Georgia Gets 4th NCAA Team Title

Well... I was secretly rooting for Florida. But I'm happy Georgia won. 4 in a row, that's insane!

Results:

1. Georgia - 197.45
2. Utah - 197.125
3. Stanford - 196.75
4. Florida - 196.7
5. LSU - 196.35
6. Alabama - 196.125

Who thinks they're going 5 next year? I believe they would be the first team to get 5 in a row, and it would put them at #1 for most NCAA titles.

Up-and-Comer Melissa Metcalf

Holy Bejesus!



Watch that video, and check out her super amazing skills! Things start to get crazy at about 1 minute. She's definately the one to watch, in my opinion. :)

GORGEOUS New Photoshoot of Nastia

WOW.

I especially like the ones on the railroad tracks. Gosh, is she pretty or what? She could be a model. It's nice to see her looking like a normal person for once. :)

I Want This Tank

I must have it. :)

I think that, by far, we here in the USA have the most stylish team apparel out there. It's clean, plain, and just all-around (ah hah, no pun intended!) nice-looking. What are your opinions on our team wear, or any other countries?

The Magnificent 7 to be Inducted Into the U.S. Olympic Hall Of Fame!

The Magnificent Seven, the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team that won the team title at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, will be among the 2008 inducteees into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Presented by Allstate. The induction ceremony will take place June 19 in Chicago. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class of 2008 is comprised of nine Olympians, one Paralympian, an Olympic Coach, Veteran, Team and Special Contributor.

O Hai Orange Shawn!

"Paul Hamm and Shawn Johnson were on hand to throw out the first pitches of the Philadelphia Phillies game on Sunday, April 13. Both Paul and Shawn had been at local gymnastics meets earlier in the day to interact with up-and-coming gymnasts and help promote the Olympic Trials which will take place in Philadelphia June 19-22 at the Wachovia Center."


Bad self-tanner much there, Shawnie? She looks as orange as an... well, orange.

Paul looks like an old man.

Pacific Rim Champs on TV

NBC Sports will broadcast coverage of the 2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus on April 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Viewers should check local listings to confirm times in their locale. The USA won a total of 41 medals in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, men’s and women’s trampoline, and rhythmic gymnastics.

Courtesy of USA Gymnastics.


PS. I'm super excited. Vanessa Hudgens's single is about to premiere! :D

Shawn Johnson is Chuck Norris PART 2!

Shawn Johnson's tears cure cancer. Too bad she has never cried.

Shawn Johnson doesn't read books. She stares them down until she gets the information she wants.

Shawn Johnson built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, Shawn met all three bullets with her bare hands, deflecting them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement.

There are no disabled people. Only people who have met Shawn Johnson.

Shawn Johnson is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for her left and right legs.

It was once believed that Shawn Johnson actually lost a fight to a pirate, but that is a lie, created by Shawn Johnson herself to lure more pirates to her. Pirates never were very smart.

If paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper, what beats all 3 at the same time? Answer: Shawn Johnson.

If you can see Shawn Johnson, she can see you. If you can't see Shawn Johnson, you may be only seconds away from death.

On the 7th day, God rested.... Shawn Johnson took over.

Although it is not common knowledge, there are actually three sides to the Force: the light side, the dark side, and Shawn Johnson.

If you want a list of Shawn Johnson's enemies, just check the extinct species list.

If Superman and The Flash were to race to the edge of space you know who would win? Shawn Johnson.

Some people wear Superman pajamas to bed. Superman wears Shawn Johnson pajamas to bed.

Shawn Johnson does not use spell check. If she happens to misspell a word, Oxford will simply change the actual spelling of it.

Shawn Johnson knows where Carmen Sandiego is.

There is no such thing as tornados. Shawn Johnson just hates trailer parks.

Shawn Johnson is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

When the Boogeyman goes to bed he checks his closet for Shawn Johnson.

Shawn Johnson can slam a revolving door.

Shawn Johnson has counted to infinity. Twice.

When Shawn Johnson does a pushup, she isn’t lifting herself up, she’s pushing the Earth down.

Shawn Johnson does not get frostbite. Shawn Johnson bites frost.

Shawn Johnson can kill two stones with one bird.

Shawn Johnson is Chuck Norris

Guns don't kill people. Shawn Johnson kills People.


There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Shawn Johnson allows to live.


Shawn Johnson does not sleep. She waits.


The chief export of Shawn Johnson is Pain.


The leading causes of death in the United States are: 1. Heart Disease 2. Shawn Johnson 3. Cancer.


Shawn Johnson is my Homegirl.


