New Romanian National champions: For the seniors, Ana Porgras and Flavius Koczi captured the all-around titles. Juniors Larisa Iordache and Andrei Munteanu won the junior titles.
The consensus put forward by Fangymnastics was that the depth in the senior ranks has declined alarmingly -- only six true seniors competed in the senior division, along with three who were 15 but ineligible for October's World Championships. (Fangymnastics)
It doesn't always work out: The new book Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games provides in-depth stories of 18 U.S. athletes who would have competed at the 1980 Olympics, possibly to great success if they had gotten the chance. President Jimmy Carter not decided to pull America from the Games after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The book includes the stories of gymnasts Luci Collins and Ron Galimore, a multiple NCAA Champion who was the face of gymnastics in Iowa before Shawn Johnson came along. Galimore is now the U.S. National Men's Program Director. For more on Galimore, check out this great article from The Des Moines Register. (Intersportswire)
Here's a great vault from Galimore at the 1980 U.S. Gymnastics Federation International Invite.
Komova, Japanese dominate in Yokohama: Youngsters Viktoria Komova and Natsumi Sasada won the lion's share of the medals at the Junior Japan Invitational meet, while Japan Junior Champion Chihiro Yoshioka and compatriots Shou Yokoyama and Ryuzo Sejima combined to win six of the seven golds available at the meet. (USA Gymnastics)
Conditioning is key for Georgia: What has new head coach Jay Clark changed since taking over from Suzanne Yoculan? The amount of conditioning the Gymdogs are doing before the season begins. (Online Athens)
Romania-Germany-Switzerland: The Romanian men continue to fine-tune before Worlds, but the all-around champion at a friendly competition between the three countries this week was relative Swiss unknown Daniel Groves, (88.6) followed by Germany's Marcel Nguyen (88.2) and Switzerland's Claudio Capelli. (87.05). Unretired two-time Olympic vault medalist Marian Dragulescu doesn't seem to have lost a step -- he won vault with a 16.35. (Fangymnastics)
Going back to Georgia: Clark recounts how he recruited uber-successful Gymdog and 12-time All-American Kim Arnold, who was inducted into Georgia's Circle of Honor last weekend. (Red and Black)
Nelligan in Bermuda: Retired Maryland coach Bob Nelligan has accepted a post as the head coach of Bermuda's National Team. (Gymnastics Coaching)
No more Super Six: NCAA approves replacing the Super Six team format at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships with a four team final in hopes of attracting live TV coverage. The first four-team final will happen in 2011. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Americans abroad: The delegation of U.S. athletes heading to Copenhagen, Denmark in support of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games includes Nastia Liukin, Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci. The delegation will be led by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. The International Olympic Committee will decide which city will host the Games on Oct. 2. Other candidates are Rio de Janiero, Madrid and Tokyo. (USA Gymnastics)
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