Dominique Dawes was better in her second Olympics than her first.

“She was as good in her second Olympics as she was in her first. You can rarely say that about a gymnast.”

So go my thoughts on now injured Russian star Anna Pavlova, who blew out her knee at the DBT Cup earlier this month. Maybe that’s not quite accurate — Pavlova was in the hunt for an all-around medal in Athens (and probably would have gotten one, had she been competing in the leaders group in the all-around. Although in top form in Beijing, she made too many mistakes to really challenge for an all-around medal there.

Still, Pavlova’s achievement is pretty incredible: How many gymnasts look as good in their second Olympics as they did in their first? Few names pop to mind.

Americans Dominique Dawes and Shannon Miller come to mind, particularly Dawes, who didn’t come into her own in gymnastics before sweeping the titles at the 1994 U.S. Championships. (Dawes and Amy Chow looked OK in Sydney but perhaps suffered from a little lack of prep time before beginning very serious training in 2000. My opinion is both were better in 1996.) Kerri Strug came into her own in 1996.

China’s Liu Xuan looked far steadier and more experienced at the 2000 Olympic Games than she did in Atlanta. Lavinia Milosovich, Gina Gogean and Simona Amanar and their Olympic performances in 1992 and 1996 (Gogean, Milo) and 1996 and 2000 (Amanar) are the reason the Romanians have the reputation of consistency that they do.

Men’s careers are more easily traced by an arc, rather than a line from one Olympics to another the way the women are. American Blaine Wilson, who competed in three Olympic Games, reached his apex in his second in 2000. So did John Roethlisberger, who competed in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney. Assuming he would have competed in 1996 had he not ruptured his achilles in Atlanta, Ivan Ivankov was best in his “second” games too, in Sydney.

Paul and Morgan Hamm were at their best in Athens, all grown up after Sydney. From the way Paul Hamm looked at the U.S. Championships in June before breaking his hand, he would be among the very few one could say looked as good in their third Games as they did in their second.

Then there are ageless types like Oksana Chusovitina and Jordan Jovtchev, whose gymnastics looked the same in 2008 as it did in 1996, and Italian ringmaster Yuri Chechi, who won the gold in Atlanta and made a surprising comeback to take bronze in Athens in 2004.

I’m always a bit suprised to see France’s Dimitry Karbanenko still on an Olympic roster, though. It was like watching 1988 Soviet team member Sergei Kharkov competing 10 years ago for Germany. Li Xiaoshaung got his greatest honor the second time around. Yang Wei took three tries to win an Olympic all-around.

Beth Tweddle, Daiane dos Santos and Daniele Hypolito seem not to age much, either. Svetlana Khorkina looked a tad young in her first games, best in her second and somewhat frightening in her third.

Who wasn’t better the second time around? Hmm — Henrietta Onodi. Yelena Zamolodchikova. Svetlana Boginskaya peaked around 1990 and wasn’t quite the same in 1992 or 1996. Vitaly Scherbo, but that’s a case of extenuating circumstances.

Sexy Alexei Nemov was perhaps less, um, enthusastic the second time around, but he got the big prize in the end. You got the sense that by his third time in 2004, it was just all about fun.

Anyone else?

Family acts are fairly common in gymnastics. Parents tote all their kids, not just one, to the gym to wrench out energy at a young age, stuff like that.

Seems like good gymnastics runs in families too — one need only look to the Hamms (Betsy Hamm, Paul and Morgan’s older sister, was an NCAA Champion for the University of Florida during the late 90s) and the Roethlisbergers (John’s big sis Marie was a contender for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team) and a few others (the Khorkinas, Svetlana and Yulia, the Dantzchers, Jamie, Jalynne and Janelle, the Mackies, Gael and Charlotte, and on and on) for affirmation.

Here are a few new faces with “old” names poised to make a splash during the coming quad (although whether their splash will be as big as those their siblings have made is TBD).

Dasha’s sis Natalia Joura, International Level 10, Floor Exercise:

Chellsie’s sis Skyler Memmel, 2008 PKI Elite Qualifier, Balance Beam:

The incredible Nailia Mustafina, younger sister of up-and-coming Russian junior Aliya Mustafina, 2008 WOGA Classic, Balance Beam:

On the men’s side, there’s Glen Ishino, Allyse’s younger brother.

Glen Ishino practices parallel bars in the Cal Bears gym:

Missed anyone? Drop me a comment.

The Associated Press reported this morning that a drunk driving arrest was a factor in University of Illinois associate head coach Jon Valdez’s resignation.

Prosecutors in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, says assistant men’s coach Jon Valdez pleaded not guilty after his arrest Sept. 18.

Attorney Lance Northcutt says Valdez resigned for personal issues, including the arrest.

Northcutt also says Valdez is cooperating with a university investigation of a hidden camera found in a locker room last month. University officials haven’t said Valdez is linked to that investigation.

Waukesha, interestingly, is the hometown of Paul and Morgan Hamm.

Related: Valdez’s U. Illinois profile

A scandal might be brewing in Illinois.

I say “might” because the Chicago Tribune story leaves so many questions unanswered. The gist is that Jon Valdez, part of the men’s program that produced Justin Spring and other national team notables, resigned about 10 days ago, citing personal reasons.

But a university spokesperson indicated that Valdez, who was promoted to associate head coach at the end of last season, could be implicated in some sort of camera-found-in-locker-room incident.

