American men rebound at gymnastic worlds

They used last year’s struggles as motivation.

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Some called it failure. The Americans called it fuel.

A year after their gymnastics debacle in Denmark, the U.S. men enjoyed an incredible comeback in Deutschland. The performance not only assured them one of 12 spots in the Beijing Olympics but got them thinking about more immediate goals — like maybe taking a bronze medal from these world championships.

Preposterous?

Most of the outward signs leading to Tuesday’s success in qualifying said it was. But after finishing fourth, short only of world-beaters China and Japan and revved-up host Germany, it was clear the Americans are nothing like that beleaguered squad that finished a dismal 13th in 2006.

“It still eats at me,” said Jonathan Horton, whose falls off the parallel bars and high bar last year contributed heavily to the U.S. slide down the standings. “Because so many times over the past year, we’d have people come up to us and question the ability of the U.S. team. The comments we got from people about us being weak just fueled every movement that I do.”

Horton was good on all but one of the six events this time, the only hiccup being a bad vault landing that didn’t count in the U.S. score anyway.

His highlight, meanwhile, was a high bar routine filled with the kind of danger that has been sorely lacking in that event over the last couple years. He threw himself up and over the bar three times, doing the same move in three different positions. Each time, he grabbed hold of the bar as easily as if he were reaching for a strap on the subway.

“Finish! Finish! Finish! Stick! Stick!” shouted team captain David Durante as he watched Horton pull it off. Moments later, they were bumping shoulders to celebrate, having escaped the most harrowing routine of the day without having to count a single bad score.

Happy about result

Nobody was happier about it than Durante, the animated captain, who was an alternate on last year’s team, the result of a performance at national championships that was so bad he briefly considered retiring. Instead, he came back and won nationals this year, establishing himself as the leader the team so dearly needed.

“When this is your passion, this is your life’s work, and you hear people say you’re not very good at what you do, it’s frustrating,” Durante said. “It really fueled us.”

The failure also ate at Kevin Tan, the rings specialist who had the now-infamous roast beef sandwich that gave him food poisoning and made him a shell of himself on competition day last year. By the time he reached the still rings, his signature event, he didn’t have a chance. He struggled on the most basic of moves. He fell on his dismount. Eventually, his stomach got better, but the pain didn’t go away.

“It was fuel,” he said after acing the rings this time around. “Just fuel. Everyone said it. They didn’t know where we were going to be. They were very skeptical about whether we were going to make the Olympics or not. But we, as the United States, got down to business. We pushed each other. We pushed ourselves to get to this point.”

Arguably the best routine of Tuesday’s meet came from the American gymnast with the most raw talent but also the biggest knack for untimely mistakes.

That’s Sasha Artemev.

What a relief

He won a bronze medal on pommel horse at worlds last year, the only glimmer of hope during that two weeks in Denmark. His routine on horse this time was about the same: a one-handed spin move on the right pommel that had the crowd oohing and aahing, then a series of scissors kicks that go higher and faster than anyone, save maybe those of Chinese gold medalist Xiao Qin.

“It’s a tremendous relief,” Artemev said. “All our efforts and work, everything has just really paid off today. After last year, everybody worked even harder. I couldn’t be happier.”

He won’t get a chance to medal in the men’s all-around due to a decision by coaches that took him off rings at the very end. The idea was to squeeze out points that didn’t turn out to be needed. But Artemev was OK with that.

“I want a medal with the team,” he said. “That’s what I’m looking for.”

Although it seems sure China and Japan will vie for first and second, that bronze medal is truly up for grabs. The United States outscored a hurting Russian squad by 1.825 points and also finished ahead of Romania, Spain and Korea.

U.S. national coordinator Ron Brant said winning a medal here would be great but isn’t the ultimate goal.

“Anything that’s judged, you’re building a reputation,” Brant said. “That’s what they did today. After last year, I said we could have one of the biggest comeback stories out there, and I think the guys so far have done that.”