I'm particularly psyched that Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina managed to get to Belgium in spite of the tumult surrounding her country. I really love this gymnast. Chusovitina is 26 years old, which is ancient in women's gymnastics, and she's still one of the best in the world. Aside from the curiosity factor, she's just a fantastic gymnast to watch. I love her floor routine, but she is known primarily for her vaulting and will probably pick up another medal in Ghent. This is her sixth World Championships.

Before a competition begins, gymnasts are given a chance to practice on the equipment they'll be using. This is known as podium training. Reports from podium training are sometimes more interesting than the competition itself.

Check it: Mexico's Brenda Magaña is dismounting the uneven bars with a triple back flip. She landed it in training. Triple!

Russia's Svetlana Khorkina is performing a cartwheel into a gainer layout full on balance beam. She goes from the cartwheel immediately into a back flip (gainer) in a straight-body position (layout) with a full twist in the air (full). You can watch a short clip of this trick here.

And Austria's Thomas Zimmermann is hoping to debut this new vault. If he can land it successfully in competition, it will be named after him (a new trick successfully completed at a World Championships or Olympics gets named after the gymnast who performed it). He landed it in training.

Competition starts tomorrow.