The gymnastics week(s) in review: New champions, new hopes, new expectations as Worlds approach

So it's really like three weeks in review, because there has been so much going on in the gymnastics world. Here's a rundown of competitions, profiles, events and happenings:

2010 U.S. Championships: Jonathan Horton and Kyla Ross successfully defended the titles they won in 2009, while Rebecca Bross, Sean Melton and Sam Mikulak were first time winners. Quick hits from all divisions and podium training, interviews, short stories, injury reports and photo galleries, photo galleries and more photo galleries can be found on (Examiner.com)

We're already looking forward to next year: The 2011 U.S. Championships will be held in St. Paul, Minn., with the 2012 edition happening in St. Louis, Mo., just before the 2012 Olympic Trials, which will be happening in San Jose, Calif. (Examiner.com)

Youth Olympic Games: Team Russia was the big winner in Singapore, and not only in gymnastics. The Russian team won a total of 49 medals during the inaugural Youth Olympics, second only to China. In artistic gymnastics, Viktoria Komova won three gold and a bronze, Daniil Kazachkov added bronze on pommel horse. Russians won the rhythmic individual and group events. China and Japan didn't fare too badly, either -- rising star Tan Sixin took silver in the women's all-around and gold on beam and floor, while Japan's Yuya Kamoto was the men's all-around champion and added a silver on rings. Quick hits from the competition and photo galleries galore courtesy of the excellent Grace Chiu can also be found on (Examiner.com)

Why Viktoria Komova didn't do as well on her final two events at the Youth Olympic Games as she did on everything else: Lack of sleep, apparently. (The All Around)

The return of Alexander Shatilov: Less than six months after tearing his miniscus at the French International, reigning World floor bronze medalist Alexander Shatilov won the Israeli national title in Tel Aviv and is now looking toward October's World Championships. Now that's impressive. (International Gymnast Magazine)

A comeback for Uzelac?: Three-time junior U.S. champion Kristal Uzelac, whose senior career never really took off, is thinking about returning to elite competition. Uzelac, now 24, did compete (and win) the Parkette Invitational a couple years ago as a level 10. (The American Chronicle)

How good is the gymnastics equipment in India?: Not very, according to Indian national coach Vladimir Chertkov, who is trying to raise the team to international prominence. Chertkov has caused a bit of a flap by expressing dissatisfaction with the equipment and claiming that the Indian team cannot train properly without state of the art apparatus. But there's some disagreement on whether the equipment is really substandard -- officials of the Commonwealth Games organizing committee think the mats and venue, which will also be used for a federation cup test event before the Commonwealth Games in October, think it's just fine. (Times of India)

Still, Indian gymnasts are hopeful for medals at Commonwealth Games: What has always been a "fringe sport" in the country is gaining momentum. (Times of India)

The best U.S. Championships ever: USA Gymnastics calls the 2010 National championships its most successful ever. Total attendance was 29,238 over four nights of competition, a record for the national championship. The previous record for attendance was set in 2007 in San Jose. (USA Gymnastics)

New assistant coach at Arizona: Former Gymcat Randi Liljenquist-Acosta, who competed for the University of Arizona from 1999-2002, has been named assistant coach of the team. (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

No World Championships for Zamarripa: In spite of her fantastic new Cheng vault, Vanessa Zamarripa will be focusing on honing her skills instead of making the 2010 World team, UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field announced at a press conference after the U.S. Championships. (Examiner.com)

Raj Bhavsar retires: The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist will join Cirque du Soleil. (USA Gymnastics)

Marcia Frederick interview: The 2010 U.S. Championships in Hartford honored two teams that didn't get their Olympic due. The year 1980 was especially hard for 1978 World uneven bars champion Marcia Frederick, who lost her only chance to compete at the Olympics and retired from the sport soon afterward. The Hartford Courant interviewed Frederick about that very difficult summer, how she coped and what eventually brought her back to gymnastics. (Hartford Courant)

Remembering the 1980 Olympic team: A longer article on the political context of the 1980 Olympic boycott and how it affected several of the athletes involved, including U.S. gymnast  Ron Galimore, considered to be the best vaulter in the world at the time. (News-sports.net)

