Meet of the Week 5

Back in the days of the 10, a new code of points was an exciting time. Gymnasts were forced to find new and interesting ways to get bonus points and it was a race to find loopholes in the code. In particular the 1997 code was a big change from the one used at the 96 Olympics. For this reason I found the 1997 worlds immensely interesting. So, this week we will look at the team and all-around competitions from the 1997 worlds.

Meet of the Week 4

This week we get to revisit some classic Soviet routines with the men's and women's all-around competitions from the 1986 Goodwill Games.

A glimpse at Team Future

Someone has put together a great video that gives us a glimpse at the girls who are part of 'Team Future' which is the next generation of Australian gymnasts.

Click Play or Watch on YouTube

Meet of the Week 3

This week it's the Women's Team Final from the 2000 Olympics.

Meet of the Week 2

This week our meet of the week is the 1994 world championships All-around. It was one of the first major competitions that I watched and I still think it is great.

Meet of the Week

To cope with post-Olympic boredom and the desire to watch more gymnastic,. I have come up with a new segment: Meet of the Week. In this I will revisit a gymnastics meet/competition from the past. Today it is the Women's team final from 1996. This is the American version so it's a bit American-centic. But it is still quite enjoyable.

Olympic Sounds Aren't Real

It turns out that many of the sounds in the broadcast of the Olympics are actually faked:

“That afternoon we went out on a canoe with a couple of rowers recorded stereo samples of the different type of effects that would be somewhat typical of an event,” Baxter recalls. “And then we loaded those recordings into a sampler and played them back to cover the shots of the boats.”

The real sound, of course, would have included engine noises and a helicopter whirring overhead. The fake sound seemed normal, just oars sliding into water. In a sense, the real sound was as much of a human creation as the fake sound, and probably a lot less pleasant to listen to.

So, in order to make a broadcast appear real, the soundtrack has to be faked, or to put it perhaps more accurately, synthesized. We have a word for what they’re doing: This is sonic fiction. They are making up the sound to get at the truth of a sport.

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It's just a pity that they go to so much trouble yet they can't even find a decent camera angle for rings, uneven bars and high bar.

Josh Jefferis on the Radio

Josh Jefferis appeared on Triple J (an Australian radio station) this morning. You can listen to the interview here:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s3572460.htm

Josh starts at 15:50.

Zou Kai Scammed

Controversial Olympic gold medalist Zou Kai and teammate Yang Wei have been caught up in a multi-million dollar scam. Wang Ti, a former footballer's wife apparently convinced a number of athletes and artists including Zou and Yang to hand over large amount of money under the false pretence of getting apartments at a discount.

Zhu Shiqun, the mother of Zou Kai, the gymnast who was allegedly cheated out of 1.5m yuan, told the Chengdu Commercial Daily she feared the scandal might hit China's chances at the Games.

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Latest Lauren Mitchell Videos From VISA

VISA had added some more videos of Lauren Mitchell: