http://www.gymn.ca Bringing Canadian Gymnastics to the World! en-us http://www.gymn.ca/links/gymnca_button_tiny.gif http://www.gymn.ca 88 30 http://www.gymn.ca Kristin Klarenbach wins all-around and medals on two apparatus finals.

Also please note, moving forward I am suspending this RSS feed. Please visi Gymn.ca directly for updates. http://www.gymn.ca The FIG has released the nominative roster for the upcoming 2009 Worlds in London, England. Three all-arounders are listed for Canada's women's team: Charlotte Mackie, Brittany Rogers, and Sydney Sawa. 

The proposed men's team includes four athletes: 2008 Olympic veterans Nathan Gafuik and Brandon O'Neill and first time Worlds competitors Jackson Payne and Kevin Lytwyn. Payne is slated to compete all six apparatus, Gafuik on floor, vault, and high bar, O'Neill on floor and parallel bars, and Lytwyn on parallel bars and high bar.  

http://www.london2009.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,5218-198683-215906-156314-0-file,00.pdf 

As a nominative roster, these names and apparatus assignments are subject to change. http://www.gymn.ca Kevin Lytwyn scored two bronze medals (vault, high bar) at the International Japan Junior today in Yokohama, Japan. Jackson Payne also competed in two apparatus finals, placing fifth on floor and sixth on high bar. In the women's division, Dominique Pegg narrowly missed a bronze on floor, finishing fourth with a 13.70. She also finished 7th on beam (12.55). http://www.gymn.ca Three Canadians competed in today's 2009 International Japan Junior, one of the most prestigious events for juniors. In the women's competition, Dominique Pegg finished 10th AA and qualified to the beam and floor apparatus finals. Jackson Payne finished 9th in the men's, with Kevin Lytwyn competing only three events. http://www.gymn.ca Competition at the 2009 Scherbo Cup wrapped up yesterday in Minsk, Belarus. Brittany Rogers (53.80) took bronze in Wednesday's All-around with Charlotte Mackie (53.75) placing fourth. Top honours went to Galina Ivanets (55.25), with Anastasia Zaitseva (54.30) finishing second. Both girls are from Belarus.

  Rogers and Mackie followed with strong performances in the apparatus finals, placing 1-2 on vault (Rogers won gold, Mackie silver). Mackie also finished third on beam, and Rogers third on floor.

National coach Vladimir Lashin commended the pair on their performances, citing the meet as a successful comeback for Rogers (who's sat out competition since February) and a good opportunity for Mackie to put in a strong all-around performance leading up to Worlds. 

The competition comes on the heals of a training camp that both girls attended in Russia. They now return to Canada for last minute preparations in anticipation of next month's World Championships, being held at the O2 venue in London, England (the same venue slated to house the gymnastics competition at the 2012 London Olympics). Also traveling to London for the World Championships is the reigning Canadian National Champion, Sydney Sawa. Injury prevented Sawa from attending the recent training camp and competition in Russia and Belarus.

In the men's competition, Patrick McElroy and Hugh Smith each qualified to one apparatus final. McElroy finished 8th on floor and Hugh Smith 8th on high bar. Smith also finished 8th in the all-around competition, and McElroy 19th.

  The Scherbo Cup is named after one of the Soviet's most successful gymnasts, Vitaly Scherbo. Scherbo nearly swept the competition at the 1992 Olympics, winning gold in the team, all-around, and four of six apparatus finals. He now lives in Las Vegas, NV. http://www.gymn.ca A 7-year veteran of the Canadian National Team, Vanessa Meloche represented Canada in numerous competitions around the World. She enjoyed great success in 2002, winning three bronze medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. Unfortunately, Nagging ankle and knee injuries plagued her quests for the 2003 World and 2004 Olympic teams.

A veteran of three clubs (Gym-Richelieu club, Parkettes, and finally Sport Seneca), Meloche capped off her gymnastics career in the NCAA at Nebraska. She was a top bars contributor for Nebraska, scoring a 9.95 career high. Meloche was also a strong contributor to the academic standing of the team; A major in Nutritional Science and Dietetics, she was a three-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Gymn.ca recently caught up with Meloche, to reflect on her career and find out what she's been doing in and out of the gym. http://www.gymn.ca Most thoughts are on the upcoming World Championships October 13-18 in London, England. Not the Dutch; They have already held their Test Event for next year's Worlds, scheduled for October 18-24, 2010 in Rotterdam. See Gymn.ca for a sneak peak of the venue! http://www.gymn.ca A leading crop of new seniors and junior gymnasts are currently training together in Calgary, alongside some well known names out of British Gymnastics. The group are preparing for the upcoming Worlds Oct. 13-18 in London, England and looking further ahead to the next Olympics. (Both events are being held in London's O2 arena).

Participating at the training camp for Canada are Jackson Payne, Anderson Loran, Jayd Lukenchuk, Kevin Lytwyn, Jason Scott, Max Vacca, and Robert Watson. Headlining Britain's attendees are Daniel Keatings (2nd AA at the 2009 Euros) and Louis Smith (Bronze on Pommels at the 2008 Beijing Olympics).

Next up for team Canada: The men are heading to training camps in Beijing and London, and the women to a training camp/competition in Belarus.

Related link: Jackson Payne motivated by British (IG) http://www.gymn.ca Kristin Klarenbach placed second on beam and third on vault today, at the FL Gym Open in Luxembourg. Hungary's Dorina Boczogo, who won yesterday's all-around, continued to dominate today winning vault, beam, and floor. Ida Gustafsson managed to break her dominance, claiming the bars title ahead of Boczogo.

Yesterday Klarenbach placed fourth in the All-around. http://www.gymn.ca The 2009 Canadian National Championships wrapped up today in Hamilton, Ontario. On the women's side, two veterans from last quad battled it out for the senior women's all-around title. Sydney Sawa took first place, with Cynthia Lemieux (who led after prelims) placing second. Dominique Pegg took third. Pegg, who resumed training only recently, is not yet age eligible for this year's Worlds. The event finals saw a different champion on each event: Marie-Chantale Lepine (Vault), Sydney Sawa (Bars), Miranda Meyer (Beam), and Kristin Klarenbach (Floor).
  In the men's field, three veterans topped the all-around podium: Casey Sandy, Ken Ikeda, and Jared Walls. Ikeda went on to take two golds in the apparatus finals (pommels and parallel bars), making him one of the most successful athletes of these Championships. Fellow Olympians Nathan Gafuik and Brandon O'Neill took the floor and vault titles, respectively. Matt Beiler won rings, and Kevin Lytwyn topped high bar. Lytwyn's win put an exclamation to the final apparatus of these Championships, with many of his friends and family in the audience (he trains in nearby Burlington).
In the junior categories, Anysia Unick and Jaylan Birl left Hamilton with the most hardware. Unick won three Golds (all-around, vault, and bars). Jaylan Birl took first in the all-around and floor, second on rings, vault, and high bar. http://www.gymn.ca The 2009 Canadian National Championships begin tomorrow in Hamilton, Ontario, with the Trampoline and Tumbling and Rhythmic competitions taking center stage this weekend. Artistic gymnastics sees its first action on Tuesday, with the event wrapping up Sunday June 6 with 1.5 hours of live coverage of the apparatus finals on CBC. (The second half of the apparatus finals can be followed live on CBCsports.ca, with a tape delayed show set to air the following Saturday).

  Returning from the Olympic squad are Nathan Gafuik, Adam Wong (set to compete only floor and pommels), Ken Ikeda and Brandon O'Neill. O'Neill told IG that he's at "about 70 percent," following a devastating ankle injury sustained during podium training in Beijing. O'Neill will compete all six apparatus at these Nationals. 

  Casey Sandy is also expected to be a strong contender next week. Sandy recently completed a stellar NCAA career, during which time he was crowned the 2008 NCAA All-Around Champion. Sandy told Gymn.ca that he plans to return to Canada following his final semester at Penn State and focus on elite gymnastics, including a run at the 2012 Olympics. Many considered Sandy a strong contender for a berth on the 2008 Canadian Olympic team. He finished third at last year's Nationals, but was not invited to participate in the Olympic trials procedures. Having missed the previous Elite Canada competition, Sandy was deemed ineligible to participate.

   Also focused towards 2012 is a young crop of gymnasts, eyeing the senior ranks. They include last year's Junior National champion, Jackson Payne, Jayd Lukenchuk (overcoming a torn ACL), Kevin Lytwyn, and more.

  The senior women's event will see a new National champion crowned this year. None of the four top contenders for berths on last year's Olympic team are competing. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Alyssa Brown recently finished their first seasons in the NCAA (UCLA and Stanford, respectively), Nansy Damianova injured her shoulder shortly after returning the gym following Beijing, and Kristina Vaculik was only recently cleared to resume training after elbow surgery. Look for Brittany Rogers, Charlotte Mackie, Miranda Meyer, Dominique Pegg, and more.

  http://www.gymn.ca Olympic gold medallist Kyle Shewfelt announced his retirement from gymnastics today, in a live press conference carried on CBCSports.ca. Shewfelt's career spanned three Olympic Games, four World Championships, and two Commonwealth Games. He recently national attention when he won Canada's first gold medal of the 2004 Olympic Games (Athens, Greece), a gold on the floor exercise.

  Shewfelt's third and final Olympic appearance came last summer at the 2008 Beijing Games. His presence on this team came from incredible perserverance: Intense rehabilitation on two broken legs and multiple torn ligaments, suffered 11 months prior at the 2007 World Championships. It was a journey he says taught him a great deal.

In today's conference, Shewfelt outlined some of his future plans: Guest commentary for CBC at the upcoming 2009 Canadian Nationals from Hamilton, Ambassador for Gymnastics Canada, a TV show being shopped around to various networks promoting Youth in Canada, the opening of Kyle Shewfelt's Golden Gymnastics club (focused on recreational gymnastics), plus an autobiography he says has been years in the making.

Shewfelt ended his announcement in typical Shewfelt-style, sharing, "I literally got to live my dream and it couldn't have been more brilliant." http://www.gymn.ca Mantracker (Terry Grant) showed up at the Mountain Shadows Gymnastics Invitational yesterday, to hand out awards.

From Wikipedia:
Mantracker is a Canadian reality TV series that premiered in April 2006 on the Outdoor Life Network...the tagline of the show is: "Know your land. Know your prey."

In the show, two people take off into the bush with a map, a compass and a head start. The tracker is on horseback, armed with a local guide and an arsenal of forensic skills. The prey have 36 hours to reach a finish line some 40 kilometres away without getting caught. How they escape is up to them.

Each episode sees two people, who often have a pre-existing relationship, but not always, form a team referred to as the "Prey." The Prey must travel from the Start to the Finish without getting caught by the "Mantracker." The show always takes place in rough, remote terrain.

Thanks to Rick McCharles for posting this. http://www.gymn.ca Gymnastics Canada has chosen its new High Performance Director / National Team coach for women: Vladimir Lashin. Lashin is a graduate from the State central Institute of physical education in Moscow, Russia. After a stint in Australia he moved to Canada, where he's been coaching at Omega Gymnastics in Coquitlam, B.C. He coached Gael Mackie to the 2004 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Lashin will start his new full time duties on June 1st 2009 (on a part basis as of May 19). http://www.gymn.ca Edouard Iarov, Canada's men's National Coach and High Performance Director, has been appointed to the International Gymnastics Federation's Men's Technical Committee. Earlier in his career, Iarov coached Valerie Liukin to gold medals at the European, World, and Olympic level. http://www.gymn.ca 2007 World team member Sydney Sawa recently sat down with International Gymnast, reflecting on the past two years and discussing her goals for the upcoming Canadian Championships in Hamilton, ON. Nationals begin June 2 for the women, with the qualifying round of competition. http://www.gymn.ca Meyer's beam from the 2009 Maribor WC finals is now available for download at Gymn.ca. http://www.gymn.ca The World Cup circuit continued this weekend, with the Maribor World Cup in Slovenia. Canada's two entrants each qualified to an apparatus final, with Miranda Meyer finishing 5th on beam (12.550) and Laurie-Eve Pepin-Gagne rounding out the bars in 8th (11.775).

A video of Pepin-Gagne's bars can be found on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4Vn7JPx9s). Stay tuned to the same channel, which will likely include a video of Meyer's beam within the next few days. http://www.gymn.ca 2003 and 2007 World team member Casey Sandy competed at the 2009 NCAA Championships this weekend, placing 7th all-around. The 2008 all-around NCAA champion, Sandy finished prelims in first place but struggled in the all-around final. (Less than two weeks ago he suffered a sprained toe at the Big Ten Championships). Earlier this week the champion was bestowed with the Nissen-Emery Award. http://www.gymn.ca This past weekend saw the return of the Wild Rose International. The senior women's all-around was won by the host gym's Kristin Klarenbach, who also captured three medals in the apparatus finals (silver on vault, bronze on beam, and gold on floor). Other apparatus winners included Charlotte Mackie (vault), Sydney Sawa (bars), and Miranda Meyer (beam).

The Wild Rose organizers are allocating profits from this and next year's Invitationals towards the 2011 and 2012 editions, with the aim of creating top-notch F.I.G international sessions. Previous editions of the Wild Rose have hosted such greats as Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS), Simona Amanar (RUS), Viktoria Karpenko (UKR), and more.

Stay tuned to Gymn.ca is the coming weeks for videos from the 2009 Wild Rose! A first peak (Miranda Meyer's beam) is available for downloading at Gymn.ca. Meyer is heading to Slovenia soon to compete in the Maribor World Cup, where she will perform on the vault, beam, and floor. http://www.gymn.ca This weekend over 450 female gymnasts from all over North America will converge in Edmonton to compete at the 5th Wild Rose International Women’s Gymnastics Invitational. This event will showcase some of Team Canada’s best female gymnasts, including the host gym's Miranda Meyer. She’ll be joined by six other National Team members, including Charlotte Mackie, Sydney Sawa, Dominique Pegg, Catherine Dion, Sky Corbett-Methot, and Laurie-Eve Pepin Gagne.

The competition is being held April 3rd to 5th at the MacEwan Centre for Sports and Wellness. Tickets will be available at the admission tables during the event or you can log onto www.wildrosegymnastics.com for more ticket information. Stay tuned to Gymn.ca is the coming weeks for videos! http://www.gymn.ca Four medals for Canada in the last day of competition at the Gymnix World Cup! The women's floor exercise saw two Canadians on the podium; Charlotte Mackie earned silver and Sydney Sawa the bronze (American Mattie Larson placed first). Mackie also placed third on beam, after Larson and France's Marine Petit. In the men's field, Nathan Gafuik brought home his second medal of the weekend, a bronze on vault. Jackson Payne of Canada retained his sixth place position on high bar. Results are available at GymnasticsResults.com: MAG and WAG. http://www.gymn.ca Canadian Nathan Gafuik took silver on floor (14.550) at yesterday's Gymnix World Cup. He was bested by Romanian Razvan Selariu, who took gold with 14.800 points. Fellow Romanian Marius Berbecar took bronze with 14.525 points. In the women’s competition, Charlotte Mackie won vault ahead of Puerto Rico's Marie-Carmen Rivera (no others competed), and Sydney Sawa took bronze on bars. Bars was won by American Samantha Shapiro, whose competition has been limited by injury. Second place went to Marine Petit of France.Results are available at GymnasticsResults.com: MAG and WAG. Competition continues today with the second half of the apparatus finals. http://www.gymn.ca American Jordyn Weiber added another four gold medals to her haul today, placing first in every apparatus final. Fellow American Sabrina Vega placed second on three apparatus, bars, beam, and floor exercise. Canadians Dominique Pegg and Anysia Unick scored two medals for Canada: silver on vault (Pegg) and a bronze on beam (Unick).  Full results can be found on the L'International Gymnix website.  http://www.gymn.ca Canadians Nathan Gafuik and Jackson Payne together qualified to three finals at the inaugural Gymnix World Cup today in Montreal. The competition is Gafuik's second after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, having recently competed at the 2009 Elite Canada. This is the first World Cup event for Jackson Payne, the  Floor: Nathan Gafuik (2nd prelims) Vault: Nathan Gafuik (6th prelims) High Bar: Jackson Payne (6th prelims) Gafuik was expected to qualify to the apparatus finals on high bar, but fell attempting a new move. Kevyn Lytwyn, Canada's third entrant, hyper extended his knee on the first apparatus (floor) and was unable to continue the competition. With so few women registering for this World Cu (just four countries), it was decided that all entrants would automatically advance to the finals. No qualifications were contested. Full results can be found at Gymnastics Canada. http://www.gymn.ca Today's competition saw the Americans sweep the Gymnix Junior Cup, placing first as a team and placing first through third in the all-around. Newly crowned American Cup champion and reigning U.S. Junior National champion Jordyn Weiber led the group, with Sabrina Vega placing second, and Kamerin Moore placing third. Weiber and Moore train at the same gym, Twisters USA, with coach John Geddert. Vega is coached by former Romanian great Teodora Ungureanu. The top three Canadians at the Junior Cup were Anysia Unick (4th), Madeline Gardiner (6th), and Dominique Pegg (7th). Together with Rochelle Hurt, the girls placed second in the team competitions, to the Americans. The Russians (Anna Rodionova, Eleonora Goryunova, Julia Belokobylskaya, and Kristina Sidorova) finished third. Full results can be found on the L'International Gymnix website. http://www.gymn.ca The annual L'International Gymnix got underway today in Montreal, Quebec. Elizabeth Price of the USA took top honours in the International Cup, with teammate Madeline Hanley taking second. Both girls train at the Parkettes, in Allentown, PA. Bronze went to Canada's Anna Gamelo.

