Gymmin' Miel!

Louis Smith (Image from Getty Images for Adidas and The Guardian Online

Olympic medalist Louis Smith will be one of fourteen stars who will be lining up for season ten of the British television show 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The show sees celebrities partner with professional dancers to dance a particular Ballroom or Latin dance each week, hoping to impress not only the judges but also the public, whose votes combine to see which stars advance each week and which celebrity and their partner are eliminated each week. Past winners have included a number of television personalities, actors/actresses and Cricketers. Smith will face some intense competition with some big name celebrities also taking to the floor. See full list below. Good luck to Louis and I will be following his progress on the show on the blog! The season launch episode airs on the 15th of September, with live shows commencing from the 5th of October.

SEASON 10 CELEBRITIES:

• Colin Salmon - Actor, best known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond movies and James "One" Shade in the Resident Evil film series
• Dani Harmer - Tracey Beaker actress
• Denise Van Outen - Actress, Singer and Television Presenter. Played Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on both Broadway and The West End
• Fern Britton - Television Presenter, former main co-presenter on the ITV magazine programme This Morning
• Jerry Hall - Supermodel
• Johnny Ball - British Television Personality and Mathematician
• Kimberley Walsh - Singer/songwriter, Dancer, Model, Television Presenter and Actress. Member of Girls Aloud.
• Lisa Riley - Television Presenter and Actress best known for playing Mandy Dingle on Emmerdale.
• Louis Smith - Artistic Gymnast
• Michael Vaughan - Retired Cricketer
• Nicky Byrne - Singer-songwriter, radio and television presenter, former footballer and member of the band Westlife
• Richard Arnold - Television Presenter
• Sid Owen - Recently retired Actor who played Ricky Butcher on EastEnders
• Victoria Pendleton - Recently retired Track Cyclist who won a gold and silver medal at the 2012 Olympics

PAST WINNERS:

BY GUEST WRITER: TALITHA GONZALEZ

Another edition of the "World of Gymnastics" program on Australia's subscription television provider Foxtel has been aired. The half an hour program airs on the Eurosport network. Featured on this month's show are Ireland's Olympic Gymnast Kieran Behan, the competition from the Osijek World Cup in Artistic Gymnastics, and the action from the 2012 USA VISA National Championships!

First up the VISA National Championships. Apparently it's not all about winning for the gymnasts, sometimes they play it safe in order to not make mistakes to secure a spot in the Olympic Trials. This year, the competition was held in the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The battle came right down to the wire between John Orozco and Danell Leyva. 

Danell, was the 2011 National Champion and has the special support of his step-father and trainer Yin Alvarez. Yin says "My goal is I want to create an Olympian, that's my dream". Danell says that "When I land and he goes crazy I feel like, yes! I did good" and that "Sometimes when I am not doing well and he goes crazy, he gives me energy to keep fighting". Yin says "Like Oh My God, Wow, Fantastic! On the inside I'm thinking I am the one to do the skills". "What makes Danell special is what he does in his mind. Everything he did before, is what makes him who he is now. I think I was the right person for Danell because he's kinda like me. We're going to risk everything, we're gonna give it everything we have for what we love." 

Danell reflects that "Even though we're not related by blood, he's really taught me and made me who I am".  They program then showed Danell's High Bar routine from the All Around competition and then his Parallel Bars from the Event Finals at the 2011 World Championships. Yin says "Danell doesn't want to make the Olympics, he wants to win the Olympics".

And they show the full routines of Danell on Parallel Bars and Still Rings and Orozco on the Floor Exercise and Still Rings, And of course they then recapped the results for the men, making special note of Jonathan Horton!

Kieran Behan hails from Surrey, England and has triumphed over adversity, all the while maintaining his dreams. At the age of 10, a tumor was discovered in his thigh and the surgery to remove it resulted in severe nerve damage, that has left him with limited feeling in one foot. Fifteen months in a wheelchair ensued, but that was just the start of Kieran's "war stories", as he was then told by doctors that he would never walk again. After confounding the medical experts, Kieran not only learned to walk, but also returned to the gym to continue with the sport he loved. But fate again dealt him a blow two years later as he fell from the High Bar, causing damage to his vestibular canal in his inner ear, which affected his balance and sidelined him for three years. 

