World University Games: The Japanese men's and women's teams dominated this year's Universaide, the men winning against China and Romania, the women over Ukraine and an obviously disappointed Russia. The women's all-around went to unknown Xiao Kangjun after an injury sidelined South Korea's Jo Hyunjoo, who was carried out of the arena on a stretcher after a fall off bars during the all-around final. Xiao is one of only two Chinese women at this Universaide.
Ukraine's Mykola Kuksenkov captured his biggest international title yet over Japan's Shoichi Yamamoto and Nathan Gafuik of Canada. 2010 Japanese World team member Mai Yamagishi finished second all-around, followed by Alyona Polyan of Russia.
Jo's injury was originally suspected to be to her cervical vertebra, but a South Korean official later told the press that the injury was not serious. (The All Around Gymnastics News, Xinhua and International Gymnast Magazine)
Bridget Sloan out of Nationals: Officially. (Indianapolis Star)
U.S. Championships men's preview: ...and analysis by Matthew Rusk for Stick It Media. Part one of in-depth analysis here, part two here. (Stick It Media)
"Gymnast" documentary: Brigid McCarthy reviews the excellent-by-all-accounts documentary following the 2008 British Olympic women's hopefuls. (The Couch Gymnast)
German World Trial no. 1: Marcel Nguyen and Kim Bui were the top scorers at the first German World team trial this weekend, Nguyen scored 87.6 to top reigning European Champion Philipp Boy, who tallied 87.0. Fabian Hambuechen, still not at full strength after his Achilles tear earlier this year, did not compete on vault or floor but did well on the other four events, including high bar, where he verified his 7.5 start value. On the women's side, in the absence of reigning European all-around silver medalist Elisabeth Seitz, the top two were Bui and newcomer Nadine Jarosch, with Lisa Katharina Hill a distant third. (The All Around Gymnastics News)
Here's an interesting piece of news: ...related to the German team. Word is that Elisabeth Seitz is set to perform a full-twisting Shaposhnikova on uneven bars in place of her Def, which often gives her trouble in competitions. Seitz would be the first that I can think of to perform this extremely rare skill in major international competition were she to do it at Worlds. (GymNiceTic)
Puerto Rican Championships: Olympic veteran Luis Rivera scored 87.35 to win the Puerto Rican title this week in Carolina. Rivera, over Alexander Rodriguez and Luis Vargas. (International Gymnast Magazine)
A heartbreaking interview...: with four-time Olympic gold medalist Ekaterina Szabo of Romania. She alleges everything -- that the Karolyis beat her, that she was ignored by Romanian politicians and VIPs despite being more successful in one Games than Nadia herself. In the years after 1984, Szabo put on weight and became the experienced mother-leader as the Romanians prepared for the 1988 Olympic Games, which she was not a part of. Today, she lives and coaches in France, but is always happy to come back to Romania. (Fangymnastics)
Finland's World team: The Finns will be represented at Worlds by Annika Urvikko and Rosanna Ojala. The Finnish women finished 27th as a team at the 2010 Worlds and did not qualify a full team to this year's World Championship. (via The All Around Gymnastics News)
Ireland's World team: Sophie McCoo will represent her country in Tokyo. (Newtownabbey Times)
Chris Brooks update: Found in the latter half of the Houston Chronicle's Nationals preview, mainly concerning Jonathan Horton. But it does give us an update on Brooks, who all but disappeared after the 2010 Worlds. The deal is that Brooks, who was training at the University of Oklahoma, has come back to train with his childhood gym buddy Horton. And to focus. "Brooks, who graduated from Oklahoma in 2010, returned to Houston to live with his family to avoid the distractions of a college town..." (Houston Chronicle)
Luke Folwell on the mend: The Commonwealth Games all-around champion has had to deal with severe shoulder problems since last fall, but he's determined to make a go for the 2012 Olympic team. (More Than the Games)
The contender: Tomas Gonzalez of Chile won three golds -- including topping the field in the all-around -- at the South American Gymnastics Championships. More importantly perhaps is that Gonzalez beat regional rival Diego Hypolito of Brazil on Hypolito's best events, vault and floor, which happen to be Gonzalez's strengths as well. Could Gonzalez be an all-around contender at the World Championships, perhaps? (Santiago Times)
The contenders II: Why the French men have a shot at medaling at the World Championships. (Universal Sports)
