National Clubs/ AUS v JPN Wrap-Up

Thanks to ChaChaKid and Supergymmo.

Some vids can be found here and HERE!

And here are fabulous pics!

Night 1:

(Yes, that is Emily Little giving a gorgeous big smile)

Night 2:

Australia vs Japan 2

All-around and apparatus finals kick off today.

Good luck to all competitors!

************************************

ChaChaKid says:

Japan are wearing the same leotards from last night. Australia are in their pink flame leotards from London!

GA confirms Lauren will NOT do AA tonight, just beam and floor.

AAAARGH I hear a thunderstorm a-rumbling! I do NOT want my web connection to get knocked out!

Anyway

Australia kicks off on vault, Japan on bars.

Vault:
Coley Y-full, Bonora Y-full, Wheeler "explosive" handspring front pike, Little "awesome!" Y 1.5!

Japan appear to be showing some minor niggles on bars.

GA Twitter says Tsurumi is now out of AA contention so she won't be doing all 4 events tonight (I guess there was hope she might try for it today after only doing 2 yesterday?)

Aussies are prepping the bars...c'mooooon Larrissa!

GA says their warm-ups look good.

The rain is hammering down now, hopefully our power can hang in there!

Emily Little sits in third place AA after one rotation (14.365), Shintake and Minobe of Japan in first and second respectively.


Bars:

Fiona hits floor after overshoot but finishes off nicely otherwise.
Georgia B sits down her dismount, oh no!
The other Georgia does a nice routine with an extra swing after her "massive tkatchev" - does this girl have power in her or what!?
Emily struggles with a toe shoot up to high bar... falls! Oh no (again)!
Tsurumi on beam as Miller steps up to bars.
Larrissa shows a great routine, rocks the Adler again... but hands down on dismount!


Beam:
Japan in 1-2-3 all around going into 3rd rotation.

Fiona falls on beam, on a back tuck dismount that is reportedly not her best.
"Great" routine from Georgia B!
Ditto Georgia W! I detect good things coming her way in 2010!
Emily's bad luck continues with a fall on her tuck front somi.
Everybody buzzes as Lauren steps up for beam.
LOZ HITS! "Nails the layout", woohoo!

"Awwww" for Japan: "Poor Ozawa has a cold and hasn't put the tissue box down all night! Yet she nailed an amazing double layout on floor but stepped out of bounds on her 2nd pass. And straight to the tissues after the routine!" According to GA she changed the second pass from what she did yesterday, making it a full-in.

Floor:

Team Aus "look confident" heading to their last event
Mitchell's score for beam was 15.325!
Georgia B shows a good routine, great comeback for her since London.
Georgia Wheeler, on the other hand, suffers a fall on her double-arabian!
Emily Little makes up for previous errors and hits a great floor exercise, all tumbles stood up and kept inbounds, to end her competition for the day.
Here goes Lauren!
AND SHE NAILS IT AGAIN, GA TWEETS THAT THE CROWD DOES INDEED GO WILD!
"Peggy quite pleased."


Presentations:


AvJ Vault: 3rd Oshima/Tsurumi (t), 2nd Little, 1st Ozawa
AvJ Bars: 3rd Oshima/Miller (t) 2nd Minobe, 1st Shintake
AvJ Beam: 3rd Minobe, 2nd Tsurumi, 1ST MITCHELL!
AvJ Floor: 3rd Minobe, 2nd Oshima, 1ST MITCHELL!

Japan goes 1-2-3 in the all-around! Oshima, Minobe, Shintake respectively.

Read a round-up here.

Congratulations also to Emily Little won the National Club junior AA title! She was followed by Emma Collister and Georgia Wheeler.

Australia vs Japan

Cocktails.
Brilliant.

So... interesting stuff coming out of C-town, hey! I'm sorry I missed it!

Hopefully those who had errors yesterday can fix them up in today's AA/EF round of competition. Larrissa Miller is proving herself to be quite the reliable performer when it counts (she debuted the Adler, wheeee!), and I can't wait to see the new floor from Georgia Wheeler! Apparently Emily Little had good floor and beam routines so it's good to see she's getting there with her consistency (vault fall notwithstanding). I hope to cover the event as best as I can today without actually being there. I know that videos are on their way so... that's probably the only thing I can provide that the GA Twitter can't!

