The biggest story of the week: 2004 Olympic champion Paul Hamm announced his return to training, though he's still uncertain where this training will take place -- the U.S. Olympic Training Center or the Swiss Turners gym in his home state of Wisconsin. A return to competition is pending, likely to happen at the 2011 Winter Cup. (Associated Press)
Analysis on the biggest story of the week: Why Paul Hamm's return is a good thing for the U.S. men's team (aside from the most obvious reasons.) (Examiner.com)
CoverGirl Classic: Quick hits from NBC's live feed, commentary after the meet, photo galleries galore from photographer Gregory Long and videos from Gymnastike. What more could a gymnastics lover want?
Kayla Williams calls it an (elite) career: The reigning World vault champion, hampered for the past few weeks by torn ligaments in her foot, has decided to retire from elite gymnastics. (Inside Gymnastics Magazine)
The Couch Gymnast, Issue Five: This month's issue of the popular online magazine analyzes China's rise to gymnastics stardom, gender neutrality, interviews the Netherlands's Marlies Rijken and looks ahead to the next crop of Romanian junior standouts. (The Couch Gymnast Magazine)
On age and wisdom: Alicia Sacramone talks about returning to gymnastics after a yearlong post-Olympic break, and her training schedule (three hours per day!). (L.A. Times)
Two years ago?: Don't the Beijing Olympics feel like they were only yesterday? Most high-level gymnasts are saying yes. (Universal Sports)
Naiomi Russell retires: The Australian elite was part of the team that won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. (Victorian Women's High Performance Centre)
Bela Karolyi immortalized on The Simpsons: It was only a matter of time. (Gymnastics Coaching)
The Daily Telegraph's Gymnastics Guide: Why they've published it two years before the Olympics I'm not sure. But the reputable British newspaper is apparently banking on a Shawn Johnson comeback, and for some reason mentions World pommel champion Zhang Hongtao as one of her rivals. (The Daily Telegraph)
Shallon Olsen interview: Canada's 10-year-old Novice sensation on life in and out of the gym, her favorite things and what she'd like to learn next. (Examiner.com)
The next Shawn Johnson?: Junior Keely McNeer, who relocated from Louisiana earlier this year to train with Liang Chow, finished 20th all-around at the CoverGirl Classic. "She is the hardest worker," Chow said of her. "She is always working, working, working." (DesMoinesRegister)
2000 U.S. to appear on "The Today Show": The 2000 U.S. women's Olympic team will appear on "The Today Show" on August 12 before zipping down to Hartford to collect their Olympic team bronze medal at the U.S. Championships. What's 2000 U.S. Champion Elise Ray going to do with her medal? "I plan on showing that sucker off. I plan on having a huge party for all the people that supported me during that time and then putting it in a nice frame and hanging it up in my living room," she said. (American Chronicle)
Australia announces Commonwealth Games teams: For the men, it's national champion Sam Offord, former World high bar champion Philippe Rizzo, Prashanth Sellathurai, Joshua Jefferis and Thomas Pichler. The men's World team is the same, with Luke Wiwatowski and Luke Wadsworth added on. Double World silver medalist Lauren Mitchell will head up the women's effort, and will be joined by Olympians Georgia Bonora and Ashleigh Brannan, Emily Little and Australian National runner-up Mary-Anne Monckton, who will also comprise the World Championship team. Olympian Shona Morgan, who is heading to Stanford in the fall, has retired from elite gymnastics. (Times of India and Australian Gymnastics Blog)
Pre-U.S. Championships teleconference with the U.S. men: Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva and Chris Brooks shared their thoughts. Stick It Media listened in. (Stick It Media)
"I feel like I have been getting better each year and I am at my best": A profile on Olympic hopeful Stefani Catour, who trains at Desert Lights in Arizona. (Ahwatukee Foothills News)
Paul Hamm, in depth: After announcing his comeback to gymnastics, 2004 Olympic champion Paul Hamm gave a detailed interview to Inside Gymnastics Magazine. A must-read. (Inside Gymnastics)
Bridget Sloan's preparations: After only competing once since winning the World all-around title, Bridget Sloan is gearing up for the summer season with an eye toward 2011 and 2012, coach Marvin Sharp said. Also, Samantha Peszek will not be in attendance at the U.S. Championships. (Indianapolis Star)
Catching up with Romania's golden gymnasts: OK Magazine has a great photo gallery, featuring everyone's favorite Romanians from the 90s: Gina, Simona, Claudia and Andreea. Last names not needed -- you know who they are. (OK Magazine)
Carly Patterson shares her faith: 2004 Olympic champion Carly Patterson talks to former U.S. team member Tim Dalrymple about religion and how it affected her gymnastics, with a few comments about her body maturing for good measure. Dalrymple, if you recall, is a former Stanford gymnast who had an outside chance at making the 1996 Olympic team before nearly being paralyzed by breaking his neck in training. He has a Ph.D. from Harvard in Religion. (Patheos)
Nastia not returning?: The Olympic gold medalist -- gasp -- may not be returning to competition. "I’ve just had so many great opportunities and they don’t come around all the time. When things slow down a little bit I will just reevaluate," she said. (Hollywood Life)
Catching up with Jay Thornton: A behind-the-scenes look at the two careers of 1996 and 2000 Olympic hopeful Jay Thornton; first as an elite gymnast (did you know he had a seizure weeks before the 2000 Olympic Trials? Or that his brother Andy, now a blogger for American Gymnast, competed for the University of Iowa, following in Jay's footsteps?) and then as a founder and face of American Gymnast, a supplier of gymnastics mats, equipment and advice. (Examiner.com)
Samantha Shapiro's goals: Do all-around at the U.S. Championships, make the 2010 World team, increase her skill level, go to Stanford or UCLA. (Inside Gymnastics)
Vanessa Zamarripa profile: Her mental edge: "I have a different outlook of how I view gymnastics - I am enjoying it more, living in the moment, and having a lot of fun with it. I feel like a lot of people forget that it's just gymnastics and you should have fun doing this sport. I have a good time with it." (UCLA Bruins)
A gym for Jaycie: The 1996 Olympic gold medalist is opening her own gym, the Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center (JPAC), a 25,000 sq. foot facility in Greenfield, Ind., her home state. The gym will focus on gymnastics, cheer tumbling and softball. (JPacsports.com)
Brittany Rogers interview: The 2009 World vault finalist and one of Canada's top gymnasts opens up about the broken ankle she sustained at the Pacific Rim Championships in May, Canada's chances of qualifying a full team to the Olympic Games and her budding ambitions as an actress. (World Gymnastics)
U.S. men's World team coach: The USOTC's Vitaly Marinitch gets the nod. (USA Today)
Record registration for the World Championships: A grand total of 615 gymnasts have signed up to participate at the World Championships in October in Rotterdam. Awesome. (FIG)
More Worlds stuff: The competition draw for the 2010 World Championships happened this week in Rotterdam. The big news, especially for the women's draw, is that some of the biggest nations, including China, Japan and Romania, will be among the first to perform in team qualifications. The U.S. men and women will both perform in the middle of the pack, relatively. (International Gymnast Magazine)
The Penn State job: Twenty-two years ago, Jeff Thompson was in the running for the assistant coach job at Penn State. He lost out to Steve Shephard, who became head coach in 1992 and stayed for 18 years. Now, with Shephard's resignation last month, Thompson has finally gotten the position. One reason they chose Penn State stood out to me -- "We feel like it's a crown jewel of the Northeast as far as recruiting for women's gymnastics," Thompson said of the reasons they've chosen to migrate from Auburn to Penn State. "Where we were at Auburn, you have Alabama and Georgia on either side of us. When kids look to the south they always look to those two programs first. When kids look to the Northeast, this is the best school to go to if you're a female gymnast." Unlucky for Auburn. (Penn State Daily Collegian)
The Horton-Brooks hometown rivalry: “I remember when we trained together as kids that there was nobody on the planet who frustrated me more or pushed me more than Chris Brooks because him and I are like brothers,” U.S. Champion Jonathan Horton said of his childhood training partner and former Oklahoma teammate Chris Brooks, who seems to have a good shot to take the U.S. title this year. “We constantly compete against each other on everything, whether it would be who did the better forward roll or who has the higher Kovacs on high bar, just stupid things and we made ourselves better gymnasts.” (The Middletown (Conn.) Press)
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