The gymnastics week in review

SHE'LL BE THERE -- Briley Casanova is scheduled to compete at the U.S. Championships.

Photo/Greg Long

Another title for Ksenia Afanasyeva: The 2008 Olympian and 2009 European all-around silver medalist won the Summer Youth Spartakiada, despite a strong second day performance by teammate Ksenia Semyonova, who finished second overall. Yekaterina Kurbatova, the reigning European vault champion, was third. Little-known Dmitry Stolyarov captured the men's title over David Belyavsky and Pavel Russinyak. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Andy Thornton predicts the U.S. women's World team: Based on performances at the CoverGirl Classic, he thinks it'll be Rebecca Bross, Kytra Hunter, Aly Raisman, Bridget Sloan, Mackenzie Caquatto and Alicia Sacramone. (Andy's Angle on American Gymnast)

10 questions with Chris Brooks: The contender talks about current U.S. champion and old training buddy Jonathan Horton, why he prefers to land his tumbling forward and why his fall off pommel horse at the American Cup really, really hurt. (Universal Sports)

"We forever are the team with no result": The Indianapolis Star profiles USA Gymnastics's Ron Galimore, the star of the 1980 U.S. men's team, along with Oympic rower Anita DeFranz. For both, being Olympians without an Olympics left a haping hole in their lives. (Indianapolis Star)

Central American Games: Olympians Jorge Hugo Giraldo (Colombia) and Jessica Lopez (Venezuela) won the men's and women's all-around titles at the Central American Games this week, and Giraldo also picked up titles on rings, parallel bars and high bar.  Puerto Rico's Luis Riviera split the individual medals with Giraldo, picking up golds on vault, floor and pommel horse. Lopez, who beat Elsa Garcia of Mexico and Colombia's Nathalia Sanchez for the all-around win, also triumphed on uneven bars. Garcia also won vault and floor exercise, Sanchez beam. New faces Alexa Moreno of Mexico (silver on vault) and Monica Yool of Guatemala (third on bars) also made big impressions. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Maranda Smith gets another shot: The Florida star, who began at UCLA, has been granted an unusual sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. Smith only competed for two meets as a Bruin in 2006 with a stress fracture in her leg. A titanium rod was surgically inserted in the leg after six months, but the procedure caused her so much pain that she left UCLA. Her boyfriend, fotball player Carl Moore, encouraged her to give the sport another chance, and talked her into following him to Florida. In the fall, Smith will be one of the few grad students to compete as a college gymnast -- she'll be pursuing a Master's in health education and behavior. (Gatorzone.com)

"It was the right decision for me and I don't have any regrets": World vault champion Kayla Williams speaks with Inside Gymnastics about her depature from elite gymnastics. (Inside Gymnastics Magazine)

Welsh soldier gets Commonwealth Games nod: Despite not having competed in more than a year, Rob Hunter, an army mechanical engineer in a unit known as the Welsh Gunners, has been named to the Welsh Commonwealth Games team. “The thing I am looking forward to the most is the opening ceremony, they always look amazing on the telly!” he said. (Flintshire Chronicle)

The magnificent bride: The very accomplished Dr. Amy Chow, a two-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist, wed Jason Ho this week in California. (USA Gymnastics)

The Chinese are feeling confident: Maybe not in their men's team's prospects for gold this time around, but at least in the fact that their women are of age to compete in this month's Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. The government is seeing to it, bone density checks and all. (People's Daily Online)

Update from India: Indian national coach Vladimir Chertkov, who was hails from Russia and spent several years coaching in the U.S., is oscillating between contentment at how far his team has come and frustration that they don't have proper equipment to train on. Team India is hoping to make a big impression at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October. (Deccan Chronicle)

John Orzoco in Sports Illustrated: The U.S. men's up-and-comer, just 17, was profiled in Sports Illustrated this week. "It was an honor and a privilege to represent our sport in such a prestigious magazine," he said. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Daniel Keatings on the mend: Three months after tearing his ACL on floor in practice, British star Daniel Keatings is back in training on non-leg events like pommel horse and parallel bars. His status is encouraging -- "Apart from some obvious weakness in my legs my overall condition is about 70 percent at the moment," he wrote. (Daniel Keatings blog for Opus Energy Challenge)

A look at Anna Pavlova: A nice update (with videos) from Andy Thornton. (Andy's Angle on American Gymnast)

U.S. Nationals lineup: Here's the list of women's qualifiers. (USA Gymnastics)

Matthew Rusk on the U.S. men in Hartford: Guest blogging fro Stick It Media, Rusk analyzes the men's field for the U.S. Championships. Part one of two. (Stick It Media)

30 years ago...: Members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, including Kurt Thomas, relive their lost Games. (Boston Globe)

Nastia in NYC: While the CoverGirl Classic was taking over Chicago, Olympic champion Nastia Liukin was blitzing the red carpets of New York for the unveiling of her "Supergirl by Nastia" clothing line for JC Penney -- and talking about a possible run on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." (Examiner.com)

10 routines from the CoverGirl Classic that you should see: If nothing else, they'll get you excited about the U.S.'s 2016 generation. (Examiner.com)

Yul Moldauer interview: Stick It Media talks to the country's top men's level 9 gymnast. Coached by the Artemev family at 5280 Gymnastics in Colorado, (that's right, Vladimir and Sasha) Yul Moldauer is a name to remember. (Stick It Media)

Gymnastics breakdown: Alicia Sacramone's vault from  the CoverGirl Classic, broken down in photos. (Examiner.com)

Ariana Guerra profile: The 13-year-old Texan, who has qualified to the U.S. Championships, has her sights set on the 2016 Olympic Games -- and/or the NCAA. (Galveston County Daily News)

Gymnastics on wheels: This Gulf Coast Tumblebus makes the sport mobile. (BaldwinCountyNow.com)

Josh Nilson promoted at Utah State: The team's former student assistant, himself a onetime level 10 gymnast, is now assistant coach of the women's team. (Deseret News)

Work out with Nastia Liukin: An approved WOGA fansite gets a word in with Nastia Liukin. First question: "What's your fitness routine now that you're not training for the Olympics?" "I'm not exactly training for the Olympics right at this moment," Liukin amends later in the interview. Will she go for 2012? Well, maybe. After the Figure Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular in October, she'll think harder about returning to training full-time, she said. (Flipping with Success)

The U.S. men in action: The boys of the U.S. Olympic Training Center (that's Joey Hagerty, Alexy Bilozertchev, Wes Haagensen, Andrew Elkind,  have a shared a nice montage of what we can expect from them next week in Hartford. Have a look below:

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