Gymnastics - You've changed!

On Friday the Blogathonrunnner decided to take a trip to the "Artistic" Gymnastics at the arena formerly known as the O2 and now known for some bizarre reason as the North Greenwich Arena for the period up to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games no doubt.  This was one of the test events that will occur for many sports up to the Games as part of the London Prepares Series.

It has to be said the spectator experience for this test event was very good and very promising with the Olympics just around the corner.  More or less a full house of spectators saw gymnasts from all over the globe participate in various individual apparatus finals, with varying degrees of success it has to be said.  British athletes of any sport would also be encouraged by national spectator support if the gymnastics is anything to go by.  The minute a British gymnast was seen to do a somersault the noise level in the arena shot up by about 100 decibels and when a British young man by the name of Kristian Thomas won the High Bar competition the roof of the arena nearly lifted off.  I do think there needs to be a few lessons in how to sing the British national anthem however, because that was about as good as the rejects you find on the audition episodes of the likes of the X Factor or American Idol.

Moving back to the topic of the "Artistic" Gymnastics.  Now I never in a million years would I admit to being an avid follower of any gymnastic related sport.  Like probably most people on this planet, my "Artistic" Gymnastics education has come from watching Olympic competition mainly, particularly in the 70's, 80's and 90's where gymnasts from former or current communist block countries won more golds that i have had hot dinners.  It was the era where you were almost beguiled by the smiles and personalities as well as the gymnastic talent of the likes of Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci.  The scoring was also pretty easy to understand as well.  If a gymnast got a score of 10.00 you knew in lay man's terms "perfect".

Let me tell you blog readers,  Gymnastics has changed!  Upon my exit from the arena formerly known as the O2, i was asking myself questions such as; Since when have Mexico and Greece been good at gymnastics?  Why on earth would you try a somersault on a 10cm wide plank of wood? Why can't any gymnast nail a dismount? Why don't you see gymnasts smiling and having a bit of personality anymore?  Reflecting on these questions i have come to the following conclusions about 21st century "Artistic" Gymnastics.

1. "Artistic" Gymnastics is not "Artistic" Gymnastics.

To me "Artistic" Gymnastics is no longer about performing artistic and accurate routines to a degree.  You appear to be awarded as a gymnast for attempting ridiculously complicated routines with a bucketload of difficulty crammed into the space of a minute and a bit.  If performed perfectly and accurately - bonus!  To me a forward layout somersault with three and a half twists in a piked position, would certainly probably have a wow factor, but if you miss your landing on a 10cm beam by 2mm, well it is not going to look pretty.  Poor Sui Lu, a young Chinese lady who apparently has been World Beam Champion, found this to her cost on Friday.  Attempting mind boggling elements in her routine she managed to fall off the beam twice and then proceeded to land on her face on dismount from the terrifying object.  Gymnastics has certainly followed most sports now in terms being judged more on difficulty as opposed to performance.  As a spectator you do want to be wowed by what you see, however, you don't want to be wincing either when a gymnast lands on their face.

2. Gymnastics is like a United Nations Convention Now.

Where were the Russians?  Where were the Romanians on the Friday?  Instead there were gymnasts from all corners of the globe from Chile to Greece, from Mexico to Israel.  Clearly the appeal of Gymnastics is going global which cannot be a bad thing.  Every sport's aim is to attract worldwide participation as well as a world wide audience.  Gymnastics is clearly moving in the right direction.

3. And your chosen specialist apparatus is?

There was a time when the really good gymnasts in the world were almost like a jack of all trades when it came to all apparatus and were highly competent in all performing on all apparatus.  The emphasis on difficulty in routines however appears to have forced the vast majority of gymnasts to have their chosen specialist apparatus and concentrate more or less entirely on perfecting their routines on that particular piece.  This was seen in the fact that virtually no gymnasts appeared in more than one individual apparatus finals on Friday.  One thing is for certain when it comes to the invidual all-round finals at the Olympics, the gymnast that wins gold will have well and truly earnt that title, because gymnastics no longer appears to be about being a jack of all trades, but a master of one or two at the most.

So has Gymnastics changed for the better?  Well if audience response on Friday is anything to go by then yes.  Gymnastics is no longer about the smile or the personality, it's about that extra somersault in the piked position.

To see or not to see in 2012? That is the question.

Well the year is one week young blog readers and there already are some bizarre and disturbing things that have occurred that quite frankly i never want to witness in a sporting arena again.  With 51 weeks of the year remaining i face the eternal debate, do i really want to see this?

1. Premiership footballers with mohican style haircuts.

What is it with Premiership footballers and mohican haircuts this season?  Everytime i watch a match i think i've travelled back in time and am watching an episode of the A-Team with Mr T!  Is it new fashion i clearly know nothing about or are players clearly under some delusion that it makes them look "tough"? Whatever the case, it's putting me off watching the game gentlemen!  Sort it before i think Hannibal is going to turn up in goal!

