International Capsules: Olympic gymnastics champion won't be at worlds

Liukin withdrew her name from consideration for the world gymnastics championships Monday, saying she hasn't had enough time to train. Liukin, only the third U.S. woman to win the Olympic title, has been in high demand for appearances, photo shoots and commercial opportunities since she left Beijing, but the schedule wreaked havoc on her training.

The first of two training camps that will be used to choose the U.S. women's team is next week, and worlds are Oct. 13-18 in London. There is no team competition at this year's worlds, only the all-around and individual events.

"I didn't want to go out there and compete and represent Team USA if I wasn't at my best," Liukin said. "Physically, I'm not capable of doing it because I didn't have enough time to prepare."

While Liukin said she is going to take a break from the sport — "I hope to go on vacation, hopefully on an island somewhere" — she insists she is not retiring.

She plans to return to the gym, and still hopes to compete at the London Olympics in 2012. She'd also like to compete at another world championships. Liukin has won nine medals at worlds, tying her with Shannon Miller for most by a U.S. gymnast.

"This decision has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of my career. It's based on just this year, the world championships," Liukin said. "I really feel like it was necessary just because I haven't really had much time off. I wasn't always in the gym, but I was always on the go.

"I'm going to take some time off, regroup, get ready for the next few years and decide what the plan is from here on out."

Making this decision was stressful, Liukin said, because she didn't want to let anyone down. Though there's no team competition at worlds, these championships set the tone for the leadup to the next Olympics and give an early indication of who are the teams and gymnasts to watch.

The Americans served notice they had rebounded from their disappointing showing in Sydney by winning two of the four event titles at the 2002 world championships. Chellsie Memmel and Liukin were 1-2 in the all-around in 2005, and the Americans went on to collect seven more medals in the event finals. Liukin took gold on beam and bars.

Liukin said she talked with her parents — father Valeri is her coach — over the weekend, and spent two days trying to track down women's national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, who is in Romania on vacation. When she finally got ahold of Karolyi on Monday morning, Liukin said it was one of the hardest conversations she's ever had.

"She definitely tried to convince me to come to camp and give it one more shot," Liukin said. "I could tell it was a little hard for her to take, but it hasn't been easy. At same time, this is the right decision for me at this time."

Liukin's decision will give Karolyi some flexibility in selecting a team for worlds. Countries can send only four gymnasts, and are limited to two gymnasts per event. Liukin would have done, at most, balance beam and uneven bars.

"We appreciate her making a decision that is right for her, as well as putting the goals of her teammates ahead of her own," Karolyi said. "We look forward to working with Nastia as she returns to competitive gymnastics when she is ready."

Liukin's announcement wasn't a complete surprise.

She's crisscrossed the country since winning gold in Beijing, doing everything from appearing at Fashion Week to picking up the female athlete of the year award at the ESPYs. She's loved all the experiences, but gymnastics is not a sport that can be done on a part-time basis.

It takes hundreds of repetitions to perfect a routine — even routines she was doing with ease just last summer. Liukin would feel as if she was making progress after a few days at home, only to leave for a few days and then feel as if she had to start the whole process over again when she returned.

"It was very frustrating," she said.

Liukin curtailed her schedule a few months ago so she could compete at the U.S. championships, which were in her hometown of Dallas. She did one event, finishing fourth on beam, but the solid yet imperfect performance showed she wasn't back to top level yet.

And that's not good enough.

As the Olympic champion, the expectations are higher for Liukin. She not only accepts that, she expects even more of herself. If she's not ready to contend for a gold medal, then she's not ready to compete.

"I've set my standards too high," she said. "I don't want to just go out there and compete."

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The American women's hockey team didn't seem too worried about stumbling in its first steps toward the 2010 Winter Olympics next spring.

While Finnish players celebrated a 3-2 upset over the United States in the opening game of the Hockey Canada Cup on Monday afternoon, the Americans were taking their first regulation-time loss to Finland in stride.

"Obviously you want to win every game but we re not sweating that," defender Angela Ruggiero, a three-time Olympian, said after Finland stormed back from a 2-0 first period deficit with three straight goals. "It's a friendly tournament and the stakes aren't the Olympics obviously."

Emma Laaksonen capped the comeback on a power play 2:10 into the third period, giving Finland it's second-ever win over the Americans, and first in regulation. Goalie Noora Raty, who also was in net for Finland's 1-0 overtime win over the U.S. at the 2008 World Championships, made 49 saves in the opener of the seven-day pre-Olympic tournament that also features Canada and Sweden.

"This was a really important win to us because at the last World Championships in April we just got killed by the U.S. (7-0) and Canada (8-0)," said Laaksonen. "It's huge for our confidence. If you never beat a team you know you have to be really lucky in a game to win, and a lot of times you try to do things you normally wouldn t because you think you have to do something impossible to beat them. So knowing that by playing our own game really well we can have success is big."

Having a hot goaltender doesn't hurt either. Raty was especially good with the Americans pressing to tie in the final eight minutes, but also got some help when veteran US forward Jenny Potter hit a post and talented youngster Hilary Knight rang another shot off the cross bar.

"This is huge for women's hockey, Raty said. "It shows that we're not so bad."

In the other game on opening night of the tournament, Canada routed Sweden 7-0 as Rebecca Johnston and Hayley Wickenheiser each scored a pair of goals.

It was the first game on the road to the 2010 Winter Games for an American squad that was finalized just a week earlier in Minnesota, and it started smoothly for the winners of the last two women's World Hockey Championships.

Gigi Marvin and Natalie Darwitz scored to give the U.S. a two-goal lead after the first 20 minutes. But it was gone midway through the second period.

Saara Tuominen parked herself atop the crease to convert a power play feed out of the corner from Michelle Karvinen 5:50 into the period, and Karvinen got a lucky break to score the tying goal less than four minutes later.

After being caught and cut off on a breakaway by Ruggiero, Karvinen tried to throw a spinning pass to a trailing teammate from the side of the net, only to have it bounce off Ruggiero and past helpless goalie Jessie Vetter.

"If you want to beat anybody in the international game you need a bit of luck," coach Pekka Hamalainen, who was making his international debut behind Finland's bench, said through a translator. "It's the sweetest victory you can have being beaten by 2-0 and coming back to win. It's important for the players, for the team, but also for the whole Finnish female hockey."

Ruggiero, a veteran of three Olympics, was in the penalty box when Laaksonen scored the winning goal, cutting hard down the left wing before lifting in a high backhand that caught Vetter pulling early off the nearside post.

"It's a little disappointing but at the same time we know there is tomorrow and there are other games that will allow us to play in the gold-medal game," said Ruggiero. "We haven't had an opportunity to work on any power plays or penalty kills. We re just learning our D-zone coverage and forecheck and there are things we haven t even really spoke about yet."

Vetter finished with 23 saves for the Americans, who continue the preliminary round against Sweden on Tuesday night and archrival Canada on Thursday.