Photoshop, anyone?

Slot Phillipe and/or Prashanth on there.

Via the Gymnastics Coaching blog.

Athletes In A Topical Climate

This is me taking a break from my giant Honours coursework essay.
*thumbs nose at Aristotle and other well-meaning, but very exasperating, dead Greek guys*

A special on ESPN aired the other night in the States, all about gymnastics. "Great" thought several of our American gymfan friends, "do let's tune in over our vittles and buffalo wings" (or something).

Well, clearly, it was not exactly the pre-Olympic hype they'd been hoping for.

It was a piece on a young female gymnast who'd been quote-unquote 'violated' by a male coach in a suburban gym. Apparently USA Gymnastics head Steve Penny got thrown into the mix but didn't go about addressing the problem the right way and now Dwight Normile's giving him and USAG a bit of a serve.

Now, I'm no expert in Law or other human affairs, so I'm going to boil my humble little opinion down to this:

It must be very hard for well-intentioned male coaches in a sport like gymnastics. A position like theirs is one under a lot of scrutiny and, let's face it, unsubstantiated public assumption. I don't know if it's the right word to say that I feel "sorry" for them, but I do acknowledge that it is difficult to handle being looked at askance when you explain to people what you do in your job. It is equally hard for men in positions like schoolteaching or swim coaching, but gymnastics is a sport that particularly fosters the development of young women (let's face it, before NCAA or a second Olympics kicks in, they're girls), and for support of certain skills, coaches do have to make physical contact with them. At certain times, the girls have to be supported around the waist, have to have a hand on their back, have to have their legs shifted. It's unavoidable, and sadly there are some who use this for negative personal pursuits. But surely the more fair-minded male individuals who treat their athletes correctly far outweigh that controversial minority?

'Comedian' Peter Helliar (and I use that term lightly because I would hardly classify him in the league of Billy Connolly, Tom Lehrer, Ross Noble or Eddie Murphy but alas I digress) once made an irritating back-handed remark about young female gymnasts getting hugs from their coaches; along the lines that coaches give them light hugs and little pats on the back "because they're grown men that know they're on international television", ergo all coaches are known child predators and abusers, they have to put on a good show for the cameras and anything beyond a pat on the back is a bit suss. But we know that isn't so. Some hugs aren't all bad, and it's unfair that male coaches have to hold back because of suspicion. I would hate to think poorly of Waverley's John Hart, VIS/VIG's Misha Barabach or the AIS' Valery Kaladzinski because they seem to have a good nature around their athletes, nothing negative at all. Let's not forget - they get results.

I remember one other fan not long ago mentioning that they got frustrated by someone sitting behind them at the Melbourne World Championships in 2005. The person kept scoffing and making scathing remarks about the way one of the American coaches intimately hugged Nastia Liukin. This fan had to turn around and shoot back, "He's hugging her like that because he's actually HER DAD."

I don't entirely agree with all of Dwight's comments. I personally don't think hugs should be vetoed or 'saved for winning the Olympics'. Emotion, particularly pride, is not conditional! And besides, not every country wins at the Olympics, so by Dwight's logic, athletes from the likes of Belgium and Croatia won't be embracing their coaches for a few decades yet.

Yes, a lot of bad light has been thrown (and still is bring thrown) on our sport but not every individual in a position of authority is guilty of suspect comportment.

Is Bela Karolyi the one to blame for this trend of poor decorum in coaching? I wouldn't say so. He is the one that, sadly, the non-gymnastics-going public keep in their mind whenever they watch, so to them most coaches are ferocious and unrelenting. He certainly did make people sit up and take notice of how coaches and athletes interact but I wouldn't necessarily say he set the bar for coach-athlete relationships. There isn't one specific person at fault in this confusing and concerning trend.

I don't know how this kind of situation can be avoided. I know it is difficult to monitor the motives and movements of every coach in every location. I would hate for male coaches to be removed entirely from the floor, or for them to endure criticism when they're innocent. I've got male mates who are coaches, though they're only in their early to mid-20's. They work with young girls who think they're the bee's knees, they have so much fun with them because they're like big goofy brothers who teach them 'cool stuff' and then show off a bit with 'cool stuff' of their own. If anyone were to make an accusation of these young men, I'd be first in line to give a resoundingly positive character reference. An accusation upon them goes with them for the rest of their young lives; they live and breathe their training and coaching, I'd hate for something to ruin that for them. Yes, innapropriate conduct is just that, and manipulation of an innocent person (particularly a young person), be it psychological or sexual, is unacceptable and the individual should be brought to the suitable form of justice.

But I don't think our sport overall should be condemned. This situation could happen in any youth-oriented activity. Times have indeed changed. My brother was in Scouts and we both did swimming lessons in primary school. There was never unease in our youth. I suppose, as others have suggested, police checks and offender 'register' checks are a good practice to maintain, though they're tedious for those with nothing to hide. I should know, I'm having to do one at the moment in preparation for my thesis as I want to conduct interviews in a primary school.

There are some who make the wrong choices in the way they run their clubs; ones who choose not to alert others to danger happening in their organisation. These are people who need to reassess how much they truly value the ongoing sucess of this sport in the public's eye and of course the safety of their athletes and families.

I'd be most interested to hear from any coaches (particularly male) or gym parents in general on this subject.

But anyway, that's just me and my thinkitty thinks.

*hops meekly off soap box but it's not very difficult as I'm not really that high off the ground anyway*

Helpful Things

1. Individual routines from PacRim have been uploaded by YouTube user doublelayout10 so you don't have to wait for a whole 10-minute chunk to load in order to get watching. So full routines are there but it just means you don't get the hugging and hi-5's (and score!) after them.


2. International Gymnast has some info about Kabaeva/Putin, and if you're registered with GGMB you can read some additional information (and speculation) there, too.


3. It has been revealed that the blue t-shirted girl hugging the team in the PacRim Part 5 video is WA junior Tain Molendijk, who was injured and didn't end up competing. If you ask me, I reckon it's a bit of a conspiracy... they kept her off the floor because there was no chance the announcers or commentators would be able to pronounce her name...


4. Dasha's latest column is up. And Olivia's should be soon as well...?

Well, At Least It's Not Lara Bingle...

Breaking News:

Waverley stalwart and quiet achiever Georgia Bonora featured in New Idea magazine this week.
Not being a big fan of the trash-mags (at a pinch I'll go for a Who Weekly but not if I can help it), at first glance I'd considered this a positive yet somewhat tacky thing. Particularly with the seemingly unecessary J&J sponsorship reference/shameless plug.

But G-Bo (that's right, I'm way cool, I made that name up myself) and her outgoing personality shine through, and it is encouraging to see that she keeps competing despite struggles in her family. Good on her, and best of luck in her efforts.

Oh, and remember me saying there isn't a lot of visible positivity in Team Australia on the comp floor? 5 and a half minutes in, I take it all back. They NEED to give WA coach [the lady seen here] Martine George run of the team for a day/week/quadrennium. The girls seem comfortable in her presence and she's a positive influence on the team.

In Other Sexy, Dangerous, Hot-off-the-Press Tabloid News:

Alert the authorities!
Or at best, a substantially accredited occupational health and safety representative!
Attempted harm of a Beijing-bound rhythmic gymnast!
Sabotage is afoot!
Sabotage, I tells ya!

This just in from the eagle-eyed snapperazzi:

Oooh! Saucy!

A little birdie tells me it's World trampoline medallist and Olympic medal prospect Ben Wilden (clearly showing a bit of cheeky Benny Hill-den) modelling the tramp team's uniform for the Beijing Games.

A model, idiot?

:P

Erm... in actual gossip, former Olympic rhythmic champion Alina Kabaeva of Russia is set to marry her country's outgoing president Vladimir Putin who is [quite a significant number of years] her senior.
The mind boggles.

Fluff and Stuff

NBC aired highlights from PacRim yesterday in the States so vids will trickle in soon.
The broadcast included... a brief fluff piece on Dasha J!

No, really.

It features footage from the team's podium training (you glimpse Ashleigh and Lauren).

Look at that hands-on-hips fierceness. Tyra Banks has got nothing on this little lady! Mmm-mmm! *clicks fingers*

I hate that she's not looking at the camera when she says "Hi, my name is Dasha Joura...", though, it sounds like they'd made her say it over and over and over again to an interviewer!

Oh yeah, and I hate the drivel about her accent. Seriously NBC commentary team, let it go. People assimilate after prolonged exposure in a new country, it's not unheard of.

