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Monday, August 18, 1997

Errors in estimation ­ falling ­ cost UCLA gymnasts a place on the American world championship team By Steve Kim

Daily Bruin Contributor

A fall ... Not only is falling down in front of thousands of spectators embarrassing, it's also very costly in gymnastics competitions. And falling is not hard to do when one is twisting and flipping all over the place.

A week ago, four UCLA gymnasts ­ Chainey Umphrey, Steve McCain, Jim Foody and Spencer Slaton ­ trained and prepared for months for their trip to Denver ­ hoped to qualify for the world championships by placing in the top six in the 1997 John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics National Championships that took place this past weekend. After all the grueling training sessions; after all the expectations and pressures; after all was said and done, they were left without a place in the American world championships team.

Blaine Wilson, John Roethlisberger, Jason Gatson, John Macready, Michael Dutka and Jay Thornton have respectively placed in the top six places in the U.S. Nationals, which makes them the world team members. They will train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a week and then fly to Lausanne, Switzerland, for the '97 World Gymnastics Championships which starts Aug. 31 and ends Sept. 7.

Though none of the UCLA gymnasts are going to compete at the world championships this year, they are still some of the country's best. By placing in the top 14 in the nation, three of them ­ Umphrey, McCain and Foody ­ get the distinguished title of U.S. National Team members. As veterans of the sport, Umphrey and McCain have consistently made the U.S. National Team. Slaton placed 48th.

Of the UCLA delegates, the least experienced competitor, Jim Foody, surprised many by placing seventh in the all-around finals with a total score of 103.700. In the preliminary all-arounds on Aug. 13, Foody was in serious contention for the world team as he ended the day in fourth place. But by the third rotation of the all-around finals two days later, he slipped to eighth place. He was able to climb to seventh place after finishing his last two rotations in his favorite events ­ the parallel bars and the horizontal bar.

Foody was one step away from sixth place, which would have made him a part of the world championships team as an alternate. But unless one of the top five team members gets injured, the alternate would be unable to compete anyway. Until last year, there were six competitors in a world gymnastics competition. After every Olympics, though, the rules along with point system changed. Besides the elimination of the repetitive and boring compulsory phases from competitions, a new rule was issued stating that only five people compete, while only four of the scores from each apparatus actually count.

Umphrey was in a situation similar to Foody's five years ago in the '92 Barcelona Olympic Trials. By placing at the trials as an alternate, he wasn't able to compete. But four years later, Umphrey came back strong with persistence and determination to finally make the Olympic team in '96.

Though Umphrey was more prepared and improved this year, this was just not his meet. After placing ninth in the preliminaries, his scores, along with the rest, carried over for the all-around finals. He started strong on the finals with an impressive double layout on the floor exercises but lost momentum after falling off the pommel horse. Umphrey finished ninth with 102.799. After so many years of making the world championships team, this meet failed to meet Umphrey's expectations.

Falls are also what hurt McCain in his quest for a berth to the world championships team. As the '97 Winter Cup champion, he outscored all of the current world team members with the exception of Wilson, who didn't compete. McCain was one of the favorites to win the nationals, let alone make the world team. But a shaky start on the preliminaries, with a fall on the parallel bars dismount, left him in 12th place.

During the finals, McCain rallied for a top six spot with his impressive skills, such as a double-twisting double back flip on the floor exercise and a solid pommel horse routine. After the second rotation of the all-around finals, he was able to leap to eighth place. However, McCain sat down on his rings routine on the third rotation and ultimately ended the meet with a 12th place finish, with a total score of 102.149.

American Champion Wilson, who has won the last two NCAA all-around titles for Ohio State, led the field with a solid total score of 110.050. The next highest score by two-time Olympian John Roethlisberger was 106.850. Roethlisberger also suffered falls in the preliminaries ­ three falls in one floor exercise routine.

Falls are hard to avoid in the sport of gymnastics. On a good day, a gymnast hits his routines solidly. On a bad day, when a gymnast just doesn't feel "on," he can make mistakes in one routine after another. A mistake in the beginning of a meet can play games with a competitor's mind for the rest of the meet, causing him to lose focus and second-guess himself.

Going into the U.S. Nationals, the UCLA gymnasts approached the meet with various expectations. For Foody, it was, "to go to the U.S. Nationals and just have a good meet." He said, "I just want to do as well as I can and hopefully make the national team ... " Mission accomplished for Foody.

For veterans Umphrey and McCain, their expectations were greater. They had both expected to make the world championships team and are intensely focused about gymnastics. McCain said, "As a gymnast, you are your worst critic." McCain and others may be very critical of themselves right now, but with their competitive drive and determination they'll soon be back in the gym training and refining their skills over and over ... and over again.

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Chainey Umphrey placed ninth at the John Hancock U.S. National Championships in Denver, Colo., failing to make the world team.

Umphrey ended up finishing ninth with a score of 102.799 in the all-around competition but failed to make it on the worlds' team.

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