Darling Hill's powerful jumps and tumbles made her a favorite at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials.

But shoulder injuries and a sprained ankle dashed her hopes of going to Beijing to compete this year.

Kim Bonos, owner and head coach of Will-Moore gymnastics, mentions that Dar's grandmother and her would get on Dar's case if things weren't going right.  

Dar feels she has not reached her peak yet.  She says loves when the audience gets into her routines.  Kim Bonos loves excellent gymnastics and is driven by the beauty of the sport.  

Check out Will-Moor's website.  They have videos of their gymnasts from 2007 Level 10 JO Nats.  Rebecca Best won first AA, 3rd on Bars, and first on Vault, Beam, and floor for her age group.

Shawn Johnson, 2008 U.S. Championships Prelims, Balance Beam (partial):

Standings after day one:

1. Shawn Johnson

2. Nastia Liukin

3. Chellsie Memmel

4. Samantha Peszek

5. Jana Bieger

6. Ivana Hong

To this blogger, the biggest surprise was Bieger. Peszek has looked confident in competition since the 2007 World Championships, and Memmel has been a judges' darling since becoming a senior in 2003.

Notes:

-- Liukin fell on her double front on floor exercise and scored only 14.25. She made up for it with a 17.025 on uneven bars, proving she can be scored as well as the Chinese.

-- Johnson was on everywhere, including on her Amanar vault. The only thing mentioned was that she took a big step forward on her beam landing.

-- Ashley Priess pulled out of the competition completely. She'll have a good time at Alabama next year.

-- Shayla Worley's back problems continue to plague her, and she has chosen to petition to the Olympic Trials.

-- On Memmel, from Inside Gymnastics Magazine:

Memmel, who vaulted only a Yurchenko-full on vault, is struggling with a sore quadriceps and contemplated not even competing. (Memmel’s coach-father, Andy, noted that the “powers that be” approved their easier effort on vault to keep them in the competition.)

-- Alicia Sacramone confirmed to Inside Gymnastics that she's working on an Amanar vault herself. Ooooh.

-- Darling Hill had an unfortunate 12-something disaster on beam (just like last year) and didn't compete uneven bars

-- Johnson's new floor music is called "August Rush"

-- Bridget Sloan, who competed bars and beam only, unveiled a new full-twisting double layout on bars

Claybabe6, editor of the Live.Breath.Love.Gymnastics blog has some videos on her Youtube page.

(via International Gymnast Online, Inside Gymnastics Magazine)

Q: There are a lot of established stars vying for Olympic berths. Are there any up-and-comers who could make this team?

A: Well, some younger girls certainly are doing very, very nice effort[s].

One of the young ones who was probably nowhere last year is Chelsea Davis, Kim Zmeksal’s gymnast. She [is] just turning 16 this year. Just the same age as Shawn, but last year [Chelsea] wasn’t at this level. … She would be one who is the youngest and is just breaking in.

Then a few girls have some good events. Like Darling Hill has a very nice floor routine or (Randy) Stageberg has also a very good floor routine and a good vault.

So when the last trial comes and the last decision has to be made for the team, some people could play some role, depending what may be the team’s needs.

It will not necessarily be a straight rank order. Because, first of all, you take your strongest girls and you plug those in. And they’re locked in, because it is absolutely necessary for the team results, and then you will have to fill up some spots. And if some girl is good on two events and exactly on those two events you need, you would use [that girl]. But if the team is already strong on those two events it is too bad for them, because they will not be needed, even though they have a harder exercise.

… That’s how it works. It’s pretty complicated from the outside, but when it comes down the stretch it simplifies. It is so interesting on a line-up meeting, which we are doing all together with the coaches, I’m coming up with a plan and I say, ‘This is how I see, and how I feel and this is what we should do,’ and, pretty much, [the other coaches] feel the same. Because things clear up, very much, at the end.

Posted a trifle belatedly.

Extra: Martha Karolyi's fake MySpace. Bela has one too, but Martha's is better. This never gets old.

• First off, why Jana Bieger has a limited chance on making the Olympic Team.  The wide consensus among gymnastics fans and experts is that Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Alicia Sacramone are locks for the Olympic Team.  Since the main priority is the Team Final where 3 up 3 count, the selection will cater to those 12 routines needed.  Among the first half of the squad we have:

Vault- Sacramone, Jonhson, GAP

Bars- Liukin, GAP, GAP

Beam- Johnson, Liukin, Sacramone

Floor- Jonhson, Sacramone, GAP

For the 3 remaining spots on the team, we need to fill 2 gaps on bars, and one gap apiece on vault and floor.  So our weakest showing is coming on uneven bars, which unfortunately is not good since that is China's strongest event and they will gain at least a point on us based off their difficulty in comparison to the US.

