“Mini-camps beckon for summer gymnastics, sports at MAdison YMCA” plus 3 more

Mini-camps beckon for summer gymnastics, sports at MAdison YMCA
China punishment revives gymnastics age rule debate
Hughes among Sports Hall of Fame inductees
Hughes leads youth movement by sports hall

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Mini-camps beckon for summer gymnastics, sports at MAdison YMCA

Posted: 03 May 2010 04:50 AM PDT

China punishment revives gymnastics age rule debate

Posted: 03 May 2010 08:02 AM PDT

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - In a sport where most athletes are past their prime by the time they turn 20, the minimum age rule has once again split the gymnastics community after China were stripped of their 2000 Olympics bronze medal.

Sports

An International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) probe found that Dong Fangxiao falsified her birthdate for the 2000 Games, and was hence younger than the minimum permitted age of 16, after registering different ages at Sydney and at the Beijing Games eight years later.

While the United States, who were named as the bronze medalists in the 2000 women's team competition this week after China were disqualified, were delighted with the FIG's decision, others believe the Asian nation should not have been punished and that the minimum age rule should be scrapped.

"I am very sorry for the Chinese team who have to support such a strict penalty. I think the gymnasts are not guilty at all," Romanian coach Nicolae Forminte told reporters at the European championships in Birmingham, England, which ended on Sunday.

"In my opinion it should be some other person who has to pay."

Glancing at one of his senior charges, who sat next to him with her legs swinging and feet failing to touch the floor from the height of her chair, he added: "For me the age is not a problem, that will be decided by FIG and I will conform with this if it is 16, 17, 19.

"I don't think there is a big difference between a 15-year-old gymnast and a 20-year-old. What matters is the quality of the gymnast. But I don't think in the future there will be many gymnasts older than 20 because gymnastics is very hard at this age."

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci wowed the world with her gravity-defying tricks to become the first gymnast to earn perfect 10s but the FIG subsequently raised the minimum age to 16 to protect the health of athletes.

UNDER PRESSURE

With gymnasts having a very short shelf life at the top and with many reaching their prime by their mid-teens, some coaches feel that individual athletes and their minders should have a right to decide when they are ready to compete at the major events.

"It is better to start at 14. It is really hard to stay under pressure so long," Russian national coach Alexander Alexandrov said.

"At the end they have to think about their future, about education, so perhaps it is better for them to do it earlier rather than later."

Suspicions of age-faking have dogged Chinese sport for years.

Dong registered a January 20, 1983 birthdate in Sydney, but when accredited to act as an official in the vault at the 2008 Beijing Games, she declared her birthdate as January 23, 1986.

That would have made her 14 and ineligible to compete in Sydney.

During the 2008 Olympics, the FIG was ordered by the IOC to investigate the age of China's He Kexin, the women's team and asymmetric bars gold medalist, and several team mates, who were all declared eligible.

PASSPORT SYSTEM

Following that controversy, the FIG introduced a system where all gymnasts taking part in any major event must apply for a license and where gymnasts must register their birthdate at the start of their junior career.

However, not everyone thinks the "gymnastics passport" will be foolproof.

"I think if your passport is false you can get a false license too, so I don't know if that is the solution," Dutch gymnast Mayra Kroonen said.

Russia's Alexandrov added: "I believe it will be very difficult to control the Chinese gymnasts in the system."

At 21, Kroonen is almost viewed as a pensioner in the sport but put her retirement on hold to compete in Birmingham. She felt the minimum age should be raised to 17 or 18 as fans needed to see "real women and not girls" compete in gymnastics.

Laura Mitchell, a 15-year-old Briton, competing as a junior at the Europeans is thankful there is an age limit.

"The limit is quite fair. I'm not that disappointed (about not competing with the seniors) because I still got a chance to compete in this big arena and it gave me a taste of what's to come," she told Reuters after watching the senior women's team final.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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Hughes among Sports Hall of Fame inductees

Posted: 03 May 2010 01:46 PM PDT

Module body

Mon May 3, 4:46 PM

By Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame wasted no time inducting star Olympic speedskater Clara Hughes.

Just over two months after her last race, Hughes will join five other athletes and two builders entering the Hall of Fame later this year.

"It's a pretty big surprise because I still feel the reality that I've quite skating hasn't sunk in yet," the multi-Olympic medallist said Monday from Toronto. "Usually this comes maybe a decade later.

"But I think it's an indication of a shift that's happening in the direction of sport in Canada in terms of really trying to embrace excellence when it's happening and performances close to when they've happened and keep the public interest alive."

The Winnipeg native, who now lives in Glen Sutton, Que., won bronze in the 5,000 metres Feb. 24 at the Vancouver Winter Games to bring her total number of Olympic skating and cycling medals to six, including one gold.

Gymnast Kyle Shewfelt, Paralympic wheelchair athlete Chantal Petitclerc, decorated hockey goaltender Patrick Roy, Formula 1 driver Jacques Villeneuve and freestyle skier Jean-Luc Brassard are the other athletes who will be inducted.

Former Own The Podium head Roger Jackson and the late football executive Bob Ackles will be inducted as builders.

"Kyle Shewfelt is a buddy of mine and Chantal Petitclerc is not just an amazing athlete, but a fine example of the potential of the human being," Hughes said. "I feel really honoured and excited to be a part of this group."

The eight inductees bring the Hall of Fame roster to 514. The Class of 2010 will be honoured at a dinner in Calgary in November.

A failed attempt to relocate the Sports Hall of Fame to Ottawa from its long-time home at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition grounds put the facility in limbo over the last decade.

The Hall is currently virtual and can only be viewed online until the completion of its new home at Calgary's Canada Olympic Park, which is scheduled to be June 2011.

