IG 8-2004 - rain dance photography

inside
TI ME TO REWRITE TH E HISTORY BOOKS? As a premier Olympic sport, gymnastics is
once again in the na ti on's spot li gh t in tele­
vis ion comme rcia ls , print ads, radio spots
and edi torial pieces . It 's a ritu al we see
once every four years. Coverage of til e
sport the year after-and th e grovvth of
gymnastics programs all over the coun ­
try-will largely depend upon the success
of the U.S. teams in Athens.
After the Mag 7 scored gold in Atl anta , the team appeared on a
Whea ti es box , d id the la te night talk show ci rcui t and tou red the coun­
try in sold-ou t venues. After a fourth place fini sh in 2000, there was no
Wheaties box, and all of the ink in th e press focused on the disappoint­
ment of being shu t out of the medals . Fourth place out of al l o f the
women 's gymnas ti cs teams in the world. Not bad , but no ca use for cel­
ebration among the general public.
" I th ink it's the reality o f the wo rld that we li ve in today," 1984 Olympic
gold medalist Tim Daggett recently told me. " In the past , there have
been some successes on th e men 's side and the women's side, and it
doesn 't translate lto the general public1 until the Olymp ic Games.
People equate gymnastics -both men's and wo men-with what they
do at the Olymp ic Games. "
It has been interes ting to see all the footage and images from the 1984
Olympics in ad ca mpaigns and promotional spo ts this year. We had
Mary Lou. We had the ultimate underdog men 's gymnasti cs team . Both
left the games wit h gold medals, and 20 years later, both , along wit h
the Mag 7, are s titl at the heart of Ame ri ca 's fascinat ion with the sport.
1996 did a lot for gymnasti cs , particu larly on the women 's side. For the
men , the pressure is on. "We 'v e w aited 20 yea rs," 2004 Olympian Brett
McC lure said. Is now the time ? Pau l Hamm became the first- ever
World Champ ion from the U.S. last year, bu t still hasn 't recei ved the
recog niti on th at he deserves. The reality th at Tim spoke of is that it 'll
li kely take Olymp ic gold for him to endure in the hearts and minds of
the Amer ican pub lic .
"I, in no w ay, still wa nt to be the guy out there that they' re running clips
on! " Tim said . "It happened 20 years ago . I'm very proud of my accom­
plishments and my teamma tes' accomplishmen ts, but if there is a team
that can match or better what we d id , then all of the power to them and
I' ll be happy for them. No question about thaL "
Two decades of wai ting. Is now the time?
•
Gymnastics'· MAGAZINE
Publisher
Creative Directo r
Editor
Collegiate Editor
Correspondents
& Contributors Chris I<orotky
Dimitri Pap adimitriou
Lindsay Kaplan
Jerry Wright
Sve tl ana Boguinskaia
Chr istie Griffith
Jenn ifer Is bi ster
John Macready
Jac k Phelps
Jaycie Phelps
Angie Sa unders
Ted Tuerk
Susan Wi lliams
Photographers Grace Chiu
Scott Ei nu is
Don Johnson
Lloyd Smith
Tom Theobald
Nancy Raymond
Darre ll Scattergood
V.P. of Technology / Web
Director of Promotion s
Sales Manager
El ~
Leonard Ridley
Danie lle Maurone
Scott Tollus
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~
13
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DreamligJ
to creatin~
deSigns
dramatic s
elegance, t
comfoi
Nationals jus t weeks prior, co-Cham
Ku pets and Carly Patterson entemd
Trial s as the clear favorites for tne t
Olympic team berths , Also battling for
spots were athletes who had finishi'd In
tured), Allyse Ishino, Liz Tricase. Tall-I"
Orlando, Tasha Schwikert , Carly J
~
_
Bhard wa j- as well as Hollie Vis
Melanie Sinclair and Sam Sheehan.
inju red Nicole Harri s, who was
Originally sla ted as alternate
Champion on beam Ashley Post
down an opportunity to compete. ea
Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi p~
surprised," Karolyi said of Postell's d
feel good about it, to tell you the truth. I !'
athlete has to fight all the way to e . 1
liked] to see her [at Trials] and trying "'!'
cially knowing that it's not necessary
was obvious, but the other three eve
good .... I would definitely fight u!11i1
make the team ."
tion final s format (three of the six
compete and all three scores count to
total), the composition of an Olympic I
a different set of standards than y~a,
unlike the 2000 Olympics, where 11
athletes was outlined in the proc
ur,,~ 1
from Trial s to the camp, and the sub, .'
