2012 » ess of Wilsons accident made his passing somewhat easier to acc

The Olympic qualification journey for the countrys top gymnasts is about to get very interesting.The standard has never been higher in the GB squad and Sky Academy Sports Scholar Sam Oldham cannot wait to strut his stuff against his team-mates and rivals in the competitive arena again.Rio is less than five months away and this weekends English Championships and the British Championships in April will go some way to determine who will be on the plane for Brazil.Oldhams Olympic dreams were reignited with a recent trip to Rio, but now the nerves and pressure will crank up. Here are Sams latest thoughts as he prepares for action.....Its finally here! This weekend my competition season gets under way at the English Championships at Loughborough University.Ive spent the last five months preparing for the start of this Olympic year and its been a tough but really motivating process. Oldham (centre left) was in Rio taking in the Olympic facilities in February After the disappointment of picking up small injuries which left me unable to seriously contend for a place on the World Championships team, I took a step back with my coach Sergey to look at the big picture and make some small changes to our training programme.The main thing we decided was that my health needs to come before everything else. It was something at times I sacrificed since making my comeback from my ankle surgery in 2014 after the Commonwealth Games.We went back to basics and built myself back up again to a place where I was healthy and my fitness level was very high. I refreshed my ankle rehabilitation programme and began working on my shoulder stability strength. Oldham has been putting in the hours during the winter and off-season By December my ankle was ready for full training again and I had no pain in my shoulders for the first time in over a year. This was a great platform to start from and I began putting together the routines I wanted to use for 2016.This Olympic year came around and training was really positive. The changes I made to my training schedule meant I stayed healthy with no injury issues throughout January and February. I had the trip to Rio with the GB squad to sample the surroundings which really fuelled my motivation even more. Sam Oldham desperate to get back into the competitive arena I made great progress during this visit and I came home ready to push on towards March and the start of my European team selection campaign.Im really looking forward to getting back into the swing of competition this weekend (poor punch line I know!).Ive had great preparation with my winter training and Im very positive I can hit the ground running. Gymnasts Louis Smith and Sam Oldham discuss the pressures of an Olympics My target for this weekend is to have a solid competition and to compete to the level Ive been training at, no more no less.Next week I fly out to Doha for the second leg of the Apparatus Gymnastics World Cup circuit. So things are really getting going now. Im so excited to get started and motivated to keep working hard.WHATS COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS…MARCH 19: Sam Oldham, English Championships, LoughboroughMARCH 28 - APRIL 3: Jessica Judd, pre-season training in USAAPRIL 9/10: Sam Oldham, British Championships, LiverpoolAlso See:British GymnasticsAbout the ScholarshipMeet the athletesBlogsVideosGalleriesFake Jordan .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Wholesake Fake Nike Air Force 1 . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. https://www.fakeshoes.net/ . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. Discount Fake Shoes . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Fake Yeezy . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle.LONG POND, Pa. -- One year after he was killed in a freak accident at Pocono Raceway, it was natural that Justin Wilson was in everyones thoughts this weekend, when the Verizon IndyCar Series returned to the Tricky Triangle.Wilson died on Aug. 24, 2015, when he was struck on the helmet by a piece of flying debris from a car that crashed nearly half a mile up the track. The recent death of USAC star (and occasional IndyCar racer) Bryan Clauson in a Midget car only added to the feeling of sadness hanging over the Pocono tri-oval.While the IndyCar community is reflecting this weekend on the losses of Wilson and Clauson, series officials remain focused on improving cockpit safety to minimize the chances that an incident similar to Wilsons could happen again. IndyCar has closely monitored cockpit safety advances such as the canopy developed by Don Schumacher Racing for NHRA Top Fuel drag racing cars and initiatives being explored by Formula One, including a wraparound aeroscreen and a carbon composite halo.The series faces two key challenges in proceeding with some form of cockpit protection for its open-wheel cars. The wide variety of tracks, from walled-in street courses to high-banked ovals, creates visibility and sight line issues that might preclude the use of a halo. In addition, the solution must be adaptable