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.

Source