MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

This is it... The moment of truth... In a couple of short hours, USA Gymnastics will name the 2016 Rio Olympic Team. There are so many questions. Will it be the five athletes that Marta named three weeks ago? Simone, Aly, Gabby, Laurie and Madison? Will Gabby recover from her beam disaster on night one to be the Gabby we all know and love? Most importantly, who will be named the alternates? Will the #Mashton debate will be settled once and for all? Quick recap from night one - Simone is currently leading the pack and is well on her way to getting the lone guaranteed Olympic Team spot.  Coming up on her heels, one Miss Laurie Hernandez. Someone forgot to tell her that she's competing for her place in a team that is akin to getting into an Ivy League university (Although, if we must get specific, more students get into, let's say Stanford than athletes make this team). Laurie is as cool as a cucumber and saunters about the arena as if to say "NBD, just another competit...

Well, one night of trials is over and done with. There is still one more night of intense competition in this pressure cooker. I wish that metaphor were hyperbole, but alas, I kid you not. The pressure is on in San Jose. This is really it, you eff up too badly here, your dreams of Olympic glory end. So who is holding up under the intense scrutiny? Let's take a look and see.

IT'S FINALLY HERE! Tonight is the first night of two nights of competition, the second being held Sunday night.  Marta Karolyi, women's team coordinator is looking at Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian as being the five that go to Rio in a few weeks. But, Maggie Nichols is expected to come back in the all-around tonight. Will she challenge for a plane ticket to Rio? There is also the much hyped showdown of #Mashton - Madison Kocian and Ashton Locklear facing off for the bars and beam spot. Make no mistake, this debate is a heated one. It may even be a bigger debate than Bernie vs Hilary for that coveted Democratic presidential nominee. So which one is the triumphant Hilary and who will be runner up Bernie in this scenario? Refresh the page every few minutes for all the action in San Jose!

With the conclusion of the P&G Gymnastics, eight gymnasts earned an automatic berth to the Olympic Trials next weekend in San Jose, California. USA Gymnastics has announced the full national team roster for the seniors, additionally, all national team members will go on to compete at trials.  Here are the ladies of team USA who will be competing for that coveted Olympic Team spot:

This world championships is the last world championships before the Rio Olympic Games in Summer of 2016. These world championships are a big deal because this event is acting as a qualifier to not only the Olympics themselves, but the Olympic Test event, the final qualifying event for the Olympics. The qualifications from the past two days in Glasgow have been a mad scramble to get that ticket to Rio. The list of automatic qualifiers and those who must qualify through the test event.

Simone Biles became the first woman since Kim Zmeskal to win three consecutive all-around national titles with a lead of nearly five points with a two night total of 124.100.

USA Gymnastics has released the official list for the competitor field for the Secret Classic on July 27. McKayla and Kyla are just as excited as we are for Classics! Source: Teen.com Returning Fierce Five members, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross have been officially confirmed to the field. No surprise, McKayla and Kyla were spotted at National team training camp in early June working on new floor routines. Kyla was seen doing some gorgeous beam connections which we hope to see at the Classics in a full routine.

With the Olympics having concluded almost a year again, it's the beginning of a new quad for the bid for Rio.  The next major competiton is the world championships in Antwerp. For the USA, they need to get through nationals, but to get through nationals, they need to get through the Secret Classic. Here is some information regarding the classic.

Tentative teams have been named for the 2013 European Championships in Moscow. Many returning are favorites and a few are looking to make a senior debut. Here is the lowdown, like the World Championships this year, the Euros will be an individual only competition- meaning there will be no team competition, only an individual all-around and event finals. Since this competition is being held in Moscow, let's look at the home team:

Katelyn Ohashi may have won the American Cup title, but Victoria Moors has overthrown Aliya Mustafina as the queen. The American Cup pretty much went as predicted. Katelyn Ohashi scored the top spot and Simone Biles came in second. Victoria came in third, but she certainly got the world's attention.