Olympic Sports News

Useless Speculation Time

2010-09-04T17:49:00.001-04:00

Gotta love useless speculation for gymnastics world championships!

Unless they get injured, Rebecca Bross, Alicia Sacramone, and Mattie Larson are virtually locks. Bross should compete on bars, beam and floor in the team final. She is usable on vault, but I think she has one of the sloppier DTYs on the National Team. Sacramone should compete on beam and vault in the team final and Larson is usable on floor, vault and bars.

I would be surprised at this point if Aly Raisman didn't make the team. Though she did not look as good at Classics and Nationals as she did during the spring season, she is still very usable on beam, floor and vault in the team finals. If she actually manages to get her Amanar down, that would also be quite helpful.

A healthy Bridget Sloan should also make the team. While she's the defending World All-Around Champion and a fantastic vaulter, maybe a better strategy for her would be focusing on bars and floor. She would probably be in the team finals line-up in both of those events. While her DTY would score well, so should Larson's and Raisman's.

Macko Caquatto and Cassie Whitcomb have been mentioned extensively as "bar specialists" for the last spot on the team and both have good shots at that role. Caquatto has a higher start value and therefore higher scoring potential, but has been a "headcase" in the past. As good as her routine can be, I'm not convinced she can hit in a team final. Though Whitcomb has a lower start value, she has room to upgrade and tends to consistently hit her routine. However, her Gienger is wonky and she had recently been injured. I'm really not sold on either of them currently.

I actually kind of prefer Chelsea Davis for that "bar specialist" spot. She currently has the same start value as Whitcomb and also has room to upgrade. I think she tends to have cleaner form and that her miss on her Jaeger on day two of Nationals was more of a fluke than anything.

Kytra Hunter also still probably has an outside shot. She is a great tumbler and maybe could get an Amanar, which boasts team start values a ton. I doubt Amanda Jetter, Morgan Smith, or Sami Shapiro will make the team. Honestly, sometimes I'm just sad that Vanessa Zamarripa is no longer in contention and that Kyla Ross, Katelyn Ohashi, McKayla Maroney and Gabrielle Douglas are not age eligible.

Gymnastics Nationals

2010-08-13T23:45:00.003-04:00

Halfway through the women's competition at the US Championships, one thing is fairly certain: finishing in the top 6 AA will be very important. I have a hard time believing that Alicia Sacramone, Jordyn Wieber, Cassie Whitcomb, Amanda Jetter, Bridgey Caquatto, and Ivana Hong won't be named to the National Team. There go six of the eight discretionary spots...

In other news, Maria Sharapova looked the best I had seen her in a while tonight. Now, if only she'd stop double faulting.

Olympics 101: Ice Hockey

2010-08-03T11:51:00.000-04:00

The other night, I was reading the Ice Hockey section in my copy of The Complete Guide to the Winter Olympics by David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky and came across some interesting (and not particularly well known) information I thought I'd share.

Canada was a leader in the debate on professionalism and the Olympics. The country withdrew from international ice hockey competition in 1969 because it objected to having to play professionals from Communist countries. The issue on what made a hockey player a professional was a fairly complicated one. The IOC said that any hockey player who had signed a professional contract was a professional while the International Ice Hockey Federation said that a player had to play in a professional game before being considered a professional. Furthermore, these definitions applied only to the NHL; minor league players and players in European leagues were considered eligible. Athletes on Communist national teams received paychecks from their governments as opposed to privately-owned clubs and were therefore still eligible. Sweden joined in this boycott in 1976 and both countries returned to international competition in 1980.

One has to wonder how much these "definitions" had to do with the USSR's dominance in hockey. Would more of their players have defected or refused to play if they weren't receiving paychecks? If Canada and the US had been allowed to use paid players, would they have been more of a factor in the international hockey scene?

The 1928 Canadian team, comprised of players from the 1926 Toronto University team, was so good that Olympic officials advanced them to the medal round after seeing them practice. The team went on to beat Sweden 11-0, Great Britain 14-0, and Switzerland 13-0 in the medal round, justifying the decision.

Canada also produced the first male black gold medalist at the Winter Olympics when Jarome Iginla won a gold medal with the 2002 Canadian hockey team.

Perhaps the most impressive feat of the Soviet Union in ice hockey was not their record, but their ability to bounce back from tragedy. A plane crash killed all but one member of the national team in 1950. The government kept the crash quiet and went on to win the 1954 World Championships with a completely new squad as well as the country's first ice hockey gold medal in 1956.

After losing to the USA in the medal round in 1960, Nikolai Sologubov, the captain of the USSR team, actually helped the American team defeat Czechoslovakia for a gold medal. Down 4-3 after two periods, Sologubov came into the locker room and said that the American players should take some oxygen. The US went on to win 9-4. That never would have happened in 1980!

I'm Back

2010-08-01T17:18:00.001-04:00

Hi readers (if any are still out there)! Sorry for my absence; I just moved and that whole process was quite time consuming. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to do a better job of updating over the next several weeks. I will be attending a couple of professional tennis tournaments soon, so I should have fun reports from those.

The CoverGirl Classic was last weekend and the US's juniors showed much more promise than the seniors (though neither Sloan nor Bross competed the All-Around). As of right now, I would say that Bridget Sloan, Rebecca Bross, Alicia Sacramone, Aly Raisman, Mattie Larson, and Mackenzie Caquatto are the front-runners for the World team (though, let's be honest, this could change about a million times between now and then). With this team, Sacramone would be off bars and floor (obviously), Caquatto would be off beam, and either Larson or Caquatto would be off vault in the prelims. In the finals, I would probably put Sloan, Raisman, and Sacramone on vault; Caquatto, Sloan, and Bross on bars; Raisman, Bross, and Sacramone on beam; and anyone but Caquatto on floor (that's training).

Assuming Larson stays healthy, I'd assume Macko's spot is the least secure because she will be heading to the NCAA in January will probably not factor into the international scene for the rest of the quad. Though I would love to see Cassie Whitcomb get the "bars" spot over Macko, she really did not look particularly great at Classics. Bridgette Caquatto could also very much be in the mix depending on how she looks at Nationals. Honestly, if she looks good on bars, I think she will get the sixth spot on the team as she will probably be around for the rest of the quad. Kytra Hunter, Amanda Jetter, and Chelsea Davis are also probably still in the mix. I would love to see Sami Shapiro and Vanessa Zamarripa be major factors, but the former will probably be too injured and the latter really needs to upgrade to have a serious shot.

I love the budding Contador/Schleck rivalry. Not related to Olympic sports news, but get ready for the union of T.O. and Ochocinco. The Bengals will be the most entertaining team in the NFL this year.

Wimbledon

2010-07-01T00:58:00.000-04:00

Life has been slightly crazy, hence my lack of posts (this seems to be a recurring theme; sorry about that).

I'm not terribly surprised that Federer lost and thought that Venus losing was much more surprising. I really think Murray is playing the best out of those left; we'll see if he can handle the pressure and bring the Wimbledon title back to the UK. I would love to see a Murray-Berdych final.

Check out John Isner reading the Top 10 list on Letterman.

Isner Wins

2010-06-25T00:57:00.000-04:00

In the match that wouldn't end, John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. The match lasted 11 hours and five minutes and spanned three days; the last set alone lasted 8:11. Isner will now play Thiemo de Bakker in the second round. who was pushed to the usually grueling score of 16-14 in his final set. In another interesting side note, Mahut won his second round qualifying match by a score of 24-22. Isner even found time to look like the late Touchdown Jesus after winning.

In other Wimbledon news, according to an article written by Kamakshi Tandon, leggy blonds are more likely to play Centre Court matches than Serena Williams and Dinara Safina. Many seemed perplexed that third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was scheduled to play on Centre Court today for the Queen over Williams. While they both seem equally deserving this time around, if the most attractive players on the tour are really given court preference, the All-England Club might want to encourage their spokespeople not to mention it.

What a Day

2010-06-24T00:27:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I have anything particularly insightful to add, but what a day. First Landon Donovan scores in the 91ST MINUTE off of a Clint Dempsey, allowing the US to advance to the knock-out round of the World Cup. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are tied at 59-ALL in the fifth set at Wimbledon. The match has lasted 10 hours total; the fifth set has gone on for 7:06 alone. The second longest match in tennis history was only 6:33. And I think the guys only took one bathroom break today.

I'm excited. I'm exhausted. And I didn't participate in any form of international sport today. Let's hope tomorrow is just as fun.

International Skill Level

2010-06-20T23:42:00.000-04:00

Should there be a cut-off for major international gymnastics competition? A couple of bar routines, Sarah El Dabagh from Denmark and Meenakshi from India, have made me think about that question.

Those routines, along with the floor routines performed by gymnasts from Sri Lanka at the 2003 World Championships, help to facilitate an interesting discussion in the gymnastics world: Should their be a skill-level cut-off? Compulsories (which I really do miss) used to take care of this question. While the elimination of those exercises might have expanded the number of countries that can compete internationally, when is the skill level just too low? Are these girls benefiting from representing their countries and competing on a large international stage (which is undeniably a huge honor)? Or do they feel embarrassed to be competing at this skill level when their routines are being compared to those of gymnasts such as He Kexin?

This issue affects other Olympic sports as well, most famously, Eddie the Eagle and Eric the Eel. Though Eric the Eel was undeniably inspiring, should the Olympics be the showcase for these types of performances? Or should they only show the best in the sport?

Personally, I think it is great to see athletes from non-traditional countries compete internationally. I do question at times if the World Championships and Olympics are the right place to showcase these routines. However, if competing in those events is what motivates the athletes, then I support it. I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue, so please comment below!

ESPN for 2014

2010-06-13T01:33:00.000-04:00

I know I have blogged about this before, but I really hope ESPN gets the rights to cover the the 2014 Olympics in the United States over NBC. After two days, I am already very impressed by their World Cup coverage and think they are handling the time difference very well. I would love to see this type of packaging for the Olympics.

I live in the Mountain Time Zone. Games are broadcast live at 5:00am, 7:00am, and 12:00pm. They are then re-broadcast at 4:00pm, 6:00pm, and 1:00am. Everything is also online. This gives die-hard fans the opportunity to see everything live while allowing those of us the prefer to sleep a chance to see the games as well.

ESPN has seven TV stations to work with as well as internet broadcasting. Even if they decide against re-broadcasting events, they could still easily show everything live, put everything on the internet, package something easily digestible for prime-time, and sell lots of advertising. This is how I want to experience the Olympics. NBC needs to wake up and realize that people know what happens in the sports world before they tell us what happens.

Death of the All-Around Gymnast

2010-06-10T01:55:00.001-04:00

I miss true All-Around gymnasts. By this I mean gymnasts that were competitive in both the All-Around and in all event finals. It was fairly common for the top All-Around gymnasts to be threats to qualify for all event finals in the past.

Let's take a look at the routines of the lovely Mighty Mo (yes, I know that she never pulled it together enough to dominate competitions, but I still love her, her routines, and her potential).

She could do everything and do it well.

I know that changes in the sport have facilitated the demise of All-Around gymnasts beyond what the gymnasts can control. The 6-6-5 format has not been around since 1992. The fact that not everyone has to compete on every event has led to the specialist movement. While this is advantageous for gymnasts with a particularly glaring weakness, it hurts the heart of the sport, the All-Around.

The last time a gymnast was really a threat to make every event final was in 2000. Jiang Yuyuan probably had the most potential to do this in 2008. Let's make everyone train two vaults again. Let's have a code that encourages looking awesome while preforming, as opposed to throwing the hardest skills you can kind of do. The winner of the team final should truly be the best, most well-rounded team instead of the team that messes up the least. Let's go back to 7-6-5 or 6-5-4 instead of 6-3-3 or 5-3-3. I want to see more gymnasts that can do it all and look clean and confident while doing it.

Stress Management

2010-06-02T18:09:00.000-04:00

It's the 89th minutes. The score is 0-0. The whistle blows! A foul was committed just five yards outside and slightly to the right of the 18 yard box. You have about 30 seconds to prepare. First, you run to the right goal post and begin yelling furiously at four of your teammates to line up in a wall. Second, you are exact about where you want them set up. So exact that you will tell them to move half an inch in the direction you want. "Hold there!" 15 seconds gone. Quickly you must move to where you want to set up in the goal mouth. Favoring slightly more to the left of the goal, leaving the right side wide open, you hope and pray the wall stands their ground, protecting the right side. Six players from the other team plus the same amount of your team line up just inside the 18 yard box jostling for position, anticipating the shot, and ready to crash the goal. You're blind due to the all the traffic in the box.

You must be ready, bouncing on your toes, knees slightly bent primed to pounce in any direction. The ref blows his whistle signaling the player to shoot or pass. The players run up to the ball, he's going to shoot! A split second before he shoots you notice twelve players running hard in your direction, ready to capitalize on any mistake you make. But you can't pay attention to them. Right now you have less than a second to react to a ball flying in your direction at over 70 MPH. For this split second all eyes are focused on you. 60,000 fans in the stadium staring at you, millions watching television are fixated on you and what you do now. The ball clears the wall it looks like it will be coming right at you, but there is so much spin it curve and dips 4 feet to the right. You spring to the right diving four feet off the ground lying almost perfectly horizontal in the air and stretching your arms as far as you can. Two of your fingers get under the ball just enough to tip it away from the net.

You crash into the ground and get up, you heart is pounding and you're in the middle of an incredible adrenaline high. That split second just felt like running a 50 yard sprint. You did it! You stopped them from scoring! The game is still tied. But wait! No time for a breather or a silly celebration. Instead, there's another 30 seconds of stress as you set up your defense for a corner kick. Oh yeah, and that amazing save you just made? The save that required almost every muscle in your body? The save that may have won the game for your team and your nation? That save will be forgotten shortly, because someone will score. Whether you get scored on or one of your teammates scores someone will and that is what will be remembered. Only goals and goal scorers are remembered. Goalies don't do it for the fame and fortune. Goalies are slight masochists in my personal opinion. But they have to be for the constant blame and stress that is put on them. The best goalies in the world will feed off the stress and anxiety that comes from being the last line of defense.

I believe the words of Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger sum it up best. "Goalkeeper is a position that is guided by fear more than any other. You have only negative stress. A striker has a positive stress. He thinks, 'I can be a hero,' but the goalkeeper thinks, 'I don't want to be a villain today.'"

So who will handle the stress of protecting the goal for the largest sporting event in the world? There are some amazing keepers in this World cup. My top 5 to keep an eye out for are...in no particular order:

Iker Casillas-Spain

In 2008-2009, FIFA named Casillas Goalkeeper of the Year. He holds the record for most appearances for a goalie with Real Madrid at 454. He was captain of the 2008 Spanish team that won the 2008 European Championship. I think he is the best goalie in the 2010 World Cup. If you want to see quick acrobatic saves watch Spain.

Tim Howard-USA

The United States has a knack for producing world class keepers. Tim Howard is no exception. In 2003, Howard signed a contract with top English Premier League team Manchester United, an amazing feat for any U.S. born player. In 2004, Howard made a stunning save against Arsenal to help Man U win the Community Shield. Howard also collected a Winner's Medal making him the only American player to do so. He currently plays with Everton. Howard has been the USA's top goalie since Casey Keller's retirement from international play in 2006. Howard will be tested a lot this World Cup. Not only is he capable of making acrobatic saves, but he is one of the smartest goalies out there. He knows where to be and has a commanding presence inside the 18 yard box.

Gianluigi Buffon-Italy

Buffon has been playing for the Italian national team since the age of 19. Now 32, he is an experience keeper who is looking to repeat as the world champion. In the 2006 World Cup only 2 goals were scored on him. He posted a 453 minute scoreless streak. One of the goals scored was an own goal while playing the USA in group stage play and the second came from France on a penalty kick in the final match.

Julio Cesar-Brazil

Fresh off winning the UEFA Champions League with his club team Internazionale (Inter Milan). Cesar is now ready to take the reins as Brazil's number one goalie. Like Casillas, Cesar is known for making breathtaking acrobatic saves and has some of the fastest reactions among goalies. Brazil is known for their flamboyant style of play; however, that is not the case for Cesar. He is a mature goalie who has played in many big games and will be ready to help Brazil compete for their 6th world title.

Oswaldo Sanchez-Mexico

This was a tough decision. I wasn't sure who to add for my final position as top 5 goalies to watch. While I definitely believe the first four goalie mentioned are the four best in the 2010 World Cup, I can't say that about this one. That being said, if you want to see some amazing Superman diving saves and quick reaction saves then watch Mexican goaltender Sanchez. He has a style of goalkeeping I personally am not too fond of. He is very flashy. He will dive for balls he doesn't need to. One reason a goalie is forced to make an amazing save is because he is in the wrong position and Sanchez is known to be in the wrong position a lot. But if you want to be entertained then he is the goalie for you, just look at the picture. That guy can fly!

World Cup Tidbits

2010-06-02T11:52:00.000-04:00

This is the official song and music video for the FIFA World Cup 2010. K'naan is a Somalian singer/songwriter; he has quickly become the leading voice for the World Cup.

Team USA officially arrived in South Africa yesterday in order to acclimate to their surroundings and hopefully perform at their best. England has had roughly a 66% winning average in international play. Fabio Capello announced his 23 man roster yesterday and we have a good shot at beating England. Yes, I just said we could beat England. My fingers are crossed and I'm nervous, but we can do it.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/05/31/football.world.cup.terror/index.html?hpt=Sbin
South Africa is playing down the latest World Cup terrorist threat. Plus they absolutely smashed Guatemala 5-0. Well done Bafana!

The stunning visuals inside rolling leopards sent shivers down my spine in this World Cup commercial. 8 more days!!

England's final 23 man roster was announced yesterday. Surprisingly Theo Walcott was NOT included, not surprisingly David Beckham WASN'T included, and VERY surprisingly Emile Heskey was included. England's squad is similar to ours in that they have core players like Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, Rooney, Wright-Phillips, Ferdinand, and Crouch. Yet their defense lacks on the wings other than Ashley Cole. Ferdinand is like Onyewu in terms of international performance (though Ferdinand is more consistent and has more sparked when compared to Onyewu). The difference between our two squads is that even though Landon Donovan can be deadly, Rooney, Crouch, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Barry, Carrick (my FAVORITE player of all time), AND Defoe can all score their little butts off from ALL over the pitch. The midfield could border on the surreal even with Joe Cole fairly off form this past season at Chelsea. The keeper David James has experience, but he's not as good as Tim Howard.

Now this isn't an impossible squad to beat. In fact, the experience of England at the World Cup is one where almost all of the players are outstanding on their own, but asked to play on a team together, things get very interesting. It will be a good first group stage match on June 12th. Go USA!

History of the World Cup trophy and the ball

2010-06-01T12:32:00.000-04:00

Ok so you may be reading this and thinking to yourself, um, what's so cool about a trophy and a ball? Each ball is constructed specifically for each World Cup and the trophy has a mysterious past of its own...

The trophy is officially named the Jules Rimet Cup after the FIFA president who served the longest term, 33 years and was president for the very first World Cup in 1930. Curiously the first Cup was named Victory, made of lapis lazuli & sterling silver, and contained the goddess of victory, Nike. The original trophy was awarded to Brazil in their 1970 victory, later stolen in 1983, and never recovered. Starting in 1974 a new trophy was commissioned, The FIFA World Cup Trophy. This trophy is officially in the possession of FIFA. The winning team receives a replica made of gold plating instead of the solid 18-carat gold of the original. Italy must give it back to FIFA before the start of this year's World Cup. The bottom of the trophy contains the dates and winners of each World Cup winner. The plaques will not be filled until 2038 so who knows if the trophy will be retired at that time....

As German legend Ure Sweeler said about the Beautiful Game, "The secret of football is the ball." He couldn't be more right. Adidas has been in charge of manufacturing the official match balls since 1970. In the very first World Cup in 1930 a different ball was used each half because the countries insisted on using their own football. After 1930 the host country was allowed to supply the match balls. The ball generally consisted of 12 or 18 parts until 1966. For each cup after 1970 people tried to invent the perfect ball. Various names were given such as "Azteca" "Fevernova" "+Teamgeist" and this year's "Jabulani." Construction pushed the ball to be more round, more accurate, and more durable. Ok does all this work pay off? Yes, the 1998 World Cup saw the most goals ever scored in a World Cup at 171 all thanks to the little sphere. The least goals scored in a World Cup? Yep, 1930 and 1934 with 70.

Hungry for more records?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_records

Enjoy!

USA 2-1 vs. Turkey!

2010-06-01T12:03:00.001-04:00

Yay! Finally some exciting news about the US men's national team! After being down 0-1 at halftime by a very, we're talking VERY, fast Turkish side, we came back to win it 2-1! Thanks to the efforts of Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore (my two favorite players) we were able to contain the speed of the Turks. Now you may be asking, well what happened on that first goal? I'll tell you. Thanks to the lack of mental preparation by Jay DeMerit and his inability to shift over when Jonathan Spector made his spectacular streaking run forward, Turkey scored. Ok ok I admit maybe Spector shouldn't have shot up field, but being a defender myself for 5 years I can tell you I love it when defenders take chances like that. How was Spector supposed to know that his teammates including Bocanegra wouldn't shift over for him? He wasn't. Also um, hellllooo DeMerit, any 14 year old girl can tell you that when a defender runs up you pull your midfielder back and you SHIFT OVER. It's called the "banana." Or the boomerang, depending on who taught you. And who was in the right midfield spot that should've come back? Yep, Donovan.

Other than that hiccup and the tight, complex passing style that eased into simplicity when Torres was substituted into the match in the 2nd half, the USA looked like a solid and a formidable opponent. They need to use the entire width of the field, but that will resolve once Donovan and Feilhaber stop trying to drift to the inside. Donovan's problem is that he still thinks he's a central forward....oops.

As for defense, Oneywu may be in trouble with fast midfielders like Ashley Cole who love to make crazy runs and dribble straight at defenders. Oneywu's going to have to MOVE. Personally I'd prefer Spector, Bocanegra, Goodson, and maybe DeMerit. Bornstein does not need to be anywhere near that back line unless he chills out and fast. Oneywu does not factor into my lineup though Bradley seems to love him. And yes, he can body up when necessary. I think he's still playing scared, though a crucial injury can do that. We'll see.

Next game is vs. Australia on June 5th in South Africa.

Quick Update

2010-05-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post before I head out of town yet again.

Chinese gymnastics nationals are going on now. Check out Komova's Youtube Channel for videos. Canadian nationals are going on as well. Blythe at the Gymnastics Examiner is liveblogging the event.

Former USA Swimming national team director Everett Uchiyama was those named a list of lifetime bans. Uchiyama was banned for inappropriate sexual behavior.

Dinara Safina lost in the first round of the French Open to Kimiko Date Krumm who turns 40 this fall.

Caster Semenya's return to competition was delayed after the meet in which she was supposed to run was canceled.

TJ Lanning will skip the 2011 skiing world cup circuit as he recovers from a fractured neck suffered last November.

A good read on Jesse Owens being awesome can be found here.

World Cup Overload!!

2010-05-26T16:17:00.000-04:00

So today is a special day in the world of soccer. It is the day that the United States announced the 23 man roster they will be taking to the World Cup ANNNNDDD it is the day that FIFA released their final rankings before the tournament begins in 15 days. So extra special goodness all around. And it kind of makes up for the US's defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic 4-2. Joy. Small rant: typical US soccer consists of 15 min of really good play and then 60 or so of playing back on our heels, crap play where we usually get scored on regardless of whether we're winning or not. All of this capped off by maybe, MAYBE the last 15 min of us playing hard. In the Confederations Cup last summer (the prequel to the World Cup) we amazingly outright beat Spain 2-nil and then went up 2-nil against Brazil only to let Brazil come back and win it in the last 20 min of the game. So yeah, the US has much to prove this year. "Endurance" is the key word as well as "depth" and "certain spark." Does the US have these qualities of winning teams? It's iffy.

Coach Bradley's 23 man roster:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann, and the favorite Tim Howard. (All play in England's top league the Premier League. In my opinion the best league in the world.)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (veteran), Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo (veteran), Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu (veteran), and Jonathan Spector. (Bornstein is the only one who plays in Major League Soccer, everyone else plays abroad.)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (surprise!), Michael Bradley (NOT surprising at all, he's Coach's son, but still a good player), Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey (veteran), Landon Donovan (MAJOR veteran), Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber (love him), Stuart Holden, and Jose Torres. (Donovan is the only one who plays in Major League Soccer, but it doesn't really count because this past season at Everton was in a word, breakout and crucial for him.)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle (small surprise), Robbie Findley, and Herculez Gomez (BIG surprise considering he came out left field and is tied for the most goals in the Mexican League, the only American to ever do this in a league outside the MLS.) Buddle and Findley play in the MLS.

Bradley's roster looks promising...except in the defense category.

Forwards are scrappy with speed and something to prove. After the horrific car crash in October that left Charlie Davie struggling with tough rehab and his remarkable recovery to being able to walk, run, and play again, Davies still wasn't included in the roster. That will put an interesting spin on things. With up-and-coming Gomez and outstanding, quick Jozy Altidore, we may have a shot at scoring some amazing goals. Edson Buddle's going to be an outside man. He has the ability, but can he perform considering his last international match with the US was in 2003...? This list could go either way.

Midfield is solid. Dempsey and Donovan will lead the charge, Beasley's experience will carry him only so far, and the work rates of Bradley, Feilhaber, Holden, and Torres will lend much needed coverage in the middle plus speed on the wings.

Defense is a sore subject with me. Onyewu has been a question mark since his knee injury 6 months ago (not to mention his less than stellar performance in the 2006 World Cup) and if last night was any indicator, our defense could be shaky. Look to Cherundolo, Bocanegra, and Onyewu to lead this back squad. DeMerit, Bornstein, and Spector haven't been completely consistent as of late, but they have chances to rise to the challenge. BUT, but, but, but we have one of the top 10 goalies in the world...Mr. Tim Howard!! Howard has experience, skill and fire that will save our butts. But he can only do so much... It's not the goalie's fault if you get scored on. It's the other 10 men on the field the ball went through to get to the goalie. It's like blaming your last batter for the strike out that lost the game or blaming your safety for the opponent's touchdown. Or something...

As mentioned earlier the words of this year's World Cup for the US are "endurance," "depth," and "certain spark." Overall it's a solid roster, our veterans are going to be heavily depended on, and the newcomers could pull some fantastic moves.

FIFA rankings!! No surprises...ugh.

Top 10:

1--Brazil

2--Spain

3--Portugal

4--Netherlands

5--Italy (defending champions)

6--Germany

7--Argentina

8--England

9--France

10-Croatia

*The top eight hasn't changed since last month. The US holds steady at #14.

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html

World Cup 2010 Groups & Mascots

2010-05-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

World Cup warm-ups started yesterday. England crushed Mexico at Wembley (England's home stadium) 3-1, the home team South Africa tied Bulgaria 1-1, and South Korea beat Japan 2-nil. Tonight the US takes on the Czech Republic at 6p MST on ESPN. 4 years ago the US fell 3-nil and lost 5-1 on June 10, 1990 during the World Cup in Italy, the US's first world cup match since 1950.

Continuing our journey to the World Cup it's time now to focus on the group stage for this year's event.

Group A--South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France (1998 champion)

Group B--Argentina (they have the arguably second greatest player right now, Messi), Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece

Group C--England (1966 champion), United States, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D--Germany (has never won as "Germany"), Australia, Serbia, Ghana (killed the United States last year and advanced in 2nd place from their group)

Group E--Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F--Italy (defending champion), Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G--Brazil (2002 champion and have the arguably greatest player in the world right now, Kaka), Korea DPR, Cote d'Ivoire, Portugal

Group H--Spain (2008 Euro champion), Switzerland, Honduras, Chile (like the US their best finish was 3rd place in 1962 when they hosted)

*2 teams from each group will move on to the Round of 16. Finishing in 2nd means you will play a team that finished in 1st from another group. So finishing 1st is crucial to set up a favorable Round of 16 game and the rest of your journey to the final.

As is the tradition, each world cup has a poster/emblem and a mascot specific to each contest and country. The mascot is especially important because it embodies the host nation and it is the nation's presentation to the world. This year's mascot is Zakumi.

Zakumi is currently 15 years old and he will turn 16 on June 16. His birth date coincides with Youth Day in South Africa and the home team's 2nd group match. His birth year, 1994, is when the 1st non-racial nationwide elections were held in South Africa. His name comes from "Za" the international abbreviation for South Africa, and "kumi" which means 10 in various African languages. His official motto is "Zakumi's game is Fair Play." The colors of yellow and green are South Africa's official colors. And the leopard is an important symbol to the Bafana (South Africa's team nickname, like the All Blacks for New Zealand's rugby team).

Next time: Fifa will release their most current world rankings tomorrow and I break down the top 10 memorable matches and players.

Weekend Update

2010-05-23T15:08:00.000-04:00

The London Olympic mascots were unveiled earlier this week. According to Seb Coe, they are meant to be a kid-friendly creation made by drops of steel from the girders of Olympic Stadium and are based on a story by Michael Morpurgo. The singular eye represents a camera lens. They are named Wenlock, for the town of Much Wenlock, who's Games inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin to found the modern Olympics and Mandeville, for Stroke Mandeville, where the Paralympics were founded. I'm really not sure how I feel about their appearance, but I do really enjoy the names and what they represent. Share your thoughts in the comments section.

WADA lost an appeal that would have left breast stroker Jessica Hardy banned for two years instead of one. The world record holder tested positive for clenbuterol at the 2008 Olympic Trials. The steroid was mistakenly put in a nutritional supplement she regularly took, contaminating that batch, and received a one-year ban instead of the standard two-year ban because of this manufacturing mistake. She voluntarily withdrew from Beijing and her status for the 2012 Olympics is uncertain.

The Queen is going to Wimbledon for the first time in 33 years. Beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh gave birth to a second son, less than a year after her first son was born. The French Open starts today. Get excited!

World Cup History...and Nike attempts to beat Adidas via a commercial

2010-05-21T13:22:00.000-04:00

And I'm back as your guest blogger for World Cup 2010! This time I'm going to give a brief history of past winners and some surprising facts. But first some tantalizing media to get your hearts pumping and minds racing. Nike has released a new, epic 3 minute commercial in which they use current soccer stars such as Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, and Ronaldinho with guest appearances by Patrice Evra, Frank Ribery, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Cesc Fabregas, and even Kobe Bryant. Now with the controversy of Ronaldinho NOT included in the 30 man roster for Brazil, Drogba's questionable fame after his repeated outbursts during his seasons at Chelsea and no clear mention of the World Cup in the commercial Nike could be biting off more than they can chew. Also the lack of legends Lionel Messi and Kaka could take away from Nike's attempt to compete with Adidas (the official World Cup sponsor). You be the judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE&feature=player_embedded

And now on to a brief history of the 70 years of World Cup. Play began in 1930 as Uruguay hosted and subsequently won the very first world cup. Things only got better from there.

1934 host Italy, winner Italy (US placed 3rd out of 13 teams--our best finish ever)

1938 host France, winner Italy

1950 host Brazil, winner Uruguay (US beat England in an epic, history-making game. Rematch Saturday, June 12, 2010)

1954 host Switzerland, winner West Germany

1958 host Sweden, winner Brazil

1962 host Chile, winner Brazil

1966 host England, winner England

1970 host Mexico, winner Brazil

1974 host West Germany, winner West Germany

1978 host Argentina, winner Argentina

1982 host Spain, winner Italy

1986 host Mexico, winner Argentina

1990 host Italy, winner West Germany (the Berlin Wall had fallen exactly a month earlier when the pools were chosen for the 1990 world cup, so its implications had not taken effect yet)

1994 host United States, winner Brazil

1998 host France, winner France

2002 host Korea Republic/Japan, winner Brazil (the only time a joint host was allowed)

2006 host Germany, winner Italy

*France and England are the only teams to have one World Cup title. Every other winner has won at least twice.

*Brazil leads with 5 wins

*Mexico and Italy are the only countries to host a World Cup more than once.

*The 1970 and 1990 World Cups are the only times where the final four were all previous World Cup champions.

*The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world. An estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match in 2006. (Fifa.com October 11, 2009)

Next time: 2010 groups and World Cup mascots

Go Bruins

2010-05-19T00:20:00.001-04:00

Who'd want to dance with the stars when they could dance with Miss Val (and Stella Umeh's sister)?

Slovakia! Slovakia! Slovakia? It feels like the very first time.

2010-05-18T10:21:00.000-04:00

Hello! I am your guest blogger for this very special once in every four years event, the World Cup! OlympicSportsNews blogger has graciously allowed me to post and so I will be giving you news, tidbits, updates, and lovely facts about this year's 2010 cup in South Africa which starts in 23 days. To kick things off Slovakia is making headlines today. As with Korea DPR in 1966, the Republic of Ireland in 1990, Nigeria in 1994, Croatia in 1998, and Senegal in 2002 first timers have a tradition of performing outstandingly, beating soccer giants such as Italy, France, and Argentina, and making it to at least the quarter finals. Slovakia could be 2010's team. Since splitting off from former tough soccer competitor Czechoslovakia in 1993 (runner-up to Italy in 1934, runner-up to Chile in 1962, and European champions over West Germany in 1976), the Czech Republic has faired quite well in international competition and now it could be Slovakia's turn. Slovakia beat powerhouses Poland and the Czech Republic to finish first in their European qualifying group; and they could steal some press coverage and fans from hometown favorites South Africa. As Slovak captain Miroslav Karhan puts so well, "qualifying for the World Cup is important for the identity of our young nation." They're going to need all the luck of first timers as they go up against defending champions Italy in their group stage as well as tough competitors Paraguay and New Zealand. Don't count them out yet, things could be very interesting and the World Cup doesn't disappoint.

For more information on Slovakia click here:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1212824/index.html#slovakia+nothing+like+first+time

Sports Illustrated's World Cup preview edition hits newsstands today. Some of the more optimistic writers are now putting the United States higher in the rankings. In the World Cup anything's possible.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/toc/11423/index.htm

Next time: A breakdown of group stages and the list of past winners to give background to this amazing sporting event.

Carol "Lefty" Johnston

2010-05-18T01:21:00.000-04:00

Lefty, a Disney movie about Canadian gymnast Carol Johnston, was recently posted on YouTube. Johnston competed for Cal State-Fullerton in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was a member of the 1979 undefeated National Champion team. More notably, Johnston was a collegiate All-American despite only having one arm. She did some impressive gymnastics and competed in the All-Around in college. He bar works highlights another advantage of old-school bars—that it is possible to put together a competitive routine on one arm. Watch the movie below!

News and Notes

2010-05-18T00:18:00.000-04:00

Marion Jones is now officially a member of the Tulsa Shock. I hope she is able to take advantage of her athletic second chance, though she has not played much organized ball since winning a national title with North Carolina in 1994.

Top swimmers recently competed in the Charlotte UltraSwim, the first long-course race of the season. In the upset of the meet, Nick Thoman beat Micheal Phelps in the 100m back. I am a huge Thoman fan and am always excited to see him win. I hope that he is able to make the major world or Olympic team that has always eluded him. Peter Vanderkaay won two individual races and captured the overall Grand Prix series title. Rebecca Soni and Chloe Sutton also captured individual titles to secured second and third place finishes in the overall Grand Prix standings respectively. Another personal favorite, Dagny Knutson, also took home two individual titles. Her short course swimming is generally better than her long course swimming, but I expect that to change once she begins college in the fall and has access to better training facilities. Other winners from the weekend included Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Elizabeth Beisel, Eric Shanteau, Emily Brunemann, Missy Franklin, and Ryan Lochte.

Lindsey Vonn was named the US Ski and Snowboard Association Athlete of the Year, while Nordic Combined Coach Dave Jarrett was named the coach of the year. Other athletes recognized include Alana Nichols (adaptive athlete), Kikkan Randall (cross country), Hannah Kearney (freestyle), Johnny Spillane (Nordic combined), Sarah Hendrickson (ski jumping), and Seth Wescott (snowboarding).

Tyson Gay set a world record of 19.41 seconds on a 200m straight track.

Bobsled gold medalist Curt Tomasevicz got to play on stage with Pearl Jam at concert in Kansas City.

Pairs skaters Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski officially retired.

A friend of mine will be guest blogging about the World Cup. Get excited!

News and Notes

2010-05-12T22:37:00.000-04:00

American Sarah Hammer set a world record of 3 minutes 22.269 seconds in the 3,000 meter individual pursuit in track cycling at the Pan American Cycling Championships.

