Dmitri moved to the U.S. when he was six-and-a-half years old, and soon took up the sport at age seven.  He and his family have already started the process to become U.S. citizens, and they will achieve that dream in just a couple more years.  After already scoring high enough to qualify for the VISA U.S. Championships the past few seasons, Dmitri will soon be eligible to compete.

Alex was kind enough to provide some comments on his son’s development.  “I never thought my son would be a gymnast because I spent 20 years in gymnastics, and I thought it would be too difficult of a sport for him.  I remember my mom and dad were very worried about me when I was competing, and I didn’t want to become that worried parent.  When you compete, you’re less worried about yourself than your parents or coaches are.  Finally, he came to our gym and was asked to join the gymnastics team, so I agreed, just because I wanted him to become a strong kid.  But then he started to enjoy the sport and started to give me headaches from being worried so much.”

Dmitri has compiled exemplary competition results over the past several seasons.  Here are a few highlights:

• 2011 JO Nationals (Level 10 14/15) – 4th AA, 1st PB, 4th FX, 4th PH
• 2010 JO Nationals (Level 10 14/15) – 7th AA, 3rd PH
• 2009 JO Nationals (Level 9) – 5th AA, 4th PH, 6th PB, 2nd HB
• 2008 JO Nationals (Level 9) – 13th AA, 2nd HB
  

StickItMedia recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dmitri Belanovski, or if you’re on Twitter, @DimaBelanovski:

SiM:  What do you recall from your beginning days in gymnastics?

Dima:  What I recall from my beginning days in gymnastics is how I got started.  I always used to come into the gym to play around, because my parents worked there.  One day, one of the coaches asked me to join his class, so I decided to give it a try and ended up moving up to team and competing.  I also remember winning all around at my very first meet, and I still have the medal hanging up in my room right now.

SiM:  What is the best advice you’ve ever received, and what advice would you give to a young compulsory gymnast?

Dima:  The best advice I have received is to never give up, and that everybody has bad days and bad moments in their life.  This really motivated me to just keep working hard and to move on to the next practice if one practice goes badly.  I would give the same advice to a young compulsory gymnast.  If you can’t get a skill, just keep working at it and it will come to you eventually.

SiM:  Please describe your training experience at Swiss Turners (coaching & teammates).

Dima:  Training at Swiss is a really interesting experience.  We are really close with one another and are almost one big family.  Also, at Swiss we are very competitive with one another.  We always try to find a way to make a contest out of what we’re working on.  I find this very helpful, because we are pushing each other to do our best.  Win or lose, there are never any hard feelings.  At Swiss, we also like to joke around a lot, and we always try to have fun while getting our work done, of course. Another interesting experience is the coaching we have.  We have 3 coaches (Stacy Maloney, Andrei Kan, Belanovski) who all have different experiences with the sport of gymnastics, so you’re always getting a bunch of different corrections, or they all tell you the same correction so you know it’s important to fix.

SiM:  What are your biggest challenges to remaining highly competitive?

Dima:  My biggest challenges are staying healthy and constantly improving on my skills and routines.  I want to keep making my routines more difficult, but also perfecting the skills I have in the routines.

SiM:  What are your most difficult events, and why?

Dima:  The events most difficult for me are high bar and horse.  They are difficult for me because both events are hard to become consistent on.  High bar you have to learn how to catch your release moves consistently, and on horse you just have to learn how to stay on and fight through your routine.

SiM:  Who are your role models, and why?

Dima:  My role model is my dad.  Being my coach, my dad always knows what’s best for me and always knows what to do.  He has helped me so much with my gymnastics career, and has never given up on me.  My dad has taught me a whole lot about never giving up.  He always tells me to try my best, and if I do my job, things will turn out how I want them to turn out.  My dad also inspires me to be the best gymnast I can be, because he went to the 1996 Olympics, so I know that it’s not an impossible goal to go to the Olympics just like he did.

SiM:  What new skills do you plan to add next season?

Dima:  I have added a lot of new skills this year, but a few major ones that I have learned are double layout/whip two and a half on floor, straight body planche on rings, Kas full on vault and yamawakee on high bar.

SiM:  What are your goals for the remainder of your club career?

Dima:  My goals for the remainder of my club career are to keep making National Team, and to get top three in the all around.  Also, keep on making event finals at Nationals and win some events too.

SiM:  Do you plan to compete at the collegiate level?

Dima:  Yes, I do plan to compete at the collegiate level.  It would be an amazing opportunity to compete for any college.

SiM:  Please list three things you would do to help make men’s gymnastics more popular.

Dima:  Three things that I would do to make men’s gymnastics more popular are get it to be televised more on ESPN, make commercials about how great a sport it is and just tell people to come and watch a competition sometime to see if they like it.

SiM:  What are your proudest gymnastics and non-gymnastics achievements?

Dima:  My proudest gymnastics achievements are making the National Team multiple times and winning parallel bars at last years Nationals.  My proudest non-gymnastics achievement is getting good grades in school and always keeping up with my school work.

SiM:  Please describe your best interactions with the Hamm brothers.

Dima:  I’ve known the Hamm brothers since I first started gymnastics.  My best interactions with them was going bowling with them, my dad and Andrei when I was little.  Also, sometimes they would come to my house or Andrei’s house, so it’s nice to be able to talk to them outside of the gym and to see what kind of people they are outside the sport of gymnastics.

SiM:  How has it been to have parents who happen to be gymnastics coaches?

Dima:  I really like having parents that are gymnastics coaches.  They always know how to treat an injury, and they can relate to the problems you are having in the gym.  Also, they always know what you’re talking about, unlike a normal parent that you would have to explain the skills you’re doing at the gym, or to explain the scoring system.

SiM:  What is your favorite thing about walking into the gym every day?

Dima:  My favorite thing about walking into the gym everyday is seeing all my teammates that are like brothers to me and working hard to improve on all my routines.

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Mikulak got things rolling with his remarkable performance winning the 2011 NCAA all-around title as a freshman.  Though not achieved in the same calendar year, Mikulak won all-around titles at the 2010 JO Nationals (May), 2010 VISA U.S. Championships (August), and his NCAA title came in April 2011.  This was an historic grand slam!  All was going gangbusters for him, but a mishap on floor at last July’s Puerto Rico Cup resulted in two fractured ankles.  This prevented him from taking a crack at a potential Senior Division all-around title at VISAs and a berth on the World Team.  He is almost fully recovered, and will represent the U.S. at next month’s Olympic Test Event in London.  Mikulak most assuredly has a legitimate shot at making the ’12 Olympic Team.  ***1/1 Update***  Due to a “slight” wrist injury, Mikulak was forced to drop out of the Test Event.

After decisively winning his first VISA all-around title, Danell Leyva capped off his big break-out year with a World Championship on parallel bars.  Leyva was also in the running for an all-around medal and placed in the top 10.  Leyva is arguably the American men’s anchor, and is a shoo-in for a spot on the Olympic Team.  He continues to improve on floor, pommel horse, rings and vault.  Undoubtedly, Leyva is an Olympic medal contender on parallel bars and high bar.

After injuring his achilles tendon at the 2010 VISAs, John Orozco spent the rest of 2010 and most of 2011 rehabbing.  A big part of his recovery was spent at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, where he now trains, and this prepared him for his season debut at the Japan Cup in early July.  What thrilled his fans was that he transformed himself into a world-class talent on pommel horse… He scored a 15.35!  Though not fully recovered and competing only on four events, he put on quite a show and put up great numbers on those events, easily tracking 90+ if he had competed six.  Then it was on to VISAs, where he dazzled by placing 3rd behind Leyva and Jonathan Horton.  His second day score of 91.30 tied Leyva for the highest score for that day.  He was thus rewarded with a spot on the World Team, where he overwhelmingly justified his selection by placing 5th in the world and earned a spot in the event finals on high bar.  Orozco is yet another young gymnast virtually assured of an Olympic Team spot.

Featuring these three youngsters should by no means be perceived as a slight on any other of America’s fine young talent, nor any of our older veterans.  There are too many to list here, but you all know who they are.  But Mikulak (19), Leyva (20) and Orozco (19) probably best represent the emerging renaissance in U.S. men’s gymnastics.  Our budding talent pipeline is swelling, which bodes very well for 2012.  It’s a crying shame we’ll only be able to send five athletes to London. Yes, the U.S. men’s program is right on target.  As for 2016, it’s looking downright scary!

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Adrian de los Angeles followed up his JO Nationals title with yet another one in St. Paul.  De los Angeles actually competed in the day’s early session and had to wait several hours to find out if his second-day score (84.65) held up.  Going into the last event in the evening session, Jonathan Deaton, Jesse Glenn, Jake Martin and Max Mayr each had a great shot of overtaking de los Angeles for the title.  Deaton came the closest as he notched a brilliant 14.85 FX routine to come within a tenth of a point of tying.  It was a very exciting finish, as the Junior (16-18) championship could have been won by any of these five.  Congrats to SCATS’ Coach Grigor Chalikyan for having two gymnasts finish in the top three, and he had a third gymnast, Kanji Oyama, place 12th.

Sean Melton also backed up his JO Nationals title by easily outlasting an impressive young field in the 14-15 division.  Additionally, Melton won event titles on PH, SR and PB.  In somewhat of a repeat of JOs, Timmy Wang, Akash Modi and Marvin Kimble again placed in the top 5.  Wang and Modi won event titles on HB and FX, respectively.  Melton has two years of junior eligibility left, and will definitely be one of the favorites to win national titles next year in the 16-18 division.

This was a very memorable U.S. Championship, especially with so much at stake.  The Olympics are less than a year away, and we’re going to have new blood representing the U.S. at the World Championships in Tokyo.  The selection process over the next several months will be agonizing, and the competition for the scant five Olympic slots will be incredibly fierce.  The future for U.S. men’s gymnastics is very encouraging.

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Another fun story at the meet was John Orozco’s 4th place finish (89.20).  Orozco had three top 5 event placements on SR (15.15), PB (15.60) and HB (15.00).  He would have added another if not for a slight faltering on PH (13.95-7th).  As his ankle continues to heal, his floor and vault scores will improve, but his value on the other four events makes many people believe that the young Bronx Bomber will be taking a trip to Tokyo in October.

Steven Legendre tallied big numbers on floor (15.95) and vault (16.70), but it was his scores on PH (13.40), SR (14.50) and HB (14.60) that earned him 3rd place on the leader board (89.40).  A repeat performance like that on Friday night should punch his ticket to Tokyo.  Legendre’s former Oklahoma teammate Chris Brooks was impressive (89.15-5th), and he garnered top 5 finishes on PB (15.70) and HB (15.50).  Yet another teammate, Alex Naddour, made the world team selection committee take notice with his 7th place AA finish (87.55) and the day’s top PH score (15.40).  All told, five gymnasts in the top 10 have connections to the Oklahoma program (Horton, Legendre, Brooks, Naddour and Jake Dalton).

Many fans were very happy, if not surprised, to find Jonathan Deaton (83.45) at the top of the heap in the Junior Men’s 16-18 division.  Deaton’s 14.60 on FX was enough to give him a half-tenth of a point lead over Jake Martin.  In fact, only a tenth of a point separates Deaton from 3rd place holder Jesse Glenn.  In 4th place, Max Mayr (82.55) cranked out the top scores on SR (14.20) and PB (14.50).  2011 JO Nationals champ Adrian de los Angeles (81.95) occupies the 5th position.  This is still a horse race, with each of the top 5 gymnasts still in contention for the AA title.

Meanwhile, in the 14-15 division, the machine from Orlando, Sean Melton, posted five top 5 event scores to take the top AA spot (83.00).  Timmy Wang is the leader on two events (PB-14.50 & HB-13.55) and sits in 2nd place (82.55).  Akash Modi (81.35), Marvin Kimble (80.95) and Hunter Justus (79.05) round out the rest of the top 5 all-arounders.  While the top 5 in this division is not quite as packed as the 16-18 group, the guys chasing Melton have their work cut out for them.  With Orlando Metro’s Coach Cas Suarez leaving for a new coaching job next month at Ohio State, it will be interesting to find out whether or not Melton and Martin will stay put or leave for another gym.  Rumors are flying, but nothing has been announced.

