Daria Joura to have surgery on injured ankle

The bubbly Australian gymnast won’t be competing in 2009, according to The West Asutralian:

The WAIS scholarship holder has spent the past nine months hoping a torn ligament in her ankle would heal naturally.

But she now has to resort to surgery which will sideline her for the rest of the year.

And even then there is no guarantee she will return to the competition floor even though the 19-year-old is determined to give all in her bid to make the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year and the London Olympics in 2012.

WAIS coaching staff don’t believe the injury should be career-ending and in Joura’s case, her ability to learn skills quicker than most, will count in her favour.

“Historically, she has learnt new skills very easily but more critical will be whether she can get herself into the right physical shape to resume where she left off,” WAIS head of gymnastics Liz Chetkovich said. “It will be hard once she gets back into training and she will have to be realistic and keep her expectations in perspective.”

Joura was a possible all-around contender in Beijing before her ankle injury and is the most wildly successful female gymnast Australia’s ever had.

It’s painful to watch the routine she injured the ankle on. Nonetheless, here it is:

Daria Joura, 2008 Olympic Games Team Prelims, Floor Exercise:

My favorite floors — Svetlana Khorkina

I liked almost everything Khorkina did floor-wise until 2002. So I’ll get them all out of my system in one post.

At the 1995 World Championships:

At the 1997 World Championships:

At the 1998 European Championships:

At the 2000 Olympic Games:

Dominic Morris: One to watch

File under “impressive”:

Name: Dominic Morris
Age: 15
Residence: Mercer Island, Wash.
Club: Black Hills Gymnastics
Accolades: Placed first on pommel horse for 14-15 year-olds and finished top 10 on three other events at the Junior Olympic Nationals earlier this month.

Dominic Morris, 2009 J.O. Championships, Pommel Horse:

Nice line and technique, no? Sasha Artemev aside, pommels are not and have never been the U.S.’s best event. I’d bet that if Morris comes of age looking that good, he’s got a shot at being up there.

Photo of the day

Perfection has its price, and ABC is obviously not willing to pay it. Behold the new ABC show Make It or Break It:

Welcome to the make or break world of competitive gymnastics, where the intensity of competition is matched only by the drama of life off the mat. Emily Kmetko (Chelsea Hobbs) is thrilled when she joins a team of Olympic hopefuls, but fitting in — like everything else — won’t be easy. Her teammates include top gymnast Payson Keeler (Ayla Kell), super-talented Kaylie Cruz (Josie Loren), the ultra-competitive Lauren Tanner (Cassie Scerbo) and resident hottie Carter Anderson (Zachary Burr Abel). Together they’ll train, compete, fight, cry, laugh, stab each other in the back, make up, break up and grow up — all in pursuit of a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and a shot at the one thing every gymnast dreams about: a perfect routine.

A two-minute look at some of footage:

This looks ridiculous. That’s not gymnast posture, it’s Melrose Place posture. Why do these clothes (and some of the leotards) look like they’re from the 1980s? (Actually, more than that’s from the 1980s — one of the show’s characters is Candace Cameron-Bure, who played DJ on the sitcom Full House).

A look back: Canadian men’s team 2008

Hampered by an ankle injury in Beijing, Brandon O'Neill of Canada is looking ahead.

This beautiful Canada.com article about Kyle Shewfelt and the rest of the 2008 Canadian men’s team is well worth a read.

Everywhere you looked, inspiration. Everywhere you looked, a wreck. For Canada’s men’s gymnastics program — and particularly for its crown jewel, Kyle Shewfelt — the first day of competition of the 2008 Olympic Games was both a great achievement and a mess of defeat. Judging, injuries, it all crashed down.

As a team, they were eliminated. As individuals, they almost all fell short. For most, four years or more of work erased one day into the Beijing Games. So many of the six small men had overcome something to be here: Brandon O’Neill of Edmonton was trying to defy physics and biology on a badly sprained left ankle; Adam Wong of Calgary was a year removed from a torn Achilles tendon; Nathan Gafuik, also of Calgary, was competing despite Addison’s disease, which means his body does not produce adrenaline.

And then there was Shewfelt, the most inspiring wreck of all….

Update: O’Neill, 24, who won a silver on floor at the 2005 World Championship, tells International Gymnast that he plans to keep competing.

Shannon Miller to have a boy

So says Inside Gymnastics’s Twitter feed, which got it off Miller’s Twitter feed. Nice!

New Shawn Johnson interview

Shawn Johnson

Sigh. Not even a new day, and another interview that makes our DWTS champ sound a little…well, un-Shawnlike. In this one, she describes herself as the “oddball” of the U.S. team and calls out the “mean” girls at her high school.

What’s next for you? College? Another Olympics?

I’m a junior in high school. I was in public school my whole life up until this year. I got too behind because of the Olympics. I’ve been doing online school, which takes care of my junior year. We’ll see if I go back to regular school in the fall. I haven’t decided what I’ll be doing [after that]. I love that being on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ has opened up so many opportunities. This has showed me that I can do other things. I’m taking it one day at a time.

What will people learn from reading your book ‘Shawn Johnson, Olympic Champion: Stories Behind the Smile’?

I wanted to get across that I’m just a normal girl. I didn’t dedicate my life to gymnastics. The book’s about going on vacation and going to school, all the things that everyone does. You don’t have to sacrifice your life for one thing. I didn’t let gymnastics rule everything else that I was a part of. I think that’s what kept me happy and involved with it. I was definitely the oddball of the group. Everyone else was training eight hours a day and being homeschooled or tutored, I’d train for four hours. I definitely feel like I’ve started to change the sport a little bit. It won’t burn you out if you [lead an otherwise regular life]. I probably had a more hectic schedule, but I loved it. I wouldn’t have changed it at all.

Was it hard to make friends at school given your gymnastics schedule?

I wasn’t really treated any differently. Kids knew me from kindergarten. I grew up with them. Of course, there were some who were jealous … there was definitely a group [of mean girls]. Being in the Olympics showed me who my true friends were and weren’t. A few friends stuck with me through everything and I’m sure they will the rest of my life.

Shawn’s probably right. There’s a group of “popular” people at every high school in America, and it’s unfathomable that nobody in West Des Moines, Iowa is jealous of how far Shawn’s star has risen. People, particularly 17-year-olds, break friendships that way.

Hard to see her returning to her high school after saying that, though.

“Quote” of the day

“(On the 2008 Olympic team) I was an outcast…I was the youngest, led a normal life and, I hate to say it, I was good. It’s kind of a jealousy thing. Then when I got (‘Dancing With the Stars’), it was hard because it was (teammate) Alicia (Sacramone)’s dream to be on it.”

– Shawn Johnson (supposedly) to the tabloid Us Magazine

Personal opinion: I don’t believe Johnson said a word of that statement — she’s simply too smart. If those reporters could produce video, that would be one thing. But anything less and I’m convinced the magazine made it up. Shame on Us, and shame on MSNBC for picking up the story.

2010 Worlds in doubt?

Fangymnastics reports on an article in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf:

Unfortunately, the organization of the Worlds by The Netherlands has been lately under question mark. According to the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf and to other Dutch news sites, the budget dedicated for organizing this event is missing 1 million euros. In the context of an ongoing economic crisis, the Dutch government only contributed with 650.000 euros instead of the expected 1.6 millions (representing one third of the total amount).

The organizer committee is making now efforts to attract other parties for covering the needed amount. Taking into account that during the Nationals the selling of the tickets for the Worlds has been planned to start, the organizers have now less than a month to take a decision. In the case that they won’t be able to find sponsors until the end of June, The Netherlands will probably have to give up organizing the 2010 Worlds and the International Federation (FIG) will have to find another organizer, in a very short period of time.

My favorite floors — Olga Chudina

The talk about Anna Myzdrikova’s floor routine at the Glasgow Grand Prix (love it or aren’t so impressed; I loved it) makes me want to revisit my favorite floor routines. So I’ll be doing that occasionally here.

Olga Chudina, 1987 Kraft Invitational: