Men's Team OptionalsResults from Atlanta:
Final Team Standings
1 Russia 576.778 2 China 575.539 3 Ukraine 571.541 4 Belarus 571.381 5 USA 570.618 6 Bulgaria 567.567 7 Germany 567.405 8 Korea 567.054 9 Romania 566.257 10 Japan 566.019 11 France 565.781 12 Italy 564.142Individual All-Around Qualifiers
Thirty-six gymnasts qualify to the all-around.
1 Alexei Nemov RUS 116.361 2 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 115.210 3 Alexei Voropaev RUS 115.136 4 Jordan Jovtchev BUL 114.898 5 John Roethlisberger USA 114.886 6 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 114.786 7 Lee Joo-Hyung KOR 114.647 8 Zhang Jinjing CHN 114.596 9 Andreas Wecker GER 114.474 10 Rustam Sharipov UKR 114.372 11 Andrei Kan BLR 114.361 12 Blaine Wilson USA 114.337 13 Shen Jian CHN 114.223 14 Naoya Tsukahara JPN 114.147 15 Valeri Belenky GER 113.910 16 Krasimir Dounev BUL 113.898 17 Alexandre Svetlichnyi UKR 113.886 18 Hikaru Tanaka JPN 113.649 19 Han Yoon-Soo KOR 113.499 20 Zoltan Supola HUN 113.498 21 Vladimir Shamenko UKR 113.486 22 Igor Korobchinski UKR 113.473* 23 Patrice Casimir FRA 113.424 24 Jan-Peter Nikiferow GER 113.198 25 Yoshiaki Hatakeda JPN 113.174 26 Adrian Ianculsecu ROM 113.136 27 Sebastian Tayac FRA 113.086 28 Nicu Stroia ROM 112.874 29 Toshiharu Sato JPN 112.787* 30 Boris Preti ITA 112.761 31 Vitaly Rudnitski BLR 112.625 32 Oliver Walther GER 112.562* 33 John Macready USA 112.374 34 Roberto Galli ITA 112.336 35 Yuri Chechi ITA 112.186 35 Cristian Leric ROM 112.186 37 Dimitar Lunchev BUL 112.162 38 Jesus Carballo ESP 111.761 39 Frederick Nicolas FRA 111.500* These gymnasts do not advance to the all-around because only three athletes per country may advance.
Individual Event Qualifiers
Floor
1 Evgeni Podgorny RUS 19.549 2 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 19.462 3 Alexei Nemov RUS 19.450 4 Ioannis Melissanidis GRE 19.375 5 Grigory Misutin UKR 19.362 6 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 19.350 7 Dmitri Vasilenko RUS 19.349** 8 Ivan Ivanov BUL 19.324 8 Thierry Aymes FRA 19.324Pommel Horse
1 Fan Bin CHN 19.549 1 Marius Urzica ROM 19.549 3 Li Donghua SUI 19.487 4 Eric Poujade FRA 19.437 5 Patrice Casimir FRA 19.425 5 Huang Huadong CHN 19.425 7 Alexei Nemov RUS 19.412 8 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 19.400** 9 Yoshiaki Hatakeda JPN 19.362Still Rings
1 Yuri Chechi ITA 19.512 2 Jordan Jovtchev BUL 19.374 3 Marius Toba GER 19.350 3 Andreas Wecker GER 19.350 5 Blaine Wilson USA 19.337 6 Szilveszter Csollany HUN 19.312 7 Dan Burinca ROM 19.300 8 Fan Hongbin CHN 19.287Vault
1 Alexei Voropaev RUS 19.450 2 Alexei Nemov RUS 19.425 3 Yeo Hong-Chul KOR 19.399 4 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 19.375 5 Igor Korobchinski UKR 19.350 6 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 19.337 7 Ivan Ivanov BUL 19.324 8 Ivan Pavlovski BLR 19.287Parallel Bars
1 Alexei Nemov RUS 19.387 1 Huang Liping CHN 19.387 3 Jair Lynch USA 19.375 4 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 19.374 5 Sergei Kharkov RUS 19.312 6 Zhang Jinjing CHN 19.299 7 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 19.262** 8 Nikolay Krukov RUS 19.237** 9 Rustam Sharipov UKR 19.200 9 Jian Shen CHN 19.200** 11 Lee Joo-Hyung KOR 19.162 11 Jung Jin-Soo KOR 19.162***High Bar
1 Alexei Nemov RUS 19.537 2 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 19.437 3 Andreas Wecker GER 19.387 4 Fan Bin CHN 19.375 5 Jesus Carballo ESP 19.374 6 Alexei Voropaev RUS 19.362 7 Lee Joo-Hyung KOR 19.299 7 Krasimir Dounev BUL 19.299** These gymnasts do not advance to event finals because only two athletes per country may advance.
*** This gymnast does not advance due to tie-breaking procedures, by which he has the lower all-around score.
Notes
The Americans experienced several errors, including two falls on pommel horse, but still accumulated the fifth-highest optional total to finish fifth in the overall final team standings. This is the best finish for the USA men since 1984, and an unquestionably significant improvement over our ninth place ranking just eight months ago. The men, their family, coaches, and friends celebrated at Planet Hollywood at a dinner held by Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, who had tried to meet the team after their first day of competition but were not able to do so due to a lengthy press conference.
John Roethlisberger (5th), Blaine Wilson (12th), and John Macready (33rd) will represent the USA in all-around finals on Wednesday night. Additionally, Wilson has qualified to rings finals and Jair Lynch has qualified to parallel bars finals. In 1992, Lynch was less than .1 from the bronze medal on parallel bars.
Russia convincingly seized the first place position on the podium, and accepted their medal with a standing ovation from the rowdy American crowd. The defending world champions, the Chinese, suffered three falls on high bar, but was brilliant on parallel bars where they placed four athletes among the top ten. The Ukrainians finished third, while Belarus was less than two-tenths behind in 4th place.
Alexei Nemov (RUS) leads the all-around qualifiers, although with new-life finals, he holds no advantage entering the all-around finals competition. Nemov has also qualified for five finals (all except rings). Five other Russians have also grabbed event final berths. Belarus' Vitaly Scherbo, who won six gold medals at the 1992 Olympics, has qualified to all-around finals in second place, and has four event finals berths. World champion Li Xiaoshuang erred in compulsory on rings and so qualifies to the all-around in 6th place. Despite placing among the top eight on four events, Li does not advance to pommel horse or parallel bar finals because two of his teammates placed ahead of him on each event, and only two per country may advance to each apparatus final.
Letter
We received a letter in support of the USA men's gymnastics team which eloquently states the pride that we all felt at the conclusion of the team final competition. Here are excerpts from that letter:
I just got through watching our national team compete tonight in the men's team competition finals. While actually I was waiting for coverage of the "Dream Team" play against Angola, I decided to watch the men's gymnastics to pass time.
To watch these seven men represent our country with such determination, pride, dignity, and emotion there is no doubt in my mind that they had won not only the respect of America but also our hearts. Although these fine men will not be leaving Atlanta with a team medal around their necks, this should not prevent them from leaving with their heads held up high.
... NBC switched over to an interview with one of the team members of the gymnastics team, John Roethlisberger, I think his name was. This man, on the verge of tears, let me decide who the actual "Dream Team" was, and they weren't multi-millionaires playing against Angola. It was a team of seven men who, despite all the odds against them, showed the world that the Olympic Spirit is still alive and a dream can be reached.
My sincerest congratulations to OUR fine and respected US Men's Gymnastic Team.
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