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Showing posts with label Kohei Uchimura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kohei Uchimura. Show all posts

Borracho: Your Unofficial Drinking Game for Men's Gymnastics at the Rio Olympics


Men's gymnastics meets are the best. But they're also several hours long, which means that they can be a little exhausting for the average joe, especially if you're sitting through a full day of qualifications.

But I'll let you in on an old Soviet secret: alcohol makes everything better. So, grab a couple friends and a whole lot of alcohol, and win that Olympic gold medal in drinking. YOU CAN DO IT!


If you can't name every member of the Japanese men's team, take a big gulp for each gymnast you can't name.



WTF. These photos even make Ryohei Kato look bad!


If you don't know the difference between a Tsukahara and a Kasamatsu on vault, take another big gulp.



If you didn't know how many Olympic medals Nikolai Andrianov won, take 15 gulps.


Yup, he won 15 Olympic medals.


All right, now, you're ready to start the drinking game…


It's time to go 6 for 6, and trust in your training…


Chug your drink any time you see a commercial for MORE Olympics coverage during a commercial break. #Meta





What's that? A view of Cristo Redentor on your screen? Stand up, throw your arms out to the side, and yell, "I'm Nastia… I mean, I'm Jesus!"


If you saw the 2012 Kellogg's Tour, you'll know what I'm talking about.



It starts around 2:16. This video does not do Nastia's Jesus moment justice.


Whenever a gymnast does a man wipe on floor, stand up on your chair, and man wipe like you're about to win the Olympic floor final. After dismounting your chair, salute the judges, sit down, and have a drink. You earned it, champ.


For the uninitiated in the ways of the wipe, we're not talking about these moist toilettes for your man bits.



We're talking about this.



If Kohei Uchimura shows up on your screen, don't drink. Play Pokemon Go.


It's not like he's good at gymnastics or anything. Why would you want to watch someone who made a name for himself by running up a $5,000 cell phone bill? Sad.



If a gymnast falls on high bar, drink until he remounts the apparatus.




Forced to watch someone chalk up? Waterfall drink until it's over.


You're going to die whenever the U.S. goes to parallel bars…



If your friends openly admit to liking Louis Smith's man bun, throw your drink at them.


A photo posted by GymCastic Podcast (@gymcastic) on



If a friend passes out during the meet, shave a Sam Mikulak-style flag into the side of his or her head.





During commercial breaks, play charades, and reenact your favorite Olympic moments of all times. The losing team has to clean up at the end of the night.



When a skill scares you, take a shot. Drinking is the original Xanax.



When a skill terrifies you, take two shots. Clearly, that first shot didn't work.



When death seems imminent, drink everything in sight.


IGOR!


Every time the broadcast shows a team huddle, fly into a huddle in your living room. Last person in the huddle has to take a drink.




Whenever there's marching, form a line in your living room. First person in line gets to choose what the last person in line has to drink.





If someone explains the scoring system to you, roll your eyes, huff loudly, and take a very large gulp.



If a gymnast falls off pommel horse, throw yourself to the ground out of sympathy. Have a drink for that poor lad while you're lying on the floor.


If you believe in artistry, fall gracefully with pointed toes. Otherwise, swear like you're Yin Alvarez as you drop to the ground.



Whenever Jake Dalton flexes his Corgi-sized biceps, take two sips – one for each bicep.


If Jake's not competing, feel free to swap in Sam Mikulak, Fabian Hambuechen, Igor Radivilov, etc. etc. etc. Anyone whose biceps are bigger than your head.




Men hugging? Sweet. Cuddle with the dude next to you, and take a bromance shot together. 



Make sure your arms are intertwined like pretzels, and you stare longingly into each others' eyes.





At the end of the competition, write a drunken fan letter to your favorite gymnast. Take a picture of it. And post it on social media. (Try to remember not to tag your favorite gymnast. That would be awkward.)




Not sure how to watch the Olympics? Check here for details.

Quick Hits: Videos from the All-Japan Championships


Kohei Uchimura scored a 91.300 in the all-around, even though he fell on his Li Xiao Peng vault, which has always been somewhat questionable, and whacked his legs on the parallel bars. It's Kohei, though. The man can probably fart better than most of us.

