Best Rings at the 2011 Euros

The Russians dominated the still rings event finals during the 2011 European Championships. A mere .075 (read seventy five THOUSANDths) of a point separated first and second. Danny Rodriguez with his amazing victorians was fifth.

Will the Russians be able to maintain their dominance this coming May at the 2012 European Championships?

Here is Pluzhnikov's gold medal routine. The end of the clip has some exceptional slo mo close ups that give you a taste of just how hard he is working during his inverted cross.

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The legendary Balandin was just barely second. Had he stuck his dismount ...

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Danny Rodriguez of France

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Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I just love the Balandin 2. its sad balandin 1 is an E move. Will Aleksandr balandin compete in London?

is the move at 0:28 on the rodriguez video a v-sit cross? would that be scored any higher than an L cross?

timg said:

is the move at 0:28 on the rodriguez video a v-sit cross? would that be scored any higher than an L cross?

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Rodrigues' V Cross is very interesting to me. He does it in a different style than the other gymnasts I've seen. And I believe he's only been implementing it in his routine recently, so maybe he's still working the kinks out. It just looks like he's struggling with the movement every time he does it, which seems nonsensical for a man with such a beautiful Victorian to find this movement very difficult. His alignment with the rings in the v cross is not ideal and his arms tend to be very bent from what I've seen. Of course I may be splitting hairs.

He also tends to lean backwards more than others, turning it into a "piked Victorian" looking move. At least this is what my novice eyes see