Winter Cup update
Last weekend was an exciting weekend in the world of gymnastics! The Winter Cup Challenge which is the re-ranking competition for the men was held in Las Vegas. Defending Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm took the all-around in his first time competing in the AA since he won the 2004 Olympic Games. Paul said he is currently about 8.5 on 10.0 scale as far and being fully prepared. Of course at this stage in the game no one really wants to be 100%.
There’s a lot of strategy involved in gymnastics and peaking at the right time is #1. Back on the scene in second place was Raj Bhavsar of Houston, TX. Raj was an alternate for the 2004 Olympic team and is known for his vault and ring work. But he made a tremendous statement beating out all but the Olympic Champion in the All-Around.
Jonathon Horton from Oklahoma is balancing a full NCAA schedule with his training for the Olympic Trials. He competed on 3 events in Vegas and now prepares to defend his Title at the 2008 Tyson American Cup, March 1st at Madison Square Garden. He has won that event 2 years in a row.
In the individual events Paul took the title on Floor and Parallel Bars. Raj won Vault. Kevin Tan, a world class ring man, took that title. Joseph Hagerty won High Bar and Alexander Artemov won on Pommel Horse, an event he?s owned for some time.
Blaine Wilson, going for a 4th Olympics, made the national team and is back in action. From all accounts he is looking good. He tried some difficult routines and is still finding that balance between packing in the difficulty and having the strength and endurance to complete these packed routines. So many of the athletes talk about that fine line you must reach between putting in enough difficulty to be competitive but not so much that you can?t finish your routines.
Blaine did not compete on all 6 events due to a minor hand injury he received a couple of months ago but as I’ve always said, Blaine is the one guy you can never count out.
Click here for the run down of who all made the Senior national team.
(http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/news/2008/feb12-mensnationalteam.html)
In other news, Kevin Mazeika, head coach at Houston Gymnastics Academy was named the head coach for the 2008 Men’s Olympic Team. He was also the head coach at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. A couple weeks I visited his new gym in Houston, Mazeika Elite, where I did a nice somersault to my rear in front of all the tv cameras and kids. (If people only knew how much I actually fall in everyday life.)
It?s great to see the mix of veterans in with the newer generation. I truly believe one thing that makes a successful team is having veterans, with their nerves of steel and wealth of experience, leading a younger generation with exciting and incredible talent. Neither side lacks heart and every one of these guys will fight to the finish this year at the Olympics. The name of the game (and you?ll see me write this a million more times between now and 8/8/08) is consistency. The US must hit to medal.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Shannon,
I thought you did a great job of recovering from that somersault on your rear.:) As I recall, you used it as an opportunity to highlight one of the many lessons gymnastics teaches, which is how to fall safely. Of course, gymnastics also teaches how to get up and move forward after falls. You did that too. Life is a series of lessons indeed:)
By the way, I am totally with you on the organizing. There is no way I could make it without my planner and my to-do lists.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:03 am
If this event happens to be televised, it’s probably a good thing that it was only a competition for the men. I always found it odd that a televised competition featuring both men and women always seemed to treat anything happening on the mens side as an afterthought!