Many of the top US gymnasts traveled to the USOC Media Summit May 12-15 in Dallas, to talk to the press and give interviews.

Michelle Obama even talked about John Orozco during her speech (Watch Obama's speech here. Orozco is standing to her right, and she tells a story about him at 3:54)

There were many interesting points made by the athletes during press conferences. Some highlights:

Nastia Liukin, on her comeback:

"I'm finally feeling a lot stronger. My endurance is up, I'm finally back in gymnastics shape. And I think that was step one of this whole process. Even proving to my dad that I could do it. You know, he was very confused on why I wanted to do it at first..."

Sabrina Vega, on her first Olympic aspirations:

"When I was 5 years old, I was invited to a friend's birthday at a gym. I remember enjoying it so much. That night when I went to sleep, I had a dream that I went to the Olympics. I had never seen the Olympics, but I described the whole dream to my mom. When she heard that, she knew there was something to it because I had never seen the Olympics."

Shawn Johnson, on her comeback:

"Many people have told me that it's not going to happen, and my coach has even told me that. I've accepted any outcome, but I've put too much time and too much effort in the past two years to stop now, and it's just kind of a personal challenge to reach the finish line..."

Read all of the quotes from the USOC press conference.

(Disclaimer: As I've noted before, I'm also an editor at espnW)

Shawn Johnson authored an honest, thought-provoking blog for espnW about her struggles with her own body image. In it she says, "Four years ago, I was standing on an Olympic podium, wearing a gold medal, and still thinking to myself how I could have been better. It had nothing to do with my performance -- it was all how I looked. Back then, I always felt like I could have been a few pounds lighter. But the irony is, when I look back at the pictures I look unhealthy and too thin."

It's worth reading -- she talks about the need for better education on the right nutrition, and says she always wanted to be "thin and flexible." I respect her immensely for talking about this so openly.

Read Shawn Johnson's blog here.

Pictured: Johnson at the 2008 Olympics; © Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

USA Gymnastics has put up tons of awesome training videos from the recent national team camp. They're here: US national team training videos.

If you're counting down the days until US Classic on May 26th (the final qualifier until nationals), check these out to tide you over. There's some great clips of Sarah Finnegan, a new senior with gorgeous presentation and a very high difficulty score on beam especially, and Alicia Sacramone on vault, back from the Achilles injury suffered at last year's worlds. Both gymnasts look amazing, and there's lots more to watch as well.

Oregon State gymnast Melanie Jones performed one of the most expressive and interesting floor routines of the NCAA Championships this year. The Australian team alternate at the 2008 Olympics, Jones mixed amazing leaps with creative tumbling and choreography. Many thought she should have won floor in event finals, but she ended up fourth.

Watch Melanie Jones