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Pommel Problems?

When the U.S. men’s team was announced yesterday, sans Sasha Artemev, the first question on many people’s mind was pommel horse. Who will Team USA put up in team finals and, perhaps more importantly, can they qualify to finals with the pommel team they’ve now assembled?

Justin Spring doesn’t do horse. Period. Which means that all five other gymnasts on the team must do pommels in prelims, including Jonathan Horton, who finished second-to-last on the event at Trials with a low 13.71 average (high of 14.05 for his 5.2 Start Value set).

The U.S. will hope to count the team’s other four scores, which include Kevin Tan, who averaged a 13.98 between Trials and USAs (weighted totals), notching a high of 14.55 for his 5.6 Start Value set.

“I’m ready to do what they need me to do,” Tan said of potentially doing pommels in team finals, as he did in 2007. “If that’s what the team needs me to do, I will do it, and do it well.”

Joey Hagerty also has a potential 5.6 Start Value, but only attained that once in the four days at USAs and Trials, recording a high of 14.3 twice, and averaging the same as Tan (13.98).

Morgan Hamm is currently the team’s best pommels performer, averaging a 14.47 for his 5.7 Start set, with a high of 14.9. (Hamm, Hagerty and Tan all had falls that brought down their averages.)

The major question mark is Morgan’s twin, Paul. In his one performance at USA’s on horse, when he was totally healthy, Paul posted a 15.5 for his 6.0 set, the highest total in the competition.

Assuming Team USA can match their best scores in Beijing—and that’s a large leap—that’s a team horse maximum of 59.3.

So, is pommel horse a problem? Well, yes, but what the Selection Committee undoubtedly saw was that even though Artemev led the horse standings, even with three out of four falls, he also only averaged a 14.83—less than four tenths better than Morgan—with only a single score breaking the 15-mark for his lone hit, which went 15.65.

So, while Artemev could have theoretically added 1.35 to the team total, there was only a 25 percent probability of that occurring (based on his Nationals and Trials results), and a far better shot that he’d bring three tenths, or less, to the table, if he continued to struggle. The fact that Artemev was also wildly inconsistent on his other events, meant those were odds the Selection Committee didn’t want to bet on.

Why All Alone?

The online gymnastics world was abuzz after NBC showed a shot of Shawn Johnson sitting alone at the U.S. National Championships, seemingly distant from her fellow gymnasts, who were all laughing and talking to one another at the other end of the floor.

“Yeah, I definitely heard a lot about that,” Johnson said. “It’s just what I do at a competition. It’s just to help me stay focused. If I sit in the group and talk and stuff, I lose focus easy. When I sit off and kind of visualize my routines, it helps me compete better.

“It’s not [me] being shunned, or anything like that,” Johnson added with a laugh. “We’re great friends and it’s just the way I prepare for a competition.”

Star Treatment

As the women departed the hotel this afternoon to head to the Wachovia Center for their final day of competition they were mobbed by fans wanting photos and autographs. As the elevator doors opened and the gymnasts emerged, usually looking confused, flashblubs popped and hotel security created a human hallway for the girls to pass through in an all-out dash to their bus.

Now, they know how Britney Spears feels.