MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

Another future Olympian entered the world today.  2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone (Quinn) and husband Brady Quinn welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Sloan, into the world.  Alicia made the official announcement via her Instagram account.

Elise Ray, 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist,  US National Champion, NCAA champion, has been named the head coach at the University of Washington's gymnastics program, following the retirement of longtime head coach, Joanne Bowers.

British Olympic Bronze and World Champion, Beth Tweddle has injured her back while skiing for the British skiing reality competition.

Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor have both returned to training in hopes of making the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Who knew Svetlana Khorkina was a Tarantino fan? This floor routine of Svetlana's at the 1998 European Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia. It's set to the music from the film by Quentin Tarantino,  Pulp Fiction .

The big news of the week is the Nastia Liukin has signed on to do "Dancing With the Stars," following the footsteps of her teammates Shawn Johnson and Aly Raisman.

Daniela Silivas (Harper) Olympic Gold medalist, World Champion, European Champion and now, a gymnastics coach, a wife and a mother of three children. Yesterday, Daniela posted a conversation she had with her five-year-old son, Rylan on her Facebook page. What a gem. Kids say the darnedest things....

While UCLA had Christine "Peng Peng" Lee, return to competition after dealing with an injury, on the east coast, Florida lost an athlete (temporarily) to an injury. Former World and NCAA all-around national champion, Bridget Sloan injured her ankle in the season opener against Ball State.

On Sunday, Shawn Johnson will go from the Olympic Arena to the boardroom on "Celebrity Apprentice."

Samantha Peszek and Jordyn Wieber, who represented the USA in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games respectively, showed off their big screen debut as gymnasts in the upcoming gymnastics movie Full Out . The Olympians were featured in a promotional video for the film, which is set to be released in 2015.

Recently, young upstart vault and floor worker MyKayla Skinner has taken the USA Gymnastics scene by force. She's gained much attention this year for her powerful floor routine and her extremely powerful left arm. She's being compared to 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist and former World Champion, Alicia Sacramone. Like her counterpart, Alicia is a strong vaulter and a powerful floor worker and has contributed greatly to team USA on those events. Their similarities do not end there. Here are some comparisons of these two dynamic athletes:

Courtney McCool is a gymnast who was known for her impeccable form. The 2004 Olympic Silver medalist had form that would rival the form of some gymnasts today.

Lots of former elite gymnasts move on to the world of NCAA gymnastics, but very few go from the college world to the elite scene. Here are four athletes who embarked on the elite path after their NCAA careers.

Here's an oldie but a goodie from Samantha Pezsek's days as an elite.

American gymnast, Elizabeth "Betty" Okino was a force on the USA Gymnastics scene in the early '90's.

2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist, Elise Ray was complete bad ass on the uneven bars.

The Ukrainian crisis has forced Stella Zakharova to postpone her annual eponymous competition, The Stella Zakharova Cup. The competition was originally slated to be held March 29-30 in Kiev, but is now being held April 26-27.

Nastia Liukin has been playing around Sochi while doing features for NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics.

After the 2012 Olympic Games in London where McKayla Maroney famously won the silver medal after falling on her Mustafina vault in the vault final, her competitor, Maria Paseka, had said she didn't think McKayla's silver was deserved.

Who doesn't love vintage footage of their favorite athletes?