Love and Hollie Dykes
Hi everyone.
Hope you all are having a great Tuesday. Happy Birthday to
clandestinelyme.Sorry for the long post. Michael and I are no longer together after our little discussion on Saturday night over the phone. It's definitely for the best and of course you know that you're going to miss one another, but I do not want someone in my life who questions my every actions and is unfaithful to me. I believe in loyalty and trust - you know he abused this in our relationship. Fair's fair. I am not a revengeful person, and don't plan to be one. I don't think that he believed me when I said it was over and he admitted to everything - he asked me if I was still going to go and stay with him that night and on Sunday night. Like no, how "dumb" can you get? I'm surviving, was surprised at the number of friends who I haven't heard from in FOREVER who called me up and asked if everything was okay. Takes a little personal tragedy huh?? But no, thank you so much to my dear friends for caring... you all rock!
The AIS seems to be having problems with their gymnastics program. Arguably one of the best current Australian gymnasts, Hollie Dykes has retired. Now I guess as surprising at it seems, I guess it is to be expected. She was sort of frequently fighting off injury - a back injury prevented her from competing at the 2007 Massilia Cup in December. When the 2007/2008 squads were posted it was a bit worrying that nothing had been announced in terms of her retirement, but speculation was ripe. The article in the Courier Mail published on the 8th January gave me the impression that something was amiss, especially in terms of the contract, preventing her from talking - I am not sure, but is this something that only applies to gymnastics? Her team mate Melody Hernandez has also retired a week apart from her, and Melody was making an amazing comeback this year after injuring both her knees in a training accident in 2005, but I guess it wasn't to be. I agree that Hollie was one of the nation's top gymnasts - best medal chance, I'm not sure I think it would be West Australians Dasha Joura or Lauren Mitchell judging from their performances in late 2006 and all last year. Motivation seemed to be lacking from what I saw at world's, she seemed a little disinterested, but was okay in qualifications, not her best with scores of 14.300 on vault, 14.500 on bars, and 14.875 on beam. Which wasn't too bad because she scored in the 13's on day 1 (with the exception of beam 15.175) and on day 2 scored 13.950 on vault, 14.600 on bars, 15.825 on beam and 13.325 on floor. Now there was a rumour that after the first day she got a massive talking to by national women's coach Peggy Liddick after the first day, so maybe the reason for improvement? It's a known fact that Lisa Skinner was convinced to not retire before the 2000 Olympics by Peggy Liddick, is there a difference? Well okay Hollie allegedly has some sort of an attitude, but hey don't we all? Apparently Hollie would only come back to the AIS and gymnastics if Tian Ju Ping returned, now I think there was a little controversy, but Ju Ping left the AIS in 2005 to become the Women's National Junior Development Coach. Could things have been different if Ju Ping had stayed.... probably but like many things it remains a WHAT IF? Hollie will be remembered as the "prima ballerina" of this quad, and renowned for her beautiful lines and such elegance. Some videos:
2007 WAG AUSTRALIAN CHAMPS: footage by Billden06 on youtube. Hollie Dykes on floor, Olivia Vivian on floor, Dasha Joura on floor, Emma Dennis beam, Shona Morgan beam, Georgia Bonora beam (skips to Dasha's Vault).
Floor routine at Pacific Alliance Champonships 2006
2007 World Championships preliminary beam routine
The achievements of Hollie Dykes:
~~Nationally:~~
2000 NATIONAL CLUBS: 1st AA Division D
2001 NATIONAL CLUBS: 15th AA Junior National
2002 NATIONALS: 10th AA (Did not finish) Junior National (under 13 years)
2002 NATIONAL CLUBS: 2nd AA Junior National (under 13 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 2nd AA Open Challenge
2003 NATIONALS: 3rd AA Junior National (Under 13 years)
NATIONAL CLUBS: 2nd AA Junior National (13/14 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 1st AA
2004 NATIONALS: 2nd AA Level 10 International (over 12 years)
NATIONAL CLUBS: 3rd AA Level 10 International (over 12 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 1st AA Junior International
2005 QLD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5th AA Junior International (Did not finish)
NATIONALS: 2nd AA Junior International
NATIONAL CLUBS & WORLD TRIALS: 2nd AA
2006 Did not compete
2007 NATIONALS: 5th AA, 2nd Balance Beam
~~Internationally:~~
2004 Rushmore Rosebowl (Liverpool, UK): 2nd AA and 1st Balance Beam
Combs La Ville (France): 1st AA Juniors
2005 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (Sydney): 2nd Team, 2nd AA, 3rd on Balance
Beam and Floor, 4th on Uneven Bars
Australia v Ukraine (Brisbane): 1st Team, 1st AA, 2nd Balance Beam and Floor
International Challenge (Canberra): 1st Team, 1st AA, 4th Uneven Bars, 2nd Balance
Beam and Floor
2006 Commonwealth Games (Melbourne): 1st Team, 3rd AA, 2nd Balance Beam, 1st Floor
Pacific Alliance (Hawaii): 2nd Team, 3rd AA, 4th Balance Beam, 5th Floor
Shanghai World Cup: 4th Balance Beam, 5th Uneven Bars
World Championships (Aarhus, Denmark): 6th Team, 7th AA, 46th Vault, 17th uneven
bars, 27th Balance Beam, 23rd Floor
DTB Cup-Pokal-Stuttgat (Germany): 1st Balance Beam (BB), 6th Uneven Bars
2007 Australia vs China -International Apparatus Challenge (Melbourne: 2nd Team, 1st BB
World Championships (Stuttgart): 11th Team, 155th AA, 52nd Vault, 44th Uneven Bars,
30th Balance BeamGood luck to Hollie in whatever she does, as long as she's happy with her decision.