"I'm a born-and-raised Calgarian, so I couldn't be happier," Shewfelt said from Calgary. "I'm the first artistic gymnast to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. That to me is one of the coolest parts about being in the Hall of Fame."

Six athletes and two builders is a large class. The Hall's own guidelines recommends the selection committee add no more than five athletes and two builders each year. The selection committee is made up of athletes, sports administrators and members of the media.

"The last vote was very close and they asked 'Could we add the extra athlete?' because it was so close," explained the Hall's chief executive officer Sharon Posen. "We agreed we'd add the extra person this year."

A quick look at each of the inductees.

Bob Ackles — The Sarnia, Ont., native is the only non-player to win the Schenley Award for outstanding contributions to the Canadian Football League. He won two Grey Cups with the B.C. Lions as the team's general manager in 1985 and as team president in 2006. He started out as the Lions water boy at 15 and spent more than 40 years in the organization until his death in 2008.

Jean-Luc Brassard — The moguls skier from Valleyfield, Que., won gold at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He inspired a generation of world-class freestyle skiers in Quebec, including current Olympic champion Alex Bilodeau.

Clara Hughes — The Winnipeg native won her sixth Olympic medal at the Vancouver Games to join fellow speedskater Cindy Klassen as the only Canadians to accomplish that feat. Hughes is also the only athlete to win multiple Olympic medals in Summer and Winter Games. She has two cycling bronze medals to go with gold, a silver and two bronze in speedskating.

Roger Jackson — The Calgarian is already in the Hall of Fame for winning an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1964. Jackson then served in various sport leadership roles in Canada, including director of Sport Canada and president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. He was head of Own The Podium, an ambitious business plan to get Canadians on the podium at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.

Chantal Petitclerc — The wheelchair racer from Montreal capped off a brilliant Paralympic career with five gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing to bring her total 14. She was named The Canadian Press female athlete of the year in 2008.

Patrick Roy — Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006, the goaltender from Sainte-Foy, Que., won four Stanley Cups over his 19-year NHL career. Roy owns the NHL record for most playoff wins with 151 and is the only three-time winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy that goes to the post-season's best player.

Kyle Shewfelt — The Calgary gymnast won Canada's first and only Olympic medal in gymnastics with a gold in the floor exercise in 2004. Despite suffering major knee injuries in a training accident less than a year out from the 2008 Olympics, Shewfelt rehabilitated himself in time to compete in Beijing.

Jacques Villeneuve — The Montreal driver is the only Canadian to win the Formula 1 drivers title, which he did in 1997 with the Williams team, and the Indy 500, which he did in 1995. He joins his late father Gilles, who died in 1982 in a racing accident, in the Hall.

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Hughes leads youth movement by sports hall

Posted: 03 May 2010 05:42 PM PDT

Hughes leads youth movement by sports hall

May 3, 2010 Randy Starkman

The ice shavings had barely melted off Clara Hughes' skates when she got the call.

Hughes, who retired after capturing her sixth Olympic medal less than three months ago, was named Monday among an illustrious group of inductees by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

The only Canadian to win medals at the Summer and Winter Games, Hughes seems to be part of a youth movement by the hall as it gets ready to move into its new Calgary home. The induction ceremony is in November.

Also named were Paralympic star Chantal Petitclerc and Olympic gymnastics champion Kyle Shewfelt, who competed as recently as 2008 in Beijing. Rounding out the cast is goaltending star Patrick Roy, race car driver Jacques Villeneuve, who joins father Gilles in the hall, and 1994 Olympic moguls champion Jean-Luc Brassard.

Roger Jackson, who recently stepped down as leader of Own the Podium, was named in the builders category — he's already in as an athlete for his Olympic rowing gold medal — as was late football legend Bob Ackles.

"Maybe they just realize that I'm so old already that if they don't do it now it might be too late if they wait the normal amount of time," joked the 37-year-old Hughes, winner of one gold, one silver and four bronze medals as a cyclist and speed skater.

"In some ways, I feel like it's still not a reality that I'm done yet. It's still so fresh. It's only been a couple of months, so it's a big surprise. But I think it's an indication of a shift to celebrating excellence soon after the fact, picking stories that are still in the public eye and athletes that are still in the public eye because it will create more recognition."

Also taken by surprise was Petitclerc, 40, a dominant wheelchair racer who won five gold medals at two straight Paralympics, Athens and Beijing, and captured a total of 14 gold, five silver and two bronze.

"That's what I thought as well: I'm not that old," she said. "But that's okay, I'm in good company so I will take it."

Petitclerc is in transition with no plans to go to the next Paralympics or world championships, but she's still training for marathons in Chicago and New York.

"It's been two years now since Beijing and you think that all the recognition and the rewards must be done, but this one is very special," she said. "Looking at the list, I believe I'm only the second Paralympian (inducted) with Rick Hansen and the first woman. To me it's always very important to see that the Paralympic movement and athletes and myself are getting recognized. So, it has even more of a special value from that point of view."

Shewfelt is Canada's only Olympic gold medallist ever in gymnastics, winning on the floor at the 2004 Athens Games. He came back from two broken legs to compete again four years later in Beijing.

"It feels pretty damn good," said Shewfelt. When I got the news, I was thrilled. And to see the group of people that I'm being inducted with, Clara and Chantal are two of my favourite people in the world. It's a huge honour."

Roy is one of the best goaltenders in NHL history, having won two Stanley Cups each with Montreal and Colorado and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP three times.

Villeneuve is one of only three drivers to win the Indianapolis 500, the Indy car season title and the Formula One world championship.

Brassard won 20 World Cup moguls gold medals, two world titles and two Crystal Globes as overall World Cup moguls titlist.

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Gymnastics Sports

Monday, May 3, 2010