A World record was set this week: For most somersaults performed at the same time. (TwinCities.com)
2011 Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular: Set for October 29 in Molene, Ill., to feature Nastia Liukin and Elvis Stojko. Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner and Peggy Fleming will host. (QC Times)
The greening of the Visa Championships: Here's how this week's U.S. Championships got to be mostly paperless, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "When Steve Penny surveyed Xcel Energy Center, site of the upcoming Visa Gymnastics Championships, the building's backwoods motif reminded him of the way the paper industry has depleted the nation's forests." Seriously? (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Catching up with Becky Downie: The 19-year-old from Nottingham, with two British titles already to her credit, talks about how making the 2012 Olympic team is going to be harder for her...and thereby more rewarding. (BBC Sport)
Champions in the gym and in the classroom: The NCAA champion Alabama Crimson Tide set a school record for its highest-ever GPA this week. Team members averaged 3.71 in the classroom this past season. Five team members, including Kayla Hoffman, hold career GPAs of 4.0. (RollTide.com)
Power structure: Andy Thornton on the four U.S. power guys and their prospects for the rest of the season. (Universal Sports)
Grace Taylor nominated for 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year: Which seems odd, given that her gymnastics career with the Gym Dogs ended at the end of the 2010 season. Nonethless, Taylor, who is now enrolled in grad school after earning her degree in Health Promotion this past May, deserves the nod. (The Red and Black)
Five heads are better than six?: ESPN columnist Jim Caple addresses the new numbers on Olympic gymnastics teams. (ESPN)
Meet Michael Mercieca: The 20-year-old Aussie, the country's new national champion on high bar, hopes to use the World University Games to springboard him to the 2012 Olympics. (Penrith Press)
Brittany Ranzy leaves Oregon State: The supervaulter has left school to be closer to home in Virginia, coach Tanya Chaplin announced this week. The team has also said goodbye to junior Leilani Alferos. (Corvallis Gazette Times)
Concussions a worry for gymnasts?: They're certainly a worry for football players. But it seem like little has been written about it for gymnasts, dancers or cheerleaders. This article aims to change that. (CTV News)
The FIG is still mad at Gymnova: For supplying faulty trampolines at the 2010 Trampoline and Tumbling Worlds in Metz, France. Gymnova has been ordered to pay roughly $20,000 in sanctions and court costs. (FIG)
Gymnasts are not naturally talented at baseball: Remember when Shawn Johnson had an awkward moment throwing out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game in Iowa? Turns out Kerri Strug doesn't have much of an arm either. (Video). Ah well, most of the major leaguers can't do back flips, either. (Fox Sports)
Gymnastics in India -- the feud flares again: Why in the world Vladimir Chertkov agreed to keep coaching the Indian National team seems beyond comprehension given how much clashing there was between himself and Indian officials last year. Not that much has changed -- the latest is that Chertkov is saying he's been threatened with "dire consequences" including arrest, for asking that an assistant coach be brought on a national team training camp in London. "I'm concerned about my well-being," Chertkov told the Times of India. "Until I get a formal apology from the official, I'll not come back." Indian officials dispute that the argument ever happened. While we're on the subject, India's gymnastics hero Ashish Kumar is hard at work, hoping to earn a berth to the 2012 Olympics. (Times of India)
Central American Games: Colombia's Natalia Sanchez and Tarik Soto Byfield of Costa Rica won the senior all-around titles at the Central American Games held in Panama City. Sanchez, who actually hails from South America, was competing as a guest. The junior all-around titles were won by Panama's Isabella Medrano and Jorge Lopez of Guatemala. (The All Around Gymnastics News)
The Gymnastics Examiner will be in St. Paul, Minn. this week for the 2011 U.S. Championships. Please check here for quick hits, results, plenty of photos and impressions from podium training and media day. Follow it all on Facebook or Twitter, or click the "Subscribe" button above to receive the latest gymnastics news and results via e-mail.
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