Williams: Blogging in Beijing

Aug. 13, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- Throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics, SoonerSports.com will keep fans up to date with blogs from former Sooner Jonathan Horton and head men's gymnastics coach Mark Williams from Beijing.

Today's account comes from Coach Williams as he looks back at the men's bronze medal performance and looks forward to the all-around finals which will air live on NBC tonight at 10 p.m. CT.

Stay tuned next week to hear more from Coach Williams and Horton as they continue their journey in Beijing.

Bound for Beijing Central | Bronze Recap | Horton Blog #1

BEIJING, China (Tuesday, Aug. 12)

Hello from Beijing a day after the USA men's gymnastics team earned the Olympic team Bronze Medal! I hope most of you saw what an incredible meet it was for the USA men. I'm not sure we have ever had an Olympic team like this one compete as such underdogs with such energy, emotion and passion while having the time of their lives.

Jonathan Horton was amazing. I was so proud to watch him perform five of the best routines that he has ever done. He was on fire out there, sticking landings, pumping up his teammates and anchoring the team on everything except pommel horse. Even though pommel horse is weak for Jon, the way he was competing up to that point, I would have put him in the line-up. He just couldn't miss. It was a thrill I will never forget watching.

This team came together under such extreme pressure and exceeded most people's expectations. After Paul and Morgan Hamm withdrew from the team, most of the media counted this team out of even making the team finals. I'm so happy these guys were able to prove the naysayers wrong.

Since the head and assistant coaches were on the floor throughout the competition, I was up in the stands with the other personal coaches just behind the NBC booth. It was nerve-wracking not being on the floor with Jon but I knew my job was done after working with him in the warm-up gym just prior to the start of the meet.

Throughout the process of Jon and the team's preparation, I've been at all the two-a-day team training sessions and the preparation podium practice workouts. Personally, it was hard not being out on the floor with the team but I knew that the guys were in good hands with Kevin Mazeika and Miles Avery.

Immediately following the competition the guys had to deal with a plethora of media requests. It was almost an hour before I even got to talk with Jonathan. The first thing he said to me was, "We did it, we did it!" After the award ceremony, the team was taken to the Olympic media center for a press conference. From there we walked over to the NBC studios and the guys did some taped video interviews. During this time, we also got to eat lunch at the NBC commissary that had American pizza, hamburgers, French fries and even a Starbucks. Part of the gymnastics coverage was on while we were there and pretty soon there were lines of cooks and servers, NBC personnel and other Chinese workers requesting pictures with the Bronze Medal team.

Following that we had a short break before the guys were on the "Today" Show live at the Olympic studio on Tuesday morning. I had a chance to talk with Al Roker again and reminded him we had met back at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

After that we were taken to the USA House where there was a gathering of USOC officials, former Olympians and the guys parents. Mary Lou Retton, Bart Conner, Jair Lynch, Trent Dimas and Peter Vidmar were all there to greet the team. They were all very excited with the team's performance, the character they showed on the competition floor and the will and effort they displayed at the meet. It was fun to talk with everyone, get a little dinner and replay the highlights of the meet before finally heading home for the night.

Today Jon and Sasha trained in the morning for the all around (AA) finals. Both were up doing basics and parts just 24 hours after starting the team competition yesterday. Even though it was just a day ago, the team meet seemed ages ago. The rest of the team was on their way to see the Great Wall of China with their families. Hopefully later in the week we'll be able to go there as well.

Tomorrow the AA finals are early again, 10 p.m. Oklahoma time. So send some Sooner Magic Jon's way for that. I'll be on the competition floor with him so wish us luck. We're not done yet!

- Coach Williams

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BEIJING, China (Monday, Aug. 11)

Hello again from Beijing, China. This past week the team struggled through the replacement of another one of our Olympians, brought in one of the alternates the day before competition, competed in the qualification day and began preparing for the team finals.

After our podium day, Morgan Hamm withdrew from the team due to the injury he had to his ankle. A day later, Sasha Artemev stepped in for Morgan and was asked to compete in the all around. It was an emotional roller coaster, having to go through this type of change so close to the competition. Never before in the history of men's USA gymnastics Olympic teams have we replaced two athletes within two weeks of the start of the Games.

Saturday was the qualification meet and USA competed in the first session. Warm-ups began at 10:00 a.m. and the competition started at 12:00 p.m. The format had five gymnasts competing on every event with four scores counting for the team.

