The Health Hazard award

The smog in Mexico City - So bad it made my eyes water and irritated my throat. Bleh!

Driving in Mexico City - I thought the people in Switzerland and Moscow were bad. These people are nuts!

The Yell at Your Star Athlete award

Steve Rybacki to Vanessa Atler - During vault EF warmups, Steve gives Vanessa a very animated and vocal pep talk. Whatever it was, it worked! Vanessa won.

Most Accommodating Passengers award

Simona Amanar and Claudia Presecan, Anna Kovalova and Yevgenia Kuznetsova - On the bus back to the hotel after the team/AA competition, it was completely packed. The two Romanians sat on each others laps so that Mary Lee Tracy could have a seat. Same thing happened the second night, only this time the Russians sat on each others laps so Vanessa Atler could sit. How nice!

Most Shocking Musical Moment award

During podium training, they played the theme to Pulp Fiction loudly over the PA. However, they also included the first part of the song which contains extreme profanity! It was easy to tell who the English speakers were in the building because they all had a shocked expression on their faces.

The 'Essential Clothing Item for Mexico' award

Stetson hats. Even at the airport in LA all the Mexican guys wore them.

Most Impressive Team award

Italy - Adriana Crisci and Elena Olivetti placing third behind Romania and Ukraine and ahead of Russia and the USA.

'I Thought It Was an Earthquake' award

Yevgenia Kuznetsova - During podium training, construction workers were still performing final assembly to the podium structures. Yevgenia is in the middle of her beam workout when the beam starts shaking accompanied by the clanging of a hammer on metal. She stops and gets off and together with coach Bulachenko looks underneath the podium to see the workers crawling around. After a few minutes she continues with her routine.

Best Bargain award

Mexico City in general - Everything was cheap!

Crowd Favorite award

Brenda Magaña and Team MEX of course!

The 'I'll Have a T-Shirt for You Next Time' award

Simona Amanar - I wanted to make a T-shirt for her, but I had sent some of my negatives of the Europeans to Mexico City weeks earlier so the organizers could use them for the Copa Gimnastica posters, including all of my Simona Amanar shots. So I was unable to make a shirt for her and I felt kind of bad giving Claudia Presecan one and giving Belu a Corina Ungureanu shirt to give to Corina and not having one for Simona. Oh well. At least I got a bunch of good pictures of her so I can make a shirt for her next time!

The Lost and Found award

Aicela Rosado - Ethnic Mexican rhythmic gymnast trained exclusively at L.A. Lights, but has been living in Mexico for the past 7 months due to immigration problems after she competed at Mexican Nationals. I was curious what happened to her during all this time. During opening ceremonies and at the end of the competition she performed on rope and batons.

The Close Call award

The pyramids outside of Mexico City - Quite a fascinating site. But the pyramids themselves are angled at 45 degrees and the steps are large and very bumpy. Combine that with the intense smog and the 8000 foot altitude, I almost fainted trying to get to the top (I never did make it)! A fellow journalist did slip and scraped her elbow and twisted her ankle, but she was OK. Seriously , if a tourist should lose footing climbing the steps, they could be badly hurt. No wonder there is a medical facility at the base of the pyramids.

The 'This is women's artistic gymnastics, not RSG' award

Yevgenia Kuznetsova - On the night of team/AA, she had tons of liner, blue eye shadow and some gold glitter around her eyes.

The "How I Wish You Were Here" award

Lilia Podkopayeva - Originally scheduled to compete for Ukraine, I was told by meet officials that she was planning to use this meet to initiate a comeback to competitive gymnastics. However, she popped her knee and is again on the mend. It would have been neat if she had made it, but it was really cool to see Roschupkina again too!

Ekaterina Lobaznyuk - Up and coming Russian star had competed successfully in Acapulco the previous weekend. I have never seen her before and it would have been nice if she made it.

Nadia Comaneci - Absolutely idolized by the Mexican people. The last time she was in Mexico City for an exhibition years ago, it was front page news. Raucous fans started shaking and rocking the car she was being driven in. Needless to say, she passed on attending this meet, but the Mexicans still adore her and the crowd clapped wildly when Bart Conner was introduced.

The Worst Flight Schedule award

Olga Roschupkina - As a last minute entry, she ended up staying at the Moscow airport for 3 nights for a standby flight to Frankfurt, and had no training during that time. She missed the podium session and trained only on the morning before the team/AA competition. She pulled herself together and placed 2nd team and 7th AA. Yay!

The Sign Autographs Until Your Arm Falls Off award

Viktoria Karpenko - Although Team MEX and Team ROM were the crowd favorites going in, Vika won the hearts of many after winning the AA.

The 'Class Clowns' award

Spieth Anderson representatives Lynn Meyer and Gary Heartsfield - Funny and goofy, but they did an incredible job providing a world class podium for the meet.

The Photographers Worst Nightmare award

Palacio des los Deportes - The lighting was great during podium training and warm-ups before team/AA. But then they shut them off for the opening ceremonies and when they turned them on again, the main banks of light blew a fuse or something. The first two rotations were kind of dim, but eventually they fixed everything and it went without a hitch the second night.

Contributing to the Delinquency of a Gymnast award

TV Azteca - Went shopping on Sunday morning with the gymnasts and judges and caught the TV Azteca broadcast in one of the stores. The station would flash corporate logos on the screen during the routines, which everyone found strange. The most unusual was watching Viktoria Karpenko's routine with a Corona beer ad flashing in front of her.

The Funnest Gymnast award

Adriana Crisci - Still hyperactive and charming as ever. It was really nice to see her and Olivetti celebrate their 3rd place team finish. I gave her a photo I took of her at the Europeans. She was kind enough to give me a FGI pin and sticker.

The Musically Color Coordinated Leotard award

Yevgenia Kuznetsova - She wore her pink leotard for her Pink Panther FX routine.

The Pepe le Pew award

Olga Roschupkina and Viktoria Karpenko - After performing rollovers during their BB EF routines, the chalk on the beam left a white stripe on the back of their black leotards!