Olympic Trials 2008 Women's Gymnastics Night Two: Johnson, Liukin Top 2

The road to the Olympics, in gymnastics, is long, hard, and because it only comes around once every four years, timing and luck play a part. A gymnasts' career span can be short, and the Olympics is the pinnacle of the sport. Only two gymnasts earned a ticket to Beijing after tonight's two hour live presentation on NBC.

Here were the standings coming in from last night:
1. Shawn Johnson
2. Nastia Liukin
3. Chellsie Memmel
4. Samantha Pescel
5. Ivana Hong
6. Jana Bieger

The women all competed excellently, and their talent and depth are exciting to watch. Bela Karolyi said after the show that this group of athletes will be the best USA gymnastics team ever.

Natsia Liukin had a few problems during the meet. She had a couple of slip up's on uneven bars. She had to struggle from the handstand position once and she had a break in swing, coming to the low bar from the high bar. She stepped out of bounds on floor exercise and landed in a lock kneed position on vault, which made her coach wince with worry that she may have been injured. After the meet, she said she had had on "off day" and "it wasn't my best". The mistakes all seemed to stem from trying to be perfect. Trying to hit those perfect handstands on bars and trying to stick the landings. She ended up taking second all-around and earning a spot on Team USA.

Shawn Johnson turned in world class performances and went on to win the event plus securing her spot on Team USA. Chellsie Memmel had fantastic performances, and actually ended up in second place all-around tonight, but factoring in last night's scores, she ended up in third position. She was the 2005 World Champion, and has made a great comeback. Alicia Sacromone had an electrifying floor routine, although she scored 15.7, whereas Shawn Johnson scored a 16.2. Shaley Worley fell off the uneven bars, but performed well in her other events.

The live aspect of the show presented some challenges, and perhaps gives a sneak peek at how the Olympics will be shown in August. The producers have in mind which gymnasts to show. They will be concentrating on capturing those gymnasts' performances. If something happens, such as an underdog is showing great promise of winning a medal, then the gymnasts' may have to wait for the TV crew. When Jana Bieger stepped up her performances tonight, she actually had to wait for the TV crew to finish showing her uneven bar routine replays before she could start her floor performance. Maybe that would explain why the show went slightly over the two hour time limit allocated.

NBC commentators showed graphics on the "Projected US Team" on each of the four events. They inserted question marks where it is still unknown who will compete. Three gymnasts will compete on each event. In the Team Finals, all three scores count and none are eliminated. Every gymnast will have to hit their routines in order to win the Team Championship. There will be decisions made during the "selection camp" near Houston, Texas, which will be run by Marta Karolyi.

Steve Penny, President of USA Gymnastics, announced the two Team members. It was rumored that a third member would be announced tonight, but that did not materialize. 12 gymnasts were selected to travel to the "camp" and from that pool, four more gymnasts will be selected to compete in the Olympics. Time ran out on the live NBC show to announce those 12 names, other than Sacromone and Worley. The commentators said to check online at www.nbcolympics.com where the names would be posted soon.