The USA's first event was the still rings and the team put together five good routines. Jon was solid, scoring a little below his average but he had a nice routine. The vault came next and again the USA team competed well. Jon took a side step on this double front for a 15.95. The parallel bar team did very well too. Jon did a very good pike and tuck Belles and again scored in the top three for the USA team. The high bar team did an amazing job with consistency while catching big releases and finishing with very difficult dismounts. Jon had is best high bar routine of the year scoring 15.575. This turned out to be enough to qualify him to the high bar finals scheduled for August 19. He finished sixth in the qualification round. A pretty amazing accomplishment! Floor exercise was next and the team did pretty well but not their best. Jon had a solid routine with some hops on his landings. The last event was pommel horse and though some of the scores were a little low, everyone did their job. Jon had one of his better horse routines for the year but only scored 13.95. Sasha did a tremendous set for a 15.25 to finish the meet in sixth and put him in the pommel horse finals.

The final tally had the USA team finishing sixth to qualify them into Tuesday morning's finals. NBC will be covering the finals on Monday night live in Oklahoma.

China was the top team in the qualifying round, followed by Japan, Russia, Germany and Korea. I stayed to watch the second session that had China, Japan and Russia competing. The last session had Germany and Korea and I watched them compete from the dining hall. The last two teams in the finals are France and Romania.

Jon finished eighth in the all around (AA), hitting all six of his routines. Sasha was 19th and made the finals as well. The AA finals will be held on August 14th. Jon will compete first on PH and rotate in the Olympic order finishing on floor. This is the same rotation he had last year at the 2007 World Championships in Germany.

We left the competition venue last Saturday feeling pretty good about the team's performance. The next step was preparing for the change in format going into the team finals. In finals, each team will only put up three gymnasts and each score will count for the team. This three-up and three-count protocol puts consistency and high start scores as the priority. There will be less guys competing but every routine will count for the team score.

Tomorrow is the team finals competition day. The team had a couple good days of training and are prepared to again start on the still rings come 10 a.m. on Tuesday. It's an early time to be doing gymnastics but I'm sure the guys will be up for it.

Outside the training and the competition day, the rest of our time in China has been taken up by traveling back and forth to our dorms, eating, sleeping or communicating with our families at home.

The personal coaches have been on some wild cab rides but still somehow manage to figure our where we're going and eventually get to where we need to be. If this is 60 percent of the usual traffic in Beijing, I don't want to be here when it's at full force.

My only other highlights have to do with being a part of the Olympic mix. I did get to run around the track with the 100-meter track star, Tyson Gay, rode the bus with fencing gold medalist, Mariel Zagunis and watched the basketball team for a few minutes workout near our dorm. Also, Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski, was on hand at the 24-hour fitness gym I worked out in to do the grand opening.

We've also gotten used to seeing the Olympic security force stationed every twenty feet or so at every venue. Each time we go in or out of the village, the personal coaches' housing, practice gyms, walk from one area to the next, there are security checkpoints to go through. Where we are staying, we've seen the same guy at his post for hours in some very hot and humid conditions.

Yesterday I did go and watch the USA women's gymnastics team in their qualification day. Except for a couple of mistakes on the uneven bars, the team looked very good. My cab couldn't find the right facility so I had to run the last mile to the competition hall. The Olympic Green area was packed so I missed the first two rotations. I got to see the team's uneven bars and beam. With China and the USA first and second, respectively, after prelims, this should set up quite a battle between the two teams in the finals.

So that's what has been going on lately. Please wish the team luck for their efforts in the team finals and I will check back in again soon.

-- Coach Williams

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BEIJING, China (Monday, Aug. 4) | Photo Gallery

Last Tuesday morning, at 5:00 a.m., Jonathan Horton and I were on our way to the airport to embark on our trip to China for the Olympic games. As we drove in the predawn darkness, I couldn't help but think about the journey that had gotten us to this place in time.

As a freshman in 2004, Jonathan expressed to me his desire to train and compete for the 2008 USA Olympic team. After helping lead the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team to three NCAA national championships and many individual collegiate awards, he was now on the brink of fulfilling his goal.

The current season began with our regular collegiate season from January-April. During this time, Jonathan slowly reworked several of his routine constructions with new difficulty. As he prepared for the Visa Championships in May, three events had new routines from the 2007 World Championships. Once the competition at the Visa Championships was complete, Jon was second in the all around after the two days of competition. In June, he finished at the top of the standings after the two-day meet of the Olympic Trials. Immediately after the competition he was named to the team along with Paul Hamm. A day later, Joey Hagerty, Kevin Tan, Justin Spring and Morgan Hamm were also named to the team.

