Check out this cool behind the scenes video of the USA Gymnastics teams’ trip to the 2010 Rotterdam World Championships. Click the title to go to the video, because AT&T is silly and I can’t embed it :(
Gone Until Thursday :(
Everyone, I’m sorry to desert you during Worlds week but I am going to be on vacation until Thursday evening. For coverage, I suggest you go to GYMNASTIKE, or the COUCH GYMNAST, or GYMNASTICS EXAMINER, or GYMNASTICS COACHING. Also a great resource is the Rotterdam WORLDS PAGE. See you next week, and GO USA!
Rotterdam 2010 Website….
is AWESOME! They are providing so so so much information to the public, it is incredible! Every World Championships host from here on out should really take a page out of their book. (I’m looking at you, Tokyo, Mr. We-Don’t-Even-Have-A-Website-Yet!) Check out their coverage information, athlete lists, and even features with certain athletes!
Click HERE to see their list of places you can find information about the meet (eg. couch gymnast, etc). Sadly they left off the amazing GYMNASTIKE….SHAME!!! Gymnastike is one of the best gymnastics resources available (in my semi-biased opinion) and I’m thrilled that Anne’s going to be at her first World Championships! I’ve emailed them and hopefully they’ll remedy the problem! Again the website link is HERE!
North Korea Out Of Worlds, Possibly 2012 Olympics
WOW, the FIG has banned North Korea from competition for 30 days, due to the recent discovery of the age falsification(s) of 2004 and 2008 Olympian Hong Su Jong. 30 days doesn’t sound like a lot, but that takes them out of the Worlds coming up, which is a qualifier for the 2011 World Championships, which is in turn a qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics. Yeesh…suddenly things just got a lot more serious!
North Korea can appeal, but the evidence all points to the same thing - that they falsified the age of one of their athletes. While this is all very unfortunate, I have trouble feeling too sorry for them….you have to play by the rules, that’s why they’re there.
Rick at Gymnastics Coaching pointed out that this likely applies to the men’s team as well as the women, which is unfortunate, because as far as we know, the men did nothing wrong. There’s going to be a lot of angry gymnasts in North Korea today, methinks.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I doubt an appeal will allow the women’s team to compete in Rotterdam, but perhaps the FIG should allow the men’s team to compete. After all, it was the women’s mistake, why should the men be punished? However, if North Korea isn’t able to compete in Rotterdam, there’s no fair way to allow them another way of qualifying for the Olympics, is there? Harsh punishment, but not unwarranted.
USA Worlds Team Announced!
- Alicia Sacramone
- Aly Raisman
- Rebecca Bross
- Bridget Sloan
- Chelsea Davis
- Mattie Larson
- Mackenzie Caquatto
No word yet on which of these is the alternate. I’d heard Bridget and Becca both had minor injuries that they were working through but clearly they aren’t bad enough to keep them off the team. Sami Shapiro, who was previously listed as the alternate, injured her foot at camp. Kytra Hunter was also on the nominative roster, but is nowhere to be seen on this list….it seems Martha is going with a more artistic roster! Sooooo pleased for Chelsea Davis! Fingers crossed she isn’t in the dreaded seventh spot (ie: alternate).
Photo from USAG.
NOMINATIVE Worlds Rosters Released - With Videos!
UPDATE: Adding videos! Click the gymnasts’ name to view a video of them. Keep checking back as I continue to edit! Nominative roster list is now COMPLETE! I suspect the mixed groups will change since some countries have withdrawn and others will be sending less gymnasts than initially thought.
Original post: Many countries have released their nominative rosters of the athletes that they are taking to Worlds already, wahoo! This means that the rosters can change, and likely we’ll see some changes, but this should give us a rough idea of who we can expect to see! Mielieta at Keishlieta Gymnastique has started compiling a list, along with the Rotations schedule for the competition, it’s nice to see everyone’s names together!
(Source: gymnastics2010.com)
Part 4 of Who I’d Put On The Worlds Team: Bridget Sloan!
Assuming Bridget has recovered from her nagging ankle injury and bizarre pectoral injury from VISA’s, I’d definitely put her on the team. She’s a strong all-around gymnast that I’d feel comfortable putting up on all 4 events, along with Bross. Bridget has really matured since Beijing, it’s great to see!
Part 2 of Who I’d Put On The Worlds Team: Alicia Sacramone!
Alicia has long been one of the United States’ best vaulters, but she’s also a very strong beam and floor worker, much like her Brestyan’s teammate Aly Raisman. Alicia isn’t doing floor this season, but is worth putting on the team for her beam and vault scores, as well as the leadership quality she has. The other girls look up to her as an Olympian and a tenured and talented gymnast, and I hope to see her on the team going to Rotterdam!
