If you have a brain, you probably presumed that the Chinese gymnasts at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were underage.
If you have a fist, you probably pumped it when Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson went 1-2 in the all-around that same year.
If you have tear ducts, they probably welled up when Kerri Strug vaulted the Americans to gold on one ankle at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta.
And if you have a gut, it’s probably telling you that this week’s NCAA gymnastics championships will possess their fair share of drama.
Gymnastics. Drama. The two words are more closely linked than “curling” and “naptime.” As one of the signature events of every Summer Olympiad, the women’s gymnastics competition in particular generally showcases a peerless blend of vibrant characters, improbable feats and, of course, tension that would have Will Shakespeare scribbling notes.
But starting Thursday, in the preliminary round, drama is the last thing you want to see surrounding a UCLA team that will be one of the favorites to win the whole thing. Assuming, of course, that you would very much like to see the Bruins bring home championship No. 105 and you are not some anti-art, anti-athletic, anti-aesthetic Scrooge.
In the dozen or so years of women’s gymnastics A.S. (After Strug), the collegiate ranks have been dominated by two perennial powers. The campuses of UCLA and Georgia lie 2,500 miles apart, but the gap between those two schools and the rest of the country has been much wider than that.
Since 1997, only the Bruins and the Bulldogs have won a team championship, with Georgia having won the last five. Women’s college gymnastics is a bit like the uneven bars: UCLA and Georgia represent the upper bar, and the rest of country is the lower bar.
But wait! Georgia failed to make it into this year’s field of 12. One of the major actors in the drama will have to enjoy the show from backstage. The absence of the Bulldogs could be golden for UCLA from both a physical and mental standpoint. Not only are the five-time champions not going to be back for number six, one of the only two teams to beat UCLA this season ““ the other being Stanford ““ won’t be able to duplicate that feat.
The Bruins are led by Anna Li, a four-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection and the squad’s lone senior. She’s been through all sorts of highs and lows during her four years in Westwood and should be ready to shine this weekend. Chinese gymnastics, take note: that is a real coming-of-age story.
Then there’s sophomore Vanessa Zamarripa, one of the best performers in the country on the balance beam, the signature apparatus in women’s gymnastics. Zamarripa could be the key this weekend, particularly since the beam usually represents the climax of the competition. In Beijing, Johnson and Liukin turned in memorable routines on the balance beam that almost catapulted the Americans into first place ahead of the People’s Elementary School of China.
One of the more dominant college athletic programs of our generation is back in the spotlight, and their usual antagonist is nowhere to be seen. Vaults, flips and soft landings await all this weekend.
The curtain is nearing its close, and another championship is hanging in the balance.
As the No. 1 seed this weekend, coach Valorie Kondos Field and the Bruins should be hoping for the least amount of drama possible. A systematic drubbing of their opponents, a la the recent Pac-10 Championships and NCAA Regionals, would be the ideal outcome. But this is women’s gymnastics, and you never know when an emotional breakdown or a tragic misstep is lurking in the next scene.