Monday, April 2, 2001

[ INTERNATIONAL GYMNASTICS ]

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DENNIS ODA / STAR-BULLETIN
USA's Hollie Vise showed off her flexibility on the balance beam.
The competition was a hit with Hawaii fans, as attendance
reached 6,536 over two days.

Pontiac American
Cup exceeds
expectations

World-class gymnasts and
their promoters are eager
to come back

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By Grace Wen
Star-Bulletin

FANS HAD TO WAIT 15 years for Olympic-caliber gymnastics to return to Hawaii.

The next return visit may be a lot sooner.

The enthusiasm for the sport was obvious last weekend at the Pontiac American Team Cup at Blaisdell Arena.

From organizers to officials to gymnasts and fans, most agreed the event was a success.

According to USA Gymnastics senior vice present Steve Penny, more tickets had been sold for the two-day competition than several of the previous events sponsored by USA Gymnastics, excluding Olympic Trials and championships.

The two-day attendance total for the meet was 6,536 with the women attracting 4,178 Saturday night and the men 2,358 Friday.

"We are so satisfied and happy about what has happened here in Hawaii with this event that we are very anxious to try to come back," said Penny.

"The gymnastics community has been great. We couldn't be more thrilled with the aloha we've experienced here."

USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi echoed the sentiment.

"We had a good feeling right from the beginning because of the strong partnership led by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Ohana Outrigger Hotels," Colarossi said.

"They've exceeded what we expected at every level. We feel like we're really wanted and welcome here."

While the successful staging of the event was important to all the organizing parties, there were other implications as well.

The success of the event demonstrated Hawaii's capacity to host future events. Other competitions and other sports could see the potential in holding an event here.

"Outrigger and Ohana also look at this in an economic situation as well," said Nancy Daniels, Public Relations Manager of Outrigger Hotels.

"To bring this caliber of competition to the islands puts us on the map and will help us to attract other similar types of competitions, not necessarily gymnastics but other Olympic-caliber competition."

There were benefits for island gymnastic clubs as well.

Not only were young gymnasts able to witness the highest level of gymnastics in person, but many of the local clubs received visits from renowned coach Bela Karolyi and Olympian John Roethlisberger as well.

"The level of gymnastics is really high and really exciting to watch," said Lori Dillon, a parent and the owner of Island Tumblers gymnastics club. "We don't get to see that much stuff like that live."

But perhaps eight year old Punahele Soriano put it best when he said: "It's very fun.''

The gymnasts enjoyed it as well.

"Nobody has been here for 15 years,'' U.S. gymnast Ashley Miles said. "It's really cool to be the first competition (since then).

"I thought it was an awesome crowd, especially on my floor routine. It helped me so much with the crowd getting it."

U.S. women win:

The USA women captured first place in Saturday's meet with a score of 144.975, edging the Romanians by just 1.525 points. Romania was second at 143.450 and China third at 141.525. ... Carly Patterson and Ashley Miles finished 1-2 in the overall competition. China's Kang Xin placed third. "It felt really good because it was my first team competition and we did really good,'' Patterson said.