News, Notes & Quotes 6/5
June 05, 2008
WORLEY WITHDRAWS: Shayla Worley has withdrawn from the U.S. Championships due to a back injury. Worley plans to petition to Trials in Philadelphia.
Also withdrawing due to injury, Sarah Persinger, 8th at the U.S. Classic in Houston. (Persinger will not petition.)
DAVIS QUESTIONABLE: Chelsea Davis is questionable following a left knee injury in practice back home in Texas last Friday. An MRI showed no serious damage so Davis, who is coached by Kim Zmeskal Burdette, is here to practice with the other gymnasts and stay in the mix, but will almost certainly not compete tonight. Davis has not been officially withdrawn at this point and doesn’t have to decide for sure about her status until after she arrives at the arena for tonight’s warm-ups at around 5 PM ET.
Davis will likely to advance to Trials via petition. All petitions are decided at the discretion of the Selection Committee, which is made up of National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi, International Elite Committee chair Steve Rybacki and Athlete Representative Kristie Phillips.
EVENT SPECALISTS: Alicia Sacramone will no longer do bars she gleefully told the press yesterday “officially.” Sacramone, a star on floor and vault, has decided to forgo her nemesis “forever,” starting at these Championships.
“Bars is kind of what screwed me up in 2004, and, let’s face it, they don’t need me there, so we decided to not make that mistake again,” Sacramone laughed of her decision. “I think the crowd will be a little confused when I just kind of disappear [from the all-around standings], because most people don’t know you can just do events but, you know, you can.”
Also not planning on performing on all four apparatus here: 2007 World alternate Bridget Sloan. Sloan, who tore the meniscus in her knee and had surgery last March, will perform on only two events in Boston just to play it safe, but hopes to be back to full strength by Trials.
BOUNCING BABY GYMNASTS: 1987 National Champ Kristie Phillips, the Athlete Representative for the women’s Selection Committee, is due to deliver twin girls by scheduled C-section, just days after the Olympic Trials in Philadelphia conclude and hopefully in time for Phillips to make it to the final Selection Camp in Texas.
If Phillips can’t fulfill her selection duties, 1988 Olympian Chelle Stack, who has also been at all the National Team camps and qualifying events, will take over. (Stack, formerly with Cirque de Soleil, owns and runs her own gym in Orlando.)
Phillips, who already has a 20-month-old son, owns a gym in North Carolina. She and Stack will also be part of the 1988 Olympic team reunion taking place here in Boston. (Phillips was the second, non-traveling alternate to the ’88 team.)
GREY’S GIRL: Jana Bieger and her mom share just about everything … except taste in TV. While mom Andrea will watch “American Idol” with Jana, Bieger says she didn’t really follow the singing contest this season. “I’d rather watch Grey’s Anatomy,” Bieger told the media.
Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin favor “Gossip Girl” (Johnson’s fav) and “The Hills” (Liukin’s No. 1) as their preferred TV viewing.
FISH STORY: Nastia Liukin always knows where to find her dad-coach Valeri when they’re not in the gym. The elder Liukin is a big fan of fishing, and takes his rod and reel to every meet and camp they attend.
“[At the Ranch,] he goes fishing between every workout,” Liukin laughs. “On the [drive] down I have to sit kind of squished up against the side, because of the pole sticking out.
“He LOVES fishing,” Liukin says of her dad’s passion. “He’ll drive seven or eight hours [just to fish] and he’ll [ask], ‘Do you want to come with me?’ And I’m like, ‘Umm, not really.’ I just like to sit at home.”
The family does sometimes combine their loves with visits to Padre Island in South Texas, where Nastia and her mom can enjoy the beach while Valeri fishes.
“It’s like a nine hour drive,” Liukin explains, “but we have an RV and we’ll take it down there. It’s the closest beach in Texas and it’s kind of a fun thing to do when we’re not in [the gymnastics] season.”
MOVING ON: The top 12 senior women (all-around) from these Championships automatically advance to the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month in Philadelphia. Added to that number are any petitions, which will include event specialists (like Sacramone) and injured athletes (Worley, Sloan, Davis), at the discretion of the Selection Committee.
QUOTES …
“There’s no way you do gymnastics and you don’t get injured. That’s really not possible. It’s just a really hard and risky sport. I mean, you’re doing these flips in the air. You’re trying to land on a 4” wide beam without getting hurt. Obviously, you have to be careful about it, but I don’t think you’ve ever seen a gymnast who hasn’t gotten hurt. It comes with the sport. You don’t think about it. It’s just something that happens. You have to be really focused on what you’re doing and not have your mind somewhere else because it’s just too easy to get hurt. I mean, you can walk off the floor mat and roll an ankle.”
-Jana Bieger on the risks of the sport
“I want to compete all-around. I really do. It’s not like one event is really weak for me. I’m more of an all-around gymnast, more than a specialist. I would love to [do the all-around in Beijing].”
-Bieger
“I’ve always done gymnastics because I love the sport. I have a passion for it and it’s something I love to do every day. Yeah, I love winning gold medals—what athlete doesn’t?—but it’s not something you can do every day. Every day, in the gym, just striving towards perfection—that’s gymnastics.”
-Nastia Liukin on why she loves the sport
“We’re good friends. We all get along really well. I don’t think there’s someone on the team we don’t get along with. Having that, we’re able to perform better as a team, because we all have a really strong bond together. In the gym, yeah, we’re all competing—that’s the way athletes should be—but when we’re outside we don’t talk about the gym.”
-Liukin on her National Teammates
“We all want to leave China with the gold medal. I think we’re all pushing each other to be better than we were, better than we are now.”
-Liukin on Team USA’s goals
“Sometimes, because I’m the only child, it’s too much attention. Way too much.”
-Liukin, joking about her family