USA Gymnastic s President Bob Colar
know wh at to expec t. One of the Wd"lt:'g"lI1
sport- and thi s is important-is t 0'
~
100,000 registered [competitive] rr
Gymnastics. Of those, we get to
la,
O tympic Games every four years. C
Mer
Palte
V,
G
Istlll
Gl
co utd ask for. "
Uha.
~
"Our [sel ec tion) procedures have
Hump
year since 1992, and the reason is bocat;
have changed ," he added. "Selecting a
0
all-around scores doesn't necessarily
team score. We have to pick a team tha:
Jail!
o
T,
Hiltl
I
~ipd
Competition I
The competition format for the Tr
on ly one athl ete to compete at a time,
o
5h,
(II
",
,
FOU
TleKE 5
TOAT E 5
A coac hing and club change earl y in the
year followed by an uncharacteristic loss at the
2004 VISA Cup left many wondering if Paul
Hamm would be ab le to handle the pressure
that comes wi th being the first -ever Wo rl d
Champion for the United States. Th ose ques­
tions were put to res t as Ham m domina ted
both the U.S. Nati onal Championships and
Olympic Trial s, where he ave raged an amazing
9 .64 4 over the 24 -routine span for the two
com petitions. Inc luded were a pa ir of near-per­
fect 9.9 scores on fl oor (double- tw isting do uble
layou t moun t) and high bar (layout Tkatchev,
straddle Tkatchev, pike Tkatchev combo ; dou­
ble-double dismount) .
Hamm 's first place stand ing with a
weig hted score (40% Nati onals, 60% Trials)
fro nl th e events earned him one o f two auto­
matic berths onto the Olympic team, as
expected . " 1think it fe lt more magical making it
in 2000 becau se it was the first time and I was­
n't quite sure if I wou ld make it or not ," he sa id
following the co mpeti tion. "But it obviously still
feels great to be going to the Olymp ics again
and leading th e team in Athens. "
8
In sid e Gymnas ti cs
July / Au gust 2 004
,
The second au tomatic berth went to three­
time wor ld team member Brett McClure, w ho hi t
23 o f his 24 rou ti nes (off on a Stalder 1 1/2 on
high bar). McClure was impressive not only with
his consistency, but also with great attention to
detail and form , for which he's been rewarded
in ternationally. McClure, touted by many in the
gymnas tics community as one o f the most nat­
urally talented athletes in the cou ntry, had at
times struggled wi th the mental aspect of the
game. No more. McClure was calm, confident
and composed throughout , focusing on the task
at hand. " My goa ls were no t to have any major
deduc tions and to focus on my own gymnas­
tics," McClure said. "(The error on high bar] was
a good test of me to get back in the game real­
ly. To have that happen here is better than at the
Olympic Games, and I came back strong and hi t
the rest of my rou tines. That was my goal-to
stay consistent through all four meets."
At the start of the Trials co mpetition it was
unclear how man y additional athletes, if an y,
would be named to the team . The men 's pro ­
gram co mmittee had the op tion of holding a
subsequent selec ti on camp , if deemed neces ­
sary. It was expected that eith er the entire team
would be na med , or just the two automatic
qualifiers, followin g Trials. In the end, the selec­
tion committee followed a completely d iffe ren t
rou te, naming two addi ti onal athl etes to the
team . Based on their strong performances .
Jason Gatson, who missed Nationals with a
back injury, and Morgan Hamm were awarded
Azarian cross; Maltese bounce cr ,.
tucked half-in , half-out) and parall~·
gle rail handstand to Healy to HetlJy
(hop 1 1/2); peach; double pikej I"
w here the U.S. needs him most. T n~
are so strong and unique that the/
potential not only to bring huge sc _
team tally, but also produce indlvidu.
"You trai n [all o~ your life fO( s
geries, including two com plete
to get to this point. "I've wanted
those experiences you could never I
Morga n Hamm earned his be
th e streng th of his four key events: r
doub le-dou b le),
pommel hor
(Ka sa matsu 1 1/2) and high bar
was ou t of co ntention for one of t .
ma ti c berth s. Th e curren t U.S.
bronze medalist makes a return I
Olympics , where he was a floor ,('3
o n that event.
Th e selec tion committee deL
the final tw o spots un til after a .
few weeks later at the Olympic
in Colorado Springs, Colo. The