home. It's unclear why.

Update! Never mind. Elizabeth figured it out! :-)


7. Sam Oldham opens up about not making the World Team. At a training camp in Portugal, he sustained an injury to his lat, and at the London Open, he had a small tear in his Plantaris. Best of luck, Bud!

8. Friendly Reminder: Kohei Uchimura apparently has had left shoulder problems. We'll see if that comes into play.

9. The IOC did a lovely fluff piece on Kohei. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"It's not about winning gold at the Olympics, or winning gold at the World Championships. I've already done those things."

"The result doesn't matter; it's really about performing in a way that I'm satisfied with."


10. The meet organizers need to figure out this lighting situation! Lights are exploding! And if a piece of glass cuts my Oleg, I'll cut a bitch.


11. Deus meu! Somehow, I feel like there's not going to be a lot of sleeping in this hotel room.

A photo posted by Nile Wilson (@nilemw) on
12. Oh, and if you're really behind on your men's gymnastics news, Sam Mikulak is out with a slight Achilles tear.


13. Again, if you're behind on your MAG news, Slovenian gymnast Mitja Petkovšek has retired. He was the 2005 and 2007 world champion on parallel bars, and I was hoping to see him again in Glasgow.

Bonus: Lord of the Rings, Chen Yibing, is an adorable daddy.


What have you been reading? Leave a comment below!

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