News and Notes

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.

Gymnasts Update

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: