Nastia celebrated the one year anniversary of her Beijing triumph by taking another step in her return to competition, a performance on balance beam in front of a home town crowd in Dallas at the VISA Championships. Having originally planned to compete two events at the Championships Nastia decided during podium training before the event that she was still a little underprepared to perform on the uneven bars saying, “I didn’t feel confident enough to just chuck a routine. I’m just not that kind of person. I’m doing my full routine, except for the dismount separate. But I feel like it’s my event and I don’t want to go out there and perform it if I don’t feel confident and ready. It just isn’t worth it. Don’t get me wrong, Nationals are very important, but there are more important things that lie ahead this year, like Worlds. I’m on the right track, I just have to keep pushing this way. I have a few more months.”

While she is also not yet competing full difficulty on beam she did debut a new skill (aerial cartwheel), an upgraded dismount from her recent Covergirl Classic performance and proved that even Olympic Champions get nervous … especially when competing in front of a hometown crowd telling Inside Gymnastics after prelims, “When they announced my name and hearing the crowd—knowing it’s a home crowd too—everything kind of boils up and comes together.” Nastia scored 14.450 in the prelims and a 14.700 in finals to earn 4th place on the event saying of her performance, “There’s nothing to hide. I’m not in shape yet. I’m not ashamed of that. I’m proud of my accomplishments and everything I’ve done. Do I wish I was more in shape? Of course. What athlete wants to go out there and perform not at their best? But given the circumstances and all the obligations that I’ve had, this is where I have to be right now.” Her performance was enough to secure a place on the 2009/10 National Team and an invitation to the world team selection camp later in the year where the next chapter of her comeback will unfold.

During the course of the Championships Nastia, her father Valeri and WOGA were all honoured by USA Gymnastics. On the first night of women’s competition, USA Gymnastics honoured the Olympic accomplishments of WOGA. WOGA gymnasts have earned an impressive 21 world and Olympic medals, including Carly Patterson’s two world and four Olympic medals and Nastia’s nine world and five Olympic medals. “Nastia and Carly’s back-to-back accomplishment is virtually unprecedented,” said USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny. “It is one thing for athletes to come from the same country, but another for them to come from the same country, city and club. It is important to bring special attention to this unique achievement.” Nastia then joined all of the 2008 Olympians on the final night of competition in a celebration of their achievements last summer. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the US team amassed its greatest medal haul since the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The 10 medal tally – two gold, six silver and two bronze – is the most earned by the USA in gymnastics in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. As is tradition USA Gymnastics announced its annual awards at the conclusion of the Championships. Nastia was presented with two awards; USAG Athlete of the Year and USAG Sportswoman of the Year (as voted by her peers) while Valeri was named as USAG Coach of the Year.

Nastia made her highly anticipated return to competition at the Covergirl Classic on Saturday in Des Moines. In her first competition appearance since winning five medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, Nastia used the event as the first step of final preparations for the upcoming VISA Championships in Dallas by competing on the balance beam. She earned a 14.500, after electing to compete a watered down dismount, for a second place finish on the event. A quick change of attire and Nastia returned as part of the Universal Sports broadcast team providing ‘Covergirl Updates’ from the competition floor throughout the final three rotations for the live online broadcast. For American fans who did not tune in for the live broadcast, visit UniversalSports.com to catch a full archive of the event. Nastia’s next event is the VISA Championships in her hometown Dallas, August 12-15. She plans to compete bars, beam and perhaps floor exercise at this competition! We updated both the results and schedule pages.

Congratulations to Nastia’s WOGA teammates - Ivana Hong, Briley Casanova, Madison Kocian, Sophia Lee, Grace McLaughlin - who have also qualified to compete in Dallas. Rebecca Bross is expected to successfully petition to the competition after an injury suffered while training in Des Moines prevented her from competing in the final qualifer. Also qualified are current and former WOGA men’s team members Presten Ellsworth, Eric Schryver, Tim Gentry (Stanford), Steve Legendre (OU). In all eleven current and former WOGA gymnasts bound for a home National Championships!

Congratulations Nastia - 2008 Olympic Balance Beam Silver Medalist! Nastia earned her fifth Olympic medal, a silver in the balance beam final this evening. This performance equals Shannon Miller’s 1992 record medal haul (Miller won 2 silver and 3 bronze medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics) and also means that Nastia now has one more Olympic medal than her father Valeri. She has often joked that she hoped to return from Beijing with more medals than her father earned 20 years ago at the 1988 Seoul Games. Nastia’s olympic campaign came to a close with a fantastic routine earning a score of 16.025 (6.6 A Score). Teammate Shawn Johnson took gold (16.225 / 7.0 A Score) with hometown favorite Cheng Fei taking the bronze (15.950 / 6.8 A Score). Congratulations Nastia!

Nastia will make her final appearance at the National Indoor Stadium tomorrow when she will join the other medalists in the traditional Gymnastics Gala. The Gala provides the opportunity for all of the athletes to let their hair down and celebrate their achievements at the Games for fans of the sport throughout the world.