Assistant athletic director Kent Brown confirmed Monday that Valdez left his job on Oct. 17 for “personal reasons” but Brown would not confirm that Valdez was being investigated.

Responding to Tribune inquiry, Robin Kaler, the university’s associate chancellor for public affairs, said, “There is an investigation into a camera found in a locker room on campus.”

The school would not confirm that the investigations are connected.

Oh, dear. So he might really have resigned just for personal reasons. Or something else.

Bigger picture is this leaves UIUC down a coach right before the season. The university has apparently already begun addressing that issue.

Ivan Ivankov of Belarus, the two-time world all-around champion, is among those whom the university has interviewed to replace Valdez.

Olympic all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm, whose name has been mentioned as a possible replacement, said Monday via telephone, “I heard the job was open and discussed it with Justin, but (seeking the job) is not an option I intend to pursue.”

On the team website, Yoshi Hayasaki is listed as head coach, with Spring as the only assistant. Hayasaki, a 32-year veteran at Illinois, announced last spring he would retire after this season. The fighting Illini were third behind Oklahoma and Stanford at the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Jonathan Horton shattered a school record to become the most decorated University of Oklahoma gymnast in history. Oklahoma is one of the few schools to have a highly successful and popular men's team.

Stick It Media, which blogs about men’s gymnastics, commented on an earlier article posted on the Saving Sports blog.

What’s aggravating is that men’s gymnastics is always given prime-time network exposure every four years at the Olympics. Not to mention the fact the ratings for that coverage are always very high. The fact that the NCAA doesn’t bend over backwards to champion more collegiate opportunities for male gymnasts is maddening. Men’s gymnastics is a PREMIER Olympic sport.

Stick It goes on to call out California, Texas and Florida schools for not having much in the way of Divison I competition. There’s no doubt that Title IX, which stipulates that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance,” has hurt men’s collegiate gymnastics. In the U.S. today there are fewer than 20 Division I men’s NCAA gymnastics programs.

But the unfortunate thing is that in most places, Utah, Oklahoma and the Southeast excepted, gymnastics brings little revenue to the universities that have it. Equipment and coaching is expensive. Meet attendance is tiny.

In addition, perhaps more than any other Division I sport, top prospects can get injured, go on medical, and not contribute gymnastically to winning programs.

That’s especially true in women’s gymnastics, where the vast majority of elites and level 10s spend their golden years. But men’s gymnastics is more like football — in both sports the NCAA is a breeding ground for the big time — the Olympics in the case of the former, and the pros for the latter.

So why is the fan base so small?

As we watched the men’s Olympic all around on TV in August, I said to my boyfriend, “This competition will inspire thousands of little girls to take up gymnastics with the goal of getting to the Olympics. Why won’t it inspire thousands of little boys to do the same thing?”

He shrugged. “Not enough direct physical competition, I guess,” he said.

Is that it? Spectators need to see body-to-body combat? It’s too much like a beauty pageant because gymnasts present routines one at a time? Is there anyting men’s gymnastics do to make itself more appealing to college co-eds? These guys are generally so buff they could make calendars. And they flip and twist and sometimes fall quite spectacularly. What more do fans want?

Hopefully the U.S. men’s team’s success at the 2008 Games will do something to bolster attendance at NCAA meets, and interest in its athletes. After all, four of its six members — Jonathan Horton, Raj Bhavsar, Kevin Tan and Justin Spring — were former NCAA stars at powerhouse men’s gymnastics schools. But the outlook isn’t that good. The U.S. men also did pretty well in 2004, although its biggest star, Paul Hamm, did not do gymnastics in the NCAA.

Nastia Liukin was fabulous in Beijing -- as it should have been.

…and did.

1. Nastia Liukin should have won the women’s all-around. With a highly respectful nod to 2007 World Champion Shawn Johnson, only Nastia combined the balletic artistry that makes gymnastics a truly special sport with the difficulty that makes people say wow. Not only that, she stuck almost all her critical landings during the all-around final — on vault, off beam and on that tricky front-full, front double full first pass on floor.

Liukin’s performance in that all-around final was a throwback to the “perfectionist” gymnastics of old — and hopefully, an inspiration to the perfectionist gymnastics to come.

2. Sasha Artemev should have impressed on the international stage. With so many great event specialists not able to compete because of messed up rules, I’m glad this event specialist was able to perform his awesome pommel horse routine four times during the Games — and hit it for three of them. Will this cure him of his consistency problems? Maybe not. But it’ll certainly give the naysayers something to think about.

3. Japan’s Kohei Uchimura should have made a huge splash. And he did! Uchimura has amazingly clean technique and an elegant style. Plus he bows to the judges after he salutes before beginning his routine. How nice can you get?

4. The American men, criticized and characterized as the underdogs for so long, should have had a spectacular competition. It was especially gratifying to see everyone step up in the abscence of Paul Hamm and prove the U.S. to be a world class competitor.

5. The Chinese women, underage or not, had the best team in the world. Age debate aside, they deserved their win.

6. Yang Wei, after so many titles and honors and years of coming so close, deserved the all-around gold. That and if he hadn’t gotten it, Uchimura would have won with not just one fall, but two. Eeek.

7. The Romanians deserved something, even if the 2008 team was a shadow of Romanian domination of the past. Sandra Izbasa’s floor gold and the team bronze gives them that.

8. With a great performance, Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina finally got the Olympic vault medal she richly deserved. Olympic gold medalist-turned-sportswear-mogul Li Ning was so impressed with her performances — and her story — that he gave her 20,000 Euroz to help pay for her son Alisher’s medical treatments for lieukemia.

9. A few relative unknowns, most notably France’s Benoit Caranobe, should have made names for themselves. Also exciting were Epke Zonderland, Louis Smith, Justin Spring and darkhorse all-arounders Yang Yilin and Ksenia Semyonova. 2009 will be exciting with them around.

10. Shawn “Bubbly” Johnson deserved the gold medal on beam just for hitting one of the hardest routines ever performed on four inches not once but four times during the Games.

Honorable mention: The judges should have nailed their performance. With the exception of women’s uneven bars, they did.

Wondering what Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson and Paul Hamm are making on the Tour of Gymnastics Superstars currently tumbling its way across the United States?

This article from the Colorado Springs Gazette doesn’t divulge an amount, but it gives a ballpark.

Hamm said his pay has “slightly” increased since he participated in the 2004 Rock and Roll Gymnastics tour. He then netted $97,500 for 13 stops, according to the Los Angeles Times.

That’s almost enough to buy a good college education these days. And given what the three have made in terms of other endorsements, they’re set.

This is significantly less awkward than the Ortega Taco commercial featuring the Hamm Bros. and Shawn Johnson.  Well…slightly less awkward.

Forget Jason Lee, with the Hamm brothers (Paul and Morgan) and Shawn Johnson in one commercial it’s clear who is needed for a real Alvin and the Chipmunks remake. All three of them have the voices down and Johnson has the look of Theo dead up. Anyways. this commercial doesn’t make me want to buy tacos but DOES make me feel dirty. So, um, I guess that’s good advertising…?

Also, nothing entices me more than while a super gay helium voiced man speaks tiny gymnast girls run around in the background. Now I DEFINITELY want some of that special Ortega sauce.

Oh God. This is SO SO SO late, but I’ve made up for it by looking up SO MANY TONS AND TONS AND TONS OF PHOTOS. So hopefully you’ll forgive me and keep loving me and we can keep having these illicit blog affairs nightly ok? OK.

[Also, not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure Kim was gonna beat my ass if I postponed this crap any longer. DON'T HURT ME, KIM. PLEASE.]

I’m going to start this thing with the following photo, BECAUSE IT SERIOUSLY MAKES ME SMILE SO HARD:

Milky's lookin GOOFY while Sully is lookin downright sexy.

More more TONS more under the cut.

I’m gonna try to keep these as organized as possible. But since in general I am not a very organized person, we’ll see how well that pans out, ok? ON WE GO.

Sup, Ricky Berens?

Okay so, Remember last Olympics when the ONLY photo we could find of Ryan Lochte was that really awful hair one? And then over the next four years he became this INCREDIBLY HOT AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS SWIMMING COMMANDO? Since these are the ONLY TWO decent swimmery photos of cutiepie Ricky Berens I can find all by himself, I predict he’s gonna be the Ryan Lochte of 2012. BACK OFF, BITCHES. I’M LAYING MY CLAIM RIGHT NOW.

Sup, Cabbage? (Milorad Cavic)

cuuuute

OH MY GOD, GUYS. We need to talk about Eamon Sullivan’s Torso again, okay? We just do. Because it is holy. omggggg:

weird moobs.

ughhhhhhh so cute I LOVE THEM BOTH.

And this wouldnt be a hottie post without some HOTTIE RELAY APPRECIATION:

Can we talk about how Aaron is SLAPPING MILKY's BOOB??? And Hansen is like BITCH CELISSE I TOLD YOU I'D DO IT. NOW HOP ON THIS, RIGHT NOW.

thanks for ruining the picture, VANDERKAAY. Also, hello, this photo (minus vanderkaay's squishface) is totally my iPhone background right now. REPREZENT.

Dont they so remind you of Saul and Dale from Pineapple express? Except super hot and not stoners (......lochte..........)

and Peirsol, for good measure, cos I LOVE HIM.

——

On to Gymnastics because oof. Those boys are, like, collectively an average height of 5′4, and I’m 5′7 [and a half!!] and I’m pretty sure Kim is like 6′3 or something so they are TINY, but oh so hot.

Justin Spring never has a shirt on, THANK GOD.

He needs a tan.

Weird.

This photo of Kevin Tan makes me LAUGH SO HARD, even though I shouldn't cos obviously his shoulders must hurt pretty bad at that point.

Can we please talk about Jonathan Horton now? Kim is slightly in love with him and I pretty much want to be his best friend ever. He is ADORABLE and so gracious and hey, at 5′1, he’s pretty much boob-height so that’s awesome.

Look at his SERIOUS FACE. :|

The passing of the torch. Of course, I guess the torch kinda downgraded from gold to silver on the way down, but WHATEVER I LOVE THEM.

Someone was a LITTLE hot for Fabien Hambuechen.

Can I tell you how fun I think Fabien Hambuechen is? Aside from being cute, I loved how he kinda screwed up his routine (on the bars? I already don’t remember), and comes back pretty much CRYING. That is, until, he found out that he managed to get Bronze in the competition, and then walks up to Horton and is like “YAH YAH WUNDEBAR I’LL SEE YOU IN 4 YEARS YAH?” Haaahahahaha. That pretty much decided my LOOOOVE for him, right there.

But. BUT. No one can top my Male Gymnast love for Alexander Artemev. He looks like a helicopter on the pommel horse and his dad is an ASTRONAUT. A FRIGGEN ASTRONAUT!!!!:

Oh Sasha.

He thought the medal was my face, obviously.

His curly lil feet freak me out. BUT HELLO, MISPLACED BULGE.

So short. So cute.

——-

OKAY. Running is next. I’m actually not really hot for runners, but I decided to be DIVERSE. Bah.

I SERIOUSLY LOVE DAYRON ROBLES AND HIS COOL GLASSES SERIOUSLY.

So he's not hot. Who cares? He has COOL ASS GLASSES. And, oh yeah, a GOLD MEDAL too!

And can we just talk about how amazingly fantastic this photo is? Please?

Guys, I’m really conflicted about Jeremy Wariner. He’s hot, but NOT REALLY, and he seems like kind of a DICK? Anyone else agree? Either way, I can’t seem to stop lookin’ at him. Something about him makes me wanna rarrrrr. SHRUG.

Sup, Jeremy Wariner?

Weird.

THE DAVIDS (Payne and Oliver) are cute.

——-

DIVING DIVING DIVING HOTTIES OMGGGGGG

Hi, David Boudia. This is a weird picture and you are but a wee 19 years old but I still want to get doooooown.

On the right, with his Synchro partner, Thomas Finchum.

Torsoooo

On my last hottie post someone was all OMG OMG OGM OMGOM OMG OMG OMG POST ALEXANDRE DESPATIE OMG OMG OGM ALEXANDRE DESPATIE HE IS SO HOT OMG OMG OMG OMG and it was actually REALLY annoying, but whatever, as it turns out, he really is hot:

HI, BULGY???? I mean.... Great form. YEAH. Great form.

Matthew Mitcham is seriously adorable.

Also this photo of him makes me laugh A LOT.

Thomas Finchum is 18. I will save my comments about his FORM until 2012.

——–

Eamon Sullivan's Torsoooooooo.

I’M GOING TO SLEEP GOODNIGHT INTERNET.

Why does this commercial almost seem like a parody of athletes endorsing products? It reminds me of an 80’s ad. I don’t feel comfortable.

Okay. So I thought I wasn’t “going to go there,” but I am. I am truly disgusted.

As some of you may have read, I long ago called that the age controversy was going to be the scandal of the Games. It was. I also stated that I REFUSED to let that spoil the Olympics, something that I would be damned to let ruin the excitement of this long awaited event. In fact, I have been a little sad because with the Olympics ending soon, I feel like a small child who waited all year for their birthday or Christmas and is so sad when the wait finally ends! (hahahaha, yes I am a dork). But I did a good job, I have not let the age scandal affect me at all.

But never did I think the attitudes of the Americans would end up as the thing I want to forget these Olympic Games.

I was extremely dismayed after the Women’s Team Final. Marta Karolyi’s comments to the press infuriated me. Complaining about Alicia Sacramone’s long wait on the podium for beam. Blaming everything in her path. Funny, she didn’t blame the fact that USA basically competed with half a team. And uhhhh, whose fault is that Marta? The hardcore fans have been complaining for months about the insanely demanding selection process, which injured many people in it’s path, keeping key athletes off the team entirely, not to mention during the actual Olympics. But Marta doesn’t want to say that. Regardless of the age scandal or anything else, take a lesson from Shawn Johnson; just be happy with what you did do. Accept defeat, be happy that you gave it your all. It’s amazing enough to be able to call yourself an Olympian, and even better to say you are a medalist.

Then we have these constant interviews with Bela Karolyi in which he does the same complaining.

Funny that no one seems to admit where we did get gifted scores? Tim Daggett pointed out that during the All-Around, Nastia Liukin was credited for a connection on beam she shouldn’t have received, and how Shawn’s vault was extremely questionable and probably shouldn’t have received credit. But uhhhh, you didn’t hear the Karolyis mention that one.

Again readers, keep in mind that I am not here to dispute any results. At all. Even if I should be. The entire point of this post is to demonstrate the ugly attitude here, and how BAD it is making the Americans look. That is not what I want our athletes to remember 20 years from now. I want Shawn to remember how consistent she performed, how she medalled on every event she entered (couting my eggs too soon here, don’t know about beam yet). Nastia should remember that she has the most coveted title in the world for gymnasts.

But last night’s uneven bar final did it for me. The shock, the fuss, the obvious disappointment over the tie break.

NEWS FLASH!!!! The tie breaker is a known process. Funny last night night we didn’t see France’s Thomas Bouhail toss a fit because the same tie-breaking procedure gave him the silver and Leszek Blanik the gold. Funny that four years ago, when Marian Dragulescu lost the gold to Kyle Shewfelt, we saw nothing but grace. We saw people happy for their results, and even better than that, to be happy for someone else.

I have never complained about Marta, Nastia, or Valeri Liukin. But I am now. Because I could seriously vomit. I am NOT DISPUTING THE RESULTS, I AM NOT SAYING THAT LIUKIN SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT HAVE WON.

But what a way to remember the uneven bar final, which was the event final I was most excited about as I thought it contained within it the biggest showdown (next to the AA of course!).

Nastia, Marta, and Valeri stood to the side going over stuff and being disappointed over the “loss.” I yelled out loud when Valeri was still going over it with Marta. Uhh, Valeri? Your daughter is standing on the Olympic Podium being awarded, maybe you should, I don’t know, WATCH HER INSTEAD OF POUT?