I think that most gymnastics fans were surprised by Kenzo Shirai's second place finish. Known for his floor (16.500!!!)


and vault (only a 15.100),


Kenzo is thought of as an event specialist. Personally, I'm curious to see what his pommels and rings look like. If you find a video, please share!

Ryohei Kato, the reigning American Cup champion, came in third with an 89.400. (At the American Cup, he scored an 88.931. Pretty darn consistent.) His highest score of the day (15.400) came on floor:


His round-off technique drives me loopy. The skill tends to go around the side – rather than over his hands. Then again, I have no American Cup titles to my name, so I guess it works for him.

Fnally, we arrive at Yusuke Saito, who tied for fourth place with Yuya Kamoto. Guess what he did!

A BRETSCHNEIDER!

Can we send Oleg Verniaiev to Japan for a few weeks so that he can learn some real high bar releases?


I only want to watch high bar routines with Bretschneiders from now on.

Side note: WAG fans criticize uneven bar routines that rely too heavily on Tkatchev variations, but most MAG fans are okay with high bar routines that rely heavily on Kovacs variations. Are Kovacs just that much more badass than, say, a Church and a Ray and a Hindorff? Or why don't we criticize Kovacs-heavy high bar routines?

To watch more videos, check out this YouTube channel. Full results can be found here.

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!

Sexy Data Dump

During the World Championships, I made many, many charts for GymCastic, and they need to live somewhere. So, why not my blog?

Click on the images to make them larger.

1. A breakdown of the execution scores during the men's all-around.




2. A breakdown of the difficulty scores during the men's all-around.



People need to stop talking about how difficulty always trumps execution.

3. How did our top men do last year during the all-around finals?


Holy upgrades, Max Whitlock! And holy improvement, Oleg!

In the words of Oleg, "Next year I should focus more on the all-around because it is high time, high time indeed."

If we start praying now, gymternet, the gym gods are bound to give in and find a place for Oleg on the podium in 2015!


4. A comparison of 2013's floor scores vs. 2014's floor scores

Sometimes, I wonder, "Would that score been medal-worthy last year?" I decided to make some charts to find out.


Has Shirai grown? Or why is he having troubles keeping his tumbling passes within the lines?


5. …and the same for pommel horse…


If your leg cuts don't look like Berki's, you're doing it wrong.




6. …and the same for rings…


This was one of the closest finals! But I do wish that the judges had drawn clearer distinctions between routines. In a field of 8, should there really be 2 ties?


7. …and the same for vault…


Ri Se Gwang, I'll donate my foot bones to you!



8. …and the same for parallel bars…


All my prayers finally paid off! Oleg produced the most beautiful routine of the entire World Championships! (Sorry, Kohei-Lovers! But Oleg was sublime!)


If you don't like this routine, you have no soul.


9. …and the same for high bar…


Epke, your execution is improving!



Even though girls have cooties…

I did make some WAG sexy data!

1. How did our top women do last year during the all-around finals?


Vanessa Ferrari with the upgrades. Simone Biles with the consistency. Kyla Ross and Aliya Mustafina with the injuries and the downgrades. :(


2. A comparison of 2013's vault scores vs. 2014's vault scores


Praise the gym gods! There were no injuries during women's vault this year!

And this chart makes you wonder, Does McKayla Maroney really need to upgrade her second vault in order to stay competitive?


3. …and one of the women's bars…


The women are upping the ante on bars! A high 14 is no longer going to put you in medal contention!



4. …and one of the women's beam…


If Kharenkova can get it together next year (and stay away from the Russian Vortex of Injuries), women's beam should be one of the more exciting finals next year. *Fingers crossed*


5. …and one of the women's floor…


An 8.933 in execution on floor in the current state of gymnastics? SPLIT LEAPS TIMES INFINITY!




Oh, and if you get extremely nationalistic about gymnastics meets…

Here's the MAG medal count…


And here's the WAG medal count…


Yet again, there's more diversity on the men's side.

Other tidbits…

  • The FIG has released the official results book
  • Bruno Grandi is talking about changing the scoring system… AGAIN!



2014 Men's World Team Finals: When Difficulty Edges Out Execution


At the 2004 Olympics, Marian Dragulescu performed his eponymous vault. He completed it nearly flawlessly and earned a 9.900, a ginormous score at the time. For his second vault, Dragulescu did a Kaz 1.5. But he went over the lines, put both hands to the mat, and stepped off the vault mats.

