The 'I Don't Mind Getting My Picture Taken' award

Viktoria Karpenko and Oleg Ostapenko, Jordan Jotchev and Bart Conner, Gabriella Onodi, Bi Weijing.

The 'Don't You Ever Take My Picture Again, Buttwipe!' award

No one! (Amazingly enough).

The 'Most Grateful for the Gifts' award

Adriana Crisci, Olga Roschupkina, Viktoria Karpenko, Elena Produnova, Aleksandra Gordeeva, Roman Zozulia, Ildar Valeev, Nikolai Kruykov, Jan Peter Nikiferow, Viktor Lutayenko, Ludmilla Jalnovakova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Boris Pilkin, Jesus Carballo Sr. and Team ESP, Adrienn Varga, Andrei Nilov.

The 'Paparazzi' award

The Chinese press corps - Unusually aggressive in their style, reminding me more of the tabloid press that cover movie stars. During Alexei Bondarenko's moment of emotional stress at the conclusion of the mens AA, two TV cameramen really honed in on him. The BLR coach tried to block them, but they found a way around him. Will they transmit such footage?? Unknown.

The 'Funniest Fan' award

'Andrei' - A devout supporter of the KAZ team who spoke English extremely well, he displayed remarkable enthusiasm while we sat with the KAZ delegation during the men's prelims. Some of his more memorable commentary after some seemingly low scores were posted include: 'Have you judges ever heard of a thing called a conscience?!' and 'It is SH!T!!!' Maybe you had to be there, but he was a complete riot.

The 'Tons of Leftovers' award

The post competition banquet - Huge tables of killer food left over. Yum!

The 'Thing That Would Be Nice to Have' award

Concession stands - I find it unbelievable that there was no food at all sold at the arena, yet there were many booths selling everything from pins to fans to blankets and other useless stuff. During each major break most people took a taxi to McDonald's or KFC to grub out, which was a pain in the butt. If someone had set up a food stand in the arena, there was some serious bank to be made.

The 'Don't Lose Your Pants' award

During prelims one of the German men got his pants stuck on the P-Bars, ripping them off. It was almost like a cartoon!

The 'Take Me Out of the AA' award

Ludivine Furnon (FRA) - Scratched at the last minute, supposedly because she was sick and wanted to do well for FX Finals but who knows.

The 'Waiting for the Bus at the Forbidden City' award

Team Hungary.

The 'Never Do That Again' award

Film development in a non first world country - I had all my film developed at the press center. It was cool cuz I could see how I was doing in terms of getting shots, and it was nice to give prints away to gymnasts and friends. It was also free of charge and I figured it would be really convenient not to have to hand check my film at the airport. However, upon close inspection at home, I find that the developers scratched some great negs of Produnova! >:^( From now on, I will do the hand check and go through all the usual hassles at the airport and bring the film home. Its not worth it to screw up the negs. Better yet, I'll win the lottery and go digital!

The 'Biggest Career Change' award

Mo Huilan - Mo now is a reporter for the local Chinese press.

The 'You Need to Work on Your Accent' award

The English speaking announcer - After each rotation, he would say, 'Gymnasts, please move to the next apparaterrrs.' He also kept pronouncing Dieter Rehm's name as if he were on a diet and trying to losing weight.

The 'Homecoming' award

Li Donghua - Expatriate Olympic pommel horse champ visits his homeland to see the competition. The Chinese still love him.

Li Xiaoping - 1981 pommel horse champ, who now owns a gym and lives in southern California, also cruised on over to check out the scene.

The 'Which Prison Did These Guys Come From?' award

The volunteers who vacuumed the podium and set up the medal stands - They wore these black and white striped shirts that made them look like they came straight from Alcatraz.

The 'She Finally Changed Her FX Music' award

Irina Yevdokimova - After what seems like a decade of using that same FX music, Irina dances to a different tune. Still good to see her hanging around. I was told that her long time teammate Olga Kozevnikova is no longer competing. Oh well.

The 'Most Irrational and Impulsive Purchase' award

Elizabeth Squires - Buys a large sheet metal replica of the Titanic in the tourist shopping district in Tianjin for only $25, only to ponder how she will take it back home. Not sure if it arrived intact or in two pieces, but then again, the real Titanic is also in two pieces so it may add to the realism.

The 'Things That Suck' award

Jackie Fie lowering Elena Produnova's and Svetlana Khorkina's vault scores - One of the more controversial decisions of the meet, Fie called for a judges meeting the very next day and try to explain her motives to the judges, who were furious. Many people agree that such a motion will severely discourage any female from attempting the double front vault.

The 'Caught Snoozing' award

Li Ning - Legendary Chinese gymnastics hero and head judge of the vault caught a few z's in between the marathon subdivisions.

The 'False Enthusiasm' award

US men's team - an example of this is Blaine Wilson on team finals PB. He misses a release and falls off the apparatus. Then he gets it together and does his dismount. After landing he claps his hands together and the other guys yell, 'All right! Great job!' Come on, he totally blew it. I mean it's one thing to be positive but this is delusional.

The 'Gimme All the Pictures of Me' award

Tatiana Yarosh (UKR) - At the post competition banquet I brought along a bunch of 3x5 prints to give away so I wouldn't have to bring home so many. As I was sorting through them , Yarosh was standing next to me pointing out all the pictures of her, saying, 'Me. Me. Me. Me. Not Me. Me. Me.....' Charming!