Breaking: Dennis' Adieu

Waverley Gymnastics Centre have released an official statement on the status of senior Emma Dennis.



It reads as follows:

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

EMMA DENNIS RETIRES FROM ELITE GYMNASTICS

22nd December 2010

Emma Dennis has announced her retirement from elite gymnastics competition. After a long and illustrious career, she has decided it is time to scale back training to give full attention to her VCE studies in 2011.

Emma’s coaches John Hart and Shaoyi Jiang are very sad to see Emma retire from elite competition but are also excited for her taking the next step in her life. She intends to keep training with reduced hours and may consider competing in the National stream from time to time for the enjoyment of the sport.

The 18 year old is a proud member of Waverley Gymnastics Centre and expressed how much she will miss her club, team mates and supporters. Emma particularly wanted to thank her coaches John Hart, Shaoyi Jiang , Club Director Tanya Johansen, ballet coach Grace Yang, physiotherapists Paul Haas and Jenni Allen from Bounce, Dr Dan Bates and Dr Don McIntosh all for their exceptional dedication and commitment through the years.

Emma’s involvement in elite gymnastics would not have been possible without the support of the Victorian Institute of Sport.


Emma’s incredible career spans 7 years of elite gymnastics. Some of Emma’s career highlights include:

Competed successfully at 5 International competitions as both a Junior and Senior in Sweden, Germany, Belgium and officially representing Australia in Japan, Ukraine and Britain.

Selection as non‐travelling reserve for the 2010 Worlds team

In the 2010 Victorian Championships Emma placed 5th AA, 4th Bars, 4th Beam, 4th Vault, and 5th Floor.

Selection as travelling reserve for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Team

Emma has been Victorian All Around Champion twice as well as won more than 15 State
Championship apparatus medals throughout her career.

At the 2010 National Championships Emma placed 4th AA and on vault, bars and floor. She is the current Australian Senior International title holder for beam.

Emma has won nine National titles at Australian Championships – 2010 Beam, 2007 AA, Beam, Floor and Bars, 2006 Bars, 2004 Floor and Bars and Bars in 2002.

Emma has represented Victoria at seven Australian Championships.

Selection to represent Australia at the 2007 Youth Olympics. Emma was the highest placing
Australian at 7th AA, she also made all four apparatus finals and she won 2nd on vault and 4th on Floor.

Awarded 2007 Junior Athlete of the year by Gymnastics Australia.

Emma was first selected into the National Squad in 2006 and was reselected onto the squad every year since.

We thank Emma for her wonderful commitment and contribution to Australian and Victorian Gymnastics and wish her the very best in this exciting new stage of her life.

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

Wishing Emma a healthy and happy future, starting (of course) with a very merry Christmas.

The Winning Season

The Mitchell household is going to need a bigger pool room!

Lauren Mitchell was last night awarded WA's ANZ Sports Star of the Year Award. Not only that but her coaches Martine and Nikolai were awarded joint WA Coaches of the Year!

Congratulations WAIS!

TV Alert Dec 15

9:00am AEDST (ten or so minutes, people!)

Stuttgart World Cup Day 2

Fox Sports 3

Watch Lauren win some World Cup hardware in Germany!

Gonged But Not Forgotten

As if there wasn't anything further she could win this year, Lauren Mitchell has been awarded AIS Junior Athlete of the Year.

Former gymnast turned Olympic skiing gold medallist Lydia Lassila was named Athlete of the Year.

“Lauren’s performances on the world stage demonstrate a talent beyond her years,” Senator Arbib said.

“With athletes like Lauren, the future of Australian sport is in very good hands.”

Follow this link to read more about the AIS Awards.

Speaking of awards, please leave a comment on this post if you're happy to see the Australian Gymnastics Blog Awards back again and, if interest proves strong enough, I will make a nominations post before the end of the week.

Oh What a Feeling

The stars were out for the Toyota Cup in Japan this weekend.

Australia has not yet fared as well as hoped in the first round of apparatus competition.

Tom Pichler managed a 7th on floor (14.750) and Prashanth Sellathurai a 6th on pommel (13.625, sounds like there were problems there).

On the women's side, Lauren Mitchell fared better with a 4th on bars, while Larrissa Miller was pipped into 6th.

Edit: Lauren won beam! With 15.200 over Mustafina. Congratulations, Lauren!

Read more about her competition season wrap-up here.

"I'm relieved that I was able to perform well and that I finished the year really well," Mitchell said from Tokyo.

"Today was like a worlds final so I went into the routine with the mind set to put it all out there and see what result that would bring.

"After all the travelling it is really important to know that I can do it under any circumstances. It is very satisfying to finish the year with a win."

Happy Lozmas

IG have interviewed World floor champion Lauren Mitchell about her prospects for the silly season.

Note that they mention Loz will feature in the Jan/Feb edition of the magazine. Hope she makes the cover as well!

"After the Toyota Cup I'm having some time off, so that will be when I will celebrate."

Happy Birthday To...

Waverley tough cookie and Singapore Youth Olympics superstar Angela Donald!





Ange turns 15 today, we look forward to more of her gymnastics loveliness in the new year!

National Clubs Round-Up

My sincere apologies for not covering the event this year.
Yes, the junior and senior sessions DID straddle my birthday (again!) and I WAS busy doing a few things during the week of the competition.

Here are some links to results, reports and media from the event for those who haven't managed to keep tabs on them yet. The listed links are only to those sources that provided results and reports from the event, apologies for any missing states/territories. I didn't include club reports because there are far too many of them!

If you happen to find something I missed, please put a link in in the Comments for this post and I will make an update, or email me at ozgymblog@gmail.com
Cheers!


Gymnastics Australia

NSW

QLD

WA

SA

Close But No Cigar

Despite our best efforts, our dear Lauren Mitchell missed out on Sports Performer of the Year last night.

But gosh, didn't she look fab!



Good on you, Lauren! Hope you enjoyed the night. May it be one of many many cool award nods you get on the road to London. You have done tremendous things for the sport in the last two years.

