The Spanish are coming…

…to Stanford, that is.

CSTV.com announced today that Spain’s Lenika de Simone will be joining the Stanford women’s gymnastics team in 2009.

De Simone is actually a Florida-born Spanish transplant. Her big international year was 2006, when she nabbed a pair of gold medals on the World Cup circuit on balance beam and floor exercise. She’s very much in the thick of things for one of the two Spanish berths to the Olympic Games.

Lenika de Simone, 2006 World Cup Event Finals, Balance Beam:

Simone, like most of the underrated Spanish team, has wonderful form and execution. I was surprised she didn’t have a bigger impact at the 2006 World Championships.

This is a big plus for Stanford, which graduates a (literally) super senior class this year, including Tabitha Yim, Stephanie Gentry and Liz Tricase.

Also coming to Stanford in 2009 are Canada’s Alyssa Brown, WOGA’s Catherine Nguyen and New Jersey’s Nicole Pechanec.

Tags: Alyssa Brown, Catherine Nguyen, Lenika de Simone, Liz Tricase, Nicole Pechanec, Stephanie Gentry, Tabitha Yim