Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Happy Birthday To...
London Olympian Josh Jefferis! Hope he's enjoyed all those Welcome Home parties!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
The Morning After The Night Before
Ah, the shaky, uncertain void that is the post-Olympic period. Everybody rubs their eyes, slows down their pace and loses a big chunk of internet traffic.
... well maybe that's just me. ;)
Watch out for our gymnasts during coverage of 'welcome home' parades being held nationwide over the coming days.
Meanwhile, Lauren Mitchell says thanks for the support and reassures us she will still be around for the rest of the year.
... well maybe that's just me. ;)
Watch out for our gymnasts during coverage of 'welcome home' parades being held nationwide over the coming days.
Meanwhile, Lauren Mitchell says thanks for the support and reassures us she will still be around for the rest of the year.
Monday, August 13, 2012
London Lullabye
The Games of the XXX Olympiad have come to a close.
Thank you all so much for joining in the excitement of the 2012 Olympics.
Our entire gymnastics delegation should be very proud. Achievements and PBs are not just about medals. As the old saying goes:
Congratulations to artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell who was elected to the AOC Athlete Commission.
Thank you all so much for joining in the excitement of the 2012 Olympics.
Our entire gymnastics delegation should be very proud. Achievements and PBs are not just about medals. As the old saying goes:
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".
Congratulations to artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell who was elected to the AOC Athlete Commission.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Olympics: Rhythmic
Best wishes to Janine Murray competing tonight.
Like her on Facebook here and see some candid snaps from London (and her cheer squads around the nation!)
Gymnastics Australia are doing quick hits at twitter and Facebook. Channel 9's broadcast has just kicked off (9:10pm AEST). I am trying to hear the music over pouring rain!
After a friendly reminder that she's competing, Foxtel (twitter.com/followthegamse) is now trying to get #TwirlJanineTwirl trending, so go for it all you twittlebugs!
UPDATE: An unfortunate error in an otherwise delightful ball routine has bumped Janine down in the standings, so it is doubtful she will make all-around or event finals, though there more apparatus to be competed. Some lovely messages of support were coming through during her performances last night.
You can read a short wrap-up here. Press photos of Janine in action are going up here.
UPDATE DAY 2: Janine again represented Australia well in clubs and ribbon but it was not enough to see her through to any finals. She finished a commendable 22nd.
Read a wrap-up here.
Like her on Facebook here and see some candid snaps from London (and her cheer squads around the nation!)
Gymnastics Australia are doing quick hits at twitter and Facebook. Channel 9's broadcast has just kicked off (9:10pm AEST). I am trying to hear the music over pouring rain!
After a friendly reminder that she's competing, Foxtel (twitter.com/followthegamse) is now trying to get #TwirlJanineTwirl trending, so go for it all you twittlebugs!
UPDATE: An unfortunate error in an otherwise delightful ball routine has bumped Janine down in the standings, so it is doubtful she will make all-around or event finals, though there more apparatus to be competed. Some lovely messages of support were coming through during her performances last night.
You can read a short wrap-up here. Press photos of Janine in action are going up here.
UPDATE DAY 2: Janine again represented Australia well in clubs and ribbon but it was not enough to see her through to any finals. She finished a commendable 22nd.
Read a wrap-up here.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Olympics: Artistic Wrap-Up
What can we say, as the artistic portion comes to a close?
Lauren Mitchell (5th, floor) and Josh Jefferis (19th, all-around) officially notched Australia's best ever individual Olympic finishes by a female and male gymnast respectively. Certainly nothing to sniff at.
Like everyone else, I was cheering my telly at 1:30 in the morning, proud we'd seen a Netherlands gold and hoping the good vibe could keep going into the Australian camp. It was a pretty tense 90 seconds and none of us are her coach on the sidelines!
Lauren finished 5th thanks to some jump/leap errors, but managed to successfully stand up and keep in bounds all 4 tumbles, capitalising on mistakes by Wieber, Izbasa and Afanasyeva. She should be very proud of herself.
Read media coverage about Lauren here and here. The Age has a photo gallery of Lauren here.
Now we turn our attention to rhythmic gymnastics, as Janine Murray flies the flag for Australia.
Lauren Mitchell (5th, floor) and Josh Jefferis (19th, all-around) officially notched Australia's best ever individual Olympic finishes by a female and male gymnast respectively. Certainly nothing to sniff at.
Like everyone else, I was cheering my telly at 1:30 in the morning, proud we'd seen a Netherlands gold and hoping the good vibe could keep going into the Australian camp. It was a pretty tense 90 seconds and none of us are her coach on the sidelines!
Image credit: Reuters
Lauren finished 5th thanks to some jump/leap errors, but managed to successfully stand up and keep in bounds all 4 tumbles, capitalising on mistakes by Wieber, Izbasa and Afanasyeva. She should be very proud of herself.
Read media coverage about Lauren here and here. The Age has a photo gallery of Lauren here.
There were just four of the others who were better than me," she said, a metaphoric shoulder shrug. "I think it probably would have been more heartbreaking to finish equal, and then just because of execution come fourth. I'm happy where I am."A post-competition interview with Lauren is here. Revisit the Australian footage of the routine here.
Now we turn our attention to rhythmic gymnastics, as Janine Murray flies the flag for Australia.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Olympics: Women's Floor Final
Cometh the hour, cometh the gymnast.
