Okino Ready to Compete for Olympic Team Berth

Betty Okino, who was once considered the No. 2 U.S. gymnast, said Monday that she has recuperated and will travel to Tampa, Fla., today to attend a training camp where the U.S. women’s Olympic team will be chosen.

Okino, 17, who suffered a broken vertebra in April, is one of eight gymnasts competing for the six-member team and alternate position. Okino, who is coached by Bela Karolyi in Houston, qualified for the training camp with her fourth-place finish in the World Championships. The seven other gymnasts qualified by finishing in the top seven at the Olympic trials.

“Most people think I’m nervous or scared, but I’m not because I am prepared,” said Okino, who hasn’t competed since April, when she won a silver medal on the uneven bars at the World Championships in Paris.

The eight gymnasts will perform their routines for two days for their coaches and a U.S. Gymnastics Federation official. Thursday afternoon, the coaches and USGF official will vote for the top seven. Each coach gets one vote for each gymnast he or she has in camp. Karolyi will be the only coach with more than one gymnast there. Besides Okino, he has Kerri Strug and Kim Zmeskal, but he will get only two votes because Okino didn’t compete in the trials.

The other gymnasts competing are Michelle Campi of Carmichael, Calif.; Shannon Miller of Edmond, Okla.; Dominique Dawes of Silver Spring, Md.; Kim Kelly of King of Prussia, Pa., and Wendy Bruce of Orlando, Fla.