Sacramone, Memmel make team; Hong is an alternate
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
NEW WAVERLY, Texas — Martha Karolyi walked out of the gym with a chipper smile and a perky sentence.
‘The clock is ticking,’ she said.
About 45 minutes later, Karolyi and the rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics selection committee marched into gym to make the announcement:
Joining automatic qualifiers Shawn Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Nastia Liukin, 18, of Parker, Texas, on the six-woman U.S. Olympic team will be a pair of 20-year-olds, Chellsie Memmel of West Allis, Wis., and Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., and a pair of 16-year-olds, Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind., and Samantha Peszek of Indianapolis. Named as alternates were 18-year-old Jana Bieger of Coconut Creek, Fla.; 15-year-old Ivana Hong of Laguna Hills; and 16-year-old Corrie Lothrop of Gaithersburg, Md.
After competing in two rounds of national championships and two more rounds of Olympics trials, only two Olympic spots had been determined. Twelve girls were invited to this final training camp at the Karolyi ranch. Last year’s national all-around silver medalist Shayla Worley suffered a broken leg Friday night while warming up for her balance beam routine.
She watched Saturday’s final routines on the sidelines with her leg in a brace and some tears in her eyes. At the end, she said as long as the U.S. wins an Olympic gold medal ‘it will be OK.’
Hong was a member of last year’s U.S. world championship team and Bieger had been world all-around silver medalist in 2006.
Mattie Larson, 16, of Los Angeles competed Saturday night with a possible stress fracture in her left leg. Her mother, Gail Larson, said the sore leg was why her daughter only competed in one event, uneven bars.
‘It wasn’t meant to be,’ Gail Larson said. ‘At least not this time.’
-- Diane Pucin
Inset: Alicia Sacramone competes in the balance beam ahead of the final selection. David J. Phillip/Associated Press