Luv Emma xx
Hope you all are having a great Tuesday. Happy Birthday to
clandestinelyme.Sorry for the long post. Michael and I are no longer together after our little discussion on Saturday night over the phone. It's definitely for the best and of course you know that you're going to miss one another, but I do not want someone in my life who questions my every actions and is unfaithful to me. I believe in loyalty and trust - you know he abused this in our relationship. Fair's fair. I am not a revengeful person, and don't plan to be one. I don't think that he believed me when I said it was over and he admitted to everything - he asked me if I was still going to go and stay with him that night and on Sunday night. Like no, how "dumb" can you get? I'm surviving, was surprised at the number of friends who I haven't heard from in FOREVER who called me up and asked if everything was okay. Takes a little personal tragedy huh?? But no, thank you so much to my dear friends for caring... you all rock!
The AIS seems to be having problems with their gymnastics program. Arguably one of the best current Australian gymnasts, Hollie Dykes has retired. Now I guess as surprising at it seems, I guess it is to be expected. She was sort of frequently fighting off injury - a back injury prevented her from competing at the 2007 Massilia Cup in December. When the 2007/2008 squads were posted it was a bit worrying that nothing had been announced in terms of her retirement, but speculation was ripe. The article in the Courier Mail published on the 8th January gave me the impression that something was amiss, especially in terms of the contract, preventing her from talking - I am not sure, but is this something that only applies to gymnastics? Her team mate Melody Hernandez has also retired a week apart from her, and Melody was making an amazing comeback this year after injuring both her knees in a training accident in 2005, but I guess it wasn't to be. I agree that Hollie was one of the nation's top gymnasts - best medal chance, I'm not sure I think it would be West Australians Dasha Joura or Lauren Mitchell judging from their performances in late 2006 and all last year. Motivation seemed to be lacking from what I saw at world's, she seemed a little disinterested, but was okay in qualifications, not her best with scores of 14.300 on vault, 14.500 on bars, and 14.875 on beam. Which wasn't too bad because she scored in the 13's on day 1 (with the exception of beam 15.175) and on day 2 scored 13.950 on vault, 14.600 on bars, 15.825 on beam and 13.325 on floor. Now there was a rumour that after the first day she got a massive talking to by national women's coach Peggy Liddick after the first day, so maybe the reason for improvement? It's a known fact that Lisa Skinner was convinced to not retire before the 2000 Olympics by Peggy Liddick, is there a difference? Well okay Hollie allegedly has some sort of an attitude, but hey don't we all? Apparently Hollie would only come back to the AIS and gymnastics if Tian Ju Ping returned, now I think there was a little controversy, but Ju Ping left the AIS in 2005 to become the Women's National Junior Development Coach. Could things have been different if Ju Ping had stayed.... probably but like many things it remains a WHAT IF? Hollie will be remembered as the "prima ballerina" of this quad, and renowned for her beautiful lines and such elegance. Some videos:
2007 WAG AUSTRALIAN CHAMPS: footage by Billden06 on youtube. Hollie Dykes on floor, Olivia Vivian on floor, Dasha Joura on floor, Emma Dennis beam, Shona Morgan beam, Georgia Bonora beam (skips to Dasha's Vault).
Click to viewFloor routine at Pacific Alliance Champonships 2006
2007 World Championships preliminary beam routine
The achievements of Hollie Dykes:
~~Nationally:~~
2000 NATIONAL CLUBS: 1st AA Division D
2001 NATIONAL CLUBS: 15th AA Junior National
2002 NATIONALS: 10th AA (Did not finish) Junior National (under 13 years)
2002 NATIONAL CLUBS: 2nd AA Junior National (under 13 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 2nd AA Open Challenge
2003 NATIONALS: 3rd AA Junior National (Under 13 years)
NATIONAL CLUBS: 2nd AA Junior National (13/14 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 1st AA
2004 NATIONALS: 2nd AA Level 10 International (over 12 years)
NATIONAL CLUBS: 3rd AA Level 10 International (over 12 years)
REACH FOR THE STARS: 1st AA Junior International
2005 QLD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5th AA Junior International (Did not finish)
NATIONALS: 2nd AA Junior International
NATIONAL CLUBS & WORLD TRIALS: 2nd AA
2006 Did not compete
2007 NATIONALS: 5th AA, 2nd Balance Beam
~~Internationally:~~
2004 Rushmore Rosebowl (Liverpool, UK): 2nd AA and 1st Balance Beam
Combs La Ville (France): 1st AA Juniors
2005 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (Sydney): 2nd Team, 2nd AA, 3rd on Balance
Beam and Floor, 4th on Uneven Bars
Australia v Ukraine (Brisbane): 1st Team, 1st AA, 2nd Balance Beam and Floor
International Challenge (Canberra): 1st Team, 1st AA, 4th Uneven Bars, 2nd Balance
Beam and Floor
2006 Commonwealth Games (Melbourne): 1st Team, 3rd AA, 2nd Balance Beam, 1st Floor
Pacific Alliance (Hawaii): 2nd Team, 3rd AA, 4th Balance Beam, 5th Floor
Shanghai World Cup: 4th Balance Beam, 5th Uneven Bars
World Championships (Aarhus, Denmark): 6th Team, 7th AA, 46th Vault, 17th uneven
bars, 27th Balance Beam, 23rd Floor
DTB Cup-Pokal-Stuttgat (Germany): 1st Balance Beam (BB), 6th Uneven Bars
2007 Australia vs China -International Apparatus Challenge (Melbourne: 2nd Team, 1st BB
World Championships (Stuttgart): 11th Team, 155th AA, 52nd Vault, 44th Uneven Bars,
30th Balance BeamGood luck to Hollie in whatever she does, as long as she's happy with her decision.
Luv Emma xx