Shawn Johnson doesn't go hunting.... SHAWN JOHNSON GOES KILLING.


Shawn Johnson uses pepper spray to spice up her steaks.


Shawn Johnson flipped so fast that she broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean.


Crop circles are Shawn Johnson's way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie down.


Shawn Johnson is ten feet tall, weighs two-tons, breathes fire, and could eat a hammer and take a shotgun blast standing.


The Great Wall of China was originally created to keep Shawn Johnson out. It failed miserably.


Contrary to popular belief, Shawn Johnson, not the box jellyfish of northern Australia, is the most venomous creature on earth. Within 3 minutes of being bitten, a human being experiences the following symptoms: fever, blurred vision, beard rash, tightness of the jeans, and the feeling of being repeatedly kicked in the shins.


Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Shawn Johnson has 72... and they're all poisonous.


If you ask Shawn Johnson what time it is, she always says, "Two seconds 'til." After you ask, "Two seconds 'til what?" she face washes you.


When Shawn Johnson sends in her taxes, she sends blank forms and includes only a picture of herself, crouched and ready to attack. Shawn Johnson has not had to pay taxes, ever.


The quickest way to a man's heart is with Shawn Johnson's fist.


Shawn Johnson invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear.


CNN was originally created as the "Shawn Johnson Network" to update Americans with on-the-spot ass kicking in real-time.


Shawn Johnson can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.


Shawn Johnson is the only woman to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.


Police label anyone fighting with Shawn Johnson as a Code 45-11.... a suicide.


Shawn Johnson doesn't churn butter. She double twists her way at the cows and the butter comes straight out.


Shawn Johnson doesn’t wash her clothes, she disembowels them.


A Handicapped parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Shawn Johnson and that you will be handicapped if you park there.


Shawn Johnson will attain statehood in 2009. Her state flower will be the Magnolia.


If you spell Shawn Johnson in Scrabble, you win. Forever.


Fool me once, shame on you. Fool Shawn Johnson once and she will face wash you.


The opening scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on games of dodgeball Shawn Johnson played in second grade.


Shawn Johnson once shot down a German fighter plane with her finger, by yelling, "Bang!"


Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Shawntatorship.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on a true story: Shawn Johnson once swallowed a turtle whole, and when she crapped it out, the turtle was six feet tall and had learned gymnastics.


Faster than a speeding bullet ... more powerful than a locomotive ... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... yes, these are some of Shawn Johnson's warm-up exercises.


In the Bible, Jesus turned water into wine. But then Shawn Johnson turned that wine into beer.


Shawn Johnson can hit you so hard that she can actually alter your DNA. Decades from now your descendants will occasionally clutch their heads and yell "What The Hell was That?"


Time waits for no one. Unless that person is Shawn Johnson.


Shawn Johnson doesn't shower, she only takes blood baths.


The Shawn Johnson military unit was not used in the game Civilization 4, because a single Shawn Johnson could defeat the entire combined nations of the world in one turn.


In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Shawn Johnson could use to kill you, including the room itself.


According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Native American "Trail of Tears" has been redefined as anywhere that Shawn Johnson competes.

When Shawn Johnson goes to donate blood, she declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.


There are no steroids in baseball. Just players Shawn Johnson has breathed on.

Shawn Johnson sheds her skin twice a year.

Wow...

I thought that perhaps Cccam was exaggerating when it came to Mileycyrus990 on youtube.

She's not. One of her videos (link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OZBfWhvaQCE ) which, surprise, she actually made herself got commented by someone named horsegirl04. Basically, here's the conversation:

horsegirl04: you are being so rude to cccam. just some info, it makes people loose respect from you. which is happening if you havent noticed.

the oh-so-mature mileycyrus990: you just shut up

cwgcGymnast: dnt tell her 2 shut up u shut up!

Me: Yeah. Don't expect to get many more viewers and friends that way. Word spreads, and people lose any respect they had for you. And I can tell you that everyone has been flagging your videos for copyright, so don't expect them to be around much longer. Stealing work is wrong.

mileycyrus990: real nice lie but your still a pig face:>):#

Me: Oh, was that aimed at me? And is that the best you can come up with? By the way, it's not a lie. Everyone at Chalk Bucket knows now.

mileycyrus990: every one who talks to you knows about yoiur face you should get fixed!!!!!!

Me: Yes, everyone knows my face. But not because it's ugly, I can tell you that much. By the way, how old are you? Because you're acting about 6.



Wow. How mature is she? Do me a favor, go and flag her videos. She doesn't deserve any attention. :S

Holy Tkatchev!

Check out the height on this Tkatchev!




It could use to travel backwards a bit more, but the height on that is NUTS. Props to her! She's a level 10 right now. She's 15.

Something That Annoys Me

The fact that WCSN never updates their freaking page!

http://web.wcsn.com/sport/index.jsp?id=34012

It still says "Liukin Beats Johnson at Am Cup; Hamm Looks Good"... you know, the same thing it's said for the past MONTH!

Agh. They also haven't updated their schedule in a while, since it still says "Upcoming Events: FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships".

Um, yeah. Upcoming in 2009. :P

Molly Moyer and Shannon Vafiadou head to Regionals!

Molly Moyer and Shannon Vafiadou of the University of Pittsburgh Gymnastics Team are headed to Northeastern Regionals!

Here's a video of Molly that I took at a dual meet with WVU this season:




Molly is competing solely on floor exercise, while Shannon is going for all-around. I could be wrong, but I believe Shannon will advance to Nationals no matter what, and Molly will advance if she wins floor.

Other competitors include:

TEAM:

1. Georgia
2. Auburn
3. Denver
4. Penn State
5. Brigham Young
6. Iowa State

ALL-AROUND:

1. Marissa Rosen, Pennsylvania
2. Alina Liao, Yale
3. Shannon Vafiadou, Pittsburgh
4. Lorraine Gallow, Bridgeport
5. Laura Sevarino, Rutgers
Alt. - Maddie Pearsall, Cornell


INDIVIDUAL EVENT SPECIALISTS:

Vault - Helena Diodati, New Hampshire
Alt. - Justine Turner, New Hampshire

Uneven Bars - Helena Diodati, New Hampshire
Alt. - Rebekah Porter, New Hampshire

Balance Beam - Taryn LaFountain, New Hampshire
Alt. - Chelsea Steinberg, New Hampshire

Floor Exercise - Molly Moyer, Pittsburgh
Alt. - Lauren Gildemeyer, Brockport State

The competition will be on Saturday, April 12th at Penn State University. The competition will begin at 6PM. Good luck to both of the girls! They both totally deserve it. :)

Well That Didn't Take Long

Let us begin by watching Nastia Liukin's disasterous bars event finals performance at Pacific Rim Championships:



And here comes my opinion on the whole thing:

Number one, she looked nervous and unfocused from the very start. She wasn't hitting her usual vertical handstands or generally doing as well as normal. Two, I'm pretty sure the fall on the geinger was a fluke.

On a random note, the whole "running off the mat to get chalk after a fall" thing seriously bothers me, especially on beam... but that's beside the point.

Ooh, random note number two. What the heck goes flying off her hand when she's getting ready to jump back up? It looks too big to be chalk. Sorry, that's my OCD coming in... *shifty eyes*

Anyways, she jumps back up and does a decent straddle tkachev and then comes the pak salto.

And it seriously bothers the hell out of me. She pulls into the bar so close it looks like she's about to eat it.

Next, I spy another mistake. She didn't make the pirouette around after the pak salto, and had to do a switch kip.

The remainder of the routine is decent, but that dismount is horrible. I really wish she'd go back to the double layout. It worked so much better for her, and it didn't look even remotely close to sloppy. I'm assuming she changed it because of her ankle, but one would think the landings are similar, right?

After this whole fiasco of a routine for her, she proceeds to get a 15.225. That put her in second place. I'm sorry, but if you fall on a routine, it shouldn't medal unless the rest of it was superb. Here, it obviously wasn't a fantastic routine. This is why the new scoring system is so messed up and so difficult to follow, especially if you're a first-time spectator. :/

PS. That leotard she's wearing? It definately reminds me of the baby-barf pink Parkettes leos. :)

PPS. I don't hate Nastia. I'm just pointing out the flaws of this routine. Most of the time, she's a fantastic gymnast. :)

Welcome to Gym Chat!

Where I'm free to post my opinions on the wonderful sport of gymnastics and all who are involved with it! :)

Ugly leotards? You can count on me to point out every flaw. Bad gymnasts? Yep, I've got that covered too. That means if you're easily offended, you should probably leave.

Anyways, about myself. I'm a Prep-Op. gymnast at Arcadia in PA. It's a love-hate relationship. But hey, most are, so I'm not concerned. I'm 14 years old, a freshman at a performing arts school called Lincoln Park (from here on known as LPPACS). My birthday is August 21st so make sure to send me lovely messages telling me happy birthday, or to say that I've just been here 15 years too many. :P

Hoping to start blogging away soon.

Love,
Kayleigh