Read a sweet new article on Lauren's gymnastics journey here.

Sorry What Yes Come Again

Apologies for not covering National Clubs.

I've been a bit distracted by... a thing.

Hurrah

Good news!

"The success of world gymnastics champion Lauren Mitchell, has been reflected in a rise of almost $400,000 in funding..."

Keeping Up Appearances

Interstate gymfans, this weekend sees YOUR chance to meet some Aussie superstars!

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Dani Prince, Tom Pichler and Josh Jefferis will be doing a meet-and-greet in Queensland, while Gold Medallist of Everything Ever Lauren Mitchell will be making an appearance at the National Club Championship in Canberra.

So keep your eyes peeled and your marker pens uncapped!

Also, in competition appearance news, our Toyota Cup team heading to Japan will be Lauren Mitchell, Ashleigh Brennan, Larrissa Miller and Prashanth Sellathurai.

Glasgow A-Go-Go 2

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a superstar in Lauren Mitchell.




Our Loz has had to make extra room in the trophy cupboard for more hardware - she won floor and beam overnight in Glasgow, and settled for a bronze on bars.

Read more about her golden run here and here, and look out for videos here.

ETA: Bars final video!




I don't know about you guys, but - failing an American Cup invitation - I definitely see an IG Magazine Gymnast of the Year nomination on the cards!

(In the cards? On the cards? My idioms are, how do you say, not so goodness.)

NCAA November Update

Aussie expats Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian competed in Oregon State's annual "Orange and Black" exhibition competition last night, giving fans a teaser of their 2011 season.

Check out this engaging picture of Mel... (click for larger)



(photo credit Ethan Erickson/Oregon State Athletic Dept)

News from the Stanford women's team is that Aussie freshman Shona Morgan is fitting in very well and having a whole lot of fun in her new surrounds, having

a) amused everyone on the team's 80s-themed day with a "sassy Betty Boop dance" on beam
b) performed some impressive bars and beam work in training; her bars releases have been positively remarked upon a number of times
c) dressed in a Superman costume, along with her fellow freshmen, for the team's Halloween party!

Over in Washington, 2-year absentee Monique Blount remains on the George Washington University roster and hopes to finally, fully, represent her school this year in competition.

Glasgow A-Go-Go

Follow the qualification round of this weekend's Glasgow Grand Prix here or here.

Both will be updated LIVE as the competition unfolds, and apparently BGtv will have selected qualification highlights available for viewing tomorrow.

Good luck, Lauren!

(ETA live scores rolling in here)

UB: 12.500 - apparently she fell on overshoot to handstand
BB: 14.300
FX 14.775


Lauren has qualified in 1st place to the floor final and the beam final, as well 8th to the bars final! Onya Loz!


BGTV has videos available to view here.

In Moderation

Hello there.

Are you sitting comfortably? Good.


I have just gone and done a huge comment cull.

I simply cannot stress this enough -


PLEASE DO NOT, now or ever, use The Australian Gymnastics Blog comment space to discuss matters of perceived club politics, club movements, club membership numbers or gymnasts' personal issues involving decisions or discussions with coaches/families/program heads. This space was created for discussion and analysis, yes (and I know you all like the Anonymous function), but it is increasingly becoming a stop-off for gossip and club chatter.


PLEASE DO try and keep comments relevant to posts and appropriate for public viewing. If it is an unrelated observation or piece of news you want to bring to the public's attention please feel free to email me first or tweet it to me (link in the sidebar) and I will be sure to help you out, and determine which bits of it can be published.


If you have a question that you would like answered about the nature of the national program or a particular club program please do not ask it here, please address it to Gymnastics Australia or the necessary club (failing that, my Formspring account linked in the sidebar).


If you do want to have a space to chat freely about what you believe is going on within certain clubs or the GA inner sanctum, or to voice your dissatisfaction with a club or official, by all means start your own Facebook pages and invite others to join. If you're parents or club members, exchange email addresses if you haven't already and get talking. Start your own blog like I did. Launch a Twitter account to announce when you hear x-gymnast is moving clubs, or y-club has shut down. If it is a genuine major issue then don't hesitate to contact me and I can publicise it it for you. Hopefully the general content of this blog generated over 3 years of operation (and you can check back right through to my first ever posts) gives you an idea of the gymnastics matters I deal with, and that AGB's growing readership has come to, well, read.


I don't like deleting people's comments, believe me, but if I don't, we just get bogged down in back-and-forth discussions over who did what and when and where they've decided to do it next when that's not the kind of news or analysis this site prides itself on. I fully understand that it is difficult now because there isn't an Australian message board or similar outlet to assist with clearly delineated discussions. But please understand that you are dealing with (to all intents and purposes) an amateur reporter who has no national program affiliation or accreditation (yet!) and therefore no power in aiding your communications on club or program issues at large.




I do moderate discussions here and do it with the best intentions. I might not do it fantastically but I do my best to do it competently.

If any of this leaves a sour taste in your mouth then I am very sorry it brings you to a negative conclusion about this space. I hope you find somewhere that offers you the leniency you are seeking.


Thank you for your time and your readership.

~ Meredith

ozgymblog@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/ozgymblog
www.formspring.me/ausgymblog

AlleeeeeeEEEEEEEZ!!!!!

Vids of Elite Massilia are now up and about.

Nade00 has graciously cross-uploaded-and-posted videos from French TV of Aussies in the Massilia event finals.

Blythe Lawrence has some qualification videos available.

Merci one and all!

Mitchell Unmatched 2

Videos!
Thanks to DrMtzLizama for ever vigilant World Cup coverage.

Massilia Catch-Up

Blythe Lawrence has a few reports up on the Elite Massilia round. Here are a couple of her notes from the competition that feature Aussies.

Warmup notes:

"The Aussies are far and away the winners of the 2010 Elite Massilia sparkly leotard competition. The senior team's long sleeved pink and black look is outsparkled only by the black look of the juniors."



