Sunisa Lee: “Getting back into the swing of things” - Artistic gymnastics weekly news roundup

Team USA’s Sunisa Lee is back to training after taking what she told Olympics.com in June was her first vacation – ever!

The Tokyo 2020 women's gymnastics all-around gold medallist posted a video of herself on Instagram performing a Nabieva, a toe-on to layout Tkatchev. The catch-and-release move was one of the signature elements for Lee in Tokyo.

Lee wrote on the post: “getting back into the swing of thingsss.” 

The video comes after Lee has shared several training videos in recent weeks, including her performing a full-twisting double layout off a rod floor, a round off layout stepout balance beam mount, and a Jaeger-half to Ezhova uneven bars combination.

Lee has been keeping a busy schedule as of late, with stops at Auburn University, where she is entering her sophomore year, Minneapolis, where she trains and Los Angeles to attend a University of Southern California football game.

The 19-year-old has not spoken specifically about her plans in the sport beyond a return to North American collegiate gymnastics, which begins its season in January.

“The plan is to go back to Auburn and compete another year. I think right now I'm just training, getting my body back into shape, having fun, doing fun skills and just kind of seeing where it takes me,” Lee said in June. “I don't really have a commitment to anything right now other than college gymnastics just because you never know how things can go.”

Tang Xijing, Zhang Boheng win Chinese all-around titles

Tokyo 2020 balance beam silver medallist Tang Xijing and 2021 world all-around champion Zhang Boheng claimed the all-around titles this week at the Chinese gymnastics championships.

Tang, who in addition to her Tokyo medal won gold on the balance beam and silver on the uneven bars at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, claimed the women’s title with a two-day score of 108.850, including a 55.000 in the all-around on the second day of competition. Ou Yushan, 107.750, and He Licheng, 107.400, finished second and third, respectively.

In the men’s competition, reigning world all-around champion Zhang looked to be in top form just weeks ahead of what will be his title defense in Liverpool.

His two-day total was 174.900, nearly four full points ahead of silver medallist Sun Wei’s 170.950 combined score. Yang Jiazing was third at 169.050.

From the vault…

This week, we take a look back at the women’s floor final from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The last medal round of women’s competition, Romania’s Catalina Ponor added the gold medal, giving her a third of the Games. She also won team and beam gold in Greece. Teammate Daniela Sofronie won silver, while Spain’s Patrica Morena was the bronze medallist.