Results can be found here.

MLC's website put in a more detailed report of Georgia W's routines, you can read it here.


General stuff, with thanks to ChaChaKid:


* Apparently not all scores were flashed for all routines

* Both teams competed in their Olympic leotards (Australia prelims green-and-gold, Japan prelims red)

* Monica Sloane was there competing IDP10

* Lauren hit a great floor in the last rotation - kept it in bounds the whole time! - and waved to the crowd afterward. Awwwwww.

Smile Time

Have a nice day everyone, whatever the weather.

I'm starting my day with the B-52's and ending it with some gymnastics news! With apologies to Dr Seuss, I really can't complain about that!

:)

Storm Clouds

Sorry everyone, my power got knocked out for nearly 3 hours hours in a huuuge storm that hit my area of Melbourne. I left the house this morning in glorious sunshine, and couldn't have seen such torrential rain coming! It was crazy!

But yes, here I am. The news had already broken but here it is again anyway:

BrittyBritt is out of the Aus v Japan, due to a back injury. She will be replaced on the team by reserve Georgia Wheeler.

Best wishes to Britt for a speedy recovery, and good luck to Georgia in her first national duel meet.


On a more sunshiney note, you can watch the Sports Performer Awards ceremony on Channel 10, this Sunday 29/11 from 1-2pm, or on One HD from 8-8:55pm.

National Clubs scores and standings will be updated here.


Are you attending National Clubs/AUS v JPN this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Send reports, photos or other tidbits to ozgymblog@gmail.com

YESSSSSS!!!!

Congratulations to Lauren Mitchell for being named the 2009 Age/SMH/Colonial Young Sports Performer of the Year!

See the other winners here.

We're so pleased for you, Lauren, and so very proud!


Thanks (am I allowed to say thanks for this?) to everyone who voted, give yourselves a big pat on the back.

"Hm... my brand new watch says it's TIME TO KICK YOUR BUTT!"

(thanks Nade for the photo link)

Quick Twits

Gymnastics Australia have launched their own Twitter page to do live score updates from the SUPER HYPER MEGA ULTRA AWESOME ULTIMATE ASIA-PACIFIC SHOWDOWN OF GYMNASTICS.



Follow GA at Twitter here.


I will do my best to post updates and reports from National Clubs/Aus v Japan as they come to my attention. I am very excited for this event and will cover it as much as I can.

That said, I may be AWOL for much of this Friday because...

well...

I don't like blowing my own horn too much...

but...

Friday's my birthday.

:)

O.U. Good Thing

What are our Aussie expats up to, eh?

Olivia Vivian and Melanie Jones have competed at the Oregon State Intrasquad exhibition meet.

Olivia performed on bars, beam(!) and floor(!) which all were quite impressive if reports are anything to go by. Freshman Mel competed vault (Tsuk-layout), bars and beam (incl. a layout to two feet). She apparently doesn't have a "completed" floor routine yet. Olivia showed a nice side somi on beam.

Good luck to the girls in the new year! Go Beavs!




(With thanks to Stoddard Reynolds and the Oregon State Athletics Department)


One day later: VIDEOS!


(featuring Mel on beam)



(featuring Olivia on bars)

Ya gotta love the team atmosphere of college gymnastics. Loud cheers, excited high-fives, all support all the time.

Not only do I cheer on our Aussies, I personally love watching Laura-Ann Chong and Mandi Rodriguez perform as well. Last year, Rodriguez went into NCAA finals ranked 2nd in the nation on floor.

Reminder Notices

If you missed Lauren Mitchell's appearance on SEN radio, follow the link here to listen again.

I believe voting for the Sports Performer Awards closed today so good luck to Lauren! She had a lot of people vote!


I should also give a shout-out to the Australian Under-19 Men's Synchronised Trampoline team who, like Lauren , won a silver medal at their world championships! Well done to Shaun Swadling and Aidan Thomas for their fantastic achievement.

GA have listed the Australia vs Japan WAG team going head-to-head during National Clubs next week:

Georgia B, Britt, Fiona, Larrissa, Emily L, and Lauren.
Georgia W and Georgia S are reserves.

Mill-Joy

Larrissa Miller was interviewed by International Gymnast!

Read it here.

This girl has totally turned me 'round. I hope she gets some big opportunities in 2010, if her Worlds debut was anything to go by. What a champion.

It was actually easier than I had always imagined it would be. When I went out on the podium I didn’t look up at the audience; I just kept to myself and kept focused. Although I was nervous as soon as I jumped on to the apparatus, I just did my routine like I normally would.

Thanks also to Ali for this new article from Larrissa's local (click for larger, sorry it's sideways!):

Sports Shake-Up

Unfortunately, SkyNews didn't play all of this morning's press conference featuring Sports Minister Kate Ellis. But I did manage to catch some of it. I hastily took notes while waiting for my laptop to get its bottom into gear.


This morning, Ellis and representatives from the Australian Sports Commission and Independent Sports Review Panel unveiled their report into the state of Australian sports policy, structure and funding.

Ellis said outright that, "There is a lot of power in Australian sport", and that this report was key to harnessing that power and channeling it in the right direction She was quick to point out that the report - essentially an overview of national sports programs based on consultation sessions with over 600 sporting body representatives, as well a series of recommendations born out of findings from these - does NOT recommend or outline any proposals for funding cuts to sports budgets. This was "pure speculation".

Ellis and David Crawford, the Sports Review Panel chairman, highlighted just two major recommendations of the 39 outlined in the report.

The first was to reform the Australian Sports Commission in order to develop a more solid national sporting policy framework, within which issues like funding can be structured (did that sound like corporate jargon or WHAT!?)

The second was to separate the Australian Institute of Sport from the ASC, and 'merge' it with the other state training centres so all are on a more equal footing in their contribution to the training of elite athletes. Crawford alluding to them being Australian Institutes of Sport, so I assume that instead of "The Victorian Institute of Sport" (for example), we might end up having something like "The Australian Institute of Sport - Victoria".


As I said, I didn't catch everything because SkyNews cut away from the conference and it was hard to extract fact from jargon. But the big focus in addition to elite sports funding is boosting support for sports and health volunteers, and encouraging nationwide support for physical education and recreational sports in schools.

You can read a little more about it all here.


ETA Later Today: The AOC responds to the Rudd government's Crawford review. Hmmm!

The Crawford report dismissed the Australian Olympic Committee's calls for an extra $100 million a year for 10 years for elite sports, saying that money would be better spent elsewhere.

SEN-sational

SEN Radio played audio from Lauren's beam final routine then did a phone interview.

* She is happy her exams are over, and with all her maths, health and science-related subjects agrees she's a "bit of a nerd". She has "never thought of it like that", that no Aussie gymnast has quite achieved what she did in London.

* Admits she doesn't like watching others compete so did not watch other beam final competitors before she went up. Mez goes grrrrr at "a little girl from China won the gold" remark by the announcer

* They ask about her "crouching wolf turn" (hidden dragon!) on beam. "Do you need sorta weird toes to do it?" asked the announcer (again, grrrrr and eye roll). Lauren says she found the skill quite easy in the beginning and credits her strong legs with helping master it.

* Explains that she worked hard with Stacey on her dance skills in camp to get her floor routine at its best.

* Admits the floor routine performance felt stronger than her beam one because "the pressure was off" after medalling and she could have a bit of fun out there.

* Thinks that had she got the AA bronze, she wouldn't have been as motivated for apparatus finals. Missing out gave her a good drive for to go for broke in finals.

* Shyly admitted she will probably party and "let loose" after her competitions are over later this year.

* Kudos for working in the word "variables".

* Admits she doesn't crack out cartwheels or handstands at parties but jokes that "C'mon, my [much more impressive] routines are on YouTube!"

* Worlds was a motivation to keep training after injury

* Admits London was great, notably because she's a little more comfortable in accomodation where English is the primary language

* She is a West Coast Eagles fan, NOT a Dockers fan! But never really gets the chance to go to games.

