It’s unfortunate that Samantha Shapiro and Mattie Larson couldn’t get healthy in time to be considered for this world team. Both were recovering from ankle problems, and I could understand why that would hinder Larson because floor and vault are really her two best events, followed by beam
Since women’s gymnastics team selections have become somewhat like a game show or beauty pageant, I figured we might as well treat it as such! Originally we had ten “survivors” of the world selection process, but unfortunately it’s already been reduced to nine since Samantha Peszek has decided to drop out of contention, opting for shoulder surgery instead
Thoughts on the men’s world team… It was just announced that Wesley Haagensen and Jake Dalton will be replacing Sasha Artemev and David Sender on the U.S. men’s world team. This [...]
A look at some routines you may not have ever seen from today’s stars… Prepare to be AMAZED. I honestly had no idea that Jana Bieger ever did a floor routine [...]
Did you know that the same tie-breaking controversy between He Kexin and Nastia Liukin on the uneven bars was also played out on men’s vault in Beijing?
I have to admit I was a bit shocked to read that Nastia pulled out of consideration for the world team. She seemed so committed and excited to get back out on the world stage.
Because four of the top gymnasts in Russia are all too young to compete in London, I see five gymnasts realistically challenging for this team.
Alexander Alexandrov was the head coach for the teams that many would consider to be the most dominant in women’s gymnastics history – the 1989 and 1991 world championship and 1992 Olympic gold medal teams from the Soviet Union.
For now we’ll have to stuff Mustafina, Dementieva, Komova, and Nabieva into our “what-if” box that unfortunately keeps getting larger and larger as worlds is approaching.
Some random thoughts about the women’s U.S. Championships last weekend… * I’m so happy for Bridget Sloan. After looking a bit like her pre-Olympic uptight self on Day 1, she calmed down quite a bit and seemed to remember that she was the only Olympian fighting for the all-around title on Day 2. She totally stepped it up and genuinely deserved this win. I can’t wait to see how she stacks up in the all-around against the rest of the world in October – I think she could surprise some people...
Some random thoughts on the Men’s U.S. Championships… * Jonathan Horton will be in contention for a world all-around medal for sure. I think he’ll have to improve on pommel horse to have a chance to beat Kohei Uchimura for the world title, but he’s definitely not far from it...
I really enjoyed this year’s nationals. It was great to see so many of the faces from the last quadrennium finally grace our television screens again, and there are definitely some exciting new challengers on the horizon on both the men’s and women’s sides. Now having said that, I also want to point out just how much more impressed I am with our men’s team than our women’s team.