Bob Bradley announced the 30-man roster for the US's World Cup Team. Standout forward Charlie Davies is not on the roster following an October car crash.

Pacman Jones signed with the Bengals. He'll fit right in...

2008 judo Olympic gold medalist Tong Wen tested positive for Clenbuterol and has been suspended for two years. The IOC will decide if she will keep her medal.

Ice dancers Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre officially retired.

Michelle Kwan, aka my favorite figure skater since she was a 14-year-old in 1994, gave a commencement address at Southern Vermont College. Videos can be found below.

Weekend Update

2010-05-09T13:54:00.000-04:00

At the USA Diving Grand Prix, Li Shixin won the men's 3 meter springboard while American Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen won the 3 meter synchronized event. Ma Sinou won the women's 10 meter platform and Wu Shengping and Zhu Jiaming won the synchronized event.

Veronica Campbell-Brown won the 100 meter sprint at the Osaka Grand Prix track meet. Michael Rogers won the men's 200, Ginnie Powell won the 100 meter hurdles, and Joanne Cuddihy won the women's 400.

Lena Schoneborn won the modern pentathlon Budapest World Cup.

Brady Ellison won two gold medals at the archery world cup stage one finals.

TGIF

2010-05-08T00:12:00.001-04:00

In gymnastics news, Chellsie Memmel is not retiring, Kayla Williams is now at Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy with Mary Lee Tracy, and the US will not be sending a female competitor to the Youth Olympics, ostensibly because the the Games are too close to US Nationals. I am intrigued by the Williams/MLT pairing. Vault tends to be a weak event for most CGA girls. Hopefully Kayla will get bar upgrades out of this, but I believe CGA's bar coach recently relocated.

Greg Louganis is going to mentor American divers. I have a ton of respect for him and hope he enjoys that role.

2008 Olympian Mary Wineberg received an elite development from USA Track and Field. We went to the same high school and she recently had her first child, so I am excited to see her get back into the groove.

Olympic Controversy

2010-05-06T15:04:00.000-04:00

Double Olympic gold medalist in short track speed skating Lee Jung-su of South Korea and Olympic teammate Kwak Yoon-gy have been suspended for three years each following a race fixing scandal. Lee failed to qualify for the national team try-outs in March. Though he cited a knee injury, it was later discovered that the national team coach had coerced Lee to give up his spot to Kwak. Lee has denied his involvement, but Kwak has admitted to being part of the fixing.

Countries will only be allowed to enter one racer in each event in track cycling in the 2012 Olympics. This decision is meant to encourage more track cycling development throughout the world, but I think it seems like another attempt to short-change a sport that was already forced to drop five events following Beijing.

Check out the third issue of the Couch Gymnast's magazine here.

News and Notes

2010-05-05T00:17:00.000-04:00

Shawn Johnson announced that she intends to resume intensive gymnastics training in hopes of competing in the 2012 Olympics. She returned to the gym four days ago. I am really indifferent towards both her and Nastia. Please let me know when Miller, Lysenko, Onodi, Mo, Podkopayeva, or Silivas decides to return to competitive gymnastics shape. Or even Courtney Kupets from the "actually realistic list."

The New York Times published a great story on Kevin Pearce's return home following his traumatic brain injury suffered in December. It can be found here along with a video clip of Pearce's appearance on the Today Show. He has made an impressive recovery and intends to snowboard again. For the record, his dad is also a super talented glass artist.

Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova will play doubles together in a Legends match at Wimbledon. Since when did Anna Kournikova become a tennis legend? She's attractive, but was not a particularly remarkable tennis player.

Iran's Women's Soccer Team Will Play in Youth Olympics

2010-05-03T23:26:00.000-04:00

The Iranian women's soccer team will be allowed to play in the Youth Olympics after agreeing to wear "a cap that covers their heads to the hairline, but does not extend below the ears to cover the neck." I am happy that they will be allowed to compete in the tournament, though I think the dress restrictions were ridiculous to begin with. In this case, I do not agree that a hijab is a safety concern; they are not particularly loose fitting and tuck into a shirt. It is just as much of a safety concern as a ponytail.

FIFA's other argument for banning hijabs is that they do not allow any religious symbols on the field. This argument has more bearing in my mind, but it is more important to allow teams to play than to ban them over clothing. I am glad that a compromise could be reached.

Weekend Update

2010-05-03T00:06:00.000-04:00

In a week of changing the results of Olympics past, Polish cross country skier Kornelia Marek was officially disqualified from the Vancouver Games after testing positive for EPO.

Justin Gatlin will return to competition July 24th following a four year doping suspension. The sprinter is a former world record holder in the 100m. In other track and field news, sprinter LaShawn Merritt accepted a provisional suspension following a positive drug after. He used an over-the-counter male enhancement product that contained a banned stimulant. Some people need to learn how to read labels...

The Bryan brothers won their 60th ATP tour title this weekend. With two more titles, they will hold the all-time tour record. Justine Henin won her first WTA tour title since un-retiring, winning the Porsche Grand Prix while playing with a broken finger.

Ian Thorpe is considering making a comeback to competitive swimming. I love the Thorpedo.

Sidney Crosby fails at growing a play-off beard. The joys of being a 22-year-old star...

Mark Grimmette was named Sports Program Director for USA Luge, a nice way to begin retirement for the five-time Olympian.

Jordyn Wieber's much talked about new floor exercise from Pacific Rims:

China Stripped of Olympic Bronze

2010-04-28T23:12:00.000-04:00

China's 2000 Olympic team was stripped of its bronze medal after team member Dong Fangxiao was discovered to have been underage. Members of team USA will now receive a bronze medal 10 years later. This decision furthers the disaster that was the 2000 Olympic women's gymnastics competition.

I am more or less against age limits in sports. While I understand the concern of keeping young athletes healthy, there are already junior gymnasts doing Amanars and gymnasts not even age eligible for London doing full-in beam dismounts. Setting an age limit for senior international competition does not stop young gymnasts from doing really difficult skills, making them still injury-prone, more or less defying the point of an age limit rule.

That being said, China did break a rule and is being punished for it. Why is this not being enforced across the board? In 2002, Alexandra Marinescu, a member of Romania's 1996 Olympic team, admitted to being underage. Nothing has been done to punish the Romanians. Is racism at work? If the FIG wants to keep a silly rule in place, the consequences should at least be enforced unilaterally.

Catching Up With Jessica Jerome

2010-04-27T00:17:00.000-04:00

Jessica Jerome, a member of the Unites States' women's ski jumping national team, is a seven-time National Champion. She has notched 15 career podium finishes on the Continental Cup Circuit and finished 6th at the 2009 World Championships. Jerome was also one of 15 women from around the world to sue the Vancouver Olympic Committee in an attempt to add women's ski jumping to the Olympic program. I recently had a chance to talk with her about her ski jumping career and the future of her sport.

How did you first get into ski jumping?
I got into jumping when I was 7. The local club in Park City came to my school and handed out brochures. I started in a 1 day a week program.

When did you realize you could be an elite ski jumper?
Probably when I was 12. My mom sat me down and said you can do this and try to be good at it and take it seriously or just do it as a hobby. When I at the Junior Olympic age, my biggest goal was trying to qualify for Junior Olympics. I was training more frequently and competing in more domestic competitions. I competed overseas for the first time at 14.

What is competing on the Continental Cup circuit like?
I have been doing it for long time and want to see it improve. We have been coming to same hills for 10 years. They are too small and too outdated. It is the only international competition we have. It needs to be given a little bit of makeover, more up to date venues and bigger hills. Lots of the hills we jump in winter the guys don't compete on anymore, which is not good. There are three levels of competition for men and one circuit for women, meaning that it is one size fits all. It is hard for lots of girls to get better when jumping with the best in world. If there was another competition aimed at less advanced girls, they could improve and come onto higher level circuit once ready. Sometimes we get to jump hills that are great. However, lots of the hills don't even have clubs that jump at them. The hills are only prepared the one weekend the girls are there. If they don't use them ever, why are they used for us?

Is there a women's Nordic Combined scene in the USA or internationally?
No, though when we were growing up and joined a [Nordic] club, we, and everyone else, did Nordic Combined. We messed around and played games. When we got older, we dropped cross country because we liked jumping more. Maybe there is a Nordic Combined scene at a club level, but jumping has to be developed internationally before there can be international Nordic Combined.
It will for sure happen eventually because cross country for women is really far along and developed internationally. Jumping is there as well but not recognized. Nordic Combined will happen eventually; it will be something kids grow up doing. They won't take ski jumpers and teach them how to cross country ski.

How do you balance school with competing in Europe?
I am on the 10-year plan with school. I take spring semesters off and take classes in the summer and fall in the US. In other places, for example in Lillehammar, they have a school in the same town as the ski jump. When I go to Europe, I stay in Europe for 3 weeks while the Norwegians can go in and out of countries for the weekend. It is impossible to go to school full time in the winter [for American athletes].

What do you think is the future of women's ski jumping?
I think it will go in the direction of all winter sports. It will be in the Olympics at some point, participation will rise, there will be a World Cup circuit. It will happen in time.

Do you think the sport will be included in the 2014 Olympics? Why?
I have no idea honestly. I hope it is, it is more than ready to be [in the Olympics]. Only positive things will come [from having women's ski jumping in the Olympics]. I am not the person that makes those decisions. I don't know yet.

Do you think that the fact that boxing for women will finally be added to the Olympics in 2012 will help women's ski jumping be included or do you think it is a completely independent thing?
Both, they are completely separate because boxing is part of the Summer Olympics, but it could help though because the IOC wants to make men's participation levels more even. It is a step in right direction.

Do you think the IOC needs new leadership to give women's sports more equitable treatment?
There needs to be more women in the organization. It is lacking there. The leadership they have has been success on some issues but not others. New leaders would not necessarily be a bad thing but it won't happen anytime soon.

Update Time

2010-04-21T00:40:00.000-04:00

Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was hospitalized earlier today in critical condition. Twenty minutes after checking into the hospital with heart trouble, he went into shock and is now on a respirator.

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and Armenia are scratching from the men's European Gymnastics Championships due to travel difficulties following the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Since these countries are not members of the European Union, securing visas to travel across Europe by car or train was too costly. Russia is making every effort to send its women's team to Birmingham as the competition begins later.

The South African government will be issuing free visas to any foreigners holding World Cup tickets. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Ryan Miller signed 139 pucks to commemorate the number of saves he made during the Olympics. President Obama will get one of them.

I am heading out of town again and will probably not be able to post again for a bit. Until then,

News and Notes

2010-04-20T01:04:00.000-04:00

Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the Boston Marathon. Ryan Hall finished fourth in the fastest American time ever.

Michigan won the men's NCAA gymnastics title while Wolverines Chris Cameron won the All-Around and Ryan McCarthy won high bar. Oklahoma's Steve Legendre won floor and Alex Naddour won pommel horse, Stanford's Eddie Penev won vault and Ryan Lieberman won parallel bars, and Ohio State's Brandon Wynn won rings. Pommel horse standout Daniel Ribiero failed to qualify for event finals.

Wayne Odesnik accepted a voluntary provisional suspension after pleading guilty to importing human growth hormone to Australia.

Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh won their first beach volleyball tournament playing together. The past weekend's tournament marked May-Treanor's return to competition after tearing her Achilles and a calf muscle on Dancing with the Stars.

Undefeated Venezuelan boxer Edwin Valero committed suicide in jail after admitting to killing his wife.

Kevin McDowell and Kelly Whitley will represent the US in Triathlon at the Youth Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, Shawn Johnson is not the only Olympic level athlete to attend normal school. Weighlifter Sara Cowles is a full time student at Northern Michigan University.

Gender and the Olympic Games

2010-04-18T22:14:00.000-04:00

South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya has been making headlines recently for all of the wrong reasons. Instead of being praised for her 2009 break-out year, in which she won the world title in the 800 meter run, her gender has been called into question. The muscular teen has had to undergo intensive gender testing and has not been allowed to race since the World Championships. Regardless of the outcome of the testing, her career is in jeopardy.

Semenya is not the athlete to have her gender heavily scrutinized and tested. That honor most likely belongs to Spanish hurdler Maria Patiño. According to Anne Fausto-Sterling's bookSexing the Body, Patiño, member of Spain's 1988 Olympic team, failed a gender test just before the competition began. It was later discovered that she had androgen insensitivity, meaning that, although she had testes and a Y chromosome, her body could not process testosterone. Therefore, the estrogen produced by her testes (which were hidden behind her labia) at puberty, allowed her to develop external female features such as breasts. Initially banned from competition, she was reinstated after fighting the ruling for two and a half years.

There have been other cases of gender ambiguity in Olympic competition as well, though none as high profile. Stanislawa Walasiewicz, better known as Stella Walsh, competed as a sprinter for Poland in the 1930s. Walsh was killed in 1980 during a robbery at a Cleveland shopping mall. Her autopsy revealed signs of mosaicism, namely male and female chromosomes and male genitalia. Brazilian Judoka Edinanci Silva was born with male and female sex organs and surgery in the mid-1990s to allow her to compete as uncontroversially as possible, going on to enter three Olympic tournaments.1964 Olympic track and field medalist Ewa Klobukowska of Poland was banned from competition in 1967 after failing a gender test.

Formal gender testing first began at the Olympics in 1968 after Capitalist countries began speculating that Communist nations were disguising men as women to win more medals (in reality, it was later discovered that many of these competitors were women that had taken large amounts of steroids). Before this, women had to stand naked in front of a board of examiners to confirm that they did in fact have breasts and vaginas.

Why do women have to go through such extremes to prove gender? Is it because men are considered to be faster and stronger? Would anyone care if a male competitor was found to be biologically a woman? (I have never heard of this occurring but would be interested to learn more if any of you have).

Androgen insensitivity gives competitors no advantage. Lying about gender has also pretty much been a non-issue in Olympic competition; the only documented case occurred in 1936 when Hermann "Dora" Ratjen, a member of Hitler Youth, competed in the women's high jump. For the record, he finished fourth behind three "certifiably" female opponents.

Today's News

2010-04-16T23:45:00.001-04:00

The volcanic eruption in Iceland is wrecking havoc on the Olympic sports world. Two dozen runners including Moroccan elite Abdellah Falil are stuck in Europe trying to figure out a way to get to the US for the Boston Marathon. The European Gymnastics Championships, scheduled to be held in Birmingham, have been postponed a day.

A broken ring is causing havoc at the NCAA men's gymnastics championships. Follow the action live here.

Misty May-Treanor will publish an autobiography in June. It details her childhood, growing up with two alcoholic parents, and her life as an elite beach volleyball player. She also talks passionately about wanting to be a mother but does not mention wanting to make a comeback for 2012.

Love this mount sequence:

News and Notes

2010-04-15T23:52:00.000-04:00

World Cup tickets are selling for as little as $20 and are not selling as quickly as predicted. Now if only I had the time and money to go to South Africa...

Amy Palmiero-Winters, an amputee ultra marathon runner, won the 2009 Sullivan Award. On New Year's Eve, she beat all able-bodied men and women competing the Race to the Future, a 130.04 mile event. Read about her impressive accomplishments here.

China will be sending Zhou Qiaohong, Zeng Siqi, Tan Sixin, Huang Qiushuang, He Ning, and Jiang Tong to Pacific Rims. The US's nominative team is Bridget Sloan, Rebecca Bross, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, Jordyn Wieber, and Sabrina Vega. That team is rather meaningless though because the selection camp has not been held. I hope that Aly Raisman is not sent to three major international competitions in a row.

Russia is sending to Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, and Ksenia Semenova to Euros. Their junior team will include Viktoria Komova, Violetta Malikova, Anastasia Grishina, Anastasia Sidorova, and Maria Paseka. Their Pacific Rim team includes Anna Rodionova, Kristina Sidorova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kramarenko, Yuliya Belokobylskaya, and Ramilya Musina. Zamo will be a judge at PRC.

An Overdue Update

2010-04-14T23:58:00.000-04:00

I'm back and kind of caught up. Think long and hard before taking any lengthy train trips no matter how much money it may save. Here is a brief rundown of the past several days in Olympic sports.

Piotr Nurowski, the head of Poland's Olympic Committee, was among those killed in Saturday's tragic plane crash.

UCLA looked great at regionals while Georgia failed to advance to nationals for the first time in 26 years. Missouri advanced for the first time since women's gymnastics became an NCAA sport. Vanessa Zamarripa is interested in trying elite gymnastics.

Nordic Combined athletes Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick, and Brett Camerota are visiting troops in the Middle East.

Yelena Isinbayeva, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist in women's pole vaulting, has decided to take an indefinite break. She has, however, vowed to return for the 2012 Games.

Canada won the men's curling world title, defeating Norway and their famed pants in the championship match.

In an effort to find the best synchronized diving pairs for the 2012 Olympics, American divers can now compete with more than one partner. This led to David Boudia and Nick McCrory finishing first, Boudia and Thomas Finchum finishing second, and Finchum and McCrory finishing third at the USA Diving World Cup Synchronized Trials.

Andre Inducts Steffi into Hall of Fame

2010-04-09T01:44:00.000-04:00

I am heading out of town again (it's a really busy month). In the mean time, enjoy Andre Agassi being adorable.

News and Notes

2010-04-07T23:44:00.000-04:00

The IOC has supported FIFA's decision to bar the Iranian women's team from the Youth Olympics because the IOC believes it is up to individual governing bodies to establish and enforce rules. Though I can see why they would be hesitant to set a precedent, I still find this to be a very disappointing decision. I plan on exploring the nuances of this issue a bit more when my life calms down a little (probably sometime next week).

Caster Semenya's lawyers told South African press that gender test results have shown that she can compete as a woman. A more contextualized look at this is also coming.

The official investigation into Nodar Kumaritashvili's death concluded that there was no one cause.

Send good thoughts to tennis great Martina Navratilova who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Routine of the Day:

Gymnasts Update

2010-04-06T23:39:00.000-04:00

Anna Li will be giving elite gymnastics another try following her graduation from UCLA this summer. This is great news because the US definitely needs bar workers. Kytra Hunter is apparently injured right now, as is Lauren Mitchell, so neither of them will be at Pacific Rim Championships.

The Australian team will be:
Georgia Wheeler
Emily Little
Larrissa Miller
Amelia McGrath
Georgia Rose-Brown
Emma Collister

The rumored Chinese team is:
Huang Qiushuang
Wu Liufang
Jiang Tong
Tan Sixin
Zhou Qiaohong
Zeng Siqi

The US's provisional team is:
Rebecca Bross
Bridgette Caquatto
Kayla Williams
Lexie Priessman
Jordyn Wieber
Sabrina Vega
However, this is pretty meaningless, as Marta will just choose whomever she wants a couple of days before the meet.

Caster Semenya has agreed not to run until the results of her gender test come back. Her first meet should be in Zaragoza June 24th. This is getting ridiculous. Let the girl run!

Finally, just because we all need humor in our lives:

Soccer Team Out of Youth Olympics

2010-04-06T00:30:00.000-04:00

The Iran women's soccer team has been kicked out of the Youth Olympics because players wear hijabs, which is against FIFA rules. The handbook specifically state that “basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.” Frankly, this is bad politics for FIFA. While there would be potential safety issues with a loose-fitting hijab, a tighter one should cause no issue because it is basically like playing with longer hair. Unless Elizabeth Lambert is on the opposing team, that is not an issue. Thailand has been nominated to take Iran's place.

Butler lost to Duke for the men's basketball NCAA title. They had two shots at the end that almost went in but rimmed out. I love smaller schools, mid-majors, and good stories, so I definitely jumped on the Butler bandwagon. It would have been cool to see. Maybe posting Trent Dimas last night was wishful thinking for the Bulldogs?

In my favorite cult sport, curling, the American team currently sits at 2-3 in the men's world championships. Pete Fenson, the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, is the skip for this team as well. Fenson owns Dave's Pizza, the best pizza place in Bemidji, MN. If you're in the area, you should go. I recommend pineapple pizza and cheese sticks.

Uneven Bar Development and More

2010-04-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

The change in uneven bars style really fascinates me. I am a huge fan of the really quick, belly-beating bar routines of the 1970s. These routines just seem more creative and varied than those seen today. I also never realized how rare double salto dismounts used to be and thought Kim Gwang Suk was completely copping out with her tucked double back in 1991. Below is a montage that highlights the evolution very well. I do wish that the montage maker had chosen different footage for the 2000s though. The one-armed pirouettes are spot-on, but I would love to see a Def, a Jaeger half Jaeger combination, and a toe-on release skill.

Here is the Groshkova floor routine I meant to post a couple of weeks ago. Gotta love the double full in!

Finally, this just makes me happy. Such a great showing of joy and coming out of no where to take Olympic gold.

Weekend Update

2010-04-04T03:46:00.000-04:00

At the Columbus Grand Prix, Eric Shanteau won the 200 breast, Caesar Cielo won the 50 and 100 free, Peter Vanderkaay won the 400 free, Nick Thoman won the 100 and 200 back, Tyler Clary won the 400 IM, and Arthur Frayler won the 1,500 free. In women's races, Chloe Sutton won the 400 free, Elizabeth Pelton won the 100 and 200 back, Corrie Clark won the 200 breast, Vanessa Garcia won the 50 free, Justine Mueller won the 400 IM, and Jasmine Tosky won the 200 fly.

The America's Cup circuit for bobsled and skeleton ended today. Annie O'Shea won women's skeleton while Matt Anoine won the men's race. Patrice Servelle drove the two man bobsled to victory with Ethan Albrecht won the four man.

The US women's field hockey team lost to Korea in the finals of the qualifier for the World Cup. Will Spear and Kat Holmes will represent the US in fencing at the Youth Olympics.

Euros Teams and More

2010-04-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

The Romanian senior team for Europeans is Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, and Cerasela Patrascu. The junior team will be Diana Bulimar, Larisa Iordache, Anamaria Baicu, Maria Balea, and Madalina Neagu.

The Russian training squad consists of Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, Ramila Musina, Tatiana Nabiyeva, and Aliya Mustafina. Five of these women will compete in the senior division. Personally, I prefer Semenova, Afanasyeva, Myzdrikova, Nabiyeva, and Mustafina.

The Germans will be sending Oksana Chusovitina, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Elisabeth Seitz, Lisa-Katharina Hill, and Dorothee Henzler. Katja Roll, Désirée Baumert, Janine Berger, Rosa-Lynn Schmitz, and Isabelle Marquardt will compete as their juniors.

Chloe Sutton won the 200 and 800 meter freestyle races at the Ohio State Grand Prix. Elizabeth Pelton won the 200 IM and Corrie Clark won the 100 breast. Minot, ND's Dagny Knutson notched two 2nd place finishes (gotta love Minot). Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 free while Mathias Gydesen won the 100 fly and Marcus Titus won the 100 breast.

Jim Tracy is stepping down as the head coach of the US women's ski team.

Short Update

2010-04-02T01:13:00.000-04:00

Caster Semenya's lawyers have decided that she has been effectively unlawfully banned from competition and are taking legal action in hopes of competing in Johannesburg on April 6th. If legal action does not succeed, it will be close to a year between races for Semenya. That is just ridiculous. In other track and field news, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Tyson Gay will race each other in Brussels on August 26th.

USA Triathlon is launching a project to put together the history of the sport. For more information, click here.

News of the Day

2010-03-31T21:56:00.000-04:00

In the past day, I have seen the USOC refer to ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White as Charlie Davis and Meryl White and list their hometowns as those of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. ESPN also said that the London Olympics would be held in 2010. Good job media organizations.

Speaking of the 2012 Olympics, the UK plans on sending 500 athletes. A 377-foot twisting tower will be built next to Olympic Stadium. It will feature a viewing platform and a restaurant near the top.

Bode Miller will decide this summer if he will return to competitive ski racing. He opted to skip the remaining World Cup races held after the Olympics and has been working with disabled veterans that participate in adaptive skiing.

It was confirmed that Bridget Sloan went on a recruiting trip to Georgia. It is also rumored that she went on one to Penn State. I can see her at either of those schools or Utah.

Tony Benshoof's back surgery was successful. Lindsey Vonn will appear in the Law and Order season finale. Caster Semenya's lawyers criticized the Stellenbosch for not letting her run.

An interesting profile on up and coming speedskater Jonathan Kuck can be found here.

Update Time

2010-03-30T22:16:00.000-04:00

Caster Semenya publicly announced her return to competition. However, she was denied a spot in the race she intended to enter in Stellenbosch. A gender ruling is expected in June.

At the USA freestyle skiing championships, Hannah Kearney and Joey Discoe won the moguls titles, Jen Hudak and Tucker Perkins won the halfpipe, and Emily Cook and Matt DePeters won aerials. Tyler Jewell and Lindsay Lloyd won the parallel giant slalom while Lloyd and Chris Klug won the parallel slalom.

Hiroshima is considering bidding for the 2020 Olympics.

Troy Dumais (diving), Erin Hamlin (luge), Sanya Richards (track), and Rebecca Soni (swimming) were nominated for Sullivan Awards.

The US women qualified for the field hockey world cup.

The US women's curling team finished fifth at the world championships, their best finish since 2007.

Learn about America's power Judo family here.

News and Notes

2010-03-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Caster Semenya, the 2009 world champion in the women's 800 meters, is hoping to compete in a meet on Tuesday, the first time she will have run since the world championships. Semenya is a the center of a gender controversy after many opponents thought she might be a man due to rapid improvement and muscle definition. The IAAF is still reviewing her gender test results. She is not formally banned from running but has agreed not to compete until test results are released. My opinion: just let the girl run.

Track and Field's Diamond League, a new series of summer meets, begins in May. It has been confirmed that Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt will race each other in Paris in July. Tyson Gay, Kenenisa Bekele, Yelena Isinbayeva, Sanya Richards and Blanka Vlasic have also committed to compete.

It is rumored that Bridget Sloan is making a recruitment visit to Georgia. I can see her as a Gym Dawg.

Top American male luger Tony Benshoof is undergoing spinal surgery for the second time in 15 months. He will make no decisions about his future in racing until after surgery.

Weekend Update (Part 2)

2010-03-28T22:13:00.000-04:00

At track cycling world championships, Tara Whitten won the omnium and the points race. Gregory Bauge won the sprint. Simona Krupeckaite won the women's kerin. Edward Clancy won the men's omnium. Taylor Phinney won the men's individual pursuit while Sarah Hammer won the women's. Australia won the men's and women's pursuits along with the women's sprint. Germany won the men's sprint. Teun Mulder won the men's 1K time trial. Alex Rasmussen won the men's scratch race. Anna Meares won the 500-meter time trial and Cameron Meyer won the men's points race.

30 different men notched podium finishes on this year's biathlon world cup circuit, showing the degree of parity in the sport. Dominik Landertinger won the season's final race today. Russian biathlete Olga Medvedtseva, who was stripped of her 2006 Olympic medals following doping violations, retired.

Olympics on TV

2010-03-27T21:15:00.000-04:00

Watching the NCAA basketball tournament primarily online has further made me see how poor of a job NBC does of covering the Olympics in the US. CBS streams every game live online for free. There coverage also includes legitimate commercial breaks like those seen on TV, not the 30 second spots that are on Hulu.

NBC could easily take this approach to the Olympics and stream everything live online instead of waiting to put their video up until after the event is over. That way, people that really want to see complete events live could.

For the Vancouver Games, CTV and their partner networks broadcast everything live on TV and online. Why NBC still thinks that Americans only have the attention span to watch short packages in primetime featuring American stars is beyond me. For most events, they only showed Americans, foreign winners, and spectacular crashes. It is really quite frustrating.

NBC already has the rights to the 2012 Games, but ESPN will be bidding for 2014. The network has already said that between all of their TV channels and the internet, they will show everything live. They will also put together a packaged show much like NBC's current primetime to be broadcast in primetime on ABC. I really like this solution because it will give people who closely follow the Olympics a chance to see everything live while giving those that do not follow the Games very closely but enjoy them a chance to see the highlights. I hope ESPN's bid is successful.

Weekend Update

2010-03-27T20:48:00.001-04:00

Mao Asada won the women's figure skating world title. Kim Yuna came back from her disappointing short program to win the long program and take second overall. Laura Lepisto was third. Mirai Nagasu melted down and finished 11th in the long program and seventh overall. Rachael Flatt was ninth, so the US will again only have two women at next year's world championships. Nagasu is great when there are no expectations on her, but she needs to learn how to hold it together under pressure. I would love to see her as a force in the future, but I have my doubts.

In Jesolo, the US won the women's gymnastics team competition followed by Russia and Italy. Aly Raisman won the all-around, followed by Ksenia Semonova and Vanessa Ferrari. Mackenzie Caquatto was in a position to win, but melted down on floor, falling 3 times and going out of bounds twice. Raisman also won vault and floor while Tatiana Nabieva won bars and Caquatto and Tatiana Solovyeva tied for the beam title. In the junior competition, Russia won the team event followed by Italy and Japan. Anastasia Grishina won the all-around followed by Kyla Ross and Andrea Foti and Erica Fasana. Ross won vault, Grishina won bars, beam, and floor.Grishina received a very high 9.4 E score on bars.

Emil Hegle Svendsen and Magdalena Neuner won the men's and women's biathlon overall world cup titles respectively.

Surplus medical and dental supplies and equipment from the Vancouver Olympics are being donated to Canadian medical teams in Haiti. It's nice to see them being put to a good use.

A Short Update

2010-03-27T01:32:00.001-04:00

I should be back regularly now. In the surprise of the day, Mirai Nagasu is in first place after the short program at figure skating world championships and Kim Yuna is in 7th. Virtue and Moir beat Davis and White ice dancing while Daisuke Takahashi won the men's title and Pang and Tong won pairs.

American tennis player Wayne Odesnik faces a possible lifetime ban for importing HGH to Australia. Though not particularly well known, he might be the best clay-court player in the US.

A Jamaican completed the Iditarod.

Congratulations to Washington University's women's basketball team for winning its fifth national title.

Since Aunt Joyce doesn't think I embed enough You Tube videos, here are a couple.

More detailed blogging will resume tomorrow.

Catching Up With Aunt Joyce

2010-03-24T19:36:00.000-04:00

Recently, I also got a chance to interview David Lease, the voice behind Aunt Joyce's Ice Cream Stand (http://auntjoyceicecreamstand.blogspot.com). The blog mainly covers the world of skatenastics (his word for skating and gymnastics) in a particularly hilarious and enlightening manner. The blog will make you laugh, but will also make you think ( this is a personal favorite). Prior to writing Aunt Joyce, Lease wrote a more serious blog found at http://theolympiceffect.blogspot.com/. Enjoy what he has to say!

Favorites

2010-03-19T01:36:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I am going out of town this afternoon and will have a visitor next week, so my apologies if blogging slows down. Here are a few classics to watch while I am gone. Enjoy!

News and Notes

2010-03-18T00:19:00.000-04:00

Nodar Kumaritashvili's family received an insurance settlement from VANOC. The amount, as well as when the family will receive the settlement is unknown.

Joannie Rochette will now be able to skate in "Thin Ice." It was confirmed the Polish cross country skier Kornelia Marek officially doped in Vancouver. In other drug news, the case against Andre Agassi for crystal meth usage has officially been closed due to a statute of limitations expiration.

Even in the USA Speedskating shake-up, Jae Su Chun will remain the head coach for the short track team. Russian cross country skier Elena Vedeneeva was given a two-year ban for refusing a drug test. The puck used to score the winning goal in the men's hockey gold medal game will be put in the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Sidney Crosby's stick and gloves.

Usain Bolt will attempt to break the world record in the 300 meters on May 27th in the Czech Republic. Nikita Kriukov beat Petter Northug in today's cross country 1.1K. Anna Olsson won the women's race, followed by Justyna Kowalczyk and Marit Bjoergen.

For an interesting read, click here to learn about the visually impaired biathlon.

Breaking away from the Olympics, congratulations to Washington University's women's basketball team for reaching the Final Four. Bring home a national title!

Catching Up With The Couch Gymnast

2010-03-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to interview The Couch Gymnast via email. The Couch Gymnast is an Australian PhD student who writes a fantastic blog which can be found at http://couch-gymnast.blogspot.com/. In addition to commenting on gymnastics competition throughout the world, she has run special features such as contests to name the best and worst leotards in gymnastics competition. She also regularly posts entries entitled "Cartwheels in...," giving readers an opportunity to learn about gymnastics in countries with less developed programs. Overall, the blog ranges from very intelligent discussions about serious issues to hilarious rants that are impossible not to love.

What inspired you to begin your blog?

I think that it was the discovery that blogging existed at all, and that it was something I could participate in that inspired me to start TCG. I started a blog called “A List a Day” where I wrote up various lists on everything from where I'd like to travel, to my favourite floor routines. I realised after a while I really only wanted to write about gymnastics. Beijing had just finished. I was only just (I am a late bloomer!) realising how much the internet was having an effect on a sport that is generally - except during the Olympics - under-covered by the media. I had all this information and access to my favourite sport at my fingertips.

See, I grew up in a culture where if you tell someone you are a gymnastics fan and you are not an actual gymnast, they kind of tilt their head, or cock an eyebrow and look confused. Before I really began to cotton onto the blog thing, I really had no way to discuss or share my thoughts on all the gymnastics I could now watch thanks to Youtube, and read about thanks to the many brilliant gymnastics sites because no one I know even thinks about, let alone likes gymnastics.

Why did you decide to begin a magazine as well?

I decided to start the magazine late last year. I just thought that there were so many people who would write these insanely long, amazing comments on my blog, or even write me long emails about their feelings on the sport, that I thought why not give them a place to contribute? Not everyone has the luxury of a full time research scholarship like mine that gives them time to maintain a writing project like a blog or website. Then I just started contacting some of those people to see if they wanted to contribute. Generally, people were excited and it went from there.

What are you favorite things to blog about?

I love, as you can probably guess, to look at the silly side of the sport. I love gymnastics so much, but any fan has to admit, it is a faintly ridiculous sport - the outfits, the hairdo's, the pretense at always being totally ladylike, the crazed coaches, the mind-boggling controversies, the floor choreography - all these things are fun to write about. I also like to cover gymnastics history and talk about nations that don't get talked about at all. It's hard sometimes, with language and translation issues, but I like to at least try. I also love to write about the crazy, irreverent, naughty or just plain odious personalities of the sport; the Khorkinas, the Karolyi's, the Schwikerts, the Yoculan's. They are fun too.

What are you hoping to accomplish with your blog and magazine?

I'd like sports blogs to get a bit more recognition for what they contribute to sports coverage, though, and that is what I am writing my PhD thesis about. And I always want more readers, because more readers means more people who might enter the conversations that start from what I write.

With the magazine, I just hope I keep getting people enthusiastic enough to want to write for it. With the second issue I was blown away by the fact that people were coming to me with interviews they had done with international gymnasts, but I also have such a great time talking to people who wanted to write about the fact they are just getting back into the sports, or who went to major competitions in the seventies and can remember seeing the Soviet stars.

What is something your readers would be surprised to know about you?

They might be surprised that I am an indy-music listening, arthouse film-loving, vintage clothes wearing boho arts student? I only say that because when people at this end find out I am writing about sports, and am into sports, they think it is weird because of the way I look! I am definitely no jock! In fact, I would only wear sneakers to a costume party! And track pants are for bed only!

When and how did you develop an academic interest in sports? What do you hope to do with this interest long-term?

I actually come from a creative writing/literature background, though I did a double English/media studies major as an undergraduate. I think it took me a long while to realise I could blend my interest in media studies with what I do with this blog (my teachers must have thought they taught me NOTHING!). The guiding academic principle of cultural studies is to 'interrogate the obvious” - to examine the practices of everyday life. Well, blogging is the way I use media every single day, whether to write a post or read someone else's. So, I decided to interrogate that fact.

That is when I decided to write about sports bloggers. I think they have become an important and integral part of the sports media landscape. And while so many journalists are giving us just the bare bones coverage on 'newsworthy' events in the under-represented sports we love, a lot of bloggers are covering the same stuff with depth, sincerity and with a critical eye turned toward the political issues of gender, race and economics, aspects I think we should never, ever ignore.

What do you think are the best parts of your blog and magazine? The worst?

The best part about writing the blog is firstly just the act of having somewhere to put my thoughts down, and secondly, the responses I get from people. I especially love it when I ask a question like are they pro or anti Khorkina or if I ask if they are they Nationalistic fans and people really take the time to give their responses. I love to read the range of serious, funny and crazy responses I get from these questions and I love the sense of a kind of conversation happening because of the post.