"Kieran's been through an awful lot since he was a very young age. From the age of ten he suffered a number of injuries which hindered his development, but now he's in a very good situation and managed to qualify for the Olympic Games." said his coach Demetrios Bradshaw. Kieran says "Like you say, it's a triumph over adversity. Like you say I have had numerous setbacks in my career. I mean pretty much half of my career I've been injured but it's brilliant to know that people can pull through things like that, whether they're an athlete or whether they're an everyday person, to know that how strong mentally they can be and making sure that you have the right people around you. I mean I wouldn't be where I am today, if it wasn't for my family and my friends and my coaches and everyone that pulled together and really believed in me and what we can do." And what Kieran has done, is to become only the second Irish gymnast (after Barry McDonald in 1996) to compete at an Olympic Games despite next to no financial backing, with Kieran's parents going without a holiday for ten years to help their son reach his goal. Kieran says "it's absolutely amazing, I mean it, to be in all honesty, it really hasn't sunk in yet. I mean, I just get goosebumps every time I think I'm actually going to the Olympic Games. Even the other day, I got a phone call from my mom and she was saying  something about my relatives that are coming over. They haven't got tickets, but they're coming over just cos they know how good it's going to be, just even after I've competed just to go back to the house and have a little bit of a party and things like that. It really hasn't sunk in yet".

Simon Gale and Bradshaw coach Behan and they say that he is as thankful to them as he is to everyone else who has supported him through thick and thin. One unlikely avenue of support came from English Premier League team Fullham. "Yeah it's been amazing. Since I qualified and I've had so many who have come forward. And Fullham was one of them and it's absolutely brilliant. I mean one of my coaches is such a big Fullham fan as well. So it's brilliant when I take him along and the guys there are absolutely amazing. I mean the facilities that they have medical wise is unreal, I mean going in there and I had a slight foot problem, I think it was my talus bone or something was out and that was just before the Test Event and one of the guyys at Fullham had been really trying to get that back in, and he got it back in the other day. So the impact that they're having to make sure that I go into each training session physically prepared and physically ready is absolutely incredible and again I am so thankful and grateful that people out there can support me and help me achieve my goals."

Now back to the Women's competition at the VISA Championships. First up Nastia Liukin. We saw her entire Balance Beam routine. We got to see Jordyn Wieber's Uneven Bars routine and Douglas' fall on the Balance Beam. Another star in Saint Louis was Alicia Sacramone and yay! We got to see most of her day two Beam routine. We also got so see Wieber's vault and Douglas' Uneven Bars routine, plus a short recap on the top three results. And then they launched into a brief spiel of the Olympic Trials, which were held in San Jose. However, I think they got their information from goodness knows where with them reporting that Elizabeth Price was named to the team over McKayla Maroney - can anyone say apology needed next month?!!? 

Onto Osijek! We got to see Canada's Christine Lee's full Uneven Bars performance, as well as that of Poland's Marta Pihan-Kulesza with them coming one-two on the Bars. Giulia Steingruber's second vault was shown as too was Canadian's Elsabeth Black's. Final results on the Vault, were Black, Steingruber and Brazilian Lais Da Silva Souza. Can I say that I love Black's Floor routine! Steingruber's is pretty good too - They shared gold for the Floor Exercise podium. And they also showed Giulia's Balance Beam routine - she earned herself a gold medal in Osijek for it. They made no mention of the Men's Competition in Osijek though which was disappointing. 

I managed to catch the opening of this episode which was looking at the Athens 2004 Olympics. Paul Hamm was featured in the Opening! I remember watching the Opening Ceremony in awe. The mythology I didn't understand at the time, but I thought it was cool! 2.001 nations participated in the Games, with Afghanistan participating in its first Games since their participation was restored in 2002. There were 301 medal events in 28 sports. 

All eyes were on American superstar Michael Phelps who was a part of a media frenzy that year - with sponsors offering him $1 million if he could surpass the record held by great Mark Spitz who won gold in the seven swimming events he participated in at the Munich Olympic Games. Phelps remembers looking at Olympic history and seeing who had won the most in an Olympics, he mentions Spitz and Aleksandr Dityatin. However Australian Ian Thorpe and a bronze medal in 4x100m freestyle relay. His six golds and two bronzes meant he equaled the haul of Soviet gymnast Dityatin who won eight medals in one Olympic Games. Dityatin won medals in team, all around and all six apparatus finals in the 1980 Olympic Games. 

Onto the Diving - where China was showing their mastery of the sport. The nation took out six of the eight gold medals available. In the Men's 3m Synchronized Springboard, Greece's Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis finished as surprise Gold medalists! 

Dutch cyclist Leontien van Moorsel was a favorite to dominate the Cycling after winning three Golds and a silver at the 2000 Olympics. A fall in the road race left her bruised and concussed with doctors unsure whether she could still participate in the remaining events at the Olympics. Three days later, however she surprised the World by taking out the title in the Time Trial and then finished her campaign with a bronze in the 3km Pursuit.

PAUL AND MORGAN HAMM are the first family of American Gymnastics. Paul says "a lot of people have a tough time telling me from my brother". Morgan said that they have been living together their whole lives". One of the fastest ways to tell them apart is their noses - when you look at them side on Morgan's nose is definitely different. When asked if there was any type of rivalry between them, Paul says when it comes to Gymnastics, the answer is no but in other things the answer is definitely "Yes". They are also very professional when it comes to Gymnastics. "We push each other, we help motivate each other and for the most part, we want each other to do well. The Hamm twins represented USA as 17-year-olds at the Sydney Olympics before coach Miles Avery began to build on their potential. Miles said "I first meet them when they were about 13-14 years old and they were tremendous young athletes. I actually started working with them in 2003 right after the World Championships in California and then we went on to Athens Olympic team". 

Elder twin Paul was considered a strong pick in the All Around competition. An event no American had previously won. His campaign started well (cue part of his Floor and Pommel Horse routines). After the first three apparatuses he had formed a narrow 0.380 lead (cue Still Rings dismount). And then they show "that vault" where he almost crashes into the Judge's table. Paul says "I remember when I was running down the vault runway everything felt good. I hit the springboard and I was in the air and it really didn't feel bad. Everything was going to be okay but as it was lacking a little bit of the power that I had in previous competitions, I ended up coming down a little bit crooked and once I landed there was no recovering. I was off-balance and stumbling right into the Judge's table. Morgan says "I was like. I was shocked. I kinda like, my face just dropped. I was thinking that's the end of it, he's probably not going to win a medal". Miles said "we certainly had planned and trained to win the Olympics and we thought that that had now gone." Paul said "Oh my god, it's over. There's no way I could possibly win. I've never heard of an Olympic gymnast competing in the All Around and falling and still having the ability to win". Avery said "we need to do the best performances of your life in these last two events. You need to go at least a 9.800 and he hadn't done that in competition yet". 

Whilst showing his Parallel Bars routine, Paul says "I'd been taught throughout my career to never give up during a competition. You never know what's going to happen during the final rotation. Going into that final event I knew I needed to do a spectacular performance but I didn't know how spectacular of a performance. I just knew I was close. I remember being around 4th or 5th place. I was I like I might even be able to possibly win this competition. During my high bar routine I have a pretty risky routine and I usually do a lot of releases. When I got to the part when I'm letting go of the bar and flying through the air. I knew at the point that it felt perfect. I remember hitting the ground, it just hits me like a nail, I put my arms in the air and just really knew that I'd not only made a huge comeback but that I had the potential of possibly winning that competition". Morgan says "when he  landed his dismount on high bar it was amazing and I went wild." Miles said "When I looked up and saw that 9.837 and his name pop to the top of the leader board and I went to him and said you know you're the Olympic Champion, and he said no, no. And I said yes, yes you are the Olympic Champion". 

Paul said "I didn't believe it at first because I was thinking was that possible? Like could I have possibly done that. And then it hit me and it was the most incredible feeling. I remember going to the stand and seeing my family and waving to them. It was basically pandemonium. There was more than just individual glory for the Hamms, with them being the core of USA in the team event. And for that the two of them were incredibly grateful. The brothers' story caught the imagination of the American public with them making it onto the People magazine's list of 50 Most Eligible Bachelors in 2004 and doing the rounds of talk shows. After Athens however they decided to devote themselves to their studies at Ohio State University and take a complete break from competitive gymnastics for two years, where then then decided to take a run at the 2008 Olympics. 

British rower Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE was part of the winning Coxless Fours winning his fourth Gold medal at an Olympic Games. He won the Coxless Pairs in 1992 and 1996. And with James Cracknell won the 2000 Coxless Fours (with Steve Redgrave, and Tim Foster) and in 2004 (with Steve Williams and Ed Coode) after winning by 0.08 of a second. After which Pinsent decided to retire. 

German Birgit Fischer a kayaker who represented Germany was also profiled. At her fifth Olympics in 2000 she carried the flag at the Opening Ceremony. After deciding to come back for yet another Olympics. In her career, she first competed at the Olympics for East Germany, where she won 3 gold and 1 silver and then for Germany where 5 gold medals and 3 silver. 

Zhang Ning, Badminton player from China had never won an Olympic medal until 2004. In the final, she faced Mia Audina of The Netherlands where she decisively took the final set to win her first Olympic title. China also dominated the Table Tennis where Zhang Yining took a clean sweep of the Women's gold medals - paired with Wang Nan for the Women's doubles. Ryu Seung-Min of South Korea overcame the highly fancied Wang Hao of China for the Men's Singles title, proving that the Chinese were not invincible. Men's Tennis saw Chile's Nicolas Massu steal the show when he won the Men's singles title over Mardy Fish (USA) and then clinched the Doubles with compatriot Fernando Gonzalez over Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler. 

For many participants its about just that participation. Take the Iraqi football team who were able to take some refuge from the war going on while participating in Athens. The coach said that although their preparation was minimal they were able to succeed. They reached the Semi-Final, helping the country to temporarily forget the war in the hard times that they were facing. The final was a fancied clash between South American powers Argentina and Paraguay, with Argentina finishing on top. In the Basketball, Argentina who had surprised the USA with a defeat in the Semis, finished off the job with victory over Italy.  

There was so much pride in hosting the Olympic Games from Greece! No one more so than Pyrros Dimas - the weightlifter who carried the flag in the opening ceremony. The three-time Olympic Champion fought hard, but was recovering from knee surgery. Although winning the bronze, it was a reception of gold medal proportions. 


The shot put competition was held in the original stadium. USA's Adam Nelson was the favorite going into the final round where Ukraine's Yuriy Bilonoh final throw matched Nelson's distance and he was put ahead after a countback was applied. Nelson's final throw would have been long enough to go into the gold medal position, but his foot left the circle. Britain's Kelly Holmes, who won the 800m and 1500m went home a national treasure and was seriously adored by the public. She described it as manic and surprising. American 4x100m where highly fancied to win the gold, however they were stunned at the finish with Great Britain winning after much smoother baton changes. Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj was a proud Goal Keeper playing football growing up in Morocco. His mother encouraged him to swap to running after it was her who had to wash the muddy Football kit. After 2000 he was stunned and had to see a psychologist to recover and to encourage him to continue in the sport.... he came back to the Olympics in Athens and claimed both the 1,500m and 5,000m becoming the first man since Paavo Nurmi to complete the double. He retired two years later. 


Yelena Isinbayeva says opinion was divided over whether she was a favorite or not. She said it meant that she had no pressure on her. Told herself on her final attempt that she had no right to lose. Couldn't believe she won the Pole Vault title in Athens. Her secret to her success - her relationship with her pole!

Here is the run down of this month's program: