GB rhythmic group awaiting olympic appeal.

Great Britain's self-funded rhythmic gymnastics group should find out the result of their appeal against British Gymnastics for not allowing them to compete at the games in the designated home nation spot.

At the olympic test event the group met the international qualifying mark but on the first day of competition, narrowly fell short of the higher mark set by British Gymnastics as the cut-off for sending them to the games. Even more heart breaking, they showed the very next day they were up to standard by beating the same mark on the second day.

The team is appealing the decision of BG saying they believed they were allowed to meet the qualifying mark on any of the 3 days of the competition. A decision should be made by 5pm GMT today.

I have some mixed feelings about this. If BG did set a firm cut-off and did make it clear then there would be no reason to go back on it. However, if the team met the international standard then surely even if they are not expected to reach the medals, they should have the right to compete. Any sport with a british interest will gain for interest of the public and not allowing these athletes to compete makes no sense in my eyes. This has only brought bad publicity for British Gymnastics and is not (as I see it) in the spirit of the Games.

Read the BBC's news report on this story here. I'll update this post when the results are out.

Negative commentary

This video caught my attention on youtube today - a compilation of the negative comments made by NBC commentators about gymnasts performances. I wouldn't say this is a problem limited to NBC, or even to gymnastics. During the 2010 olympics I was constantly frustrated by Robin Cousin's downright grumpy commentary on the figure skating events.

The role of commentators as I see it is to provide insight for people who are new to the sport (particularly at major events like the olympics where you get a lot of 'first timers') and to provide interesting anecdotes for the fans. Yes some critique is necessary to demonstrate the rules, but keep it positive please!

I recently forgot my headphones on a train and watched the 2011 women's team final on mute- it actually gave me more of a chance to appreciate what I was watching!

I think my favourites commentators would have to be Matt Baker (BBC) for gymnastics and Kurt Browning (CBC) for figure skating, both know what they are talking about having actually competed and generally are a pleasure to listen to!

Please comment- how do you feel about commentary - what do you love/hate?
Who would you love to see commenting that doesn't currently?

Rebecca Tunney- The next Hannah Whelan?

This may sound like a strange question but I noticed a strange paralell today. The Couch Gymnast has posted a great profile on british gymnast Rebecca Tunney (Right) prior to her debut at the American Cup. Tunney is the 2011 junior british champion and seen by many as the new senior with the most realistic chance of making the olympic team.

GB are giving her plenty of competition and media exposure sending her to the olympic test event in January and and the American Cup in March. In terms of results these aren't important per se, but both are in huge arenas (the O2 and Madison Square Garden) and in the glare of the television cameras, just as the olympics will be.

Now, remember this face from 4 years ago? In the lead up to Beijing 2008 there was another young, talented, pixie like gymnast vying for an olympic spot. The young Hannah Whelan was the darling of the BBC's GYMNAST documentary, becoming the youngest and smallest member of the GB olympic team.

Since 2008 Whelan has gone on to become GB's best all arounder, finish top 10 in the world and looks like a lock (touch wood) for her second olympics in 2012. With Beth Tweddle due to retire after this summer Whelan is poised to become the new public face and leader of british gymnastics. Does that leave room for Tunney to become the 'young rising star'?

The Liverpool Gymnastics club seems to be the UK's version of WOGA, you do get national stars from elsewhere, but Liverpool seem to produce a new one reliably year on year! We wish Rebecca the very best in her quest for olympic selection.

This year's American Cup is turning into a showcase for young gymnastics talent, with Tunney joining Romania's Larisa Iordache and Olympic test event floor champ Victoria Moors taking on the USA's best on home turf. Whilst I wouldn't put money to win, I for one am more excited to see the performance of these 'unknowns' vs America's consistent professionals Wieber and Raisman!

If you had to pick the GB olympic team now, who would you send?

 Photo from the National Portrait Gallery's 'Road to 2012' Collection (Link - Full Twist)

Gearing up again

Apologies for my absense from the blogosphere, pre-exam stress has been getting the better of me of late but I'm back and keeeping an eye on preparations for London 2012. Here's a rundown of some of the bigger news in olympic women's gymnastics.

USA

Undoubtedly the country with the most competition for a spot on the olympic team, the latest Team USA trainin g camp took place at the Karolyi ranch 2 weekends ago, with a view towards team selection for Pacific Rim Championships and Jesolo, big team meets that will give a preview as to what the Olympic squad might look like. Injured Rebecca Bross also made a respectable (if not faultless) return to competition at the WOGA classic last week.

Pro's Jordyn Wieber and Ali Raisman are gearing up for the American Cup in March and young Gabrielle Douglas was yesterday named as the US alternate, giving her an opportunity to perform (at least as an alternate) at Madison Square Garden. A strong all around performance wouldn't harm her olympic prospets one bit! Watch the Behind the Team documentary from the camp here, including a brief word with Nastia Liukin on her comeback.

Canada

Team Canada had a short off season with having to qualify at the London Test Event. Several of the team were back in action at the Elite Canada meet last week and looking strong,  including Kristina Vaculik and Victoria Moors, who also was nominated to compete at the American Cup. Watch Moors winning floor exercise here.

Russia 

Many of Russia's A team competed domestically at the Moscow Cup 2 weeks ago, including Aliya Mustafina, back with all her difficulty on bars (Watch here). Anastasia Grishina is also attempting to up her difficulty on vault to up her chances against the more veteran seniors. The next big event for them will be Russian Championships, March 21 and then Europeans in May.

Romania
Perhaps the team with the most adversity on the way to 2012. Following the retirement of Ana Porgras, Romania almost faced another blow yesterday with reports Sandra Izbasa had suffered knee ligament damage. Thankfully the injury turned out to be a minor one. A recent news clip showed Izbasa, Ponor and young hopeful Larisa Iordache working on new skills (watch here). Is it too little, to late to take on the big guns?

China

Chinese media has shown footage of a recent team verification event at the Chinese camp (watch here). The focus is clearly on building consistency following multiple errors by China at the 2011 worlds. Veteran Cheng Fei is also looking fit and reported to be back at her difficulty level. Fei along with Sui Lu, Yao Jinnan and Tan Sixin are due to compete at the Zibo and Cottbus world cup events. Couch Gymnast has an unnoficial nominative team list for the Pacific Rim Championships - Lou Nina, Wang Wei, Mei Jie, Jiang Tong, Tan Sixin, Luo Peiru. As in past years the chinese have sent a relatively inexperiened team to this event and used it as a learning exercise rather than a high pressure competition. In 2010 China took the silver medal despite 7 falls from 5 gymnasts on beam!

Great Britain

...have been training fairly quietly, with the home nation championships (Scottish, Welsh and English) marking the first stop on the road to olympic selection. New senior Rebecca Tunney will be headed to the American Cup, British Gymnastics clearly have high hopes for her and are trying to clock up her international experience.


Upcoming events
FIG Olympic draw (TODAY!)

American Cup (3 March)
English Championships (March 2-4)
Gymnix International (9-11 March)
Pacific Rim Championships (16-18 March)
Russian Championships (21 March)
Cottbus World Cup (22-25 March)
Doha Challenger Cup (28-30 March)
Zibo World Cup (7-8 April)