Photo © Guang Niu / Getty Images

Wondering how gymnasts qualify to compete for the US Olympic team? Find out all about the complicated selection procedures and steps each athlete must take.

It's not an easy process, but it's designed to hopefully put the best team possible on the competition floor.

Think you might have what it takes? Here's how to get started.

Ivana Hong Photo © Jeff Gross / Getty Images

Athletes with great form seem to be a dying breed in gymnastics. Why? Because the current scoring system doesn't penalize bad form severely enough to make it worth worrying about.

Instead, gymnasts are going after high difficulty levels, often at the expense of doing the skills well. So far, it seems to be a smart strategy if you'd like to win big: 2006 Women's World Champion Vanessa Ferrari, 2006 & 2007 Men's World Champion Yang Wei, and 2006 Women's World Silver Medalist Jana Bieger all won their medals, arguably, by going for big difficulty scores -- and with comparatively weak marks in the execution department.

Since gymnastics at its best should be as beautiful as it is acrobatic, it's important to acknowledge the gymnasts with great form and style to match their tricks. Alexei Nemov, Samantha Shapiro, Hollie Dykes, Kyle Shewfelt, and many others all exemplify beautifully-done gymnastics.

Because, thankfully, there are still quite a few gymnasts who could be included, I've limited the poll to this: Which 2007 World Medalist has the best form? Tell us what you think.

Watch each gymnast:
Cheng Fei (Gold – Vault, Floor; Silver – Team)
Cheng Yibin (Gold – Rings)
Ivana Hong (Gold – Team)
Li Shanshan (Silver – Team, Beam)
Nastia Liukin (Gold – Team, Beam; Silver – Bars)
Aljaž Pegan (Silver – High Bar)
Mitja Petkovsek (Gold – Parallel Bars)
Qin Xiao (Gold Medalist – Team; Pommel Horse)
Hiroyuki Tomita (Silver – Team)

Check out this gallery of photographs showing off good form -- and poor form.

Nikolai Kryukov, Russia Photo © Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

Russia won the 2008 European team title by almost three points over second-place Germany. The Russian men (Sergei Khorokhordin, Maxim Deviatovski, Yury Ryazanov, Nikolai Kryukov, and Anton Golotsutskov) scored a 272.450 to Germany's 269.575 and third-place Romania's 268.950.

Deviatovski had the highest all-around score of the meet (90.375), though no official all-around competition was contested. Deviatovski was the 2007 European all-around champion, and Russia the 2007 team champion as well.

Though China and Japan are considered to be the best two men's teams in the world right now, Russia could definitely end up on the podium this summer at the Olympics. Romania and Germany are also medal threats.

Full results of the competition are at intlgymnast.com.

The women's NCAA Championships will be on CBS tomorrow, May 10 from 3pm to 5pm.

CBS usually focuses on the team finals competition, and does a quick recap of the all-around and event champions. It should be a great competition to watch!

Past Olympians Shannon Miller, Carly Patterson and Kim Zmeskal Photo © Jim McIsaac / Getty Images

One famous gymnast is trying to launch a singing career, while another starred in a feature film -- and one even got charged with shoplifting.

Find out what happened to your favorite gymnastics stars of the past.

More gymnasts' updates are being added. Tell us who you'd like to know more about.

Photo © Paula Tribble

A back tuck is considered a basic skill in gymnastics, but only because it's a building block to many other skills. It's not a simple move to learn, but once you do, you've achieved one of the big milestones of becoming a good gymnast.

Find out the drills and different steps to learning a great back tuck.

Warning: Please make sure both you and your coach feel that you’re ready to learn a back tuck before you get started. It's not a skill that should be attempted by a beginner gymnast, and it should never be tried on your own without a coach present.

Shawn Johnson Photo © Frank Law

If I counted correctly there are 104 days until the women's Olympic all-around final.

Who will win? With fewer all-arounders than ever before due to the team finals rule in which only three athletes compete per event, there are really only a dozen or so candidates to take gold.

One of the most likely? American Shawn Johnson. She won every competition she entered last year: the Pan American Games, the American Cup, the US Nationals, and, most importantly, the World Championships. She's got quite the résumé, and has very big skills to back it up.

Check out these great Shawn Johnson photos.

What do you think? Will she win it all?


Coming soon: A photo gallery of American Nastia Liukin, one of Johnson's biggest competitors for the all-around gold.

Stanford gymnast Sho Nakamori midway through a Kolman Photo © Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Men’s high bar is known for its high flying release moves, and the biggest one goes so high it almost looks like a dismount. The Kolman, named after Yugoslavian gymnast Alojz Kolman, is a full-twisting double tuck over the bar.

The gymnast releases the bar, performs two back flips and a full twist, then catches the bar and continues on without missing a beat.

It's an amazing skill to watch because it looks as though the gymnast will never be able to get back to the bar. Igor Cassina, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist on high bar, performed two twisting double backs in his winning routine. One was in the layout position (named a Cassina, after him), while one was the tucked Kolman.

Nadia Comaneci Photo © Allsport / Getty Images

Nadia Comaneci's first perfect 10.0... Kerri Strug's stuck vault on an injured ankle... Vitaly Scherbo's total domination of the 1992 Olympic Games... These are the most memorable moments in Olympic gymnastics.

Which is your favorite? Take the poll and tell us.

More Olympic Gymnastics:
The 8 Most Controversial Olympic Decisions
An Illustrated History of Olympic Gymnastics

The University of Georgia took home the title in tonight's "Super Six" NCAA team finals in Athens, Georgia. Despite the hometown crowd and Georgia's #1 ranking going into the meet, the competition was very close -- 197.450 to second-place Utah's 197.125. Stanford was third, at 196.750. The meet will air on CBS on May 10 at 2 pm.

More info:

• Full scores from the meet
  
• Press conference quotes from the Georgia seniors
  
• Interesting facts about the competition, including this one: Utah did not count a fall the entire season. Incredible!
  
• Great photo galleries from the practice session, prelims session 1, prelims session 2, and finals