* Doesn't really follow other sports as a fan, "gymnastics has pretty much been my whole life"

* NATIONAL CLUBS AND PAC RIM PLUG!

* Gives a hint that she wouldn't mind visiting India next year

* Hahaha, SEAMLESS plug of her Sports Award nomination! In so far as she has to quickly ask to mention it as they start farewelling her.

* They play audio of her floor as the interview finishes up

Silver Streak

*munches on a chocolate coconut truffle and thinks about the universe*

Pommel is quickly becoming a race-for-the-minor-medals-behind-China event, like WAG uneven bars.

That said, big claps for Prashanth Sellathurai for continuing his good form and winning the silver medal at the DTB Cup. He scored 16.025, sandwiched between the daring Zhang Hongtao and the Hungarian stalwart Kristian Berki.




And don't forget that Lauren Mitchell will be on the radio tonight (see yesterday's post).

Prash Takes Part in Stuttgart

Good luck to Prashanth Sellathurai who is competing at the DTB Cup in Stuttgart this weekend. Prash is looking to repeat his recent World Championships success, not to mention last year's pommel horse silver medal at the DTB Pokal.

There is a live news ticker (in German) here.


This is ground control to Major Loz...

GA have given us a heads-up that Lauren Mitchell will appear on SEN radio this Sunday.

Lauren Mitchell will be a guest of this week's Sunday Night Sports Party on 116SEN.

She will feature as a guest of Mark Franklin this Sunday (15th November).

Anybody who wants to listen to the interview with Lauren can do so by listening to 1116 SEN here in Melbourne or by listening live over the internet by going to www.sen.com.au and clicking on the listen on-line icon on the top right hand side of their home page.

All going well, Lauren should be interviewed around 9.30pm AEDST.

ETA: Prashanth has qualified to the pommel horse final ranked second!

More Vids

Thanks to the Anon for pointing out JumpMedia's YouTube account, that is hosting the video of Lauren Mitchell on Fox Sports. Dyaaaw. She's the cutest little [self-appointed] 'unco' in the world.


My thanks also to the Team BEEEF representatives for forwading these videos from the European tour. Now I just want to run around yelling "AlleeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!!!" at everything.








And, on a non-video-related note, Thomas Pichler features here. Interesting stuff.

Plzthnx.

I cannot stress this enough.

Please vote for Lauren or a basketful of kittens will cry.


Or this adorable sleepy European child, who ably directed gymnasts around the floor at Olympic Hopes, will be forced to walk home without his shoes.


Also: My very best wishes to everyone's favourite OTHER person nicknamed Mez, Mary-Anne Monckton, who is going in for ankle surgery on Thursday. Big love.

Wheeler's Reel

Thanks to Alar who provided these videos of Georgia Wheeler's beam and bars routines from the Olympic Hopes Cup. The latter is an exhibition routine performed before the medal ceremony.

Hmmm...?

Via Gymnastics Queensland:

Welcome to Vladimir Joura who has been appointed as Head Coach of Queensland Gymnastics’ Women’s High Performance program. Vladimir joins the HPC team from the WAIS WAG elite program which has recently achieved enviable results on [sic] the international arena. We also welcome Irina Joura as senior coach for the WG program. Irina is a renown [sic] beam specialist who has also been actively involved in the WA HPC and also the Northern Beaches program. Vladimir and Irina will move to Queensland along with their two daughters Sasha [sic] and Natalia who are both gymnasts and we look forward to the gymnastics community welcoming them to our wonderful State and HP program.

Czech Points

Good results for Georgia Wheeler at the Olympic Hopes Cup in the Czech Republic.

Read a full report and see some more photos here.

She finished 9th all-around and showed off a new floor routine.

Floor was difficult in training as Georgia found it hard to get the timing on the Speith Floor. She hit her new floor routine and was the only gymnast with 3 double saultos at the comp. Most athletes - including the Chinese - only did one. Unfortunately Georgia landed out of the floor on her first and last pass – so was given a 1.0 penalty. Given the Arabian double Saulto is new she handled herself really well – and the new floor dance was done clean.

