Monday, January 28, 2013

Aussie Style

Hope you had the chance to let loose this weekend.

Let the AYOF artistic gymnasts show you how!

Or last year's national rhythmic team!

 Do we have a light-footed rebuttal from the men...?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

2013 Dreamlight International Challenge

After some great gymnastics action in Sydney, it's Perth's time to shine!

The Dreamlight Perth International Challenge takes place this weekend (25th and 27th), a tri-meet against New Zealand and South Africa featuring junior international gymnasts.

Sponsored by the acclaimed sportswear company, the event looks to be a super exciting one for spectators of all ages. There will be prizes and a photo booth to have fun with, plus a signature session with current Senior International gymnasts alongside a few of the competitors who have been taking part.

Olivia Vivian will once again play 'roving reporter' at the competition, and the great news is that live quick hits will be available courtesy of Nikky Smith (ex-National Level 10 WA) and Eloise Valli (National Level 10 WA) on the GWA Facebook page for both days of the competition.


If you are still to book tickets, follow the link above. GWA have further information on their page.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

AYOF: Breaking

Congratulations Michaela Whitehouse!

AYOF Rhythmic all-around gold!

There have also been more artistic videos uploaded here (incl. Australians).

Update:

Australia's women and men unfortunately finished outside of the medals in both the all-around and event finals today. Disappointing though it is, I am sure this was a big learning curve for all as we trundle along to Rio.

Shout-out to the AA champions this weekend: Tyesha Mattis and Ruoteng Xiao!

Olivia Vivian also met our trampolinists, who unfortunately also finished off the podium in both men's and women's individual finals.


2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival

What a weekend for gymnastics! What a weekend to be a fan!

There are a number of ways to keep tabs on AYOF gymnastics if you're not in Sydney for the free fun.

Get up to speed on team lineups, venues and daily results at the official event website here.

Videos from artistic competition are going up quick-smart thanks to my old buddy ozgymnast. Check 'em out!(View the "Uploads" tab.)

Rapid-fire results and roundups from all sports can be found at twitter. You'll also find geat insight from around the grounds. The festival has had some pretty famous spectators already!


AYOF official twitter
Gymnastics Australia twitter
The Couch Gymnast twitter


If you're reading this from Sydney, keep an eye out for gymnastics expert and festival roving reporter Olivia Vivian!


Fellow 2008 Olympian Lauren Mitchell showed some wonderful sportsmanship by taking five in camp GB (see below). She is acting as athlete ambassador, and this AYOF release about her role mentions she has "no solid plans to compete this year", but to continue rehabilitating her shoulder.


Photo credit British Gymnastics Facebook


On Friday, Australia's rhythmic and artistic campaigns kicked off in style. The Aussies were triumphant in team rhythmic (Australia fielding two teams, 'Australia 2' finishing 4th), though the artistic men and women settled for a team bronze each; Fuscha-Chan-James-Norman finishing 4th in women's the standings behind medallists Eade-Mizzen-Tarvit-Freeman.

Olivia interviewed some of the competitors, and you can see video of that here.
Brigid McCarthy, dutifully blogging on the ground, wrote up the women's team event here

GOLD! Photo credit: Gymnastics Australia

“I thought our whole team did really well. We all pushed up and even if we dropped or anything we still made it,” Wilkie said. “I think (next time) we just have to relax and go out there and fun.”  -- Rhythmic gymnast Tara Wilkie

"Pre-comp pep talk", image courtesy Aus Olympic Committee instagram

Pretty as a picture. Photo credit Getty/Matt King/AOC


Artistic results from today can be found here, while rhythmic's over here and trampoline's here.

An interview with the men's medallists has gone up here.

Trampoline gets underway Saturday with individual and synchro competition being held. The rhythmic gymnasts are vying for individual all-around and apparatus titles, while artistic gymnasts also take the floor for another day, and for individual all-around glory.


I will update ASAP once I can locate a list of apparatus final qualifiers.


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Whatever Happened To...

Queensland's Hayley Wright?

In the early part of the new millennium, super-flexy sunshine stater Hayley made a name for herself in the Australian ranks with her gorgeous press to handstand pirouette beam mount and elegant floor choreography. After representing the country commendably in a number of meets held in the USA (that also featured the likes of Monette Russo), it was a shame to see her injured and retired before really hitting the big time.

You'll be pleased to know Hayley is still at it to this day, currently working with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas as she has since 2009, with some modelling in the mix, too.




image credit: ModelMayhem.com

It's great to see that, be it some high-flying hoop and bar work or a simple onodi sequence on sand, Hayley can still wow a crowd!




Sunday, January 6, 2013

Junior-ary

Happy 2013!

Two exciting events are coming up in Aussie gymnastics. See the stars of the future in action!

In Sydney, the Australian Youth Olympic Festival that launched names like Chloe Sims, Dasha Joura and even champion diver Matthew Mitcham onto the world stage, takes place on January 16. Australia has some dynamites in the lineups, which you can see here.

In WA, the Dreamlight Perth International Challenge kicks off on January 25th showcasing the best junior gymnasts from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. A great promotional video on the Aussie team by Gymnastics WA has gone up here.


Stay tuned for news, notes and results!