"In addition to physically resembling her sister, baby-faced Natalia Joura also reminds me of a young Dominique Moceanu. Something about the way she moves, I think. Also the fact that she wears beam shoes and wrist guards a la Moceanu in 1995-96. She also wears the same type of ankle protectors favored by Aliya Mustafina. And here she's sporting a rather large bandage/guard that covers her whole left thigh."

"I happened to be standing near the vault table during the flag presentation, which begins with some heavy, rather Russian music, the sort that makes you want to move around. And Natalia Joura and her father/coach Vladimir did a kind of impropmtu duet, where they danced around a little, moving from side to side and kicking their legs to the music. Very cute."

Day 2 notes:

"The Australian women swept the junior vault -- first place went to Victoria's Tierra Exum, who showed a tucked Omelianchik followed by a piked Omelianchik, both with good landings. Natalia Joura (Yurchenko full and Yurchenko half) was second, followed by Nikki Chung (Yurchenko full)."

"Chung and Georgia-Rose Brown went 1-2 for the Australian junior team on bars, followed by Anne Kuhm of France. On floor, Belgium's Terry Grand'ry won over France's Lea Calon and Joura."


Joura was 2nd in the junior AA.

Junior vault:

1. Tierra Exum, AUS (Victoria), 13.475, 13.95
2. Natalia Joura, AUS, 13.775, 13.575
3. Nikki Chung, AUS 13.7, 13.175

Junior bars:

1. Nikki Chung, AUS, 13.975
2. Georgia-Rose Brown, AUS, 13.775

Junior beam:

1. Irina Paun, ROM, 13.85
2. Joanna Dejardin, BEL, 13.2
3. Maartje Ruikes, NED, 12.75
4. Nikki Chung, AUS, 12.5

Junior floor:

1. Terry Grand'ry, BEL, 13.4
2. Lea Calon, FRA, 12.925
3. Natalia Joura, AUS, 12.925
4. Irina Paun, ROM, 12.9
5. Brianna Clark, CAN, 12.725
6. Alexandra Eade, AUS (Victoria), 12.625

Congrats on your finishes, girls! You have done your programs and your country proud!

Mitchell Unmatched

Our big red fire engine does it again!

Lauren Mitchell has won an unprecedented THREE GOLD MEDALS at the World Cup in Stuttgart!

She won floor (14.275), beam (15.325) and bars (14.150) in a historic display of dominance from an Australian gymnast.

Peggy said -

“Last night was a success, not only because she won the medals, but it was a statement that she’s a true professional, that she loves her gymnastics and when she goes out she can back herself up.

“Keep that history book open, just love the achievements that we’re making at the moment.”

Read more about Lauren's amazing round of competition here.

Some videos from the event are going up at this account, something of Lauren's may crop up if you keep your eyes peeled.

There is also a routine report up at The Couch Gymnast.

In other quite cool news, Loz's triple wolf turn has been submitted to the FIG for recognition in the Code of Points (and thus to be named after her).

She was mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald, which also noted:

Following a brief training stint with the Romanian gymnastics team this week, Mitchell will journey to Glasgow to compete in the final world cup event of the year from November 18 to 21, followed by the renowned Toyota Cup in Japan from December 10 to 12.

Lauren we are so proud of you.

Personally, I hear an American Cup invite calling...


(ETA: Thanks to Nade for the heads-up... NEW LEO!)

Super Saturday

Hullo! Are you having a super Saturday? I'm having a super Saturday. Please don't hesitate to have yourself a super Saturday!

Good news has filtered through on the Aussie gymnastics front.

Lauren Mitchell has qualified in first place to two finals at the DTB Cup! She leads beam (6.4/14.875) and floor qualification (5.8/14.425), managing a commendable fourth rank for the bars final (5.5/13.725). Good luck, Lauren!

Our Marseille squadron is doing well, too. According to the VHPC at Facebook:

Tierra has qualified for vault finals, Alex for floor finals, georgia for bars finals, nikki for vault, bars, beam and Natalia for vault and floor. Aus team came 3rd. The VWHPC team finished 4th. Alex came 5th AA, Tierra finished 12th, and Laura came 30th.

More information about the Massilia international field can be read here. Apparently Georgia Simpson is competing as part of a 'mixed team' with a Swedish gymnast!

****ETA: The Australian team finished 3rd overall, with Nat Joura the highest ranked all-around finisher in 6th.

France Catch-Up

What? Yes, hello and everything. Come now, surely that vase was expendable.


I've been a tad distracted over the last few days so thankfully there are gymnasts being productive to balance out my rubbishness.

YouTube user Eipos24 has dutifully uploaded footage from Combs La Ville which includes the members of Team Australia/VWHPC. GeeRoBro really lives up to that 'Khorkina-esque' remark, she is simply divine to watch.

The team is currently preparing for the Massilia international. You can view the official website here (click the Union Jack near the top to view the website in English)

Breaking: Dasha Takes a Bow

As one West Australian star takes a step forward into the spotlight, another is taking her final curtain call.



Dasha Joura is retiring from gymnastics, according to PerthNow.

"In a lot of ways I have some unfinished business, or whatever you want to call it," Joura said. "Obviously my career didn't end on a note that I am happy with it ending on.

"But I also feel like I'm at the stage of my life where I need some stability in my future and I want to pursue some of my other passions.

"My parents would love to have me back in the gym, but I don't think it's necessarily the right place for me."

We love you, Dash.

Very best wishes in all your pursuits from here. You were a thoroughly entertaining performer and consistently positive team member. Thank you for your wonderful contributions to gymnastics and congratulations on an incredible competitive career. You and your smile will be missed.



A brief and faffy editorial, if you will indulge me-

Daria Joura. Or, to the gymnastics world, just "Dasha". Toepoint to die for, killer acrobatic skills, a fearless competitive drive, enviable fluidity of movement, endless enthusiasm, unrivalled presentation on floor and a staredown that would intimidate captivate not just the judges but the first five rows of spectators sitting directly behind the judges. Not many gymnasts have their formidable reputation summed up by the mere utterance of their first name (and first name only). Gymnastics in Australia had a wonderful ambassador in Dasha.

I am throwing roses on the stage in farewell of one sassy, daring, unforgettable leading lady of Australian gymnastics.

Francey Pants

The Victorian Women's High Performance Centre has put up some photos on Facebook of the Aussie team in training at Combs la Ville.

'Like' their page to find out more.

The official event website is here.


Also, this is a bit cool (insert "whatever floats your boat" joke here)!

“Lauren has been groundbreaking in her sport and we’re thrilled that she agreed to christen a boat that we hope will lead to more success for Mathew and I,” said Page. “We often just focus on our own sport so it was great to bring two sets of athletes together who have won World Championships in 2010 because there’s plenty we can learn from each other.”

Don't forget to keep voting for Lauren in the Sports Performer of the Year Awards, you can submit a fresh vote every day.


Happy Thursday!

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

News of our great results has filtered through via VWHPC!

Georgia Rose Brown finished second all-around, and the Aussie team came tops in the teams event!



Merci à Benoitof (de Gymnet.org) pour cette photo haut-qualité! Bon effort!
(Apologies for the extremely mangled French)



The apparatus finals results are in!

VT: Nikki 2
UB: Nikki 1 Georgia Rose 2
BB: Georgia Rose 1
FX: Georgia Rose 1

A couple of notes (from what I could decipher in French):


"Vault - the second Australian executed a super Yurchenko half [might've been half on half off?])
"Bars - Chung/Brown had beautiful execution with good difficulty - Chung a full-in dismount)"
" Beam - The Australian [Brown] won with a good but cautious routine."
"Floor - Brown won with beautiful movement, very graceful, tall and slender. Joura showed the most difficulty - double twist, 1 1/2 to 2/1... she was excellent, her fall was a shame. The double twist was magic!"
"Brown... reminds me somewhat of Khorkina!"

Congrats, team, for sweeping the finals!

More Mitchell Media

Thanks to Brindabella for the following WA newspaper scans featuring your friendly neighbourhood world champion!

Click for larger versions.

Thoughts on Gymbloggery

How did you enjoy the international blog coverage of the World Championships this year (I'm not necessarily talking about this blog)? What are your thoughts on the fact that gymnastics bloggers are in there among the media scrum with established publications and news networks?


Do you find them more or less useful than official reporting sources?
Do you find them more or less credible than official reporting sources?
Do you think they should be allowed to have media accreditation at big events?
Is there an uneven ratio of 'fluff' pieces to genuine news stories during big events?
Are the one-on-one interviews during competitions insightful?
Do you trust breaking news when it appears on a blog?
Are training/around-the-gym reports as interesting to you as the competition itself?
Do you think media passes just get treated 'like backstage passes'?

A debate is has kicked off at the Gymnastics Coaching Blog on this very issue. FullTwist Blog has an interesting take here.

Some of you are bloggers, some of you are blog contributors and/or readers. What do you think?

Yes We Can-Can

Massilia Cup and Combs-la-Ville update:

Travelling Victorians are now Brown, Eade, Hingston and Exum.

LozTV

Sorry I've been AWOL since yesterday's appearances. Places to be, people to see, concerts to watch, cakes to bake.

Lauren Mitchell did indeed appear on both Hey Hey It's Saturday and Nine's Wide World of Sports this weekend. Gymnastics Australia has provided videos of both tv spots.

It's been an exhausting two days for our world champion but she has represented the sport, her club and her family exceptionally. We couldn't ask for a better amassador for gymnastics. Kudos to Lauren for her patience, poise and positive attitude.

New articles can also be read here and here.

The 19-year-old was mobbed by hundreds of young gymnastics devotees when she hit the tarmac, prompting a friend to quip: ''Wow, you're the female Justin Bieber!''

However, Mitchell won't be selling out in an attempt to cash in on her name. ''The part that we really want to leverage is talking to teenage girls about their own self-esteem and keeping it real for them - issues like body image,'' Graeme Mitchell said.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WATCH THE 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ON TELLY, WATCH OUT FOR...

Tuesday 9^th November – 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm – Part 1 - Fox Sports 2

Wednesday 10^th November – 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm – Part 2 - Fox Sports 2

Thursday 11^th November – 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm – Part 3 - Fox Sports 2

Friday 12^th November – 1.00 pm-3.00 pm – Part 4 - Fox Sports 2

- Thanks for the heads-up, Emma!

(PS It was a jack-o-lantern cake!)

AGB Meets Team Australia

Well, I said I'd go today, "rain, hail or shine" and boy did it rain!

It was a little hectic inside the VWHPC because it was also Squad Photo Day, so young gymmies were running to and from the autograph table in between doing poses in front of a grey backdrop. The gym has a brand new floor mat, big and blue and bouncy as you'd expect it to be.



Ash, Georgia and Lauren were seated (in that order) at a table in front of a GA banner, signing printed-out pictures in their Australia t-shirts and trackies.



I managed to snap a pic of Britt and G-Bro standing nearby watching Ashleigh. All the gymnasts would cheerfully ask for name spellings and sign leotards, t-shirts and autograph books as well as the proffered photos. Gymmums were also handing out little flyers, reminding people to vote for Lauren in the Sports Performer awards (see previous post).



It was finally my turn and I did my usual star-struck gabble. I honestly don't know how to exude coolness and calm when it is needed. I didn't ask to get photos WITH the gymnasts this time but I did make sure I let them know there were lots of us who'd followed their competitions late into the night and once again "nearly broke the internet with our celebrations". I also made mention of those overseas fans who were excited with Team Australia's wins (told you I would, Robin!) and each girl was chuffed to hear there was an international following. And Lauren was REALLY amazed to hear that last year's 260 Facebook fans had been trumped by this year's 1,500!



