Maybe his wife, Marta, wasn’t listening or maybe, being older too, she has her own opinions. Because when Marta, the American women’s national team coordinator, announced the Olympic team last Sunday, she stunned fans by selecting two women who, by the sport’s standards here, are senior citizens. The final two roster spots on the six-woman squad went to Mohini Bhardwaj, 25, whose longshot bid was financially supported by actress Pamela Anderson, and Annia Hatch, 26, a seven-time Cuban national champion who is married to an American and began competing for the U.S. three years ago.
The American team will enter the Athens competition as defending world champions and gold-medal favorites. The U.S. roster–courtesy of the influx of excitement created when the “Magnificent Seven” won gold in Atlanta eight years ago–is so deep that two girls off last year’s championship team didn’t make the cut. Nor did Tasha Schwikert, a standout on the 2000 Sydney team. “The U.S. could send two teams to Athens and either could come home with the gold,” says Tim Daggett, a member of the 1984 American men’s gold-medal Olympic team.
The 2004 Olympic team certainly rivals the ‘96 Olympic champions for frontline talent. But instead of two Dominiques (Dawes and Moceanu) and a Shannon (Miller), the 2004 version boasts two Courtneys (Kupets and McCool) and a Carly (Patterson). Kupets, who will turn 18 next week, and Patterson, 16, are conational champions. But McCool, 16, was the surprise of the Olympic trials, cool under pressure as she finished a strong second. The sixth team member is her Kansas City gymmate Terin Humphrey, 17.
The surprise selection of Hatch and Bhardwaj was dictated by a change in the competition rules since the 2000 Games. In the preliminary round as in the past, five Americans will compete in each of the four events–vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise–with the top four scores counting. The U.S. team will have no trouble moving on to the finals, where all teams start from scratch. That’s where the rule change comes in. In the finals, only three women compete in each of the four events and all three scores count, leaving little margin for error.
That adds up to only 12 rotations performed by each team. With Kupets and Patterson likely to perform three times each, that leaves just six slots for the four remaining American gymnasts. Thus strong teams cans afford to carry specialists who excel in one event and, come the finals, may compete in only that event. Both Hatch and Bhardwaj are powerful vaulters with vault the U.S. team’s weakest event.
Even before the rule change, the Karolyis believed that America’s traditional method of selection wasn’t the best way to assemble a winning team. Maybe swimming and track and field could afford democratic trials where great champions could miss out on the Olympic by virtue of one bad day. But gymnastics teams are different, requiring considerations of chemistry as well as a melding of skills. Just choosing the top six finishers at the Olympic trials couldn’t assure that. (At last month’s trials, Bhardwaj finished sixth, Humphrey was seventh and Hatch finished in 11th place.) Three people in a closed room down on the Karolyi ranch–following private performances by the athletes–essentially chose the roster. This selection method worked well for Romania through the years. The final verdict on the American adaptation will be delivered in Athens on Aug. 18.
The top U.S. girls are also contenders this year for the individual all-around gold, which only one American, Retton, has ever won. The 24 all-around finalists are also chosen from the first round of the team competition, with Kupets, Patterson and McCool likely to battle for the two spots allotted each country. Kupets is the steadiest and most experienced of the three, but Patterson, whom Bela has compared to Retton, has the most dazzling array of skills. She won the silver medal in the all-around at the world championships last year competing with two fractures in her elbow. But during last month’s Olympic trials, Patterson fell off the balance beam in both her routines, slipping to a third-place finish. “I made a couple mistakes, but they were all on hard skills,” said Patterson, who hardly seemed rattled by her misadventures. “Beam is my favorite event and I’m just going to work hard on it and not make any more mistakes.”
AND THE MEN CONTEND AGAIN
The American women may be the show, but the U.S. men’s team, which hasn’t had a whiff of the Olympic medal podium for a long time, may finally contend again after winning a silver medal at the 2003 world championships. The emotional leader of the team is the soon-to-turn-30 Blaine Wilson, for whom Athens will be his third Olympic team. Wilson tore a bicep muscle in February and was still hampered at last month’s trials. But he showed enough in recent workouts to be given one of the last two spots on the team. The man to watch, though, is Paul Hamm, 21, whose twin brother, Morgan, is also on the team. Last year Hamm, in a hair-raising finish, became the first American man ever to win the all-around at the world championships. “Four years ago we didn’t go into Sydney expecting to win and the result was subpar performances,” says Paul. “This time we know if we have good performances, we should be there on the medal stand.”
