Gabby Douglas won the all-around title at the London Olympics today, becoming the most recent American women’s gymnastics champion in the line of Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin. What sets Gabby Douglas apart, of course, aside from the fact that she is simply her own gymnast and a different human being, is that Gabby Douglas is African American. I never perceived gymnastics to be a racist sport. It was, however, predominantly white. My best friends in the... Read more
If you don’t want to hear the results of the Olympic team finals competition for the women, then stop reading immediately. My gymnasto-geekery continues as I want to report on the results from the London Olympic Games. Here’s how it went down. The American and Russian teams — favored, in some order, to go #1 and #2 — were in the same rotation, beginning with the vault. Since the team finals only allow the top 3 gymnasts from each team... Read more
What is gymnastics? Even those who watch the Olympic gymnastics competition every four years may possess little appreciation for the intricacies of the sport. As you’re watching the women’s gymnastics competition tonight at the London Olympics, here are some points to bear in mind. A Brief History: From Naked Gymnasts to the Swinging Rings Gymnastics famously reaches all the way back to ancient Greece, and the term gymnos (“naked”) refers — just as famously — to the fact that Greek gymnasts... Read more
Phillip Phillips’ Home, which he performed as his coronation song on American Idol, has apparently leapt up the sales charts as it has been featured very effectively in promoting the women’s Olympic gymnastics team in London. It’s a nifty bit of video and sound editing, and you can find it (the song, at least) below. It’s easy to see it emerging as a kind of anthem from the Olympic Games if the women’s gymnastics team is able to win the... Read more
In summary, the American men, who had the highest score in the qualifying rounds, and who were expected to be the first American team to challenge for a gold medal since the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games, suffered an absolute meltdown in the team finals, beginning especially with their second event, the pommel horse. They continued to struggle throughout the competition and finished a very disappointing fifth. A fifth-place-finish would have been considered strong in previous Olympic Games. But the... Read more
The Olympic Games continue, with the men’s team finals in the Olympic gymnastics competition. The men from Great Britain are performing well on the floor exercise while Ukraine is performing respectably on the rings. Great Britain — in living memory, literally — has not won an Olympic medal in gymnastics. The last British tumbler, Christian Thomas, performs some impressive combination passes, and two Arabian-doubles (half-turn to two front flips), the first one in a pike position and the second (the... Read more
There is no event in gymnastics more difficult than the pommel horse. It’s the safest event for the men — even if you fall off, it’s almost impossible to hurt yourself badly. So you might think that male gymnasts would breathe a sigh of relief when they come to this event. But they don’t. It’s an anxiety-filled event, because the slightest imbalance can lead to what Tim Daggett calls “disaster.” Like the high bar, it’s also one of those events... Read more
China takes a huge lead into the final event, and the pommel horse historically has been a great event for China. Chen Yibing finishes his routine and comes away shouting with elation. We can all see where this is going. If I were the Chinese gymnasts right now, I’d be cutting any high-risk skills and just trying to stay on the horse. Read more
NBC mysteriously and without comment skips past the rings for the American men. They return to show John Orozco crumble on the vault. His foot placement on the springboard was not great — he was far to the back, where there is little spring-power to return all the force you punch into the board. He generated little in the way of power or rotation off the board, came in low and under-rotated and so he was unable to explode off... Read more
With the American men all but eliminated from contention, I’m rooting for Great Britain. The Chinese and Japanese have to be the favorites for the gold and silver medals, but it would be great to see Great Britain on the podium, if the Americans cannot be there. Read more
Philosophical Fragments
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