This tie-breaking procedure maybe new to WAG, but it is certainly not new. And when I know myself (a person not involved with the sport directly) that this Olympics the tie-breakers would be in place here, why do these people act surprised? Because they are pissed they don’t have another gold. Yes, you know what? That would suck, I would be disappointed if it were me too. But that public display of children whining was horrible.

Marta, why didn’t you whine when Shawn and Nastia tied beam scores in prelims? Oh, because that tie was okay, right? It didn’t affect medal placements, so I guess that made it okay? Nastia and Valeri, what about you guys? You didn’t wonder about the tie-breaker then? If I understand what they do when A and B scores are tied, I cannot imagine how they wouldn’t know.

Before everyone starts commenting on how it was unfair because He Kexin is too young, or two gold medals should be awarded, please be reminded that again, I am not posting to comment on that situation. Do I think the Chinese have gotten overscored on several events? YES. Do I think if there is a tie, two gold medals should be awarded? Yes. But again, that is not my point.

I am just disgusted with a lot of the attitudes going on right now.

And before everyone starts saying how this ISN’T whining. Please remember the Paul Hamm and Yang Tae Young controversy in Athens. You didn’t see the Americans complaining then. Because the mistake ended up in our favor.

Some of the scoring and scandals going on in these Games SUCK. But when so many other countries despise us, way to do it again USA. I don’t see every other country on the floor complaining.

I am truly embarrassed.

On another note, Marian stuck his vault again! Then fell on the next. I cried. I was also sad for Jordan Jotchev. Sigh. I wish Jordan didn’t exit the arena.

Please do well in the high bar final, Fabian Hambuchen. Please. I also hope Jonathon Horton has the routine of a lifetime, both of these athletes deserve it.

The 2008 Olympic all-around silver medalist Shawn Johnson and 2008 Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin claimed the floor exercise silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China.  Johnson, the reigning world champion in the floor exercise, landed in second place to Sandra Izbasa of Romania.  In addition to Liukin’s bronze medal in the floor exercise, she also earned the silver medal on the uneven bars, bringing her Olympic medal total to four, with one gold, two silver and one bronze.

The USA gymnastics women’s silver medalists and men’s bronze medalists are set to reunite after Beijing for the 2008 Tour of Gymnastic Superstars at Joe Louis Arena at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 2.  The Olympic gold champion and nine-time World Championship medalist Nastia Liukin, Olympic silver medalist and reigning World Champion Shawn Johnson, 2005 All-Around World Champion Chellsie Memmel, and Olympic medalist Morgan Hamm will join Paul Hamm, Shannon Miller, Blaine Wilson and the U.S. gymnastics team for the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars.

The 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars will offer fans a unique opportunity to see some of their favorite gymnasts perform live in an extraordinary sports and music extravaganza. In addition to medal-worthy athletic routines the show will feature songs from the Walt Disney Records’ Disney Girlz Rock 2 CD and live performances from teen sensations Jordan Pruitt and KSM. Jordan’s new album, Permission to Fly features the single “One Love” and is currently available exclusively at Limited Too stores.  KSM recorded the show’s theme song, “Hero in You,” a new pop/rock anthem written and produced by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil of “High School Musical” fame.  KSM’s debut album is set for release in 2009.

Tickets ($29.50, $39.50, 49.50 & $79.50) are on sale now and may be purchased at OlympiaEntertainment.com, the Joe Louis Arena and Fox Theatre box offices, Hockeytown Authentics in Troy (without service charge) and at all Ticketmaster locations, including Macy’s and Ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets by phone, call (248) 645-6666.  Groups of 15 or more save, please call (313) 471-3099.  For additional information, call (313) 471-6611.

Oh the heartbreaks and surprises tonight!

As expected, Yang Wei won the gold. I am so happy for him. What a truly glorious thing. He won by 2.6 points.

The real news is with the heartbreaks that happened among those in the silver and bronze medal race. Less than a point separated places 2 through 10. This meet I watched alone. Here are the moments that my heart broke wide open:

Fabian Hambuchen was by far the biggest heartbreak for me. A hit high bar routine would have given him the silver medal. I yelled “NOOOO” a couple of times, mostly over this awesome young man. One thing that really gets me about Fabian is his absolutely wonderful demeanor to his competitors. Always congradulating them. I love it. How I wanted a silver medal for this guy. My only hope is that he clinches the gold in the high bar final.

Hiroyuki Tomita also broke my heart with that scary rings fall. (Another out loud yell). After all he has done, it would have been so nice to see him medal! An upsetting fourth place finish, just .175 out of the bronze position, and .225 out of the silver! Without that scary rings fall he would surely have been second. That sucks.

Jonathon Horton didn’t have the greatest performances, but after watching him during the Team Finals, I really wanted him with that bronze medal.

Sasha Artemev was great! He has really grown on me and now I am root, root, rooting for him to get a medal on the pommel horse!

Who is Benoit Caranobe? Why he is the Olympic Bronze Medalist! I had NO idea who he was before tonight, my knowledge of statistic for MAG is NOTHING compared to what I know about WAG. But his tears of joy moved me so much. Biggest surprise of the evening.

I hope Fabian is in London 2012. Tim Daggett also provided me with an education of who Kohei Urchimura is. The silver medalist I guess will be a power for years to come for team Japan.

Yang Tae-Young also provided more heartbreaking moments.

I don’t think a healthy Paul Hamm would have beat Yang Wei tonight.

