Swiss Turners Gymnastics Academy, in West Allis, WI, is one of the top men’s club programs in the country. Their optional program had five boys place in the Top 36 at JO Nationals this past May. One of these young men, Dmitri Belanovski, has been a perennial top all-arounder and Junior National Team member. If the last name sounds familiar, it’s because his father [...more]
2011 was a watershed year for U.S.A. men’s gymnastics. So many notable achievements, and so little time as we close out the year. We have thought long and hard about the year’s top stories, and we finally came up with one that we believe will significantly help shape the U.S. program for many years. This was the year of the youth movement. There were three young gymnasts that really [...more]
Michigan sophomore Sam Mikulak and Oklahoma grad Chris Brooks were chosen to compete at next months Olympic Test Event in London. This is a great opportunity for both gymnasts to add to their resumes. Brooks is coming off his role as a World Team alternate. His stock is still rising. Mikulak, the defending NCAA all-around champion, is nearly fully recovered from [...more]
John Orozco's Wednesday night tweet posed a great question. "To go pro or not to go pro! #indecisive" Should John Orozco turn pro? Aly Raisman and Jordan Wieber made the headlines recently with their announcements of turning pro. Well, let's face it, the harsh reality is that there are far more money-making opportunities for female gymnasts than there are for [...more]
Team USA had a very successful trip to the Pan American Games in Guadalajara. After capturing the bronze medal in the team competition, the American men snagged four more medals in the event finals. Paul Ruggeri won half of those with his gold medal performance on high bar (15.65) and taking the silver on parallel bars (14.825). He won HB by almost a full point. Brandon Wynn added an [...more]
After topping the field in the first of two competition subdivisions at the 2011 Pan American Games, the U.S. men had to wait to see how the other two favorites fared in the nightcap. Alas, Brazil and Puerto Rico ended up with the top two positions on the podium, and the U.S. captured the bronze for the third consecutive time ('03, '07). If not for their dismal performance on [...more]
For the first time since 2003, USA men's gymnastics has a world champion! After licking his wounds from his dreadful high bar fall during the all-around finals, Danell Leyva smoked the field in winning his first world title on parallel bars. It wasn't even a nail biter, as Leyva (15.633) [...more]
All the superlatives have been thought of and said. Not much else to add about Uchimura-san. What a performance, though. It was almost a surreal experience watching an hour and a half of near perfection in the wee hours of the morning on the left coast. How the judges came up with several tenths worth of deductions over the course of six events is way beyond me. If Kohei Uchimura is not the greatest gymnast ever, then [...more]
In a wild finish, which featured Japan's Kohei Uchimura as the team final's last competitor, Team USA had to wait a while until they found out whether they won silver or bronze. The American's had already finished up on the high bar, and the Japanese and Chinese were completing their competition on high bar and floor, respectively. Thanks to anchor man Zou Kai, who cranked out an evening-high 15.60, the Chinese had [...more]
If the qualification round was any indication of how well the U.S. men will fare in team finals, a podium spot is looking pretty good right now. As expected, the Japanese men posted the highest team score (364.291), but the U.S. men were fairly close behind at (361.583). An injured Kohei Uchimura topped the field in the AA (92.256), and the Americans had three gymnasts place in the top 5. John Orozco was an absolute rock throughout the first round, putting up [...more]