Then, of course, the worst thing would have to be those weeks when I get few or no comments and I feel discouraged. I have an analytics site, so I know that people are still reading it, and maybe just don't have much to say about what I have written. But sometimes it has happened when I have worked really hard, or had to do lots of research for a post.

With the magazine, the best part is the enthusiasm of the contributors. I also love the fun email exchanges I have had with people along the way.

The worst part? It's a heck of a lot of work. Finding photographers who will answer my emails about using their pictures is frustrating too. But I am scraping for something here, because really, I love doing it!

Anything else you want to add?

Just that I am definitely on team Khorkina! I can never understand people who could not appreciate her on some level - especially considering there are so many ways she lit up the sport. We need another force of personality like hers in this sport.

A Day of Politics

2010-03-16T00:53:00.001-04:00

Organizers believe that a proposed cut to Rio's oil revenue would hinder their ability to host the 2016 Olympics and 2014 World Cup. In other wonderful Olympic venue news, the UN Environmental Program is criticizing Sochi for not taking appropriate action to protect wildlife and natural ecosystems in the region.

Joannie Rochette withdrew the World Championships. Rochette is scheduled to skate her Celine Dion exhibit on ABC's "Thin Ice" on Friday. However, this event is not sanctioned and the ISU is threatening to end her eligibility if she skates at the event because she should give priority to the World Championships. Has it even crossed their mind that her mom just died and that she might want to skate in the show as a tribute to her mom as Celine Dion was her mom's favorite singer. Rochette has never screamed consistency and gave the performance of a lifetime in Vancouver. Maybe she just also wants to end her competitive career on a high note.

In other figure skating news, Evgeni Plushenko, the most humble figure skater on the planet, announced his intentions to compete in Sochi. Stars on Ice officially said that Johnny Weir's presumed sexual orientation was not the reason he was not included on the tour. We all know that is not true. To sign GLAAD's petition, click here.

The IAAF recommended that the 2004 women's 4x400 meter Olympic relay team be stripped of their gold medal due to Crystal Cox's doping suspension. Cox ran in the preliminaries. I hate seeing relay teams lose medals because one athlete screwed up. This case is especially disheartening because the team probably could have easily qualified without her.

USA Speedskating fired its executive director, high performance director, and communications director, following a somewhat underwhelming performance in Vancouver.

For an interesting read on what happens to athletes after they win gold medals, click here.

Weekend Update (Part 2)

2010-03-15T00:49:00.000-04:00

Kanako Murakami won the women's figure skating junior world title, becoming the first Japanese woman to win the event since Mao Asada did in 2005. American Agnes Zawadzki was second and Russian Polina Agafonova was third. Christina Gao, my personal favorite out of the skaters, finished eighth after popping a jump in the short program.

Shani Davis won the final 1,000 meter race of the season over Stefan Groothius and Mark Tuitert. Davis finishes the season as the overall champion for all events as well as the overall champion at the 1,000 and 1,500. Christine Nesbitt took the women's 1,000 meter overall crown, finishing seventh in today's race won by Yekaterina Shikhova.

Erin Hamlin, Chris Mazdzer, Christian Niccum and Dan Joye won the titles at the US Luge Championships. The doubles team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, who who finished second, announced their retirement following the competition. The team has been sliding together since 1996 and have competed in four Olympics together. Grimmette also competed in 1994 with a different partner.

Overall champion Simon Ammann won the final ski jumping competition of the season. In what has recently become an often recurring pattern, Adam Malysz was second. Martin Fourcade and Darya Domracheva won today's biathlon World Cup races. Anders Gloersen and Marit Bjoergen won today's cross country sprint races. Kikkan Randall finished second in the women's race. Petter Northug secured the men's overall title.

The teams led by Erika Brown and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist Pete Fenson won the curling national championships. Amy Wright's team, which included my friend Jordan Moulton, finished third.

At the indoor world track and field championships, Bernard Lagat won the 3,000 meters. Brittany Reese won the long jump. Teddy Tamgho set a world record in the triple jump while Dayron Robles and Veronica Campbell-Brown were also victorious.

Weekend Update

2010-03-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

Marlies Schild won the final women's World Cup race of the season today, a slalom. Kathein Zettel was second and Maria Riesch was third. Riesch eked out a three point win over Zettel for the overall title in slalom.

Felix Neureuther won today's men's slalom. Reinfried Herbst won the overall title.

Tucker Fredricks won the 500 meters overall world cup in speedskating today by finishing four in the season's final race. Jan Smeekens won the race and finished second in the overall standings. Jenny Wolf won the women's 500 title and took the overall title while Havard Bokko won the men's 5,000. Kristina Groves won the won's 1,500 meter race today to take the overall title. Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon retired following today's races. Shani Davis won the men's 1,500 today. Martina Sablikova took the overall title in the women's 3,000 and 5,000.

At the track and field indoor World Championships, Americans LoLo Jones, Brian Clay, Christian Cantwell, and Debbie Dunn all won gold medals. Australia beat Germany to win the field hockey world cup. Norway had a solid day in Nordic events, winning the team Nordic combined world cup race. Petter Northug won today's men's 50K cross country skiing race while Marit Bjorgen won the women's 30K race.

News of the Day

2010-03-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

I re-watched Cool Runnings last night and discovered that Al Trautwig was a bobsled commentator in 1988. Another sport impacted by the strange commentator...

Lindsey Vonn clinched her third World Cup overall title today with a win in the Super-G. This was also the 33rd individual World Cup title of her career, the most for any American. Elisabeth Goergl was second, Nadia Styger third, and Maria Riesch four. Vonn has decided to skip tomorrow's slalom. Even if the race has no implications for her, I think she would come off as a better sport if she raced.

Ted Ligety finished third in today's giant slalom, clinching the overall title. Carlo Janka won the race to clinch the overall title. Scott Macartney retired after 12 years on the US Ski team.

Lindsey Jacobellis won today's snowboard cross World Cup race in Italy.

Patti Lank's team's fortunes have changes at the US curling championship, slipping to third overall. Amy Wright's team (including the awesome Jordan Moulton) is the top seed. They will play Erika Brown's team Saturday morning for the right to advance directly to the finals. The looser will play in the semi-finals. The teams led by Mike Farbelow and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist Pete Fenson took the top two spots in the men's tournament.

News Update

2010-03-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

Lindsey Vonn crashed in today's World Cup giant slalom in Germany. Maria Riesch finished third and is now only 165 points back on Vonn with two races to go in the season. Tina Maze won the race and Kathrin Hoelzl finished second to clinch the overall giant slalom title. Vonn was officially awarded the overall super-combined title.

Erik Guay won today's men's Super G to clinch the overall title. He was third going into today's race. Ivica Kostelic was second in today's race and Aksel Lund Svindel was third. Svindal also finished third in the overall standings, just two points behind Michael Walchhofer.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han won the pairs junior world title in figure skating. Takahashi/Tran of Japan were second and Stolbova/Klimov of Russia were third. Ilinykh/Katsalapov have an eight point lead on the rest of the field following the original dance. Paul/Islam are in second, Monko/Khaliavin are in third and the Shibutanis are in fourth.

Usain Bolt was named Laureus Sportsman of the Year. Serena Williams won the women's award. Sidney Crosby's missing equipment has been found. It was mistaking put in other equipment bags following the game. In the first doing incident from Vancouver, Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek tested positive for EPO.

The International Luge Federation is donating money to reubuild the house belong to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family. It was destroyed in a fire several years ago. In Haiti's return to international sporting competition following the earthquake there, the team fell 9-0 to the U-17 women's soccer team from the USA in CONCACAF qualifying.

Favorites of the 1950s

2010-03-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

Gymnastics used to look a lot different. Below are some of my favorite routines from the 1950s:

Keleti is one of my all-time favorites. Not only does she show great extension, flexibility, and control in this routine, but she has one of the best back stories in all of gymnastics. A Hungarian Jew, she survived the Holocaust and achieved most of her gymnastics success in her 30s.

I love how dynamic this routine is.

This is specifically included for the illusion turn to split about 20 seconds into the video.

More News

2010-03-10T14:27:00.000-05:00

I promise, I have an entry ready for later that is more than just news of the Olympic world. Check back tonight and see for yourself!

Johnny Weir has withdrawn from the figure skating world championships and will be replaced by Four Continents and two time Junior World champion Adam Rippon. Olympic bronze medalists Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have also withdrawn from the competition. At junior worlds, Wenjing Sui and Cong Han let pairs after the short program. Britney Miller and Nathan Simpson are in fourth and Felicia Zhang and Taylor Toth are in sixth. The free skate is later today. Grant Hochstein and Keegan Messing are in first and second place respectively after the men's short program while Denis Ten and Armin Mahbanoozadeh are in fourth and eighth. Stephane Lambiel has officially retired (again).

In gymnastics, Jordyn Wieber is rumored to be training a second vault. Kristina Goryunova has been suspended for a year for a doping violation and will therefore not be eligible to compete at the 2012 Olympics.

Maria Riesch won the final downhill of the World Cup season in her hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen preventing Lindsey Vonn, who finished second, from clinching the overall title. Anja Paerson was third. Carlo Janka won the men's downhill, giving him a 54 point lead over Benjamin Raich in the overall standings.

Short Track speed skating double gold medalist Zhou Yang has caused quite a stir, neglecting to thank her country and government for its part in her medals. More on that can be found here.

Disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones signed a contract to play for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock. A former collegiate national champion while playing for UNC, Jones has not played on an organized basketball team since the mid 1990s. In more fun news surrounding drugs and sprints, top American indoor sprinter Ivory Williams tested positive for marijuana and will miss this weekend's indoor track world championships.

The end of the round robin phase is nearing at the US women's curling championships. Patti Lank's team is dominating the field and currently boasts a 6-0 record. My friend Jordan Moulton (yay Kamaji!), playing on skip Amy Wright's team, currently sits in a 3-way tie for third place. In the men's competition, Matt Hames' and Matt Stevens' teams are currently tied for first at 4-1 each. American Cheyenne Lewis won a gold at the junior wrestling world championships while teammates Seth Wolfe and Giuliana Gil took home bronze medals.

An interesting interview with bobsled gold medalist Steven Mesler can be found here. USA Team Handball launched a Handball for Haiti drive. More information can be found here. Spots are still available at fantasy luge camp in April. More information is here and a Paralympic broadcast schedule can be found here.

News and Notes

2010-03-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

My favorite story of the day, the case of the Chinese curler. Wang Fengchun, the team's skip, was not allowed to attend the celebration for Olympians in Beijing, but was instead sent immeadiately home to Harbin. The team manager Li Dongyan said that "It'll be very helpful to heavily slap him down him with pain," but that they hope to bring him back to the team if his attitude improves. Wang wore a USA cap on the plane home and his father is rumored to have had a heart attack upon hearing that his son had been sent home. Gotta love sports under communism.

American Margaux Isaksen finished second in the first modern pentathlon event of the season. Germany's Lena Schoneborn won the event. Christie Ramapone, the captain of the US Women's National Soccer Team gave birth to her second daughter on Saturday. Seven-time Olympic medalist biathlete Kati Wilhelm of Germany has decided to retire at the end of the month to focus on her studies. It is nice to see that, even in an era of professionalism, athletes still makes this decision sometimes. Bode Miller will miss the last week of the world cup season due to an injured ankle. Indoor track world championships begin on Friday.

After the compulsory dance, Russians Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov hold a three point lead over Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani at the junior world figure skating championships. Russians Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Guerreiro are in third.

Scam Cup

2010-03-09T00:36:00.000-05:00

The American Cup can now be viewed on YouTube here . I really wish Jonathan Horton could go six-for-six one of these days. He has been working on his pommel horse routine and it was sad to just see him miss it on the parallel bars. If he does not have it together by this year's World Championships, he might unfortunately be a lost cause as an All-Arounder.

It bothers me that Elsa Garcia gave up a scholarship to UCLA to continue to compete internationally. Why can't women be both elites and collegians like men? I get that their skill sets develop at different ages, but I hate the fact that women have to choose between the NCAA and elite gymnastics and men do not. Doing both should not be a rarity. Even if the NCAA women use the JO code, it teaches a lot about consistency and hitting under pressure. Plus, the women could always choose to do harder skills at meets.

In other news, Brian Fleischmann and Sarah Haskins won the USA Triathlon Elite Development race. Christopher Lutz, Tommy Zaferes, William Huffman, Alexandra Weber, Gwen Jorgenson, and Lauren Gross earned their elite licenses at the race. Michael Phelps broke the short course 200 yard fly record, swimming the distance in 1:39.65 at the Maryland State Championships.

The next gymnastics selection camp begins in 10 days to choose teams for Jesolo. UGA beat UCLA and Oklahoma beat Alabama. Figure skating junior world championships begin tomorrow! Get excited!

Weekend Update (Part 2)

2010-03-07T13:58:00.000-05:00

Swiss skier Dominique Grisin won today's women's Super-G, denying Lindsey Vonn her 33rd World Cup title. Vonn finished second and Julia Mancuso was third. Canadian Eric Guay won the men's Super-G. Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and Switzerland's Tobias Gruenfelder tied for third. Michael Walchhofer of Austria still leads the Super-G overall standing, but Svindal and Guay could catch him in the final race. Carlo Janka of Switzerland is also only now only 46 points behind overall World Cup leader Benjamin Raich of Austria heading into the final weekend.

Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann won his sixth world cup title of the season Sunday. Poland's Adam Malysz, the runner up to Ammann in both events at the Olympics, was second and Austrian Thomas Morgenstern was third. In cross country skiing, Norway 2 defeated Norway 1 in a World Cup relay in Finland. Germany beat Russia in a photo finish for third. Norway also won the women's relay followed by Germany and Italy. Maksim Burtasov of Russia won the title at the under 26 biathlon European Championships.

Aiko Uemura of Japan won a women's moguls world cup race this weekend. Canadian Jennifer Heil, the overall leader, was second and American Shannon Bahrke was third.

In the first modern pentathlon World Cup event of the season, David Svoboda of the Czech Republic won gold. Russia's Serguei Karyakin was second and Andrejus Zadneprovskis was third.

USA Cycling named its track cycling world championship team on Friday. The squad will be led by individual pursuit defending world champion Taylor Phinney. Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce, and Giddeon Massie round out the rest of the men's squad. Sarah Hammer, Lauren Tamayo, Dotsie Bausch, and Shelley Evans were named to the women's team.

Also, feel free to comment on any of my entries. I would love to hear what readers are thinking!

Weekend Update

2010-03-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

Rebecca Boss and Maxim Devyatovskiy won the American Cup. Bross was followed by Aly Raisman and Jessica Lopez while Devyatovskiy was followed by Jonathan Horton and Chris Brooks. Horton actually managed to put together a decent pommel horse routine for himself, scoring a 14.1, but fell on parallel bars. I thought Bross was overscored on beam and floor, but she had a decent day. I also really hate pink leotards and think that I am a better reporter than Andrea Joyce because I know not to interrupt the people I am interviewing.

Lexie Priessman won the inaugural Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup last night. The junior elite from Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy completed several impressive skills including a full twisting double layout uneven bar dismount, a double twisting Yurchenko, and a full-in dismount on balance beam. To bad she is 23 days too young to compete in London. Hopefully she will not be completely broken and still have a shot at 2016.

USA Gymnastics has announced spring international assignments for men. Jonathan Horton and Danell Leyva will compete at the Paris-Bercy World Cup. Leyva, Christopher Cameron, Steve Legendre, Dylan Akers, C.J. Maestas, and John Orozco will compete at the Pacific Rim Championships. Tim Gentry and Samuel Mikulak are the alternates. In a final bit of gymnastics news, Cathy Rigby, Henrietta Onodi, Yuri Korolev, Mikhail Voronin, and Eileen Langsly will be inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Lindsey Vonn won Saturday's Downhill in Switzerland, tying Bode Miller's American record of 32 World Cup victories. Johanna Schnarf of Italy was second and Switzerland's Marianne Abderhalden was third. She has now clinched the overall Downhill and Super-G titles and increased her lead for the overall title. She may have also won this year's Super-Combined title as she is in the lead with no races left. However, only two Super-Combineds have been run this year and FIS requires three.

Didier Cuche won the men's Downhill in Norway after failing to medal in Vancouver, clinching the Downhill season title. The host country's Aksel Lund Svindel was second and Klaus Kroell of Austria was third. American Andrew Weibrecht dislocated his shoulder in a bad crash and will miss next week's World Cup season finale. Bode Miller, who skipped this race, is auctioning off a helmet we wore in Vancouver to raise money for Pam Warman, a former US Ski Team technician that was recently diagnosed with breast cacner.

Finland's Hannu Manninen won his 48th World Cup title in Nordic Combined. Jason Lemy Chappius of France clinched the overall World Cup title with a third place finish. Maurice Manificat of France won a cross-country skiing 30K pursuit to claim his first World Cup victory. Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic was second, allowing him to begin to close the gap on Norway's Petter Northug, who sat out the race. Triple Olympic gold medalist Marit Bjoergen of Norway won the women's 15K pursuit. Overall World Cup leader Justyna Kowalczyk was second. Norway also beat Austria in a team ski jumping event. A World Cup parallel giant slalom was held for the first time on an artificial slope in Moscow. Aaron March of Italy and Doris Guenther of Germany won the event.

Shani Davis clinched his third straight World Cup overall title after winning his fifth 1,000 meter title this season. Though he does not have the best reputation in the US, I really admire him and think he is unbelievably talented. Mark Tuitert finished second in the race. Jenny Wolf won the 500 meters for her 47th World Cup title. Jan Smeekens won the men's 500 meters and Monique Angermueller won the women's 1,000. German skaters Heike Hartmann and Bente Kraus were on the list of skaters with blood levels too high.

Reebok is offering a $10,000 reward, no questions asked, for the return of the gloves and stick Sidney Crosby used to score his gold medal-winning goal. Nagano gold medalist Hiroyuki Shimizu officially retired from speed skating. Austrian runner Bettina Mueller-Weissima faces a lifetime ban for violating anti-doping rules for a second time in her career.

Michael Phelps nearly broke the US short course record in the 200 IM at the Maryland swimming championships. Natalie Coughlin won the 100 backstroke at the Austin Grand Prix on Friday. Matt Grevers held off Nick Thoman and Aaron Peirsol in the men's event. Rebecca Soni won the women's 100 breast, Mike Alexandrov won the men's race, Ariana Kukors won the 400 IM, Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 free, and Dana Vollmer won the women's race. Today, Vollmer, Soni, and Alexandrov each captured additional titles. Vollmer won the 200 butterfly and 100 free while Soni and Alexandrov each won their respective 200 breast races. Caesar Cielo won the men's 100 free while Pedro Oliveira won the men's 200 fly. Chloe Sutton and Vanderkaay won the 1,500 free races and Thoman and Henriette Stenkvist won the 200 back races.

Women's Sports and the Olympic Games

2010-03-05T18:35:00.000-05:00

The Olympics are the biggest stage for women in sports. Women's sports do not have a Superbowl or World Series and the men's World Cup generates far more attention than the women's. The Olympics are the stage on which female athletics get the same amount of attention as that of their male counterparts and, in some cases like figure skating and gymnastics, even outshining them. The Olympics promotes female sports and allows them to progress, or at least the Games are supposed to.

Following Vancouver, there has been lots of talk of removing women's hockey from the Winter Olympic program, mainly because no other countries can come close to challenging the United States and Canada. After seeing scores such as Canada's 18-0 defeat of Slovakia, it is easy to see where that idea comes from. However, more should be done to promote women's hockey throughout the world instead of just axing it. Throughout the world, women's hockey budgets cannot be compared to those of men's teams. Perhaps the biggest thing the women have going for them is that men's hockey is not going anywhere and they share venues.

The IOC eliminated softball from the Olympic program beginning in 2012. This was unfortunate because softball had been a sport that was developing internationally thanks to being a part of the Olympic program. Signs of parity finally began to emerge in Beijing as Japan upset the US 3-1 in the gold medal game. The Americans had easily won the three previous Olympic tournaments. It takes time for sports to develop.

As part of his reasoning for thinking about eliminating women's hockey, IOC president Jacques Rogge has said that the sport has been dominated by two countries and only two countries have won gold medals. Women's hockey has only been a part of the Olympics since 1998, 4 total Olympiads. Men's basketball has been a part of the Olympics since 1936. In 17 Olympiads, the US men have only lost 5 games (3 of which were in 2004) and won all but four gold medals (or 3 if you do not count the 1980 boycott). In fact, the US men won the first eight gold and, to my knowledge, no one suggested removing basketball from the Olympic program.

The IOC seems to hold a double standard. 39 women from 13 countries participated in women's ski jumping world championships last year, but the IOC did not think there was enough female participation internationally to include the sport in the Olympics. Female ski jumpers took their case for inclusion to Canadian courts, but, though the courts thought the women should be included in Vancouver, they decided against forcing the IOC to include them. According to a Sports Illustrated article, world champion Lindsey Van thinks that the IOC does not want to include her sport is because female jumpers jump similar distances to their male counterparts, thereby diminishing their accomplishments. Rogge has said that things look positive for women's ski jumping to be included in the 2014 Olympics. Van says that she heard the same thing in 2002 and 2006. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound has even gone as far as to fear that women's ski jumping will not be added in 2014 because these athletes embarrassed the IOC by suing them.

Women's sports need the Olympics to thrive. Sports like golf and tennis mixed doubles have replaced softball. This decision is particularly unfortunate because an Olympic gold medal will never be the highest prize available for a golfer or tennis player; these sports do not need the international exposure the Olympics provide. Four-time Olympian Angela Ruggiero, a member of the US women's hockey team, was recently elected to IOC athletes' commission. Hopefully she will be another strong voice for women at a critical time in a body controlled by European men.

New Update

2010-03-05T12:33:00.000-05:00

Just a quick news update on random Olympic happenings:

Images of Lindsey Vonn, Seth Wescott, and Shaun White will grace Wheaties boxes. Vonn placed third in a downhill training run in Switzerland this week.

Joannie Rochette eulogized her mother at her funeral in Quebec on Thursday.

Soviet great gymnast Natalia Laschenova, who won a gold medal as a member of the 1988 Olympic team is in danger of being deported from the United States after living and working in Ohio for 10 years. If deported, it is possible that she might not be granted citizenship in Latvia if she cannot prove that she speaks fluent Latvian. her daughter's gymnastics scholarship to Auburn is also now in question.

The USA Youth Luge Championships were last weekend. Jacob Hyrns and Elisabeth Underwood won the Youth A men's and women's races respectively and Johnny Gustafson and Caroline Goyette won the Youth B division races.

Evan Lysacek will dance his way to post-Olympic glory on the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

A Hidden Side to the Olympics

2010-03-04T21:21:00.001-05:00

According to an article in this week's Sports Illustrated (available here), there were 108,500 condoms distributed free of charge at the athlete's village. It makes sense that sex would be a part of the Olympics as it is a large gathering of very fit people who have been very singularly focused for a long time. However, with approximately 2,600 athletes competing in Vancouver, nearly 42 condoms per athlete is a little mind boggling. Maybe they were stocking up on some to take home.

On Shawn Johnson's Knee

2010-03-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

Dancing with the Stars champion (and Olympic gymnast) Shawn Johnson suffered a "minor" knee injury while skiing last month. The minor injury was a partially torn ACL and a torn meniscus. As someone who did the same thing, I can assure you there is nothing minor about the injury. I am far from an elite athlete, but was told if I ever wanted to participate in sports again, I should have a complete ACL reconstruction. Her agent said that most people would not have even had the surgery. That's only true if most people never want to ski or play soccer for fun again. She has a long recovery ahead of her and I wish her the best of luck.

In other news Ivana Hong is rumored to have also suffered a torn ACL at Martha's latest "please break me" camp. Kytra Hunter was named the alternate for the Scam Cup along with Danell Leyva for the men.

Welcome

2010-03-01T23:44:00.000-05:00

Just because the Olympics are over doesn't mean Olympic sports are out of action. Alpine ski racing resumes this weekend in Crans Montana for the women and Kvitfjell for the men. Evan Lysacek and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto withdrew from the figure skating world championships and will be replaced by Ryan Bradley and Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre respectively. Ashley Wagner and Ross Miner withdrew from the figure skating junior worlds team and will be replaced by Kiri Baga and Keegan Messing. The Tyson American Cup will also take place this weekend. It is rumored that Aly Raisman will join Rebecca Bross as the American women participants. Stay tuned!