Roethlisberger Runs Hot and Cold Over Selection

John Roethlisberger didn’t know how to feel.

When his name was announced, in alphabetical order, as a member of the 2000 U.S. men’s Olympic gymnastics team, Roethlisberger bent over and covered his face with his hands. He was happy and he was sad.

Roethlisberger, 30, and twice an Olympian before, had finished seventh overall with his combined scores from the U.S. national championships and U.S. Olympic championships. Only six make the team, and when Roethlisberger heard his own name called he realized the good and the bad.

The good was that all the hard work of the last two years, work to reconstruct the torn ligament in his knee, to keep his sore and aging body together, to keep up with 17-year-olds like the twins, Paul and Morgan Hamm, and the rock-solid 26-year-olds like Blaine Wilson, had paid off.

The bad was that Roethlisberger knew his good fortune had come at the expense of Jamie Natalie. Natalie, 21, of Wilmington, Del., finished fifth overall and had scored an impressive 9.9 Saturday on his high bar routine, a dramatic two minutes of flying and flinging his body around that brought the FleetCenter crowd to its feet.

Procedures for picking the Olympic team changed this year. The four men who compiled the top four combined scores from nationals (40%) and trials (60%) earned automatic berths.

The nine-member men’s program committee, which included men’s team coordinator Peter Kormann, could pick anyone it wanted for the final two spots.

The criteria, Kormann said, was to shore up the apparatus, where the top four were weakest, and to field the strongest team. Individual scores were considered only as they applied to specific apparatuses.

Roethlisberger scored best on rings, vault and pommel horse, where his help might be needed. Natalie was strongest on floor and high bar, where the top four men were also strong.

So when the Olympic team was announced to the crowd--No. 1 Wilson, of Columbus, Ohio, far and away the best gymnast the last month, who finished off his work with a near-perfect 9.95 on the rings; Paul Hamm of Waukesha, Wis., the surprise second-place finisher; Sean Townsend, 21, of Houston who was in third; and Stephen McCain, 26, of Houston, who had missed making the 1996 team and was so distraught he spent the summer in Africa so he wouldn’t have to watch the Olympics--the first four didn’t need to sweat out the introductions.

Morgan Hamm, who finished sixth, hugged his brother when his name was announced as the fifth member.

And it was Natalie who was the odd man out, the alternate, the seventh man, the man who might secretly wish ill for a teammate while publicly preparing as hard as he can to be a Sydney tourist, a great cheerleader.

“I felt like, ‘Am I taking something away from Jamie?’ ” Roethlisberger said. “I’m from the old school, where if you were in the top six you went to the Olympics.

“But everything I’ve gone through the last two years, the knee surgery, just everything, I feel like I deserved this too.”

Roethlisberger, from Falcon Heights, Minn., had finished his final routine, on the rings, and lingered on the floor. He waved to all four corners of the arena and then gave his father and coach, Fred, a hug.

“I wanted to relish that moment,” Roethlisberger said, “because I knew it might be the last time I was on the floor. I wanted to enjoy it, soak up the crowd and the atmosphere.”

Roethlisberger said he gave himself a 50-50 chance to make the team. “I thought I had a pretty good chance of being an alternate,” he said, “and that would have been fine.”

Natalie put on a brave face. He said he felt both “good and bad” when his name was announced for the alternate spot. He said he would not consider arbitration or legal methods to have his position changed. “I thought if I did my best I’d make the team,” Natalie said. “I’m not quite sure how to feel right now.”

Roethlisberger and Natalie spent nearly 20 minutes alone in a locker room talking about what happened.

“We needed to be OK with each other,” Roethlisberger said, “for the good of the team. I told him he is as much of an Olympian as Blaine. I told him as soon as we leave this building he should never use the word ‘alternate.’ He is part of the team.”

When the six Olympians stepped forward to receive a standing ovation, a USA Gymnastics official gave Natalie a little shove. “I didn’t know if I belonged,” Natalie said. “I guess I do.”