Horton Keys U.S. Olympic Berth

Sept. 4, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - Led by a strong performance by Oklahoma's Jonathan Horton, the United States finished fourth in the preliminary round of the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. With its top-12 finish, the United States receives an automatic berth in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Just one year ago, a young but talented U.S. Men's Team narrowly missed finishing in the top 12 at the 2006 World Championships, suffering from a series of misfortunes. This year, with four members of last year's team returning, the U.S. men put in an impressive performance on all six events to finish third after their subdivision and fourth overall.

The top eight teams from the preliminary round qualified for the World Championships team finals on Thursday at 7 a.m. (CT). In addition to the U.S., the teams competing in the team finals are: China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Romania, Spain and Korea.

"The whole atmosphere was unbelievable," said OU head coach and U.S. assistant Mark Williams. "Knowing that the performance today meant the difference between Team USA going to the Olympic Games and knowing that last year we were out of that position - these guys, even as inexperienced as they are as a team with nobody from the 2004 Olympic team, stepped up and competed tremendously well."

AT&T Blue Room | WCSN.com | Team Results | All-Around Results | ESPN.com story

Horton, an OU senior, was the top American all-around competitor, finishing in ninth place with a score of 90.900. The score qualified the Houston, Texas, native to Friday's all-around finals. Horton also narrowly missed advancing to the event finals on high bar, posting a team-best 15.075. He also recorded the top American score on parallel bars (15.500).

"I am really excited about the team because no one believed in us but us," said Horton. "I am also excited about how I competed because I get to go to the all-around finals. My high bar routine was one of the best I have ever done. I was a little sloppy in some other areas, but I couldn't ask for anything more."

In the team qualifying competition, five men competed on each apparatus with the top four counting toward the team score. In the team finals, three men will compete on each apparatus and all scores count.

Gymnastics fans across the country will have an unprecedented opportunity to follow Team USA in Stuttgart. Through a partnership of USA Gymnastics, AT&T, NBC Sports and WCSN, fans can experience the competition via the Internet and network television,

As part of AT&T's Blue Room, "USA Gymnastics: Behind the Team" will provide video clips from Stuttgart, including post-competition interviews.

Beginning on Sept. 5, fans can watch a free webcast, both live and on-demand, of the men's and women's team, all-around and individual event finals at wcsn.com.

Also, for the first time since 2003, the World Championships will be broadcast on network television. NBC Sports will air a two-hour presentation of the World Championships at 4 p.m. (ET) on Oct. 7.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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