In July, the team had a ten-day training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The newly formed Olympic team would have several days of training, two days of competition and many meetings to prepare for Beijing. Again, Jon did well throughout that process and we returned from camp feeling ready.

The day before our departure, news flashed quickly around the world the Paul Hamm had withdrawn from the Olympic team. Though a shock to just about everyone, I know that Paul didn't feel totally ready after breaking his hand in May and dealing with a recent shoulder injury. Our alternate, Raj Bhavsar, replaced Paul on the team and we were set to go to China.

Our early trip to the airport began on July 29th where we traveled to San Jose, CA for the USOC Olympic processing.
This turned out to be a lot of fun since we were given all the Olympic apparel, luggage, pins, team ring, shoes and everything for Opening Ceremonies, training and competing.

The next day, last Wednesday, we were on board the plane to China, a twelve-hour flight. By this time the whole team was together in San Francisco and ready for our departure.

We arrived in Beijing a bit sleep deprived and sore but excited about getting started with our workouts. After some confusion about visa entry forms and finding our bus, we eventually made it away from the airport. Jon and the guys headed for the Olympic village and I left with some of the other personal coaches for Beijing Norman University where we would be staying.

Friday, August 1st, we worked out twice in an auxiliary training gym. The equipment was up on a podium that would be similar to the event venue. Jon worked out the tightness he had developed from traveling and tested out all the events. On the way to the gym, I had my first view of the Olympic village. The landscaping was magnificent with lots of trees, flowers and greenery. The athlete's housing was also brand new.

In between workouts, I ran a couple miles around the track at the university and lifted weights at the USOC strength facility. Because there had been a rainstorm in Beijing the day we arrived, we were told the air quality was better than it had been in months. Though it was hot and humid, the pollution levels were very low. The Chinese government had in fact closed down factories, limited motor vehicle usage for odd and even days and put a halt to construction sites. As a result, the smog levels so far were not as bad as predicted.

Saturday we had our first chance to see the competition venue. It was very impressive looking and a fitting atmosphere for this world stage. We had training in the gym next to the arena in the warm-up gym. It too was very nice with three separate gyms and all the equipment up on the podium. Jon did great adjusting to everything and felt better physically than he had since leaving Oklahoma.

Late that afternoon, several of the coaches took taxis to the silk market in downtown Beijing. The market was nothing like I had every experienced. Six floors of vendors hawking merchandise from tailored business suits to inexpensive pearls. Just about everything you could think of was for sale and none of it had price tags. There were wall-to-wall booths with clothing, shoes, electronics, watches, bags, glasses and Chinese trinkets. The sales personnel aggressively encouraged your attention and offered you the lowest prices and the best deals. The art of negotiating a price for each item offered became almost a game among the many Olympians who were visiting the shops. Some of the coaches in our group made some good deals for clothing and souvenirs.

Sunday we had a similar workout schedule. Going to the practice gym, the personal coaches including myself had trouble getting into the venue prior to our practice. Security has been tight throughout the city near anything involving the Olympics. Often the rules for entering and leaving checkpoints have changed from day to day. When this happens, it takes more verification from higher ranking officials and generally more delays to get the right information. These little glitches have not affected our training but we've had to stay flexible about our schedule.

Today is Monday and the haze has returned to the city. I can no longer see the mountains surrounding Beijing. In fact it is hard to see beyond a couple blocks. I now see what they have been talking about concerning pollution alerts.

We'll be having a hard workout this afternoon as our final preparation for the Wednesday training in the actual competition arena. On podium day, as we call it, the guys will have their only opportunity to workout on the equipment used for the meet. The plan will be to do everything needed to get comfortable for the real thing. Our team preliminary meet begins the day after the Opening Ceremonies that is on Saturday, August 9th. We are in the first of three sessions and we'll need to finish in the top 8 to advance to the team finals.

So we're close to getting things started. The anticipation builds with each day. We're seeing more and more athletes arriving everyday. The stadium hosted a practice to the opening ceremonies the other day with spectacular fireworks. It won't be long now until we're in the middle of the Olympic event Jon dreamed of since he was just starting gymnastics. Amazing Awaits!

-- Coach Williams

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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