It’s really a bummer that I wasn’t able to make the trip to St. Paul to watch all this great gymnastics, but I’m proud to say that I have something better to do.  My wife gave birth to our first daughter late Sunday night, and I’m very busy doing chores and welcoming Lia Giselle to our household.  Nancy and Lia were released earlier today, and both are doing great!  Don’t know if Lia will be a gymnast, but we’ll certainly provide her with every opportunity!  Wish I could write more, but this is about all I have time to scribble.  Friday’s finale is going to be exciting!

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The action begins on Wednesday (8/17) with the men’s junior and senior competition.  The men’s senior finals will take place on Friday (8/19).  While Rusk focuses on the seniors, the junior competition is going to be wide open in both age groups (16-18 & 14-15).  The AA winners from May’s JO Nationals, Adrian de los Angeles and Sean Melton, are arguably the favorites to take home U.S. AA titles, but they will have plenty of challenges from the likes of Jake Martin, Stacey Ervin, Jesse Glenn, Akash Modi and Marvin Kimble.  Good luck to all the guys.  Half the battle is the honor of even qualifying for this exclusive elite event.  Up for grabs are six coveted World Team spots and a trip to Tokyo in October.  Given that only five gymnasts will be tabbed for the ’12 Olympic Team, this week’s U.S. Championships are an especially important part of the selection process.

C.J. Maestas (SR video ’11 Winter Cup)

Overview: C.J. Maestas’s story is begging for an NBC fluff piece. Born in Corrales, New Mexico, Maestas admitted in a USA Gymnastics interview details of his stormy relationship with his parents—at one point relations were so strained that he lived away from home. He also witnessed several of his high school classmates dropping out and selling drugs. A move to the Olympic Training Center prompted turned Maestas into a “changed man,” as he put it, and he can now say he’s a changed gymnast, too. Maestas was the bronze medalist in the all-around at the 2011 Winter Cup and won gold on rings. He was later assigned to the Cottbus Cup in Germany, where he was just shy of a rings medal finishing 4th. Maestas would have been picked for Japan Cup, but opted to take a college prep class at the University of Illinois, where he will be entering as a freshman in the fall. Just the fact that Maestas is attending college is remarkable considering that he had a 0.8 GPA prior to his senior year in high school. Maestas’s work ethic over the last year academically has enabled him to attend U of I, but gymnastically his arduous training regimen at the OTC could pay off with a plane ticket to Tokyo in October.

Pros: Maestas might have a fairly unusual collection of strong events: PH, SR, and (potentially) VT, but it works for this team. Victorious on still rings at Winter Cup, Maestas is rivaled on the apparatus only by Jonathan Horton and Brandon Wynn in the United States, but unlike either Horton or Wynn, Maestas can produce decent work on pommels. Maestas broke 14 on horse at the Cottbus Cup (an event notorious for tight judging) this year and the Pacific Rim Championships last year (14.35), where he won the junior title on the apparatus. What could prove vital to Maestas’s chances, however, is a vault he has never competed before. Back in May, Anne Phillips of Gymnastike interviewed Maestas, who stated that he had a Tsuk double pike in the works and was confident he would be ready to perform it at Nationals. Only two contenders for the team—Jake Dalton and Steven Legendre—have landed a 7.0 vault in competition, and since Dalton and Legendre’s strengths match up, it is probable that only one will go. This means two vault holes still need to be filled, and a consistent Tsuk double pike for Maestas does just that. Even if Wynn gets a Dragalescu of his own—and his has only been seen trained into a pit—Maestas has the distinct advantage on pommels which could clinch his spot on the team, particularly if Dalton’s gymnastics is on call at Nationals.

Cons: Being that both men are ring workers, C.J Maestas and Brandon Wynn could very well be fighting for the same spot, and a strong, late charge for the team from Wynn could be what keeps Maestas off. Brandon Wynn may have been counted out earlier in the year when he was sidelined with injury, but a recent performance at the Puerto Rico Cup puts him firmly in the mix once again. Although both excel on rings, Wynn is the superior worker of the event, and this is critical because this is Maestas’s strongest and most helpful set to the United States. Wynn has a 0.2 advantage in start value on rings internationally (6.9 vs. 6.7), and, although scores across events aren’t comparable, Maestas’s top score on rings internationally is a 15.425 which Wynn just outscored by a half a point in Puerto Rico. Wynn can’t swing pommels, but the committee can ignore Maestas’s comparative abilities there if they trust
Leyva to do the event in TF, which is certainly possible with both men having similar scoring potential on the apparatus. A team with Dalton and Wynn might not be so bad after all. Whoever would do pommels in prelims would likely have his score dropped, and even in the event that does not happen, the United States had almost seven points worth of breathing room to make team finals in Rotterdam. At this point, Maestas’s 7.0 vault is no more likely to materialize than Wynn’s, as neither has shown these vaults in competition. In comparison to Wynn, however, and many contenders in this field, Maestas lacks experience and has only competed in a team situation as a junior.

Outlook: Japan Cup was the crème de la crème of the summer events, and the fact that Maestas would have been picked for the event is a testament to USAG’s interest in him. To what level USAG is interested in him for the World team relies heavily on his performance at Nationals because he doesn’t have many domestic and international competition results to show for. Since Maestas hasn’t ever competed his Tsuk double pike, and his last intentions to do so were stated over two months ago, his case for a World team depends heavily on rings with pommel aiding him to a degree. If none of Horton, Maestas, or Wynn show up with a 7.0 vault at Nationals—and this most definitely can happen–the case for naming both Dalton and Legendre is helped considerably. Maestas, Wynn, and all of the United States’ good pommel workers would suddenly be fighting for one spot, but Maestas would be the least affected by a development such as this because he has a great rings set and is adequate enough on pommel. Maestas has been talked about as a strong contender for the World team all year long, but his mystery vault, inconsistency on pommels (he scored in the low 13’s both days at Winter Cup), and lower D-score on rings (in comparison to Wynn’s) make him a bubble athlete, albeit a more notable one than most. His status as a World team member and overall success at the Visa Championships depends not only on his own performance but on others’ as well.

Tim McNeill (PH video ’09 U.S. Championships)

Overview: Few expected McNeill to even be competing in St. Paul, let alone making a competitive return to gymnastics at all. Failing to make the cut for the 2008 Olympic team, McNeill returned with a vengeance the following year with a surprise silver medal in the all-around at the Visa Championships. Although McNeill brought home no medals from the World Championships later that year, he was the top American finisher in the all-around during both prelims and finals. He would also qualify to the pommel horse final at those Championships, finishing 5th. His creditable gymnastics on pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars were sure to put him in contention for World and Olympic teams to come, but last year McNeill only competed once (at the Moscow World Cup). At first, his back injuries were responsible for his competitive absences, but just prior to Visas, the head of the Cal Berkeley gymnastics team, Barry Weiner, resigned and McNeill was offered the job and accepted it during a traumatic time, where rumors were circling about over the program’s potential demise. Alas, said demise would come, but just temporarily. Upon the announcement of the program’s unexpected reinstatement, many thought McNeill was done for good. Yet this is not so, apparently, as McNeill returns from over a year away at the 2011 Visa Championships.

Pros: McNeill has the experience of performing well at a World Championships and of being scored well, too, due to his very polished lines and lack of a terrible event. Why McNeill most comes into play for the selection process of any team is due to his strengths on two events, still rings and (especially) pommel horse, which are gold in any committee member’s eyes. Much has been made of the United States’ weakness on pommel, but it’s not because the country doesn’t have capable pommel workers, it’s that many of said capable pommel workers aren’t going produce team final worthy sets elsewhere. McNeill is a rarity amongst the U.S. men in that he can do both pommel and rings in a team final situation and even parallel bars if need be. The few men who would be looking to contribute on both events have their own foibles. Chris Cameron made the team last year, specifically for those two events, but with a disastrous performance at last year’s Worlds USAG is likely to steer away from naming him to any major teams in the future. C.J. Maestas has been inconsistent on pommel, and McNeill can score higher than Maestas by over a full point on the apparatus even with Maestas hitting. Long considered a “pommel specialist,” McNeill proved his worth as an all-arounder in 2009 with a 7th place finish in the final and an even more formidable 3rd in prelims.

Cons: McNeill’s return to competition truly came out of nowhere—he even bypassed the National Qualifier and instead opted to have Visa Championships, a big meet with plenty on the line, to be his first competition back. Although McNeill is said to be in decent shape, he is not in the athletic form to likely be a strong contender for the team. Yet, never mind what athletic form he is currently in. Returning to competition after a 15-month absence is a challenge for even the most seasoned of competitors, and getting assimilated to competition atmosphere after such an extended period away will be a challenge for McNeill. Although strong on parallel bars, the event gives him little advantage toward making the World team because the locks—Horton, Leyva, and Orozco—give the United States a strong lineup on the apparatus already. For the final couple spots on the team, which is what McNeill will be contending for, he can be eclipsed by Maestas, a far stronger ring worker, and pommel workers such as Ishino, Naddour, or even Daniel Ribeiro who have been out competing frequently in NCAA competition while McNeill has been away.

Outlook: McNeill’s comeback has been the unexpected pre-Visas story, but it will be exciting to see him back, regardless if he is in the form to make the World team or not. The apparent long term goal for McNeill is the Olympics, and this competition can be the first stepping stone toward that. However, if McNeill has managed to get his strongest events back—even if he isn’t at his 2009 level as an all-arounder—there could be a case made for him. McNeill’s strong work on pommel, rings, and parallel bars, high scoring potential overseas, and international experience make him ideal for a spot on this year’s team, and there’s no doubt he would be on the team if he were 100%.  Alas, he isn’t currently said to be, and his readiness and worth to the team have to be proven purely on this one competition, a daunting challenge even for a veteran competitor.

Alex Naddour (PH video 2011 NCAA Championships)

Overview: Having just completed his sophomore year at the University of Oklahoma, Naddour enters these Visa Championships as a bubble athlete attempting to get one of the last spots on the World team. While Naddour did the same last year and failed, he does once again put forth a solid bid to become a World team member, a critical bid as he isn’t a likely contender to cut it for next year’s Olympic team of five members. Naddour was pommel horse champion at both Winter Cup and NCAAs last year, but a fall on the event during night one of Visa Championships ended his chances for making the team. However, Naddour has been trying to make his case as an all-arounder and has begun to do so this year. He was 4th AA at Winter Cup and 3rd AA at the NCAA Championships. Naddour was also assigned to two international competitions—the Stella Zakharova Cup and the Japan Cup—and he performed admirably at both, even beating Dalton and Legendre at the Zakharova Cup to win the bronze in the all-around.

Pros: A precarious event such as pommel horse means that committee is not only looking for scoring potential on the apparatus, but also consistency, and Naddour mostly satisfies both criteria. Naddour defended his pommel title at NCAAs, becoming the first athlete in OU’s history to defend a pommel horse title, and he would later go on to post a formidable 15.4 during the team finals at the Japan Cup. The 15.4 would pay a big contribution into the United States’ PH total of 45.15, the highest total recorded by any team during the competition on what is usually team USA’s weakest event. The Martha Karolyi in men’s gymnastics, Kevin Mazeika, emphatically expressed how excited he was over this result in a recent USA Gymnastics media conference call. Yet, Naddour didn’t need a strong pommel set to defeat both Dalton and Legendre at the Stella Zakharova Cup, as he only marked a 13.4 there and still medaled. Naddour has proven some worth on floor—he marked a 15.15 during day two of Winter Cup and has a career high of 15.45 in NCAA competition—and he also showed a 6.6 vault at NCAAs (which he only competed during night one of 2010 Visa Championships) which scored an excellent 16.25. Naddour’s advantage over other great pommel workers such as Ishino, McNeill, Riberio, is that he has been competing, as recent international assignments indicate USA Gymnastics’ interest in him.

