Young Punches Ticket To Athens

OU's Guard Young wrapped up a five-day selection camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, July 15 and after putting together five solid routines, Young was named to the U.S. Olympic Team. It marks the first time in 20 years that the University of Oklahoma has a male gymnast representing the school in the Summer Olympic Games. Bart Conner was the last to do so in 1984 when he won two gold medals in Los Angeles.

Young, OU's assistant coach, along with Blaine Wilson were chosen by the U.S. Olympic Selection Committee to join Paul Hamm, Morgan Hamm, Jason Gatson and Brett McClure who were all previously named to the team after the conclusion of last month's U.S. Olympic Trials. Two alternate positions were also finalized at this week's camp, Raj Bhavsar and Steve McCain earned those spots.

Official Release From USA Gymnastics

“I am obviously happy with my performance and the end results,” said Young. “I told my coach (Mark Williams) whatever happens, happens and it ended turning out for the best. This was an interesting format because it was setup up to be like a meet but the timing was kind of off with the how the competition was acutally run so it did not feel like an actual meet. However, I was able to showcase the events I thought I could best help the team with and now I have the opportunity to get ready for Athens.”

Going into the camp, the general opinion among the gymnastics' community was that the team's weak events, if any among the four members, was the floor exercise and still rings. Those areas just happened to be two of Young's better events. The Oklahoma assistant coach performed well on Tuesday with 9.70 on the floor and a 9.50 on the still rings to accompany a 9.60 on the vault. During Thursday's final competition, he was more consistent scoring all five of his events above a 9.60. Young posted a 9.625 on the floor exercise and on the pommel horse while scoring a 9.65 on the still rings and vault. In addition, Young put together a solid routine on the parallel bars worth an impressive 9.675.

“I did well on Tuesday but after a couple of falls I really wanted to redeem myself on Thursday,” added Young. “I was really pleased with my performance today. I did what I knew I could control and that was hit my routines. I started off strong today and was able to finish on a high note as well with my floor routine and by sticking my new dismount on the rings. This has been an extremely long process and today when they announced my name first, I immediately started to think about the next step, and that was to start preparing for the Olympics next month.”

Young was competing against the two-time Olympian Wilson, Raj Bhavsar, David Durante, Steve McCain, Todd Thornton and Sean Townsend. Young was the only gymnast to compete on five events during both of the scheduled competitions that were scored by actual judges from the U.S. Olympic Trials. Young finished sixth at those trials and was asked to compete at the training camp, which began on July 11, along with the six other athletes to give the U.S. team the best shot at winning a medal in Athens this summer. Each gymnast competed as much as they felt was necessary to impress the committee and help their cause in making the team.

“I think the consensus of the day was that Guard helped his position by doing as well as he could do,” said Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams. “He rocked his routines and showed the committee that he could really help out on what I felt was the current team's weak events, the floor exercise and still rings.

"I certainily feel Guard earned his way on the team through his performance. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games. This was a long and strenous process and Guard handled it like a champion. As a team, I think we (U.S.) are very optimistic at our chances in Athens.”

The four new members of the team now have the remainder of the camp (three days) to practice along with the original four members in preparation for the Summer Olympics. They will depart for Greece on August 3 and the Opening Ceremonies are slated to begin on August 13. The first day of competition for the six members of U.S. Gymnastics' Team will start the following day inside of Olympic Indoor Hall on Saturday, August 14th.

The Young family name is no stranger to the Olympics, Guard's father, Wayne, also was an Olympian gymnast competing in the 1976 games where he served as the U.S. team captain. Guard almost made his first Olympics in 2000 at the Sydney games before falling short at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

“My dad has always helped my out by supporting me and helping me make the right decisions no matter what sport I was involved with,” said Young. “He helped me decide on going to BYU to compete in gymnastics and to be an assistant at Oklahoma so to follow in his footsteps and make the Olympics team at this point in my career is a great honor.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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