Competition continues Friday with the Junior Cup.

Full results can be found on the L'International Gymnix website. Sadly, there is no television coverage planned of this weekend's competitions. http://www.gymn.ca Current NCAA All-Around Champion Casey Sandy easily took the senior men's Elite Canada title, scoring 175.300 points. In second place was Ken Ikeda, and third went to Jared Wells. Ikeda was a member of Canada's 2004 Olympic team, and alternate to the 2008 team. Wells was a member of Canada's 2003 Pan Am Games team. 2008 Olympian Nathan Gafuik also competed, but only on four events (skipped rings and p-bars). He placed first amongst the seniors on vault, and second on high bar.

In the junior men's category, Jackson Payne edged past day 1 leader Kevyn Lytwyn to take the title. Jaylan Birl rounded out the podium. Both Payne and Lytwyn will compete at the upcoming Gymnix, along with 2008 Olympian Nathan Gafuik.

Full results from Elite Canada can be found at Gym Score Depot. http://www.gymn.ca 3-time Olympian Kyle Shewfelt was recognized at yesterday's Canadian Awards, beating out the men's eight (rowing) and Blythe Hartley to take the Spirit of Sport Story of the Year award. The award recognizes and celebrates a Canadian hero who demonstrates dedication, perseverance, sportsmanship, respect for others, and a true love of sport. Well done, Kyle! http://www.gymn.ca 3-time Olympian Kyle Shewfelt is a finalist for the Spirit of Sport Story of the Year. The award recognizes and celebrates a Canadian hero who demonstrates dedication, perseverance, sportsmanship, respect for others, and a true love of sport. Also in the running are diver Blythe Hartley and the Men's Eight (rowing) from Beijing. The winner will be announced at tomorrow's 36th Canadian Sport Awards, taking place in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada. Good luck, Kyle!  http://www.gymn.ca Brittany Rogers placed 9th at the American Cup, held in Chicago this past Saturday. Her highest score of the day came on vault, where she posted a 14.000. The competition was won by American Jordyn Weiber, who also posted the top score on three of four apparatus. U.S. Olympic team member Bridget Sloan finished second all-around, and bested Weiber on the floor exercise. Germany's Kim Bui, an alternate for both the 2007 Worlds and 2008 Olympics, finished in bronze position. Meanwhile, back home in Coquitlam, Rogers lost one of her elite training partners as Charlotte Mackie moved from Omega Gymnastics to Surrey Gymnastics to train under David Kenwright.  It's a reunion for Charlotte, who, along with sister Gael Mackie, were once coached by Kenwright at Omega. Kenwright has coached several top Canadian women, including 2-time Olympian Kate Richardson and 2007 World team member Sydney Sawa.  This weekend Surrey Gymnastics hosts the 2009 men's Elite Canada competition. Normally held each December, the men's program opted to push back the date of this competition.  http://www.gymn.ca Recent Senior Elite Canada champion Brittany Rogers is set to compete at the upcoming American Cup, held February 21 in Chicago. The competitive field includes Bridget Sloan (USA), Jordyn Wieber (USA), Becky Downie (GBR), Koko Tsurumi (JPN), Jessica Lopez (VEZ), Youna Dufournet (FRA), Kim Bui (GER), Amelia Racea (ROM), Kristina Goryunova (RUS). The event is carried live on NBC. http://www.gymn.ca International Gymnast has published an interview with Nathan Gafuik. http://www.gymn.ca Last week Aisha Gerber was awarded the Pac-10 Special Performance of the Week for her 9.9 meet-winning balance beam routine, in the Bruins' season opener at Utah. Gerber was also recently featured in UCLA's 10.0 Spotlight. http://www.gymn.ca/interact/Classifieds/64ASF2.shtml Currently looking for a Recreational Director. Approx. 30 hours per week: 2:00-8:00pm weekdays and 9:00-4:00pm Saturdays. http://www.gymn.ca Blythe over at The Gymblog is pegging Nathan Gafuik as a contender on high bar for this year's World Championships. Check out her prediction: http://gymblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/12-days-of-up-and-coming-gymnasts-day-10/

It would be wonderful to see - Gafuik definitely has a great high bar set. He reworked his tap a couple of years ago and has gained consistency.

I just don't agree that the Canadian men were an unexpected surprise at the 2007 Words (Stuttgart), qualifying a full team to Beijing. I had no doubt they'd qualify to Beijing, even without their top all-arounder (Adam Wong out with an Achilles injury) and Olympic great Kyle Shewfelt (broken knees/legs). We had a very strong group of men last quad. At the previous year's Worlds they placed fifth in team prelims and sixth in team finals!

It's going to be very interesting to see how Canada's MAG team shapes together this year. I expect a few retirements. How will newcomers fill the shoes? http://www.gymn.ca Thanks to the generosity of a local Edmonton businessman, Brandon O'Neill says he's committed to pursuing his dreams at the London 2012 games. O'Neill narrowly missed out on a spot on Canada's 2004 Athens team, was Canada's lone male gymnast at the 2005 World Championships, won bronze on floor at the 2006 World Cup Final, and helped Canada qualify a full team to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Just days prior to the start of the 2008 Olympics, O'Neill injured his ankle in the Olympic training hall. O'Neill's status was unknown, but days hours before the start of men's preliminaries he received the nod to compete. In the end, the ligament damage proved too severe and he turned in heartbreaking performances.
O'Neill now reveals that he'd basically decided to retire after Beijing. Engaged,he felt it was time to move on to a career with more lucrative possibilities. Instead, new funding means that O'Neill will be able to keep his Olympic dream renewed another four years. Shawn Dolan, owner of ECM Electronics and founder of the Alberta Olympic Sponsorship Group, has committed to providing him with $4,000 a month through to London 2012. It's to "prove to the rest of Canada that if our athletes are funded properly and are able to train as in other countries, they'll succeed in winning medals," Dolan told the Edmonton Journal.
O'Neill as the first recipient of the group's funding. Dolan says he chose the gymnast because he didn't want to see him quit. Dolan's own daughter trains at the city club as O'Neill, Capital City Gymnastics, so he knew of O'Neill's plight.
"It's nice to have another chance to go back and have the kind of outing that you've trained your whole life for," O'Neill said. "...I went in there [Beijing 2008] thinking I had potential for a medal, so four years down the road I don't see why that would change."
Full article: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Sports/Gymnast+gets+second+chance+medal/1134099/story.html http://www.gymn.ca IG interview with Brittany Rogers http://www.gymn.ca IG interview with Kyle Shewfelt
IG interview with Nansy Damianova
New vids of Brittany Rogers, the 2008 Elite Canada champion