MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

2013 is almost over, as of 11:59 p.m. tonight, it will mark the close of another post Olympic year. There were new faces to cheer for, triumphs and tragedies and more. Here are some of the highlights of the past year:

Spanish Gymnast Roxana Popa took the time to unwind after the Christmas holiday by playing a prank on her fans.

For the first time in a few weeks, I had sometime to peruse Tumblr.  I came across this GIF of Aly Raisman and Viktoria Komova that filled my heart with glee and if the Grinch saw this , it would make his heart grow three times it's size. Aly is seen tapping Vika on the arm and Vika looks up and she is engulfed in a congratulatory embrace.

For my first post Christmas blog,  I'm featuring another outstanding young junior named Emily Gaskins. Hometown: Coral Springs, Florida Club: Cincinnatti Gymnastics Academy Coach: Mary Lee Tracy Date of Birth: May 23, 2000 Current Age: 13 Emily is a junior who is one of several Mary Lee disciples on the USA Gymnastics scene.

Gymcastic posted this hilarious map filled in by an American of the countries in Europe. What does this have to do with gymnastics you ask? Well, look at the image and look what the map-maker put in for Belarus.

Sporteverywhere on YouTube has posted this wonderful video with a great visual representation of the new floor rules.

As they say in baseball, MyKayla Skinner is ready for the major leagues with her triple double.

Sad news this holiday season, Russian gymnast Tatiana Nabieva has decided to call it quits on the sport of gymnastics. According to Russian Gymnastics Facebook, Tatiana announced her impending retirement via her Instagram account. This is what she had to say:

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

Victoria Moors debuted a new floor routine over the weekend at the Toyota International.

Here's a gymternet story book about the little gymnastics federation that could, aka USA Gymnastics. Featuring Mary Lou Retton, Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Carly Patterson, Chellsie Memmel and more. Lots of funny, ad lib commentary, guaranteed to give you a good laugh bright and early this Monday morning. All the credit is to Jordynslefteyebrow on Tumblr.

Here is a wonderfully hilarious gymternet guide to Aliya Mustafina that I discovered on Tumblr. Complete with illustrations and ad lib commentary. The language isn't appropriate for young kids, so don't read it to them, or read it to them and clean up the language.

Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva and their of merry gymnasts are invading a shopping mall near you this holiday season.

Just in time for Christmas, the FIG has made some interesting changes to the floor rules. Good, bad and ugly.

Gymnasts on Ice...

After a successful  World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, USA's Sam Mikulak, Kyla Ross and Simone Biles have both accepted invites to compete at the American Cup in March.

A happy belated birthday to, MyKayla Skinner the woman who nearly got the double double layout named for her. MyKayla turned 17. Not yet 18. Maybe it's time to breakout into "16 going on 17," we'll just say 17 going on 18. Here's to MyKayla, who is determined to have a skill named after her yet.

In hard economic times, there are bound to be casualties.

Happy 18th Birthday to the one and only McKayla Maroney. In honor of her birthday. I've scoured the Gymternet (Okay, Tumblr) to find a gif of the vault McKayla is known for. The Amanar seen round the world, the one that's better than a boy's Shewfelt.

The long awaited McKayla Maroney episode of Bones has aired. We learned the answer to so many questions. Was McKayla the murderer? Who was the murderer? What about the gymnastics?  Is that Zam on the beam? All these questions will be answered in this recap!

NCAA season is almost here. For me, it's a glorious time. American Football season is over (or almost over) by then and every week, I get my fix of gymnastics instead of having to wait for sporadic world cup events, worlds and national championships.

MyKayla Skinner keeps pulling new tricks out of her bag.

Little Mai Murakami of Japan is a fantastic floor worker and bad ass tumbler.

A clip of the Bones episode featuring McKayla Maroney has been released! Thank you to the Tumblr gods for bringing this to me.

McKayla Maroney is going to sparking up primetime television this weekend.

Tan Sixin is probably best known as a member of the 2011 Bronze medal winning team at the World Championships in Tokyo.

Here is the lovely Tatiana Nabieva on the uneven bars in Stuttgart at the DTB Cup Team final.

Roxana Popa of Spain stole the show and the gold medal this weekend at the Mexican Open in Acapulco, Mexico.

More beam work from the glorious Aliya Mustafina in Stuttgart this weekend. This is her during the team final at the DTB Cup where team Russia took second place. She's added a back-handspring to the end of her forward aerial walk over series giving her a .1 boost on the end of that connection. She does connect her Sissone to a side somi for another .1. Aliya does loose some connection bonus for her switch half - Onodi series, but she connects it to a double turn for .2. The routine is still a little rough around the edges, but there is still time to improve the consistency. Just for fun, this is what I've determined to be her potential start value. Wolf Jump (A) + Sissone (A) + Side Somi (D) CV = .1 Switch 1/2 (D) + Onodi (D) + Double Turn (D) CV  = .4 * Forward Aerial Walkover (D) + Forward Aerial Walkover (D) + Back Handspring (B) CV = .2 Aerial Cartwheel (D) Switch Ring (E) Round off (B) + Double Back (D) *Proposed CV, not actually credited. Top 8 Skills:

She's back!