Horton, USA Compete Live Tonight

Aug. 11, 2008

BEIJING, China -- After leading the USA men's gymnastics team in the qualifying round, former Sooner Jonathan Horton will look to duplicate that feat on Monday night as NBC televises the team finals live at 9 p.m. CT (KFOR, News Channel 4, Cox Channel 3 in the Oklahoma City metro area).

Horton will compete later in the week for another shot at topping the medal stand in the all-around finals (Aug. 13 - 9 p.m.) and high bar finals (Aug. 19 - 6:30 a.m.).

The top eight countries from the qualification round square off in the team finals: defending world team champion China, Germany, France, 2004 Olympic team gold-medalist Japan, Romania, Russia and South Korea, as well as the USA. Competition begins at 10 a.m. local Beijing time, and will be shown live on NBC Sports in the United States.

Bound for Beijing Central | nbcolympics.com | usa-gymnastics.org

Although scores from the qualification round do not carry forward to the finals, the USA's score of 365.200 was just more than one point off of Russia's third place tally of 366.225. China, which finished at the top of the rankings in the qualification round at 374.675, won the team title at both the 2006 and 2007 World championships. Japan, second in the team qualification rankings with a 369.550, was the team silver medalist in 2007 and the bronze medalist in 2006 at the World Championships. Russia and Germany were the world team bronze medalists in 2006 and 2007, respectively. At the 2004 Olympic Games, the U.S. men earned the team silver medal. Japan was the team champion, with Romania claiming the bronze medal.

“Our men have definite medal potential,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “We have a talented and dedicated group of men, and we are confident in their ability to represent our country at the highest level.”

The U.S. Olympic Team for men's gymnastics includes: Alexander Artemev of Highlands Ranch, Colo./Team Chevron; Raj Bhavsar of Houston/Team Chevron; Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M./Team Chevron; Jonathan Horton of Houston/Team Chevron; Justin Spring of Burke, Va./Team Chevron; and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron. The replacement athlete is David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron.

The competition format for the final round is that six gymnasts are on a team, three athletes compete on each event and all three scores count toward the team score. The U.S. Team's line up for team finals is listed below in competition order.

Still rings: Raj Bhavsar, Jonathan Horton, Kevin Tan
Vault: Raj Bhavsar, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring
Parallel bars: Raj Bhavsar, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring
Horizontal bar: Joey Hagerty, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring
Floor exercise: Justin Spring, Joey Hagerty, Jonathan Horton
Pommel horse: Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar, Alexander Artemev

* Information in this release courtesy of USA Gymnastics.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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