January 31, 2001
Visa American Cup Attract Top-Notch Field
Come February 24, 2001, the American Cup will be held. The competition is held at Orlando's TD Waterhouse Centre.

Fifteen stars from the Sydney Olympic Games will compete in Orlando including double gold and silver medalist Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS) and all-around bronze medalist Oleksandr Beresh (UKR).

Following is the roster of U.S. and international competitors:

Men
Blaine Wilson (USA)
Sean Townsend (USA)
Eric Lopez Rios (CUB)
Alexei Bondarenko (RUS)
Marian Dragulsecu (ROM)
Oleksandr Beresh (UKR)
Kenichi Fujita (JPN)
Victor Cano (ESP)

Women
Tasha Schwikert (USA)
Kristal Uzelac (USA)
Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS)
Alena Polozkova (BLR)
Laura Martinez (ESP)
Monica Bergamelli (ITA)
Camila Comin (BRA)
Kate Richardson (CAN)

The gymnasts here will be competing under the new Code of Points. Created by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the Code of Points are the rules and requirements that govern the sport of gymnastics. The new Code of Points for the present Olympicquadrennium went into effect January 1, 2001 and are valid until 2004.

The Visa American Cup will award $70,000 in total prize money, making it one of the wealthiest and most respected international gymnastics competitions in the world.

January 31, 2001
Maria Olaru will retire in April, at this year's Romanian International (no
mention of whether she'll actually compete, or if there will just be a ceremony for her). She explained her decision, saying "the skills I performed at last year's Olympics are now worthless under the new code of points." The first year student at the Sports University in Timisoara plans to pursue a career in education or coaching in the future.

January 26, 2001
The new "Great Four" Circuit of artistic gymnastics - successor of the former
European Grand Prix series - lost one host, definitely - The organizers of Budapest (Hungary) cancelled their event in April 2001 because of financial problems. The hosts of "Le Duel" in Montreux are also just fighting to realize their event in March 2001. Only the "25th Tournament of Masters" in Cottbus at the end of March is a matter of fact.

January 26, 2001
The International Gymnastics Federation, FIG, informed the companies "Janssen & Fritsen", Netherlands ("Pegases"), and "SPIETH", Germany ("Ergojet"), that their two versions of new vault apparatus correspond to the official FIG norms and are permited as official apparatuses, from now on.

January 19, 2001
Sveta's birthday is today!!! Wishing her all the best in up-and-coming gymnastics competitions and in whatever she does.

January 18, 2001
On 16 January 2001, at the Royal Albert Hall, major celebrities and sporting legends past and present gathered to honour the greatest proponents of sporting excellence and endeavour from the past year, at the second annual World Spots Awards. Fifteen sportsmen and woman received the highest possible accolade from their peers. Hosted by Roger Moore and Desiree Nosbusch,  the event - if temporarily - healed the rift between the All Saints, as they entertained the audiece with an up-beat performance of "Hooked up". Bryan Adams and members of the Canadian super-circus Cirque de Soleil gided the lavish and spectacular occasion with top class showbusiness style. The nomination shortlists were determined by 71 of sport's great and good, from 30 different countries who each put forward five nominees in each of 15 categories. From their votes, a top five shortlist was compiled for each award. One additional vote - canvassed from the public via the internet - was added in each section. The British flag was held aloft by Lennox Lewis who fught off a highly competitive field which included Roy Jones Junior and Felix Savon to secure the Combat Sports Award.
The Women's Athletics award went to Simona Amanar the Romanian gymnast. The Men's Athletics Award - selected from a diverse field - was presented to another gymnast, the Russian Alexei Nemov.

January 16, 2001
More infomation on Tournee France - Russia (Defence d'Or) can be found here. Participants include:

Artistic (Men)
Alexei Nemov, Nicolai Krukov, Alexei Bondarenko, Evgueny Podgorni, Dimitri Drevine, Florent Maree, Yann Cucherat, Benjamin Varonian, Eric Poujade and Dimitri Karbanenko
Artistic (Women)
Svetlana Khorkina, Elena Zamolodchikova, Ekaterina Lobazniouk, Elena Prodounova, Anastassia Kolesnikova, Nelly Ramassamy, Delphine Regease, Anne sophie Endeler, Elvire Teza, Ludivine Furnon

Other gymnastics disciplines are also included.

January 11, 2001
On January 20, Sveta and the Russian gals will be embarking on a tour in France. They will be there until February 10. Think that this tour is called Defence d'Or but I'm not really sure. Wish Sveta luck on her first event of the year!!!

January 11, 2001
SI for Women Jan/Feb issue with Michelle Kwan on the cover has a small portion about Sveta inside.

January 10, 2001
Bela Karoyli Bows Out
Bela Karolyi, who coached three Olympic gold medalists, is out as coordinator of the USA Gymnastics women s national team. USA Gymnastics said Monday that Karolyi would not return to the job he held for just over a year. The decision was made during a women s program summit in Houston on Sunday.

January 1, 2001
Just wanna wish all of you a very Happy New Year! Hope that 2001 will be a great year for all of you out there and success will come your way. And if you happen to read this too, Sveta, I wish for 2001 to be your best year ever, not only that you'll reap awesome results and medals from all competitions, but also that your personal life will be the way you want.