2. Synchronised Swimming at the London Olympics

Yours truly has actually seen Synchronised Swimming at the Sydney Olympics and although any street cred i had is just about to go out of the window, i actually quite enjoyed watching it.  The discipline it takes for eight girls to be in a pool at the same and be in perfect synchronisation for however many minutes under water most of the time is astonishing.  I find it difficult to assemble eight of my colleagues in the same room let alone play Simon Says with them!  A few months ago hundreds of the Great British public were probably delighted to have obtained tickets to the Synchronised Swimming, seeing as the tickets they really wanted were not available.  Yet thanks to an almighty seating cock up by LOCOG, it appears hundreds of fans will actually get tickets for sports they actually wanted to see in the first place.  Blog readers, despite its subtle athletic qualities, it actually pays not to see Synchronised Swimming.

3.  Premiership footballers bemoaning the fact they lose half their players to the African Nations Cup

Over the Christmas period the beloved football commentators of this world have kindly reminded myself and the Great British public that the African Nations Cup will commence in January and that half the teams in the Premiership are going to lose important players, approximately 500 times.  Apparently Manchester City requested permission from the Ivory Coast Football Federation to delay their departure of the Toure brothers for the African Nations Cup until the conclusion of the FA Cup derby match with United. The Ivory Coast refused.  Good!  Premiership teams if you chose to employ the services of an African player, you do so with the knowledge that they make a bi-annual trip for the African football jamboree at the same time of year.  It's not as if the African Football federations think, i know let's have an international football tournament just to annoy Roberto Mancini. So Roberto if you and your gazillion pound squad don't beat United and blame it on the fact Yaya Toure wasn't there to bulldoze his way through the United defence, i will switch my TV over to the Eastenders omnibus edition in protest.

I guess watching sport can excite the hell out of you, like a fan who realises he has tickets to watch the Men's Olympic 100 metres final, and depress you like listening to a football player manage to fit the comment "you know" 47 times in midst of a two minute conversation.  There will be things that fill you with trepidation, but the thought you could witness some of the most amazing achievements by sportsmen and women is most definitely enough to keep you watching.

I have a sporting dream!

It's 2012 blog readers and quite frankly if you are a sports fan it is time to get excited with the European Football Championships, the Olympics and the Paralympics this year to fill your boots with for starters.  In fact the sporting calendar for this year could be described as the equivalent of a menu at a 3 star Michelin restaurant.

It would be interesting to fast forward to 12 months time and see which sportsmen and women have accomplished the ultimate goals in their sporting careers, and also to see if any of my sporting hopes and dreams will have come true in 2012.  Here's a couple to name but a few.

1. If Sebastian Vettel is to win the 2012 Formula One Title, he is made to work ridiculously hard for it.

You would think if a Formula One driver has won the world title two years in a row, he is somewhat special.  Are Formula One fans entirely convinced that Vettel is a great driver yet though?  I have my doubts.  Let us be in no doubt that Vettel has been driving a ridiculously fast Red Bull car this past two years, and that car has virtually guaranteed him pole position in every race more or less.  As a consequence it's left the situation in most Formula One races of Vettel riding off into the sunset while all the other drivers fight for the minor places.  When someone is able to stay with Vettel in that Red Bull car and challenge his supremacy he is not exactly convincing.  Who can forget when Jenson Button was on his tail in the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, he made a monumental mistake which gave Button the race.  There is no question Vettel is a talented driver, but you get the feeling if he is to be remembered for years to come, he is going have to work hard to win the title, meaning he would have to hold off a charge by Lewis Hamilton in the final lap of a race, or overtake Fernando Alonso in the final corner before the chequered flag.  Of course this will also be dependant on several factors.  The likes of Button, Hamilton and Alonso will need cars that will challenge the Red Bull car in terms of speed and taking pole position in a race every so often and .........leading to my second dream of 2012.

2. Lewis Hamilton will not be involved in a crash or coming together with any driver and will maintain at least 5 car lengths in front of Felipe Massa for the entire season.

2011 will be a year he will want to forget both on and off the track really.    Let's face it, based on his antics on the track, if he was driving a normal car on any road he would have lost his no claims bonus on his car insurance ten times over.  Hamilton's mind clearly was not focused on the job for 75% of the season, but boy when he was on form he was brilliant.  You can't help but get the feeling that Hamilton would have Vettel for breakfast if he was driving the same Red Bull Car though.  His nature is to be aggressive and try and win, something that has gained him a heck of a lot of admirers and 3 victories this season just gone. Let's hope for Formula One's sake that Hamilton is back on form this year and we see a sensational season.

3. Andy Murray wins a Grand Slam tournament (note don't care which one)

Yes blog readers i'm sick and tired of hearing that Britain hasn't had a male Grand Slam Tennis champion since before my grandparents were born or not far off.  I love Wimbledon and i just want to hear a different topic of conversation other than can Murray win Wimbledon this year, next year, ever!
Murray is undoubtedly a talented tennis player and does have the potential to win a Grand Slam.  I think his biggest Achilles heel in terms of him potentially winning a Grand Slam is two fold.  Firstly his mental frailties and secondly he is often tactically naive in big matches.  Instead of imposing his own game on an opponent, he tends to allow himself to be dictated to by his opponent, which is why i'm hoping his new coach Ivan Lendl will help fine tune him in terms of tactics and mental focus, so we can all rejoice and just enjoy the tennis at Wimbledon.

These are dreams to name but a few.  Whatever happens it is going to be a very interesting sporting year.