Ziert Alert! from Beijing

Well, it's Friday, Aug. 8th, and the Games are really about to begin! After all the wait, previews and predictions, the actual show will begin. Of course, hours before the Opening Ceremonies, I am quite sure that it will be the biggest and best one yet — Oops, another prediction, but I feel very confident about this one.

Morgan Hamm speaks to the press in Beijing after announcing he was stepping down

Apparently Morgan was strongly encouraged to get a cortisone injection to help with his ankle problem. That was on Wednesday. Then on Thursday morning, at the team practice in front of the entire delegation, he was told to do a complete floor routine or be removed from the lineup. It might have been nice for Morgan to know that the night before, and even more importantly, before he elected to have the injection. Thinking that all this wonderful advice on Wednesday was to help him be really ready for Saturday morning's competition, he obviously was not prepared to do the routine then and there. I'm still checking, but I do not think a federation can remove someone from their Olympic team in this situation. Seems there's something like athletes' rights guaranteed by the USOC. But then, of course, Morgan "resigned" his position and boarded a plane back to the U.S. It just seems that in a civilized world, things could be done in a classier way with more respect for the athletes. After all, isn't the USA most proud of its stand on civil liberties?

Although I had Paul Hamm in the line up and not Hagerty, the team that the U.S. men have ended up with is precisely the one that I had picked after the trials. I feel that Paul was essential to any medal hope, but I feel this team is the best one the U.S. can put on the floor at this time. They are a group of real fighters so I wish them well. I just hate all the unnecessary drama that USAG creates when it should be an easier and fairer way to deal with these wonderful young adults who have chosen to be gymnasts.

I was only able to watch the final rotations of the first session of women's podium training, but luckily that had the Chinese on bars and Romania on floor. The Chinese women look very well prepared and quite relaxed. I think they are fully aware that if they hit their routines they will be the Olympic team champions. He and Yang were truly incredible. They handle such high difficulty with such ease. It's a joy to watch this team, not only for their performances but their team spirit and camaraderie.

I watch the entire second session that included the Americans, Italians, Japanese and British. The Americans look ready; they were very solid in most all of their performances. Of special note is how ready Nastia Liukin seems. I have never seen her so confident and beautifully prepared. If she can just survive "assistant coach" Marta Karolyi for another few days, she will do very well. On the Marta note, was anyone else annoyed by the tone and witchiness in her voice during podium training? Could someone please mute her? I feel that everything about her is detrimental to this team that appears to be in a real fight for gold. Shawn seemed a little off her game — maybe just a bad day, but I hope that she can hold it together so the world can see both her exciting gymnastics and wonderful personality. My heart aches for Chellsie Memmel, who seemed so ready for this competition just a few weeks ago and now has to show her true grit again. Well, at least it looks like she can add Olympian to her resume. Sam Peszek, Bridget Sloan and Alicia Sacramone looked very good in this training. I only wish Marta had given this team the time to offer a higher level of difficulty which they are very capable of doing — just not everyday on hard surfaces in a remote gym outside of Houston, Texas. This American team appeared to be ready to put extreme pressure on the Chinese, who are trying to win their first ever Olympic team gold.

Poor Vanessa Ferrari. She is struggling so much that it's painful to watch. For example on floor, she faced her opening full-in, fell on her second pass of triple full and then faced pike double dismount. Her ankle is wrapped so I'm sure she is still having difficulties with injuries. It is hard to watch someone who dazzled the world just two years ago have to fight to live through this important competition.

The Japanese looked immensely improved especially on bars and beam. Although they appeared to struggle on floor and vault like the Chinese did years ago, they are performing beautiful gymnastics here.

Beth Tweddle looks so fit here. Although she is not doing beam or vault because of a rib injury, she looked very good on bars and floor. Although I missed her full routine on bars, we have been told that she has prepared a 7.9 A-Panel routine... WOW!

The Chinese host speaks with Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci and Donovan Bailey and actor Jet Li

I missed the last two session of podium training because I attended the "adidas Golden Night" party with IG's Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner and their 2-year-old son, Dylan Conner. It was a wonderful celebration of adidas' commitment to Olympic sports. Remember it won the rights over Li Ning and Nike to outfit all the volunteers here. Although the entertainment was world class, the highlight of the evening however was Dylan doing his "moonwalk" on stage for all 500 guests. No wonder they say never work with kids or animals!

Let the competition begin!

IG Publisher Paul Ziert coached Bart Conner to two gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and was the assistant coach for the U.S. women's team in 1980. He was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2006.