Damien Walters combines fantastic gymnastic ability with innovative parkour techniques. His ShowReel 2009 impressed me. He and the Derby City Gym Lads just "messing around" amazed me. But he and his incredibly talented kids horsing around made me a fan and made my day. [more inside]
posted by lazaruslong on May 25, 2009 - 48 comments

A comedic break from the Olympics. Plus a mildly amusing advertisement. [more inside]
posted by five fresh fish on Aug 15, 2008 - 30 comments

No More Perfect 10s. The new Olympic scoring has rendered the Perfect 10 obsolete. Let's remember what it looked like: Nadia Comaneci - Balance Beam & Uneven Bars - 1976. Balance Beam - 1980. Mary Lou Retton - Vault 1984. Lavinia Milosovici -Floor Exercise 1992.
posted by grapefruitmoon on Aug 11, 2008 - 85 comments

Yang Wei, the 2006 and 2007 mens gymnastics world champion, and number 13 on Time Magazine's 100 Olympic Athletes to Watch in Beijing 2008, is a symbol of absolute power and coordination. He stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 121 pounds.
posted by clearly on Aug 10, 2008 - 27 comments

Sports Acrobatics Spellbinding gymnastics feats.
posted by ColdChef on Jul 12, 2007 - 24 comments

Feeling nostalgic for those old school Soviet shindigs? Westerners are welcome to North Korea's Arirang Mass Games. Tickets are on sale now. Will tourist dollars/euros be the undoing of North Korea?
posted by oneirodynia on Apr 12, 2007 - 24 comments

The Traveling Rings At Santa Monica Beach
posted by jason's_planet on Apr 5, 2007 - 12 comments

Dsicipline, Strength, Beauty, Youth 'Bodies in Formation' is a wonderful exhibition of photographs and ephemera, that illustrates Soviet-era mass gymnastics displays in eastern Europe. Via plep.
posted by carter on May 23, 2004 - 7 comments

House Gymnastics. "The greater the height or danger, the better the move. Maneuvers must be held in position for 3 seconds to be valid." In the words of one critic: "Empowering banality with new meaning... "
posted by limitedpie on Mar 10, 2004 - 9 comments

Gymnast vaults into gender-equity flap. "For more than two decades in Massachusetts, boys have been allowed to compete on girls' teams (and vice versa) if their school doesn't have a team for their gender. But everywhere else in the region, they're still banned."
posted by idiolect on Mar 16, 2001 - 1 comment