Tweet Shawn Johnson has finally updated her blog!
On life without gymnastics:
Don’t get me wrong, these past two years have been absolutely amazing and have given me the opportunity to experience so many wonderful things, but I’ve missed who I was with gymnastics. I missed being the “athlete” and having that drive and day-to-day goal of bettering myself and making myself stronger. Gymnastics made me feel invincible and proud of the person I was and I noticed I’d lost that.
On the Karolyi Camp:
WOW, was I a …

Tweet It was announced today that six summer Olympic Sports have been awarded extra funding by the UK Sport’s annual review ahead of  the London 2012 Games. The six sports are boxing, canoeing, gymnastics, hockey, rowing and taekwondo. Unfortunately for figure skating they have had all funding cut. What an awful pity, I’m sure that  Going For Gold will have something to say about that.There’s a very strong and powerful quote on the Ollie Williams BBC article by Gordon Farquhar, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sports News and Olympics Correspondent;
For every …

Tweet Beth Tweddle today received the award for “fair play and inspiration” from the UK Sports Journalists Association. She had to settle in third place while World & European Heptathlon Champion Jessica Ennis received the award for UK Sportswoman of the year.
A great achievement although I still really feel that she should have at least been short listed for the BBC Sports personality of the Year award. Read more from British Gymnastics.

Tweet Bitang talks to ProSport about the Romanian gymmnastics team, injuries, Worlds and Sandra Izbasa. In the short interview we learn that Diana Bulimar is out injured but aside from that the team are working well, Bitang doesn’t give much away but that the girls are aiming to up their difficulty. She also says that team are now gelling well together. Unfortunately Tamarjan and Patrascu have retired.

How do you describe these 6 months which passed since you came back to the team?
It was a delicate period, because we needed time …

Tweet This week Great British gymnast Daniel Keatings opened a new outdoor gym in the UK.  The “adiZone” or outdoor gym in Verulamium Park includes a basketball, football and tennis area, a climbing wall and a freestyle area to encourage dance, aerobics, martial arts and gymnastics. You may have seen similar type of images on Gymnastics Coaching recently from Rick’s travels. These sort of structures are often said to be found in China or Japan where governments use them to scout for possible future talent at a young …

Tweet Everyone remembers  Spelbound, winners of this years Britain’s Got Talent, now you can own Spelbound Live on DVD. Available to downloaded from iTunes or purchase from Amazon

In Spelbound Live the group takes to the stage in front of a packed audience to perform their ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘Chant of the Gods’ dances, some exciting new routines and a thrilling finale featuring over 40 gymnasts.

The DVD includes a fascinating look behind the magic of Spelbound’s performances featuring scenes of the troupe in training, putting …

Tweet In Daniel Keatings latest blog post, he reflects on the past year for British Gymnastics and looks forward to 2011. BG has had a very successful year in competition.
15 medals at the European Championships including:

Daniel Keatings – Gold Pommel Horse
Louis Smith – Silver Pommel Horse
Beth Tweddle – Gold on both Uneven Bars and Floor
Daniel Purvis  - Bronze Floor
Women’s Silver Team Medal
Men’s Silver Team Medal

24 Medals at the Commonwealth Games

Luke Folwell – Gold All Around & Vault, Silver Parallel Bars & Rings
Imogen Cairns – Gold Floor & Vault
Reiss Beckford – …

Tweet Great Britain’s Rhythmic Gymnast Francesca Jones has been selected to receive an Olympic Solidarity Athlete Scholarship by the IOC. The scholarship helps athletes in their ambition to compete for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games. 4 athletes were chosen along with Francesca to receive the a scholarship; Martin Ward (boxing), Stevan Walton (shooting) and Peter Kirkbride (weightlifting). Each will receive financial support towards their training and preparation for Olympic participation for London 2012.

Francesca won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games back in October in …

Tweet Peggy Liddick describes Lauren Mitchell  as a tortoise – meaning she may not be the best all-around gymnast in the world yet, but she has a habit of getting there in the end. This is according to an interview with The Australian.
In the interview Liddick explains how Lauren has become Australia’s greatest gymnast. She says that Lauren works harder than anyone else:
“I keep very strict training diaries and she does almost twice as much work as anyone else. She never complains about being tired. Sometimes we have …

Tweet I’m quite surprised at this really. Beth Tweddle has not been considered in the nominations for 2010. The short list was revealed yesterday without featuring Beths name despite earning her third World Title last month.

Contenders on the short list are:
Diver Tom Daley
Cyclist Mark Cavendish
Heptathlon Jessica Ennis
Boxer David Haye
Jockey AP McCoy
Golfer Graeme McDowell
Graeme Swann
Darts Player Phil Taylor
Golfer Lee Westwood
Winter Olympic Gold Medalist Amy Williams
What a pity that Beth hasn’t been recognised for her great achievement at Worlds this year. Read more from the Crewe Chronicle. Sam Oldham has been shortlisted for …

Tweet Today Australia’s Lauren Mitchell missed out on winning the Sports Performer Award. Lauren was nominated for her great achievements at both the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships this year.

Lauren Mitchell became the first Australian woman to win a world gymnastics gold medal with victory in Rotterdam on Sunday. After finishing a close fourth in the beam, Mitchell went on to capture gold on the floor as the very last competitor in the final event of the night.
Performing a triple pivot, something that she had never previously attempted during a floor routine, Mitchell …

Tweet The current Beam World Champion Ana Porgras received an Award of Excellence in Sports or “Premille de Excelenta” in Romanian from the television network TVR Interntional.  The award recognises personalities from Moldova and Romania in different industries such as sports, culture and business and recognises their talents and outstanding results in promoting Romania’s image in the world.

Fellow Romanian and former Olympic  and World Champion Andreea Raducan presented Ana with the award with coach Octavian Bellu present. I can’t see any pictures anywhere online but I’d love to see one. …

Tweet Recently the British Olympic sports gave their verdicts for London 2012 to the media. Each Olympic sport has a Sports Performance Director who oversees the sports determination to win those Olympic medals that are up for grabs in each event.

Tim Jones the British Gymnastics Sports Performance Director says that he sees Sam Oldham  as the “one to watch” for 2012.
“Picking one to watch is tough but, if I’m being objective, then it’s Sam Oldham. He went to the Youth Olympic Games and won a gold medal, then …

Tweet This article was posted on The Guardian website yesterday about World Uneven Bar Champion Beth Tweddle. It gives us the low down on Beth’s plans leading up to 2012, a biography, her history as a gymnast and information on British Gymnastics funding and preparation for London 2012.

Olympic Countdown
5-10 April 2011
Individual European Championships, Berlin, Germany
Summer 2011
Women’s British Gymnastics artistic championships
8-16 October 2011
43rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, Tokyo, Japan
January 2012
(Only if Tokyo does not go to plan) Olympic test event in Britain which will act as final Olympic qualifying
Spring 2012
Individual European …

Tweet The British media are still loving Britain’s top gymnasts. Interest hasn’t died down since the World Championships, with the gymnasts doing well at the Glasgow Grand Prix, there’s still many of them being featured in the press. See below for some articles.

Beth Tweddle
Sport.Co.Uk meets Beth Tweddle
Tweddle: 2012 Not Everything
Imogen Cairns
Imogen Cairns to switch on Portishead Christmas lights
Becky Downie
Becky Downie: A Star Not Ready to Fade
Sam Hunter

Nottingham gymnast Sam Hunter dreams of Olympic success
Louis Smith
Smith beats old foe on way to gold

Dan Purvis
Gymnast Purvis powers into three finals at Kelvin …