Speaking of, um, speaking, the start of this video from the Friendship Classic shows Dasha and Lauren being introduced to the crowd. Crank your volume to hear them take the mike. It begins with "we just wanna say..." and I can't quite decipher the rest. I think it's a "thank you for having us" message.

Lauren clearly spends a lot of time practising her march-in. As Marcia Hines might say: relax a little, sister-girlfriend!


ETA: NBC broadcast footage getting upload here. Thank God YouTube's Here!

Leave Him Alone, It's His First Day.

I missed quite a bit of Doha Day 2 today, or should I say 'yesterday' seeing as midnight has passed.

My boyfriend (yes, that's right Nay-Saying People From My High School, it's an actual humanoid boyperson of my very own) was over and he graciously permitted me to flick over to FoxSports during the film we were kind-of-not-really-watching to see how the competition was progressing. I caught a bit of the men's vault final and most of the women's beam final (I heart Gaelle Mys to the max, and am happy that Elyse H-H has tidied up her leg form a bit but seriously, Adela Saijn of Slovenia? You're on global television. Don't let the Romanian girlies suck you into their Eurotrash Fashion Vortex).

It was quite funny, actually. When my Mum and I went to Worlds '05 and the Commonwealth Games at Rod Laver Arena, she didn't say much. She'd clap and quietly say "oooh!" and "oh, good girl!" at various points but she was patient as I scribbled notes furiously and didn't seem to want to bother me. But Mr Mez today was quite inquisitive and to me it was rather arresting. I've never had people ask me questions about competitions as they've unfolded before, save for my Dad when I was watching '06 Worlds all-around in the same room as him. "Is that Svetlana girl still around?... Remind me again, do the girls do the roman rings?... Are China good? We don't want China to win, do we? Their girls win everything, don't they?"

Today I actually found myself explaining the scoring system (rest assured, I suffixed said explanation with, "but it's all totally confusing and lame and everybody hates it") and the nature of the competition. I even threw in a mention of Oksana Chusovitina's long reign and brief talk of Team China's oft-overlooked elegance in opposition to Team Romania's perplexing fugliness.

I just got thrown when I kept being asked, "so would you class that as a good routine?" because as we all know, there is a vast array of elements to go into in one's answer to something like that...

Good Night and Good Luck

Two Aussie elites are slated for NCAA competition.

Olivia Vivian of WA is headed to Oregon State University later this year. Make your own 'beaver' pun as you see fit.

Monique Blount, formerly AIS (then retired-then-not-then-retired-again), is heading to George Washington University.

Good luck to both girls in their NCAA pursuits.


Epic thanks to special agent Ozzie for the info.

Belated Thoughts on Doha Day 1

...quite belated, actually.

Day 1 of the Doha World Cup was broadcast on cable today. At a timeslot before midnight, would you believe! Day 2 is on tomorrow, 3pm I think? Check your Foxtel/Austar guides for details.

1. In a turbulent time of cyclists abusing steroids, track-and-field athletes catfighting, swimmers falling from grace and AFL players peeing over everything (including, but not limited to, police stations) it's so nice to see someone like Prashanth Sellathurai plugging along quietly. He's a short old thing but he's got a heart of gold. He had a lovely performance on pommel that we all now know won him gold. But he was so gracious in victory, and, as I have said in the past, very 'aw, shucks!' about the whole business. It is just a shame he won't be in Beijing.

Dis mah sirius face. Grrr.

2. Anna Pavlova had some bobbles but is still a gorgeous, stoic diva. She's rocking some long hair at the moment.

3. How cool was He Kexin!? Seriously. Nastia, Beth, Ksenia and Daria Z better watch their backs.

4. Anybody else notice our beloved Staffan sounded like he had the sniffles?

5. It's nice to see some Hungarian girls getting out there on the scene again.

6. Sleeveless leotards in finals. Australia says no.

7. All hail Oksana Chusovitina. A role model for gymnasts everywhere, and testament to the fact that old dogs can still do some hot tricks (she got her double-layout-with-full-twist, the trick named after her, back into her floor routine at the European Championships a few days ago, yeeha). She's the one whose face needs to be flashed in front of those ill-informed journalists who think a gymnast's competitive career only spans somewhere between foetus and freshman.

8. Our feed must come from Eurosport or something along those lines, because the broadcast quality was *amazing* and so crisp. Bring on Day 2!