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August 16, 2004

The U.S. Men’s Gymnastics team competition has concluded and the U.S. has won its first Olympic team medal since 1984. The U.S. Men’s Gymnastic Team will take home the Silver medal, winning second place with a score of 172.933, just .9 points behind Japan, which took the Gold Medal with a score of 173.821, followed by Romania in third with a total of 172.384.

Overcoming a setback in the middle rotations, the team came back to an excellent performance in the last six routines. After Guard Young, Paul Hamm and Morgan Hamm took big steps on their vault landings, and Jason Gatson faltered on the rings, the U.S. team fell from first to third place. “My rings were disappointing,” said Gatson, “and it was important to come back on the parallel bars like I did.”

“We came here as a team,” said Gatson, “and our whole goal was to win a medal and all the individual stuff happens after team, so I’m just excited I’ve got a silver medal and going home with a medal. It was an awesome night and very exciting to be out there. We are happy with what we did and very proud of our silver. It was the first medal for the U.S. since 1984.”

Blaine Wilson brought in two big scores on parallel bars (9.712) and still rings (9.637). Jason Gatson scored an excellent 9.825 on parallel bars, and Paul Hamm, who participated in five of the six events on Monday also brought in big points for Team USA. Scoring 9.7 plus on floor exercise, pommel horse and parallel bars.

“I, as well as my team am very excited to win the silver medal,” said Paul Hamm. “This is the first time we’ve won a medal in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. We have made history here. I am now looking forward to competing in the all-around and individual events. We were fifth in Sydney and it has been a great accomplishment for us to stay toward the top in the last three years. This shows how strong the U.S. has gotten and we hope to keep this going in the future.”

Final Team Results: