Month: March 2021

[There is nothing particularly disturbing to watch in this video as far as falls or injury, but the kind of training it depicts provides a sobering reminder of the danger and occasional tragedy of the sport, especially when coaching ignores athlete safety] Years ago I found a fascinating late-1970s Soviet gymnastics documentary (link below), which seems intended to show the very hard work required for a gymnast to achieve world class excellence — to deconstruct [read more]

I was there at Parkettes on January 29, 2005, the night Alicia Sacramone’s career almost ended. I had made the hour and a half drive up to Allentown and was excited to see Alicia compete in person, as she was already a star, having won vault at the 2004 World Cup in Birmingham a few months before, more than 3 years before the 2008 Olympics. That chilly January night in Allentown, she originally had planned [read more]