The United States will be represented by five Junior National Team members later this week in Medellin, Colombia at the 2012 Pan-American Championships. 15 nations will be competing in a field that will include [...more]
It's an Olympic year and new changes to the men's JO program are about to be implemented across the country. Changes include the usual routine tweaks to the compulsory levels (4-7), but the major ones are being unveiled for the optional levels. The key phrases being bandied about are "we're going to slow things down," and "we're going to clean things up." The long-term thinking is not necessarily concern about the American men's program not having [...more]
The 2012 men's JO Nationals concluded with Sunday's event finals. This year's meet, although I did not attend, was truly quite a spectacle, and offered a huge glimpse of the future of our sport. The senior 10s put on quite a show, demonstrating a very high level of skills and execution. This year's field was arguably one of the deepest, if not the deepest, in many years. The junior 10s were very impressive, with many of the top finishers scoring right up there with [...more]
In a much anticipated contest among a deep field of talent, Donnell Whittenburg put together two spectacularly consistent displays of gymnastics over two days to win the 2012 JO Nationals Level 10 (16-18) all-around title. His two-day tally said it all -- 88.80 & 88.75. It had to be that way to overtake first-day leader Trevor Howard by a slim .35 margin. Howard also had a remarkable two-day performance -- 88.90 & 88.30, but [...more]
Nothing like a trip to Reno in mid-April. You never know what kind of weather to expect, but the high level of gymnastics competition definitely met high expectations at the Region 1 Championships. The Region 1 crew (Roger Baldwin, Paul Tickenoff, Tim Klempnauer, et al) put on a great production at the Grand Sierra Resort. The first day featured the [...more]
The 2009 season was a turning point for Jake Martin. After topping out in the top 36 as a Level 9 at the 2008 JO Nationals, the next season became Martin's breakout year. A 7th place AA finish (Level 10/14-15) at the '09 JO Nationals in Cincinnati led to a 3rd place AA that summer at the U.S. Championships, where he also had top 5 placements on four events (FX, PH, VT, HB). Many club gymnastics fans were wondering where this kid came from. Well, after the '09 season, [...more]
Seven-time All-American and Stanford grad Josh Dixon will be competing this weekend at the Houston National Invitational. It will be his first major competition since injuring his achilles tendon shortly after the 2011 NCAA Championships. It was there, [...more]
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]
For the third August in-a-row, talented young gymnastics analyst Matthew Rusk is back to dish out his commentary on 12 American gymnasts who will be battling it out for 6 spots on the 2011 World team. 2012 and the end of the quadrennium are rapidly approaching, and as Rusk points out, the U.S. roster of 2012 Olympic hopefuls is deep. Well, the 2011 World Championships is one step closer to that Olympic dream, and next week's VISA U.S. Championships will be the [...more]
After days of speculation, new Ohio State men's gymnastics coach Rustam Sharipov made it official today that Orlando Metro coach Casimiro Suarez and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Hamm are officially on board as assistant coaches. We don't need to elaborate too much about Hamm's background, of course, but it's assumed that he will also continue his training on the Buckeyes' campus. Most recently, Suarez is well known as the coach for [...more]
