Today kicks off the selection camp for the 2015 Pan American Games at the Karolyi Ranch. Eight gymnasts will seek to earn their spot on the five member team that will represent the USA next month in Toronto. USA Gymnastics announced the gymnasts who will be in contention for the team earlier in the month, and will announce the team selection on Friday. The selection camp will run in conjunction with the normal national team training camp.

The 2015 Pan American Games training squad includes Nia Dennis of Buckeye Gymnastics, Madison Desch of GAGE, Rachel Gowey of Chow’s Gymnastics, Felicia Hano of Gym-Max, Amelia Hundley of Cincinnati, Lauren Navarro of Gliders, Emily Schild of Everest and Megan Skaggs of Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta. 

All of the gymnasts selected have not had as much experience competing internationally (as seniors) as many of the other national team members who will not be vying for a spot on this team. Many have dealt with injury, either late last year or earlier this year, and so have not had the opportunity to show what they are currently capable of outside of national team training camps. Apart from the prestige of representing the USA internationally, this will be an important step in proving to Marta Karolyi and the US women’s team selection committee that they should be considered for a spot later this year on the world championship team.

The Pan American Games run from July 10-26. The artistic gymnastics competitions will include an all-around, team and individual apparatus competitions. The US is sending gymnasts to compete in all forms of gymnastics, including men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, trampoline, and rhythmic gymnastics. Schedules of competition and more information can be found on http://www.toronto2015.org

The individual women’s gymnastics medals for the inaugural European Games have all been claimed. Aliya Mustafina of Russia proved she is still on the hunt for the all-around on the international stage as she claimed the title at the Baku Games. Though she had some mis-steps on floor, she had done enough in her earlier events to win gold. She was followed by the reigning European National Champion, Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. Lieke Wevers of the Netherlands improved her standings from qualifications to take the bronze.

In the individual Event Finals, Steingruber walked away with two gold medals, one on vault and one on floor, Mustafina took gold on uneven bars and Wevers took gold on balance beam. Mustafina also won the silver on floor, while Steingruber and Wevers added a bronze to their collections on the balance beam and floor respectively.

Andreea Iridon of Romania won medals on two events, a silver on beam and bronze on bars. Russia and the Netherlands each added another event medal to their tally with Seda Tutkhaylan taking a silver and Lisa top winning a bronze on vault. Sophie Scheder of Germany rounded out the group of medalists with a silver on the bars.

The games will close out on June 28 in Baku, Azerbaijani, wrapping up with the Closing Ceremonies. The inaugural European games played host to competition in many different sports, with over 6,000 athletes. Competitors represented the 50 countries of Europe with National Olympic Committees.

Read on for score details and videos recapping each Individual Final.

All Around

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

Pictures and video all from http://www.baku2015.com.

The world of gymnastics is familiar with gymnasts not winning medals due to rules that can feel unfair. Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking situations was at the 2000 Olympics. Andreea Raducan failed a drug test after taking cold medicine provided by her doctor, and was subsequently stripped of her all-around gold medal. It was clear at the time that Raducan did not know that the cold medicine contained a banned substance.

Raducan took two pills that contain the common cold medicine, pseudoephedrineone. Many people use this regularly for allergies and sinus infections. The same dosage can show up with very different results in each person’s urine, as there is a wide spread in how it is processed the body. Raducan failed the drug test, and was stripped of her gold medal.  Unlike other situations, she was able to keep her other medals and continue competing. And the fall out went beyond Raducan. The team doctor was banned for a number of years, and Ion Ţiriac, the president of the Romanian Olympic Committee, resigned.

To add insult to injury, from 2004 to 2010, the substance was removed from the banned list. So last year, Raducan began her quest to have the decision reversed. She approached International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach to reconsider the decision. Last week, Raducan travelled to Lausanne to meet with Bach at the IOC headquarters.

Though she was met with sympathy, they chose to uphold the original decision. “This decision was very tough for Andreea and was not easily taken by the IOC at the time,” Bach said, according to ESPN. “It shows how strict our anti-doping rules are by having to apply the principle of strict liability of the athlete. On the other hand, I feel a great deal of sympathy for her because she has to suffer from a mistake by her team doctor. Even more so because this happened at the age of 16, when as an athlete you have absolute confidence in your medical team.”

Such is sport, where sometimes rules must be upheld despite the circumstances surrounding the situation. And in a world where athletes use drugs to win, a spunky 16-year-old who won all of our hearts loses out.

The first European Games is well underway, with the first round of gymnastics competition in the books.  The event was headlined with the reigning 2015European All-around Champion, Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber. Joining her were Russia’s returning star gymnasts, Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova and 2014 Youth Olympic Games All-around Champion, Seda Tutkhalyan.

The format at these games differs slightly from the average gymnastics competition. Qualifications were held over two days, with every country competing on vault and bars on day one and beam and floor on day two. Only one gymnast per country was able to qualify on to the individual event and all-around finals. The qualifications also served as the team competition. Each country fielded up to three gymnasts on each event, and the top two event scores determined the team medals.

Russia easily clinched the team gold, winning with a 6.5 margin. Germany just squeaked out the silver. The Netherlands took bronze.

A healthy Mustafina showed some of her former glory, qualifying first into the all-around. Her Russian teammates, Tutkhalyan and Komova came in second and third, but were unable to move on to the finals due to the one per country rule. Steingruber qualified in second and Germany’s Sophie Scheder qualified in third.

As one of the top European vaulters, it is no surprise that Steingruber led the vault qualifications. Tutkihalyan qualified in second, bringing power and spunk that were surprising for the tiny 15-year-old. Lisa Top of the Netherlands came in third.

Mustafina qualified first on bars, with a beautifully performed routine out of a 6.5 difficulty score. Scheder and teammate Elisabeth Seitz tied for second, however the execution score tie-breaker went to Scheder. Only Scheder will move on to event finals. Komova and Tutkhalyan came in fourth and sixth respectively, but will also not move on to finals. Noemi Makra of Hungary qualified in third.

Tutkhalyan just edged out Mustafina to qualify in first and move on to her second event finals with a 6.3 start value on beam. She did two stunning acrobatic combinations, a roundoff layout and a roundoff layout full to clinch her spot. Steingruber qualified in second followed by Komova who came in fourth, but along with Mustafina, will not move on to the finals. Scheder qualfied in third.

Mustafina qualified into her second event finals, leading the pack on floor with a 6.1 difficulty score. She opened with a beautiful double layout and her routine included many difficult turns. Silvia Zarzu of Romania qualified in second followed by Lieke Wevers of the Netherlands. Laura Jurca of Romania came in fourth and Gaelle Mys of Belgium came in eighth, but will not move on to the finals.

Full results, schedules and athlete bios can be found on the Baku 2015 website. The all-around finals will be held on Thursday, June 20 at 8:30am EST. Individual event finals will start at 7:30am EST on Saturday, June 20. Many events are being livestreamed from the Games youtube site.

Opening ceremonies for this inaugural event, held in Baku, Azerbaijani kicked off the games on Friday, June 12, and they will run through June 20, with the gymnastics competitions being held June 14-20. The games will play host to competition in many different sports, with over 6,000 athletes. Competitors will be representing the 50 countries of Europe with National Olympic Committees.

Lexie Priessman, a four year national team member and junior National Champion, announced her retirement from elite gymnastics yesterday. After an incredibly successful junior career, Priessman has spent the last two years dealing with injuries that have prevented her from competing. Instead of continuing to pursue her elite career, she has decided instead to begin her college career at LSU this fall. “I wanted to take the time personally to let all of you know I have chosen to head to college in the fall… I am so happy with my elite career and how it went, but now it’s time to move on and make some amazing memories in college gymnastics,” Priessman shared on Instagram.

Priessman made her debut as a 13-year-old at the 2010 Nastia Liukin Cup where she won the all-around. She went on to have an incredibly successful junior career, dominating on vault and floor. As a junior, she won or placed second on vault in all but one competition both in the US and internationally, competing an amanar that tied with McKayla Maroney’s in 2010.

Priessman enjoyed similar success on floor. After 2011, she won or placed second on floor in every US competition she entered. On top of her incredible power, Priessman had great showmanship on the floor. She brought a great deal of energy and charisma to her performances. She brought that same energy to the rest of the competition, brightening the entire arena with her smile and positive attitude. Priessman culminated her junior career by winning the 2012 Junior National all-around and floor titles.

The gymnastics world awaited Priessman’s senior debut with much anticipation. After such a successful junior career, she was expected to be one of the USA’s top seniors in 2013. She came out with a bang, bringing a new, mature floor routine with an incredibly high level of difficulty.

But the rest of the story did not unfold as expected. Back in 2010, Priessman had dislocated her toe during training. Instead of having surgery, she spent the next few years training and competing with a toe held together mostly with tape. “My toe would pop out nonstop because I tore every ligament in it,” Priessman said in an interview with Pressbox, “I would lean to the ride side of my foot to try to protect my toe, and then I would start hurting the rest of my foot.”

Between the Secret US Classics and the P&G National Championships, the pain became too much for Priessman to continue training on without surgery. The surgery took her out of competition for the rest of the year, dashing her hopes of making the World Championship team. In October of 2013, she committed to LSU, however made it clear that she was continuing to pursue her Olympic dreams.

After rehabilitating her toe, Priessman made another huge decision and left Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy. Citing the need for a change, she left the gym where she had trained her entire career. She went to Perfection Gymnastics School to train with Enrique Trabanino, who had trained her at CGA when she was younger.

The start of 2014 seemed like it was a do-over, a time for Priessman to finally enter into the world of senior gymnastics and shine. Happy and ready to get back into things, she came to the 2014 Secret US Classics ready to compete. Then, in podium training, she injured her ankle. The injury once again required surgery, and took her out for the rest of the year.

Through her injuries, Priessman kept her spirits up. She often posted on social media with her positive perspective on life. “I’ve accomplished and learned more about myself through all these injuries then when I was healthy” she said on Instagram.

Determined towards her dreams of making the Olympics, Priessman continued training and rehabbing with plans of deferring her college scholarship until after the 2016 Olympics. However, yesterday, Priessman announced on instagram that she has decided to retire as an elite gymnast and head to college this fall.

I wanted to take the time personally to let all of you know I have chosen to head to college in the fall. As you know the last two years for me as an athlete has been extremely difficult with all the injuries I have been going through. I have been working very hard in the gym everyday to get back to 100 percent to compete again. Unfortunately, I hit some bumps that I wasn’t planning on hitting. I thought about all of the adversity I have been through and as I always say God has a plan. I have decided to go to college in the fall and begin a new chapter in my life. I want all of you to know I cant be more grateful to have been a member of the USA National team for four years. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to travel the world and help our country win gold medals. I will miss all the training camps and the knowledge everyone has taught me but more importantly help me become the young lady I am today. I am so happy with my elite career and how it went, but now it’s time to move on and make some amazing memories in college gymnastic 💜 #GEAUXTIGERS

With her team attitude, charisma and incredible talent level, Priessman will be a welcome addition to LSU and college gymnastics.