Just in today on the IG board: posted by Thor: [quote] This has not been confirmed but a friend who works at woga called and said that the word over there is that Alicia is out of worlds because of an injury she sustained when practicing her rudi. She told me that Valeri called and said this. There is still allot of confusion but it seems Marta had told Alicia to do do the vault in a particular way which caused the injury.[/quote] It's still not confirmed that this is true, or is just a rumor....but if it is, why was Marta telling her how to do her vault, instead of her own coaches that have been practicing with her?!! It does look sometimes like Marta does give coaching / gymnastics advice. Perhaps, cuz of the training camps they keep having, they end up with all these injuries, b/c the practice/workout for each gymnast is getting more unified instead of individualized - every gymnast doesn't workout / practice the same, so when a coach comes in the middle, without all this knowledge of each gymnast, it's bad. And, Marta might be saying and using different techniques than the gymnasts' coach - not good to have these conflicting new coaches right before competition, if it's not a safety issue technique.

from Gymworld, posted by Leia; "work at Brestyan's and heard from one of the other team coaches who was in contact with Mihai yesterday that Alicia was doing vault timers for her rudi and missed her hands off the end of the table. She was able to land safely on her back, but she must have been shaken because on her next vault she balked in mid-air and bent her knee the wrong way when she landed. She hurt her knee but they're still waiting for confirmation on what the injury is. He said that Mihai thinks it's ligament damage? Mihai and Alicia are staying in Denmark to support the team but basically Alicia is OUT and Johnson is IN and Alicia is devastated" yeah, the national training camps program doesn't seem good at all, because of this force unifying thing by coaches that don't coach you every practice

uhuh! the new scoring method could be taken to also play in this, but you know there have been a lot of U.S. injuries over the past years as well before the scoring change, when the national training camps have been happening. there has been more depth in the u.s. team since the national training camps, but this could be b/c of more coaching experience in the individual clubs as well, and gymnast health and what is good for the gymnast should be taken into account rather than the do anything for a medal thinking.

Natasha Kelley also got injured a bit: from ESPN.com: "And Natasha Kelley, the runner-up to Liukin at this year's nationals, endured a bizarre accident, bashing her mouth into the lower of the uneven bars, which were set too loose in the practice gym. It opened a gash so wide below her lower lip that doctors had to forego stitches and use glue to piece it back together. Kelley has retainers on the inside of her upper and lower teeth, which is probably the only reason they're still in her mouth. " ...they should make sure the vault is set right too!

ya, Natasha's bruise on her chin in the second pict here: http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/2006/worlds/photos/photos-women1.html

From IG board on Sacramone: [quote]Alicia is not hurt. These phony detailed reports coming out of both Brestyan's and WOGA means some people are messing with fans. However, Chellsie Memmel suffered a sprained ankle landing a double layout on floor exercise. ----------------- Amanda Turner International Gymnast Magazine[/quote]

There's a picture of Sacramone icing her knee at gymworld.