Gymnastics Challenge : U.S. Facing Chinese Team in Meet at Forum

The Chinese gymnastics team is back in the United States for a dual meet with the U.S. team in the McDonald’s Gymnastics Challenge beginning tonight at the Forum.

The men’s team and all-around finals will be held tonight, the women’s team and all-around finals tomorrow night, and the individual event finals Sunday.

The U.S. team will include many of the top performers from a meet at Jacksonville, Fla., in early June. Twenty-four men and 10 women from that meet were selected to the U.S. Gymnastics Federation’s senior national team. Ten more women will be selected from a meet at Atlanta next month.

The 44 national team members will then compete in the world championship team trials Sept. 25-28 at Minneapolis. The top six men and women from that meet will represent the United States in the World Gymnastics Championships Nov. 3-10 at Montreal.

Returning from the 1984 Olympic men’s gold-medal team are Tim Daggett and Scott Johnson. Joining the U.S. team is Brian Babcock, the all-around winner at the Jacksonville meet.

The Chinese men, who took the silver medal in the team competition at the Los Angeles Games, include Li Xiaoping, who returned from the Olympic team, and top performers from their recent national championships.

The U.S. women’s team has a new cast. Sabrina Mar, the first-place performer at the Jacksonville meet, and Marie Roethlisberger, an Olympic team alternate, are the top performers. Kelly Garrison, the second-place finisher at Jacksonville, is also on the team.