The American Way to London s 2012 Olympic Games

No waiting around this year!
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For the first time since the 2000 Olympics, US gymnasts and fans will know, soon after the USA Gymnastics Olympic trials (June 28-July 1) in San Jose (Calif.) , which five men and five women will represent the U.S. in London at the 2012 Olympics.
The President of the US Gymnastics Federation, Steve PENNY (photo, left) explained the timing of national Olympic qualification in informal talks at the "2012 London Prepaees" last week:
"The bottom line is the timing is conducive to selecting a full team because there are only a few weeks between the dates of our trials and the Olympic Games. We're very excited about the fact we'll leave San Jose with full teams."

The 2012 Olympic selection procedures for the men's and women's teams are different.
- The men will use scores from the national championships June 7-10 in St. Louis and the Olympic trials and the top two scorers make the five-man team as long as they are also in the top three on three of the six individual events men compete in.
The men will allow injured gymnasts to petition on to the team if they were a part of the 2008 Olympic team or were members of the 2009, 2010 or 2011 world championship teams.

- For the women, the winner of the trials' all-around competition automatically qualifies. The men's and women's selection committees will choose the rest of the team as well as name three alternates who will all also travel to London.
The women will not accept petitions of injured gymnasts who miss the trials.
Olympic gymnastics trials competition will begin in San Jose July 28 for the men and July 29 for the women.

Penny said Karolyi, who had preferred selecting the full team as close as possible to the games because she felt it was the best way to find the most-prepared and healthiest gymnasts, was satisfied with this procedure.
"Martha Karolyi's been agreeable because she understands that there's just not a lot of options when you're this close to the Olympic Games," Penny said. "By the time you turn around, you're heading to London anyway."
The procedure will be more tense than ever because the size of teams has been reduced from six to five.
The women won three gold medals at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo including the team title and all-around gold with Jordyn Wieber.
Defending Beijing all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin and all-around silver medalist Shawn Johnson are both making comebacks as are 2008 Olympians Bridget Sloan and Chellsie Memmel.