Magically, Dragulescu still scored a 9.325 on his second vault. Many thought that Dragulescu should have scored a maximum of 9.100 on the Kasamatsu. The Canadian gymnastics federation lodged a protest on behalf of Kyle Shewfelt who was in fourth place. Two judges had given Dragulescu a 9.5 on his second vault, when there were clearly more than 0.5 in errors.

Adrian Stoica, a Romanian, was the FIG's Men's Technical Director at the time, and many believe that Dragulescu's score was a show of partisanship.

About today's results, Coach Rick on GymnasticsCoaching.com has said:
This is worse than the Uchimura pommel dismount scandal at the 2012 Olympics. 
On par with the Dragalescu 2nd Vault scandal at the 2004 Olympics. Four judges were sanctioned that time.
I had many feelings about this, as well.

Overall, Japan was the more consistent team. But, with some distance between myself and the event, I can say that Japan had their fair share of mistakes and missed opportunities. Let's take a look at some numbers… 

As you can see, China performed more difficulty than Japan, especially on rings.

EventCHN
D-Score Avg.
JPN
D-Score Avg.
Floor6.6336.900
Pommels6.2336.333
Rings6.8336.300
Vault6.0005.867
Parallel Bars6.9006.633
High Bar7.1006.733
Overall6.6176.461

Dang! The Chinese on rings are hot.

What the Japanese lacked in difficulty they made up in execution. Correction: almost made up in execution.

EventCHN
E-Score Avg.
JPN
E-Score Avg.
Floor8.2898.677
Pommels8.3418.780
Rings8.6778.544
Vault9.3559.389
Parallel Bars8.5418.711
High Bar8.2198.222
Overall8.5718.721

Japan's execution scores, though better than China's, just weren't enough to overcome China's difficulty. Unfortunately, that's not where this story ends.

Like moths to a flame, gymnastics fans are attracted to the faintest whiff of controversy. If you look closely at the high bar execution scores, they are awfully close: an 8.219 average for China and an 8.222 average for Japan. On top of that, Zhang Chenglong's execution score was only 0.044 behind Kohei Uchimura's. (8.466 to 8.500.)

So, we sit down at our laptops and compare high bar routines in slow motion. We watch Kohei's routine:

Then, we watch Zhang Chenglong's routine:


And we compare pirouetting skills. How much did they twist? How crooked and whackadoodle were their swings out of the pirouettes?


vs.


And we'll compare release catches. How early did they catch? How bent were their arms? Did they almost kiss some pipe?


vs.



And, in the end, we, the couch gymnasts of the world, blame the judges.

(And some of us open up old wounds because we are masochistic like that. We remember that time, in 2011, when Zhang Chenglong was last to go on high bar. He managed to beat Epke Zonderland in Rotterdam. And we get our tighty whities in a bundle because "the judges really messed that one up.")

But we don't blame the gymnasts. We're reluctant to blame the gymnasts – when, to be quite frank, the Chinese team left the door wide open for Japan. And Japan tripped walking up the stairs.

Shirai Kenzo stepped out of bounds on floor. There went three tenths right there.

Ryohei Kato competed a 5.6 vault instead of his 6.0 vault. There go another four tenths right there. (Though, he did score a 14.966 in finals compared to his 14.866 in prelims.)

Yusuke Tanaka "bombed" parallel bars. He scored a 15.700 in prelims and only a 15.166 in finals. That's 0.534. (Personally, I would die a happy man if I scored a 15.166 on p-bars.)

Ryohei Kato missed his Adler 1/1 into his Yamawaki, dropping his difficulty score from a 6.4 to a 6.3. There's another tenth.

As I said on the Worlds preview show of GymCastic, the team title was Japan's to lose, and lost it they did.

That's right. The judges did not lose the meet. The gymnasts did.

Contrary to what we might believe, gymnasts do have agency in competitions. Contrary to what we might believe, gymnasts are not the marionettes of some maniacal puppeteer judges.

Sure, judges will mess up from time to time. They are human – just like the gymnasts. When it is crystal clear that the judges did mess up, they should be castigated.

But was Zhang Chenglong's high bar score as painfully wrong as the Marian Dragulescu's 2004 vault score situation?

No. De ninguna manera.

Don't be so dramatic.