Epke and the orangutans: A Dutch zoo had the brilliant idea to hire reigning World high bar silver medalist Epke Zonderland to swing parallel bars around some lazy orangutans who had apparently forgotten how to swing from branches since being in captivity. From the BBC's video, it doesn't look like the orangutans learned anything from Zonderland, but they seemed to have as good a time watching him as the spectators who came out to watch. A nice publicity stunt for October's World Championships, in any case. (BBC)

Victory for formerly paralyzed Russian gymnast: Nineteen-year-old Vlada Krav­chenko, who sustained a serious spinal chord injury when a lighting structure fell on her at a party two years ago, is walking again. (Times of Malta)

The U.S. hates the age requirement: The awarding of an Olympic bronze medal to the six members of the 2000 women's Olympic team brought up a slew of negative comments about the age rule, which stipulates that gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year in order to compete at the Games. The overwhelming message to FIG President Bruno Grandi from American coaches: Get rid of it. (USA Today)

Stories behind the medal: One of the stories of the 2000 women's Olympic team's medal ceremony at the U.S. Championships was how Dominique Dawes ran from the podium to place her new bronze medal around the neck of longtime coach Kelli Hill. The Hartford Courant relives the moment. (Hartford Courant)

And then there were 12...: A dozen women advance to the first of two World team selection camps at the Karolyi ranch in Huntsville, Texas in September. At least nine will be invited back. (Examiner.com)

Pan American Championships teams named: The men's and women's teams for the 2010 Pan American Championships, which kick off this coming weekend, have been announced. The women's team consists of top juniors (born in 1996 or before) Kyla Ross, Gabrielle Douglas, Sarah Finnegan, Brenna Dowell, McKayla Maroney and Sabrina Vega. The men will be represented by Jake Dalton, Bryan del Castillo, Dylan Akers, Glen Ishino, Alex Buscaglia and Wes Haagensen. (Examiner.com)

Downie, British down the Swiss: Team Great Britian handily beat team Switzerland, 168.7-152.85 at a friendly in Gateshead, England over the weekend. Fun fact: 2008 Olympian Becky Downie, the top all-around performer at the meet (55.95 over Hannah Whelan and Jennifer Pinches) debuted a new floor routine there. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Kamerin Moore update: She was a junior sensation in 2008 and 2009 but hasn't been seen recently in competition because of injuries. In this interview, Moore dishes on how she's doing, when she'll return to competition and what she's hoping to achieve. (Examiner.com)

Dragulescu smacked by FIG over doping: No, it's not what it sounds like. But the International Gymnastics Federation did publish a rebuke of the many time World champion (and the Romanian Federation) because Dragu missed a couple doping controls between coming out of retirement and competing again. Gymnasts now have to be registered with the FIG for doping controls six months before partaking in international competition. (Examiner.com)

A new coach at Cal: Recent Bears alum Tim McNeill has been hired as the new men's coach of a program in flux. (Examiner.com)

Gymnastics commentary at the Youth Olympic Games was really, really bad: Even a former Singaporean national champion thought so. (Examiner.com)

Exit Starkell: University of Illinois women's coach Bob Starkell bid adieu to the program earlier this month. With school starting at Illinois, the university has appointed his longtime assistant Kim Landrus to fill in as interim head coach. (Examiner.com)

Get to know Rebecca Bross: A small interview with the 2010 U.S. women's all-around champion. (Examiner.com)

Kytra Hunter deferring university to try for World Championships: Another short interview from the U.S. Championships. (Examiner.com)

How Jonathan Horton won his second consecutive U.S. title: Despite being on a "health kick" and seeing a nutritionist, it kind of came down to a coke. (Examiner.com)

The prettiest photo gallery ever...: ...is also the blurriest. But that was deliberate, of course. Check out the junior women in motion during the preliminary round of the U.S. Championships. (Examiner.com)

Russian Cup: Olympic veteran Sergei Khorokhodin and rising star Aliya Mustafina were the most successful athletes at the 2010 Russian Cup, which concluded over the weekend. In addition to their all-around golds, Khorokhodin took individual titles on parallel bars and high bar, while Mustafina won uneven bars and floor exercise. Tatiana Nabieva was the best female gymnast on vault, and first-year senior Anna Dementieva was victorious on balance beam. On the men's side, newcomer Mikhail Kudashov won vault, youngster David Belyavsky floor, Matvei Petrov pommel horse and 2008 Olympian Konstantin Pluzhnikov still rings. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Chinese Championships: World floor bronze medalist Sui Lu took home the women's all-around title and added the titles on balance beam and floor exercise to her medal haul, while Guo Weiyang continued to make a name for himself with the men's all-around title but did not win any medals in event finals. Reigning rings World champion Yan Mingyong tied Olympic champion Chen Yibing for the apparatus title on their specialty, while Du Wei won vault, Zhang Chenglong floor and high bar, Zhang Hongtao pommel horse and Feng Zhe tied current World Champion Wang Guanyin for the title on parallel bars. For the women, newcomer Zhou Qiaohong won vault, with Huang Qiushaung taking the title on uneven bars. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Nastia still not sure about 2012: A conversation with the 2008 Olympic all-around champion. (Examiner.com)

New Belarussian champions: Congratulations to 2008 Olympian Dmitry Savitsky and newcomer Lilia Khoang. (International Gymnast Magazine)

Jaycie Phelps aiming to coach high level gymnasts: "I want to have that elite team and be able to walk out on that floor at USA Championships with a big team of kids," the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, who recently opened the 25,000 foot multisport Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center (JPAC), told the Indianapolis Star. (Indianapolis Star)

Izbasa, Racea, Porgras, Chelaru to Ghent World Cup: The Romanians are sending their A-listers to the first fall World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium in early September. At this point, team Romania will be represented by Olympic floor champion Sandra Izbasa (in a much anticipated return from a torn Achilles tendon last fall), European junior beam champion Amelia Racea, World bars bronze medalist Ana Porgras and up-and-comer Diana Chelaru. (Fangymnastics)

Canada names women's World, Commonwealth Games teams: Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, Charlotte Mackie, Dominique Pegg, Jessica Savona and Kristina Vaculik will represent team Canada in Rotterdam. Canada's Commonwealth Games team will be Cynthia Lemieux, Catherine Dion, Emma Willis, Gabrielle May and Kristin Klarenbach. (Gymnastics Coaching)

Kristen Maloney breaks into college coaching: The two-time U.S. champion is set to start as an assistant at the University of New Hampshire this season. (Examiner.com)

Alec Robin profile: Meet the silver medalist on vault from the men's 14-15 division at the U.S. Championships. (Ventura County Star)

Can Jiang Yuyuan contend for World Championship medals?: After two years of injuries that have kept her out of major international competitions, Andy Thornton explains why the answer is yes. (Universal Sports)

The second retirement of Corina Ungureanu: The former Romanian national team member talks about her comeback and the reasons she has chosen to discontinue it. (Gymnastics - No ceiling)

Issue six of the Couch Gymnast Magazine: Now on virtual newsstands everywhere. This issue includes thoughts and analysis from correspondents at the U.S. Championships, as well as an interview with Romanian Olympian Anamaria Tamirjan and a profile of Irish gymnastics, among other goodies. (The Couch Gymnast Magazine)

U.S. women's world team analysis: Andy Thornton on the strengths and weaknesses of six of the 12 who have been chosen to attend the first World team selection camp. (Universal Sports)

Seitz wins first German World team qualifier: Elizabeth Seitz was the top qualifier at the first of three German World team trials, finishing ahead of newly unretired Jolene Mobius and Pia Tolle. Also in the mix for a spot on the German World team are Oksana Chusovitina, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Giulia Hindermann, Lisa-Katharina Hill, Dorothee Henzler, Ruby van Dijk and Anja Brinker. Kim Bui, who suffered a leg injury several months ago, will not compete in Rotterdam. (GymNiceTic)

Velly guud, velly guud!: In the early 1980s, before Bela Karolyi was a U.S. coaching big shot, he taught adults to do cartwheels at the University of Oklahoma. And he enjoyed it immensely. Mark Folger, who owns Folger's Gymnastics in Kansas, reflects on Karolyi's undying, unbending enthusiasm for the sport. (Folger's Gymnastics blog)

From Michigan to Denver and back: Huneth Lor, who competed for the University of Michigan and then went on to be an assistant coach at the University of Denver, has returned to Michigan to take a job assistant coaching at Central Michigan University. She graduated from Michigan in 2009. (CMU Chippewas)

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