Rounding Off: The week that was in gymnastics for 13 November
Larisa Iordache back to training, France out of Euros, Sunisa Lee grateful for support
Artistic Gymnastics
Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache, who won team bronze at London 2012, has returned to training after two weeks of isolation, following a positive test for the coronavirus.
In an Instagram post, Iordache, winner of World all-around silver and bronze medals in 2014 and 2015, respectively, thanked her followers for messages of support. Her diagnosis held her out of an internal competition that was meant to be her 2020 season debut and her first competition since injuring herself during warmups at the 2017 Worlds.
“They helped me get over the disappointment of not being able to participate in the first official check-in for the next competitions,” she wrote of the well-wishes. “Now, I’m fine. I feel calm and I’m recovering my energy for the nationals.”
Those Romanian artistic gymnastics nationals are scheduled for 19-22 November.
“I am looking forward to showing you what beautiful things we have prepared,” she wrote, “but also to see you again soon in the gym.”
France withdraws from Europeans
French president Emmanuel Macron announced a second national lockdown for his country on 29 October, so it comes as no surprise that his country’s athletes have officially withdrawn from December’s European Championships in Turkey.
They are joined by other powerhouse nations in saying they’ll skip the event, which is no longer a Tokyo 2020 qualifier, including Russia, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. The four nations combined to take all 12 of the gold medals available at last year’s European Championships in Szczecin, Poland.
Sunisa Lee grateful for "love and support" after father undergoes spine surgery
2019 World team gold medalist Sunisa Lee has shared her appreciation for the love and support her family have received on social media after her father underwent surgery on his spine. According to a post Lee made on Twitter, the surgery was to “put electro stimulation to his spinal cord to try to stimulate the nerves and muscles on his lower body.”
Lee’s dad, John, fell helping a friend trim a tree in August 2019 and became paralyzed. The accident came just days before Lee went on to give the performance of her life at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, where she finished runner up to Simone Biles.
“I think I kind of proved to myself and to everybody that I can be in the running going into the Olympics, even with my dad's injury,” Lee told Olympic Channel earlier this year.
In a follow-up post, the 17-year-old provided an update which included a video of her father lifting his left leg.
“We are so happy and excited to see him progress even more,” said Lee.
Look no further than the Olympic Channel
In case you missed them, here is a quick look at the gymnastics news making headlines right here at the Olympic Channel.
1️⃣ 2017 World all-around champion Morgan Hurd has found her voice during gymnastics' 2020 shutdown, supporting causes dear to her including Black Lives Matter, voting and more.
2️⃣ Japan's first international sporting event in the COVID-19 era went off without a hitch last weekend. So what did we learn from the Friendship and Solidarity Competition?
From the vault...
This week, we take a trip back to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and Team USA's Mohini Bhardwaj on the vault. The UCLA standout served as team captain, lifting the Americans to a silver medal. Below is her qualifications performance on the vault, where she attempted a rare laidout Omelianchik as her second vault.