The best solution is to put on power event gymnast, a floor and vault worker, for one spot, and fill the two remaining gaps with two bar workers.  Samantha Peszek is the best choice for spot #4 in my opinion, because she is the 3rd best on vault and now holds the highest difficulty (along with Johnson) on floor.  As another person pointed out, Peszek has had some consistency issues, but I would say Nationals/Trials will pretty much let us know.

Bieger simply does not fill any of these spots.  She is a great vaulter, but not difficult enough.  Same with floor, if she had her 2006 form back I would say she has a better shot.  Her bars difficulty is not enough either.  I do think that she is a good choice as an alternate.  I would put Chellsie Memmel in the same boat if it weren't for the fact that she just showed a 6.9 and 16.0 scoring routine on bars.

With regards to Chelsea Davis, Darling Hill, and Mattie Larson, I would say the same thing.  Larson has a 6.0 on floor, Hill a 6.1 (I am basing these off the most recent Friendly Meet) and we have 6.2's and higher from more experienced athletes.  Hill stil has only a yurchenko 1.5 which we need doubles at bare minimum.  For bars, we really need nothing less than a 6.7 and realistically 7.0+ is what we REALLY need.  None of these athletes can match this.  (Or can they?  Does anyone know?)  But there is also the experience factor, experienced  athletes that prove themselves have a bigger shot, though that does not have anywhere near as much pull in the decisions as the difficulty/consistency factor in my opnion.  Regardless of anything though, gymnasts may add more difficulty by Nationals.  High difficulty performed consistently throughout June is going to be what matters.

• The selection procedures allow for more than just the top 12 from Nationals to advance to trials.  Sacarmone will have no problem proceeding to trials.  Remember in 2004, Chellsie Memmel and Hollie Vise only did two events in Trials, and neither competed at Nationals and petitioned their way in.

• In regards to the Nastia winning the AA.  So many thoughts.  But here is where I am coming from.  I like gymnastics that are "wow" skills.  I like huge tricks performed cleanly.  Whereas Nastia's bar routine is loaded, even her beam routine I think isn't so much.  She has no "F" or "G" skill anywhere in her routines.  She mostly loads with "D"'s.  "D"s are the very middle skill.  Not one of the easiest, not one of the hardest.  But good respectable skills.  (and of course, the triple off beam will add in an "F")  This is why I like He Kexin, she does amazing releases that nearly no one does.  But she does do some pirouettes.  (Li Ya had an amazing combination of both)  Mo Huilan and Kim Gwang-Suk type routines were what really would thrill me, stuff no one tends to do.  This is why I respect Johnson so much.  Her bar routine isn't the best, but even there she is capable of something NO ONE else can perform consistently in their repertoire.

With regards to the twisting only elements on floor, it is not that I don't like twisting combinations, but again, I think to be really good at an event you should show variety.  Nastia does not hold enough variety for me to think she is great at that event.

In regards to the old code, you could get away with scoring too high much easier.  Let's first establish that regardless of the code, gymnasts with the reputation so very often get the benefit of the doubt.  This applies to a lot of gymnasts.  In the old code you could also get away with only twisting elements on floor.  I realize Nastia had won numerous competitions, but in 2005 Nationals remember her floor on one day was overscored because she was given difficulty not in her routine.  The only competitions I can think of her winning under the new code, were SCAM 08' and Nationals 06', which caused a lot of debate because many thought Natasha Kelley should have won.

I am not saying anyone is right or wrong, I just wanted to explain where I was coming from.  I like Nastia, I just don't think she is the best at the All-Around.  Top Ten, but not top three.  And yes, I do agree, Nastia is better at floor than Sacramone and Cheng Fei appear to be on bars.

• Lastly, Lilia Podkopayeva was the last triple crown winner: 1995 Worlds, 1996 European and Olympic Champion.  I did think at one time that Shawn would be that if she won in Beijing, (counting 07' Worlds and Pan Am's) but when I think about it the Pan Am's can't hold a candle to the Europeans :)    

I wrote this in a few sections and ran away from the computer a LOT.  So if there are mad grammatical errors or totally incomplete thoughts I apologize.  I don't have time really to blog, but I really wanted to write a new post.

Thank you everyone for all your comments and opinions.  It's so nice to hear it all and know it's all out there.  I think we should make a huge petition to send to NBC that we want more gymnastics coverage, and if you broadcast Beijing even close to the way you did Sydney...a lot of angry gym fans are going to come storm NBC Studios!  :)