Legendre set for Toyota Cup

Nov. 14, 2008

NORMAN, Okla.--University of Oklahoma sophomore Steven Legendre will compete in his first meet as a member of the USA Men's Gymnastics Senior National Team at the Toyota Cup in Toyota City, Japan, on Nov 15-16.

Legendre will be competing with fellow American Guillermo Alvarez of Team Chevron against members of the Japanese, China, Romania, Korea, Hungary, and Belarus's National Teams.

“I'm pretty excited. It should be a lot of fun being my first senior assignment. I hope I can go over and do well,” said Legendre.

Legendre will look to medal on two of his strongest events, floor exercise and vault, to improve his chances of being on the Individual World Championship Team in 2009.

“Steven is looking forward to representing the United States as a Senior National Team member for the first time and to be competing against international competition,” said OU Head Coach Mark Williams. “This is Steven's first opportunity at preparing for a possible run at the 2012 Olympics.”

The Port Jefferson, N.Y., native was named to the squad in October after helping OU win the program's eighth national title and also enjoying success on the international scene.

In his last national competition, Legendre competed at the 2008 Visa Championships and placed second on floor and 13th in the all-around competition. The strong showing came shortly after he earned two individual NCAA titles (vault and floor) while pushing the Sooners to the program's eighth National Championship.

During 2007, Legendre competed on the national and international scene. At the Visa U.S. Championships, Legendre finished second on vault under the senior division and then at the Junior Pan-Am Championships in Guatemala, he won the all-around and helped the U.S. win the gold medal at the games.

In 2006, he won the vault and was second on the parallel bars in the junior division and finished third on vault in the senior division at the Visa Championships. He also finished eighth in the all-around at the 2005 Junior National Championships.

The last Sooner to compete with the U.S. Senior National team is current member Jonathan Horton, who helped the team win a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics over the summer, while also earning a silver medal on high bar.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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