News, Notes & Quotes
June 06, 2008
announcer said her name, deafening shrieks and whoops would ring out.
Some of her super-fans went all out to amuse, and entertain, their favorite athlete: showing up at the competition in full gymnast gear, meaning step-ins and short shorts (they were some of Sacramone’s many male fans).
“I love having them here, they definitely helped me get through my competition,” Sacramone said of the support. “They were great. Definitely made it a little bit more comical, looking over and seeing them in their gymnastics uniforms. I’m like, ‘C’mon guys.’ They’re, umm, employees at Brestyan’s and I’m like (jokingly), ‘Mihai, you gotta’ fire them.’”
And who all was here to see Sacramone? “All my [Brestyan’s] teammates, my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, some of my friends from school,” Sacramone said, reeling off an impressive list. “All of my Brown teammates, they live in different parts of the country, but they’re gonna’ watch [on TV].”
AS SHAWN SAW IT: The reigning World and U.S. Champ, Shawn Johnson looked like the star she is last night in Boston but, like most gymnasts, Johnson is a perfectionist.
Here’s Johnson’s personal assessment of her prelim performance, in her own words …
“I had quite a few nerves going into that vault. I’ve had it perfectly in practice. I’ve been really consistent with it. I just wanted to show everyone I could make. I tried to calm myself down, talk to myself a lot and just try to stay calm, cool and collected. I landed it and I was really happy. … I feel I can still do better. That wasn’t my normal self yet.
“Bars, we took out the toe-full at the last second, just to play it safe a little. I was having a little trouble in practice and we just thought it would be better to hit a clean routine rather than risk it.
“I had a great routine ON the beam, but when I got to my dismount I cut it short a little. It wasn’t the greatest. I rushed it a little. It’s a mistake, but I can fix it. It’s something I’ll work on tomorrow and have perfect on Saturday. … I had a few technical things that I felt I could [improve].
“Floor, my new routine, of course I’d love to practice more and get more confident with it.
“It definitely doesn’t feel for me that I’m 100 percent ready for August. I definitely feel that there are quite a few things I can improve on. … It might look like I feel pretty good, but you can always find something you can fix or tune up a little more.”
BARS STAR: While everyone is celebrating Nastia Liukin being the first American, and one of only a handful of gymnasts worldwide, to break the 17.0 scoring barrier, Liukin’s coach-father Valeri would like to make sure that fans understand something else: the routine that earned it, Liukin’s state-of-the-art uneven bar set, is really, REALLY hard.
“That’s a very, very hard routine,” Valeri explained. “Not just hard routine, but hard for her.”
Liukin’s big combination is the opening sequence, which features an in-bar, Endo, Ono, Healy, Ono, Gienger—all in row. That combination alone is more taxing than most gymnasts’ entire routines, which explains Liukin’s massive 7.7 Start Value, the world’s highest. (NOTE: Chinese gymnast He Kexin also starts from a 7.7 on bars and has scored 17-plus several times in national and international competition this year.)
And though Liukin often makes it look all too easy, the truth is, even she isn’t always on. “Something like that is pretty hard because it’s three, or, I guess, more skills in a row,” she laughed, underestimating her own effort. “When you think about it, and I know it sounds silly, but it all comes from that first cast handstand. If you’re dead on, on that, you take one skill at a time and hope that every other skill is on.
“And I felt really on tonight,” Liukin added. “I felt every skill [I] pretty much stopped in a handstand. Maybe not the third one (the second Ono), but the first two felt pretty good.”
Obviously the judges agreed with Liukin’s modest assessment of “pretty good,” awarding her that first-ever 17.05.
“It’s just something I’ve always dreamed about,” Liukin said of the score. “Well, not always, but since after Worlds when I came up with this crazy routine. I guess I really thought it could be realistic with this routine. Every competition I go into I always set little goals and I’m always, like, on bars, ‘OK, 9.3 execution.’ That’s all I have to think about, because I know if I get at least a 9.3, that’s a 17.”
“That’s Nastia’s dream come true,” Valeri added of the record-breaking mark, “[but,] to be honest, it was just a little too early yet, because we’ve got through humungous numbers of routines. She’s not fresh. The dismount was a little low landing, but that was very good for her. She is very tired, basically, at this point, because we did hundreds of repetitions.”
