U-M gymnast Sam Mikulak has skill added to official gymnastics code of points
Next olympics we can look forward to people executing "mikulaks" on the pommel horse!
September 24th, 2012 at 4:31 PM ^
That's awesome! I found him to be extremely likeable while watching the Olympics. Great honor for him. Go Blue!
September 24th, 2012 at 4:39 PM ^
But Gymnastics is still....strange (for men).
September 24th, 2012 at 4:40 PM ^
I don't know about that. I've always thought that gymnastics was maybe the best overall display of pure strength and general athleticism in the entirety of the olympics.
September 24th, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^
when the Michigan cheerleaders were all male gymnasts. In Bo's early years, when the team just walked back and forth across the field to make touchdowns, the real excitement from the student section was watching the cheerleaders, whose tradition was to do back handsprings off the wall for each point. With some of the high-scoring games against the cupcakes, the (10?) of them had to keep climbing back up fast enough to get in place for their next point-honoring back flip.
But Michigan's always had a great tradition in gymnastics. And we're lucky to have Mikulak continuing that tradition. Glad the "Mikulak" is now official. They'd already been calling it that at the Olympic trials.
As for macho, give the men a watch sometime. Skip floor if you think that's too girly (even though it's not), but watch someone really good on rings for power, and the high bar for flight.
September 24th, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
I remember those back flips for points scored too. Pretty crazy when you really think about it - I never understood how difficult it really was when I was watching as a kid.
And you're right about men on the rings - their f-ing arms are absolutely jacked and the muscle control they have to perform an iron cross is amazing. That said, I'm not a very big fan of gymnastics other than the feats of strength.
September 24th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^
Thanks for remembering. I remember doing back flips off that old wall for a 50 plus point game against Northwestern. Lots and lots of flips back then. We had some pretty serious gymnasts. Hats off to Sam! GoBlue!
September 25th, 2012 at 9:34 AM ^
I am way to young to have seen the original but I seem to recall some of the male alumni throwing a few backflips during HC games?...still impressed...
September 25th, 2012 at 11:06 AM ^
At the HC game a few years ago I could not believe the age of the alumni cheermen. These dudes were in their 60s and above & still doing handsprings and backflips; It boggled my mind!
September 25th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^
Those dudes have arms like legs and legs like people.
September 24th, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
it'd be cool to see a video of this thing, since the written explanation is a little complicated for the non-enthusiast. i'm too lazy to find the relevant performance and look for it. anybody?
September 24th, 2012 at 5:14 PM ^
I am going to up your laziness by not providing the actual clip, but inviting you to click on the OP's link because there is a youtube clip there.
Edit: Thanks Raoul(below) for enabling my laziness!
September 24th, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^
Hard to get an idea of the difficulty of pommel horse (it was the principal cause of the US team's not making the podium in the Olympics after having placed first in the qualifying round, with the two top guys with uncharacteristic major misses). Here's his full routine to put the skill in context.
Couldn't embed for some reason, but fun to see the relevant comments, including "What is the name and value of that travel scissor skill at the beginning? Very cool." Not surprisingly, no one knew the answer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_P0fVFrZ0Y&feature=endscreen&NR=1
September 24th, 2012 at 8:34 PM ^
i'd clicked through but missed the link to the full routine video somehow
September 24th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^
Pretty cool honor to have a move named after Mikulak.
If you ever want to get your mind blown, look at a video of the now-illegal Korbut Flip, as perfected by Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut in the 1970s.
September 24th, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^
It's too late for me to correct my earlier post, but I think it was actually a parallel bars skill that I'd heard called The Mikulak. Obviously that was unofficial. But because one of his most memorable moments was on pommel horse at the national championships, here's Sam, starting his P-bar routine only to realize the p-bars hadn't been tightened. I don't think the distinctive move is included here, but you get a nice view of his cool under fire, the Michigan coaches, and Sam's personality after he lives through his routine. [Plus shocked commentary from former Olympians.]
September 24th, 2012 at 7:37 PM ^
I got to photograph Sam during a media event over the summer with the Daily. Seems like a very fun guy.
September 24th, 2012 at 8:09 PM ^
Mo fo. Lets keep the Michigan Difference going.
September 24th, 2012 at 9:09 PM ^
We invent new ways to win. Michigan Difference.