jordanlipton.com - official website

DECEMBER 17TH 2007
Hey guys, Jordan here sorry it’s been ages, but I’ve been busy with all the gym and school work I’ve been doing recently.

At British Teams in April I competed three pieces and stuck them all and scored my first ever 15 on beam, helping the Notts team to their first gold at the competition, everyone in the team was ecstatic.
Soon after at national squad I pulled my hip muscle away from the bone disaster this would mean at least 6 weeks out and I had the British in a few weeks with the European Youth Olympics in late July.

I started on intense physic and rehabilitation which was slow and painful and just a week before the British my coach and I made the decision that I wouldn’t compete at the British as I needed an extra few weeks to get ready for the EYOF.

Training was going really well then disaster struck 1 week before I was due to fly out I was doing bars and pulled my hip again that was it I was out of EYOF. I was bitterly disappointed but started out again on the road to recovery.

In July I had 2 weeks holiday and went of to the South of France shopping in St Tropez and getting fit.

Back in the gym in august and it was the slow process of getting fit, my coaches and the EIS physio were excellent in my rehabilitation keeping me motivated and working hard.

In October I was selected to compete for GB in the Czech Republic in the 2012 Olympic Hopefuls. I was not yet 100% fit so only did 3 pieces. I was happy with my performance on the day although my beam and bars had skills taken out.

I have been slowly but surely building my skills ready for 2008 competition year.

In December I showed my new bar routine for the first time at our Christmas Display and stuck it first time I was so happy with myself as it seemed such a long time since I had done my routine with all my skills and some new work as well.

Lucky me it was then off to oz on holiday. I have been so lucky as I was lucky enough to get to go into Western Australia Institute of Sport in Perth to train whilst I am away. This is a fantastic facility and I met up with gymnasts that I competed against at the Australian Olympic Youth Games and another GB Gymnast Kayleigh Cook who is also out in oz on holiday.

Well its only 6 days tills Christmas and I am so looking forward to spending it on the beach in the sunshine. I hear its cold and damp back at home.

In January it’s back to full training and getting ready for Junior Europeans which I hope to get selected for then defending our British Teams title.

Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year, please sign my guestbook before you leave and thanks for reading my site.
Jords
xxxxxx

Could I make it 3 out of 3. I really wanted a medal on bars. I knew I had the ability but could I stick it and pull of a medal. Vince our team leader had said that we had done all the hard work and got a team medal we should be really please but I really wanted a medal on bars especially as I had struggled with this routine . I was 2nd up on bars after Nicole from GB which was good for me as I didn’t have the pressure on knowing everyone else’s scores. As I stood waiting again I just wanted to go clean and reminded myself of all the hard work of my coaches and myself to get me here.

Move by move I talked myself through the routine, 1 release , 2 releases, 3rd release, shoot half must go to handstand to count, stalder mo, full in dismount must be nailed, yes I’d done it I was so happy I had to just wait to see what the others had done. Last gymnast to go was Japan, I was sitting in 3rd and knew it would be close whilst her start value was .3 less than mine she was very very tidy. She went clean and I waited and waited with anticipation as did Claire we thought I had 4th but then the score came up it was nearly a whole mark behind mine I was jumping for joy, and individual bronze medal it made everything worth while.

I would like to thank the rest of the GB team for all there support whilst we were in Australia they really looked after us especially the divers. It was a great atmosphere and helped me to understand what the Olympics could be like.

I would also like to thank my coaches Claire Starkey and Ian Kime for all there hard work and dedication and for coaching me through my tears and doubts of my ability and the support of my Mum and Dad and my sister Amber who all believed in me and told me I could do it.

Please sign my guestbook and thanks for visiting my site.

Day 2 of competition and everyone was a little tired as it was a really late night lat night. Once again I started on bars, nailed my routine 2 out of 2 this was going well score .1 below yesterday shoot half didn’t count and .3 deduction for no change of grip, need to work on that when I get back to the club. Beam was clean but really wobbly, floor was okay and landed my vault a good competition and I really wanted top 10. When the results were announced I was 9th a really good day both me and my coach Claire were really happy. The others did really well although had a nasty fall in warm up on beam but she was okay .

Well the first day of competition has finally arrived. What a difference, the atmosphere on the coach was one of excitement all the different countries were on the bus for the gymnastics competition. The team sat together and we talked about the competition and our routines. It was really nerve wracking.

Once I got to the Sydney Olympic Park and got of the coach I still wasn’t feeling too nervous and couldn’t wait to compete.

We were in the group with the Chinese and as we got ready to warm up my nerves really kicked, this was it the real thing. We warmed up beam first it was a good warm up then onto floor, then vault , next bars a brand new routine 3 release and catches and it was a disaster. I kept missing my toe on tkatchev hurt my elbow and my left foot, Claire was really good she kept telling me I could do it and to pull myself together, I didn’t manage to do any routines in warm up on bars.

Once the team were ready and we were waiting to march on I was really worried about bars and nervous about the size of the competition. This was it, as we marched on it was great feeling everyone cheering and shouting and some of the other GB sports had come to watch and give support.

First piece was bars ohh my god how nervous. I was last up on bars and hadn’t even seen the competition. I stood waiting for the judges, and kept telling myself this was it, this is what I had come all this way for and needed to nail this routine. 1 release yes, 2nd release yes caught it 3rd release all I could hear was the team shouting bring it to make sure I caught it, yippee I caught it everyone in the GB camp were screaming and on there feet shouting, just half a routine to go. Shoot half nailed just the dismount. I couldn’t quite believe I had managed to get through the whole routine and nail every move just waiting for my score to go up. 13.775 an excellent score this really set up me for the competition. Beam next really clean routine up until fell on free cartwheel, couldn’t understand why I fell never miss it in training. Then to floor, one of my weaker pieces as I had 6 months out was really struggling to get form and knew it was weaker than the others, but a clean routine. Vault disaster run up not great sat down my vault and niamh also sat hers down.

The team all thought we had come 4th but when the results were announced fantastic we had managed 3rd place what a feeling everyone was cheering and shouting like mad.

I qualified for the bar final and it’s the all around tomorrow.

Speak to you all soon

The experience over here in Oz has been great, but the weather has been really hot which has made training tough

The training gym was good and all of us have been working really hard together as a team perfecting our routines.

On Sunday we had a day off and went to the beach then shopping it was great fun and in the afternoon we went on a catamaran around Sydney harbour where we saw lots of sites. We also went to the zoo and were able to hold lots of the small animals and a baby koala bear and a kangaroo. I have taken some pictures so will post them when I get back.

On Monday we moved to another site and started to train in the podium training gym which is quite big but not what I was expecting.

We were first up training on Monday and it went well. As we were finishing the Chinese team arrived so we stayed to watch them for a while. They are really small and tidy but we all felt quite confident that our routines were good enough to give them a run for there money, and left training with a spring in our step. Haven’t seen the Australian team yet but they are all at least 2 years older than us which is going to be tough.

On Tuesday night there was a banquet with the British Ambassador which was quite exciting with lots of people wanting to interview us about what the experience has been like. I felt a little home sick today.

On Wednesday (today) was the opening ceremony it was really exciting, Nicole Danusia and Niamh were in the front row and I was in the 2nd row with some divers so we had an excellent view of everything that was happening. It was pretty nerve racking as well, as I knew that after the ceremony it was only a short sleep till we compete in the team competition.

I am off to bed now its 9.00pm here in oz and we will be competing at 1 pm UK time will keep you updated on our progress.

Please keep your fingers crossed and wish us all well

Feel free to visit my guestbook and leave your messages there.

Well we landed safely on Monday evening (Tuesday morning here). It was a good trip with a stop over in Singapore for a couple of hours so we were only in the airport, lots of really nice shops.

Arrived at the campus and unpacked then off to the gym to loosen up.

So far we have only seen the Great Britain gymnasts and a few other competitors from the other sports but it’s all really sprawled out across lots of different campus sites.

Training went well then we went to Bondai beach that was fantastic.

Today Wednesday we met Sebastian Coe, he came into the training gym whilst we were training. We got some great pictures will post them when we get back.

It’s really hot here 35 degrees it makes training really hard work. But we are all really motivated despite being the youngest athletes here so far.

Off to bed now it’s 9 oclock here. Will write again soon

Hi Sorry I’ve not written for a while but it’s been a quiet few months with lots of hard work and rehabilitation so not been much to tell you.

After British I had 5 months off due to my back injury and just as I was getting fit I pulled some fibres in my foot at the Rushmoor Rosebowl this put me out for another 6 weeks. I was really disappointed and didn’t think I would be fit for Christmas.

Lots of hard work by my coaches and the physio team meant that I was fit and ready to start training in earnest at the beginning of December with only 3 weeks to prove myself fit for selection at the AYOF games.

On 19th December I got confirmation that I was in the team along with Niamh Rippin from Notts, Danusia and Nicole from Heathrow, I was over the moon it is a great opportunity for me and the GB team and a great event to be taking part in.

On Friday I got all my Olympic kit it was so exciting and only a couple of weeks to go before we fly out to oz.

With 4 days off at Christmas I had to condition all the way through to make sure that on my return to the gym I was still fit and competition ready as we only had 5 training sessions before we go to Australia.

On Friday 5th January we went to Heathrow to train with Vince and Michelle and my routines were all ready at last. A good 2 training sessions before we flew out to Sydney made me feel a lot more confident as up until this week I still hadn’t managed to catch all 3 releases in my bar routine, but it all clicked and we all trained really hard.

Sunday 7th January. It’s here at last we are off to the airport with Claire Starkey my coach, it’s so exciting I will write to you whilst I’m away keeping you updated on me and the teams progress and how we are getting on.