Japan's Kohei Uchimura started the evening with a brilliant 15.625 floor routine, and after he turned in a 14.90 on pommel horse, it became a foregone conclusion that the World title was all his. Uchimura blitzed the field of twenty-four to win his first world men's gymnastics all-around championship with a big score of 91.50. His nearest competitor was Great Britain's Daniel Keatings, who finished a staggering 2.575 points behind. Uchimura hit on all six events in a dominant display of consistency, style and confidence. He was clearly in a world of his own.
Although American Tim McNeill [...more]
After a marathon of three qualifying sessions in London, Japan's Kohei Uchimura was the leading qualifier going into Thursday's all-around finals at the 2009 World Men's Gymnastics Championships. Uchimura was at the top of his game tallying the day's highest score of 90.925. Hitting on all six events, Uchimura had scores of at least 15.00 on every event except for pommel horse (14.75). His floor and high bar routines were outstanding, and his 15.775 was the highest score of the day on floor. Uchimura undoubtedly remains the prohibitive favorite to win the all-around title.
Tim McNeill and Jonathan Horton finished in the top five in the [...more]
In the aftermath of last week's vote in Copenhagen, what is now apparent is a lot of hand-wringing and finger pointing. Chicago got knocked out in the first round, obtaining only 18 votes, which was one fewer than New York City received four years ago in their bid to host the 2012 Olympics. USOC is getting most of the blame in the wake of controversial management changes at the top. Another issue is the amount of money [...more]
The big buzz this week is the upcoming decision as to which city will host the 2016 Olympics. Seems like everybody and their brothers and sisters are descending on Copenhagen in a bit of eleventh-hour lobbying, which should make K Street blush. Representing the gymnastics world are Nastia Liukin, Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner. The four finalists are [...more]
John Orozco added a silver medal on rings to go along with his all-around bronze at the 2009 Junior Japan International Competition. Orozco had qualified on five events to advance to today's event finals. His 14.60 on rings wasn't enough to overtake Japan's Ryuzo Sejima (14.75). Jake Dalton, also a qualifier on five events, failed to match his opening day score of 16.10 on vault and finished in 5th place with a 15.45. Russia's David Belyavskiy scored a 16.10 to take the gold. Overall, the Japanese men [...more]
2009 U.S. Junior all-around champ John Orozco took the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2009 Junior Japan International Competition in Yokohama. World Team member Jake Dalton had the day's top vault score (16.10) and ended up finishing 6th place in the all-around. Orozco finished in the top [...more]
2008 Olympian Joey Hagerty placed fifth in the all-around at the second stage of the Champions Trophy, which was held yesterday in Berlin. Germany's Fabian Hambuchen trounced the field with a winning score of 91.575. The hard-working Hambuchen will next compete at the World Championships in London, where he will be considered one of the [...more]
NCAA head honcho, Myles Brand, sadly succumbed to that cruel killer, pancreatic cancer. Brand was probably most famous for firing Bobby Knight back in 2000 when he was the president of Indiana University. He established most of his legacy at Indiana, where he helped transform the university with his leadership and fundraising skills. His tenure as president of the NCAA was productive as he [...more]
The World Team camp concluded on Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and the official squad was announced. Oklahoma freshman Jake Dalton and former Illinois All-American Wes Haagensen were named as replacements for David Sender and Sasha Artemev. Sender, of course, is now enrolled in vet school at Illinois and Artemev has not quite [...more]
Over the past several months, StickItMedia has really enjoyed interviewing many of the nation's top men's gymnasts. The fun part about it has been to get to know many of the athletes' parents and coaches, and to learn what makes these guys tick. Whether it's a funny story about how a gymnast got into the sport, or the inspiring tales about how a gymnast has battled through injuries, these young men deserve to have [...more]
