Comanechievers

Wow, how not having a laptop charger messes with your reporting abilities! Sorry folks!

Great news out of the US is that Aussie gymnasts have really flourished after a bumpy start to their campaign.

At the Buckeye Classic shortly after WOGA, The Couch Gymnast reports from results available thus far that Emma Nedov finished a fantastic third on beam, and fourth on bars. Not sure of Jazminne's performance, though I myself had a bit of a baffling time trying to find results sheets from whatever the heck session our girls were in anyway.

(Update: results sheet here!)

And in breaking news from International Gymnast's live coverage out of Oklahoma moments ago, Queensland's Georgia Godwin has won the senior all-around at the Nadia Comaneci international!

A full report will follow in a few hours, including score breakdown. In the meantime, check out this preview featuring some encouraging words from Allana Slater, and have a scroll to view their quick hits. They had some lovely things to say about our delegation, not least of all the eventual AA champion!

Team results were Australia 1, WOGA 2, Romania 3!

Some scores are going up here, but like the Buckeye site initially... a head-scratcher to decipher elite international sessions!


VIDEOS: Courtesy of the Queensland HPC at Facebook, here are our AA winner's bars and beam! And thanks to DoubleFront, here's her floor! And... err... for some reason thanks to IG here she is reassuring Peggy Liddick that she did her job?

Other videos from the event are available if you click through to DF's account. At the moment the only Aussie footage besides Godwin available is Georgia Rose Brown's vault, though more videos will go up in the coming days.

 

Going WOGAbout

Follow the Aussies taking part in the 2014 WOGA Classic this weekend *LIVE* thanks to Gymnastike!

(If you can't access livestreaming, they'll be doing coverage via social media as well)

A fan on the scene says Em and Jaz were looking good in training! A variety of podium training videos from the stands are going up here. A great hi-res video from Gymnastike on podium training is here.

Follow the WOGA Twitter here and the Gymnastike Twitter here.


Edit Sunday evening: You can see the individual results for the International division, listing Emma and Jazminne, here.

Emma's beam here
Alicia Koloi's beam here
Jaz Cassis' beam here and bars here

It is a shame to see slips and errors, simply because these girls all have such wonderful presentation (and, in Cassis' case, unexpected explosive power as well) to be shown off to the world! They're only going to get better in time, that much is clear.

Camped-Down Ladies Sing This Song

You!

YES YOU!

Fancy some gymnastics watching in 2014?

Step right up and see our ladies fly!

To the USA, Italy and Qatar!

(update: Nedov and Cassis to the WOGA Classic!)

And watch out for the return of Aussie superstar Lauren Mitchell!

Georgia Godwin ready to jetset!

Happy Campers! - courtesy of Gymnastics Australia

Aaaaaaaaaand we're back!

Greetings from 2014!

What a huge year in gymnastics it is gearing up to be, with the Commonwealth Games and World Championships just a fraction of what's on the calendar to discuss and dissect.

The anonymous comment function has been reinstated but I will continue to monitor the direction that comments are taking. I sincerely request that anything involving club matters or unconfirmed observations goes to the Australian Gymnastics Fan Message Board. It's free to use and easy to sign up. It was not set up by me, is not moderated by me, and the content is not officially endorsed by me. I just know it serves some chatter better, is password protected and allows for submitted messages to be edited at any time. And they'll probably find the answer certain queries with more detail and patience than I can, let's be honest. If I have to hear snarky one-liners about Queensland club politics one more time...!

*ahem*

So here we are, at the dawn of one of our most exciting years yet. 2013 was a rebuilding year for Australia, and now we get to see how the new pylons are looking.


* WAGs are currently in Canberra, undertaking their second camp for the new year period. Thus far, an Australian delegation is pencilled in for attendance at the upcoming WOGA Classic in Texas, confirmation on this is due soon.

* The men's side have big shoes to fill this year, with pint-sized legend Josh Jefferis announcing his retirement from gymnastics. Josh has represented his country proudly over the last decade, notching our highest World and Olympic all-around finishes, one even on home soil! We wish him the best in all that lies ahead.

* Australia continues its proud NCAA representation in America, with Shona Morgan and Nikola Chung both victorious in their respective schools' first meets of the season. Check out Shona's brand new floor for the Stanford lineup, and the 2014 promotional video for the Maryland Terrapins featuring Nikki. Both girls rock a pretty mean game face!

* Victorian MAG stalwart Tyson Bull has announced he is off in June to compete for the prestigious University of Illinois. The team boast some formidable skills and results, and Tyson's daring resume will no doubt serve him well in a brand new environment.


Here's to many, many more big and exciting gymnastics developments!

WAG: Towards 2014

The dust settled on National Clubs in Geelong, but despite being the tail end of the year, our journey to 2014's big gymnastics events is only just beginning.


Australia's junior and senior national squads are currently in Canberra, for their final training camp of the year.  The budding IDP gymnasts following in their footsteps enjoyed a clinic at the VWHPC in November, videos from which can be seen here.


I will be adding news nuggets from the latest camp as they come to hand...

* The national squads have been updated since National Clubs. See them here.

* It emerged on Twitter today that John Geddert, coach to US Olympic and World gold medallist Jordyn Wieber, spent some time in the gym with the squads. He had also taken time on the weekend to run seminars and training sessions with representatives from Gymnastics NSW. Cheers, John!

Photo via John Geddert on Facebook

* International Gymnast magazine caught up with Olympian Lauren Mitchell to discuss her progress and prospects for 2014.

* Gymnastics Australia have started adding videos from camp! 

*... And provided us with a skills report!

* Lauren Mitchell had a chat to ABC Grandstand about injury recovery, her Christmas holiday plans and goals for 2014. Happy travels to the USA, Lauren! 

 

Everybody Bounce Now

Bouncin's what Aussies do best!

Off the back of a fantastic bronze medal effort by the men's team (up from 5th, just what we like to see!), Australia's trampoline gymnasts booked themselves finals berths for further medal chances at the World Championships in Bulgaria.

Photo by Ben Kelly

Two members of that blushing bronze team, Blake Gaudry and Ty Swadling, finished among the top 24 to make the individual men's semi-final, but landed outside the top 6 for further contention (20th and 16th respectively).

Olympian Gaudry and Will Morris will team up for the men's synchro final.

Get some insight directly from the event via Blake's Twitter and Facebook.

Our double mini team are there flying the flag, too. Unfortunately no individuals made finals. but the men's team finished a commendable 8th after qualifications. Full results can be found here, and detailed commentary from GA is here, while a few videos are below courtesy of the FIG.

Christine Hall

Matt Weal 

Pre-championships video interviews with Blake and Jarrod Spear can be seen here.

Australia's World Age Group delegation will get their competition underway this week.

Baton Brigade

Keep your eyes peeled on the news bulletins tonight, it was a grand day out for WA gymmers!

WAIS gymnastics Olympians Lauren Mitchell, Olivia Vivian and Allana Slater were at the Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton handover in Perth today.

Liv and Allana put up some smashing photos at their twitter accounts.

World champion Lauren received the royal treatment, getting to travel in a helicopter alongside swimmer-slash-amateur chef-slash-undeniable uberbabe Eamon Sullivan to show the baton off at other locations. (It must have been a bit nicer than dirt and a hard hat at least...)

There was some coverage on Channel 10 just now, they all looked very proud. So watch out for more photos and footage tonight!

Vic's the Pick

Rejoice, Melbunnies!

It has been officially announced that the 2014 National Gymnastics Championships will return to Melbourne and take place at Hisense Arena.

Hope to see you there!