Source: PopTower.com and HamptonRoads.com

Both Gabrielle Douglas and John Orozco are in London proving that gymnastics is anybody’s sport. The young African American girl from Virginia Beach and the young Afro-Puerto Rican boy from the Bronx are making headlines this season for their stellar performances in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Source: Olympics.time.com

Gabby Douglas is being called the gymnast to beat after winning the automatic bid at the US Olympics Trials and then winning a spot in Tuesday’s all-around qualifiers. Bleacher Report says she is one of the best gymnasts in the world on the uneven bars and she matched the qualifying-best score of 15.900 on the vault.

Monday night, the 16-year-old will join her teammates that complete the “Fab Five”: 17-year-old Jordyn Wieber, 18-year-old Alexandra Raisman, 16-year-old McKayla Maroney, and 15-year-old Kyla Ross. The team is competing (and favored) to win the first team Olympic gold since the “Magnificent Seven” won in 1996.

Source: WashingtonPost.com

A black belt, YouTube singer, and amateur skier, 19-year-old John Orozco is also an Olympic gymnast. He won the 2012 Visa National Championships before earning the second spot on Team USA. On Saturday, he finished fourth out of 30 in the all-around men’s qualification.

After an impressive performance, his team won No.1 in qualifying and are hoping for their first Olympic title since 1984. On Wednesday, he will compete for an individual gold medal.

Good luck to the Flying Squirrel (Gabby) and Silent Ninja (John)!

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Gabby Douglas Photo: NBC

-So, in case you haven’t heard, the London Olympics are happening. The main events so far have been the Opening Ceremony, which had everything from fire, to David Beckham, to a slew of umbrella-toting, flying Mary Poppinses (?!); the gymnastics competition, which saw teen phenom Gabby Douglas advance to the all-around competition while, surprisingly, world champ Jordyn Wieber did not; and swimming, where Michael Phelps did not medal in the 400-meter IM race (Ryan Lochte took gold). Phelps and Lochte both won silver for the 400-meter freestyle relay. And Lia Neal, a 17-year-old from New York, became only the second African-American female swimmer to win a medal in the Olympics. And finally, in men’s gymnastics, another New Yorker, John Orozco, is trying to take the U.S. team to gold.

-Word is that former President Bill Clinton will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Meanwhile, President Obama will be in New York today for a fundraiser.

-Mitt Romney is going to Poland today, the final leg of an international tour that started in England, where he insulted the British by questioning their preparedness for the Olympic Games, and continued in Israel, where he raised $1 million. While there, Romney give a speech in which he took a hard line against Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

-Joel Ewanick, General Motors’ chief marketing officer and the man responsible for cancelling the automaker’s Facebook advertising, is out. It’s unclear what exactly led to his unexpected departure; he had also planned on cancelling the company’s Super Bowl advertising and had rocky relationships with outside firms.

-Leaked pictures that are supposed to be images of the yet-to-be-released Apple iPhone 5 show a phone that looks remarkably like the iPhone 4S. Business Insider says Apple could be in trouble if these photos are the real deal. Would you buy it?

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London are set to begin this week and many talented African Americans will be representing the United States during the games. Just being chosen to be an Olympian is an honor in and of itself, but it’s especially a moment of honor to have so many blacks carry on the legacy of legendary Olympians like Florence Griffith-Joyner, gymnast Dominique Dawes and the 1992 basketball team, aka, the Dream Team, which consisted of Hall-of-Famers like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson and more. Here are some of the athletes who will be carrying the torch in London and hopefully bringing home the gold.

Gabrielle Douglas
The 16-year-old gymnastic powerhouse earned first place at the Olympic trials and is the 2012 U.S. uneven bars champion, the all-around silver medalist and a bronze medalist in floor exercise. Affectionately known as Gabby, she just told E! News that she wanted Gabrielle Union to play her in the movie of her life. Douglas is the one of the main stars of the summer games, and that was made clear by the fact that she just graced one of the covers of TIME magazine (for the week of July 30) and on Sports Illustrated for a preview of the games.