So, Liukin could get even better on bars? “Oh yes, definitely,” Valeri assured. “That’s our goal.”
SLOAN’S STATUS: 2007 World team alternate Bridget Sloan is firmly in the mix for Beijing, but this past March her chances didn’t look so good. Sloan tore the meniscus in her left knee in practice at the Italy-Poland-Spain-USA quad meet in Europe and underwent surgery shortly after arriving home.
But the injury, which can sideline some athletes for six months, hasn’t damaged Sloan’s Olympic ambitions. Playing it safe in Boston by doing only two events, a decision that was made “a long time ago,” according to Sloan, she is raring to go on vault and floor. Sloan can’t wait to be back on all four at Trials, including throwing her Yurchenko double, which she said she’s already executing in her home gym with no problem.
“I am almost 100 percent. I’m about 99 percent right now,” Sloan said, assessing her recovery. “I’m doing everything back home, but we came to this meet planning on doing two events. My knee is getting so strong. My left leg is almost stronger than my right leg, which is my ‘good’ leg.
“I’m very happy with my two events,” Sloan added of her prelim performance. “I worked very hard on those.”
Sloan finished prelims third on bars (15.75) and seventh on beam (15.2) amongst the 21 senior competitors.
DELICATE BALANCE: Shawn Johnson really wants to repeat as the U.S. National Champ. But Johnson really, REALLY wants to become the Olympic Champion. Which one does she desire more?
“Right now if winning was going to be something that could put you at risk it would definitely be a risk we wouldn’t take,” Johnson said firmly of her priorities. “Doing the smart thing right now is the biggest, most important thing. We are only two months out and everything you do impacts how you’re going to perform in the next meet, or Beijing. And, since that is our dream, our biggest goal, anything we can do to prevent [injury] or save your body, or save your performance, is the most important thing.”
Don’t misunderstand, that competitive fire—the drive to be the best in the U.S.—hasn’t diminished, Johnson is just keeping it in check.
“I definitely want to keep the title,” Johnson adds enthusiastically. “It’s something that everybody wants to have, but it’s not the most important thing right now. This is just a test run, a test drive. I’m out there strictly to give an impression to the [Olympic Selection] Committee and to [National Team Coordinator] Martha (Karolyi). To build confidence for myself for Trials and Beijing.”
VAULTING FORWARD: Alicia Sacramone is Team USA’s not-so-secret weapon. A vault and floor world medalist, Sacramone has mastered the 6.3 Start Value Rudi (layout front with a 1-1/2 twist), a rare vault for a woman.
“The Rudi is my first vault, no question,” Sacramone said of her powerhouse effort. “I’ve been doing the vault for, like, five years now, so I’ve seen the progression. When I see the vault on video I’m like, ‘Wow, it has come a long way.’ It’s weird to me when everybody, like boys, come up to me and say, ‘Can you teach me how to vault?’ That’s cool. You definitely have to just hit it and go.”
Sacramone’s prelim performance is her first this season and, while she still sees room for improvement, she was happy with her efforts. “I’m pretty pleased with my vaults,” she said. “It felt really good to vault on hard surfaces, since this is the first competition I’ve had since [2007] Worlds in Germany, so I’m pleased. I did [compete] at camp, but we got to use, like, soft mats.”
Currently, Sacramone’s second vault is a still-impressive Yurchenko double, but she hints that she might have an even bigger No. 2 up her sleeve. Can she do the 2-1/2 (Amanar)?
“I have,” Sacramone answered with a smile, “and it’s, uhh, I’m still working on it. Yeah, I’m gonna’ give [Chinese vault champ] Cheng Fei a run for her money. That’s the plan.”
And what about that other top American vaulter, Shawn Johnson? Well, Johnson told Inside Gymnastics that one gold she won’t be going for in China is on vault, despite it being one of her best all-around events. (Johnson’s 6.5 Start Value Amanar is actually Team USA’s best tally.)
“Right now we’re not working on that,” Johnson said when asked about a second vault, “and I think it’s past time for that. So, we’re working more, and heading toward, the all-around, and hopefully also beam and floor.”
Therefore, Team USA’s vault ambitions rest on Sacramone’s shoulders, something the 20-year-old feels sure she can handle. “I’m [going to] just stay relaxed and do what I know how to do,” Sacramone said confidently. “I’ve been at this a long time."
While the beam, bars and vault vary only slightly from one equipment maker to another, the floor exercise mat (which is made up of layers of springs, boards, foam and a carpet that covers it all), can feel quite different, depending on its brand.
In Athens, the athletes described the floor as “hard” and “slippery”, and many blamed it for frequent falls and the extraordinary number of gymnasts who tumbled out-of-bounds at those Games. In an attempt to keep that from happening to them in Beijing, the U.S. has put together a full set of J+F equipment, including a floor mat placed on a podium (not as high as those used in competition, but with the same feel—all the apparatus perform a bit differently when put on a podium), at their National Team Training Center, better known as a the Karolyi Ranch. That way, the women are training, and competing, on the same equipment they’ll experience in Beijing, on a regular basis.
And now they are taking it one step farther, using the J+F floor at Championships and Trials. Which is, perhaps, part of the reason we saw athletes like Nastia Liukin stumble in this early going. (Like most of the gymnasts here, Liukin works on a different type of floor at her home gym in Texas.)
To complicate things a bit further, the men competed on the traditional AAI floor at their Championships last month, and will also do so at Trials, necessitating a daily switch out of the floor mat—a far from easy project—in Philadelphia. (The men’s program feels it would be unfair for the male gymnasts to have to compete on a surface they have no chance to train on. Unlike the women, the men don’t have access to J+F equipment on a regular basis.)
GOING FOR GOLD: Though this meet in Boston is a battle between the American gymnasts, the talk on site is all about team. All of the athletes on the mats here, most of whom are already members of the U.S. National Team that train together on a regular basis at the Karolyi Ranch, feel a bond, and an obligation, to raise the bar in Beijing.
“I definitely think we made the statement that we’re strong, and getting stronger by the day,” Shawn Johnson said of the overall impression the U.S. women made on day one. “I definitely think that people can be intimated by how strong the U.S. is getting. … Even in a competition where we’re competing against each other, you still hear all of us screaming and cheering each other on and wishing the best for everybody. I really just think that shows how strong of a connection we have and when the time comes I think we’ll be unbeatable.”
The U.S. team is so strong that many are speculating any one of six or seven gymnasts could be easily slotted into the bottom three Olympic spots—the vast majority of experts concede spots 1-2-3 to Johnson, Nastia Liukin and Alicia Sacramone, barring a major disaster before Beijing—and still allow Team USA to be gold-medal contenders.
“I definitely think it will be so hard,” Johnson says of selecting the final six, “just because we have so many strong girls. I think it’s going to be really hard for the committee to decide on six, just because there are so many girls that can contribute and be on the team.”
NAME NOTE: What’s in a name? Well, if it’s the word Olympics (or Olympic, or Olympian), you better watch out. So learned Los Angeles-based All-Olympia Gymnastics, which recently modified their name from All-Olympian to avoid censure from the International Olympic Committee, which closely guards their trademark moniker.
A lesson previously learned by Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson’s home gym WOGA, originally short for World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, but now known only by the acronym to avoid legal scuffles.
DAVIS DONE: Chelsea Davis won’t compete on Saturday, according to coach Chris Burdette, but will remain in Boston and continue to train with the rest of the National Team. Davis, who injured her knee in training shortly before arriving in Boston, plans to be ready to compete by Trials.
An MRI revealed no damage to her knee but, due to swelling, Burdette wants to play it safe.
Davis went through the full warm-up last night, with her knee tightly wrapped, and has been a part of every practice session. Recently lauded by National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi as being a young one with an outside chance at a Games spot, Davis, 15, is a rising star on the U.S. squad. (Davis will be 16 in November and is therefore age-eligible for the 2008 Olympics.)
READY, SET, RACE: The Olympic race has just begun in Boston for the women who want to make the U.S. Olympic team but, come next month, no one will be going faster than Nastia Liukin, or, at least, a picture of her.
Liukin’s likeness, along with Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps, will be decorating Jeff Burton’s ride in NASCAR races all this summer. The newly redesigned #31 car was unveiled yesterday in Boston by Burton, AT&T execs and a gaggle of young gymnasts from local clubs Brestyan’s and Excel Gymnastics. (In a small snafu the black cloth caught on the car tailfin, ripping during the initial reveal.)
“I’m not really a big gymnastics fan,” Burton told the small crowd that gathered to see the new paint job for the first time, “but I admire and respect these Olympians. They get to represent the entire country, and I’m very envious of them for that. Our entire team is excited to be supporting, in our own way, Team USA, and we may not know much about gymnastics, but I think we know a little bit about competing.”
Liukin, like Burton, is sponsored by AT&T. Her photo adorns one side of the car, wearing a baby pink leo and doing a beam scale. The Olympic-themed racecar also features the Olympic rings and will be rounding tracks across the country starting in July.
BROSS DOWN, BUT FAR FROM OUT: Four years ago at these Championships, an exciting young star named Nastia Liukin performed as a junior for the last time. A bit too young for Athens, everyone knew she’d be the next big thing in American gymnastics. Clearly, as Liukin continues to show, they were right.
This time around that “next one” was supposed to be Liukin’s WOGA teammate Rebecca Bross, the 2007 Junior National Champ who is also coached by Liukin’s father, Valeri.
Unfortunately, Bross is at home in Texas this week, recovering from a foot broken in three places during beam training approximately five weeks ago. Wearing a boot cast, Bross has at least three more weeks before she’ll get clearance to return to the gym. “She was doing a back tuck off beam,” Valeri explained. “It was silly. She wasn’t feeling too good. She was sick; [it happened] right before the last National Team training camp.”
But Valeri is hardly counting out Bross, 14, as the new, next big thing. “She’s strong as a bull,” the coach said with a big smile. “I’m not worried about her. At all. Especially since this year was going to be over anyways after [Championships, for the junior gymnasts]. So, we have to move on to next year. I’m not rushing it. I’m not pushing it.”
Even though Rebecca Bross isn’t someone you’ll be seeing here in Boston, Valeri feels strongly that come 2012 we’ll all know her name. And with the history WOGA has—2004 Olympic champ Carly Patterson preceded current star Liukin—who would argue with him?
BOSTON BABBLE: Chatter from the Agganis Arena …
“I am so excited, knowing there’s about 60 days left. It’s crazy! I remember when they said there was a 1,000 days left and, I mean, that gave me a heart attack.”
-Shawn Johnson on the upcoming Olympics
“I don’t think about scores too much. I just try and hit my routines and stay normal, just because I can’t control the scores. I can’t control placement. I can only control my routines. It’s honestly just trying to set the bar for performance and how I feel, rather than seeing a score on a scoreboard. It’s definitely great to see a high score. It’s not the end of the world to see a low one, but it’s definitely a confidence booster to see the high ones.”
-Johnson on her day one performance that netted three 16-plus scores
-Alicia Sacramone on what she hopes will happen on Saturday
-Sacramone’s assessment of her prelim performance on floor
“I’ve had to prove it at every competition I’ve been to: Pacific rim, Italy, and now, especially, here. I have to prove it at every meet.”
-Jana Bieger on her comeback from the ankle injury that kept her out of competition last year
“I came in here just trying to think, ‘I want to hit four-for-four,’ and that’s what I did today and, you know, hopefully Saturday I’ll clean up a little more. We’ll see how that goes. Just work on little things here and there—that one pass on floor—nothing major.”
-Bieger on her Saturday strategy
“When they’re ready to go, and they don’t even know when they’re going. You know, [these] are very difficult routines and they’re nervous and then they just keep waiting, and waiting. You have to calm yourself down and come up again. At this point, for us, this is the hardest meet, because of this happening—[the] waiting for the top athletes. They wait a lot for the TV and that’s tough. But, hey, it just makes them tougher.”
-Valeri Liukin on how TV holds effect the gymnasts
Related Articles
- Quick Chat with Alicia Sacramone (June 16, 2008)
A look back-up at Sacramone's Championships, and what to expect at Trials. - Quick Chat with Shawn Johnson (June 17, 2008)
Inside Gymnastics takes you back to Boston and looks ahead to Trials with the World Champ.
