Japan’s women’s team:
Kyoko Oshima, Miki Uemura, Mayu Kuroda, Koko Tsurumi, Yu Minobe, Yuko Shintake.
Oshima, who won the all-around in the recent NHK Cup in Japan to secure her spot on the Olympic team, is notable for her admirable cover-up after botching uneven bars at the 2005 World Championships.
Kyoko Oshima, 2005 World Championships all-around uneven bars
Oshima [...]
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For a long time I had wondered about what might have happened to 1991 world uneven bars champion Kim Gwang Suk (PRK), who had competed when she was like seven years old or something.
But she was recently part of the Olympic Torch relay. Yes, folks, she’s ALIVE!
It was her age-falsification that got the DPRK suspended, [...]
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Posted in Olympics on April 30, 2008 | No Comments »
OMG Revamped Site!
For those who can see it, NBC has done an okay job profiling some of the non-American gymnasts, although the picture that they used for Sandra Izbasa’s profile sucks. She is MUCH MUCH prettier than that.
And the site, although pretty-fied, is still not very nice to international online vistors. That’s stupid.
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Posted in Gymnasts, Olympics, tagged mirela tugurlan on April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
You may remember that I wondered what had happened to 1996 Olympian Mirela Tugurlan (ROU).
Well, there was a (rather) recent article about her; she’s married (tied the knot in 2005) and has a daughter (born 2006). Apparently a broken knee ended Tugurlan’s international career in 1997. She began her coaching career at a gymnastics club in her hometown of Focşani in [...]
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Lightbulb Hands reported on a competition in China in which the Chinese girls (Jiang Yuyuan, Li Shanshan, He Kexin etc., etc.) showed off their MAD SKILLZ: He Kexin broke 17.000 on uneven bars and Jiang Yuyuan has an Amânar.
And they showed that they want that damn Olympic team gold medal.
But I’d rather they didn’t. (Sorry girls.)
I’d cheer [...]
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From Blythe at the Gymblog, who got it from the New York Times:
Olympic Hopes Rooted in Tale of Close Escape
This isn’t the first time that the Times has written an article about Ivana that wasn’t actually about her…the other time they talked about her coach Armine Barutyan and about how HARD and DIFFICULT it was [...]
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Posted in Articles, Drama and Gossip, Olympics, tagged alexandra marinescu, andreea raducan, corina ungureanu, daniela silivas, lavinia miloşovici, loredana boboc, oana ban, oana petrovschi, romanian gymnastics, sabina cojocar, silvia stroescu on April 10, 2008 | No Comments »
The Romanian Scandals Debacle of 2001-2004
After the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Romanian gymnastics hit some Hard Times, which I affectionately refer to as the Romanian Scandals Debacle. All these crappy happenings just seemed to hit the Romanian program right and left, which was still being shepherded (more like ‘domineered’ 
by Belu and Bitang. Quite [...]
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Now that European Championships are over…reflections in relation to the Beijing Olympics:
Ksenia Semyonova (RUS) is still very much in the mix to challenge Nastia and the Chinese for the uneven bars title in Beijing, but I’m more worried about Beth Tweddle. Oh God please let Beth get an Olympic medal on the bars!
Sandra Izbasa, and [...]
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While this article is Bad News, I did snort at the title. Typical Romanian drama-mongering for you…
Comaneci no longer inspires…etc., etc.
While no one believed Belu et. al when they said Romanian gymnastics was at a crisis point in 2002-2003, I see no reason not to disbelieve Forminte yet when he cries “Crisis!” now.
It’s true that [...]
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Posted in Olympics on March 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
However you feel about the Word That is Pronounced “Boy Caught” in relation to the Olympics, if you still intend to watch the sport, I ”borrowed” this slogan to add to your viewing pleasure.
Feel free to write it all over your automobile, or make a banner of it and drape it in your kitchen, or in front [...]
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