Month: August 2015

The first big-time gymnastics event I ever attended was the 2001 U.S. National Championships in Philadelphia. One of the juniors was 13 year-old Carly Patterson (that’s a photo of her on beam I took there). Though she had recently won the US Classic, she had a disastrous day one, and while she climbed back to third overall, she only placed in the top six on one event. Not the kind of consistency that usually impresses [read more]

[Photo is a selfie I was lucky enough to get with the wonderful and gracious Mohini Bhardwaj Barry, when I spotted her outside the Bankers Life Fieldhouse; I’m lucky enough to be Facebook friends with Mo, and a few days before this she had publicly thanked me on FB for a sincere tribute to her distinguished career, which I had posted on the occasion of her upcoming induction into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame. [read more]

[Written in my Indianapolis hotel room the night before competition starts] The women’s competition looks to be outstanding, with a fistful of world champions and ’12 Olympians, including Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raismann, MyKayla Skinner, and junior national all-around champion Bailie Key from powerhouse Texas Dreams gym, who made her senior debut at the Secret US Classic and placed an impressive fourth all-around against much the same field. have tons of experience, with fully [read more]