The U.S. Championships are now one week away.  Judging by all the activity on various blogs, websites and Twitter, gym fans are bursting with anticipation.  NBC plans to air a one-hour "recap" of the Senior Men’s competition on Sunday, August 15.  Universal Sports, thankfully, will provide live television coverage and a live webcast of Day 2 Men’s Senior action (Friday, August 13).  It’s a shame that none of the Junior Men’s competition will merit a webcast.  We’ve got some great young guys who will be making some noise by the time 2012 comes around.

While Coach Rick McCharles has been hiking the Dolomites, his fine blog has been receiving a makeover.  Since being hacked back in May, over 4000 posts have recently been restored to GymnasticsCoaching.

Thanks to Andy Thornton for posting the great videos of China’s Zhang Hongtao on pommel horse and Zou Kai on floor.  Zhang’s pommel horse routine was outstanding.

Our guest blogger, 16-year-old Matthew Rusk, has been getting rave reviews for his fine two-part VISA preview.  We love his selection of Daniel Ribeiro.  He really lit up the competition at NCAAs with his phenomenal pommel horse routines.  While it’s hard to argue with his top 12 gymnasts, there are a few others who are worthy of notice.  Gymnasts like Chris Cameron and Glen Ishino are very close to the breakout stage… both are great all-arounders.  It’s safe to assume that the top 12 list over the next three years will be very dynamic.  Given the number of great Juniors and young Seniors, the road to London 2012 is wide open.  The competition will be fierce and the ultimate long-term outcome is now unpredictable.  Thanks again to Matthew Rusk for producing such a great analytical review.  He’s done his homework and knows his stuff!

Sho Nakamori is champing at the bit. After a very successful surgery on his torn ACL last week, Sho is embarking on an aggressive rehab regimen that will put him back on track.  We wish him much luck and success.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention all the great journalistic work put in by GymBlog’s Blythe Lawrence. Blythe, a writer by trade and former gymnast, can always be relied upon to post timely articles not only for the women, but also for the men.  Blythe has announced that she has moved her blog over to Examiner.com. If you don’t have her blog bookmarked, you should!

Here is another blog to bookmark… The Health Reporter. This great new blog is published by Karen Owoc.  Karen, of course, is the founder of the Pacific Coast Classic. The blog has very interesting information on fitness and nutrition.  It is well worth it to subscribe.

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