2009 Tyson American Cup Gymnastics Competition

I have been so caught up in getting my own girls ready for a big swim meet this weekend (more on that later) and getting my gymnasts ready for a competition next weekend, that I completely forgot that the Tyson American Cup Gymnastics meet is tomorrow, February 21, 2009 and it is being held in Chicago.

One of the nice things about this long standing competition is that the field of competitors is small, and while many of the competitors arrive as relative unknowns, many of our most recognized gymnasts in history competed in an American Cup meet at some point in their career. Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Shannon Miller, Nastia Liukin, and Shawn Johnson are all former American Cup champions!

So who will emerge as champion this year? The line up for the women looks like this:

Brittany Rogers, Canada
Youna Dufournet, France
Kim Bui, Germany
Rebecca Downie, Great Britain
Koko Tsurumi, Japan
Amelia Racea, Romania
Kristina Goryunova, Russia
Bridget Sloan, USA
Jordyn Wieber, USA
Jessica Lopez, Venezuela

I predict this is Jordyn Wieber’s year, but she will have to be “on” to get past Olympian Bridget Sloan.  You can watch the meet live online at 2:30 Eastern on Universal Sports or wait until 4 pm Eastern and catch it on NBC Sports.

Photo (Jordyn Wieber web site)

UPDATE: Well, I was right! Jordyn Wieber wowed the crowd and was on today! She came in 1st in front of Bridget Sloan and Germany’s Kim Bui. Read the report and watch the competition rewind at Universal Sports.