Here are five things you may not know about U.S. World team member Anna Li:
1. She's a flipping rebel. There's a cool Youtube video of Li flipping across the White House lawn when the NCAA champion UCLA team traveled to Washington D.C. for a meet and greet with President Obama in 2010.
"I actually didn’t tell anyone because I assumed if I asked for permission, that it would get turned down," Li recalled in an interview with Examiner.com last year. "So I wore shorts under my dress and before it got busy, I handed my camera to a friend and just decided to go for it!”
2. She has an incredible bag of tricks. Even though she has not competed on floor since leaving college, training footage suggests Li could be capable of a double layout and a Randi. On bars, she has worked a Tkatchev half to immediate straddle back half to low bar (the same combo done by Beth Tweddle), as well as a Tkatchev-Geinger combo and even a Jaeger half. There's more on this video.
3. Tokyo will be a first. The Tokyo Worlds will be Li's first international elite competition. But don't call her inexperienced -- the 23-year-old competed in about 17 meets per season for four years at UCLA, culminating in the Bruins's 2010 NCAA team title.
4. College seems to have done her some good. Pre-college, Li's best finish at the U.S. Championships was ninth on beam in 2005. Post-college, Li's results have improved dramatically -- she tied for third on bars with Worlds teammate Gabrielle Douglas last month in St. Paul.
5. Her bar routine is really hard, but doesn't contain all of her skills. Li's potential 6.7 start value for her bar routine is among the hardest in the world, and the routine contains some of the coolest skills, including a Jaeger to Pak salto combo, Khorkina II transition, Shushunova and full twisting double layout dismount. But gone is her trademark Tkatchev, a move she gets so much hang time on that it makes it difficult to catch.
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