U.S. gymnastics trials: No rain, new road

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The U.S. gymnastics Olympics trials get underway in Philadelphia on Thursday and there is no rain in the forecast. And that’s just fine for America’s best female gymnast, Shawn Johnson.

Johnson was forced out of her regular gym in West Des Moines, Iowa, by flooding that left a foot of water inside Chow’s Gymnastics. In a sport in which the athlete relies on knowing where the dead spots are on the floor, where every millimeter of give comes on the balance beam and just how bouncy the uneven bars are, heading for high ground and a different training arena at Iowa State for two days was not the best way for Johnson to prepare for the trials.

More than 100 volunteers helped bail out Chow’s and Johnson was able to get in a day of training before flying to Philly on Monday.

Johnson arrived in a city that is taking this trials stuff seriously. Philadelphia’s main downtown thoroughfare, Broad Street, has been renamed ‘Road to Beijing.’ There’s also a little Liberty Bell above Road to Beijing on the new street signs. But here’s a warning: Your rental car NeverLost system remains programmed to say ‘Right turn on Broad Street in 2.5 miles.’ So don’t listen to it.

The Road to Beijing doesn’t exactly start or stop in Philadelphia for the gymnasts either. At most, four gymnasts -- two men and two women -- can automatically qualify based on their results this week. The rest of the teams will be selected by committees that will reconvene after the trials at other training centers to further test and evaluate before the six-member teams are named (by July 1 for the men and by July 20 for the women).

A block off the Road to Beijing in South Philly, between downtown and the Wachovia Center, where the trials will take place, is Passyunk Avenue. That is where Philly cheesesteak sandwich rivals Pat’s and Geno’s tempt passersby with the smell of grilling steak and onions. But don’t look for gymnasts there. One cheesesteak and that double-twisting Yurchenko layout dismount could become a single twist with a thud.

-- Diane Pucin