Final Gymnastics Teams
Tonight the U.S. gymnastics teams were finalized for the men and women. Paul Hamm was declared “prepared” during the men’s training camp. His hand looks like it will hold up for the training and competition over the next 5 weeks. That’s great news for Team USA. Paul brings with him an incredible difficulty level in his gymnastics, but he also has the execution to score big and the reputation of one of the most strategic gymnasts ever. When he walks into a competition everyone pays attention, especially the other competitors. His brother Morgan has also been confirmed for the U.S. team. This will be their 3rd Olympics together.
On the women’s side, it was much more of an emotional weekend. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin had already secured their spots from Olympic Trials held in Philly a few weeks ago. Three of the last four spots seemed all but secured for Chellsie Memmel, Samantha Peszek and Alecia Sacramone. That proved to be accurate as those three did earn spots onto the 2008 Olympic team. The final spot was up for grabs at the beginning of the weekend with Shayla Worley as a strong favorite. Unfortunately her dream ended with a broken fibula. Shayla has been plagued with injuries over the years and without having the competitive results, she was going to need to have a strong performance this weekend. With Shayla out, it seemed to come down to Jana Beiger and Bridget Sloan and possibly Ivana Hong. Bridget wowed Marta with a new and more powerful vault, a “Yurchenko double twist.” Jana missed bars earlier today, which didn’t help her cause. In the end, here is your United States Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team 2008 - Shawn Johnson, Nastia Luikin, Chellsie Memmel, Alecia Sacramone, Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan!!!
Alternates are:
Jana Bieger, Ivana Hong, Corrie Lothrop
Congratulations to all of the girls who have worked so hard to make it so far!
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
With the American teams finalized, in contrast it kinda sucks that Team Canada failed to qualify a womens team for this years olympic games. We need another sport other then hockey to brag about being dominate at! lol… Maybe we should petition to get hockey into the summer olympics too!
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 am
Your work got me interested in gymnastics as a fan. What a great career. beauty, grace, speed, power…incredible.
Looks like your keeping busy and I must say, you’ve grown into quite a beautiful woman Ms. Shannon! *blushes*
Hope you and yours are happy and healthy.
TTYL
Mykle Van Hausen
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
What a shame about Worley, but her time will come if she decides to continue training. I am not surprised by the line up. We already knew Memmel, Sacramone, and Peszek would take the spots behind Liukin and Johnson. It was the last spot that was up for grabs. Congratulations to Sloan!
I’m really excited for the Olympics this year. The U.S. women have been rocking the gym world for the last few years. I can’t wait to see what they do on the world’s biggest stage.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Oh and by the way - Congratulations on the Mag 7’s Gold winning anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been 12 years today since “our team” brought home the gold. I hope you are celebrating today.