Horton and Hamm Named to Team

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“You finally won something.” That was what coach Mark Williams, never one for effusive praise, told Jonathan Horton when he finished parallel bars and his name jumped to the top of the Olympic Trials roster. “Too bad it doesn’t mean anything.”

Well, maybe not officially—Horton didn’t fulfill the automatic selection criteria of top two all-around, plus top three on three events—but he didn’t have long to wait to hear he’d be going to Beijing. Just minutes after the meet ended, USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny told the crowd that Horton and Paul Hamm would lead the U.S. team to Beijing.

“I was expecting them to say Paul, and I was going to [clap] and then he said, ‘Jon Horton,’ and I just froze,” Horton recalled of the moment he found out he was an Olympian. “It was the coolest feeling of my whole life.”

After the meet, a relieved Williams finally allowed himself to celebrate. “I would have been up all night thinking of ways they could [not pick him] if they hadn’t said his name,” he said. “I’m so proud of how he performed here. He competed like the champion he is. It’s a great feeling.”

For Hamm, who has already been to two Games and still has to heal his broken hand, the moment was less miraculous. “I think if I’m healthy, I definitely deserve to be on this Olympic team,” he said stoically. “Now, I’ve got to get healthy.”

While Horton and Hamm are happy with their assured spots, the conclusion of competition only meant the beginning of a long wait until the men’s Selection Committee announces the remainder of the training team, which will be comprised of six or seven athletes, with alternates possibly, but not absolutely, being assigned. (The team is supposed to be announced by 3 p.m. tomorrow, before the women’s competition begins.)

And just about every legitimate contender in the meet has reason to sweat the selection.

Many considered Sasha Artemev a lock if he hit tonight, but he didn’t. He struggled on parallel bars and vault, and fell outright on two other events, including pommel horse, despite the fact he was doing the “easy” routine he “never misses.” (Worth noting is the fact that even though he fell on three out of four routines in USAs and Trials, Artemev led the horse standings in the weighted totals.)

A subdued Artemev met the press and offered a rather confusing explanation for his off day: He felt too good. “I felt a lot better than on Thursday, a lot more powerful,” Artemev said. “I just overdid simple things. I over-corrected. I was too focused, but I felt so much stronger, so much lighter.

“I wouldn’t say I was nervous,” Artemev added. “I was too excited.”

One thing Artemev isn’t excited about is the day-long wait to find out if he’s still in the running for his first Olympic berth. “It’s hard to say right now,” he noted of his chances. “I didn’t show today what I’d hoped to … but I didn’t hold anything back. Hopefully, I get my chance.”

Also hoping for his shot is Justin Spring.

Spring wasn’t as spectacular as he was on Thursday night, but he didn’t have a major miss and put together a gutsy floor set that left him in fourth, despite a sprained ankle, bum knee and bad back.

“My coach said, ‘This is it, man,’” Spring said of his decision to perform on floor, despite the pain. “I did all six passes. I didn’t water down. My ankles stung real bad, but it goes away.

“I’ll rest happy knowing I did everything I could,” Spring added. “You can play the what-if game all day long—and I probably will be doing that if I’m home watching Beijing on TV—but it’s not over. It’s in their court now.”

And if Spring could give one last message to the Selection Committee members it would be this: take a chance on me.

“My gymnastics stands out,” he said. “I’m not gonna deny I’m a high-risk, high-reward gymnast. But this is the Olympics. Take some risks and put me on the team.”

Also hoping that he gets the benefit of the doubt is two-time Olympian Morgan Hamm, who struggled on horse and vault and had to water down floor due to an ankle he injured during prelims. (He landed short on his double layout floor dismount.)

“My ankle’s really been bothering me,” Morgan explained. “I just wasn’t myself. It was disappointing. … Honestly, I was just happy to get through.”

Now, he has to hope to get through one more step and be named tomorrow. “I’m glad it’s not on our shoulders,” he said of the selection. “I have a lot of experience that I bring and that helps the other guys, but I’m also not 100 percent yet. We’ll see.”

Joey Hagerty was 100 percent—the only athlete to hit every routine from USAs to Trials—until today, when he came off of horse. “I lost my grip a little bit and fell off,” he said. “It’s just unacceptable.”

Still, Hagerty feels his hit percentage alone should be enough to earn him a nod from the Selection Committee. “I trust them to select the best team,” Hagerty said. “Whoever they pick, it’s going to be an awesome team.”

Speaking of awesome, Raj Bhavsar was thisclose to locking himself into an automatic spot. Less than a tenth behind Hagerty, Bhavsar was the only athlete to make the top three on three events (second on parallel bars and third on rings and vault).

“If I get to go, it will be the final, corner piece in the puzzle,” Bhavsar said of the possibility he could fulfill his long-delayed Olympic dream. “The final piece of a perfect gymnastics career.”

David Durante would likely say the same thing. After putting his life on hold for four years to work toward his Olympic goal, his second Olympic Trials was a 50/50 proposition, with Thursday falling well below expectations and Saturday exceeding them.

Durante was not only ‘on’ tonight, he was having fun, and it showed. After a hit set, he thanked the pommel horse after his hit routine by leaning down and patting it, and stuck his tongue out and grinned after sticking his p-bars dismount.

“Hopefully this won’t be my last competition, but if it is, I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life,” Durante said. “It’s out of my hands now. To finish up these last six events the way I know I’m able to compete, this is the kind of gymnast I know I am.”

Although most consider Kevin Tan a lock due to his rings prowess, Tan might have “left the door open,” in the words of his coach, Randy Jepson, with misses today on horse, p-bars and high bar—that is, all of his events except rings. “We’ll see,” a worried Jepson mused of Tan’s chances.

Also well aware he’s on the bubble is David Sender. Stellar at Championships but unable to compete here due to a sprained ankle, Sender knows he’s now gone from lock to long shot. “It never helps when you can’t compete,” he acknowledged. “I’ll have to wait and see.”

Really, that’s the mantra of everyone at these Trials. For Hamm, it’s waiting to see if he’s healthy. For everyone else, it’s waiting to see if they make it.

The only one whose wait is over is Horton. “Now I’m going to go and win a gold medal at the Olympics Games,” he said, grinning. “I feel like it’s just gonna get better. I want to do something great there, make a huge impact. There’s still work to be done.”

The Olympic year is here! Subscribe or Renew now so that you don’t miss a single issue of Inside Gymnastics! Plus, subscribe for 3 years and receive a FREE poster of Nastia Liukin!