warm-up
Edited by Dwight Normile
40 Years Ago in IG!
What’s Next?
IN the 1960s, “Op Art” was all the
rage for its black-and-white optical
illusions. And it found its way onto
the December 1967 cover of
Modern Gymnast, framing Japan’s
Takuji Hayata on rings.
The issue featured the pre-Olym-pics in Mexico City,
a year before the
games. Sergei
Diamidov (USSR)
won the all-around, and Japan
was the top team.
Later in the
issue was an
interview with the manager of the
Japanese team, in which we learned
that Japan had close to 200 college
gymnastics teams at the time!
Also, a story appeared on the first
National Pro Competition (for men),
held at the Nissen Plant in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. The meet featured a
bracket format, with first, second
and third places receiving shares of
Nissen stock. Like Op Art, the idea
didn’t last long.
Thread:Favorite Gymnastics Event
• Floor and beam. They’re the most exciting. My least favorite is vault,
probably because I can’t tell a Yurchenko from a Tsukahara.
• Beam and floor to watch, vault and floor to do myself.
• I have to say floor used to be my favorite to watch, but since it’s mostly
tumbling these days, I think I prefer beam. I still like floor a lot, because
that’s where we get to know the athlete the most.
• My favorite now is bars because of the fluidity. Both beam and floor have
lost that, thanks to the Code.
• Uneven bars and floor. I do think floor is less exciting now, because the
total package seems to be missing.
• Beam and floor are extremely boring these days. The so-called “
routines” are really a compendium of skills … DULLSVILLE.
• For men’s gymnastics, my favorite events are FX, HB and VT.
• MAG - VT & HB. WAG - VT & UB. Vault, because the gymnasts are so
explosive and bars because of the exciting release moves.
— http://www.intlgymnast.com
DECEMBER
8-9 Toyota Cup
Toyota City, Japan
14-15 Mikhail Voronin Cup
Moscow, Russia
MARCH 2008
1 Tyson American Cup
New York, N. Y.
28-30 Pacific Alliance Champ.
San Jose, Calif.
APRIL
3-6 European Championships (W)
Clermont-Ferrand, France
17-19 NCAA Championships (M)
Palo Alto, Calif.
24-26 NCAA Championships (W)
Athens, Ga.
24-27 European Championships (M)
Lausanne, Switzerland
IG Online Poll
Should international gymnastics
have a set season length?
(11% were not sure)
Yes
No
“…there are no boundaries placed
difficulty in gymnastics. …So our m
of raising difficulty will not chan
—Huang Yubin, Chinese men’s national team coach, to the Beijing M“on
ethod
ge.
orning Post
GymnasToon
Why don’t you run through
your floor routine without
the tumbling, just dance…
But that would only
take about 5 seconds.
Kevin Tan
(USA)
ON THE
SPOT
QUIZ
Catalina Ponor
(Romania)
David Kikuchi
…makes
my stomach
turn
Pizza
Liars
Getting
needles
You can tell
a lot about
people by
their…
handshake
facial
expression
watching them
in pressure
situations
My secret
dream is to…
be a
National
Geographic
photographer
One thing I
would change
about
myself is…
to be
a better
public speaker
my
stubborn-
ness
be as good on rings
as Kevin Tan, but I
don’t know, he’s
pretty awesome
If it’s secret,
it’s a secret!
I would like
to be fluent
in Japanese
THE
BOTTOM
LINE
Since vaulting requires only one skill, execution errors (form, technique, land-
ing steps) should be penalized more severely than on the other events.
