OLYMPICS NEWS
August 12, 2008
For the US Men, It's as Good as Gold
 |  ODD ANDERSON—AP U.S. gymnasts Jonathan Horton, Joey Hagerty, Raj Bhavsar and Alexander Artemev celebrate their surprise bronze medal win. |
It's one thing to be seen as the underdog in sports, but quite another to enter as the stray. And that's how most of the world saw the squad of six Olympic newcomers on the U.S. men's gymnastics team. Two team members are last minute alternates. Alexander Artemev got the call to suit up just a day before the competition began. Entering the team finals, the U.S. trailed China, the leader, and eventual gold medal winner, by 9.475 points, with a rank of sixth place. Yet the unexpected does tend to occur at the Olympics, and the American men ultimately found themselves accepting bronze medals in the men's team finals Tuesday, behind the heavily favored China and Japan.
The U.S. men focused on overcoming their inexperience and relying on each other. Led by team captain Kevin Tan, a soft-spoken Chinese American from Fremont, California, the team tried to work as a well-performing whole. "Team is everything," says head coach Kevin Mazeika. "Our mantra is 100% one team, one dream."
The Hamm twins, Paul and Morgan, pulled out of the Beijing Games due to injuries. Without the Hamms, working as a team was the only way the U.S. was ever going to reach the medal stand. And Tan knew just the way to do that — by keeping his teammates confident. “I tend to be over the top most of the time,” says Texan Jonathan Horton, the team's best all-around gymnast. “Kevin balances me out, with quiet confidence."
The U.S. got lucky with the rotation order of August 12's team final. They pulled one of their strongest events — the still rings — first out of the six. Tan, a national champion on the rings, helped the men to reach third place after that rotation. But it wasn't until they reached the high bars that the U.S. squad found its medal rhythm. Flowing routines by Jonathan Horton and Justin Spring pushed the team to second behind the Chinese.
On Wednesday it's the ladies' turn. The females aren't the underdogs that the men were thought to be. With the reigning world champion Shawn Johnson and several world medalists on deck, the U.S. women are expected to give China a good tumble for the gold. While the men proved everyone wrong, the women must live up to their expectations.
