I saw USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny return to the Arena floor and I knew the team had been chosen. I knew that at that very moment, in a room with eighteen of the best male gymnasts in the country, that five would learn their incredible fate to represent the United States of America at the 2016 Olympic Games. Steve Penny appeared sooner than I had expected, and somehow that calmed me down a little, but let’s be clear, I was a nervous wreck and thought my heart would pound right out of my chest. I was looking down at my sheet of scribbled scores that I had been compiling since Night 1 of the Men’s P&G National Championships three weeks earlier, and replaying all the Olympic final “3 men up, 3 scores count” point scenarios in my numbers brain. I was certain John Orozco was in contention. After all, he was the 2012 U.S. National Champion and a member of the 2012 Olympic Team, finishing 8th place in the All Around. He is a three time World Bronze Medallist, including one individual medal on Parallel Bars. He also has much needed expertise on pommel horse, and is a multiple U.S. Medallist on High Bar. But how can you really be certain about an athlete, incredible no doubt, who has been sidelined for 2 of the past 4 yours with major injuries including a ruptured Achilles tendon, his second, just 12 months ago? Let’s not forget the devastating sudden loss of his mom 4 months earlier. How do you come back from something like that? As John Orozco will humbly tell you, “I didn’t come this far, to only come this far”. Long road to Rio.
The six person Olympic Selection committee, five with voting rights, had their work cut out for themselves. With incredible depth in the USA Men’s program today, this was considered one of the toughest team decisions to make in over twenty years. In the Gymnastics team final at the Olympic Games, three athletes compete per event, and all three scores count. There is no room for error. Considering the field of competitors, what five gymnasts will offer the best chance to earn the top three scores across six events? Run the numbers. The Selection committee did and they each returned the same five competitor names. Selection U.S. Men’s Olympic Team.
All of a sudden the lights went out in the Arena. I leaned forward in my seat, straining my eyes to make out the five men who were walking towards the steps leading up to the podium floor. I caught a glimpse of John’s face seconds before the lights went on, and the flood gates of emotion erupted as the CEO of USA Gymnastics announced the 2016 Olympic Men’s team. John Orozco is one of my all time favorite gymnasts, and certainly my favorite among the men! Steve Penny Announces U.S. Men’s Olympic Team.
Cynthia Drew at 2016 Men’s Olympic Trials.
Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton, and John Orozco made their second Olympic team Saturday night June 25 at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri! 2012 Olympic replacement athletes Chris Brooks and Alex Naddour also sealed their fate! I can’t help but think what a powerful statement this is, speaking to the level of commitment and dedication it must take to remain competitive at the very top of your field, across two Olympic cycles, in a sport so physically demanding. It’s truly inspiring ! Three alternates were named the following morning, Danell Leyva, Donnell Whittenburg, and Akash Modi.
As a fan, a former child and adult competitor, and now a Level 10 USAG certified Women’s Judge, and NY South Board Treasurer and CPE Coordinator, I am so proud to be involved in this sport and can’t get enough of it! Something magical happens every time I walk into a setting where gymnastics is happening!
Fast forward to July 8 and the setting is San Jose, CA for the Women’s Olympic Trials. Of course by now, most of you have heard of the greatest female Artistic gymnast in the history of the sport, the incredible Simone Biles, who burst into the spotlight following the 2012 London Olympics. She arrived at the 2016 Olympic Trials as the reigning 3 time consecutive World All Around Champion and 4 time consecutive U.S. National Champion! These are distinctions held by no other female Artistic gymnast. Her second tumbling pass on floor includes a skill named after her, “The Biles”, a double back layout with a half twist. She is the only female artistic gymnast on the planet who performs this move, which she does with such incredible height, that she actually finishes all that rotating and twisting with so much room to spare, she seemingly floats to the ground for the landing. It’s incredible to watch! When she is at her best, nobody even comes close. In the All Around final in Rio, she would go on to score a whopping 15.933 on Floor Exercise, +0.5 to the second place finisher, and more than a full point to the 3rd place finisher at 14.9! That margin of separation is unheard of in this sport! It is actually quite easy to conceive the notion that Simone Biles will retain the title of Greatest Female Artistic Gymnast until the end of time!
The level of difficulty in this sport has risen to such extraordinary heights. To put this in perspective, Nadia Comaneci performed a single back layout with 1 ½ twists in her opening tumbling pass at the 1976 Olympic Games. Today, gymnasts perform double backs and triple twists on floor and standing flips on Beam.
Following 2 days of some pretty incredible gymnastics from the highly regarded field of competitors who comprise the U.S. Women’s National Team, CEO Steve Penny returned to the podium Sunday night July 10 to announce the five person Women’s Olympic team including reigning World and U.S. National Champion Simone Biles, 2012 Olympic All Around Champion Gabrielle Douglas, 2012 Olympic Floor Exercise Champion Aly Raisman, reigning World Uneven Bars Champion Madison Kocian, and the youngest member of the team at 16 years of age, first year on the Senior National team, Laurie Hernandez. The replacements athletes named include Ragan Smith, McKayla Skinner, and Ashton Locklear. Congratulations ladies! Steve Penny announces U.S. Women’s Olympic Team.