I also managed to tap Michelle from JumpMedia on the shoulder and thank her very sincerely for events like this one, and for 'going in to bat' for the gymnasts at Delhi airport during that whole media blackout shermozzle, and for basically providing excellent resources for fans and enthusiasts during competitions. She was very touched.

Now, the interesting factoid I learned was that today's apperance was planned as something different- In its early stages, was intended for Lauren to pop on a leo and do some training alongside the VWHPC gymnasts and the day would act as an open session from which the public could wander in and out. But there were problems with getting Lauren into Victoria on time, so an autograph session it was to be.

It was a great day, I just hope not too many people got saturated on the way home like me.

Thanks to the HPC for opening its doors again, and to all at Gymnastics Australia/JumpMedia for organising such a great event for fans.


Oh yeah - 'that' medal.

Lauren proudly lay it down it on the table when one little girl asked to see it. It outshone absolutely everybody in the room, sitting pretty on its (naturally) orange ribbon.

Team Australia Meet and Greet

GA and JumpMedia confirm Lauren Mitchell's appearance in Melbourne this weekend!

She will be joined at the VWHPC by Delhi/Rotterdam teammates Ashleigh Brennan and Georgia Wheeler. She'll be doing some other pretty snazzy media appearances too.

Saturday 30^th – Hey Hey its Saturday (Red Faces judge)

Estimated time of appearance 8.30pm

Saturday 30^th – Fox Sports News (Live Interview)
Estimated time of appearance 9.40pm

Sunday 31^st – Wide World of Sports (Live Interview)

Estimated time of appearance 10.30am

Whilst in town, Lauren, will be joined by fellow world and Commonwealth Games team members Ashleigh Brennan and Georgia Wheeler for a special autograph signing opportunity. Unfortunately Georgia Bonora is still overseas and won’t be in Melbourne this weekend to join her team mates.

The autograph signing will take place as follows:-

When: Saturday 30^th October

Where: Victorian Women’s High Performance Centre
Corner of Green and Thomas St
Prahran, VIC 3181

Time: 12.30 – 1.30 pm

We highly recommend coming down to the VWHPC on Saturday between 12.30 pm and 1.30 pm to meet Lauren, Ashleigh and Georgia, and get their autographs. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the girls, and congratulate them for their results in person!

Hope some of you can make it this time around! Last year was fun, but not so fun on my lonesome!

(ETA: Travel safe into Prahran, it's supposed to absolutely bucket down on Saturday!)


Breaking - Lauren has yet again been nominated for Sports Performer of the Year! But this time, she's not a 'young' sports performer - she's up there with the big guns!

See the nominees here. Follow the link to make your vote count!

Where To Now?

Two of the year's biggest events are done and dusted. So what's next for Team Australia?


1. Combs La Ville, France 5-6 November
Attendees - TBA (2 teams)
Site - http://www.cacv-gym.com/pages/le_tournoi_international.html


2. Massilia Gym Cup, France 12-14 November
Attendees- Georgia Rose Brown, Nikola Chung, Natalia Joura, Georgia Simpson (Team Massilia)
Alex Eade, Laura Hingston, Zoe Lorenzin, Svetlana Sanders (Open Massilia)
Site - http://www.elite-gym-massilia.com/


3. Stuttgart DTB-Pokal World Cup, Germany 12-14 November
Attendees- Lauren Mitchell
Site - http://www.dtbpokal.de/


4. Glasgow Grand Prix, UK 18-21 November
Attendees - Lauren Mitchell
Site - http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/events/international-gymnastics-grand-prix-2010/Pages/default.aspx


5. National Clubs Championship, Canberra 20 November - 1 December
Site - http://www.gymnastics.org.au/event.asp?ID=598&format=popup


****GA tweeted tonight that Lauren will be in Melbourne very soon for a meet-and-greet. Stay tuned! (Hopefully it'll be somewhere a bit more fan-friendly than the VWHPC...?)

THE POWER OF LOZ 2

For those of you who missed the medal ceremony, skip to the end of this video...




(I think it's interesting that they used a version of the anthem that included lyrics rather than an instrumental)

And here is her 'homecoming' (along with Emily and Georgia's, of course) as shown on Nine News:




It also features here at FoxSportsNews (includes extended video).

Print press coverage here and here.

"Maybe a few more people will recognise me around and about but my life's still going to be the same.

"I guess I didn't get the whole extremity of everything because I was away (from Australia when I won the gold medal) and I think everyone back here got the full force of it.

"And so coming back on the end of it, everyone's like 'oh my god!', and I'm like 'what?'"

Get used to it, sister-girlfriend. That medal's going to take you places!


As her journey ends, so does my coverage of Delhi and Rotterdam.

Thanks everyone for logging on, dropping in, stopping by and popping past. It's been the best fun I've had in a long time, and I know it'll take a longer time to wipe this huge grin off my face.

Additional thanks to every single source on the scene at both big competitions for taking the time to capture Aussie gymnasts in action. We appreciate all the information you have shared and the effort you went to in order to share it.

What an amazing month of gymnastics for Australia!

Glad to have been one small part of it.

THE POWER OF LOZ

What a day, my friends, what a day! All hail THE POWER OF LOZ!

(I WILL NEVER NOT POST THIS:)




I'm told that up in WA, Lauren is the first item in many radio and television sports segments. She also got a double page spread in MX today, yahoo! I am also told she featured heavily on Melbourne radio today (especially evening sports programs), everyone's regarding her as an inspirational story worth telling!

(One thing I've forgotten in all this is to give a shout-out to Stacey Umeh - choreographer of the 2010 WORLD'S NUMBER ONE FLOOR ROUTINE!!!)

JumpMedia have uploaded news segments featuring Lauren from ABC and Nine.

Relive the golden moment again (and again and again) thanks to Mariane:





Lauren's post-meet interiew is shown from a slightly different angle here (with a very cute start).


How has THE POWER OF LOZ helped you today?

Has she been a conversation starter? A bond-builder? A smile-bringer? She was certainly a conversation starter for me at work today, several people who remembered I follow gymnastics asked me what I thought of the news!

Here is my soundtrack for the day:

* Loz Will Bring Us Together
* Baby Loz
* Stop! In The Name of Loz
* Everlasting Loz
* All You Need is Loz
* No Other Loz
* Crazy Little Thing Called Loz
* It Must Have Been Loz
* Best of My Loz
* Loz is a Many Splendoured Thing
* Hot Loz

Awesome article in The Age here. It's by Greg Baum who did the profile on Lauren after last year's Worlds.

''I wanted to prove on the floor that I belonged in the top three,'' she said. ''I wanted to prove to the judges that Australia is up there with the world.''

As a rule, gymnasts don't trash nightclubs to celebrate. Mitchell said she and her teammates had resolved beforehand to watch the horror movie Saw, and ''pull an all-nighter''. ''We didn't last!'' she said.

Gymnastics Australia has a full wrap-up of Lauren press as well as additional quotes. Here's hoping her homecoming makes the news, too!


If you see a small letter in the Herald Sun this week by "Michelle of Nunawading"... let me just say you all know her VERY VERY VERY WELL. *shifty eyes*

Rotterdam 2010: Apparatus Finals Day 2 Wrap-Up

What's to wrap up? Except WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!




(Mark Baretta gave her a Twitter shout-out. I responded (along the lines of "I was one of many up late watching her, she is an inspiration!") so here's hoping my message makes the telly if they mention her again.





We shall have to shift Lauren Mitchell Day, methinks!

Lauren's reaction here as well as here.

The best moment for her? "It's pretty amazing seeing the Australian flag being risen," she said. On Peggy Liddick: "She's been an amazing coach throughout my whole campaign," Mitchell enthused. "She's been great support. Everyone's been fantastic."

Media here and here and here plus Couch Gymnast's on-the-scene coverage here.

"I think I nearly started crying. It didn't feel like my routine was so good but obviously it was. It's kind of surreal at the moment.

"I've been pushing and pushing and pushing and finally I've got it!"

Thanks to Gymnastike, here is Lauren's routine:





And (hankies at the ready, SHE GETS APPLAUDED AS SHE WALKS IN!) here is Lauren's interview with Gymnastike afterwards:

Visit gymnastike.org for more Videos

"I really need to think of a new word other than amazing, no it’s fantastic! Coming from the beginning of the year and not competing at any events until the Commonwealth Games, it is a fantastic feeling."

LOZ YOU'RE AMAZING AND FANTASTIC AND WE LOVE YOU!

AND YEAH. PRETTY DAMN 'GROUSE', NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT.

If you see Lauren in the news today, drop me a line!

Rotterdam 2010: Apparatus Finals Day 2 LIVE!

Best of luck to Lauren.

Quick Hits: Gymnastics Examiner or the twitters listed below
Facebook: International Gymnast or Brigid Couch Gymnast McCarthy
Twitter: Ozgymblog, Gymnastike, IntlGymnast

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Am having difficulty finding a feed but will update you when I do.

Apparently Lauren's warm-ups are looking good, she appears to be working extremely hard (especially on her beam series). Live updates from the arena are coming from The Gymnastics Examiner, see the link above.

Best shot so far is the ten-minutes delayed Georgian television feed here: http://tvali.ge/index.php?action=sat&channel=70955

Do I hear any advance on Georgian television?

11:29 looks like the men's vault final is over, bring on the women!



BB: Loz up after Sacramone. 11:33 AEDST They've marched in!
11:39 Right. Here goes. Reports say: SHE HIT THE LAYOUT!

Mitchell (AUS) : her mount, flic – flic – layout to 2 feet, split – wolf jump, 3/1 cossak turn, switch leap ½ (wobble) – back tuck, free aerial – switch leap – front somi, switch ring leap (step), ff – ff – double pike off (hop fwd).

"A huge smile and a little skip as she leaves the podium" = Awwww!

D: 6.6; E: 8.600; 15.200 into first place for now!


EDIT: After some very strong performances, Lauren finishes outside of the medals in 4th place. Her 15.200 was a fantastic score (her best of the competition I believe?) and proof she can hit when it counts. Onya Loz! Good luck for floor.

Veetle feed is up! Currently doing a beam wrap-up (on slight delay I think). I think it's the BBC feed!

http://www.veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4caf5326c8e9a great quality footage and information from Tweddle/Smith on each event.


FX: Up last, hope she can control her nerves. It has been a HUGE three weeks for her.

24:55 AEDST they've marched in but we're not seeing the intros. Beth gives a shout-out to Lauren as a medal chance.

Loz in the crimson/black 2009 Worlds prelim leo. Here goes...

HITS the arabiab stag! Big hope back on piked full in wolf turn a tad messy AWESOME 2.5 to layout. Hops back on double pike but WOWZERS great job.

Waves to the team she can hear in the stands.

And...

and...


14.833

LAUREN WINS SHE IS OUR WORLD FLOOR CHAMPION WOOOOOO COACHES THRILLED PEGGY CRYING MY HEART IS THUMPING

SMILES EVERYWHERE I SIMPLY CAN'T BELIEVE IT

LAUREN MITCHELL IS AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FEMALE WORLD CHAMPION

OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL EVER

I AM SHAKING!!!


LOZZY LOZZY LOZZY OI OI OI

BBC are doing talking heads over the medal ceremony but you can hear the crowd go NUTS for her in the background as she is announced!

Ah, they cut to the dais as the anthem starts - Julie Anthony methinks!

Peggy singing and BAWLING, Lauren sparkly-eyed

We see the Aussie team (guys and girls) in the stands going nuts

aaaaand my feed cut out.

Rotterdam 2010: Apparatus Finals Day 2 Preamble

We farewell Rotterdam tonight with the last night of apparatus finals and one more shot at Aussie gold. Lauren Mitchell is in action in both the women's finals tonight. She is looking to equal (or better) her silver medals on both events at the 2009 World Championships.

