Morgan Hurd, the New American Superhero

People watch sports events because they are thrilling and competitive, but they also watch sports in order to be inspired. Well,  if you would like to be inspired by a wonderfully talented girl who tumbles with her glasses and braces on, look no further than the latest American star.

Morgan Hurd has just won the all around women's title in artistic gymnastics, an achievement hundreds of thousands of girls around the world dream about. Many fans like rooting for the underdog, but who everyone likes to root for is an athlete who is talented, focused, humble and sweet. This is exactly what Megan Hurd is. She has all the qualities of the kind of unexpected superhero that can inspire everyone.

16-year old Morgan was adopted from Wuzhou, China as a toddler. She lives in Middletown, Delaware with her mom. Her coach is from a beautiful town called Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. 

All three places are not exactly the kind of locations that most people can spot on a map.

But winning is not about where you started or about where you stopped at the end. It is about the distance in between. Morgan's journey is tremendous. She had some good marks before winning this title, but not really big wins. She truly started from zero and ended up right at the top.

To be fair to her and her competitors, Morgan's victory was somewhat unexpected, though it was completely deserved. Her name now stands next to those of Kim Zmeskal, Shannon Miller, Shawn Johnson, Chelsie Memmel, Bridget Sloan, Jordyn Wieber, Simone Biles.

Above all the skills and the hours of training, and above the natural talent or even all the pain involved in learning new moves, Morgan stands where she is because, during the most challenging time in her career, unlike many of her competitors, she stayed calm and confident and did not make mistakes. Being a hero is not always about spectacular moments, drama and competitive thirst. Being a hero can be mostly about quiet, unwavering resistance.  Morgan may have surprised some fans. But she really just went out there, and did the very best of her best. That's something that many people, who are otherwise extremely killed, frequently fail to do under pressure. 

Morgan has won and she's smiling with her braces in order to remind us about the great range of things in life that are possible. She "dwells in possibility" as a poet wrote. I think it's no accident that her coach's first name means "glory."

United States Strongest Rhythmic Gymnasts Ever Ready for Their Most Important 2015 Event

The United States has taken a firm position as one of the world's leading nations in artistic gymnastics with the great and unforgettable stars from the 1990s, Shannon Miller and Kim Zmeskal, followed by the astonishing Olympic champion Nastia Likuin, a true personification of both strength and grace, and the new generation of female super heroes: Gabbie Douglas, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and all the other girls on the national team.

I believe that the only reason rhythmic gymnastics has not followed into the glorious footsteps of its artistic sister discipline is quite simply because rhythmic has not gained enough popularity in the United States (yet!). I think rhythmic might just be biding its time before thousands of girls in America discover its charm. I have written about some terrific American gymnasts in the past, such as Rebecca Sereda and Ronit Shamuilov. I liked some of their work quite a bit, but this year, at the 2015 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, which are about to start on September 7th, the United States is going on the world gymnastics carpet with its best foot forward because the two gymnasts who represent us are Laura Zeng and Jazzy Kerber.

Laura and Jazzy have both gone very far in developing all the qualities that a rhythmic gymnast needs: from flexibility and natural elegance to apparatus work to sheer strength of body and mind. I would like to take this moment to wish them luck, but, more importantly, to share with the fans that, as a true fan, I expect many great achievements from both for them and I do hope that this World Championship will mark the start of an upward-climbing path. Keep going forward and on to the next milestone! Both of you are ready, and you are wonderful!

Laura Zeng in Moscow

Jazzy looks elegant from any angle

Bending and Spinning Like Champions, in America

Hi there, fans. I have some pictures of U.S. gymnast in ring shapes and pivots. I wish Jay Leno tried to do this instead of making fun of gymnastics on his show. I mean, come on, he could have just poked fun at Lance Armstrong, or basketball, or something else that he more or less understands. 

On a more serious note, now that wrestling got kicked out of the Olympics, I really hope gymnastics stays because these American girls work very hard and they look absolutely out-of-this-world...even while bending and spinning in a school gym right under a basketball hoop. What they practice is a real sport,  as challenging as many other sports, and worthy of Olympic participation for sure.

Ronit and Rebecca Shine in Boston

While everyone else was watching the Superbowl, I attended, as any rhythmic gymnastics fan should, an invitational at Shady Hill High School in Cambridge. Rebecca Sereda and Ronit Shamuilov, America's top rhythmic gymnasts, looked more mature, bedazzled in sparkly leos and very confident.

The two of them really will compete with each other and I am hopeful that, unlike many other teams, the US will have, TWO top gymnasts, who motivate each other instead of designating one "prima."The new routines need lots of work because we are still in the beginning of the season but they did show beautiful moves already: