Horton Mimics the Best

June 30, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - As the only American ever to win both the world championship and an Olympic gold medal, Paul Hamm was an ideal model for Jonathan Horton to mimic.

Getting the chance to pick Hamm's brain only helped Horton in his quest to make the U.S. team for the Beijing Games this summer.

Horton, the 2006 NCAA all-around champion at Oklahoma and a two-time American Cup winner, always had the physical talent to be ranked among the country's best gymnasts. What he sought out from Hamm were ways to be more mentally strong when the whole world is watching.

"He says he's human," Horton said while relaxing in Norman this week during Oklahoma's summer camp for children. "He gets nervous, but he knows how to control what he's doing, control the stress that he's under, so I've learned a lot from him just by talking to him and he's always willing to share his experiences and everything."

OU's Jonathan Horton - Bound for Beijing Central

Horton found it comforting that Hamm felt that same panic that sneaks in when the spotlight is the brightest. He just was better able to corral those emotions. Until recently.

Horton dazzled his way onto the U.S. team last weekend by winning the Olympic trials. Along with Hamm, he was one of the first two gymnasts to be placed on the roster.

"I just was hoping he'd make the team, but he kind of put an exclamation point on it," said Mark Williams, Horton's coach during three national team championships at Oklahoma. "He and Paul Hamm were the two guys that they really recognized as the group to make the team around."

Despite making up some ground on the still rings and parallel bars, Horton still isn't quite comfortable putting himself on a peer level with Hamm.

"I've still got a way to go to catch up to him, but I feel like I can definitely contribute to the team this year, and hopefully him and I will be standing on the podium together," Horton said.

Horton believes he can teach himself almost any skill within a few repetitions once he can visualize it -- and he's been using video and YouTube footage to try to be more like some of the world's top gymnasts, including Hamm.

"It's my goal to match what he's doing because he is the best in the world," Horton said. "If I can do that and maybe add a little bit of my own flavor into what I'm doing, just make some crazy stuff up in my head, that's the level I want to be on."

While Horton's quick learning has been a strength, Williams has been trying to get the most out of it. Instead of being able to duplicate a maneuver once soon after trying it for the first time, Williams wanted Horton to be able to execute it every single time.

"You might be able to go out there any day and do all you need to do on high bar, but unless you're consistent in the weeks up to the competition, it's a crapshoot if you're going to be on that day," Williams said. "I think he began to understand a little bit more now that it's the Olympics."

Williams also coached Guard Young, a former Oklahoma assistant, leading up to his appearance in the Athens Olympics four years ago but doesn't see Horton fitting into that same mold.

"There's been times when we've had some monumental battles where he has such natural talent that he can just go, 'I know I can do this.' In many ways, he's very different than Guard," Williams said.

"His training was just almost methodical. It was almost painful how slow change came, but he was willing to go turn, turn, turn. Jon had to learn a little bit of that. He could do things the first try a lot of times, but he needed to go back and learn to take enough turns that it was just second nature in a competition."

The payoff is the chance at the Olympics that Horton had dreamed about since watching the 1996 Atlanta Games, in which Kerri Strug memorably sealed a gold medal for the "Magnificent Seven" women's team. He was impressed by the men's team too, even without a podium finish.

"I don't know if I can actually put a meaning behind making it to the Olympics because it's so surreal," Horton said. "It's something I've dreamed of my whole life. To finally come true, it's incredible."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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