CARN LOZ!!!

You can see the event start list here. Lauren's up second on beam and last(!) on floor.

The finals kick off at 11pm AEDST (2pm Rotterdam time) so, if you're like me, tune in after the finale of Sherlock. I am not paid to promote the show. I just love it.

*** I have taken down the Veetle feed link because there has been some confusion and someone at Veetle is under the impression that I am personally providing the feed. Through here. I'm not! I was just linking to the place where there was a feed last night, I thought it was a permanent thing. Err... sorry. I machines no work good. If I find something else, I'll post it here.

Rotterdam 2010: Finals Day 1 Wrap-Up

What a smashing result for Australia! Prashanth Sellathurai becomes, albeit without an actual World title, our most decorated World Championship competitor with 3 world championship medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) now under his belt.

Kudos must be given to Prashanth for what we are told was courage under difficult circumstances - he competed last night under strain of a hand injury!

Read GA's wrap-up here.

"It’s always nice to medal at the world championships. I’m very grateful as it could have very easily not happened. It would be a dream to get a world title one day, and hopefully the day is not too far off.”

Fwaaawww....

Gymnastike (who for some reason have spelled his name "PENSTRATH" which is annoying and yet totally hilarious so forgive me for making it his new nickname) have an interview up here.

TEAM PENSTRATH!!!

Rotterdam 2010: Apparatus Finals Day 1

Best wishes to Australia's sole representative in the first night of appratus finals, Prashanth Sellathurai.

Prashanth will be competing second in the final and is looking to equal (or better) his bronze medal from London 2009.

10:00pm AEDST (1:00pm Rotterdam time) should be when the action kicks off.


The start list for the final (plus the other finals startlists) is here.

You can follow a live feed from the event here. It worked very well last night!

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Try here for a good quality SportTV feed. http://veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4cbc05f453ee5

The boys have marched out - Prash is definitely the shortest one there. By a lot! He'll once again be facing stiff competition from Smith of Great Britain and Berki of Hungary.

Berki's up first, then our little fella.

Here we go! Works extremely quickly but maintains good form throughout. Leg form erros going into the dismount but sticks it.

"Circles, to cscissors to HS, russians between pommels, stockli on one pommel , stockli, spindle on the side, Wu Guonian (high), russians on the end, Magyar, Sivado, 2/1 pirouette to dismount. Good. D : 6.6; E : 8.966 ; 15.566"

European commentators call him "spectacularrrrrr!!!" Got a handshake from the Slovenian as he left the podium.

15.566 goes into second. (6.6 a-score). Aussie supporters in the crowd are cheering and chanting!

Louis Smith bumps Prash into 3rd... can he cling on for the bronze???

Results are in...

PRASHANTH SELLATHURAI WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BRONZE!!!

Big hug and kind words from Berki. Prashanth defends his bronze from London!

WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!

Rotterdam 2010: WAG All-Around Final Wrap-Up

Another successful night for Australia with two top-15 AA finishes (and a second consecutive top-6 finish for Lauren Mitchell... I'm pretty sure not even Allana, Monette or Dasha could boast that statistic).


GA has a release here.

"I guess tonight went pretty well,” said Mitchell, “It was a good normal competition."

Interviews with Lauren and Georgia thanks to Gymnastike.

Visit gymnastike.org for more Videos

Visit gymnastike.org for more Videos

Rotterdam 2010: WAG All-Around Final LIVE!

See previous posts for links to live coverage.

I amended my previous to say - tune in at 4:30am.

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4:25m- hallloooooooo nightowls!

A WORKING FEED IS AVAILABLE HERE http://nos.nl/dossier/186957-turnen--wk-2010/tab/97/live/ thanks Robin!

Bonora in London AA leo, rotating with John.
Lauren also in London AA leo, my guess is she's rotating with Nikolai

(Sorry, I've had to abandon livetweeting)

UB Mitchell: Hecht mount, stadler ½ - Jaeger, toe on 1/1 – overshoot, double front off. 5.5/13.900


BB: Bonora: wolf jump, switch leap – back tuck, free aerial – flic – layout (wobble), onodi, side somi, side aerial, switch ring leap, turn, ro – double pike off (jump back). 6.0/14.466

Peggy makes an appearance as the gymnasts march to rotation 2.
ETA: Looks like she'll be overseeing Lauren on beam.

Georgia 7th after one rotation


BB Mitchell: We heard her announced in the background of Bross UB. "Great save on bhs bhs 2 ft lay!" Ff – ff- layout to 2 feet (wobble), split – wolf jump, 2 ½ cossak, switch ½ - back tuck, frea erial – front somi, switch ring leap, ff- ff- double pike off (squat). 6.5/14.900


FX Bonora: double back, 2/1, 1 ½ through 1/1. Can't seem to find further notes (or a score)

Lauren in 5th after two rotations. She's up first on floor!


FX Mitchell: THEY'RE SHOWING IT! Can't tell if arabian-stag went OOB, it was extremely close. Foot didn't touch the ground as she turned around from the stag leap but may have been considered over. Everything else kept in nicely, crouch turn a tad unsteady! Piked full in, 2.5 to punch front layout, better than we've seen her do. Double pike with small hop. Looks tired but made it through! A nail-biter! 5.8/14.600


VT Bonora: THEY SHOWED IT! Stuckitty stuck Yurch full! 13.966, she looks very happy.


Lauren 6th after 3 rotations

VT Mitchell: DTY 14.733 into third place for now but, barring some miracle, probably won'y stay there. SHOWED ON THE FEED! Legs a bit buckled in the air but STUCK like crazy! Ok, goes into 4th.


UB Bonora: No indication anywhere of what she performed except for the dismount.

*** LAUREN FINISHES 6th WITH 58.133
(gets a hug from Ariella Kaeslin in the marshalling area... BEST FRIENDS 4EVA LOL)

*** GEORGIA FINISHES 14th WITH 55.698


The top 8 will be presented on the podium so don't touch that dial!

