Yep - still happy!

Congrats go out again to Rebecca Bross and Mattie Larson. 1-2 at the US championships after both completing 2 clean all around competitions in a row.

Full results at USA Gymnastics.
1. Rebecca Bross, Plano, Texas, 120.300
2. Mattie Larson, Los Angeles, Calif., 117.000
3. Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass., 115.650
4. Kytra Hunter, Frederick, Md., 114.350
5. Mackenzie Caquatto, Naperville, Ill., 113.350
5. Chelsea Davis, Lakeway, Texas, 113.350
7. Samantha Shapiro, Los Angeles, Calif., 112.000
8. Vanessa Zamarripa, Shiloh, Ill., 111.400

New national team family photos


Also on the other side of the pond- Romania narrowly beat GB at the friendly meet in Iswich 165.400pts vs.163.100pts. The big stars (Tweddle and Isbasa) didn't make an appearance after all but Hannah Whelan (GB 55.65) won the all around ahead of Daniela Andrei (ROM 55.60) and Raluca Haidu (ROM 54.900).


And - even further East - the Youth Olympics have started with Gymnastics taking place later this week. It's all go!

Happy Maker

I woke up to some good news this morning.

My 2 favourite US gymnasts hit 4 for 4 last night and are 1-2 at the Visa Championships.


Rebecca Bross started out with her ususal power and better execution than normal on bars (although she couldn't quite stick her dismount for once) she made up for it later by making her beam dismount with room to spare and sticking her vault cold. Bross Finished the night comfortably in first with 60.400.

Mattie Larson reminded us she is well and truely back with a great 4 events. Her floor was beautiful with almost perfect landings on all the tumbling. I would love to see these 2 make the AA final at worlds. Larson finished the night with 58.200.


Alicia Sacramone finished first on vault with an average of 15.350 and second to Bross on beam with 14.850.

I've only been able to watch a few of the hilights on the Universal Sports website, but one person who did not have a great night was Bridget Sloan. Onle competing beam here didn't give her much room to make an impresstion, and she managed to make a poor one with a dismal 13.150. She's going to need some real fight in her to make the world team this year or secure a second olympic spot once the new juniors come up fighting.

Mind you - speaking of Juniors. Shock of the evening was that Jordyn Wieber fell 3 times on beam and appears to have injured her ankles. She may not compete in the finals. With her place on the national team assured and her age keeping her from Worlds, I hope she plays it safe and smart. Kyla Ross leads the junior event

View full results here.

Right - gymnastics break over - back to my vacation!

Meanwhile in the world of Gymnastics

Next week I will be taking a much needed holiday from work, revision and dissertation writing. From a blogging perspective though, I seem to have picked a bad week- it's all happening at the moment.

Youth Olympics kick off in Singapore. A full list of participants is available here. One update is that Jessica Hogg is replacing Laura Mitchell for team GB gymnastics as Mitchell has a fractured ankle.


Other British gymnasts will be facing off against Romania at a friendly event in Ipswich. I'm sad to be missing this one but can't complain as I did see both teams at the Euros recently. IG has reported that olympic floor champ Sandra Izbasa will be returning as part of the romanian team. Hopefully Beth will be there too, giving Izbasa a run for her money on floor.

The Romanian Team has been announced as
Sandra Izbasa, Ana Porgras, Diana Chelaru, Gabriele Dragoi, Ceresela Patrascu Diana Trenca, Dana Andrei
GB has announced their National Squad - but not yet which girls will compete in Ipswich


And the Americans will be fighting it out at the Visa Championships. I'm sure there'll be no shortage of blog reporting on that event, if classic was anything to go by.

The start list for seniors is :-
Georgia Dabritz, Vanessa Zamarippa, Rhaegan Courville, Kytra Hunter,
Lauren Beers, Becca Bross, Samantha Shapiro, Sophina deJesus,
Cassie Whitcomb, Alicia Sacramone, Bridgette Caquatto, Brandie Jay,
Kaitlyn Clark, Sophia Lee, Jaclyn McCartin, Bridget Sloan,
Amanda Jetter, Aly Raisman, Mackenzie Caquatto, Annette Miele,
Morgan Smith, Mattie Larson, Chelsea Davis.

Sam Shapiro is apparently still hoping to compete bars and beam after hyperextending both her knees on her vault at the classic. I haven't heard anything to say Bridget sloan won't be competing all around - she'll be facing stiff competition for her title though, Bross in particular won't want to see another gold slip away.....

In the Summertime.

It's a busy summer on the way in the gymnastics world.
For the USA- competition starts at home. (Click the logos to take you to the event websites)













Then in August- the world's most talented juniors head to Singapore.
The Commonwealth Games take place 3-14 October in Delhi (woefully close to Worlds- so the gymnastics competition may be rather under-attended)

The 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships take place in Rotterdam, 16-24 October. This is the biggest world championships of the quadrennium, over 70 countries will send full teams, which will begin to be wittled down to the final 12 which will win tickets to London 2012.

The Worlds website also has a number of interesting interviews and articles- including this on Beth Tweddle.

Reigning world champ on floor Beth Tweddle is enjoying the rise of the British men, and not just because she enjoys seeing her home country do well at competitions. What with her male colleagues now sharing the limelight and helping her share the burden of expectations, Tweddle is feeling less pressure to do well, which she says is helping her. ‘A few years ago, when we went to a major championships, it was a case of “what result can Beth come home with?” But now it’s more about “what result can British Gymnastics achieve?” The boys have been getting lots of great results on the international circuit for some time and so the pressure has been taken off me and is shared between us, which is nice.’

Tweddle has indicated she intends to stick with the two-events-only strategy she adopted after the Beijing Olympics. Like last year, she will compete bars and floor only at the world championships. However, there are a few changes in the works. For one thing, she is going to get a new floor routine soon. ‘If you do the same thing over and over again it just gets boring, so straight after the Europeans I’m going to change it and get a new choreographer,’ she said. ‘Hopefully, it will put a bit more pizzazz back into my life.’

The 25-year-old is now gearing herself up for the world championships in Rotterdam in October, but as the gymnast explains, she will have to miss the Commonwealth Games because of a calendar clash. ‘Unfortunately the world championships clash with the Commonwealth Games, so for myself I’m hoping to go to the World Championships. All our funding is based on our World Championship results, not our Commonwealths. So our A team will travel out to Rotterdam for the worlds and the B team plus the two reserves from the A team will go to the Commonwealth Games. It works in a good way, as the B team will be the younger seniors who will also be eligible for 2012 and are not quite ready this year. They’ll get the experience of a major championships. Hopefully that will bode well for the future for us.’

The fact that at age 25, she will be one of the oldest female gymnasts competing in Rotterdam, doesn’t bother Tweddle. ‘Age doesn’t really come into it. It’s just an extra number. I’m still out there, still enjoying it and still getting the results.’ So what’s keeping her going? Why, her dream of winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, of course. ‘A lot of people have said, “Why do you keep going?” The motivation is I’ve still got one dream to achieve and that’s 2012, hopefully. We’ll see what happens, and I think with age comes experience.’ (Sources: The Telegraph, 28 April 2010; Liverpool Echo, 1 and 4 May 2010; BBC Sport, 12 May 2010)