to the current Dallara DW-12 chassis, which is expected to be in use for at least three more years.Were working on two or three different directions, said Jay Frye, IndyCar president of operations and competition. Obviously, safety is our No. 1 priority, so its something weve been working hard at for the last six to eight months, whether its a screen or a halo or possibly some other type of idea coming out.Because what we do is so diverse, you cant maybe have just one configuration that goes across the board, he added. So were looking at all kinds of different things. We are collaborating with lots of different people to come up with what could be the best solution. Is it a 2017 initiative or a 2018 initiative? At this point, were really not sure. Obviously, we want to make sure we get it right. As soon as we get it right and ready to go, we will implement it as soon as we can.Respected orthopedic surgeon Terry Trammell, who has worked with open-wheel sanctioning bodies on safety-related matters for decades, is leading IndyCars research efforts. Trammell revealed that the latest direction of development is what he called a deflector reminiscent of the canopy on an F-16 fighter jet.?With Trammell often assisting, open-wheel sanctioning bodies have made numerous changes to the cockpit area the past two decades. CART introduced raised cockpit sides in 1996 and a year later mandated a wider cockpit area that incorporated a padded, horseshoe-shaped collar that fits over the drivers shoulders.This year, in the wake of an accident in May 2015 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in which a suspension arm pierced the monocoque and caused serious injury to driver James Hinchcliffe, IndyCar added additional strengthening panels to the sides of the tub.The head surround in the Indy car is probably one of the most advanced features to protect against head injury because it, by itself, absorbs head impact into the head surround very well annd better now than it did even two years ago because of the evolution of what weve built into it, Trammell said.dddddddddddd That whole complex system of what goes on inside the chassis, inside the tub around the driver -- we package them much better now than we did, certainly much better now than 20 years ago and really better than we did 10 years ago.The unusual nature of Wilsons accident, which occurred less than a year after Jules Bianchis fatal accident in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix Formula One race (when his car slid under a safety vehicle tending to a wrecked car and caused a massive head injury), has made the search for a safe way to enclose the cockpit of an open-wheel car the highest priority for sanctioning bodies around the globe.But IndyCar doesnt want to rush a flawed solution into action before it can be adequately tested and proven. ??I wouldnt say were close, Frye said. Were very aggressively going after the right solution, and were probably close to coming up with a direction. But whenever you do something like that, theres a cause and effect in everything you do. So theres going to have to be some testing that goes along with it. I dont think working with an existing tub is a big issue. We deal with lots of smart people every day, so retrofitting it will not be that difficult. It just depends on what it is.Theres issues like product supply, and theres the cost. So far, weve been surprised in a good way because I think we can do some different things that are very, very good, and its going to be more economical than we thought to was going to be. So thats always a nice surprise.The one-in-a-billion randomness of Wilsons accident made his passing somewhat easier to accept for IndyCar drivers, who are generally happy with the safety record of the current car, as well as the series efforts to develop additional improvements.I think they have done a good job on safety, IndyCar Series points leader Simon Pagenaud?said. This year, they have done tremendous improvements on the cars, and theyre being proactive, which is awesome to hear for the future.Personally, Id like to have something [protecting the cockpit] because you dont like to think what could happen -- thats the nature of being a human being. I know its a dangerous sport, and its never going to be fully safe. The human body is not meant to travel more than 200 mph. But if we can do something to protect us and make it better, Im all for it.The progress that has been made over the years is even more pronounced for veteran drivers who were around to drive previous generations of Indy cars.I think the series has done a really good job with safety, said Juan Pablo Montoya, whose IndyCar career dates to 1999, when he won the CART-sanctioned series as a 23-year-old rookie. I think in the last 10, 15 years weve come a long, long way.You cant prevent everything -- its motor racing. Theres always a danger to it, and as drivers, we need to accept that. Its never going to be 100 percent, but I think theyre looking at the future and how to make it better. They care for us.As a driver, you always want more, but I think theyve done a good job. ' ' '