AYOF: One More Video, Plus the British Response

We were hoping to be able to give you a Chinese response to the Sydney action by now (or, failing that, some nice pictures of Cui Jie, Tan Sixin, and Wu Liufang), but the Chinese media aren't being very obliging - yet. We hope there will be more news and/or photos once the AYOF is over.

The only picture of a Chinese AYOF gymnast we've been able to find so far. Come on, Mark Nolan of Getty Images, we know you can do better than that!

For their part, the Australians aren't providing us with any interesting news or quotes either, but then we guess they don't have an awful lot to be excited about. Yet.

We did, however, find this: a video with quick glimpses of the women's team competition, courtesy of the AYOF site. It features footage of Cui Jie's new Yurchenko-1.5 as well as snippets of an interview with Australia's Britt Greeley. Here's hoping the AYOF site will post some more videos like this at some point...

The AYOF site also has a weirdish little radio interview with an Australian gymnast. They say it's Mary-Anne Monckton, but then they go on about her competition, and Monckton didn't actually compete, so we're not sure who's doing the talking here.

Also, the British team is getting plenty of media coverage. The British AYOF site is doing a terrific job of keeping its readers updated on Team GB's successes. This is what the Brits had to say after yesterday's all-around competitions...

Team GB’s male artistic gymnasts continued exactly where they left off yesterday by winning all three medals in the individual all-around competition and creating much excitement for the British contingent in the Sydney Olympic Park crowd.

Ashley Watson (Leeds) took top honours with a score of 82.800. His achievement was all the more remarkable given the fact that he fell during his pommel horse routine and was trailing in fifth place after half of the six apparatus competition had been completed.

Britain's three all-around medalists. From left to right: Reiss Beckford, Ashley Watson, and Max Whitlock (photo: British AYOF site)

Compatriots Reiss Beckford (Enfield) and Max Whitlock (Hemel Hempstead) took the silver and bronze medals with scores of 82.033 and 82.000 respectively. Team-mate Sam Oldham (Nottingham), who was forced to watch from the stands as he rested an injury, was impressed with what he saw, “I’m proud and pleased for them. They did really well today, especially beating the Chinese.” Oldham confirmed he will compete in the pommel horse and rings individual apparatus competitions tomorrow.

Russian Head Coach Andrei Popov was understandably chuffed, “I’m over the moon. Yesterday was a surprise for us but today we just carried on. I’m particularly pleased with the parallel bars and high bar performances, especially Ashley. He showed he can now compete with the best gymnasts in the world on the parallel bars.”

Watson was overjoyed with the victory, “I’m happy, especially after falling off the pommel, as it meant I had to keep fighting hard all the way to the end.” Commenting on the spirit within the group he said, “We’re a good team, we all work well together, helping each other when we’re feeling down.” Looking ahead he added, “Hopefully I’m going to excel on the parallel bars and high bar in the individual apparatus competitions.”

Beckford was also happy, “It was really good, apart from a little mishap on high bar when I missed a move. I was pleased with floor, vault and parallel bars. It feels really great to be competing in a multi-sport event and having a medal with the Olympic rings on it around my neck. Ashley and I are really good friends, we’re team-mates and rivals at the same time. Well done to him.”

Whitlock enjoyed the atmosphere in the arena, “It was a really good day and I was especially pleased with my pommel horse result. The crowd was amazing; they were really cheering for us.”

The British girls' team. From left to right: Danusia Francis, Nicole Watson, Jennifer Pinches, and Nicole Hibbert (photo: British AYOF site)

In the women’s event 14-year-old Nicole Hibbert was the top-placed Briton in fifth position with 54.775 points. Danusia Francis was close behind in sixth with 54.300 points and Nicole Watson came 11^th with 51.425 points. Jennifer Pinches was forced to sit out the competition through injury.

Anyone know what Jennifer Pinches's injury is?

News Roundup

--- USA Gymnastics reports that Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson have each painted a pair of boots for UGG Australia’s sixth annual Art & Sole Collection, which raises money for a children's research hospital. The boots will be auctioned in a few days and all the money will go to the hospital. While we approve of the idea, we frankly can't see anyone but die-hard Nastia and Shawn fans shelling out any money for these boots. UGGs are ugly enough to begin with, and we're not sure Nastia and Shawn actually improved them with their art work. Still, we appreciate the thought. Nice work, girls!


Steliana Nistor in her final competition, the Olympics (photo: Reuters)

--- More Athlete of the Year news: Sport365 reports that Steliana Nistor was voted the best female athlete of her province, Sibiu. The Romanian champion retired after the Olympics and is now a freshman at the Sibiu College of Physical Education and Sport. Also, according to GymPower, Holland's Sanne Wevers, who will present her spectacular beam routine in Madrid this weekend, has been nominated for best female athlete of her province, Overijssel. She faces some stiff competition from two Olympic gold medalists, so we doubt she'll win.

--- As you probably know, the World Cup Final isn't the only competition that will take place this weekend. Other international competitions will be held in Belarus and Belgium, while Germany's eyes will be focused on the Bundesliga Final, an exciting format in which gymnasts from two teams compete head to head and points are awarded for the margin by which the winner beats his direct opponent. Both the men's and the women's finals look very exciting on paper. The men's final will be a battle between KTV Straubenhardt (represented, among other people, by Fabian Hambuchen, Marian Dragulescu, Robert Gal, and Sergei Kharkov) and Cottbus, whose most famous team members are Philipp Boy and Ukrainian veteran Roman Zozulya. Philipp Boy admits that the Straubenhardt boys are the favorites to win the title: "If they [Straubenhardt] do a good job, we'll barely stand a chance." He hopes the Straubenhardt boys will succumb to the pressure and start making mistakes: "If they make a mistake, we want to make them sweat." He also said he and his teammates are not at all nervous about taking on the almighty Straubenhardt team. "What nerves? We're the underdogs, so we're quite relaxed going into the final. Let the Straubenhardt guys be nervous."


Philipp Boy, looking forward to competing head to head with Hambuchen (photo: Reuters)

--- The Bundesliga's women's final could well be even more exciting than the men's. According to the Bundesliga site, three out of the four teams in the final have the chops to win the title. Unfortunately, some teams will be missing their greatest stars. Cologne will probably be hopeless without injured Oksana Chusovitina. Chemnitz has lost Susann Herbst to injury, and Stuttgart will have to do without Marie-Sophie Hindermann. However, Stuttgart will have Kim Bui, who (like Fabian Hambuchen and Marian Dragulescu) withdrew from the World Cup vault final in order to help her club team win the national title. The fourth club, Hoffnungsthal, will be missing its Belgian star, Aagje Vanwalleghem, who did decide to go to Madrid. However, the club will be able to avail itself of the services of national team member Anja Brinker, who recovered from her injury sooner than expected and proved a force to be reckoned with in the club's last regular match before the final.


Kim Bui will skip the World Cup Final in favor of the Bundesliga Final (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

--- In men's gymnastics, the French, German, Swiss, and British under-16 teams had a friendly in Bristol, England, on Saturday, December 6. The hosts won comfortably, beating Switzerland by 411.750 to 403.500 and proving there's more to British men's junior gymnastics than Louis Smith. Germany placed third (391.950), 1.650 ahead of fourth-place France (390.300). In the individual all-around, the Brits scooped up all the medals. Reiss Beckford won, mostly thanks to an impressive 15.350 vault (84.250 total). Ashley Watson came second (83.550), while Max Whitlock ranked third (82.900). The first non-Brit was Switzerland's Oliver Hegi in fourth place (82.650). The complete results can be downloaded here (click on the link at the bottom of the page).


Team GB's new hope, Reiss Beckford (photo: BBC?)