...

For her first International assignment this was a very good job. Many coaches and judges came to us and commented on her presentation and skill level and were very impressed with her.

Well done, G-Whee! Be proud of your progress and have a safe journey home!

Worlds Photos Exclusive 2

With thanks once again to The Couch Gymnast.

I'm on ur sidelinez

Nickin' ur pantz

Apparently Georgia would "talk to herself"

to keep motivated between rotations.





Loz, this is NO time for hide-and-seek!




There is one additional photo TCG provided of the Australian delegation and I was in two minds about posting it. It involves Shona Morgan on vault. I did initially upload the photo to this post and justified doing so by saying that, while I took little joy in posting it, I did so in the interest of reporting what happened to Team Australia in London. Unfortunately, at one point, something bad had happened involving Shona, and we all heard about it, but it was dealt with immediately in the arena as the photo shows.

I decided not to post the photo here but will leave you with the decision of viewing it for yourselves over at The Couch Gymnast's blog. It's there, it was something that happened to occur during the competition, part of it was captured in photography (and, sadly, somewhere on YouTube it turns out). I don't think it's disrespectful as such to have a photo like that made public, as I think it's important to report what happens in a competition. Mind you, if it were captioned with a "LOL!" or something similar I'd certainly feel bristled. I just personally feel a bit weird putting it here and showing such a moment in stasis.

As it did when news of the injury was first broken, my heart goes out to Shona and I wish her the absolute best in recovery. I hope she comes back stronger than ever and can have happier competition experiences in the new year.

Vlad's Vocation Vacation

Right, now, THIS is what I had been holding out for. Sorry to have been snippy but I hate Facebook-based discussion.

GA confirms a move by Joura family members to Queensland and their new coaching appointments there.

The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), in conjunction with Gymnastics Queensland (GQ), have announced the appointments of Vladimir Joura (Head Coach) and Irina Joura (Senior Coach) to their Women's Elite Program. In announcing the appointments, GQ Executive Director Wayne Hill stated, "We believe Vladimir's appointment will contribute to re-building a stable and high quality program that will once again be a positive contributor to the National initiative."

Vladimir Joura coached for 12 years at the highly successful West Australia Institute of Sport (WAIS) Women's program and takes with him to Brisbane his youngest daughter Natalia Joura who is a current member of the National Junior Squad.

Vladimir's departure will create a coaching opportunity at WAIS. If you are interested, please follow the links to the WAIS web site for details.

Best of luck to the family in their transition.

C'est la Ville

Lots and lots of Combs la Ville videos are up!

Emma Collister's beam:




(Some of) Britt's floor:



Britt's bars:



Emily's vault


More are available to view here.

(I haven't been through all of them yet, but just FYI the video of Em Collister's floor has been incorrectly labelled as Emily Little.)

Worlds Photos Exclusive!

Many sopping spongeloads of thanks to The Couch Gymnast for these photos from her whirlwind trip to London.

Click on each image for a larger version.






And thanks also to the Anon for pointing out some Combs La Ville vids (thanks of course to Aurelia as well):

Emma Collister bars here.

Emma Collister floor here.

The Turn of the Wheeler

Best of luck to MLC gymnast Georgia Wheeler, competing at the "Olympic Hopes Cup", an exciting junior competition in the Czech Republic, November 5-7.

Read more about Wheeler's schedule here and read about the competition itself here.


Go you fluro green fire engine!

The Best Ship of All is Membership

Happy belated 2nd(!!!) birthday to the Supporters of Australian Gymnastics group at Facebook, my bouncing baby precursor to the blog, currently boasting over 130 members.


Have you joined yet?

Another good ship is mentorship! Here's Naazmi Johnston at the 2009 NSW State Categories Championships, performing for what looks like an enthralled audience of future rhythmic stars!

Sunday Age

I believe this is what Victorians can expect in their Sunday rag today.

Hurrah (again) for gymnasts in the media.


Speaking of...

Alex Croak features in November's International Gymnast magazine, in a "Quick Chat" feature.