USA Men Take Silver At Worlds

Press release courtesy of USA Gymnastics

INDIANAPOLIS - The U.S. Men captured their fourth World Championships team medal in history on Tuesday winning team silver at the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, Calif.

Anchored by solid performances on parallel bars and rings, the United States earned a 171.121 to trail China at 171.996. Japan finished third at 170.708.

"All I can say is wow," said team member Brett McClure. "It was so exciting and intense. Everyone made small mistakes, whoever minimized them came out on top. We're here to stay. We're going to challenge for the gold in Athens. We've made a statement that we can do it next year."

Team USA won the silver medal at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium. The United States has never before won a team gold medal at the World Championships.

The U.S. appeared to be the running for gold until Morgan Hamm's vault score was lowered by five-tenths. Hamm flashed a Kassamatsu 1 1/2 for a 9.9 start value, but performed a Kassamatsu 1/2, which carries a start value of 9.5. However, the judges failed to notice change and awarded Hamm at 9.562. The U.S. coaches, recognizing the error, notified the officials, resulting in Hamm's score being lowered to 9.162.

Paul Hamm and Jason Gatson qualified for the all-around final on Thursday after finishing second and fourth respectively in the all-around during team prelims on Sunday.

Additionally, Paul Hamm, who won a bronze on floor at the '02 Worlds, qualified for the event final on the floor, Gatson and Wilson advanced to the still rings final, and Wilson advanced to the parallel bars final.

Competition continues Wednesday with the women's team final at 6 p.m.

The top eight teams advance to the team final, top 24 all-arounders (limit two per country) advance to the all-around final, and top eight individuals on each apparatus advance to the event finals. From the World Championships, the top 12 teams advance to the Olympic Games.

Team preliminaries use a 6-5-4 scoring format, with five athletes competing on each apparatus and four scores counting toward the team total. In the final, only three athletes compete on each apparatus with all three scores counting. The scoring format change for finals allows for teams with less depth to fare better in overall placement.

The World Championships will be televised nationally on NBC Sports on Aug. 23 and 24 from 2-4 p.m. EST, plus one hour of primetime coverage from 7-8 p.m. Aug. 24. For more information, log on to www.worlds03.com.

Team Final
1, China, 171.996. 2, USA (Paul Hamm, Jason Gatson, Blaine Wilson, Morgan Hamm, Brett McClure, Raj Bhavsar), 171.121. 3, Japan, 170.708. 4, Russia, 168.771. 5, Romania, 167.909. 6, Korea, 166.283. 7, France, 165.546. 8, Ukraine, 165.108.

Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for the sport of gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. For more information about USA Gymnastics and its programs, access USA Gymnastics online at www.usa-gymnastics.org.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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