U.S. Women’s Olympic Team photo taken by Cynthia Drew
Each Olympic Team announcement always includes replacement athletes, as injury is unfortunately very common in this sport. On July 15, we learned the devastating news that John Orozco tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, on a bad landing off High Bar, and had to step down from the Olympic team. 2012 Olympic Bronze Medallist Danell Leyva was named to the team to replace John. An incredible outpouring of support from the global gymnastics community made the news somewhat bearable. Of course John Orozco is such a class act. His attitude and demeanor following this tragic injury, ultimately helped all of us to move forward in the best possible way. John has since had two surgeries on his knee and continues his gymnastics training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
The USA Men ultimately finished 5th in the Olympic Team Competition with a combined score of 268.56. U.S. Men Finish Fifth. following a 2nd place finish in the preliminary round of 270.405, that also counted a few missteps. They are exceptionally talented athletes who simply had a bad day and I admire them all greatly! Event finals went better with Alex Naddour claiming Bronze on Pommel Horse, and Danell Leyva claiming Silver on Parallel Bars and High Bar. Two men qualified to the All Around Final, with reigning four time U.S. National Champion Sam Mikulak finishing 7th, and Chris Brooks finishing in 14th place.
U.S. Men’s Olympic Team photo provided by USA Gymnastics
On to the women! The USA Gymnastics Women’s Team dominated at the 2016 Olympic Games with a total of 9 out of a possible 11 medals, 4 Gold, 4 Silver, and 1 Bronze. U.S. Women Olympic Champions! Given that Olympic gymnastics teams today only consist of five members, down from seven in 1996 when the Magnificent Seven won Gold in Atlanta , and down from six in 2008 when the USA Women won Silver in Beijing, the “Final Five” delivered in invincible fashion!
Team: Gold USA
All Around: Gold Simone Biles, Silver Aly Raisman
Vault: Gold Simone Biles
Uneven Bars: Silver Madison Kocian
Balance Beam: Silver Laurie Hernandez, Bronze Simone Biles
Floor: Gold Simone Biles, Silver Aly Raisman
USA Women 2016 Gold Medal Olympic Champions photo provided by USA Gymnastics, photo credit to John Cheng.
There is a 2 gymnast per country rule for each of the 4 events and the all around final. The USA Women claimed 2 medals on every event except Vault and Uneven Bars. I should note that to qualify to the Vault event final, the gymnast must perform a vault from 2 different categories of Vault. In the U.S. currently, we only have 2 gymnasts who qualify to the Vault final, Simone Biles and McKayla Skinner, who was named one of the replacement athletes.
Madison Kocian, who trains at WOGA in Plano, Texas, a gym well known for producing great Uneven Bars workers, won the Silver Medal on Uneven Bars with a score of 15.833, -0.67 behind Aliya Mustafina from the Russian Federation. A World Champion on the Uneven Bars, Kocian was chosen for this Olympic team specifically for her strength on this event. Under the intense pressure of needing to deliver on one event only, she did her job, not only winning the Silver in the event final, but delivering an impressive 15.933 routine during the team final.
Of course everyone knows Gabrielle Douglas, the 2012 Olympic All Around Champion and the first gymnast with that distinction, to make a second Olympic team. Equally impressive, is the fact that Douglas did not train for two years following London. Given the high degree of difficulty necessary to remain competitive at the international elite level today, it’s extremely difficult to achieve this feat following such a lengthy absence. While her degree of difficulty on Floor, Beam, and Vault was lower than her teammates, her strength on uneven bars was greatly needed, and she certainly delivered with a huge score of 15.766 in the team final!
In 2012, Laurie Hernandez was 12 years old and a Level 10 gymnast. Today she is the youngest member of the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal Women’s Gymnastics Team, also winning a Silver Medal on Balance Beam with an impressive 15.333, tumbling and leaping across the 4” wide apparatus with veteran precision and confidence! With tremendous personality and dynamic choreography on Floor Exercise, she quite ably engages her audience, which we also expect to see as a new contestant on Dancing With The Stars!
Aly Raisman, the most decorated U.S. Gymnast at the 2012 Olympic Games with two Gold Medals, Team and Floor Exercise and one Bronze on Beam, added three more Olympic Medals to her treasure chest in Rio with one Gold in the Team Competition, and two Silver Medals, All Around and Floor Exercise. The 2016 Olympic Team Captain and oldest member of this invincible team at 22, has certainly sealed her place in the history of USA and World gymnastic legends! Aly decided to continue in her training following a 4th place finish in the All Around competition in the 2012 Olympics, a finish delivered at the hands of a 3rd place tie break rule that went to Aliya Mustafina from Russia. Determined in her quest this time around, with her parents sitting in the stands, twisting in their seats, she delivered in convincing fashion, seizing the Silver Medal and relegating Mustafina to a Bronze medal finish. Her exceptional strength on Vault, performing a sky high Amanar vault scoring a 15.633, and a magnificent and glorious Floor Exercise routine scoring a huge 15.433 sealed the deal!
This exceptional Olympic Champion team is aptly named “The Final Five” to signify the end of an extraordinary era in U.S. Gymnastics history, with the retirement of Marta Karolyi, longtime U.S. Women’s National Team Coordinator. A legend retires. Since 2000 she has led the Women’s Program in earning 96 World and Olympic Medals. We wish Marta Karolyi much happiness and enjoyment in her retirement! Valeri Liukin, a two time Olympic Champion, father and coach to 2008 Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin, WOGA gym owner, and one of the most highly respected coaches in this sport, is excited to assume this important role. Valeri Liukin to succeed Marta Karolyi. We wish Valeri great success!
And just in case you missed a Golden moment in Olympic Gymnastics history, I leave you with this exquisite floor routine at the conclusion of the 2016 Olympic All Around final, that scored a monster 15.933, undoubtedly one of the best floor routines in the life of the greatest female Artistic gymnast Simone Biles. Enjoy!
Simone Biles clinches Olympic All Around Gold!
Cover photo of 2016 Olympic Men’s Team provided by USA Gymnastics.
