By Andy Thornton on
Saturday, February 06, 2010 12:53 PM
Andy will be out of the country on a medical mission trip in Cambodia from February 6-22. Enjoy the rest of the Winter Cup and I will post some thoughts when I return!
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By Andy Thornton on
Thursday, February 04, 2010 11:03 PM
Check out why Andy is so excited about this year's Winter Cup...which is going on in Las Vegas this very minute!
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By Andy Thornton on
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 11:55 PM
Most would argue that men's pommel horse is the most difficult event to judge, and probably the least understood by gymnastics fans. In this post, I'll break down some of the most basic - yet crucial - pommel horse rules that will hopefully make you feel more confident and educated when watching this event. After analyzing world champion Zhang Hongtao, you may be better equipped to keep those judges accountable for the numbers they put up!
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By Andy Thornton on
Sunday, January 31, 2010 2:33 PM
Check out a HORRIFIC CRASH on vault from Yang Yun, some awesome floor routines from 12-year-old Pavlova and Daniele Hypolito, a disastrous beam routine from Shannon Miller, a few spectacular high bar routines, and more!
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By Andy Thornton on
Sunday, January 31, 2010 2:24 PM
The age controversy saga continues, as the upcoming ruling on the ages of Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun could set an interesting precedent in our sport. Here I'll give my personal perspective on the issue, including some footage of a rarely seen competition that took place just two months prior to the 2000 Olympics.
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By Andy Thornton on
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 6:57 PM
We've analyzed how to judge men's floor and p-bars in today's code of points. Now let's take a look at arguably the most thrilling and high-flying of the men's events...high bar. Become an expert on how to come up with a D-Score from all of the intricate release skills, turning skills, and combinations being done by the world's top high bar workers!
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By Andy Thornton on
Sunday, January 24, 2010 12:47 PM
Yang Yun's all-around performance during the team finals of the 2000 Olympics would have been worthy of the Olympic all-around title, and her vault during that competition will go down forever as one of the greatest vaults of all time. Just as Dong Fangxiao had done in 1999, this sensational gymnast seemed to appear out of thin air.
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By Andy Thornton on
Saturday, January 23, 2010 12:14 PM
In the last year and a half, the controversies surrounding the ages of various Chinese athletes - both past and present - have exploded among the international gymnastics community. Two gymnasts still under investigation by the FIG are 2000 Olympians Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun. Let's take a look at the rather mysterious way in which each of these athletes seemed to literally come out of nowhere when they first burst onto the world scene.
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By Andy Thornton on
Friday, January 22, 2010 12:34 AM
It's been six years since Paul Hamm won the all-around gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. To this day, however, many question the validity of his gold medal after a 0.1 error was found in the p-bars score of bronze medalist Yang Tae Young. After reviewing the competition closely, I believe that the world was so focused on Paul's vault and Yang's p-bar score that a mistake on ANOTHER event may have actually been overlooked for all these years...one that would invalidate the entire controversy altogether.
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By Andy Thornton on
Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:19 PM
Men's p-bars can be a bit mysterious when it comes to calculating a D-score, mostly because the values of the many flipping skills from various types of entry and intricate peach skills can be hard to keep straight. This post will show you that's it not nearly as hard as you think, particularly because there are no connection points anymore!
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