The U.S. Men's Olympic Gymnastics team went a long way toward proving they have a legitimate chance to medal in the Team Finals. The men finished in sixth place to make the final field of eight. While China and Japan unsurprisingly finished first and second, not much space separates the scores of Korea, Russia, Germany and the U.S. China's Yang Wei and Germany's Fabian Hambuechen, with excellent routines, finished one-two in qualifying for the All-Around Finals.
Sasha Artemev also proved he definitely belongs [...more]
The newly reconstituted U.S. Team, "with near mistake-free gymnastics," took sixth place in the team qualifying competition. This earns them a place in the team finals. Jonathan Horton and Sasha Artemev both are now eligible by points to compete in the all-around competition, [...more]
Tomorrow is the big day for the U.S. Men's Gymnastics team. The roster is finally set, after the sad withdrawals of the Hamm twins. The loss of the Hamms opened up big opportunities for Raj Bhavsar and Sasha Artemev. It has been an especially long wait for the 27 year-old Bhavsar, who suffered the disappointment of being named an alternate for the 2004 team, [...more]
According to NBC, the lineup of the men’s team looks like this: All-around (competing on all six events): Jonathan Horton, Alexander Artemev (Note that the latter went from alternate to all-arounder in 24 hours!) The following athletes in alphabetical order: Still rings: Artemev, Bhavsar, Horton, Spring, Tan Vault: Artemev, Bhavsar, Hagerty, Horton, Spring Parallel bars: […] [...more]
If you have some time, the full press conference, including both coaches, Morgan Hamm, and the rest of the U.S. Olympic men gymnasts, shows a team with genuine intelligence, depth, and serious commitment. It’s worth a watch. Morgan Hamm’s Press Conference [...more]
Paul and Morgan Hamm finally finished college and got their degrees a couple of years ago. They put up an optimistic website titled makingtheolympics.com, chalked up, and got back down to business. Gymnastic business. They videoed their training and shared a part of their lives with their web-viewers. There were some major ups and sensational, free-falling downs. At the end of the roller coaster ride, not only had they both made the team, but Paul's final competition against all his peers, many of whom had been fully training for years, had him a couple of points above the rest. Mere seconds before that final all-around win, [...more]
It seems O’Neill has some kind of ankle ligament damage, and could not take part in today’s team practice. Canada has until one hour before Saturday’s team competition to decide if he will be able to compete, or if he will be replaced with alternate Ken Ikeda. [...more]
It doesn't get much worse than this. Morgan Hamm has joined his twin brother, Paul, on the sidelines. Due to a nagging ankle injury, Morgan decided the best thing to do for the team was to withdraw. Something at Tuesday night's workout looked amiss, as Hamm took an abbreviated turn on the floor, [...more]
The entire American delegation of athletes to Beijing attended a required seminar of both proper international behavior and important Chinese customs. No doubt the U.S. Olympic Committee was wishing to avoid the Bode Miller rude party scene as occurred at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy, or Amy Van Dyken’s spitting in her competitor’s swimming […] [...more]
