Swiss Turners Gymnastics Academy, in West Allis, WI, is one of the top men’s club programs in the country. Their optional program had five boys place in the Top 36 at JO Nationals this past May. One of these young men, Dmitri Belanovski, has been a perennial top all-arounder and Junior National Team member. If the last name sounds familiar, it’s because his father [...more]
Michigan sophomore Sam Mikulak and Oklahoma grad Chris Brooks were chosen to compete at next months Olympic Test Event in London. This is a great opportunity for both gymnasts to add to their resumes. Brooks is coming off his role as a World Team alternate. His stock is still rising. Mikulak, the defending NCAA all-around champion, is nearly fully recovered from [...more]
*** Update *** The early NCAA signing period is under way, and we'll update this list as soon as we learn of new developments. The '12-'13 class is impressive, and should be one of the better ones in recent years. [...more]
Team USA had a very successful trip to the Pan American Games in Guadalajara. After capturing the bronze medal in the team competition, the American men snagged four more medals in the event finals. Paul Ruggeri won half of those with his gold medal performance on high bar (15.65) and taking the silver on parallel bars (14.825). He won HB by almost a full point. Brandon Wynn added an [...more]
This is an update of our October 4 post that detailed some of the upcoming changes to the men's JO program: Following the 2012 Olympics, a new quad will be ushered in. Tweaks to the code of points are among the rumored changes. Much discussion is going on about the upcoming changes to the men’s JO program. It appears that the current compulsory program (levels 4-7) will remain roughly the same. The big changes will be made to the optional program. [...more]
Following the 2012 Olympics, a new quad will be ushered in. Tweaks to the code of points are among the rumored changes. Much discussion is going on about the upcoming changes to the men's JO program. It appears that the current compulsory program (levels 4-7) will remain roughly the same. The big changes will be made to the optional program. Please keep in mind [...more]
Morgan Hamm posted a nicely produced video in support of his brother, Paul, who recently got himself into a little drunken legal trouble the other evening. As a result of the incident, in which he was charged with assaulting a cab driver, refusing to pay a fare & damaging a cab, Hamm was discharged from his assistant coaching duties at Ohio State. The arrest video was very damning and embarrassing for the '04 Olympic champion, and undoubtedly led to [...more]
Still thinking about the second day of the Junior men's competition in St. Paul. That was amazing. Adrian de los Angeles quietly had a great AA (84.65) in the early session. The top four gymnasts from the two junior divisions ended up competing in the evening session with the seniors. Meanwhile, the rest of the juniors, along with a smattering of seniors, competed in the early session. After a quick perusal of the math, de los Angeles had put himself into strong position [...more]
Danell Leyva followed up his Day 1 performance (92.50) with an equally outstanding one in the finale (91.30) as he coasted to his first Senior U.S. Men's Gymnastics all-around title. Leyva hit 12 for 12 as he bested his World teammate Jonathan Horton by 2.75 points. Horton kept it close until he fell doing a Cassina on high bar. Leyva is now arguably America's premier gymnast, and still has room for growth. Also packing his bags for the Tokyo World Championships will be young [...more]
Danell Leyva posted a career high all-around score of 92.50 to easily outlast Jonathan Horton (90.40) in Day 1 competition at the 2011 VISA U.S. Men's Gymnastics Championships. Who needs to put up huge floor and vault scores to win a title? Not Leyva, especially when he's busy cranking out parallel bars (16.20) and high bar (16.90) scores like nobody's business. It's only one day, however, and he has one more day to prove he's America's best gymnast, but his 2.1 lead over Horton is [...more]
