Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Huang Huidan Appreciation

One of my current favourite Chinese gymnast is Huang Huidan. I love her UB & BB work. My favourite part of her BB is the switch leap + onodi + sheep jump combo. On bars her Healy looks kind of awkward or is it just a really ugly Ono? I'm pretty sure it's a healy though. Anyways her bars is still nice and her toe-point is beautiful.

Huang Huidan's UB 

 

Huang Huidan's BB (ignore the repeated flic flac in her routine, she usually does a back pike after the first flic flac)




3 comments:

  1. Aw, this warms my heart. Rare to see non-Chinese gymastics fans appreciate Huang Huidan's complete lack of a dead hang.

    Anyways, my question: how do you differentiate between a Healy, Ono, Ling, Lin, and Bi? I have a feeling my troubles stem from the fact I can never tell between an el grip vs. reverse...

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    Replies
    1. Hi Disparue, Healy(MAG) and Lin(WAG) are the same thing. Ono(MAG) and Bi(WAG) are the same thing. The majority of gym experts and fans prefer to use the male terms. The Chinese women were the first gymnasts to compete these complex pirouettes in WAG. I prefer to use the MAG terms.

      There are basically three turns to remember. Healy, Ono and Ling.

      Healy: Reverse grip with full turn to mix/elgrip.
      Ono: Mixed/elgrip with full turn to reverse grip.
      Ling: Elgrip and then hop to healy.

      It's hard for me to explain elgrip vs reverse. I think it's easy to tell when in reverse grip because the arms don't look twisty. When you look at elgrip their arms look kind of wonky, it's hard for me to explain. Usually a healy is more easier to do. A Ling usually always comes after a healy or elgrip element. Ono is easy for me to understand because there is this big swoosh around the arms (I know not the best explanations). I really like Ono's. Nastia Liukin does a lot of Ono's, which I like. Koko Tsurumi does nice Ono's too.

      Don't worry too much about the elrip vs reverse. You're not alone. I sometimes find it really hard to tell the differences with the grips too.

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    2. This helped so much-- Thank you! :) I am just watching one of Huang Qiushuang's routines over and over (the part where they zoom up for replay) and I'm beginning to differentiate a little better. A giant in el grip certainly looks tough on the arms/shoulders. What a shame to get these pirouettes downgraded. :(

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