At 1:20am AEST tonight Australia's greatest gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, goes for a maiden artistic gymnastics gold in the floor final. She will compete in the 02 arena, home of her first world championship medal, the country's first in a gymnastics world championship apparatus final.
She goes into the event with world gold and silver under her belt, World Cup prestige, Commonwealth Games acclaim and the hopes of a nation. Lauren is only the second Australian woman to compete at Olympic floor final, after the elegant Lisa Skinner in Sydney 2000.
The final start list is here.
Peggy Liddick has shared her thoughts prior to the competition here.
If Channel 9 is bothering you as much as it's bothering me, follow a live feed of the BBC coverage right here. Click on the pink triangle.
Gymnastics Examiner should be doing quick hits at her blog here.
Get in the mood for what could be a medal-winning routine with her previous podium-finish performances:
World Cup gold, 2012
All-Around top floor score, 2011
World Championship gold, 2010
Commonwealth Games gold, 2010
Otherwise.... follow me at twitter.com/ozgymblog to join in the fun! Cheer loud and proud for Loz!
At 1:20am AEST tonight Australia's greatest gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, goes for a maiden artistic gymnastics gold in the floor final. She will compete in the 02 arena, home of her first world championship medal, the country's first in a gymnastics world championship apparatus final.
She goes into the event with world gold and silver under her belt, World Cup prestige, Commonwealth Games acclaim and the hopes of a nation. Lauren is only the second Australian woman to compete at Olympic floor final, after the elegant Lisa Skinner in Sydney 2000.
The final start list is here.
Peggy Liddick has shared her thoughts prior to the competition here.
If Channel 9 is bothering you as much as it's bothering me, follow a live feed of the BBC coverage right here. Click on the pink triangle.
Gymnastics Examiner should be doing quick hits at her blog here.
Get in the mood for what could be a medal-winning routine with her previous podium-finish performances:
World Cup gold, 2012
All-Around top floor score, 2011
World Championship gold, 2010
Commonwealth Games gold, 2010
Otherwise.... follow me at twitter.com/ozgymblog to join in the fun! Cheer loud and proud for Loz!
LOZZIE LOZZIE LOZZIE! OI OI OI!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Olympics: Trampoline
The life of a trampoline gymnast really is full of ups and downs.
I tuned in to catch Blake Gaudry's two qualifying routines. He did a fantastic first one to place 9th in the rankings, then unfortunately had a stack in his second and misses the final, finishing 13th.
Gaudry unfortunately does not get the chance to better Jai Wallace's silver in Sydney, but goes away from London with a bouncing bounty of memories... including meeting some royals!
I tuned in to catch Blake Gaudry's two qualifying routines. He did a fantastic first one to place 9th in the rankings, then unfortunately had a stack in his second and misses the final, finishing 13th.
Gaudry unfortunately does not get the chance to better Jai Wallace's silver in Sydney, but goes away from London with a bouncing bounty of memories... including meeting some royals!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Olympics: Women's All-Around
Get ready to stay up late and chuck eleven kinds of sickie tomorrow, Australia has TWO girls flying the flag in artistic gymnastics tonight!
Competition kicks off approx. 1:30am AEST. Check out the start list here. Emily and Ashleigh will rotate together, starting on floor.
********
Wow wow wow, what a tense final! A lot of unexpected performances across the field, and like everyone else I was biting my fingernails in the final rotation!
Em and Ash improved their preliminary rankings, finishing15th and 20th respectively, so despite errors can count themselves among the top 20 gymnasts in the world. A brief wrap-up is here.
Videos from inside the arena are going up here. Bless you, Fulltwist!
Our last artistic gymnastics representation will be Lauren Mitchell in the women's floor final. Not to count out that we also have Janine Murray strutting her stuff in rhythmic and bouncin' Blake Gaudry in trampoline!
Competition kicks off approx. 1:30am AEST. Check out the start list here. Emily and Ashleigh will rotate together, starting on floor.
********
Wow wow wow, what a tense final! A lot of unexpected performances across the field, and like everyone else I was biting my fingernails in the final rotation!
Em and Ash improved their preliminary rankings, finishing15th and 20th respectively, so despite errors can count themselves among the top 20 gymnasts in the world. A brief wrap-up is here.
Videos from inside the arena are going up here. Bless you, Fulltwist!
photo via Reuters
Our last artistic gymnastics representation will be Lauren Mitchell in the women's floor final. Not to count out that we also have Janine Murray strutting her stuff in rhythmic and bouncin' Blake Gaudry in trampoline!
Olympics: Men's All-Around Final
What a coup for men's gymnastics and what an inspiration we have in Josh Jefferis!
Josh blitzed his qualification performance and finished in 19th place. He was 5th after rotation 2! Team liaison Layne Beachley even called him "best in show"! So 7 years after making our highest ever men's AA performance at a World Championships, he notches our highest Olympic finish too.
I like to think it was the lucky undies. ;)
He's pretty darn stoked about the result, and so he should be!
Josh blitzed his qualification performance and finished in 19th place. He was 5th after rotation 2! Team liaison Layne Beachley even called him "best in show"! So 7 years after making our highest ever men's AA performance at a World Championships, he notches our highest Olympic finish too.
I like to think it was the lucky undies. ;)
He's pretty darn stoked about the result, and so he should be!
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