Gymmin' Miel!

Georgia Simpson has overcome personal and physical challenges to make it to the top in Australian gymnastics. Now she is ready to take on the world.
The 17-year-old WAIS scholarship holder will be Australia's sole representative against an elite invitation-only field at the American Cup, which counts Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton as former winners.
Simpson, who trains alongside Lauren Mitchell and Emily Little, has spent six years battling injury, including a dislocated patella which prevented her from competing at last year's nationals.
However, her greatest challenge has been more personal with the death of her older sister Beth, also a WAIS gymnast, from a brain tumour in 2007.
Simpson never lost hope after becoming the Australian junior champion in 2006, and hard work finally paid dividends with selection for her first big international event.
Senior WAIS coach Martine George said national coach Peggy Liddick was looking for a good all-around gymnast for the American Cup, starting in New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
"Georgia does not have as much international experience as the rest of the team and needs that exposure in case she finds herself in the Olympic team," George said.
"It is also important for the top international judges to see her in action because she is a beautiful gymnast who always leaves a strong impression."
George said Simpson needed as much exposure as possible before the final team for the London Olympics was selected.
"Georgia is very young in terms of gymnastics experience but is a very strong worker on the bars and beam, where she could be a world championship finalist in years to come," George said.
"She has upgraded her routines on every apparatus, having put her injuries behind her."
Simpson has done an additional amount of strength and conditioning work.
After the American Cup, Simpson will join the rest of the Australian team at the Pacific Rim Championships in Seattle between March 16 and 18.

GYMNASTS from all over Wales competed in the Artistic Gymnastic Apparatus Championships at the Welsh Institute of Sport last weekend.
The event had more than 300 spectators packed into the main hall and the support from the crowd, coupled with the aesthetics of sporting competition music, lighting and projected score boards, made the competition a lively event.
In the women’s senior competition Jessica Hogg out-performed her competitors to take top spot with a score of 46.56, Cara Edwards of Wrexham gymnastic club took second with 42.13. Lizzie Beddoe, who has represented GB in the past, is still recovering from injury and performed only on the bars which she won.
Temporary rivals Raer Theaker and Angel Romaeo battled it out in the women’s junior competition. The crowd were treated to an exciting display as Theaker pipped Romaeo to the top spot by a whole mark.
The contest was a close affair until the beam where Theaker pulled away from Romaeo performing a higher difficulty routine which scored her 13.60 to Romaeo’s 10.70. Georgina Hockenhull, representing Park Wrekin Gymnastic Club, came third.
In the men’s event, Clinton Purnell won the senior competition after he placed first on five out of the six apparatus pieces. His exceptional performances got him an overall score of 83.7. Matt Hennessey and Harry Owen, both representing Loughborough Students, came second and third respectively.
“The improvement of the event in terms of the floor managing and production has made it one of the more prestigious events on the Welsh gymnastic calendar,” said Jo Coombs, head of performance and excellence at Welsh Gymnastics.
“We can take many positives from the event especially in the increase of boys participating in the under eight category.
“That increase bodes well in our drive to get more boys participating in gymnastics. This coupled with improved performances is an encouraging step towards the Commonwealth Games.”

But the complex nature of his injury, which affected knee ligaments and the sciatic nerve, led to several complications in the days after the accident.  

"The question that was posed at Christmas was whether or not Thomas would participate at the Olympic Games this summer. A few days later, the doctors suddenly told us that they would put in every effort to save his leg," Mickael Bouhail told a news conference.

His leg was saved but only after some of the muscles were removed.

"Initially, Thomas arrived for a knee operation and hospitalisation for several days. He will have stayed for six weeks and will have undergone 15 operations to the block under general anaesthetic," his brother said, adding that a "delayed diagnosis" led to "disastrous consequences for Thomas."

After leaving hospital on February 4, the double European vault champion remains "in shock".

Having had no choice but to withdraw from the London Games this summer, the future of France's first and only world champion -- Bouhail won gold in the vault in 2010 -- remains in doubt.

