Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2009 Australian Gymnastics Blog Awards WINNERS!

They come but once a year!

Thanks to everyone who sent votes in, especially the gym parents who got whole families on board to vote for their nominated daughters. It was very sweet (and surprising!) to hear from so many of you. This was yet another exciting year in gymnastics with ups and downs across the male and female disciplines.

But let's have a little less conversation and a little more action! Congratulations to...

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The Major Categories...


Australian Female Gymnast of the Year
Lauren Mitchell, WA
"Onya!" Honourable Mention: Larrissa Miller, QLD


Australian Male Gymnast of the Year
Prashanth Sellathurai, NSW
"Onya!" Honourable Mention: Sam Offord, SA


Australian Coach/Coaching Team of the Year
TIE!
Nikolai Lapchine/Martine George, WAIS
and
Michelle DeHighden/Jeb Silsbury, MLC.


Australian Artistic Gymnastics Team of the Year
European Tour Shadow Squad WAG
"Onya!" Honourable Mention: London World Championships WAG


The Minor Categories...


Routine of the Year
Lauren Mitchell, Beam, World Championships event final



"Smile Moment" of the Year
IDP Girls do Stacey Umeh's dance at camp



"Sad Moment" of the Year

Shona Morgan's Worlds injury


Surprise of the Year
The Jouras move to Queensland


Simon Reeve Award for Gymnastics Media Coverage
Gymnastics Australia, Live-tweeting AUS v JPN


Brittany Boffo Award for Memorable (if Unfortunate) Mishaps
Philippe Rizzo, Worlds, A great high bar routine spoiled by a sat-down dismount


Gymsport Athlete/s of the Year
Naazmi Johnston, Rhythmic Gymnastics


Monique Allen Award for Successful Ex-Gymsporters
Lisa Skinner, Cirque Performer


Photo of the Year
(By just one vote!)
Brittany Boffo, QLD

So pwetty! Lauren Mitchell's kiss-and-hug photo came second.


Congrats again to all the winners, one day I hope to get you all a trophy of some sort! Maybe a little gold laptop or something...

Hope to have more interesting and exciting moments in 2010 to include in next December's awards. Thanks again for voting and enjoy the rest of the year!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

A good list of deserved winners. Coaching team a bit surprising though - sure, MLC have done an ok job, but 2 medals at Worlds?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps World medals are not the only mesure of success. These coaches are coaching younger girls at the moment anyway aren't they?

Nik said...

The London worlds team didn't win team of the year after 3 medals and a number of finals appearances- Really??
Wow I thought that was our best delegation ever!!

Anonymous said...

Popular votes are like the Logies...he with the most lackeys/relatives able to fill out voting cards wins.

Not to say they don't sometimes get it right.

Anonymous said...

hey whatever, it doesn't really matter. If you want someone to win, you vote for them. all the winners were deservant of their titles. and WAIS and MLC tied anyway so although MLC may not have gymnasts with 2 worlds medals under their belts, but they did a great job last year in their own divisions.l am however surprised the worlds team didn't win anything

Mez said...

That's not say they didn't receive a large number of votes. They were just pipped.

Capability-wise, the London WAG team was doubtless a strong one one. But when we consider why they might have received a lesser number of votes, bear in mind that they had the disadvantage of performing at an event that didn't have a 'team' component.


And from the perspective of the person who compiled all the votes, I can say that it wasn't just "lackeys/relatives" that saw some individual winners be deemed so. Some family members of nominees did indeed vote this year, but in not one single category did they comprise the only votes.

Anonymous said...

They are all well deserving of the attention in my opinion, nominees and winners alike! Love that Beautiful Boffo photo especially. Hell we know the medals at Worlds were special, but there were other gymnasts working their butts of in other programs around the country all year. Good job Mez, for making sure we get to acknowlege a wide cross section of them.

Anonymous said...

*off

Nik said...

Oh, I wasn't saying that the shadow squad wasn't great and I'm glad they got some international experience, I was just surprised that they were found to be team of the year when the worlds squad was AMAZING. I honestly couldn't believe the results they received when we were probably all suprised on a couple of the team members chosen. And despite the injury of Shona. Regardless, I love the awards- it really does recognise the acheivments throughout the year.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 12:27. Thanks for raising the calibre of the discussion with your eloquent contribution. Just who is supposed to *off.

Anonymous said...

I think the *off was to represent a mis-spelling in the previous comment by anon 12:26.

Anonymous said...

Both comments were mine and yes it was a correction. I confess to being pedantic about spelling and wish you were able to edit posts here. So nobody is off except me because I forget to read my posts before I post them.