and:
Jonathan Horton interview—Competing at the 2010 Tyson American Cup

“At this year’s meet, 136 gymnasts will be on hand to display their power, strength and sheer will. Three of those 136 will be 2008 Olympians Alexander Artemev, Jonathan Horton and Kevin Tan. And of those 136, only 14 will be considered good enough to make the elite squad. It all comes down to two days of competition — just 12 routines, little more than 12 minutes per gymnast.”

Full article here

“The Winter Cup Challenge, which begins today in Las Vegas, Nev. is the Groundhog Day of gymnastics meets. It’s a a time when members of the U.S. men’s team and those who would like to be members of the U.S. men’s team emerge from their gyms after a couple months hibernation from competition to see if they can still stay on the apparatus in a meet.”

Full article here

Click here for a start list plus a list of participants with competitor numbers. For more information on the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge, click here.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Olympic silver medalist Jonathan Horton and world silver medalist Rebecca Bross will headline the field for next year’s American Cup.

Tim McNeill, who was seventh at his first world championships, also will compete at the international gymnastics meet, which will be held March 6 in Worcester, Mass. The rest of the field, including gymnasts from Britain, Germany, Japan, Romania and Russia, will be announced later.

Horton was part of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal in Beijing, and later added a silver on high bar. He is the reigning U.S. champion. Bross was second to teammate Bridget Sloan in the all-around at the world championships.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/gymnastics/wires/12/11/2080.ap.gym.american.cup.0197/#ixzz0c3FUzGMa
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7 U.S. Olympic medalists featured in gymnastics-figure skating show on NBC

01/05/2010

RAPID CITY, S.D., Jan. 4, 2010 – 2008 Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin, 2008 Olympic balance beam gold-medalist Shawn Johnson, 2008 Olympic horizontal bar silver-medalist Jonathan Horton, 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalist Raj Bhavsar, 2004 Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm, and 2004 Olympic team silver-medalists Morgan Hamm and Courtney Kupets are featured as part of the Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular that will air on NBC Sports Sunday, Jan. 10, at 4 p.m. ET. The cast also includes 2004 world acro mixed pair champions Shenea Booth and Arthur Davis, 1994 and 1997 world all-around champion Ivan Ivankov of Belarus, , and Cuba’s Charlie Tamayo, 2001 world vault bronze medalist.

Headlining the figure skaters are 1996 world champion Todd Eldredge, world bronze-medalist Michael Weiss, Olympic silver-medalist Elvis Stojko and Olympian Emily Hughes, as well as several other skaters. Pop star and actress Ashley Tisdale performs as the live musical guest.

The show was taped at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, S.D. Check your local listings to confirm television times for your area.

Ukraine’s Nikolai (Mykola) Kuksenkov, ninth all-around at the 2009 World Championships, won the Valeri Liukin Invitational last weekend in Frisco, Texas.

Kuksenkov posted the highest scores of the meet on floor (14.8) and high bar (15.4) to finish ahead of runner-up Jonathan Horton of Houston and Takuto Tatikani of Japan. Horton had the highest score of the entire meet on rings (16.1) and tabbed second place finishes on floor (14.7) and parallel bars (15.45) but was as usual outdone on pommel horse (13.0). He finished with an 89.45 all-around total to Kuksenkov’s 90.1.

Russia’s Dmitriy Stolyrov, fifth all-around, posted the best pommel score (15.0), while Josh Jefferis of Australia won parallel bars (15.55) and Japan’s Shota Hisanaga won vault (16.0).

Oklahoma’s Chris Brooks, in the top five on four events, had a disastrous 12.45 on pommel horse and finished sixth-tenths out of the medals. The other top-10 U.S. finisher was Danell Leyva (tied for eighth), another victim of pommel horse (12.35).

The meet, held at WOGA Gymnastics’s Frisco branch, honors 1988 Olympic team and high bar gold medalist Valeri Liukin, coach and father of current women’s Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin.

Related: Results from the 2009 Valeri Liukin Invitational

Follow Gymnastics Examiner Blythe Lawrence on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GymExaminer.

Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS—Olympic silver medalist Jonathan Horton and world silver medalist Rebecca Bross will headline the field for next year’s American Cup.

Tim McNeill, who was seventh at his first world championships, will also compete at the international gymnastics meet, which will be held March 6 in Worcester, Mass. The rest of the field, including gymnasts from Britain, Germany, Japan, Romania and Russia, will be announced later.

Horton was part of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal in Beijing and later added a silver on high bar. He is the reigning U.S. champion. Bross was second to teammate Bridget Sloan in the all-around at the world championships.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

5:50 p.m.: Jonathan Horton, mid-workout from Cypress Academy:

Horton confirms that he’ll be at Winter Cup.

Best wedding gift: “I got this massive fridge, and it is huge. It holds so much stuff.” (Bet that’s not the gift Haley cherishes most.) Also: “I got some nice bedsheets. I’m pretty happy with those.” He notes that he also has Superman and Batman bedsheets.

On his Christmas list: “Jonathan Horton needs a grill.” He wants to build a deck and do some landscaping, and do some cooking. “I’m the opposite of handyman. But I’m about to become one. I’m going to learn. It’s going to be ugly, but I’m going to learn.”

Funny story: On their first night in their new house, Horton and Haley were hanging pictures and Horton managed to make a two-by-two hole in the wall. He learned to patch it rather quickly. “Haley wasn’t happy,” he said.

Snow in Texas!: “I’ve never seen that here in my life,” Horton said. About four inches has fallen at his home.

Mid-workout: “I’m in the middle of a busy gym,” he said when asked if he could hear Roethlisberger and Jones. Update on his wife and former Oklahoma gymnast Haley Horton (nee DeProspero): She’s doing well, although medical school is taxing on her. But overall, he said, she’s well.

On what he’s doing right now: “I actually just got done with an intrasquad. Some good spots, some bad spots.”

Changes in his routines: He’s taken out the 1.5 to double front that troubled him at the World Championships, and now does something from a double full. Upgraded rings with new skills and a double twisting double back dismount. Working a double front with a half on vault. “I’ll tell you what—vault is scaring me these days,” he said. “But it’s fun to try something new.”

On Worlds: “A lot of people kind of came up to me after Worlds and said ‘Oh, I’m so sorry…I’m not upset. I’m not mad at all. It was definitely some motivation to know that I was far behind, especially with the best all-arounders in the world…my life hadn’t really settled down…I always wanted to go out there and do my best and push for the win. But at the same time, it felt so good just to be out on the World stage…I’ve had an up and down season so far, but…I’m happy where I am right now. I feel like I’m trying to get back on track right now…”

The U.S. men’s World Championships team included veteran Jonathan Horton and five other gymnasts all competing in their first World Championships – Jake Dalton, Wesley Haagensen, Steven Legendre, Danell Leyva and Tim McNeill.

The team started off the quadrennium qualifying four guys into the World Championships finals. USA Gymnastics Men’s National Team Coordinator Ron Brant said, “I think it has been more than 20 years since we had four of our six guys make finals at the World Championships. We have one of the youngest teams here – three who are 23 and one each at 17, 18 and 20. I’m impressed because this shows that our training plans are working, that our athletes have taken it to heart, and that we have continued leadership within the team even though we have reloaded after the last two Olympics.”

We caught up with the members of the men’s team and here is what they had to say about their experiences at the 2009 World Championships in London!

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
It is always great to make a world championships team. Just the idea of competing for the USA against the best gymnast in the world is an incredible thing. This year was especially great because I got to experience a world team with a brand new group of guys, and it was a ton of fun to get to know these guys a little better and see how they handled the competition.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
Well, it wasn’t exactly my best competition this year but I usually find something great about the meet. I guess this year my favorite part of the trip was just to hang out with the guys and coaches and have a great time with everyone.

What was your best event and why?
My best routine at worlds this year was by far my parallel routine from the all-around final. I had the highest score on parallel bars that day and I was really excited to finally do the type of routine on that event that I knew I was capable of.

What was it like to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships and make all-around and high bar finals?
Anytime you have a chance to represent your country at a meet like this is a great honor. My goals this year were to medal in the all-around and on high bar, but although it didn’t happen, it was still great for me to represent the country to the best of my ability. I love to compete on the international stage, and I loved the atmosphere at the arena and the people who helped out to make it a great meet.

You didn’t have your best meet but I read lots of quotes on how you will use this experience as a learning one to improve in the future. Can you talk about this?
I use every competition as a learning experience. Whether I win the meet or go down hard trying, I try to take each routine as a chance to learn a little more about myself and how I compete in different situations. I know I will be fired up next time I compete because I will be remembering how it felt when I didn’t do so well at worlds. The same things happened to me in 2006 after worlds, and I was able to build off of defeat. I think using experiences like that to your advantage is a great thing to be able to do and I will only be better in the future.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
The next step for us is just to be patient. To have four guys make finals was fantastic for the U.S. team, and now we simply must be patient and continue to train hard at home and at our camps. Just as in the past we came close to winning medals at worlds and we worked hard to improve and we accomplished great things at the end of the quadrennium.

What was the food like?
The food was very similar to what we eat in the US. One thing is for certain, there is no stereotype about how much the British drink tea. It is true!

Who did you room with?
Tim McNeil. Awesome roommate. We have a lot in common.

Did you get to sightsee? What is London like?
We got to sightsee and London was a beautiful place. There is some incredible history to learn, and it was awesome to see some of the famous landmarks.

I know you are newly married. Did you wife make the trip to London to watch the competition or did she stay at home? How did you two communication while you were in London?
No, unfortunately she didn’t get a chance to go. She is in medical school now, and she had to stay home and study hard for exams. While I was gone we actually got to see each other and chat a lot though. We both have Mac computers, and we used iChat so we could talk all we wanted.

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