A new date for the Nationals?

It is really sad that the Nationals had to be postoponed thanks to the outbreak of H1N1 in sister country Argentina (and consequently in Brazil as well). As if the outbreak had not caused enough harm to the competition, Jade Barbosa is uncertain if she will compete or not and both Laís Souza and Daiane dos Santos stated that they are not going to take part in this competition... or any other competition this year.

At least CBG now has a much easier time in choosing what girls are going to the World Championships in London. Barring injury, the selected girls will probably be Ana Claudia Silva, Ehtiene Franco, Khiuane Dias and Bruna Leal. Priscila Cobello has a very slight chance of taking one spot, but I doubt so. Maybe she will be an alternate.

Too bad Janaína Silva, Nadhine Ourives, Letícia Costa and Nicole Beltrame are not old enough to compete this year. Speaking about Letícia Costa, newspaper O Globo (one of the most important newspapers in Brazil) featured a front page article about her. Letícia is being called a "diamond in need of lapidation", which is quite surprising. Her coach said that he is going to ask her to do her best and then some. She is only 14 years old and she is probably going to be the chosen Brazilian girl to take part in the Youth Olympics next year.

Also, there are some rumors that the Nationals have been rescheduled to November 27-29. CBG has made no official announcements so far, so it is safer to take these rumours with a grain of salt.

As a final note, the Brazilian Group in Rhythmics placed 19th at the Kiev World Cup Series. A very, very disappointing (and alarming) result for the group. I hope the girls can pull themselves together and achieve better results in future competitions.

Brazilian gymnasts fighting for first World Games medal

Not many people know about the World Games. This is a multi-sport competition where athletes around the world take part in events not contested at the Olympics. When it comes to gymnastics, the competition features Individual Rhythmic Gymnastics, Aerobic, Acrobatic, Trampoline and Tumbling. Brazil has never won a medal in any of the disciplines in Gymnastics in past competitions, but we all hope this changes this year since the two-time world champion Marcela Lopez (pictured) is competing this time. Marcela is natural from the city of São Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Besides two individual titles in World Championships (2006 and 2008), she is also a gold, silver and bronze medalist in the Trio competition (medals won in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively).

Besides Marcela, gymnasts Juliana Antero (Aerobics), Leonardo Lins (Aerobics), Marina Lopez (Aerobics), Bruno Martini (Trampoline) and Marcisnei Oliveira (Aerobics) are competing. Promising young Rhythmic Gymnast Eliane Sampaio has already competed, placing 19th (Rope), 20th (Hoop), 19th (Ball) and 21st (Ribbon). I wish luck to Sampaio, since she is a talented gymnast and this was her first major international competition.

You can follow the updated results here, through the World Games 2009 official website.