Olivia Vivian's new blog is up. Check it out on this link! She talks about her decision to go to college and the atmosphere over there. She is so down to earth and very honest, I think that's why I like her so much. I especially like her final paragraph:
As September comes closer and closer each day, a lot of people ask me if I'm excited, ready or scared. Truth is I try not to think about it too much. I'm very excited but college is not where my focus needs to be right now. I'm not finished with my duties with this Australian team. If everything goes well for me and I make the Olympic team, I will come back to Perth for no more than a week before departing to the U.S. I adapt to quick changes quite well so I'm sure I'll cope heading off to America with a week to prepare! But as a wise psychologist said to me on Saturday, I must “live in the present.” And the present right now, is preparing for this weeks National Championships and making the most of it as it could be my last.
Wow if she makes that team she is going to be one super prepared young lady. Here is hoping she does well at Nationals this week and may her goals, dreams and gymnastics go well. Watch this space!

SEAN GOLDEN... also starts his campaign to the Olympics this week and has been featured in 2 articles over the last couple of days. The first on USA Today site, gives a great insight into his move to train under Kevin Mazeika, his goals (see below) and a little bit on his gymnastics, but more focus on his personal life. This is the section where he mentions his goals - I say go Sean and I hope he achieves what he wants to do, if not I urge him to keep on trying.

Golden has big dreams. His tight-knit upbringing allowed him to dodge the dangers of Camden, known for its crime rate, but its troubles bother him. He wants to attract more African-Americans to his sport and envisions opening a gym and a community center. "There's so much talent," he says. "I've seen it in the inner city. I would like to expose that."

Those are long-term goals. Short term, he wants to become the fifth African-American male gymnast to make the Olympic team, following Ron Galimore (1980), Charles Lakes (1988), Jair Lynch (1992, '96) and Chainey Umphrey (1996).

The second article, from Click2Houston can be found here. It deals with Golden's upbringing, highlights his natural talent, and the fact that he loves the challenges that gymnastics throws at him, and for me the stand out point of this article was the final statement. Check it out and let me know what you think about it - powerful much?

It's that time of the Olympic year again - the launch of the Olympic advertising campaigns. Channel 7's Olympic promo features, not only a rhythmic gymnast (Naazmi? Kimberly?), a representative from MAG (Philippe? or Sam) - I cannot really tell, and a back-handspring on the Great Wall from Miss Ashleigh Brennan. Another promo being shown on GWN and I am guessing Channel 7 features the Chinese athletes - I only just saw that one then, so haven't looked at it closely. In terms of the USA, VISA has launched the "Go World" Olympic campaign of which you can read more about at this link. In terms of gymnastics, it will highlight "the heart and determination" of Kerri Strug and incorporates some of the VISA sponsored athletes who are a part of Team Visa Beijing -for gymnastics it is Paul Hamm and Nastia Liukin. I cannot wait to see what they have come up with.