Cons: Specialists have almost an added pressure at this event because there is less room for error. This is not to say that Naddour is necessarily a true “specialist”—he does do six events and has improved as an all-arounder over the past year—but USAG wasn’t willing to forgive even one fall on pommel from
him last year. His other events don’t matter so much in terms of consistency, even though he would like to hit them, but pommel horse is his only road to the team. His decent all-around ability does come in handy in the event he does hit PH at Nationals, however, because that gives the National Team Staff more options for lineups in prelims and more back-up routines if an athlete is to go down during a competition. USA Gymnastics seems to be realizing this by giving Naddour exposure internationally, but then his competition for these spots in terms of pommel specialists hasn’t been too stiff: Ishino wasn’t 100% at NCAAs (and still isn’t), McNeill was thought to have retired, and Ribeiro (like McNeill) isn’t even on the National team. Regardless, Naddour has to hit two great pommel sets at Nationals and hope that is enough to attain a plane ticket to Tokyo.

John Orozco (PH/PB video 2011 Japan Cup)

Overview: John Orozco is only 18, coming off an injury, and hasn’t competed all-around in a year, yet people are talking about him becoming the youngest male gymnast to win the national all-around title since Tim Ryan in 1989. Hailing from the Bronx, Orozco won three consecutive all-around titles on the junior level from 2007-2009, and, in 2009, he also took five out of the six individual event titles (a fall on vault prevented him from sweeping). High expectations were bestowed upon Orozco as a senior, so much so that he was featured in a Sports Illustrated as one of 16 up-and-coming athletes, a rare feat for a male gymnast. Yet, everything would suddenly come crashing down when a short landing on a Yurchenko double full at last year’s Visa Championships caused Orozco to sustain a torn Achilles.  Many doubted Orozco’s incredible talent would come to fruition to make World and Olympic teams, but at the National Team camp in June, Orozco was said to have convinced doubters on the coaching staff that he could vie for a ticket to London next year. At the Japan Cup, everybody was convinced.

Pros: Orozco is now a lock for the World team—provided he doesn’t bomb at Visa Championships– just based off that one meet, Japan Cup, in which he contributed heavily to the United States’ silver medal. At the event, Orozco demonstrated phenomenal improvement on pommel horse (15.35) and high bar (15.55), and creditable work on rings (14.45) and parallel bars (14.95). While Orozco has not done floor and vault since his injury, he only needed an average of 14.85 on the two events to achieve a total of 90 (coupled with those other scores), and vault’s the highest scoring event in men’s gymnastics. Orozco is a quiet athlete but a strong-willed one, as coming back full force from an Achilles injury in under a year a testament to his work ethic and competitive drive. Orozco typically performs clean gymnastics along with some big skills—a Liukin on high bar (which is superior to Leyva’s) chief among them. Entering this competition, many are expecting the Horton vs. Leyva show again and Orozco probably has less pressure and expectations to win than the other two. Even if people were expecting him to vie for the title, though, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Orozco was the favorite for junior national titles year after year after year and decimated the field every time out.

Cons: Having the goods on floor and vault to challenge Horton and Leyva will be a challenge: floor because it is the event with the most pounding on his foot and vault because it is arguably his weakest apparatus. Orozco only competed a Yurchenko double at last year’s Visa Championships, which he fell on and sustained his injury, and Leyva’s new Tsuk 2 ½ and Horton’s potential Dragalescu (or even plain handspring double front) should outscore Orozco on this event by several tenths. Horton and Leyva should benefit more from the bonus system than Orozco, and Horton could make up his deficit on pommel by outscoring Orozco on as many as five apparatus in St. Paul. Orozco’s past performances of delivering on the junior level as the favorite can’t be trusted to foreshadow what is to come in senior competitions, especially because, unlike Horton and Leyva, he doesn’t have recent experience competing in the all-around.

Outlook: Orozco is somewhat of the wild card contender for the National title, as his current abilities on floor and vault, the most difficult events to gain back after an Achilles tear, are unknown. If Horton, Leyva, and Orozco have the meets of their lives in St. Paul, Orozco will likely finish third, but relying on mistakes for a National title isn’t as bad as it sounds as Horton and Leyva are perfectly capable of making them. Medaling in the all-around is more likely than winning for Jon Orozco at this point (although winning is possible) and that might be a good thing. Orozco is a noted perfectionist, an athlete who didn’t feel he “did great” at the 2009 Visa Championships because he fell on his handspring double full vault during the junior competition (saying this in spite of winning every other event). Just missing a National title could motivate Orozco even more than if he were to win in St. Paul, as it would further fire him up to produce his best gymnastics at the Worlds in Tokyo and of course throughout the following year. Winning at just 18 years old would place a great deal of pressure on Orozco’s shoulders, but he is the type of athlete who could prove to handle that pressure better than most. It is a true testament to Orozco’s resolute discipline in his comeback, that at Japan Cup he suddenly proved what he couldn’t pre-injury: he is a contender, and a formidable one to boot, to earn a plane ticket to London less than a year from now.

Paul Ruggeri (FX video 2010 Toyota Cup)

Overview: Paul Ruggeri, a gymnast at the University of Illinois, was in the hunt for a World team slot last year but an inconsistent Visa Championships—true to the story of his entire career—relegated him to alternate. Missing the World team wasn’t ideal for Ruggeri, who probably had his greatest shot to make a major team last year, but, as he stated in a recent Gymnastike interview, it did help in other ways. Ruggeri upgraded floor, parallel bars, and high bar between Visas and Worlds even though he never set foot on the equipment in Rotterdam. He would do so, however, at the Toyota Cup, and the results would prove a career breakthrough of sorts. Ruggeri won bronze on high bar and floor, in addition to placing 4th on vault and 5th on parallel bars. Yet, such success was fleeting. Ruggeri injured his ankle on vault at the Winter Cup and has been out of competition since. Last year was supposed to be Ruggeri’s final year of NCAA eligibility, but due to his injury, he has been granted one more year of competition.

Pros: Long doubted for his ability to deliver in pressure situations, Ruggeri’s performance at the Toyota Cup was a revelation. Ruggeri hit all of his sets and medaled on two events against some tough fields: he bested Thomas Bouhail on floor, Yang Hak Seon on vault, and came within 0.125 of matching Kohei Uchimura on high bar. Ruggeri can do four events in team final, has competed a 6.8 vault (a RO-1/2 on-front double full) and is training a 7.2 HB set (which would go up to 7.5 at Visas with bonus). Despite being out of competition for six months, the World alternate from last year is said to be in good form and affirmed as much to Gymnastike, saying he should be “ready” by Visa’s. Ruggeri has earned heady praise from Illinois coach Justin Spring, who claimed that “Paul is truly irreplaceable as an athlete” back in February after the ankle injury occurred. A clean, powerful gymnast, especially for his height of 5’8’’, Ruggeri is Illinois’s top gymnast (although perhaps he won’t be for the coming year), and having him back in the game for another season boosts Illinois’s chances for the 2012 NCAA title considerably.

Cons: Ruggeri’s potential contributions to the World team are not what the United States most needs and basically make him into the form of another Chris Brooks. This is not to say they are absolutely similar gymnasts: Brooks has a very different gymnastics “look”—more powerful, less polished, but even Brooks, who doesn’t have a great chance to make the team, has proven himself a better competitor than Ruggeri and bested him for a spot on last year’s World team because of that. What the United States needs are great pommel and ring workers; floor is not necessarily the issue. If an additional floor specialist is to be taken, one of Dalton/Legendre is likely to be it because either Dalton or Legendre would have more scoring potential on floor and a higher start value on vault than Ruggeri, not to mention neither athlete is coming back from an injury or coming back to competition after a six month layoff. Orozco’s return to competition has put forth an insurmountable roadblock for Ruggeri to make the team, as now parallel bars and high bar are covered. Ruggeri could perhaps outscore Orozco on high bar, but it doesn’t matter, as Orozco just broke 15 easily at Japan Cup on horse, an apparatus which Ruggeri is deplorable on.

Outlook: It isn’t necessarily the fact that Ruggeri, or Brooks, for that matter, is less deserving of a World team spot than any of the bubble athletes who will take the last few spots. Athlete’s chances under three-up/three-count almost depend on the luck of the draw as to which events the team needs to fill at any given time. Whether Ruggeri would have had more success in a 6-6-5 format is debatable, however, as two weak events have always held him back in the all-around: his top Visa Championships AA finish is 8th. Yet, that is beside the point. The strengths of Dalton, Horton, Leyva, and Orozco, are such that Ruggeri could only fit on a team for floor and vault, and for reasons noted above that would be unlikely even if he wasn’t returning from injury. Ruggeri is a great gymnast on four events—and has proven that he is well-received internationally—but he is good on events the United States doesn’t need him to be good on. Adding Ruggeri’s four current sets to a 15+ on pommel would make him a lock for any team; even if he were to still be awful on pommel but produce a TF worthy rings set he would be ideal. Unfortunately for Ruggeri, the four events as is aren’t going to be good enough, this year or next.

Brandon Wynn (SR video 2010 U.S. Championships)

Overview: Brandon Wynn’s career has been stockpiled with great still rings results—it’s his specialty event, after all. He has won two NCAA titles, a National title, a Winter Cup title, and recently the gold at the Puerto Rico Cup on the event. Yet, it wasn’t until last year when this rings specialist began proving himself as an all-arounder, and while Wynn will never be able to fully prove he is one thanks to the dreaded pommels, he did place 3rd AA in spite of that event at last year’s Visa Championships. He would be selected to compete at his first World Championships in Rotterdam last fall, and Wynn performed admirably there in spite of not making the rings final or bringing home a team medal. Wynn recently wrapped up his career at Ohio State University with a top-five finish in the all-around his last NCAA’s, and a recent competition at the Puerto Rico Cup showed Wynn scoring an impressive 15.925 on rings and placing second in the all-around, results that put him very much in the mix for one of the last spots on the team.

Pros: Wynn is a cool, reliable competitor; likewise, rings is the most reliable event and the one which Wynn contributes most to the team. Aside from rings, however, he is creditable on parallel bars (6.5 start value) and high bar, has a strong handspring double front, and was trusted compete floor in team finals last year. Kevin Mazeika recently stated that “We’re going to see more guys throwing vaults with a difficulty of 7.0 than we’ve ever had before.” Wynn’s Dragalescu is very much in question—he hasn’t even competed it nor publicly stated he will do it in St. Paul—but Mazeika’s statement implies that many of the athletes with aspirations of competing 7.0 vaults will do them in St. Paul, and this is applicable to Wynn. His main competitor for a spot, C.J. Maestas, will likely have a more difficult time getting a 7.0 vault than Wynn, as Wynn has a handspring double front, and a good one, that he needs to tack on an extra ½ twist to. Maestas’s plans for a Tsuk double pike are rather bizarre when he was last doing a vault of a completely different style at Winter Cup, a Yurchenko double full, and one of easier difficulty (6.2 D-score). Yet the case of Maestas vs. Wynn will come down to rings, where Wynn has (based on what the two have shown in competition) a two tenths advantage in start value.

Cons: It would be relatively bold of USAG to name a team with both Dalton and Wynn because of their collective inability to produce as much as a mediocre score on pommel. At this point, Dalton would get the ticket before Wynn because Dalton massively contributes on two events, whereas Wynn only on one. Wynn would have a much clearer shot at the team if Legendre were named instead of Dalton, but Wynn’s reliance on Dalton faltering is doubtful to go anywhere considering that Dalton has been a machine on floor and vault all year long. An extra 0.2 in start value on rings over Maestas might not
mean much; in fact, even this “advantage” is assuming Maestas hasn’t upgraded since his last appearance at Cottbus five months ago. Wynn’s team final score at last year’s Worlds on rings was a 15.533, a good mark, but not a mark that Maestas can’t achieve. While Wynn scored several tenths higher at the Puerto Rico Cup, scoring standards were likely more lenient there than at a World Championship. The level of USA Gymnastics’ interest in Wynn at the moment is ambiguous: while he was picked for the Puerto Rico Cup, Wynn was overlooked for a spot on the Japan Cup even after Maestas withdrew his name from consideration.

Outlook: While having a 7.0 vault will help, Wynn’s chances actually depend more on other’s performances at this event than his own. Wynn is typically consistent and will make a case for the team with that consistency, but how Dalton, Ishino, Legendre, Maestas, McNeill, and Naddour compete decides whether Wynn leaves St. Paul as a team member, alternate, or neither. The bottom line is that Wynn wants Steven Legendre to perform well, well enough to be considered over Dalton anyway. Legendre isn’t great on pommels, but he’s decent enough to be trusted in prelims, thus making Wynn’s weakness on the event a non-issue. An exception to this can be made if Wynn has a 7.0 vault and Horton and Maestas don’t, but that’s a big if and there’s no way to claim that Wynn will have a 7.0 vault before these other two athletes (or if he will even have it at all). With Wynn’s biggest ticket to the team being rings, an event he will surely hit both days at Nationals, his chances are not just in the hands of the committee, but on other athletes competing alongside him.

All-Around Predictions

Gold: Danell Leyva
Silver: Jonathan Horton
Bronze: Jon Orozco

2011 World Team Predictions

Jake Dalton
Danell Leyva
Jonathan Horton
C.J. Maestas
Alex Naddour
Jon Orozco
Alternate: Glen Ishino

Lineups (Athletes bolded compete apparatus in TF)

FX—Leyva, Horton, Dalton, Naddour, Orozco
PH—Leyva, Orozco, Naddour, Horton, Maestas
SR—Orozco, Horton, Maestas, Dalton, Leyva
VT—Maestas, Horton, Dalton, Leyva, Orozco
PB—Dalton, Horton, Leyva, Naddour, Orozco
HB—Orozco, Horton, Leyva, Dalton, Maestas

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Part 1 of this series will put the spotlight on Chris Brooks, Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton, Glen Ishino, Steven Legendre and Danell Leyva.  The 2011 VISA U.S. Championships will take place next week (August 17-20) in St. Paul, MN.  According to the USAG website, the second day of the men’s competition (Friday, August 19) will be shown live on Universal Sports, along with an on-demand webcast on UniversalSports.com .  A delayed broadcast on NBC will air on Sunday, August 21 from 2:30-4:00pm EDT.  We hope you enjoy Matthew Rusk’s detailed analysis.

By Matthew Rusk

Each top men’s gymnastics team in the world has something to lay claim to.  China has, since a shockingly poor outing at the Athens Olympics, possessed the finest men’s artistic gymnastics team in the world.  Japan’s creditable team is catapulted by Kohei Uchimura, the Michael Phelps of gymnastics.  The all-around prowess of Germany’s trio of Philipp Boy, Fabian Hambuechen, and Marcel Nguyen is the envy of any team heading into a more all-around focused team makeup of five members next year.  Great Britain, a nation which didn’t even qualify a full team to Beijing, has made dramatic strides to become a dark horse contender for team medals this year and next.  Yet no country can quite claim to foster the sheer depth of the United States.  There are around a dozen athletes worth considering for the World squad this year.  Some stand far greater chances than others, but the internal competition is everywhere.  World and Olympic teams represent the finest product the team has to offer in accordance with the demands of the 6-3-3/5-3-3 lineups.  Although teams can only accommodate the best, the depth presented in the U.S. ranks can push those fortunate athletes who are successful to a level of skill they never thought possible.

As always, the Visa Championships are responsible for two things:  deciding a World team and crowning the best male gymnast in the country.  Competition for the AA title has grown into an unexpectedly hot race this year.  Few could have conceived Jonathan Horton not making a “three-peat” when he became the first man since Paul Hamm to win a World Championship AA medal back in October.  Despite a thumb injury, he would be triumphant once again at the American Cup in Jacksonville, where he took home his third American Cup trophy.  Yet two back-to-back competitions—the Glasgow World Cup and the Japan Cup—have been disastrous for the Olympic silver medalist and call into question his preparation for these Championships.  Much was made of Horton’s rivalry at last year’s Nationals with Danell Leyva, but Leyva, who finished over two points behind Horton, wasn’t at the level to challenge the reigning Champion.  This year he is, actually to the point of perhaps being considered the favorite.  Vast improvements on floor and vault, decent pommels, commendable parallel bars, and storied high bar work make the 19-year-old Leyva every bit a challenger to even a peaked Horton.  Yet, August 19th could come and go and neither man would be the winner:  both athletes could be upstaged by an even younger upstart.  John Orozco, featured in a Sports Illustrated article prior to tearing his Achilles at Nationals last year, is 18 years old and yet considered a dark horse contender in the all-around after an auspicious return to competition at the Japan Cup.  Orozco only competed four events in Japan—opting to sit out floor and vault—but those four events were by themselves making an assured case to name Orozco to the World team.  Floor and vault are big mysteries as those are the most worrisome events given his injury, but strong work on those coupled with the great routines he has shown elsewhere will suddenly put him in the hunt.

Amidst all of the strong contenders for the World team there will be one notable absence.  Paul Hamm, who was expected by many to make a formidable comeback effort, has been stalled by a multitude of injuries that will likely keep him out of competition until the Winter Cup in February 2012.  Hamm’s Olympic comeback will suddenly be in line with how he returned in 2008–during the Olympic year.  This was not the plan, but it is the only plan at this point that can work.  Hamm is an Olympic Champion, but that controversial victory in Athens was seven years ago.  Hamm will be 29-years-old in London, an age that is tempting to assume a specialist role.  Hamm back as the all-arounder he has proven to be, will get a spot in London, but for now he hasn’t proven anything in this comeback.  However, there is no need to worry, as the team will be just fine without Hamm.  The talent, depth, and internal competition are all there.  The team may not have medaled last year, but fourth is far better than the infamous 13th place of Aarhus.  Paul Hamm not being in the running to help team USA could be a blessing in disguise.  The team’s confidence and reputation gained from medaling without the help of Hamm is vital.  The United States can then prove they are not the Paul Hamm show, not the doormats for the women’s team, and not the lucky benefactors of other nations’ misfortune, but instead a world class team ready to bring home medals.

Chris Brooks (HB video from ’10 VISAs)

Overview: Tim Daggett has always voiced in his commentary how talented an athlete Chris Brooks is, while on the same token explaining how many injuries have derailed his career.  Prior to last year’s Visa Championships, Brooks injured his left ankle, his “good” ankle, for the silliest of reasons:  he tripped on a curb.  He ambitiously competed AA and it paid off:  he was finally named to his first World team at the age of 23.  Although his team failed to medal, Brooks competed well throughout the event and surprisingly qualified to the event finals on high bar instead of Jonathan Horton.  Brooks had surgery on both of his ankles following the event and thus withdrew from the Winter Cup, and, true to form, another injury had yet to come.  Brooks sustained an arm injury sometime this year, and his overall health (and recovery from his foot injuries) entering Nationals is unknown but dubious.

Pros: Brooks’s gymnastics is notable in that he mixes the power necessary for floor and vault and the dynamic swing required for parallel bars and high bar.  Brooks has trained a Dragalescu vault and is capable of breaking 15’s on floor and parallel bars, but his true forte comes on high bar, which was praised by the BBC commentators at Worlds for its originality (the set includes a Yamawaki to Gienger and a Tkatchev ½ to mixed grip).  One of the better competitors on the American team, he was consistent in Rotterdam aside from pommels during team finals.  He also held his own during an intense and competitively stacked high bar final, finishing 6th.  Brooks’s reliability on his specialty apparatus is competitive with anyone on the U.S. team, and he has proven he can fight through injury to make a major team.  Brooks has only competed once this year—at the Houston Invitational in March—so the expectations on him entering these Championships are meager.

Cons: A Dragalescu vault is unlikely at this competition considering Brooks’s foot problems have caused him to favor front landings on floor.  Any short landings on Dragalescu vaults put tremendous strain on an athlete’s feet and Achilles as well, and Brooks is especially prone to this with the laundry list of foot problems he has had throughout the last year.  Brooks’ foot problems are evident just by the fact that he can’t point them—they resemble dead fish during his routines—and backward landings from such a difficult vault seem unreasonable given the state of his injuries.  With so many athletes potentially doing 7.0 vaults at Visas—Dalton, Horton, Legendre, Maestas, Wynn among them–Brooks could be the odd man out even with such a vault.  Brooks has nothing to contribute on rings and his work on pommels prompted him to joke at Worlds that the gymnastics skill he would most like to learn is “pommel horse.”  Brooks hasn’t proven TF potential on floor since he posted a 15.55 on the event at the American Cup, and his work on parallel bars and high bar is already filled by the apparent three locks:  Horton, Leyva, and Orozco.  Orozco’s return has especially spelled bad news bears for Brooks, as Brooks’ strengths on parallel bars and high bar have been rendered useless to the team.  Furthermore, his work on floor and vault has not yet proven to be necessary.

Outlook: Brooks walked on to his first World team battling injuries, but this year it seems he might be even more beat up.  What is certain, however, is that Brooks’ competition is stiffer, and he will need to have the meet of his life (particularly on FX/VT) to secure a place on the team because his work on his best events can be matched or surpassed.  A top AA ranking is crucial for Brooks to sway the committee in naming him to the team, but such will be difficult even at top form:  Brooks has one mediocre event (SR) and one terrible (PH) in tow.  Since he can’t make the team via PH or SR, Brooks is basically banking on a top all-arounder to bomb or withdraw so he can snag a spot on the team.  Pulling off such a task is tricky, because all-arounders have many more routines that they would need to perform poorly.  Brooks hasn’t been talked about much in discussions for the World team because, sadly, four good but unspectacular events are doubtful to cut it, particularly when his health is so in question.

Jacob Dalton (video highlights from ’11 American Cup)

Overview: Although the rising junior at OU will not be considered a veteran competitor at the Visa Championships, Jake Dalton has had plenty of experience already.  Strong vaults at the 2009 Visa Championships and at the subsequent camp enabled Dalton to be named to the 2009 World squad after (very predictable) withdrawals from Sasha Artemev and David Sender surfaced.  While the experience was not what Dalton had hoped for—he finished 20th in qualifying on vault—it was a great opportunity for him to get his feet wet.  Yet it has taken a freshman NCAA season, a disappointing Visa Championships last year, and a failure to reclaim a spot on the World team to have ignited Dalton’s competitive fire.  Called upon as a last-minute replacement during the 2011 American Cup, Dalton well exceeded expectations by finishing third.  Entering Visa Championships, Dalton is a strong threat, albeit not a lock, to make the World team and his fate will be decided by his specialty apparatus:  floor and vault.

Pros: Jake Dalton and Steven Legendre are in all likelihood fighting for the same spot on the World team.  Steven Legendre has been hit-or-miss on floor at the Visa Championships the last two years.  Thankfully for Legendre, his considerable scoring potential on the event when he does hit has meant no one has been there to rival him, but this year will be different.  Dalton can score in the mid-to-high 15’s on floor (depending on the panel) and his routine includes a spectacular layout double Arabian.  Yet it’s his consistency that can win him a spot on the World team, as can his Tsuk triple vault, or even his work on parallel bars.  Dalton is stronger than Legendre on parallel bars and has proven he can stick his Tsuk triple.  A shaky competitor last year, Dalton was not thought to be a viable candidate for major teams down the road, but a victory at Winter Cup (defeating Danell Leyva) and a third place finish at American Cup (defeating three of the top eight finishers at last year’s Worlds) have asserted his status as a worthy team member.

Cons: Men’s artistic gymnastics in the United States has lately been notable for its infamous pommel workers.  Dalton hasn’t helped matters with his pitiful work on the event:  a 12.033 at American Cup was his score for a hit routine.  And that was nothing.  He would go on to score a 9.85—which wouldn’t have even been good enough for pommel gold in Sydney and just barely enough in Athens—at the NCAAs this year, and in spite of largely strong routines elsewhere he finished 11th.  Dalton will never be used on pommel horse in a TF situation during his lifetime, but his weakness on the event does have its consequences.  Such a weakness is doubtful to let him contend for a national AA title this year, and in such a subjective call for deciding a World team a lower all-around ranking will not help Dalton stand out in the manner he wants to.  Dalton’s pommel weakness could also clash with the weakness on the same event by Brandon Wynn.  Dalton and Wynn both being on the team is not an ideal situation for the committee, as one has to go up in prelims and basically post a sub-12 score that is (hopefully) dropped.  Such a situation isn’t impossible, but Dalton could find himself in this predicament and must rely on strong scores elsewhere to justify his spot.  Dalton’s case, while strong early in the year, has dwindled somewhat—more due to the improvement of his rivals than any fault his own.  Wynn gave a clinic on rings at the Puerto Rico Cup, and Legendre’s dislike of non-AAI floors wasn’t in the least bit showcased at Japan Cup, where his stellar 15.8 on that event bested all other scores on the apparatus, even Uchimura’s.  While many athletes have had opportunities to compete overseas since the conclusion of the NCAA season, Dalton has strangely been left home except for the Stella Zakharova Cup in May, where he was far from his best and not the top AA finisher for the United States (Alex Naddour).

Outlook: While all-around rankings can help or hurt an athlete’s chance for making a World team, Dalton will miss a World team much more due to inconsistency on floor and vault than continued problems on pommels.  Inconsistency on floor and vault—pommels might be a different matter–is not likely, based on Dalton’s competitive record this year.  Although Dalton has weak vaults from time to time, his Tsuk triple is much improved and he has been more successful with it this year than Steven Legendre has with his Dragalescu.  Dalton has been consistently great on floor and good on parallel bars, and he has even expressed confidence in performing events that aren’t his forte during a recent Universal Sports interview.  Wynn has trained a Dragalescu, but if not performed here Dalton retains his advantage on Wynn by his contribution on floor.  Sam Mikulak, whose vault score bested both Dalton’s and Legendre’s during the team finals of NCAAs, is injured and doubtful to steal a spot away from Dalton.  Dalton’s own exclusion from some international competitions this year is a mystery, but based on the Universal Sports interview this doesn’t seem to be of worry:  Dalton mentioned nothing about an injury and voiced that he had even upgraded since American Cup.  So long as Dalton’s consistency remains intact, a spot on a second World team—this time a far more pivotal spot than before—should be his.

Jonathan Horton (video highlights from ’11 American Cup)

Overview: Jonathan Horton is the most storied competitor of the men’s event, yet his gymnastics has been uneven this year and actually all throughout his career.  At times his career’s rollercoaster of inconsistency has been great—a silver medal in Beijing with a routine he hadn’t trained—at others, disastrous—Horton’s splatfest during the AA of 2009 Worlds put him in 17th place.  For a while, after those ill-fated Worlds, it had appeared that Horton’s consistency was emerging.  Even a silver medal at the 2010 American Cup was a step in the right direction, and he built on that with a second national title.  Although his team failed to medal in Rotterdam, Horton became the first American man in seven years to win a World all-around medal.  A third victory at the American Cup would come the following spring to the two-time Olympic medalist, in spite of him having to compete while still recovering from injury.  Unfortunately, recent all-around performances at the Glasgow Grand Prix and the Japan Cup have emulated the 2009 Worlds Jonathan Horton.  The Visa Championships have lately been a great competition for Horton, and for his own psyche he needs this event to go well.  Horton always speaks confidently in interviews, and he has made it no secret that he aims to win an Olympic all-around regardless of the massive roadblock in his way.  Yet, Horton’s confidence cannot be tested through interviews, but rather it has to be seen on the competition floor.  If it is not, forget Uchimura.  Horton will instead find himself looking up the podium at another athlete being crowned the best male gymnast in the country.

Pros: A dynamic, aggressive gymnast, Jonathan Horton is experienced at 25 years of age, and unlike his adversaries, he knows how to win a national title:  he’s done it twice.  In all likelihood, Horton will be on the World team in spite of recent poor performances; the committee will let him have a clean slate and will likely still name him even if he’s not at top form.  The main goal for Horton in St. Paul is to win a third National title, something which hasn’t been done since Paul Hamm in 2004.  What makes Horton a dangerous threat for winning yet another title is that his competitors don’t know what to expect.  There are mysteries regarding his vault—whether his Dragalescu will finally come to fruition—and his high bar—whether his promised 16+ scoring routine will materialize.  But such mysteries aren’t just limited to skills.  Horton is a volatile competitor, but as mentioned before, the result of that can be awe-inspiring.  His recent competitions could fire Horton up to a level Dalton, Leyva, Orozco, et al cannot match.

Cons: How a meet starts for Horton will likely be how it ends.  Once Horton is off on the wrong track in an event it is not a common sight to see him resurrect himself all in one day.  Often times it is not just the day, but rather the event itself.  At 2009 Worlds Horton bombed in the all-around only to follow it up with two falls during the high bar final.  Just a month ago at Japan Cup Horton had some less than ultimate scores on vault and parallel bars followed by a catastrophic 12.65 on high bar.  His 11th place all-around finish would only worsen the trend.  Although how much Horton will improve for this competition is unknown, the other athletes have left several questions of their own.  Orozco is being billed as an AA threat but hasn’t even shown vault and floor.  Leyva has never entered this event as a favorite to win.  The competitors don’t know what all to expect from each other and Horton is no exception.  Horton’s good competitions often feature five hit routines and one miss.  In a two-day event that is two misses, and while two misses might have been fine in 2009 it could spell disaster in 2011.  Leyva is a far more dangerous threat than he was last year, and Orozco just needed an average of 14.85 on vault and floor at Japan Cup to have reached 90 in the AA.  Horton can continue to control his destiny when it comes to winning national titles, but with just one flawed set, that privilege is gone.

Outlook: A critical event for Horton is rings.  Even this event was scored under par at the Japan Cup, but it is the cushion that gives him an advantage for a National title.  Horton is considerably stronger there than Orozco and (especially) Leyva, and since this is not an inconsistent apparatus, Horton can put several tenths, perhaps a full point more with just one routine, into the bank here.  Those tenths are necessary, particularly with Horton’s weakness on pommel horse.  Horton described Japan Cup as a “reality check” in a recent USAG team conference call, and this can be believed.  Horton has lately not bombed on home soil and has two national titles to show for it.  Horton can improve dramatically in a short period of time—his consistency can also evaporate in a blink, but that’s another matter thankfully not applicable to now.   Such an instance of improvement should happen at this time with the important bulk of the competitive season yet to arrive.  But Horton has to believe it will happen—that he can win Nationals—against the toughest field of the quad yet.  Expressing that he can win through words is simply not good enough.

Glen Ishino (PH video from ’10 VISAs)

Overview: When gym fans think of an Ishino they are bound to think of Allyse, Glen’s sister, who was an alternate on the 2004 Olympic team and, who just finished her collegiate career at Stanford.  Glen has the potential to do what his sister never did—become an Olympian—but for now, in spite of having a strong opening to his 2011 NCAA season, he will be a bubble athlete.  Ishino was 6th AA in 2009 and 5th AA in 2010, and at the beginning of the year looked as if he would have a chance to break into the medals.  Ishino scored a 90.3 in his first meet of the season, but a back injury sustained during the warm-ups of the Winter Cup sidelined him.  Ishino still wasn’t on call by the time of the NCAA Championships, where he finished 9th AA, and he only competed one event at the National Qualifier (PH) where he fell.  Such instances have whittled away the expectations for Ishino entering this competition, but his prowess on pommel and potential prowess as an all-arounder make him a candidate for a World team if he is prepared to produce two days of creditable gymnastics.

Pros: Ishino has long been considered an ideal talent for the United States team with his polished gymnastics, strength as a pommel worker, and, best of all, abilities as an all-arounder.  Ishino has been a rising star in an inauspicious time for the Cal Berkeley gymnastics team.  The Cal team, after having been almost certain for extinction, was reinstated back in May to tremendous rejoice of the entire gymnastics community.  Ishino, who will enter his senior year in the fall, is perhaps the premier talent of the team.  He is one of the best pommel workers in the country, yet, unlike some of the nation’s strictly pommel specialists, Ishino’s gymnastics aren’t defined by one event.  Ishino has posted scores of 15+ on every event in NCAA competition this year and has proven himself TF worthy on FX, PH, PB, and HB.  If you are a fan looking for high difficulty scores in an athlete, Ishino won’t deliver, but in terms of execution scores he can be stellar.  A high bar routine at his first NCAA meet of the season earned him a 9.6 E-score (15.9 overall).  And, even in terms of difficulty, Ishino posted a 6.7 D-score (w/bonus) on PH at the recent National Qualifier.

Cons: Ishino took his time to come back to the NCAA Championships, which were over two months after he became injured at Winter Cup, but he did not compete up to par.  Subsequently, when international assignments were announced, he was not chosen for any.  Ishino has been good at the last two Visa Championships, but not good enough, and the lack of any recent international competitions, a strong Winter Cup, or a strong NCAAs will prevent judges from giving Ishino any favors in St. Paul, nor will he be able to rely on past events to hold his case if he is to perform below his potential.  The event’s use of the bonus system for difficulty scores will not help Ishino, and even bonuses applied for execution are meager and only given when the difficulty bonus is met.  A good but not great AA ranking and good but not great rankings on the individual events—regardless of how his scores would differ internationally—didn’t convince the selection committee of even naming him as an alternate last year, and the committee could be hard-pressed to decide differently this year with so much depth in the country.

Outlook: Ishino is a tremendously talented athlete with unfulfilled potential.  The form and health he is in, preparing for Visas, is in question—he only did one event at Qualifier—but Ishino is a contradiction of sorts for the selection committee even when healthy.  He is an athlete the committee very much wants to perform well, but a weak, or even adequate, competition here will sever the committee’s faith in him needed to put him on a World team.  Ishino has not put in an all-around performance since NCAAs, so the focus isn’t on him and this is probably a good thing.  John Orozco’s comeback hasn’t helped Ishino’s chances but it hasn’t necessarily hurt him too much, either:  any good PH worker who can do other events is automatically in consideration for the team.  With many athletes including Horton, Leyva, Orozco, Dalton/Legendre having nearly (or completely) locked-up positions, the team is likely to take a rings worker, but beyond those five the last spot should contribute a pommels set and perhaps some sets on other events ( floor and rings possibly).  The last worker might not even be needed so much on those events, especially floor, but Ishino can do multiple events in team finals and, best of all, can contribute on pommels.  Tim McNeill could be an ideal candidate for this position, but he’s returning to competition after a year away and is said to not be in top form.  Alex Naddour is a solid all-arounder but doesn’t contribute any routines that are TF worthy beyond pommels.  This U.S. team can use Ishino, but in St. Paul he has to be healthy and has to deliver strong sets on rings, floor, and pommels especially.

Steven Legendre (FX video from ’11 Moscow Stars)

Overview: The 22-year-old powerhouse on floor and vault has just wrapped up his time competing for Oklahoma University, where he tied with Jonathan Horton for the most individual NCAA gymnastics titles (six) in OU’s history.  Even so, Legendre’s claims for a spot on the World team seemed shaky until his AA performance during day two of last year’s Visa Championships solidified his spot (he ranked 2nd on the day and 6th overall).  His Rotterdam performance was uneven—he had a fall on vault during prelims and a fall on floor in event finals—but he proved his worth to the team with a strong floor set in TF and a surprisingly high AA ranking of 15th during prelims.  Legendre had a relatively disappointing final NCAAs this year—OU was beaten by Stanford, he didn’t medal in the AA, nor did he take home any event titles.  This didn’t matter in terms of international assignments, however, as Legendre was given two (Stella Zakharova Cup and Japan Cup) and earned another (Moscow World Cup) through the FIG.  A recent showing at Japan Cup proved his worth on floor considerably but not nearly as much on vault, and with Dalton in his corner, Legendre has to put forth a great performance at this event.

Pros: Much has been made about Legendre’s frequent failures on floor during event finals:  two have occurred at World Championships and another one surfaced at the Moscow World Cup in May.  Yet, in terms of team finals, Legendre has been largely consistent and team USA’s top floor scorer at both the 2010 Worlds and 2011 Japan Cup (during TF).  Legendre has a Dragalescu in his arsenal and has even trained a Tsuk double pike.  Legendre is not the worst the country has to offer on pommels—nor is he terrible on the other events—and he has proven that he can keep up with some of the best in the country in terms of the all-around.  Legendre has considerably more experience than Dalton with four NCAA Championships, four Visa Championships and two World Championships vs. Dalton’s two NCAAs, two Visas (as a senior), and zero Worlds.  Legendre has competed plenty internationally and seems to have gotten used to the equipment at the Japan Cup, which could prove vital come October.

Cons: Legendre has not been attempting his 7.0 vault as much as Dalton has over the course of the year, nor has Legendre’s been as consistent.  Dalton is superior to Legendre on parallel bars and the committee will be hard-pressed to consider using Legendre beyond floor and vault.  On floor, Legendre’s power is considerable but his form not the most polished, and he has not put together two clean FX sets at a Visa Championships since 2008.  On vault, a score of 15.95 at Japan Cup was hardly bad, but can be outdone by Dalton with his mostly consistent Tsuk triple.  Mikulak’s injury barely opens the door for Legendre, as Dalton is Legendre’s primary obstacle for a spot on the team.  With Leyva’s improvement on floor and Orozco not showing a routine yet, the third floor spot can feasibly be covered within the team’s first five chosen members (presumably Horton, Leyva, Orozco, Dalton, rings specialist).  Having both Legendre and Dalton on the team is doubtful, as the United States has other options to bring for a strong pommel set, whereas floor isn’t an issue.

Outlook: If the committee has a change of heart at Nationals and decides the team should be stacked on rings—which is not a bad strategy, because rings is the most assured event (well, not during last year’s NCAAs, but anyway)—Legendre’s chances do go up because having Dalton and Wynn on a team presents a problem in prelims as both men are deplorable on pommel horse.  If Wynn (and Horton) have Dragalescus ready for Nationals, and if C.J. Maestas’s Tsuk Double pike is also there, then the Legendre vs. Dalton scenario could be decided just by floor, with Legendre having the upper hand because of his ability to at least not embarrass himself on pommels.  All of this is hypothetical, though, and Legendre’s issue is consistency through two days of competition.  Legendre’s inconsistency on floor at Nationals can’t happen again with Dalton being a rock on this event.  With Maestas’ and Wynn’s vault statuses unknown, Legendre’s consistency on his Dragalescu should still come into play, and Dalton has the edge on that event, too.  While Dalton has the upper hand in this race, to say it is a done deal is not true.  USAG still has interest in Legendre—they picked him and not Dalton for Japan Cup—and Legendre proved last year that he was a worthy team member.

Danell Leyva (FX video from ’11 Japan Cup)

Overview: Leyva finished a strong second at last year’s Visa Championships, yet as an all-arounder he had yet to hit his stride internationally until last month’s Japan Cup.  Leyva had performed quite well in prelims in Rotterdam, hitting six for six and qualifying to the final in 12th place.  Yet, at the end of the final, Leyva finished 18th, and his will to improve was showcased in July in Tokyo when he placed third in the all-around, handily defeating world AA medalists Daniel Keatings and Jonathan Horton.  And the result of his all-around finish in Tokyo was not to do with his best event, high bar, where an unusually sluggish set during the competition only scored a 15.0, but rather because of his work on floor and vault.  Tremendous improvements on the events have shown Leyva to be emerging into the real deal as an all-arounder and will essentially lock up his position to attend another World Championships.  Leyva has had intentions to win the National title the last two years, but this is the year that he can do so on his own terms.

Pros: Leyva’s third place finish at the Japan Cup is significant not only in its result but also for placing even with sizeable room for improvement.  Leyva’s score on high bar was nearly a full point higher in team finals, as was true for his mark on pommel score.  If Leyva had combined his best scores from TF and AA at the Japan Cup, his score would have been a brilliant 90.95, easily good enough for silver at last year’s Worlds.  Leyva could feasibly compete up to five events in team finals.  Parallel bars and high bar are a given.  A pommel score at Japan Cup of 14.4 was his best yet internationally.  If U.S. doesn’t have three 7.0 vaulters Leyva could even fill a spot there.  A score in the high 14’s internationally on floor is absolutely creditable, and a weakness on rings makes no difference with the United States’ relative strength there.  Leyva’s substandard form has improved, and necessary upgrades on certain apparatus (like vault) have come.  Leyva is now not merely the “kid with the crazy coach,” but a serious contender for a national title in St. Paul.  Coming up just short last year, Leyva’s desire to win could be the strongest of all.

Cons: Leyva lacks Orozco’s pommel ability and Horton’s formidable ring work.  Both men can easily lead Leyva by over a point on their respective events, particularly with the bonus system in play.  High bar, Leyva’s best event, could end up not making up deficits on other apparatus.  Orozco scored just 0.3 under Leyva at Japan Cup there, but Horton is the greater concern if he can put a top set together, because in the recent USAG conference call he promised a routine that will score 16+.  Leyva’s floor at Japan Cup had some of the sharpest landings one could have, and yet he still couldn’t break on 15.  A 16+ on vault could be a fluke:  he scored only 15.5 in TF, and training videos of the vault hardly indicated that the Tsuk 2 1/2 would score 16+ in competition.  It’s much different for one to being considered a serious threat for a title as opposed to merely being an “outside threat,” and Leyva has yet to experience entering this event as the favorite for the title.  Gymnastically, his form still leaves something to be desired and his weakness on rings not yet improved.  Being the most reliable piece of apparatus, rings is missed potential for Leyva, as his stronger events are far more prone to error.

Outlook: Based on the Japan Cup, Leyva is the favorite to win in St. Paul because, unlike Horton, he has his consistency intact (to a degree), and, unlike Orozco, he has been doing six events.  Having a potential AA score around 91 in an international competition is excellent, and while Leyva may not benefit from the bonus system as much as Horton can, he can still do some damage there:  Leyva can get 0.3 bonus on high bar (putting his D-score at a 7.5) at Visas, and he also received D-score and E-score bonus on parallel bars at Winter Cup.  Leyva has performed well at Visas the last two years, although neither time well enough to match Horton.  At this point, Leyva can win the title just as easily as he can lose it.  This is a great statement, as Leyva has never been capable of winning a national title without considerable help before.  How Leyva will do in St. Paul is pivotal in determining how strong his competitive mettle really is.  Horton’s hit sets last year prompted Leyva to deliver one of the best competitions of his career, and it could be Horton and Orozco performing well which gives Leyva his first title.

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Coached by Andrei Kan, Kimble followed up on his outstanding 2010 Level 9 performance at JO Nationals, where he placed 3rd AA and qualified for the finals on 4 events.  As a 1st-year Level 10, Kimble took 3rd AA and was the national champion on rings.  This high school sophomore also qualified on 5 events in the event finals.  A member of 2010-2011 Level 9 Junior National Team, Kimble’s star is rising, and he will make his debut next month at his first VISA U.S. Championships.  He is almost a sure-fire candidate to make the 2011-2011 Level 10 (14-15) Junior National Team.

2011 JO Nationals (Level 10 14/15)

• 3rd AA
• 1st Rings
• 3rd Floor & pommel horse
• 6th Vault & parallel bars

2010 JO Nationals (Level 9)

• 3rd AA
• 2nd Pommel horse
• 4th Parallel bars
• 6th Rings

2009 JO Nationals (Level 9)

• 19th AA
• 4th Parallel bars

StickItMedia had the recent pleasure of interviewing Marvin Kimble:

SiM:  How did you get started in gymnastics?

Marvin:  When I was a little boy, I used to go around the neighborhood doing back flips off everything I could climb.

SiM:  What are your biggest challenges to remaining highly competitive?

Marvin:  My biggest challenge is staying healthy.  Another challenge is making my weak events my strong events.

SiM:  What are your proudest achievements?

Marvin:  My proudest achievement was making the National Team 2 years in a row.  Another great achievement I had was getting first on rings at Nationals.

SiM:  What are your most challenging events, and why?

Marvin:  My most challenging event is high bar.  When I first start learning dismounts, I hit my feet on the bar, so after that I never wanted to do high bar.

SiM:  What are your goals for the 2012 season?

Marvin:  My goals for next season are to hopefully get a national AA title and make all 6 event finals. Another goal is to make the National Team.  But my biggest goal is to go to the Olympic trials just to see what it’s like and have that great experience.

SiM:  Please describe your experience training at Swiss Turners.

Marvin:  Training at Swiss is a really interesting experience.  At Swiss, everything we do has to be a contest, and that’s why most of us there know how to compete so well.  But then again, we all know we’re on the same team, so after a contest, win or lose, there are no hard feelings.  At Swiss, there are a lot of different coaching styles.  So if we do something wrong, we have like 5 different corrections. Another reason I love training at Swiss is because there is a lot of love and support for each other, especially from the parents.

SiM:  Who are your role models, and why?

Marvin:  My biggest role model is my coach Andrei Kan.  One reason he is my role model is because he has helped me so much these past couple of years.  Another reason is because he is one of the most successful men I know in and out of the gym.

Another one of my role models is my teammate Steven Jaciuk, because he has battled through a lot of tough injuries in his life.  Steven has helped me get through some tough times this year, like right before nationals.  I was having a tough time hitting and getting through routines, so after one practice, I started walking out the gym and Steven called me over to talk.  He told me that “everything is going to be fine, so don’t worry about not hitting your routines.  I know when it comes down to big meets, you’re clutch.  So just keep your head up and you’ll be fine.”  I wish him much luck in college!

SiM:  Where do you see yourself three years from now?

Marvin:  Well, I really want to go to Michigan.  It’s a really good school and my dream college.

SiM:  Please describe how your classmates and athletes in other sports see your success in the gym.

Marvin:  My classmates really don’t know much about gymnastics and what it takes to be successful.  But my friends in other sports think i am very successful in gymnastics, and some have said I have a very bright future ahead of me.

SiM:  What ideas do you have that you think would increase the popularity of men’s gymnastics?

Marvin:  I think if they showed gymnastics more on ESPN, then people might actually want to try to do gymnastics.  If I didn’t do gymnastics, I think I would want to try it and see what it’s all about.

SiM:  What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Marvin:  The best advice I’ve ever received was from a good friend.  She told me that one day she was talking to Paul and Morgan Hamm, and they both said that I have a very bright future, and that they really don’t want me to screw it up.  So my friend told me that I should never start doing any kind of drug because it will mess up my bright future.

SiM:  What are your biggest challenges in managing your social life, academics and gymnastics?

Marvin:  It’s really hard to manage all these at once because as soon as I get out of school, I have to head straight to the gym.  I have no time in between school and practice to do homework or hang out with school friends.  After I get out of practice and drive home, it’s already 11:00pm, so I have about an hour to do all my homework and get to bed.  It’s really a struggle to manage them at once, but in the long run I know it will all pay off.

SiM:  What is your favorite thing about walking into the gym every day?

Marvin:  My favorite thing is to walk in the gym and see my coaches and teammates every day.  Also, I enjoy working hard and getting better for next season.

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Ultimately, his hard work was rewarded as he ended his collegiate career, in Michigan’s last meet of the 2010 season, at the NCAA Championships.  After helping his team win the title, Caldwell, having qualified for event finals on floor and vault, made the most of that opportunity by earning All-American status on those two events.  Finishing the regular season as the Big 10’s top-ranked vaulter, Caldwell placed 6th, and also posted the 7th highest score on floor.  The All-American honors secured his legacy in Michigan gymnastics lore.  On top of that, Caldwell was an All-American in the classroom, and was a 2010 Student of the Year at Michigan.

After graduating with degrees in Art & Design and Biopsychology, Guatemala beckoned.  Caldwell traveled there to coach gymnastics for several months, and stayed with former Michigan gymnast Raul Molina.  You can read about it here on his blog. While there, he put his artistic talents to work by designing a new website for his host gym, Olympika Gymnastics, and also a mural for the gym.  Caldwell has some very interesting blog entries that describe in detail many of the sites that he visited.  A very talented artist, Caldwell has an amazing online portfolio that he’s proud to share.

All this led to his auditions with Cirque du Soleil® , where he eventually landed a role in ZED™ , which is a show based in Tokyo.  Caldwell was encouraged by his former Michigan teammate Ryan McCarthy, who is currently in Montreal working on the creation of Michael Jackson The IMMORTAL World Tour for Cirque du Soleil .  Caldwell moved to Japan in May, where he now lives in Urayasu, a suburb of Tokyo.  In a few months, his new home will seem like the center of the universe for Caldwell, when the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships will be hosted in Tokyo.

Red Dog Studio / Costume: Renée April
©Cirque du Soleil Inc.

StickItMedia recently had the pleasure of interviewing Kent Caldwell:

SiM:  How did you get started in gymnastics?

KC:  My parents enrolled me in gymnastics classes when I was five, and it quickly became my favorite day of the week. I also had an intense desire to be a Power Ranger.  I started competing by the time I was 9 and never looked back.

SiM:  What was the college gymnastics recruiting process like for you?

KC:  I actually wasn’t actively sought out by many schools because I was only a mediocre gymnast in high school, so I wasn’t offered any recruiting trips.  I applied to schools through primarily the academic route, while sending a tape of my skills to several coaches.  I received a warm response from Michigan in particular, who seemed eager to have me join the team even if they weren’t actively recruiting me.

SiM:  Other than Michigan winning the 2010 NCAA team title, what were the highlights of your  collegiate gymnastics career?

KC:  The NCAA team title is absolutely my #1 career highlight as a gymnast.  Other highlights for me include my final home meet in Ann Arbor in 2010, hitting a full floor set at NCAAs in 2008 (only 3 and 1/2 weeks after breaking my hand), winning the Winter Cup new skills challenge in 2007 with my quad twist on floor, and earning my first two All-American honors during my final competition as a collegiate gymnast.

SiM:  How difficult was it for you to achieve in the classroom and in gymnastics?

KC:  It was easy!  Ok, not easy, but I always tell people that gymnastics and school as a combination kept me more organized and on my toes; I made very efficient use of my study time and my time in the gym as a result of having so little time to waste.  They really complimented one another; the gym was a place to not think about school and recharge that half of my brain, and vice versa.

SiM:  Which of your teammates and competitors impressed you the most (both academically & in gymnastics)?

KC:  I could name something about each and every one of my teammates, but I’ll try to keep it short – in gymnastics, Scott Bregman and Syque Caesar were incredibly perseverant in battling through numerous injuries.  Academically, Ben Baldus-Strauss and Devan Cote were the epitomes of student-athletes, maintaining nearly perfect GPAs.  Surrounded by so many impressive, multi-talented athletes really pushes you to an even higher standard than you thought possible for yourself.

SiM:  What do you miss the most about college?

KC:  In college you have your teammates and your best friends around almost 24 hours a day.  It’s not like that in the “real world” and it took some time to adjust to that.  I also miss having so many incredible resources at my fingertips, whether that was the Map Library, the Natural History Museum, or the 3D printing labs up on North Campus.

SiM:  What are you the most proud of about your collegiate career?

KC:  I am personally extremely proud that I was able to grow from a gymnast who was not recruited into a contributing member of an NCAA winning championship team.  I am extremely honored and humbled to have been able to share that journey with so many of my closest friends, my second brothers if you will.

SiM:  Who are your role models, and why?

KC:  My role models are my parents (…and Li Xiaopeng.)  My dad is a very level-headed, calm person; he is able to see all sides of an equation, and I try to emulate that sense of balance in my own life.  My mother has taught me to be ambitious and to set high standards for myself.

SiM:  What is the best advice you’ve ever received, and what advice would you give a young gymnast with aspirations of competing at the collegiate level?

KC:  “Focus on what you can control.”  I’ve heard this from many people and it’s very important.  If you recognize this you can really direct and use your energy in a positive, non-wasteful way, which in turn helps you more effectively reach your goals.

I would encourage young gymnasts to attend summer camps at a university (especially at Michigan!) – you get to meet coaches and current team members and get a small taste for just how much fun it is to compete on a team at the NCAA level.

SiM:  If you were king of the gymnastics world, what ideas would you implement to increase interest in the sport?

KC:  I would bring back the virtuosity, originality, and risk bonuses from the late 80s/early 90s, and more connection bonus for events like Parallel Bars and Pommel Horse.  I’d drop the skill count from 10 to 7.  I’d go back to a 6-5-4 format or something similar for a team final, where a score can be dropped, as this helps create tension and interest within the crowd when there is a miss.

SiM:  Please describe your unabashed opinion on the Cal men’s debacle.

KC:  The Cal situation was extremely unfortunate and the [potential] loss of that program was a real threat to the beginning of the end of NCAA men’s gymnastics.  So I think it was a huge wake-up call, not only to myself, but to the entire gymnastics community, that we need to take some personal responsibility to oversee the continuation of our sport at the NCAA level.  We are not revenue-generating like football or hockey, and that’s ok – but at the same time it means that we cannot expect opportunities and programs to be handed to us or think that a program is “safe” just because it has been around for almost a century, especially with the unfortunate tendency of Title IX to shrink rather than expand athletic departments.  We need to protect what we have and be proactive about creating a future where younger generations of gymnasts can have the same opportunities that we were lucky enough to have.

SiM:  What led you to spending time in Guatemala?

KC:  An alumnus of the Michigan gymnastics team (Raul Molina, ’95) actually owns a gym in Guatemala City.  I was looking to coach abroad after graduation and the connection to Michigan, the opportunity to learn Spanish, and to immerse myself in a very different world were all big factors that made Guatemala an easy choice.

SiM:  What were the highlights of your stay there?

KC:  The kids I coached every day were great, and I really looked forward coming into work each day.  I did a lot of graphic design work for the gym, including a large gymnastics wall mural (see my blog for photos.)  Guatemala had perfect weather almost every day – I frequently would drive down into the city looking out at a massive, trapezoidal volcano that dominated the open landscape. I took several trips, including one with my family, where we saw Mayan ruins, postcard perfect lakes, underground rivers… The variety and beauty in Guatemala really was breathtaking.

SiM:  What inspired you to audition for Cirque du Soleil?

KC:  My teammate (Ryan McCarthy) is a huge Cirque du Soleil fan; he kind of got me tuned into the idea during my senior year.  I also went to Winter Cup that year in Vegas where I saw “O,” and I was blown away.  I think at first I was too intimidated by Cirque’s extremely high level of talent to even consider auditioning, but when I saw that they recruited from gymnasts with my particular background (tumbling), I decided to give it a shot.

SiM:  Please explain the auditioning process for Cirque du Soleil.

KC:  Everyone’s entry into Cirque du Soleil is unique. For me, Ryan (who is working on the new show for Cirque du Soleil ) introduced me to a talent scout.  From there, I made a demo tape, and submitted it in May of 2010.  Then I waited… and waited… and waited….  When I couldn’t make one of the live auditions, I sent in more small updates, including an updated tumbling demo. I was set to go to Orlando this past May, but I actually received the offer for ZED , the resident show performing in Japan, in late March and flew straight to Tokyo in early May.

SiM:  What is it like in a Cirque du Soleil show with gymnasts/performers from all over the world working together so closely?

KC:  The extremely international mix of artists and families – I count at least 5 major languages spoken in the building – train in a very multidisciplinary style, across the circus arts.  Here at ZED , just because you are in the trapeze act doesn’t mean you can’t learn a little juggling on the side every once in a while.  This creates a very dynamic, collaborative environment where everyone maintains a high level of energy and creativity.

SiM:  What are the biggest differences between training/competing gymnastics and doing “performance” gymnastics?

KC:  Gymnastics is more training-intensive, where you build and build for that moment in a competition.  At Cirque du Soleil you perform every day and refine and upgrade your performances over time.  The biggest difference, for me, is the rhythm of it.  During one year of college competition, I “performed” for a total of about 25 minutes.  In just one week of work with Cirque du Soleil , I’ll spend approximately 60 minutes performing on stage.  So in two weeks, I will have performed more on stage than I did in my entire collegiate gymnastics career!

SiM:  If given the opportunity, how long would you like to keep performing for Cirque du Soleil?

KC:  Definitely several years – basically, as long as my body holds up.  Though one thing I’ve already learned here at Cirque du Soleil is that many artists with traditional circus backgrounds train in a variety of disciplines and can sustain very fruitful careers over many years… so who knows!  Coming from a visual arts background, I am also interested in the production/creation aspects of Cirque du Soleil shows.

SiM:  What is your perspective of the aftermath of the big earthquake/tsunami?

KC:  What happened in northern Japan is absolutely awful, but it has been inspiring to come here and see everyone in Japan maintain a strong resolve.  Tokyo, despite the occasional crack in the sidewalk, is completely back to normal, and I am so glad that they decided to keep the World Championships here this coming October.  Japan is definitely in a rebuilding phase now, but if any country can handle it, Japan can.

SiM:  What was your favorite thing about walking into the gym every day when you were competing?

KC:  I loved just how comfortable I was walking into the gym, how I really felt like the gym in Ann Arbor was an extension of myself (they call that “place identity”).  Michigan has simply got one of the best training facilities in the country with an awesome, world-class coaching staff.

Follow StickItMedia and Kent Caldwell on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StickItMedia and at http://twitter.com/KentCaldwell.

What was lost on most of those in attendance is the fact that De Los Angeles won the title in his home town of Long Beach.  He is a senior at Milliken High School and will be attending Michigan in the fall on a full-ride gymnastics scholarship.  No doubt he is now the most decorated and prestigious high school athlete in this town known for its athletic excellence.  Furthermore, it’s a sad state of affairs that not one major local media outlet was in attendance to cover this remarkable achievement, when they cover other young local athletes in other sports who have achieved not nearly as much.  Let’s hope they catch up on this story in the coming days.

Runner-up Martin qualified on four events (FX,PH,VT,HB), and led all qualifiers on high bar.  Michigan-bound Stacey Ervin qualified on three events (FX,VT,PB) and was the top qualifier on floor.  Jesse Glenn qualified on high bar, while Trevor Howard was tops on vault and also qualified on floor.

1. Adrian De Los Angeles (SCATS) – 176.15 (87.35/88.80)
2. Jake Martin (Orlando Metro) – 175.35 (87.55/87.80)
3. Stacey Ervin (Mills) – 173.15 (86.55/86.60)
4. Jesse Glenn (SCATS) – 173.10 (87.95/85.15)
5. Trevor Howard (Hocking Valley) – 172.10 (85.85/86.25)
6. Jonathan Deaton (Daggett’s) – 171.85 (84.80/87.05)
7. Nicholas Hunter (GymWorld) – 171.30 (84.95/86.35)
8. Brian Knott (Chelsea Piers) – 171.50 (85.05/86.10)
9. Donnell Whittenburg (Ultimate) – 169.80 (83.90/85.90)
10. Kanji Oyama (SCATS) – 169.55 (85.20/85.90)

Sean Melton cruised easily to the all around title in the Level 10 (14-15) division.  Melton’s second day score of 88.10 was more than enough to beat Akash Modi and Marvin Kimble.  He was last year’s runner-up to teammate Jake Martin in the same division.  Melton tallied the top scores on pommel horse, vault and parallel bars.

1. Sean Melton (Orlando Metro) – 176.85 (88.75/88.10)
2. Akash Modi (Monmouth) – 172.20 (87.70/84.50)
3. Marvin Kimble (Swiss) – 171.30 (84.55/86.75)
4. Dmitri Belanovski (Swiss) – 171.00 (85.95/85.05)
5. Timmy Wang (South Coast) – 170.05 (84.30/85.75)
6. Yul Moldauer (5280) – 168.50 (86.00/82.50)
7. Hunter Justus (Cypress) – 166.70 (83.05/83.65)
8. Kiwan Watts (River City) – 166.70 (84.05/82.65)
9. Allan Bower (Xtreme) – 166.55 (83.20/83.35)
10. Andrew Rickly (Hocking Valley) – 166.20 (85.05/81.15)

First year Level 10 Marvin Kimble put in a gutsy performance, as he exceeded his first day’s score by 1.2 points.  Teammate Dmitri Belanovski also impressed with his steady, consistent execution.  Kimble qualified for event finals on five events (FX,PH,SR,VT,PB), and had the highest scores on rings.  Belanovski qualified on four events (FX,PH,SR,VT).  Monmouth’s Akash Modi was sparkling over the two days, qualifying on five events (FX,PH,SR,VT,PB).  While Melton left no doubt throughout the competition, only 2.2 points separated 2nd through 5th places.  Melton’s margin of victory was a staggering 4.65 points.

In the day’s nightcap, Marty Strech and Tristan Burke had a virtual replay of last night’s Level 9 qualifier.  Tonight, Burke carried a lead of 1.2 points into the final event.  The only problem for him, though, was that he was finishing up on high bar, while Strech was ending on his best event, vault.  Both gymnasts finished up at almost the exact same time, and the crowd had to wait for the scoreboard to put up both scores.  As the scores flashed, Strech’s 15.25 was more than enough to overcome the 12.75 posted by Burke.  Last year’s runner-up to Yul Moldauer earned his first national title.  Strech was amazingly consistent as he hit 11 for 12 over two days.  His 85.15 in today’s session was a season high and the top Level 9 AA score in the country this season.  He also qualified for event finals on every single event.  The difference between Strech and the rest of the field was clearly his performances on pommel horse and vault.

1. Marty Strech (Azarian) – 168.45 (83.30/85.15)
2. Tristan Burke (WOGA) – 167.15 (83.00/84.15)
3. David Jessen (Rise) – 164.85 (81.05/83.80)
4. Alex Diab (Premier) – 163.00 (81.50/81.50)
5. Davis Grooms (Champions) – 162.25 (81.55/80.70)

The action concludes on Sunday afternoon with event finals.  The top 6 qualifiers on each event and from each age group (Levels 9 & 10) will compete one at a time in front of an appreciative audience.  Scores from the previous two rounds do not carry over.  The qualifiers will be starting over from scratch, which makes things a lot more interesting.  Each winner be declared a national champion!

An amazing stat is SCATS had three gymnasts place in the top 10… De Los Angeles, Glenn and Oyama.  Congratulations to Coaches Grigor Chalikyan and Albert Avchian.

Finally, a huge announcement will likely be made on Tuesday, which the men’s gymnastics world will find very interesting.

Click here for complete results.

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Nicholas thoroughly describes for us what a typical day is like for young Chinese gymnasts, who have been selected to live, study and train at a famous sports school.  His boys trained for ten days alongside these young Olympic hopefuls.  As you will see, it’s not all fun and games, as the young Chinese boys literally “train like their lives depend upon it.”  In a joint presentation with Gymnastike, the Bocks tell their very interesting story via this site, while Gymnastike is providing the video footage taken by the Bocks.

Many thanks to the Bock family (Nicholas, wife Jennifer, Cameron and Evan) for sharing their thrilling experience:

Seeking Perfection in China

Last summer, we spent 10 days training gymnastics at the Shi Cha Hai Sports School, which is located in the heart of Beijing China.  The school is one of the most famous sports schools in China, producing several Olympic gold medalists in gymnastics, in addition to many other sports.  The school was like a mini college campus, with dorm rooms for students and guests, dining halls, classrooms and separate buildings, or “Sports Halls” for badminton, ping-pong, volleyball, martial arts and gymnastics.  They even had a small jogging track with tennis courts in between.

When we arrived at the gymnastics hall for the first time, we were not impressed with the facilities.  The floor was old, the high bar was rusty, the mats were old and torn, and climbing rope was not a rope at all, but an old long wooden pole, dangling from the ceiling.  Being jet-lagged, we just watched the Chinese boys train.  What we saw was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  And after about 30 minutes, I knew why the Chinese dominate so completely.  With the help of our coach, Guonian Wu, who was once a Chinese National team member, as well as a Chinese National team coach, we were given permission from the head boys coach, a long time friend and teammate of Guonian’s, to videotape.

During the summer, the boys (ages 9-11) will train 7 hours each day, except Sunday (3 1/4 hours in the morning, with a 2-hour break, and another 3 3/4 hours in the afternoon).  Here was the schedule, which was exactly the same every day:

8:30am

• Warm Up (30 minutes)
• One 1/2 mile warm-up jog
• Two 200-yard sprints (1 minute rest in between sets)
• Ten 25-yard sprints (20 seconds rest in between sets)

9:00am

• Stretching (15 minutes)
• Left leg splits, right leg splits, middle splits, pancake, pike, wrist, ankles, calves, shoulders (about 30 seconds each)

9:15am

• Parallel Bars (60 minutes)
• Jump to under bar swings, kip to manna or v-hold, pike press, swings, pirouette, front tuck off.

10:15am

• High Bar (60 (minutes)
• Back giants, blind change, front giants, pirouette, back giants, layout fly away.

11:15am

• Floor (30 minutes)
• Front handspring step out, front handspring, front tuck
• Round off, back handspring, back handspring, back tuck

11:45am

• Lunch

2:00pm

• Stretching (15 minutes)  Same as morning.

2:15pm

• Pommel (60 minutes)
• Circles on pommel buck / mushroom

3:15pm

• Rings (60 minutes)
• Swings

4:15pm

• Vault (30 minutes)
• Front tucks from a springboard to stacked mats
• Round off, back layout from a springboard to stacked mats

4:45pm

• Conditioning (60 minutes)
• 3x (15 wall ladder leg lifts & 20 floor push ups)
• 3x (1 pole climb, 10 spotted p-bar handstand push ups)
• 3x (5 floor stalder presses, 10 back tuck sticks on 8” mat)
• 3x (20 p bar dips, 20 chicken flaps, 5 pull ups)
• 3x (back raises on pommel – while holding a 10-lb weight)
• 1x (front and back body hold – between blocks, with weights)
• 1x (60 second floor handstand)
• Low Parallel Bars – pike press contest

There were a few things that we learned about Chinese gymnastics during our trip.  The entire country works on a type of tiered system, starting at the local level, then state, regional and finally national.  Periodically, coaches from the higher levels visit gyms and competitions to observe and recruit talent.  Once chosen, two things typically happen.  First the boys are taken from their homes and they move to state-sponsored sports schools, where they live, study and train.  Most of the boys come from underprivileged families, and as such, are provided with a monumental upgrade in living conditions.  This is a huge opportunity for them, and they learn from a very early age that training like their lives depend upon it will be viewed as an honor to their country.  Not doing so jeopardizes their continued involvement, which may not be an attractive alternative.  Second, coaches are paid if their gymnast is selected to go to the next level.  So every coach is extremely motivated to produce excellent gymnasts.  In addition to recruitment bonuses, coaches are paid when their gymnasts earn 1st place in any event or all around at every competition.  To my knowledge no bonuses are paid for anything other than 1st place.  With a motivated gymnast and a motivated coach, progress seems certain.

At the Shi Cha Hai Sports School, there were three different boys coaches with their own group of boys, ranging in ages from 9 to 11.  Our group had 6 boys.  Each coach had very different styles, and very different workouts.  Our coach was nice to the kids, but very vocal, relentlessly focused on every detail.

Each day started the same:  The coach would arrive exactly on time, pull out his stop watch, and say, Go!”  The boys started jogging.  Being punctual myself, I found it interesting that during the ten days we were there, the coach was never late and never early, impeccably on time and on task.  The boys, however, were always a few minutes early to everything.  It was evident that tardiness was non-existent.  The first thing I noticed about the jogging/running/sprints was these kids were in incredible shape, and they all gave it 110%, every time, every turn, on everything.  Once the track work was finished, we walked about 5 minutes to the gym, and the kids immediately started their stretching routines.  There was no wasted time at all.  All the kids stretched at the same time, and even though they only spent about 15 minutes stretching, it was thorough.  Also, I noticed nothing distinguishably different between the boys in terms of their flexibility.

Once stretching was finished, the boys moved to parallel bars.  It was interesting to note, that not once were the bars ever adjusted, even though the kids were different heights.  Each kid would perform under bar swings that went above the bar on the backswing and above the bar in the front swing.  They then did a glide kip to V or manna for 3 seconds, and then a pike press.  During our entire stay, I never saw one straddle press, ever.  The parallel bar swings were done in such a way as to drive as tight and fast as possible to handstand, but stopping on a dime, with a totally stretched shoulder position.  Similarly, the front swings were fast and almost every boy went at least to 45 degrees above horizontal.  It was rare if I saw heels ever come apart, or legs ever bend.  And for the entire hour, each boy repeated this sequence: underbar swings, kip, press, swings, dismount.  Each kid probably went at least 10 times.  Occasionally, throughout the week, during the last 10 minutes or so, the 11-year old boys worked on giants.

On high bar, I was fascinated at the perfection of the form, and the beauty of the body lines during front and back giants.  For the entire hour, each kid took a turn, doing about 5 front giants, pirouette, back giants, an occasional blind change, and an occasional layout flyaway.  During the last ten minutes, the 11-year old boys worked endo, stalder, and free hip.  One 10-year-old boy was working on blind change, and the coach wanted it exactly at 12 o’clock.  The gymnast had been doing it at 11 o’clock, pretty good.  But not to the coach.  Not only did the kid do blind changes for an hour, but then the coach made him do them for another hour while all the other kids moved to the next event.  The coach kept shaking his head, kindly but disapproving, and finally told the boy to go back to his dorm room for the day.  The boy was working extremely hard, and once dismissed, the boy gave no emotional response, he just left.  Incidentally, we never saw any complaints, back talk or bad attitude once during our entire stay.

The floor training was pretty straightforward, they only worked on two passes:  round off, back handspring, back tuck and front handspring step-out, front handspring, front tuck.  I was intrigued at how the coach would comment on every small detail.  Even if no deductions existed, the coach wanted it to look a certain way, with a certain flair or style that was exceptional.  Each part of every skill was done with virtuosity.

The pommel training was wonderful to watch.  Each kid had his own floor pommel buck or mushroom, and each did circles, with the occasional Russian, or spindle.  The only thing that was worked on for the entire hour was body tightness, elevation in front support and rear support, and speed.  As my boys did their circles, they occasionally added some flairs, and I was surprised to find out that not even the 11-year boys had ever done a flair.  They were fascinated to see that boys their age were doing them.  The Chinese spend a lot more time on basic skills, until they are perfect.

As we moved to rings, the only thing the boys did were swings, and the occasional inlocate and dislocate.  During the hour, the boys did sets of 10 swings at a time, but with two ring towers and six kids.  That was a lot of sets, and we saw some pretty good swings.

During the vault portion, the boys did standard front tucks from a springboard to stacked mats, and then round offs to back layout.  There was no resting during the 30 minutes and the boys really worked up a sweat.  The coach later said that they use this also as a cardio workout.

After all this, doing an hour of conditioning was probably the most impressive, considering everything they packed in the last hour.  It was incredible to see the stamina of these young boys.  I was particularly impressed by the third set of strength skills, where the boys do 5 floor stalder presses in a row (3 second handstand, 3-second straddle L-hold, repeat) – and the form was flawless.  But then to do 10 back tuck sticks, from a soft 8-inch mat (and each had to stick, otherwise they had to start over) – I finally saw the Chinese boys get tired!  And the best part was that after the conditioning was over, the boys would have a pike press contest on the low parallel bars.  Yes, one kid did 30!

During our trip, we were fortunate enough to watch a regional 10-year old “event final” competition.  Each event had 4 judges that were positioned at all four corners of each apparatus – except vault, which had two judges.  Interesting that we did not see any parents at all, simply coaches and other officials that were there to recruit to the next level.

The highlight of our trip came on the last night when Coach Wu planned a very special private dinner with Yang Wei, the 2008 Olympic All-Around Gold Medalist.  Also joining us was his coach, Yang Wei’s wife, whose name was also Yang, and their newborn, whose name was Yang Yang Yang.  My boys thought that was hilarious.  We had a wonderful time, but I still have no idea what we were eating.  Coach Wu, said not to ask.  Yang Wei and his coach reminisced about the history of his training from a young boy to Olympic champion, as we asked him question after question.  One answer he gave me was surprising – I asked how it felt to be a national hero, and role model to so many in his country.  He said he did not think of it that way, more that he felt it was his duty, and all the Olympic champions tell the same thing to the younger, up and coming talent – to take the same responsibility of honoring your country with hard work, and with the hard work, good things will maybe come, and Olympic glory does not come during the Olympics, but during the long, tireless hours seeking perfection.

Click here to watch the video at Gymnastike.

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