News from the English-Speaking Part of the World

USA
We still can't get over the fact that Shawn Johnson is going to appear on Dancing with the Stars, but for Shawn herself, it's all too real. She has begun rehearsing with partner Mark Ballas, who won the show two years ago with then-partner Kristi Yamaguchi. ABC Medianet has posted some pics of Shawn and Mark practicing (see below). Meanwhile, Shawn reportedly told Inside Gymnastics that she intends to return to gymnastics after Dancing with the Stars. "Definitely," she said of her return to the gym. "After the show, I'll get back in the gym, start with gymnastics again and see where it takes me." The eighth season of the show will premiere on March 9 with a live, two-hour special.




Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas (photos: ABC Medianet)

Great Britain
Last year, Becky Downie was crowned British champion and finished 12th in the Olympic all-around final in her first year as a senior gymnast. Now she will start her competition year earlier than ever in a bid to make 2009 equally successful, competing at the American Cup on February 21. This is what Downie told British Gymnastics about her upcoming assignment: "We’ve been working towards the American Cup since New Year, getting solid routines ready for competition. I think Britain was keen to send somebody to this competition, and Claire (my coach) felt it would be a good competition to get me going and focus my training towards. It will be the first time I’ve competed in America and the first time I’ve competed so early in the year, so it has definitely helped me to get into good shape, ready for the European Championships at the start of April.”


Becky Downie, looking forward to going to America
(Photo: Bernhard Schwall/Gymfan)

Australia
Gymnastics Australia reports that 14-year-old Emily Little, who recently won the AYOF vault final, will be Australia's sole representative at the annual Gymnix competition in Montreal, Canada, to be held March 5-8. Little is profiled here. Meanwhile, Little's WAIS club mate Lauren Mitchell will not compete at the Doha World Cup, as previously reported, but at the Salamunov Memorial in Maribor, Slovenia, to be held April 17-19. No news as yet of any upcoming international assignments for Dasha Joura, who hasn't been seen in action since the Olympics.


Emily Little (photo: Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Upcoming competitions
International Gymnast has a list of participants of the WOGA Classic, which will be held in Frisco, Texas, tomorrow. The host club, which has produced the last two Olympic champions in the women's all-around, will be represented by Christa Tanella, Briley Casanova, Sophia Lee, Lily Hardin, Grace McLaughlin and Taylor Spears. We look forward to seeing which of these young ladies will be WOGA's next star (Rebecca Bross and Ivana Hong are not competing). Foreign competitors in Frisco include Canada's Sydney Sawa (a beam finalist at last year's DTB Cup), young Lithuanian standout Laura Svilpaite, Russians Kristina Kruglikova and Anastasia Karpova, and Ukrainians Yana Demyanchuk, Natalia Kononenko and Yevgenia Cherniy. The same Russian and Ukrainian girls will take part in the Nadia Comaneci Invitational the week after, along with Sandra Izbasa and Dana Druncea of Romania (Andreea Grigore appears to have been taken off the list). Nastia Liukin will reportedly be on hand in Oklahoma to commentate the competition.


Exciting newcomer Laura Svilpaite will also start her competitive year in America
(Photo: Bernhard Schwall/Gymfan)

It's Official: Shawn Johnson to Appear on "Dancing with the Stars"

It’s official: Shawn Johnson is indeed going to appear on Dancing with the Stars. The 2008 Olympic champion on beam has confirmed the news on her website, saying she is "seriously so thrilled that I’m speechless (haha)." She went on to say: "Dancing with the Stars is by far something that I never imagined myself doing, but is also an experience of a lifetime that I am more then honored to be a part of. I’m actually kind of scared lol. It is going to take me out so far out of my comfort zone! But I’m up for the challenge and ready to take on the world :) and the other competitors. I head to LA this week to meet my partner, start rehearsing and meet the rest of the cast."


(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)

We think Shawn needs some grammar lessons as well as dancing rehearsals, but snarkiness aside, we definitely wish her the best in this new endeavor. Here’s hoping she’s given a partner who is not two heads taller than herself, and that she’ll use her new skills to her advantage if and when she finally remembers she is a gymnast as well as a celebrity!

Related:
Lilia Podkopayeva on Dancing with the Stars
Svetlana Khorkina on Dancing with the Stars

If any of you know of any other (former) gymnasts who have appeared on Dancing with the Stars (or whatever the show is called in your country), by all means post links to the videos below!

American News: Johnson, Hagerty, Goryunova

Rumored: Shawn Johnson to take part in Dancing with the Stars
Rumor has it that Shawn Johnson will appear on celebrity dancing show Dancing with the Stars, Season 8 of which will kick off on March 9. Johnson is listed among 13 celebrities slated to participate in the show in a press release leaked on JJB. If the news is true, Johnson will be the youngest competitor on the show to date... and her return to competitive gymnastics will be deferred even further. However, if her participation in the show ends up improving her dancing chops, which may very well be the case, we are not complaining. We're just wondering if the organizers will be able to find her a partner who is roughly her height...


