U.S. men get high marks in gym

STUTTGART, Germany -- When Jonathan Horton let go of the high bar not once, not twice but three times, and when he caught hold of it all three times, it was a chalk-raising and emphatic announcement that the United States men’s gymnastics team is hunting for medals both at this 2007 world championship meet and next summer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The U.S. men finished in fourth place overall, behind the defending world champion Chinese, defending Olympic champion Japanese and rabble-rousing hometown Germans after the two-day team qualifications ended Tuesday evening.

The Americans had arrived here with what is normally a modest goal of finishing in the top 12 and earning a full team spot in the Olympics. Last year the U.S., with a team missing experienced international senior competitors, finished a sputtering 13th. There was no sweating out the 12th spot this time, and when all the flying, tumbling and swinging was over, the U.S. had easily made the eight-team final, something most of those outside the program had not expected.

“I’m trying to be modest,” Sean Golden said, “but this doesn’t surprise us. But it does redeem us. We know the rest of the world had discounted U.S. men’s gymnastics.”

China, with its 374.275 points, nearly four points clear of the field, and Japan, nearly six points better than Germany, seem guaranteed to fight for team gold and silver Thursday. But between Germany, the U.S., Russia, Romania, Spain and South Korea there was less than four points difference, suggesting the battle for team bronze will be fierce.

In qualifying teams used five gymnasts on each apparatus and only the top four scores counted. In the finals, each team is allowed three competitors per apparatus and all three scores count. Qualifying results don’t carry over.

The U.S. also qualified Horton into the all-around finals as well as Guillermo Alvarez in the floor exercise, Kevin Tan on still rings and Alexander Artemev on pommel horse. China’s Yang Wei had the highest all-around score with 93.925, with Japan’s Hiroyuki Tomita (93.625) and Hisashi Mizutori (92.575) second and third. Horton was ninth.

In a major triumph of its own, Canada finished 11th and made the Olympics even though its star competitor, Athens floor gold medalist Kyle Shewfelt, followed his team around the ring in a wheelchair. Shewfelt broke both his legs during training here last week.

So focused was the U.S. on doing well as a team that even though Artemev was in sixth place overall going into his team’s final apparatus, the still rings, Coach Kevin Mazeika stuck with the game plan of sitting Artemev because he routinely scores lower than Alvarez on rings. Because of that decision, Artemev wasn’t eligible to make the all-around finals. David Durante, the second-highest scoring U.S. all-arounder, missed by one spot making the finals and is the top reserve.

“This was all about the team,” said Artemev, who provided the most invigorating routine of the day for the Americans. Artemev is the defending bronze medalist on the pommel horse and the Minsk-born, Colorado-raised, two-time U.S. all-around champion drew a loud “wooo” from the crowd as he moved through his routine with his legs whirling fast enough to whip cream.

Horton, 21, from Houston, was a member of last year’s worlds team. He said he went to Denmark as a wide-eyed novice and then became part of what he called “a disaster.”

“What happened last year, it was awful,” Horton said. “I have felt it every day. I went out in the biggest competition of my life and I bombed, we bombed. It made people question the ability of the U.S. team and we’ve heard comments ever since about how our gymnastics is no good. Absolutely we had something to prove today.”

The U.S. listed its starters for today’s women’s team finals. Samantha Peszek, Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone will do vault; Johnson, Shayla Worley and Anastasia Liukin will do uneven bars; Sacramone, Liukin and Johnson will do balance beam; and Worley, Johnson and Sacramone will do floor exercise.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com