NBC, I am mad you didn’t show me the medal ceremony, it had better be online! –Oh wow, they are playing it, they did this about 30 seconds after I typed this sentence. I take it back NBC.

It struck me tonight how moved I let complete strangers whom I will never know personally affect me so much. I guess that is what having our heroes means to us.

Ooh I am watching the medal ceremony, Caranobe is kinda hot! I love Yang Wei’s antics. Not only does he deserve to do them, but so much more exciting than the usual.

Tomorrow night is the real night for me. It is the night I have waited four years to know the outcome of. Of course I want Shawn Johnson to win. Badly. But I am thinking it is going to be Nastia Liukin. I hope I am wrong.

They gave it a great effort, but in the end fell just short. China won the Olympic gold medal that they gave away in 2004. Team USA finished with the bronze with a team that was put together at the last minute due to a series of unfortunate injuries.

From the Associated Press:

The Chinese began celebrating even before their last event, high bar, was finished. When little Zou Kai’s feet hit the mat with a thud, his teammates jumped up and down. They stood behind a large Chinese flag, tears flowing.

China finished with 278.875 points, more than seven points ahead of Japan. That’s such a blowout the Chinese could have brought three fans in for the last event and still won. The Americans had 275.850.

The Chinese have won seven of the last eight world titles, including the last three, and have more individual titles than a royal family. For all that, though, they were still considered underachievers. There was just one Olympic title during this reign, and their collapse four years ago was one of epic proportions. Not only did they not win the gold they were supposed to, they went home with just two medals, only one gold.

You have to give Team USA credit. They had heart and they gave it all they had. It would be interesting to see how the team had done with the Hamm brothers. Unfortunately, we will never know. Thoughts?

Take that pundits!  Ha, Ha gymnastic analysts!  OOPS reporters and uh NBC nice recovery……… 

That’s right the American Men’s Olympic Gymnastics Team–the one that was Hammless (they say Hom looks like Ham–is this like Egor/Igor?) actually got a medal!  No one expected it, everyone said it was impossible but they did it anyway!  Congratulations!

They did make some mistakes.   Obviously rattled by the pressure and the fact that their weakest event was also their last, Team USA did not perform at the same high standard they had set the rest of the day in their end event.  That’s okay though because even the mighty (China and an especially rocky Japan) made errors.  All that matters is that they pulled off what everyone said was impossible–a medal.

Bronze–to this team it is the sweetest color indeed, I am sure.  At one point they actually led over China and then held onto the Silver for a long time.  Japan’s strongest events had not happened yet so in the end Silver was not to be either. 

Still the “Little Team That Could” as they were refered to by Dominique Dawes, Olympic Gymnastics Analyst, pulled it out and medaled!  I am so happy for all of them because they were indeed ignored and discounted. 

To NBC’s credit they started out barely showing Men’s Gymnastics and when they did, they focused on the highly favored Chinese.  And then something happened.  Suddenly the American’s were contenders.  A solid showing on rings (Kevin rocked there), Justin Spring’s monkey bars I mean high bar routine (I loved this) and exceptional performances from Jonathan Horton that never seemed to end, ensured that these wonder boys would go home with a medal.

In the end it was a guy no one expected would ever get on the team who shored up their position to place them right on the podium for their medal.  Alexander Artemev has on occasion folded under pressure, but tonight, the most important night for him, he did not founder and his performance on the pommel horse was the incredible end that assured the US their Bronze.

In an Olympics dominated by the incomparable Superstar Michael Phelps, the Men’s Gymnastics Team pulled themselves quietly together out of the glare of any expectations.  No one thought they would even get into the top 8, never mind to medal.

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS you deserve it!  And Jonathan some of us really did believe in all of you!

                Below:  What they got!

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

The Chinese men's team reacts to winning the team competition in Beijing.

It was expected — and not.

Everybody saw the Chinese men grabbing gold in spectacular fashion in team finals. But few could have seen the American resurgence. This blogger predicted to a friend that the team would finish fifth — the same as in Atlanta in 1996.

Put aside the whole Chinese domination thing for a minute. We’ll get there. To me the most compelling, most unexpected, most redeeming story of the Games thusfar is that of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.

Jonathan Horton reacts to a hit parallel bars routine in team finals. The U.S. men, sixth after preliminaries, captured a surprising bronze medal in team finals.

A team bronze is better than anyone — except maybe the U.S. men themselves — could have anticipated. They were sixth after prelims with very few errors. Few could have forseen Fabian Hambuchen faltering on high bar on his Takemoto, or Russia’s dismal rings performance.

Still, it was the U.S. who powered their bronze-medal run. They earned it, rather than achieving it because other teams faltered, which may explain why the Japanese looked a little disappointed on the podium. But in another four years, Japan may be an Olympic competitor again.

Somewhere around rotation three, a Canadian commentator noted that the U.S. men loved reading media reports saying they had no shot at anything, particularly after injuries forced Paul and Morgan Hamm off the team. And there was plenty of that to go around.

Maybe this was a gathering of strength for the U.S. men. Jonathan Horton finally showed a level of maturity and quality to match the difficulty that’s always been there. Sasha Artemev finally seemed to shrug off his demons, step out of his father’s shadow a bit. Wild Justin Spring delivered big scores and solid performances. I hope all three continue. They could be the lynchpins of a huge U.S. team come London 2012.

For a second after the fifth rotation, it even looked like the U.S. had a chance of upsetting the Japanese, the only team expected to be able to challenge China. But a biffed pommel horse routine from Kevin Tan in team finals resulted in a dismal 12.775, effectively eliminating the U.S.’s three point lead after five. Raj Bhavsar followed up with a 13.7, and Artemev’s hit routine wasn’t enough to make up the deficit.

Still, we knew pommels were the weak link. Perhaps we underestimated how strong everything else could be. “Nobody expected this from them,” Kyle Shewfelt said. “This is redemption. This is them saying to everybody, ‘We are a very strong team. We are someone to be reckoned with.’”

Japan's Takehiro Kashima vaults during the Olympic team finals. Japan was a distant second behind China.

Silver medalist Japan didn’t perform to the standard they expected. But they’ve certainly come a long ways from the drought that plagued them for 20 years after Japanese coach Koji Gushiken’s all-around victory in 1984 — beating Li Ning and U.S. star Peter Vidmar. It’s a big competition for 19-year-old Kohei Ujimura, who may well be the next Hiroyuki Tomita.

You can sort of see the sun setting on Tomita, who qualified in sixth place to the all-around behind two of his teammates. Because he’s the Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan is withdrawing fifth-place finisher Koki Sakamoto.

It may be a good decision, and it may not. Tomita was the tiredest-looking competitor at the 2007 World Championships during the men’s all around competition only a day after the team final.

As for China, it was simply one of the great Olympic performances, from start to finish. Home turf? Who cares. China Syndrome? What China Syndrome? By the end of the fifth rotation, China would have needed all of its gymnasts to fall off high bar, multiple times. Instead, they get still-relative-newcomer Zou Kai, who behaves like the Olympic veteran he is now, with a Paul Hamm-like finish — a stuck double-twisting double layout.

Expected for China, but still incredible. Not for U.S. fans, and even more amazing because of it.

Nastia Liukin qualified to three event finals: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

In the end, I cheated a little bit. On the U.S. west coast, we’re lucky to have in our cable packages the Canadian Broadcasting Network, which showed men’s and women’s team prelims basically as they were going on. Hence, whereas NBC is showing women’s team prelims tonight, I saw parts of the competition last night.

And boy, what parts.

Nastia Liukin sitting down her bars dismount. Chellsie Memmel missing her Tkatchev. Samantha Peszek not competing her best events. Alicia Sacramone, a tough but not stoic gymnast, looking focused but at times a little sad. The only person who looked like she was really having fun was the one who had the best day: reigning World champ Shawn Johnson.

The great thing about the Olympics is you can analyze and speculate about what’s going to happen, but you can’t know. Perhaps depressing is that more people seemed to have bad surprises than good ones: British favorite Beth Tweddle banged her foot — hard — on the low bar doing a giant. Italian star Vanessa Ferrari looked deflated and out of shape.

Aussie Dasha Joura, a total package gymnast and the best Oz has ever produced, had the worst meet of her life and didn’t qualify for the all-around or any event final.

It was different for the men. The U.S., rocked by the departures of Paul and Morgan Hamm, looked respectable if perhaps not medal-worthy. They made team finals. Aside from a botched rings routine by Sasha Artemev, who hit a great pommels set to make up for it, everyone “did their job,” as the commentators said. (Except perhaps NBC, whose job it is to show the competition, not a few myriad routines that gave every indication of being a highlight reel instead of real coverage.) It might have been worse.

So I am currently out of town helping a friend move and haven’t even been online in days.  My friend bought a 60 inch high def TV with all the channels in the world so I decided to stay here until Friday to keep her company since I don’t start work yet.  Why not stay in my beloved Gainesville another week?  Anyhow, I apologize for not blogging.  I am afraid to really go online and see what the lastest news is because I don’t want to see the results of WAG Prelims before they air tonight.  After today, I will be in the loop and constantly reporting.  I had been working on a long post, but due to no time left I am now here posting a shorter version…

What I want for each athlete:

Shawn Johnson-  As my favorite gymnast I want Shawn to of course win the AA.  I also want medals for her on beam and floor as well.  However, I am in the boat that is concerned about some of Shawn’s skills getting credited.  And I heard she was puking at podium training!  I just want for that awesome little girl to do her very best, she deserves it.  She looks to be getting her questionable skills around and I feel a bit better.  Her beam sets were awesome during podium training.  In addition to the AA I want Shawn to qualify to beam and floor finals.  Please get all your skills fully around!

Nastia Liukin-  Nastia looks like she has cleaned up her bars dismount quite a bit!  Good for her because she deserves to be at her best especially on bars, and event in which she is truly one of the best in the world at.  I am kind of surprised she is slated to compete in the #2 spot on floor.  Despite my views on Nastia being an all arounder, I do want her to do well because she deserves it.

Chellsie Memmel-  The biggest disappointment for me these Games thus far is the fact that Chellsie is only competing bars.  Chellsie is my favorite feel good story, and before this injury, I thought she had a bigger chance to qualify for individual events than anyone else on the US team.  I am still hoping that she was somehow put in last minute and did AA in qualifications.  I hate dealing with this, Chellsie deserves this SOOOOOO much.  Either way, I hope for every routine she is as flawless as possible.  Of course getting into bars EF would also be great though I think a medal is unlikely due to the high level of people competing.  (BTW, I heard Berh Tweddle has a 7.9 A-score planned).  Please do as well as possible Chellsie.

Alicia Sacramone-  Alicia is in the same club as Chellsie.  The “I didn’t make the 2004 Team here I am now bitches!”  Her beam sets looked pretty solid during podium training, a lot more than Nats and Trials.  Floor is looking a little bit off, landing OOB and whatnot.  I am REALLY surprised her 2nd spot was given to Liukin.  I want Alicia to medal on vault pretty badly, she looks great there.  I think she is very likely the silver medalist depending on how Cheng Fei does.  But I hope she also has the performance of a lifetime. 

Cheng Fei-  How I love this gymnast.  I want to know her A-score on floor very badly as she is doing 6 tumbling passes (I counted right, right??).  Cheng Fei deserves to be at her very best as everyone in her country is watching her.  I want her with vault gold of course, and i would love it if she won floor as well.  Her beam looked pretty darn good too!  I hope Cheng has a completely error free Olympics.  My favorite international competitor, I am so excited for her.

Raj Bhavsar-  Raj is my favorite competitor for the US team, the one who provides me the sentimental routing.  I hope he goes completely perfect in Team Finals.  I am so happy that Raj can call himself an Olympian.  What I would really like is if Raj and company could call themselves bronze medalists.  It seems a longshot, but you never know with three up three count format!  The Men’s Team Final will be so exciting to watch, I can’t wait for the Chinese to be crowned champions.

Fabian Hambuchen-  I love this kid.  I want him as a silver medalist in the AA and also as the high bar champion.  He is so much fun to watch.

Yang Wei-  I am emotionally invested in Yang, I want him to win the AA SO BAD.  He deserves it.  Like Cheng Fei, he is holding so much pressure.  Even if Paul Hamm was competing I would still want Yang to win.  His parallel bars mishap in prelims sucked, he would have been great for the Final.

Dasha Joura-  I also want her at her very best, and wow do i hope she makes floor finals.  I would like to see her top five in the AA.  I don’t think a podium finish is possible.  But hey, “It’s the Olympics, you never know what could happen.” 

Marian Dragulescu-  I want Marian to get that vault gold.  I LOVE his vaults.  I am so happy he qualified first (and wow second for the floor final).  I haven’t really kept up on his previous meets for 2008.  I am torn about a gold medal on floor, because I want Diego Hypolito to win.  Be at your best for vault Marian.  No 2004 repeats!

Oksana Chusovitina-  PLEASE WIN A VAULT MEDAL!  For her one millionth Olympics I want her to do well.  She didn’t even qualify in 2004, sucked because she was the reigning world champ.  God I want her to medal.

Daiane Dos Santos-  Please tell me you brought it all for the Olympics.  I want her in floor finals.  I want her to have an Olympic medal on the event.  Period.

Anna Pavlova-  I want her to do well and to make beam and floor finals.  I bet she will make vault.  Sentimental fave.

This is it for now.  I can’t wait to watch everything tonight!!!!!!!!!

Again, I am sorry for the lack of posting!!!!  Anyone else mad that every event after tonight doesn’t begin until 10 or 11pm (eastern)???  I feel REALLY bad for those out in California.

I AM SO FRIGGIN EXCITED!  And i am soooooooooooooo tempted to go look at the results, but that will ruin the excitment for me when it airs in a few hours and I can’t do that….

By the way, this post has no pictures because this computer I am using is weird.

HAPPY OLYMPICS EVERYONE!

Morgan Hamm on pommel horse at the 2007 U.S. Championships.

From International Gymnast Magazine:

Two-time Olympian Morgan Hamm withdrew from the Olympics in Beijing on Thursday because of an ankle injury, and has been replaced by alternate Sasha Artemev.

“I have been dealing with this for the last year and it has gotten worse here in Beijing,” Hamm said in a statement Thursday. “Right now I am unable to perform my tumbling skills at the level that I need to. This has an impact on my ability to contribute to the team’s goals and I believe by continuing I would be putting myself at further risk.”

During podium training on Wednesday in Beijing, Hamm’s ankle was clearly bothering him. He tumbled only one pass on floor exercise, a 2 1/2 twist, and fell on it. He watered down on vault as well, performing a double-twisting Tsukahara instead of his usual 2 1/2.

U.S. men’s head coach Kevin Mazeika said he needed to be able to see a full floor routine from Hamm during Thursday’s practice.

It’s a very sad ending to what began as a hugely promising comeback for the twins who literally did half the work in the 2004 Olympic team finals. Paul and Morgan’s comeback was supposed to herald the return of U.S. men’s gymnastics as a true international contender — at least for these Games.

It’s hard to know what to expect from the two they’ve been replaced by, except form errors (and thus lower B scores) from Bhavsar and inconsistency from Artemev — the most notable things about each one’s gymnastics, respectively.

This seems a slightly more advanced prototype of the team that finished a respectable fourth at the 2007 World Championships. It’s strength on rings is excellent thanks to Bhavsar and Tan, and Artemev, provided he hits his pommel horse routine in team prelims, has a good shot at moving to finals on that event.

Artemev, who once said in an interview that Paul Hamm’s return took the pressure off of people like him to be as “perfect”, is a brilliant gymast on nearly every event. His lines, form and artistry are truly Olympic-caliber. Even with a fall, he’ll carry in a better score on pommels than literally everyone else on this team.

Two withdrawals before anyone even salutes a judge in competition is a lot, and even with alternate David Durante still waiting in the wings, one wonders if it wouldn’t behoove the U.S. to fly another person out to Asia to train — just in case. David Sender, anyone?