No London calling for Bridget Sloan, who hopes to be busy at world gymnastic championships

Favored status: Sloan is one to beat at gym worlds

LONDON — When Bridget Sloan’s friends heard she was coming to London, one asked her to bring back pictures from a Chelsea game.

Maybe next time.

If things go as expected at the world gymnastics championships, Sloan won’t have much free time this week.

A year after being the youngest member of the U.S. team that won the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, Sloan is the one to beat at this year’s worlds. The U.S. champion is considered a favorite for the all-around title along with Olympic bronze medalist Yang Yilin, Deng Linlin and up-and-coming American Rebecca Bross.

“It does feel weird,” Sloan said Monday. “Especially winning championships, that definitely was a big boost to my confidence. Coming into this competition, I just try and think of it as any other though I know it’s not even close to any other. My philosophy is anything can happen and if it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen.

“No regrets,” she added. “That’s all I ask for, no regrets coming out of this competition.”

The women’s competition begins Wednesday at the O2; the men start Tuesday.

Martha Karolyi, coordinator of the U.S. women’s team, has long prized Sloan for her consistency and the gorgeous lines that international judges like so much. But only 17, Sloan spent the last few years behind more established teammates Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson.

With Liukin and Johnson taking a break from gymnastics and 2005 world champion Chellsie Memmel recovering from injury, however, it’s Sloan’s turn to shine.

And while having the spotlight suddenly swing full force in your face might fluster other gymnasts, Sloan has taken it in stride.

“She’s kind of eased into the role,” said Marvin Sharp, Sloan’s longtime coach. “She’s been around that top group the last few years, so she’s been around this. And she’s a down-to-earth girl.”

So much so that what little free time she’s had in London has been spent on … homework.

The high school junior has been home only a few days since school started, and her teachers accommodate her schedule by giving her assignments to her ahead of time or putting them on line. But Sloan has to do her part and get them done.

“I have to write a five-page paper on Herbert Hoover,” she said. “It’s definitely not even close to being finished, but mom I started it, I tried.”

TEST RUN: Only a year after the Beijing Olympics, the gymnasts at this week’s world championships are getting a head start on 2012.

The O2 arena will also be the gymnastics venue for the London Games, and the setup is likely to be much the same as this week.

“Not many people can say they’ve had a test run on the Olympics three years before,” Britain’s Beth Tweddle said. “I’ve only ever seen pop concerts here so I wasn’t sure how it was going to set up, so it’s really good.”

Olympic organizers generally hold test events at all of the venues a year or so before the games, and the O2 will host a smaller competition in 2011. But British Gymnastics bid for this year’s worlds when London was trying to win the 2012 Games, and were able to work with the O2 architects to make sure it had everything needed for a gymnastics competition.

This is the first major sporting event at the O2, following some NHL and NBA preseason games.

“The actual field of play will be very similar” in 2012, said Matthew Greenwood, the local organizing committee’s championships director. “It’s been a great learning curve, and a great opportunity to look at what worked really well.”

Gymnasts and coaches have praised the setup at the O2. The warm-up gym is a short walk from the competition floor, like at most games. But the training halls are on the same grounds, too, at the David Beckham Academy, greatly reducing the amount of running around anyone has to do.

“It’s one of the best I’ve been to because it’s all in one area, all four training halls,” said Tweddle, the 2006 world champion on uneven bars. “There’s no tearing off to one part of the city and then tearing off to another. In that sense, it’s really good.”

EXTRA MOTIVATION: Louis Smith has “boatloads” of friends and family coming to this week’s world gymnastics championships.

But his greatest motivation comes from the person who won’t be here. Smith, whose bronze on pommel horse at the Beijing Games was Britain’s first Olympic medal since 1912, said Monday that his grandmother died last week.

“Any time I come to the competition, my main goal and target is not to walk away with a medal, it’s to do my routine clean,” he said. “I’m no longer just doing this for myself. My motivation has completely changed, and I (want to) feel like I’ve done her justice as well.”

Smith is a favorite to win the gold on pommel horse with neither Olympic champion Xiao Qin nor silver medalist Filip Ude competing this week.