MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

The Rio Olympics aren't for another 2 1/2 years, but the gymnasts are taking part in the Olympic spirit in support of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Lauren Mitchell's 2010 floor exercise routine at the World Championships was a landmark one. It was Lauren's first gold medal at the world championships and it was the first Australian female gymnast to win a gold medal at the world championships. At first, Lauren herself couldn't believe it.

So the results are in from the Euros and everyone is preparing now for their big World Championships reveal. As promised, I am posting recaps of the Euro's events in case you missed it or just want to relive the glory. The first thing I have to say is it was a fierce competition. Aliya Mustafina, Anastasia Grishina, Larisa Iordache were the triumphant victors on the podium stand after a fierce battle. For most of the competition, Larisa was the leader. Musty clawed her way up from third place to take her rightful place on   Larisa Iordache  came out in her yellow and black Pikachu leotard.

Qualification results are in from day two of the European Championships. Lots of surprises and upstarts. Aliya Mustafina had a fantastic bar routine and floor exercise and vault, the beam was a shaky event for her and she allegedly fell twice. She qualified for the all-around in fourth behind Anastasia Grishina and beating out Ksenia Afanaseyva due to the two per country rule. Aliya qualified first for the uneven bars final ahead of   Britain's Rebecca Downie who came in second. Ksenia Afanaseyva did not make the all-around, but she did qualify in first for the floor final. Maria Paseka beat out Anastasia Grishina for the bars final and she qualified behind Giulia Steingruber in second for the vault final. Larisa Iordache qualified in first for the all-around and teammate Diana Bulimar came in second. They both qualified for the floor final. For full results, visit: http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/euro/2013/moscow.html

The Federation International de Gymnastique (FIG) released the final code of points for the 2013 quad today after a final approval. Since the code has been out and floating around for a while, there isn't much that is new per say. But there are a few notable insertions that are noteworthy:

Recently, Romanian gymnast, Diana Chelaru announced she would be retiring from elite gymnastics.  In October, she'd left the national team's Bucharest training facility to return home to Onesti. The 19-year-old had been struggling with life on the national team and was reportedly homesick.

I know all you gymnastics fans out there are going through withdrawals (myself included). You're scouring YouTube for old competitions trying to feed your addiction while the rest of the US is busy with football. Don't even get me started on that. But anyways, Dr. Maria has the cure for your gymnastics blues. The FIG Official Calendar of Events for 2013! Go ahead, take a looksie, you know you wanna. FIG Calendar of Events.

2012 has been a very good year for Olympic Alternate,Elizabeth "Ebee" Price. Ebee won her second international title today

It's about that time. The Olympics have passed, some gymnasts are continuing and some are bidding their beloved sport of Gymnastics farewell. So who is retiring? Let's find out.

Today, Chellsie Memmel is retiring.... from gymnastics. She's not collecting Social Security since she is only 24 years old.  It's more like moving on to the next phase of her life.

This week on Favorite Routines I'm featuring Chinese Gymnast, Sui Lu on balance beam at the 2011 World Championships. Sui Lu was having a great competition at the World Championships. While her teammates had small inconsistencies throughout the competition, Lu* kept her composure

After the whirlwind Olympics and after the Kelloggs Tour of Champions, Elizabeth "Ebee" Price and Danell Leyva will compete for the US in the World Cup Competition in Stuttgart, Germany and Glasgow, Scotland this upcoming December. Ebee is certainly having a great year,