LADIES WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!

Rotterdam 2010: WAG All-Around Preamble

Yet another early start for us, folks, as we get ready to cheer on Lauren and Georgia in the women's all-around final.

4:30am AEDST is what we're looking at here.


PREPARE: Visit Dutchfan33 OR Gymcat67's YouTube channels for preliminary performances from Lauren and Georgia.

Read this article on Lauren's hopes for the final.

The event start list is available here. Lauren will be starting on bars, Georgia will be starting on beam.


EXPLORE: Gymnastics Australia's team guide.


FOLLOW: Live at a number sources -

Quick Hits: Gymnastics Examiner or the twitters listed below
Facebook: International Gymnast or Brigid Couch Gymnast McCarthy
Twitter: Ozgymblog, Gymnastike, IntlGymnast

Live feed: JustinTV or Rotterdam official feed

DISCUSS: Right here, with me, live, at your AGB. Just keep hittin' that refresh button once the competition gets underway.

Rotterdam 2010: WAG Team Final Wrap-Up

Oh what a (late) night!

Last night held some serious ups and downs but Australia walks away from day 1 of finals competition still sitting pretty among the world's top 8 gymnastics teams.

"Woohoo!"

GA has a score wrap-up here plus addition quotes from Liddick and Mitchell here.

“Our goal for tonight was to maintain our position from the qualifications,” said Liddick. “After a shaky start on beam I am really proud of how the girls performed and how this team has come together since the nationals in July.”

(Sorry for the late notice, but there's a great photo gallery at The Gymnastics Examiner of Australia's prelim round here and addition prelim videos [of quite a good quality] over at GymCat67's youtube channel here)




See post-meet Gymnastike interviews with Ashleigh and Peggy here.

Dutchfan33 is starting to put up videos from the fina; (thankyoooooou!) so keeping checking back at their channel for coverage of the Aussies.

Mariane has posted French coverage of Lauren's beam routine. Merci, Mariane!

Rotterdam 2010: WAG Team Final LIVE!

Good morning. It's just about that time!

Now, the following link was suggested to me for live-streaming:

http://tvali.ge/index.php?action=tvtab

scroll the channel thumbnails until you find "HTB Sport", apparently they will be showing it live? At the moment it's sport news updates so it could be happening in a few minutes, people!

If it does work... hurrah! And, fittingly, it's GEORGIAN television.

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2:00am AEDST The gymnasts are marching in (according to IG)

I am getting nothing from feeds just yet!

ETA- The Georgian feed is working! I think it's on a slight delay?

BB:
IG twitter says Bonora 7.166/12.866 fell on change leg-back tuck combo.

I can see the girls in the background of Ferrari's FX. They're in the leos from CommGames all-around.

Brennan: switch, free aerial – layout, switch 1/1 – back tuck, split jump – wolf jump, side saerial, switch ring leap (step), flic – layout, free cartwheel, side somi, double pike off

Mitchell: her usual mount, flic – flic – layout to 2 feet (fall), split jump – wolf jump, 2 ½ cossak spin, switch ½ leap – back tuck, free aerial – switch leap – front somi, switch ring leap, ff – ff – double pike off.

AUS a shaky start but ahead of Great Britain. GB in 8th (also had a disaster rotation), Aus in 7th after one rotation

FX:

Bonora: double back, 2/1, triple spin (beautiful), 1 ½ through 1/1, double pike off. 5.1/13.633

***UPDATE *** A WORKING LIVE FEED. NO DELAY! http://www.justin.tv/mastertv736#/w/481177600/3 (Thanks, Anon)

Brennan: Tsukahara, double back (low chest and big step fwd), double pike off (step). 5.3/13.666

Mitchell: double arabian – scissone, good, piked Tsukahara (a bit low and step fwd), 2 ½ cossak spin, split 1/1 jump, 2 ½ punch layout (tiny step), double pike off (hop). 5.9 14.700


VT:

Feed shows Georgia's VT! Yurchenko full with a hop back. She looks happy with it. 13.833

Little DTY 14.866

Mitchell DTY 14.800

Have had to stop my livetweets sorry. Am having all sorts of Twitter problems!

UB:

After 3 rotations, Australia in 6th, Great Britain 7th

Bonora: ???

Miller 6.1/14.500

Mitchell UB: stalder blind to jaeger, form issues on toe full to overshoot, toe blind to clean, non-cowboyed dbl front. 5.5/14.100

168.629 AUSTRALIA FINISHES 6TH!
CONGRATS TEAM!

Rotterdam 2010: WAG Team Final Preamble

Who's hunting around in the wardrobe for their excited/nervous trousers!?

Tonight's the big night!

Well, strictly speaking, TOMORROW'S the night but let's not get bogged down in semantics.

2am AEDST!
Eight and something hours' time! IT'S ONNNNNNNN!!!

GYBRFE!!!

PREPARE: Visit Dutchfan33's YouTube channel (see previous post) for preliminary performances of Team Australia.

Check out the event start list here. Australia will be rotating with longtime rival Great Britain (boasting Commonwealth Games gold medallist Imogen Cairns). They will be starting on beam.

Read this rather cool pre-final spotlight on the team.

"This team is a very tight-knit team, and we are all looking forward to competing," she said. "We are all confident and ready to show everyone what Australia is made of."

Or these training notes from Couch Gymnast (features Australia).




EXPLORE: Gymnastics Australia's team guide.


FOLLOW: Live at a number sources -

Quick Hits: Gymnastics Examiner or the twitters listed below
Facebook: International Gymnast or Brigid Couch Gymnast McCarthy
Twitter: Ozgymblog, Gymnastike, IntlGymnast

Still working on access to a worthwhile feed. If you get any tip-offs, please send them my way. GA recommends this one. Archived videos are on there at the moment. There should also be something available from BBC, I'll keep you posted.


DISCUSS: Right here, with me, live, at your AGB. Just keep hittin' that refresh button once the competition gets underway.