CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Ma Kin Look, 11, of the Hong Kong gymnastics team, practiced 6 feet above the floor on parallel bars yesterday for the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships that will take place tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center.
U.S. plans to write
its own historyThe men's gymnastics team
begins gearing up for Athens
They are tired of answering questions about a history they did not write.
PACIFIC ALLIANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
GYMNASTICS COMPETITIONWhen: Tomorrow, senior men's artistic team and all-around 7 p.m.; Friday, senior women's artistic team and all-around 7p.m.; Saturday, men's and women's event finals, 7 p.m.Where: Stan Sheriff Center
Tickets: $5-$15 Invidual; $30-$75 all-session
The current members of the USA men's gymnastics senior national team would like to add their own chapter to a program that hasn't seen an Olympic team medal in 20 years.
Steve McCain, Jason Gatson, and twin brothers Paul and Morgan Hamm are members of a senior national team that would like to pen its own history instead of answer questions about a past that only McCain, 30, can remember.
All four are competing in the Pacific Alliance Championships that begin tomorrow with the senior men's artistic championship at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. The senior women's competition is Friday and the event finals are Saturday for both teams.
"I've been doing gymnastics for 20 years so I've seen this team come a long way," McCain said. "The reason I started gymnastics was 1984 when the U.S. won the gold medal in L.A.
"My first World Championship team was in 1994 and we finished ninth. We were not the team we are today. It has just gotten better and better ever since then."
The improvement and a commitment to elevate the program to elite international status has put the U.S. in a very good place. McCain said the goal for years was just to win a medal, any medal, that would push the program forward. But that focus changed when a talented team in Sydney ended with a disappointing finish.
After 2000, the U.S. focused on polishing the program and paying attention to details that used to be ignored. The change that followed was an adaptation of how elite teams operated, from warm-ups to the overall look of the team at competitions. Now, it is U.S. protocol that is being imitated.
"We're turning a lot of heads. That's exactly what we're doing," McCain said. "We walk into a gym now and people look over at us and they want to see what we're doing.
"It's a really unique position. When I was first competing with this team, a lot of people viewed us as ... I don't know what would be the appropriate word. We just weren't at the international level of all the guys who were winning the medals, who were on the podium. We just weren't there."
They are getting closer to being mentioned in the company of the consistent contenders.
The U.S. is coming off unprecedented success at the 2003 World Championship, with a silver medal in the men's team competition and Olympian Paul Hamm's gold medal in the all-around.
A strong finish this week can start the momentum toward Athens. The Pacific Alliance Championships will offer a partial preview of Athens with gymnasts from Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines and Russia slated to compete.
This is the only team competition for the U.S. before the Olympics. The U.S. is a favorite with some international powers not fielding their strongest teams.
"This is a great competition. It's a good steppingstone for the journey to Athens," reigning world champion Paul Hamm said. "It's a chance for us to get out here as a team. ... If we hit 90 percent of our routines, for sure we'll win.
"I'm not saying we're going to do that. I think we're probably one of the strongest teams in the competition because China isn't sending their top team. I don't think Japan is either. We have a very strong team and it's definitely a goal."
The strength of the team convinced McCain to put off retirement.
"It's a curse," he said of wanting to realize his goal. "It's a great thing to have something that motivates you because it makes you do amazing things.
"At some point in time ...it can get to be that you don't always see things clearly. ... I really thought I was going to retire after that but no, no, this team is just too good. We have such a good philosophy and we have the talent. It's a lot of things. It's a lot about how we approach the gymnastics. There's a lot of cohesiveness."
Sticking together just might vault them to their own place in gymnastics lore.
Notes: The Pacific Alliance Championships will be televised nationally by NBC on May 16 at 7-9 a.m. Hawaii time. ... The first championship is the junior rhythmic (rope and ball) tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Klum Gym. The junior men's artistic follows at 1 p.m. in Gym 1.
