London Calling: MAG and Rhythmic

Gymnastics Australia will be announcing our men's and rhythmic gymnastics delegations to London at 10am AEST tomorrow (Friday, 01/06).

Women's Olympic training squad TBA. Read a West Australian preview article (incl. lovely photo!) here.

ETA 1:23pm HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SELECTED LONDON OLYMPICS COMPETITORS JANINE MURRAY AND JOSH JEFFERIS!


Tom Pichler will act as MAG travelling reserve.

Wide World of Sports release, featuring quotes, can be found here.

A more detailed release, including Janine discussing a new skill, can be found here. On a tangent, I finally watched one of her ribbon routines and it's stunning!


GA says:

We've had plenty of questions about when the WG selection for the second stage training camp will be announced. We're hoping to complete this early next week. Keep an eye on Facebook for more information on Monday!

Poster Boy

Hop on over to Luke Wiwatowski's blog to check out a pretty awesome giveaway and auction he's running.

Score yourself a piece of Nationals 2012 memorabilia. It's better than a Kate and Wills plate, that's for sure!


Hurry, entries close Sunday, June 3!

Returned Retirees R What They R

The Couch Gymnast has new interviews up after Nationals, with 'oldies' Olivia Vivian and Dasha Joura. I highly recommend reading the Joura piece, as we finally get to hear her reflections on Beijing, and she opens up about "that" bizarre floor moment during nationals.

"I am actually really embarassed about that whole ten minutes of my life, really. I am very sorry everybody had to see that.  I just wasn’t really feeling up to it that day. That’s not an excuse, or anything. I am not trying to make excuses for myself, but basically I got out there and I gave it my all and it just wasn’t happening and I think I was frustrated..."

(ps I realise Olivia didn't "retire" as such... I just really like alliteration!)

Pretty As A Picture

Check out the stunning, STUNNING professional shots of our elite gymnasts. Scroll through to see them in action.

A prettier national program you would be hard-pressed to find!

I must applaud Gymnastics Australia for listening to and addressing our concerns. It's not an easy job. What's more, they have extended the possibility of guest-posting.

Hi everyone! 

I'm writing to let you know that we have heard your concerns over the last day so I wanted to address them honestly in one post with you all:

Podium removal: unfortunately due to the number of resources, equipment changes and funding available we had to remove the podium in the second week of Nationals. We'd love it there too but it would mean adding an additional week of events to the calendar, which with our resource restriction, size of venue and current funding was not possible. I know many are disappointed by this so we'll take feedback for next year.

Social updates: again, our resources this week have lessened majorly, this being said we'll try to provide a twice daily update on results. Our results page at www.gymnastics.org.au also contains up to date results. It's just not practical for us to provide live commentary for every event as we are light on for resources. This said if you're attending an event and you'd like to guest post, I'd love to hear from you! Email me at media@gymnastics.org.au

Thanks, Tim

So... over to you guys.

How would you like to see Gymnastics Australia approach social media in the future?
What innovations would you like to see?
What other federations have something cool you'd like to see done at home?
What makes a good competition experience for you?
What's been commendable on the administrative/coverage/management side of events?
Are live updates a help or a hindrance?
What have you always wanted to ask GA?

2012 National Championships: Rhythmic, Acro and Trampoline

Sorry to have neglected the other gymsports.

Here are some nuggets of news and media on rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatics and trampoline:


* ARTICLE: Sydney Morning Herald on Blake Gaudry and Janine Murray

* ARTICLE: Ty Swadling withdrawal notice (hang in there, Ty! Get well soon!)

* ARTICLE: GA interviews Dani Prince; see Janine Murray's routines here.

* ARTICLE: Revolution Gymnastics preview piece in Gladstone Observer

* ARTICLE: Jarrod Spear and Patrick Cooper preview piece

* RESULTS: Rhythmic results

* RESULTS: Trampoline results

* RESULTS: Acro results

2012 National Championships: Follow Along

There are a few ways you can follow along with nationals if, like me, you can't be there in person.

1. Gymnastics Australia. The official event website is here. You can also look for them on Facebook. They have some videos and photos up already, as do the Waverley Gymnastics Centre and Victorian HPCs. I dare say GA will do live updates again.

2. Follow twitter.com/ozgymblog. I have a source on the scene for WAG events texting me as quick as her fingers will take her, and I transpose those to twitter as fast as MY fingers will take me!

3. Follow The Couch Gymnast on Facebook. Brigid does a heck of a good job of event coverage.

4. Join in the discussion on the posts below.

Now let's have some fun!

2012 National Championships: WAG Senior

Please discuss matters concerning WAG Senior rounds of competition in the comments of this post.

Comments are moderated.

News and Notes:


* PHOTO/VIDEO: The Age online feature on Ashleigh Brennan

* ARTICLE: The Couch Gymnast WAG Senior podium training report and Nade's photo gallery

* PHOTO/VIDEO: Sydney Morning Herald Photo Gallery... includes video too!


* VIDEO: Podium training videos (incl. Miller, Mitchell, Brennan)

* ARTICLE: The Age, Brisbane Times, NineMSN

* RESULTS:  Snr/Jnr Team Final here: http://gymnastics.org.au/?ID=24140

* WRAP-UP: The Couch Gymnast night 1 report incl. photo 

*VIDEO: Night 1 here and here. Thanks so much, guys!
 

* Gymnastics Australia has Steph Moorhouse and Monette Russo doing live AA hits at their Facebook page and twitter.

* ARTICLE: NINEMSN on Ashleigh Brennan

*ARTICLE: International Gymnast wrap-up

* VIDEO: All-Around videos (incl. placegetters outside the top 3)

* RESULTS: Now up at Gymnastics Australia. All 4 Senior national apparatus titles won by 2008 Olympic team members!

* ARTICLE:  International Gymnast's scores and rankings wrap-up 

* ARTICLE: The Couch Gymnast apparatus finals wrap-up

* ARTICLE: Sydney Morning Herald profile on Maryanne Monckton

* ARTICLE: ABC News on Lauren Mitchell (lovely photo)

* VIDEO: Apparatus final routines (incl. Vivian bars, Miller bars, Lorenzin vault, Donald beam) here.

2012 National Championships: WAG Junior

Please discuss matters concerning WAG Junior rounds of competition in the comments of this post.

Comments are moderated.

News and Notes:

* The Couch Gymnast Junior Day One report

2012 National Championships: WAG IDP and Levels

Please discuss matters concerning WAG IDP and Levels rounds of competition in the comments of this post.

Comments are moderated.

News and Notes:

* ARTICLE: The Couch Gymnast's IDP6 report 

* ARTICLE: The Couch Gymnast IDP10 Day One report

2012 National Championships: MAG Senior

Please discuss matters concerning MAG Senior rounds of competition in the comments of this post.

Comments are moderated.

News and Notes:

* ARTICLE: Gymnastics Australia form guide 

* TV: MAG Seniors to appear on Ch 9's Wide World of Sport from 10:40am on Sunday, May 20th.

* VIDEO: Grant Denyer + male, female, rhythmic and trampoline gymnasts on Sunrise 

* I don't think my usual sources will be at MAG nights, but Gymnastics Australia will be providing Facebook updates tonight (Thurs 24/05; other sessions TBA?)

* VIDEO: GA have pre-event interviews with Offord, Wiwatowski, and Pichler here 

* RESULTS: Results and standings here.

* TV: Tom and Josh were mentioned on ABC News Breakfast on Fri 25/05 during a discussion of Australian sports having Olympic trials. It included footage from podium training. The reporter seemed all but convinced that on Night 1 performances alone, the spot will go to Josh. Don't count your chickens, mate!

*ARTICLE:  The Herald Sun on Josh, night 1

* VIDEO: Australian Olympic Committee interview with Josh and Tom after night 1 (includes routines)

* ARTICLE: Sydney Morning Herald on Tom and Josh

2012 National Championships: MAG Junior and Levels

Please discuss matters concerning MAG Junior and Level rounds of competition in the comments of this post.

Comments are moderated.

News and Notes:

* RESULTS: Results page here.

* ARTICLE: Caelen Bacon pre-event article: Owch!

Leaping To London

Every day brings us that little bit closer!

Lauren Mitchell has a Q&A up courtesy of Qantas.

Check out the cool new "Leaping To London" t-shirt the Victorian High Performance Centre is sporting, to support its gymnasts in their Olympic campaign. Fun fact - they were designed by choreographer Lisa Bradley!

Bus A Move

Pride of Perth, Lauren Mitchell, will be revisiting her "GymBus" beginnings with a special appearance on May 12 alongside London hopefuls Emily Little and Nikki Chung.

Check the vitals here.

Unlucky in Osijek

Australia unfortunately came home empty-handed at the Osijek World Cup, with Nikola Chung toughing it out for last place in the floor final and only making a reserve position on beam.

Despite this, Nikki is to be commended for doing her best in a field that included medallists from the recent Pacific Rim Championships. This will be a valuable experience on the road to Nationals.

Scores can be found here.


Onwards and upwards, Nikki!


(Loooooooove that dramatic ending!)