Another busy weekend in the college ranks. The day's best battle was Michigan hosting top-ranked Penn State. The two teams were neck & neck after four events, and it came down to PB and HB. The Wolverines' Syque Caesar spearheaded his team's 1.45 point victory on PB with a 15.40, and added a 14.70 on HB to add a cushion to the final margin... 340.30 to 338.45. Caesar also added a 14.80 on FX and a 14.70 [...more]
The 2012 Men's Gymnastics season is officially underway, with a full slate of NCAA action and some prominent club invitationals. The college MAG action was actually a mixed bag, especially due to many gymnasts sitting out either to injury or because of the upcoming Winter Cup. Those who did compete, mostly did so on a few events. However, among the notables competing AA, Illinois freshman CJ Maestas turned in [...more]
Swiss Turners Gymnastics Academy, in West Allis, WI, is one of the top men’s club programs in the country. Their optional program had five boys place in the Top 36 at JO Nationals this past May. One of these young men, Dmitri Belanovski, has been a perennial top all-arounder and Junior National Team member. If the last name sounds familiar, it’s because his father [...more]
2011 was a watershed year for U.S.A. men’s gymnastics. So many notable achievements, and so little time as we close out the year. We have thought long and hard about the year’s top stories, and we finally came up with one that we believe will significantly help shape the U.S. program for many years. This was the year of the youth movement. There were three young gymnasts that really [...more]
Michigan sophomore Sam Mikulak and Oklahoma grad Chris Brooks were chosen to compete at next months Olympic Test Event in London. This is a great opportunity for both gymnasts to add to their resumes. Brooks is coming off his role as a World Team alternate. His stock is still rising. Mikulak, the defending NCAA all-around champion, is nearly fully recovered from [...more]
John Orozco's Wednesday night tweet posed a great question. "To go pro or not to go pro! #indecisive" Should John Orozco turn pro? Aly Raisman and Jordan Wieber made the headlines recently with their announcements of turning pro. Well, let's face it, the harsh reality is that there are far more money-making opportunities for female gymnasts than there are for [...more]
Team USA had a very successful trip to the Pan American Games in Guadalajara. After capturing the bronze medal in the team competition, the American men snagged four more medals in the event finals. Paul Ruggeri won half of those with his gold medal performance on high bar (15.65) and taking the silver on parallel bars (14.825). He won HB by almost a full point. Brandon Wynn added an [...more]
After topping the field in the first of two competition subdivisions at the 2011 Pan American Games, the U.S. men had to wait to see how the other two favorites fared in the nightcap. Alas, Brazil and Puerto Rico ended up with the top two positions on the podium, and the U.S. captured the bronze for the third consecutive time ('03, '07). If not for their dismal performance on [...more]
For the first time since 2003, USA men's gymnastics has a world champion! After licking his wounds from his dreadful high bar fall during the all-around finals, Danell Leyva smoked the field in winning his first world title on parallel bars. It wasn't even a nail biter, as Leyva (15.633) [...more]
All the superlatives have been thought of and said. Not much else to add about Uchimura-san. What a performance, though. It was almost a surreal experience watching an hour and a half of near perfection in the wee hours of the morning on the left coast. How the judges came up with several tenths worth of deductions over the course of six events is way beyond me. If Kohei Uchimura is not the greatest gymnast ever, then [...more]
