2004 Olympics: Gymnastics

U.S. claims first team medal since 1984

10:43 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 17, 2004

By CATHY HARASTA / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – Until Monday, no U.S. men's gymnastics squad had won an Olympic team medal on anything other than California soil.

But in recent years, USA Gymnastics officials had become attentive students devising a plan when the Olympic team finals format was sliced and diced. Increasing the difficulty of the men's routines ran a close second on their priority list.

So the big night came in Athens. And the U.S. men in this sport came to play. Japan, a powerhouse in the 1960s and '70s, came to win.

When the night began, the U.S. team stood on the threshold of claiming its first Olympic team championship since 1984, when a Russian-led boycott of the Los Angeles Games made home cookin' a manageable task.

When the night finally ended, with Japan in first place by .888 of a point, the U.S. gymnasts stood on the medal stand to receive the gleaming silver medals around their necks. The floppy olive wreaths on their cropped haircuts transformed them.

"I actually felt like one of the ancient Greek Olympians," said Blaine Wilson, a first-time medalist in his third Olympics. "It's a lifelong dream. Sometimes you want it so bad, it makes you sick."

Romania finished third.

Lead changes, odd glitches and an inexplicably poor performance by the world champion Chinese team contributed to a tense competition.

At any moment, China might have turned it on, breathing fire and starting to click after a miserable opening on the floor. It never happened.

"We had some problems," said gymnast Xu Huang of China, whose team finished fifth.

The United States opened with a strong performance on the floor, where a dozen athletes from other teams stepped out of bounds in the first two rotations alone.

But when the U.S. reached the third of six rotations, you'd have thought no one had ever introduced these gymnasts to the still rings. The team gave up a critical eight-tenths of a point to drop from first place to third.

Jason Gatson received a 9.125 after losing credit on his connecting moves, which dropped his start value – the measure of a routine's difficulty, with 10.00 being the highest level – to a 9.6.

"My start value was low, and it made my score lower," said Gatson, who redeemed himself with a 9.825 on the parallel bars when it really mattered.

Bob Colarossi, the USA Gymnastics president, appeared relieved. The U.S. gymnasts, men and women, came to Athens amid predictions that they'd have a double-digit medal haul. Collecting the first one served as an icebreaker.

This also was the first Olympic test of the team finals format of three athletes per team competing on each event and all three scores counting.

"It was like riding a roller coaster," Colarossi said. "Jason had a tough go on the rings, but he hit it out of the park on his parallel bars routine when we needed it."

As the last U.S. competitor in the last event, reigning world all-around champion Paul Hamm knew he needed a score of at least 9.1 on the high bar to beat Romania for the silver medal. Hamm scored a 9.462.

"We have made history here," Hamm said.

"Japan won the gold," said Peter Vidmar, a member of the 1984 U.S. gold-medal Olympic team. "But this was a tremendous night for the U.S. team. It stands alone, independent of any other U.S. team."

E-mail charasta@dallasnews.com