ABOVE: 2008 Olympic teammates Shawn Johnson
(left) and Chellsie Memmel had mixed fortunes in
St. Paul. Johnson performed well on vault, bars
and beam (she did not compete on floor), while
Memmel couldn’t finish her last routine, on bars,
when she injured her right shoulder.
LEFT: Katelyn Ohashi won the junior title over two-time defending champion Kyla Ross. Sarah
Finnegan finished third.
team atmosphere when we go to [training]
camps and everything.”
What transpired in St. Paul, hometown of
Peanuts cartoonist Charles Shulz (bronzes of
the characters are all over town), offered more
question marks than exclamation points. From
Wieber’s dominance to inconsistent rookies to
not-quite-there-yet veterans, it was difficult to
get a firm grasp on where this team is headed.
Perhaps the best assessment would be to
quote Charlie Brown himself: Good grief!
JUNIOR COMPETITION
Katelyn Ohashi (WOGA), runner-up a year
ago, competed at a whole new level in St.
Paul, where she performed a routine on balance beam that could win the next worlds or
Olympics. But being born in 1997 means
she’s too young for both. Ohashi scored
16. 10 on beam in prelims, tumbling two flip-flops to a layout full and dismounting with a
roundoff, piked full-in. And although she did
