Pretrial Trial Is a Success

Sometimes when you expect the worst something good happens. Sometimes when the task ahead seems impossibly hard it turns out to be just what you need.

That’s what happened to Huntington Beach gymnast Jeanette Antolin Tuesday morning at the Fleet Center. After performing in front of a panel of judges and U.S. technical director Bela Karolyi, Antolin’s injury petition was granted and she will be able to compete here in the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials Friday and Sunday.

Only the top 12 finishers at the U.S. National Championships in July moved on to the trials. But athletes who were injured during nationals had the option of petitioning USA Gymnastics for a berth in the final portion in the final half of the qualifying process.

Antolin was commanded to perform her four routines--vault, balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise--because she had withdrawn after the first round of the U.S. Nationals last month.

Instead of having the injury petition granted automatically, Antolin, along with seven-time Olympic medal winner Shannon Miller and Amanda Stroud, who also pulled out of national championships with injuries, had to be at the Fleet Center at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to warm up and be ready to compete at 9 a.m.

Karolyi wanted to see the girls do everything, no limping, no whining, no excuses. He wanted them to score at least as well as the 12th-place finisher from nationals. After all, you were supposed to have placed 12th or higher at nationals to advance to the Olympics.

But Antolin had gone to the national championships in St. Louis ill-prepared. She had struggled to train on an injured ankle. Then, during the first evening of competition she had landed awkwardly on the injured ankle. She fell, she scored badly and an MRI the next day showed bone chips.

There was no way for Antolin to complete the meet. She and her coach at SCATS Gymnastics, Don Peters, filed an injury petition and went home to get the ankle treated and healed enough for her to continue an Olympic quest. Originally, Peters had been told the injured gymnasts would do a test competition at Karolyi’s Houston-area ranch last Saturday. Then the place and time was changed.

When Antolin landed her first vault Tuesday at the Fleet Center, when she stuck the landing without even the tiniest extra step and when she could smile and not wince with pain, Antolin knew this could be a very good day.

“That helped my confidence so much,” Antolin, 18, said. “I made one mistake on the beam but other than that, I think things went well. My ankle held up and now maybe all the girls that competed today have a little advantage.

“We’ve competed all our routines in the arena, done our routines on the apparatus that will be used Friday. I know I feel better having a feel for the arena and the equipment.”

Suddenly all the hassle of doing this became a plus instead of a minus.

Miller and Stroud also were cleared to compete in the trials. Miller, 23, a member of the 1996 gold-medal winning U.S. team, had retired after the Atlanta Games and had come back to training only about six months ago. Miller was recovering from a hairline fracture in her leg and did only one routine in St. Louis, on the uneven bars, where she tied for second.

Because of bad weather in Boston, Antolin and Peters didn’t arrive at their hotel until nearly 10 p.m. Monday.

When Peters heard that Antolin was going to have to do this test competition so early in the morning, he had her train Saturday and Sunday at 6 a.m. so she could get acclimated to the time change.

What Antolin had to accomplish was daunting.

What she still has to accomplish is daunting.

Antolin must perform all her routines two more times, Friday and Sunday. And everything will be up to Karolyi and a committee of three who will have total freedom to pick any of the 15 gymnasts who compete here no matter how they score.

Though Antolin knows she is an underdog, she said withdrawing from the trials with her bad ankle--which will need surgery to remove the bone chips--was not an option.

“I’ve come this far,” Antolin said, “and even if the thought went through my mind a couple of times, you know, why am I doing this, I realized that I’d always regret it if I gave up now. Why give up now, really? It’s worth trying until the end, worth going out there as long as I can. I don’t want to have any regrets in the future or have any second thoughts where I’d wonder, ‘What if?’ ”

Because Antolin is strong on the vault, an area where many of the other top Americans are weak, Peters has thought Karolyi might choose Antolin to round out the six-woman team.

“You know, the whole situation [Tuesday] was kind of fun and kind of weird,” Antolin said. “There was nobody in the stands and I kind of liked that. Sometimes the fans put pressure on you. But then you know that Bela is only watching you every time and you can just feel him taking mental notes of everything you do.”

And that is why Antolin gained confidence. She performed in a cold, lonely arena in front of the most demanding judge in the world. Karolyi likes his competitors tough. Antolin proved she was willing to work hard on a sore ankle and make a tough situation a positive.

Miller made mistakes on two of her routines while Antolin only had the small bobble on the beam.

“It’s funny,” Antolin said, “because Shannon had always been a hero of mine. To be out there with her under these circumstances was kind of funny. We both were in the same boat.”

The boat gets bigger now. Some 15 girls trying for six Olympic spots. But whatever happens this weekend, Antolin can be proud of herself. She has done her best.

Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com