Horton Hopeful Heading to Trials

Last year, Jonathan Horton was the USA’s best gymnast, winning his second-straight American Cup and finishing an impressive fourth at the World Championships in Germany.

But gymnastics is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport, especially when you’re trying to make an Olympic team, a fact Horton knows all too well.

“No one is guaranteed a spot,” he states flatly. “No one.”

The U.S. men learned that lesson all too well at the National Championships in Houston, where Olympic champ Paul Hamm broke his hand, putting his Games in jeopardy. No one doubts Hamm deserves to be in Beijing, the question now is: Will he be ready? And what does his injury mean to the rest of the gymnasts hoping to make up Team USA?

“The first thing that went through my mind when I heard his hand was broken was, ‘Oh crap, what if he can’t compete at the Olympics?’” Horton said, summing up the U.S. sentiment regarding Hamm’s injury. “This Olympics is the most important thing to me, and I want to win a team medal. If Paul is healthy, I have no doubt we can do that; and I think that if he and [Chinese gymnast] Yang Wei are both 100 percent, Paul can be the top gymnast in the all-around. I believe that.”

Hamm’s forced withdrawal left the National Championship wide open, a title that had long been one of Horton’s goals. Back-to-back high bar misses from Horton meant he ceded the crown to NCAA-rival David Sender, but left Horton close enough to aspire to earning an automatic Olympic berth at Trials. (The top two all-arounders from Nationals and Trials combined will earn spots, IF they are also in the top three on three events. A standard that, so far, Sender and Horton both fall short of, but could still reach with strong efforts in Philadelphia.)

Inside Gymnastics chatted with Horton as he geared up for Trials …

INSIDE: What is your strategy going into Trials?

HORTON: I mean, my strategy isn’t really any different than it was going into U.S. Championships. I guess, just the normal answer, and I know it’s aggravating [for the media] to hear, but I just want to go out and hit six-for-six both days.

Obviously, I didn’t do that at Championships. So, I guess I just want to stay calm.

I didn’t [compete exactly] the way I wanted in Houston, but I think I did a really good job of not letting the mistakes get to me. I stayed pretty calm, and never let nerves get to me, which is something I think I learned from Worlds.

INSIDE: Do you think it’s critical for you to hit high bar in Philly, or do you think you can make the team without doing that?

HORTON: It’s definitely a very important event for me and, out of all them, of course it’s the one I’ll be a little more anxious to show I can do it.

Naturally, that’s going to make me a little bit more nervous but, in a way, that’s good, because I need to show [the Selection Committee] that I can hit, under any situation.

All of my routines are routines I am very comfortable with at this point. [On high bar,] I’ll be focusing on fighting the nerves, trying not to think too much.

INSIDE: What have you been doing since USAs about high bar?

HORTON: I’ve been working on that mistake every day in the gym. Every single day.

I think it was just a technical error. I’ve been playing around, switching that routine up, way too much this year. I’ve changed my Kovacs—I was doing it laidout at the beginning of the year—and, just, a bunch of stuff. I think my brain just kind of felt I needed to change it, even though maybe that was a knee-jerk reaction.

Now, I’m not changing anything, just because I missed it. I can hit that routine. I’ve been hitting that routine. I hit it all the time. Now, I just got to go out and do it in a meet.

I’ve been listening to [corrections] more. I had a lot of people tell me, after Championships, ‘Hey, Jon, you looked like you were swinging really fast.’ And they were right. My tap was off. I was too amped up.

I had [judge] Dave Juszczyk come to the gym and do a clinic with me and he was like, ‘You need to kill the giant and go real slow before the Kolmann.’ That didn’t make sense to me, but I started doing it, and I’ve been catching it way more. That was a little thing I needed to hear.

INSIDE: What do you feel like you need to do to make this Olympic team?

HORTON: I feel like I need to definitely hit my big events. I feel like the U.S. needs strong rings guys and that’s somewhere I fit in. If I hit a really good ring routine at Trials, a couple more days, they’ll definitely look at me and see they can use me there.

Also on floor. I think I can play with it a little bit more, and be more than really good on floor.

I think it’s important that I hit really well on my strengths but I feel like, honestly, I can be a contributor on every event but pommel horse. Floor and rings are probably the most important, but I also need to get through high bar and p-bars. They’re all important.

INSIDE: Is it hard to mentally prepare yourself for a selection process, versus a competition ranking?

HORTON: I haven’t really put any thought into that. I feel like I have enough strength to overcome my mistakes, so I’m not really thinking about, ‘Oh if I do this, or don’t do that, I’m losing my spot.’

I’m not thinking about any of that. I just want to compete well and whatever the [Selection] Committee feels—I’m confident they’ll put together the best team.

Of course, it would probably be a little bit easier if all you had to do was be the top six all-arounders and you know [you’re on the team], but it’s not like that any more.

It’s a little bit scary to think it’s all in the hands of [five] Committee members. Sure, it’s a little bit nerve-racking. You want it to all be in your hands, but I don’t think we even think about that at all. You just do your job.

INSIDE: Can you earn one of those two guaranteed spots?

HORTON: I feel like it’s definitely in reach. If I hit six-for-six, two days in a row at Trials—not just get through, but if I actually perform well, the way I know how. Then, I definitely won’t have any problems at all.

I’m already in the top two on two events, and I’m close on [two] others. I think I’ll be right there. It’s hard to say, but I think it makes it a little bit easier for me with Paul being hurt.

… We all want Paul back, healthy, and on this team. Every single one of us.

For me, personally, the most important thing for me at this Olympics is, first, to make the team, and then competing well and putting the team on the podium.

Personally, I think Paul will be fine. I really think he will. I know him, and I’m not worried. I think he’ll be back.

INSIDE: Were you disappointed not winning the National title, especially after Hamm’s injury left it wide open?

HORTON: That wasn’t my first thought [when I heard Paul was hurt,] not at all, but maybe the next day, yeah, I thought of it. But, you know, I had some mistakes that kept me out of that. I didn’t deserve to win and David Sender did a great job. He totally deserved it.

Every time I do stuff like that it just motivates me more. It just keeps me focused on the big picture. That’s kind of what happened to me last year. I had a disastrous Nationals and I got put on the [World] team anyway, and it made me work a lot harder. I wanted to prove I deserved to be there.

This is my ultimate goal: The Olympics. I feel like there’s no way my routines won’t be better for Trials.  And then I’ll be even better [in Beijing.] I’m working my way up to peak at the right time.

INSIDE: You’ve talked a lot about continuing until 2012, at least. Does that take some of the pressure off when it comes to making this Olympic team?

HORTON: No way. I definitely kind of think of everything that could happen in the next four years. I mean, this could be it. This could be my last opportunity.

I’m gonna’ seize the moment and do everything in my power to compete and have the competition of my life. You never know when your body is going to break down, or you’ll get injured.

I’m not thinking of anything past these Olympic Games—of helping the team get up on the podium, which is where I feel we should be.