MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

I love a glorious beam worker. Mostly, I like seeing what gymnasts can do on a four inch (ten centimeter) wide piece of wood. This is Icelandic born Dutch gymnast, Eythora Thorsdottir on the beam at a meet in Hamburg, Germany.

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:

Who knew Katie Holmes was a gym fan? The former Mrs. Tom Cruise paid a visit to the glorious Nadia Comaneci at her and husband Bart Conner's gym in Norman, Oklahoma.  Nadia shared the photos on her Facebook page (below the cut).

Two of the Fierce Five Members are returning to the USA Gymnastics scene. On Thursday, Fierce Five member and Olympic Floor Champion, Aly Raisman posted a text message exchange on her Twitter  account between her and fellow fierce five member and Olympic All-Around Champ, Gabby Douglas.

Two things to remember about the uneven bars. 1. The distance between the bars has gotten wider as the sport has changed. 2. The current distance between the bars with the current FIG (International Gymnastics Federation; Federation Internationale Gymnastique) standard measurements is between 130 cm to 180 cm (4'3"  to 5'10"). Per Wikipedia.

NCAA season cannot get here soon enough. A video surfaced today of UCLA Bruin and former Olympian, Samantha Peszek training a new combination on beam.

After her whirlwind tour de force in Nanning, China at the World Championships, US gymnast and two time world all-around champion, Simone Biles made an appearance on the Today Show.

 Following the World Championships in Nanning, China, International Gymnastics Federation President, Bruno Grandi is calling for an(other) overhaul of the current code of points.

After winning a team gold and another all-around championship title,  US gymnast Simone Biles continued her dominance at the World Championships in Nanning, China winning gold medals on the beam and the floor exercise. The event finals went as expected if not better for Simone, but for some, the results were definitely a surprise, and there were some upsets. 

Having the same floor music as another gymnast is almost akin to wearing the same dress as another girl at the prom. This week at the World Championships in Nanning, China, a certain pretty blond French gymnast showed up using the same music for her floor routine as a certain prominent pretty blond junior gymnast in the United States.

For the second year in a row, Simone Biles of the USA was named the World All-Around Champion, she is the first woman to win back to back world titles since Svetlana Khorkina in 2002 and 2003. Simone is the first US woman since Shannon Miller in 1993 and 1994.

During the medal ceremony after the women's team final yesterday evening, it was discovered all three medal winning teams committed a huge fashion faux pas. Wearing the same leotard. Well, okay, not really. They all wore red leos since their country colors all have red in them. From a distance, it all looked like they were wearing the same one.  Team USA and team Russia's leo design were very similar in overall pattern and shade of red.

While her teammates from team USA have been in China for the World Championships, non-traveling alternate Brenna Dowell has arrived on the University of Oklahoma campus and is adjusting to life as a freshman. Sooners Leo Edit She's already started training with the team as evidenced by a video the Sooner's posted on their Instagram account of Brenna training bars.

Today, Kohei Uchimura  of Japan took home his fifth consecutive world all-around title. An impressive feat. He won with an admirable 1.492 points over Great Britain's Max Whitlock.  They don't call him King Kohei for nothing, he's in the Guinness Book of World Records for goodness sake. He dominated the 09-12 quad and it's looking like he'll dominate the 13-16 quad. That's Queen Simone to you! Tomorrow, Simone Biles of the USA will contend for her second all-around title.  If she does so, she will be the first US woman since Shannon Miller in 1993 and 1994.On Sunday, Simone took the top spot in qualification with 59.599, following her was Russia's Aliya Mustafina with a 58.874 and Romania's Larisa Iordache with a 58.365. She became a repeat national champion back in August, and she and team USA have already scored their  second consecutive world title and their first title of the new quad.  Could she be women's gymnastics version of Kohei?

Surprise surprise (not really) Team USA pulled out another world championship win during today's team final. Team USA, led by Simone Biles and Kyla Ross, left no prisoners as they led their team to victory with a huge 6.693 lead over team China. Taking the bronze, team Russia, led by Aliya Mustafina. The ladies of team USA pulled out all the stops and performed near flawlessly while their competitors littered the floor with falls and mistakes.

After two full days of competition in Nanning, China, world qualification results are out. Team USA is of course leading the pack, qualifying first to the team final over four points up on Team China, with Aliya Mustafina and team Russia in third. Team Great Britain is on the cusp and of course will be looking to  inch their way onto the medal podium after winning the silver medal at the European Championships earlier this year.