Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Hongs Regret Move to Blue Springs

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - Olympic alternate Ivana Hong says her road to the Olympics was a lot rockier than anyone had known.

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Ivana, like many other young gymnasts, moved to Blue Springs to train with Al Fong, who has built up his Gage Gym to national prominence.

At age 11, Ivana left her father behind in California, coming to Blue Springs with her mother and three siblings to train with Fong. It is a decision the Hong family says they regret.

In a gym, Fong looks the part of a master motivator especially through the eyes of a teenage girl.

“I was kind of intimidated by him,” Ivana told NBC Action News. “I always saw him at camps when I was really little."

Intimidated or not, Ivana thought she needed Fong’s tough love to make the Olympics.

Fong coached two silver medalists in 2004 and Ivana seemed destined to become his next big success story.

For four years, Ivana trained under Fong. Just four months before Olympic trials, her ankle started hurting.

The 15-year-old says she tried to tell her coach, but he wouldn’t listen.

“They kept telling me that nothing was wrong with my foot,” Ivana said. “I knew what was wrong with it, but I wasn’t going to be like ‘I have a fracture in my foot and I’m not gonna train.’”

Fong discouraged Ivana from seeking medical treatment. Against his wishes, Ivana’s mother took her to a doctor, who confirmed she had a fractured ankle.

With the Olympics looming, Ivana thought she had no choice but to trudge on.

She finished fifth in the team trials, earning an invite to the team’s selection camp.

Her lifelong dream was still in reach, but it had become clear her fractured ankle had fractured her relationship with her coach.
Ivan’s mother says Fong simply stopped instructing her daughter.

“She wasn’t being coached,” Michelle Hong says, “And I don’t know what I was paying for.”

Fong says Ivana gave up. He refused an on-camera interview, but told NBC Action Sports “It became blatant she flat-out quit. It was almost as we were taken down a deep dark path.”

That path ended with Ivana just missing an Olympic bid.

“Just because I wasn’t crying at the very moment they named the team, they think I don’t really care whether I made it or not,” Ivana says. “I was just trying to keep it all in and now it feels like maybe if I did something or if they did something different, it wouldn’t have ended up this way.”

vana says Fong’s tough love became too tough to take. Ivana soon left Gage Gym and is now conducting a national search for a gym where she will train for the 2012 Olympics.

Her foot still has not healed and some of the pain from her experience might never go away.

“It didn’t end up as big as I wanted it to, but I don’t want to regret for the rest of my life moving here.”

Sadly, this is a common tale in the gymastics world.

A few years ago, a book was written on the subject titled “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.” That book mentions Al Fong and how two of his former gymnasts died.

One was paralyzed in a training accident; the other died from organ failure after a bout with an eating disorder, which she said Fong contributed to with name-calling.

Fong denied repeated requests from NBC Action Sports for an interview, saying he wanted to focus on the future and the promising gymnasts he has left at his gym.

Hmm... I'm beginning to wonder, is he really a "Bela" type coach. I kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt with Henrich, and McCool and Humphrey never let on any complaints. But then again, i'm wondering are more caoches than I originally thought, or all coaches, like this?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

What about some EXCLUSIVE pics?!

Whoa, I actually have something no one else will have. So a friend of a friend who lives in NYC snapped these 2 paparazzi-style shots of Nast in NYC at a party.
Shot #1:
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Shot #2:
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I believe that this shot, from Gettty Images, was taken earlier the same day.
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US Weekly Hot Hollywood Issues Celebration NEW YORK - OCTOBER 21: Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin attends US Weekly's Hot Hollywood Issue Celebration at Skylight on October 21, 2008 in New York City.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Alicia rocks some awesome riding boots

TEAM USA Gymnastics Silver Medallist Alicia Sacramone visits the 24Hour Fitness Thousand Oaks Sports Club
THOUSAND OAKS, CA - OCTOBER 01: TEAM USA Gymnastics Silver Medallist Alicia Sacramone visits the 24Hour Fitness Thousand Oaks Sports Club on October 01, 2008 at in Thousand Oaks, CA.



I very much want legs like hers.

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She looks blonder, IMO.
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Shawn can eat ice cream again

Q What can you eat now that was verboten during training?

A Shawn Johnson: "Oh, ice cream! Edy's ice cream. There was a little time to splurge right after the Olympics." But she works to stay in shape even on the road. "I try to work out a little every day. Even if just in the workout room at the hotel."


Source

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Shawn Johnson: Hello, President Bush!

Shawn Johnson: Hello, President Bush!

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson lands in Washington D.C. to meet with President George Bush at the White House on Monday.

“I am heading to the White House along with all USA Olympians for an honorary visit which I am so excited about,” the 16-year-old gymnast wrote on her blog.

At the airport, one videographer asked Shawn: “Do you look up to the Jonas Brothers? Are you excited to meet President Bush?”

She responded, “Yeah, I am.”

When asked if President George Bush will take away their Gold Medals to help bail out the economy, Shawn just laughed.


How cute is she?!

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Friday, October 3, 2008

The Evolution of gymnasts' hairdos

Let's take a journey down the road of hairstyles....

The Bubble
Wow, talk about a style that is not conducive for gymnastics. How do you flip and do giant swings or even run for that matter, whith this bubble-beehive on your head?
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The Pigtails
This style also does not seem conducive for doing acrobatics -- don't ponytails on either side of your head get in the way? BUT, it's cute as a button, I'll give it that.
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The Ribbon
Again, another cute look but that is fianlly practical. It's kind of the "all-business" look with a touch of flair.
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The Boy Cut
It was the 80s, I guess women felt the need to be liberated from that long, ironed-straight hair from teh 70s, not to mention the ultimate practical hairdo for the sport.
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BANGS
Oh, my goodness. Bangs came, and long overstayed their welcome. I mean, check this out. A decade of poofy bangs. The requisite hairstyle was ponytail, about 9 metal clips and the curled, poofy bangs in front. Curling irons were put to very good use.
1986:
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1992:
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1993:
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1996:
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Glitter and/or corn rows
Apparently, no one understood the concept of all things in moderation. People went insane with the glitter.
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And meanwhile, it seemed like the Parkettes began experimenting with corn rows. Fortunately, this was short-lived.
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Things were rather subdued from 2000 -2005. I think we were calming down from the many trends that were just wacko and thigns were very plain. A style began to develop in about 2007 though that was in reaction to the decade plus of bangs.

The bang poof
Just about every girl on the Beijing team did this. Finally, a happy medium.
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A Clarification

A fellow blogger commented on my "body type "entry, saying that gymnasts with bodies like Maloney and Raducan still went on to have great successes. I didn't mean to suggest that they could not; only that with a body like Nastia's, you've already got a tremendous advantage in the bag.

Case in point, look at this pose:

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With a body like Liukin's, this is just going to look prettier on her than someone else with legs that are shorter and more muscular. But obviously, gymnasts like Shawn Johnson still went on to win titles. I'm just saying that it gives Nastia an extra "wow" factor that her legs are SO long, straight and lean.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Here's "Liukin" at you, kid

I am so funny, I know.

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SAN DIEGO - SEPTEMBER 14: Athlete Nastia Liukin attends Woman's Day Frosted Pink with a Twist at San Diego Sports Arena on September 14, 2008 in San Diego, California.

Chinese Olympic gymnasts legit, federation finds

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- The Chinese women's gymnastics team did not use underage competitors during this year's Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the International Gymnastics Federation said Wednesday.
Widespread reports claimed that gold medal winner He Kexin was only 14 years old.
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The federation said it has concluded its inquiry into the matter after it confirmed the gymnasts' ages through official documents that the Chinese Gymnasts Association provided. The documents included passports, identity cards and household registers.

However, the organization intends to further investigate the ages of two gymnasts, Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, who participated in the 2000 summer games in Sydney, Australia. The federation said it did not consider the explanations and evidence that Chinese authorities provided in regard to those athletes as satisfactory.

The International Olympic Committee had asked gymnastics officials to clarify the situation after numerous commentators, bloggers and others questioned whether about half the members of China's team were old enough to compete.
Athletes must be at least 16 in the year the games take place. In women's gymnastics, younger girls can have an advantage over older competitors on account of their often smaller, lighter and more agile bodies.

The Chinese women's gymnastics team won a gold medal in a team competition at the Beijing games, and five members won individual medals.

One of the challenges came from a blogger known as "Stryde Hax." The blogger claimed to have uncovered proof that Chinese gymnast He Kexin is only 14.

In Internet searches, "Stryde Hax" allegedly uncovered Web pages showing lists complied by China's General Administration of Sport that show a 1994 date of birth for He.

CNN was not been able to independently verify the information, but snapshots of the Web pages appeared to back up the claim. Other bloggers joined the search and reported similar results.

The New York Times conducted its own investigation, producing similar results that seem to implicate He and two other members of the team. The Times uncovered a 2006 biography on He that lists her birthday as January 1, 1994.

The International Gymnastics Federation, however, has said that those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on their passports were correct.

Chinese gymnastics coaches also defended their team.

"Asians have different figures than people from the West, so that's what caused their suspicion," said Huang Yubin, head coach of the men's and women's teams, referring to media inquiries. "They shouldn't be suspicious."

Personally, I think the FIG is pleased to turn the other cheek, because 12 years ago, 14 was OK and they made the decision to raise the age for political correctness. No one wants to strip anyone else of medals, nor piss of the world's best gymnastics team. I wish we would go back to the old age, but if you're going to have this rule, for Pete's sake, find a better way fo enforcing it. This is making us (gymnastics enthusiasts) look bad.