Shawn Johnson, a dancer?
(Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Confirmed: Goryunova to go to American Cup
It now seems more or less certain that Kristina Goryunova rather than Ksenia Afanasyeva will be Russia's representative at the upcoming American Cup. We were just informed by Alan, who maintains Goryunova's official website, that Goryunova herself has told him that she is going to compete in Chicago. We guess that settles it, then. Thanks, Alan!


Kristina Goryunova, slated to compete in Chicago
(Photo: Stefan Wurzer/Gymnasticsunited)

Joey Hagerty wins Winter Cup Challenge
Joseph Hagerty won the all-around at the 2009 Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas. Two days after posting the highest all-around score in prelims, Hagerty repeated the feat in the final, posting a total score of 177.900 points. Danell Leyva, aged just 17, and Sho Nakamori came in second and third with scores of 176.350 and 176.100, respectively. Complete results (courtesy of USAG) can be found here.

Following the Winter Cup Challenge, seven gymnasts were named to the US men's team: Guillermo Alvarez, Chris Brooks, Chris Cameron, Steven Legendre, Danell Leyva, Sho Nakamori, and David Sender. 2008 Olympians Joey Hagerty and Jonathan Horton were placed on the national team by petition. Six additional gymnasts will be named later to the team.


Joey Hagerty soared above the rest of the field in Las Vegas
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

What Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin Have Been Up To Lately

Inside Gymnastics has posted an interview with Shawn Johnson in which the 2007 world champion says she has not resumed regular training yet, but is working out with a personal trainer. "[Liang] Chow has always told me that he doesn't think it would be the best idea to come back till I'm back in shape, so it will be easier to get my skills and stuff," Johnson was quoted as saying. "[I'm doing] a lot of running and treadmills and stuff like that. I think the weirdest thing was having to wear tennis shoes. I don't know. I love it. It's really helped me. I feel a lot better than I did on tour and I'm slowly getting back into the shape that I was in."


(photo: Getty Images)

Johnson also told Inside Gymnastics that she hadn't had much of a chance to look at the new Code and think about new skills and routine composition. "We haven't really had time. I haven't really been home too much, but I've thought of a few things and seen if there's anything different. Hopefully I won't have to change things around too much! But I have some research to do."

Read the rest of the interview here.

Meanwhile, some more stunning Nastia Liukin fashion shots have appeared online. The 2008 Olympic champion was recently shot modeling some designs by Max Azria.


(photo: Alexei Hay/Azria)

"For the Max Azria campaign, we wanted someone iconic — someone timeless. We met Nastia at our last runway show, and she was everything we were looking for," said Lubov Azria, creative director of Max Azria. "The spring collection was inspired by movement and modern dance so she was perfect. It was meant to be, and the magic just sort of happened."


(photo: Alexei Hay/Azria)

It's Liukin's first fashion campaign, and we think she looks fabulous (although we would have liked to see more of her face). However, it seems there are no plans to run the campaign in a magazine. Too bad - we think Liukin would make an excellent model, despite her lack of height (by modeling standards).

News Roundup

--- USA Gymnastics reports that Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson have each painted a pair of boots for UGG Australia’s sixth annual Art & Sole Collection, which raises money for a children's research hospital. The boots will be auctioned in a few days and all the money will go to the hospital. While we approve of the idea, we frankly can't see anyone but die-hard Nastia and Shawn fans shelling out any money for these boots. UGGs are ugly enough to begin with, and we're not sure Nastia and Shawn actually improved them with their art work. Still, we appreciate the thought. Nice work, girls!


Steliana Nistor in her final competition, the Olympics (photo: Reuters)

--- More Athlete of the Year news: Sport365 reports that Steliana Nistor was voted the best female athlete of her province, Sibiu. The Romanian champion retired after the Olympics and is now a freshman at the Sibiu College of Physical Education and Sport. Also, according to GymPower, Holland's Sanne Wevers, who will present her spectacular beam routine in Madrid this weekend, has been nominated for best female athlete of her province, Overijssel. She faces some stiff competition from two Olympic gold medalists, so we doubt she'll win.

--- As you probably know, the World Cup Final isn't the only competition that will take place this weekend. Other international competitions will be held in Belarus and Belgium, while Germany's eyes will be focused on the Bundesliga Final, an exciting format in which gymnasts from two teams compete head to head and points are awarded for the margin by which the winner beats his direct opponent. Both the men's and the women's finals look very exciting on paper. The men's final will be a battle between KTV Straubenhardt (represented, among other people, by Fabian Hambuchen, Marian Dragulescu, Robert Gal, and Sergei Kharkov) and Cottbus, whose most famous team members are Philipp Boy and Ukrainian veteran Roman Zozulya. Philipp Boy admits that the Straubenhardt boys are the favorites to win the title: "If they [Straubenhardt] do a good job, we'll barely stand a chance." He hopes the Straubenhardt boys will succumb to the pressure and start making mistakes: "If they make a mistake, we want to make them sweat." He also said he and his teammates are not at all nervous about taking on the almighty Straubenhardt team. "What nerves? We're the underdogs, so we're quite relaxed going into the final. Let the Straubenhardt guys be nervous."


Philipp Boy, looking forward to competing head to head with Hambuchen (photo: Reuters)

--- The Bundesliga's women's final could well be even more exciting than the men's. According to the Bundesliga site, three out of the four teams in the final have the chops to win the title. Unfortunately, some teams will be missing their greatest stars. Cologne will probably be hopeless without injured Oksana Chusovitina. Chemnitz has lost Susann Herbst to injury, and Stuttgart will have to do without Marie-Sophie Hindermann. However, Stuttgart will have Kim Bui, who (like Fabian Hambuchen and Marian Dragulescu) withdrew from the World Cup vault final in order to help her club team win the national title. The fourth club, Hoffnungsthal, will be missing its Belgian star, Aagje Vanwalleghem, who did decide to go to Madrid. However, the club will be able to avail itself of the services of national team member Anja Brinker, who recovered from her injury sooner than expected and proved a force to be reckoned with in the club's last regular match before the final.


Kim Bui will skip the World Cup Final in favor of the Bundesliga Final (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

--- In men's gymnastics, the French, German, Swiss, and British under-16 teams had a friendly in Bristol, England, on Saturday, December 6. The hosts won comfortably, beating Switzerland by 411.750 to 403.500 and proving there's more to British men's junior gymnastics than Louis Smith. Germany placed third (391.950), 1.650 ahead of fourth-place France (390.300). In the individual all-around, the Brits scooped up all the medals. Reiss Beckford won, mostly thanks to an impressive 15.350 vault (84.250 total). Ashley Watson came second (83.550), while Max Whitlock ranked third (82.900). The first non-Brit was Switzerland's Oliver Hegi in fourth place (82.650). The complete results can be downloaded here (click on the link at the bottom of the page).


Team GB's new hope, Reiss Beckford (photo: BBC?)

Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Shawn Johnson has confirmed that, contrary to earlier reports, she's determined to go on competing. In an interview broadcast on Iowa state TV last night (click here to see it), Shawn says she has it "set in stone" that she "wants to keep going." "Gymnastics is my life," the tired-looking Olympic balance beam champ said during the interview. "I can't see myself finishing it."

We're very glad to hear it. We think Shawn has more to give to the sport than she's done so far. (Not that that's anything to be sniffed at, but you all know what we mean.)


Shawn Johnson (photo: Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in other news from other parts of the English-speaking world...

--- Former Australian national team member Chloe Sims, whose sudden retirement last May shocked Aussie gymnastics fans, is attempting a comeback of sorts. Sims has just signed up with NCAA powerhouse Utah. Earlier, her former teammate Olivia Vivian had joined Oregon State University's team. What with Shayla Worley just having joined Georgia, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs going to UCLA, this year's NCAA competition is looking spectacular.


Chloe Sims

--- And over in England, Beth Tweddle has embarked on a physical therapy course. Beth will be completing a foundation course in physical therapy at Birkenhead Sixth-Form College before going on to study the subject at Liverpool University. What with all the injuries currently marring the sport, we expect Beth's new expertise will come in handy at some point.


Beth Tweddle (photo: Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in Other Parts of the World...

--- Shawn Johnson says she may well skip the 2009 season... which we suspect may be a roundabout way of saying, "I'm about to retire."

--- Japanese superstar Hiroyuki Tomita has announced he'll definitely retire after this season, no doubt about it.

--- Xiao Sha is winning beam competitions again, and Jiang Yuyuan is healthy enough to compete on three events again (although she is skipping vault for the time being).


A smile that will be missed if its owner really does decide to take time off or retire altogether.

We're not too happy about the first two things. Hiroyuki Tomita is one of the most colorful figures in men's gymnastics, and both his gymnastics and his general coolness will be missed. As for Shawn Johnson, well, we're not the greatest fans of her gymnastics, but we love the girl and would have liked to see her around for a few more years, to see what she could have developed into (somehow we don't think Shawn has reached her full potential yet). Who knows though? Perhaps a few weeks' rest (Lord knows she hasn't had much of that lately) will give the girl a new perspective on things. We hope so. We think the world is a better place with Shawn vs. Nastia battles in it.


Xiao Sha (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner)

As to item No. 3... yes, that does make us happy. We love us some Xiao Sha. We were sorry she didn't make China's Olympic team, although we agreed at the time that Li Shanshan seemed a safer bet. (And boy, did we feel let down when Li screwed up in the beam final. One of us actually screamed out loud when it happened, yelling, "They should have used Xiao Sha instead!") We're glad to see that Xiao is being given an opportunity to shine now, and that Jiang Yuyuan has sufficiently recovered from her elbow injury to compete on three events. Way to go, girls.