The gymnastics week in review

Shawn Johnson, a judge at the 2010 Miss America Pageant, addresses the press.

AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau/Brian Jones

In case you missed it: Photo galleries of last week's UCLA vs. Stanford matchup, courtesy of SF Sports Photography Examiner Michael Eng. (Examiner.com)

Yes, Alicia Sacramone has a new floor routine: And according to her choreographer, it's awesome. (Examiner.com)

Daria Joura back in the gym: The best Australian gymnast fo the last quad is back in the gym and testing the waters for an elite comeback. Joura, who had the most disastrous 2008 Olympics of anyone who could possibly have medaled in Beijing, has not committed to a full comeback, but wants to see if she still enjoys training at gymnastics's highest level, accoridng to coach Liz Chetkovich of the Western Australian Institute of Sport. Chetkovitch estimated that since Joura has had a 12 month layoff from gymnastics and two foot surgeries, it is likely to take her the same amount of time to return to top form. (The West Australian)

Don't overlook Sarah Patterson: Now that football coach Nick Saban is about to get his likeness in bronze on the Walk of Champions Plaza at the University of Alabama's Bryant-Denny Satadium, Alabama sportswriter Tommy Deas thinks 32 year Crimson Tide gymnastics coach Sarah Patterson should be next. Patterson is the only coach who has won an NCAA title for Bama and does not yet have a statue, and she's coached Bama to four NCAA Championships. Saban has only won one. (TideSports.com)

Yes, Bridget Sloan is coming back: In a new interview iwth USA Gymnastics indicates that the 2009 World champion took some time off this winter and won't appear at the American Cup in March, but she is training and planning to compete this season. Also, learn which bands Sloan could not live without. (USA Gymnastics)

Ricki Lebegern feature: The Alabama senior stands just 4 fett 10 inches tall, but has a big presence in the gym and has made large contributions to Alabama's success. (Tuscaloosa News)

Kim Bui interview: The German champion talks frankly about training sans sponsors and balancing being a biology student at the Technical University of Stuttgart with training. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten)

Shawn Johnson knows something about performing under pressure: Which is probably why she was chosen to be a judge at Jan. 30's Miss America Pageant. Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron won the crown. (Examiner.com)

"We're never going to let it slip away again": So said Sarah Shire after Missouri narrowly lost out on a team berth to the 2009 NCAA Championships. Now a senior, Shire and sophomore Mary Burke are leading a talented and determined Missouri team that wants to see NCAA Championship time. They're doing pretty well for themselves individually, too. (Columbia Missourian)

Igor Cassina wants you to give blood: Seriously. The 2004 Olympic high bar champion is a spokesman for AVIS, the largest national association of blood donors in Italy and urges people to give blood to benefit themselves and others. (Varese News)

Kytra Hunter wins the Parkette Invitational: The 18-year-old Florida commit has been excelling in competition lately, and last weekend's Parkette Invitational in Pennsylvania was no exception. (Examiner.com)

Daiane dos Santos gets five months: The International Gymnastics Federation gives the 2003 World floor champion a five-month suspension for using banned substance furosemide while recovering from a knee surgery last summer. The punishment will keep dos Santos from competing this spring, but will not bar her from October's World Championships. (Examiner.com)

Jani Tanskanen elected FIG Athletes Commission President: At a meeting at FIG headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. (USA Gymnastics)

Introducing "The Borkan": Many fans are impressed by "The Grable," a cool but somewhat messy low to high bar transition performed a couple of years ago by Arkansas commit Katherine Grable. Gymnastics Coaching spotlighted "The Borkan," basically a Geinger from low to high that looks much cleaner than The Grable. Among other gymnasts to perform this move was Lindsay Borkan, who went on to compete for Penn State. (Gymnastics Coaching)

Where are they now?: About.com Gymnastics updates readers on the life and times of the biggest gymnastics stars of the past 35 years. (About.com Gymnastics)

New judging regulations bringing down NCAA scores: Think the scoring in the NCAA has been a little tight so far this season? Lya Wodraska at The Salt Lake Tribune explains why. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Tim McNeill moves to USOTC: The 2009 World team member and U.S. Championships runner-up will work with coach Vitaly Marinitch in Denver. (Tim-McNeill.com)

A reason for Arizona State's struggles?: During the past few years, Arizona State has gone from being a team that was once at the top of the Pac-10 to one at the bottom. Longtime head coach John Spini suggests one reason why: the team's practice facility was torn down in 2001, forcing them to train in a gym 30 minutes off campus. The Sun Devils's new facility, the John Spini Gymnastics Center, didn't open on campus until 2006.

"When you're off campus six-and-a-half years, people are thinking you're going to drop the program and do some other things. So those years we struggled," Spini said. "And I think from 2007 to right now you're seeing the impact of being off campus for those years." (Arizona Republic)

Oregon State injury update: Bars standout Jen Kesler is working her way back into the lineup but likely won't compete vault and floor this season, while Whitney Watson is hoping to do everything except floor before the season is over. (Corvallis Democrat Herald)

More Shawn stuff: Johnson has unveiled a redesigned web site for fans. (ShawnJohnson.net)

Kat Ding feature: The Georgia sophomore from Nevada struggled with accepting criticism during her freshman campaign, but since has matured and is a budding star for the fledgling Gym Dogs. (Red and Black)

World class gymnastics in third world conditions: Such is the way British Olympian Becky Downie is forced to train. Downie's gym is badly in need of an overhaul, according to coach Claire Starkey, head of the Notts Gymnastics Club where Downie trains. Starkey described toilets that leak onto the apparatus, ceiling tiles that need replacing and an uncomfortable draft. (This is Nottingham)

A comeback for Shayla Worley?: The Georgia freshman who many argue would have made the 2008 Olympic team had she not broken her leg at the final selection camp is not ruling out a run for 2012. "It was devastating, kind of dream-shattering," Worley said of the untimely fracture to her right fibula in 2008. "I worked my whole life for that one goal." Although college is her main priority right now, Worley said she does think sometimes about trying again in 2012. (ESPN)

Gymnasts and injuries: An interesting report from Ball State University. (Ball State Daily News)

The long road back: Boise State junior Amy Glass fractured her neck vertebrae warming up for a meet last season. Doctors said she'd never do gymnastics again. Glass has proven them wrong. (Vacaville Reporter)

Utah gymnasts organize shoe drive for Haiti earthquake victims: Spearheaded by senior Beth Rizzo, the Utah women's gymnastics team set up a show drive for its meet against Georgia last Friday, as well as Utah's basketball game the next evening. "My main goal with it wasn't the number of shoes or the dollar amount, I just want to help people help," Rizzo said. (ABC4)

Yes, Great Britain is sending a team to the 2010 Commonwealth Games: Just not its A-team. But British Gymnastics has confirmed that five men and five women will go to represent the old country in New Delhi, India in October, though Beth Tweddle, Daniel Keatings and Louis Smith will be saved for the World Championships later the same month. (British Gymnastics)

More robotic gymnastics: Remember the robot doing high bar from a few weeks ago? Here's another version that actually can catch a piked Kovacs! (Gymbits)