World Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts To Watch

SI Staff | Oct 7, 2011

World Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts To Watch /

World Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts To Watch

Jordyn Wieber

Wieber, 16, is the reigning U.S. all-around champion and arguably the favorite to win the world all-around title. Wieber defeated the 2010 world all-around champion, Aliya Mustafina, earlier this year, and Mustafina is not competing in Tokyo due to injury. Neither are Americans 2009 world champion Bridget Sloan nor two-time world medalist Rebecca Bross. The next week could be Wieber's stage to set herself up as the U.S. golden girl for London.

Viktoria Komova

If anybody is going to deprive Wieber of gold, it'll likely be a Russian. Komova, 16, won the first Youth Olympic Games all-around title in 2010. Teammate Anna Dementyeva is the 2011 European all-around champion. Russia is also the defending women's team world champion.

He Kexin

He isn't even 5 feet tall, but she's a firecracker on uneven bars. At the Beijing Olympics, she won a complicated tiebreaker with Nastia Liukin to take the bars gold medal. He was also part of the Chinese team's age controversy in 2008. A gymnast must turn 16 years old during the Olympic year to compete in the Games. He's passport lists her as being born Jan. 1, 1992.

Catalina Ponor

Ponor was the only non-swimmer to win three gold medals at the 2004 Olympics. Since, the Romanian diva's on-again, off-again retirements have not lacked drama. Now 24, Ponor is competing in her first world championships since 2007 where she'll be the veteran anchor for Romania, which lost star Sandra Izbasa to injury.

Beth Tweddle

Great Britain hasn't won a women's gymnastics medal at the Olympics since 1928. Beth Tweddle may be their best hope to break that drought come London. Tweddle, 26, is a five-time world championship medalist and the defending champion on uneven bars.

Jonathan Horton

Horton was dethroned as U.S. all-around champion this year, so he enters the world championships with a little bit to prove. Horton was the all-around bronze medalist at the 2010 world championships, but should he have an off meet, his status as an Olympic all-around threat will come into serious question. Especially with 2004 Olympic champion Paul Hamm on the comeback path.

Danell Leyva

The Cuban-born Miami native is the new sensation in men's gymnastics. Leyva, 19, won his first U.S. all-around title this year and likely hasn't reached his full potential yet. With Horton and Leyva, the U.S. has a one-two punch not seen since the Hamm twins' heyday in the early 2000s. The Americans are targeting their first team medal at worlds since 2003.

Kohei Uchimura

Uchimura is on his own planet. He's the two-time defending world all-around champion, winning the 2010 title by more than two full points (the same margin between second place and 12th place). If the Japanese leader performs to his capabilities, he will become the first man to win three world all-around titles.

Zou Kai

Zou won three gold medals at the 2008 Olympics, including individual titles on floor and high bar. His last major international meet was the 2009 world championships, where Zou won the high bar title. China has won four straight men's team world championships, and Zou will be a major contributor as it goes for five.

Philipp Boy

Boy, 24, took silver (way) behind Uchimura last year, further proof of Germany's recent surge in the men's ranks. Boy's veteran teammate, Fabian Hambuchen, is a two-time world all-around medalist. The Germans will be battling the Americans, Chinese and Japanese for team medals.

Daniel Keatings

The British men are a little more decorated than the British women. Keatings brings the most hardware, including the 2009 world all-around silver medal. Louis Smith is a medal favorite on pommel horse, while Daniel Purvis is the reigning European all-around bronze medalist. If the British can squeeze into the top five in the team competition and bring home multiple individual medals, it would be a very successful meet.

Published Oct 7, 2011

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