In the aftermath of last week’s vote in Copenhagen, what is now apparent is a lot of hand-wringing and finger pointing.  Chicago got knocked out in the first round, obtaining only 18 votes, which was one fewer than New York City received four years ago in their bid to host the 2012 Olympics.  USOC is getting most of the blame in the wake of controversial management changes at the top.  Another issue is the amount of money the U.S. receives from corporate sponsors and television rights.  Still, it was hard to compete against destiny.  Despite a well-orchestrated feverish outreach campaign all the way to the end, it just wasn’t meant to be for the Windy City to host the 2016 games.  Rio de Janeiro deservedly won the bid to become the first South American city to host the Olympics, as they easily out-polled Madrid in the final round.  Time and location were on their side.  Look at the bright side… Rio is located in a time zone very favorable for most of the U.S. to enjoy a lot of live prime-time television coverage.

The 2009 World Championships will start a week from today.  Universal Sports will provide live coverage of the competition.

• October 15 @ 1:30pm EDT – Men’s All-Around Finals
• October 17 @ 8:00am EDT – Men’s Event Finals (FX, PH, SR)
• October 18 @ 8:00am EDT – Men’s Event Finals (VT, PB, HB)

International Gymnast has a nice interview with World Team member Wes Haagensen.  He will be competing on pommel horse and rings next week in London.  Haagensen, a former All-American at Illinois, credits his move to the OTC at the beginning of the year for his remarkable achievements this season.

Sho Nakamori will be leaving in two weeks for Japan.  He will stay there for three months to fulfill his requirement as an International Relations major at Stanford to study abroad.  Of course, while he’s there, he will have the opportunity to train with many of Japan’s best gymnasts.  Sounds like it will be a great experience for him.  We’re looking forward to reading Sho’s many updates from Japan.

The 2009 Future Stars National Championships will be held next month at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  Regional competitions are now taking place throughout the country to determine who will advance to nationals.  Region I (CA,AZ,NV,HI) recently held their qualifier at USA Flairs in Gilbert, AZ.

Here are the top three qualifiers for each age division:

10-year-olds

1. Nikita Bolotsky (VSSG) – 84.60
2. Calvin Valrie (Eric Will) – 81.70
3. Cameron Bock (New Hope) – 80.50

11-year-olds

1. Joey Ringer (Azarian) – 82.10
2. Andrew Herrador (CSC) – 78.30
3. Max Maynard (Platinum) – 76.80

12-year-olds

1. Emyre Cole (Go For It) – 75.20
2. Harrison Plate (JDR) – 71.60
3. Josh Romero (JDR) – 68.70

MeetScoresOnline (MSO) can now be followed on Twitter .  MSO is America’s number one source for club gymnastics scores.  The site is growing by leaps and bounds as they continue to add new features.  Their most exciting feature is the ability to link YouTube videos to the scores they post.  It is very easy to submit the video links and it allows friends, family and fans to see how gymnasts earned their scores.  MSO is on pace to surpass last year’s total of page views (several thousand per day) as more and more gyms are uploading their meet scores to MSO.  Be sure and follow MSO on Twitter.

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