"A few weeks ago, we were light years away from asking the question, if he would resume gymnastics or not. From now on, where his leg has been saved, all hope is permitted," Mickael Bouhail said.

The representative of Sheikh Ahmad, Sheikh Mishal Talal Fahad Al-Sabah said in a speech, in the opening ceremony at Al-Arabi club that such championship will witness fierce competitions in all categories due to the tremendous developments in all levels by the players of the sport."Such sport events will bolster brotherly relations and friendship among GCC youths, I wish the best to all participating players, and I hope the championship succeed," Sheikh Mishal said.Sheikh Mishal praised the Organizing GCC committee and Kuwait's Gymnastic Federation for their efforts and work in the administrative and technical fields.For his part, the President of the Organizing Committee for Gymnastics Dr. Ali Al-Jafri said that the championship is being held for the 10th time, and had its role in bringing up new talents through Arab, Asia, and international sport tournaments.

Kuwait clinched first place during the first day of GCC 10th Technical Gymnastics Championship, after snatching three medals, two of which are gold. The medals were taken by the U-16 team following a stiff competition with the Saudi team which claimed the silver, meanwhile the bronze went to Bahrain.
Kuwait’s Hassan Rashid won the individual apparatus gold medal, followed by Saudi Arabia’s Mahdi Al-Ghuzaiwi and Kuwait’s Yousuf Adnan. Kuwait’s Juniors (U-11) gave a strong performance that brought them very close to win the championship.
The GCC Gymnastics Committee held a meeting that was chaired by Dr. Ali Al-Jafri, who started the meeting congratulating HH The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the occasions of Liberation and National days.
They also congratulated Kuwait Gymnastics Union for hosting the championship. When asked why Oman did not participate in GCC championships, Al-Subaiee said Oman does not have a Gymnastics union, and contacts are being made with Omani officials to start gymnastics.
Meanwhile Chairman of Qatar’s union Ali Al-Hatimi lauded the level of Gulf and Arab gymnasts, adding that Kuwait hosted the first championship and now it is hosting the tenth event successfully and this indicates that the previous Gulf championships are success.
He said Kuwait used to dominate gymnastics, but now as the games developed in Saudi Arabia and Qatar competition became stronger and results are very close. He said Qatari Gymnastics were able to get 4 out of six medals during the Arab Games which shows the level of development Qatari gymnastics have reached.

• Christopher Brooks
• Jacob Dalton
• Samuel Mikulak

Gymnast Lauren Mitchell, Australia's best hope for gold at the London Olympics, has a shoulder injury which has forced her to stop training on the uneven bars before her first overseas trip of the year.
The star of the WAIS gymnastics program, which also includes three other Olympic squad members - Emily Little, Georgia Simpson and Nikki Chung - has not allowed the setback to prevent her from training.
"The injury is a setback because I am not able to train on the bars but that has allowed me to work on other areas, which is a positive," Mitchell said.
"I have been working on my execution because the start value is at the highest level and that is what you need to be a contender in the finals at the Olympics."
Her coach, Martine George, said Mitchell had come a long way in the past three weeks. George said the decision to stay off the bars was made to prevent her from aggravating the injury while still allowing her to prepare for her two pet events on the floor and beam.
"She needs to rehabilitate well before she jumps back on the bars because we don't want to take any risks with the instability in the shoulder," George said.
"It is a balancing act for her because we leave for two big competitions in Montreal and Seattle next month where she needs to get back on the international scene even though we don't expect her to compete all-around."
Mitchell's main goal is to get ready for Olympic selection trials in Sydney from May 22 to 26.
She said the trip to Canada would give the team a feel of where it stood on the world stage in the lead-up to London.
"My main goal at the Olympics will be to qualify the team into the top eight and after that anything can happen in the finals," she said.
She said her last Olympics campaign in Beijing was disappointing after falling off the beam, and her floor routine was not as good as it was when she won the world title in 2010 or when she took two silvers at the 2009 world championships.
"I am not able to train on the bars but that has allowed me to work on other areas, which is a positive.""

1. WOGA 114.450
2. Texas Dreams 105.450
3. Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation 101.900

1. Abigail Milliet (14.500, 13.700, 12.150, 13.200) 53.550
2. Claire Hammen (13.700, 12.500, 12.550, 12.450) 51.200
3. Sophina DeJesus (12.200, 14.200, 12.250, 12.350) 51.000
4. Erin Macadaeg (13.600, 13.000, 13.300, 11.000) 50.900
5. Stefani Catour (13.600, 11.850, 13.100, 12.250) 50.800
6. Hayley Sanders (13.350, 12.200, 11.500, 12.350) 49.400

Dana Ho (WOGA), taken by Heather Maynez for WOGA Media.

The WOGA Classic will be held on February 18th and 19th in Texas, where competition will be spread between the Embassy Suites, WOGA Frisco and the Dr Pepper Arena. Despite a depleted International session this should once again be a fantastic event! The two International gymnasts will be Ukrainian Olena Vasylieva (Junior) and Senior up-and-comer Krystyna Sankova but the two gymnasts who should make quite an impression are WOGA's Junior starlet Katelyn Ohashi and of course the much anticipated return of Rebecca Bross! For the Level 10 competitors, names to watch out for are Texas Dreams gymnast Claire Boyce, Braie Speed of Aerial Athletics, KGDC's Pua Hall, Cypress Academy of Gymnastics up-and-comer Caitlin Atkinson, Adeline Helland of Denton Gymnastics Academy, Stars Houston's Rachel Daum and Milan Clausi of USA Gym World. WOGA gymnasts to keep your eye on are Dana Ho, Ashlyn Broussard, Sophia Lee, Kristine Levin, Emily Richardson, Rebecca McRobbie, Lily Hardin and Lexi Mills. Also representing WOGA according to the Level 10 roster will be Mexicans Mitzi Alejandra Unda Sosa and Yael Ganon. Good luck to all!

• Session 1: LEVEL SIX - 8am Open Stretch; 8.30am Competition Begins (Aspire, EGOS, Folger's, Friction, Gymnastics Place, Hopes & Dreams, Nova De Monterrey, Precision, US Gymnastics Development Center, Wizards, WOGA)
• Session 2: LEVEL FIVE - 12pm Open Stretch; 12.30pm Competition Begins. (Altus, Friction, Gold Medal, Hopes & Dreams, Island Tumblers, Mexico, Summit Sports Club, TEGA, Universal Gym, Wizards, WOGA)

"I missed by the pre-Olympic test standard mark by a slender margin. 80% was the cut-off mark to take part in the London pre-Olympic qualifier. I scored 79.30%." 
Kumar blamed then - coach Vladimir Chertkov, saying "tough methods" hampered his performance in Tokyo. The team was introduced to a rigorous two-month stint in London as preparation for the Belgium World Cup, he said. 
Soon after the team returned from Belgium, Kumar was asked to report to the camp, giving his body little time to rest and recover. "A gymnast needs at least 15-20 days' time to recover after a long training stint and tournaments. I was given just seven days and as a result I could not deliver the desired results in Tokyo," Kumar said.

• Alaina Williams (Norman, Oklahoma/Acrospirits)
• Savannah Vinsant (Lafayette, Louisiana/Trampoline and Tumbling Express)

1. Baely Rowe (Auburn Gymnastics) (9.675, 9.725, 9.000, 9.450) 37.850
2. Mary Jacobsen (Emerald City) (9.000, 8.250, 9.250, 9.275) 35.775
3. Julie Jennings (Roach Gymnastics) (9.350, 9.050, 8.300, 7.850) 34.550
4. Katie Simpson (Seawind Gymnastics) (9.275, 8.500, 7.000, 8.800) 33.575
5. Courtney Miller (Cascade All-Star) (9.100, 7.500, 8.100, 8.650) 33.350
6. Brandi Jacobsen (Cascade All-Star) (7.400, 7.700, 7.500, 7.750) 30.350