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Spring and Valdez Head to Pan American Games
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2007 US Pan American team member Justin Spring
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2007 Pan American Games • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
US Team Pan American Photo Gallery
July 11, 2007
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Current assistant coaches Justin Spring and Jon Valdez are headed to the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July 14-17 at the Rio Multipurpose Arena. Spring, a member of the 2007 US Pan American team and a former Illini and four-time NCAA Champion, became the fifth Illini chosen to compete at the prestigious competition in the history of the program, while Valdez joins the 2006 Nissen-Emery Award winner as an assistant coach to the squad under head coach Mike Burns - head coach of the University of Minnesota.
The Pan American Games are held every four years, always competed in a year prior to an Olympic year, and involve the top athletes from North, Central and South America. Spring is the first Fighting Illini to compete at the games since Raul Rodriguez and David Romero traveled to the event in 1983. The entire 2007 Pan American Games will be held July 13-29, while artistic gymnastics will be contested July 14-17.
The 15th edition of the Pan American Games will feature approximately 5,500 athletes from 42 countries. This year the US delegation will include approximately 650 athletes competing in 35 sports. To help fans keep track of the 2007 edition of the games, the ESPN family will provide more than 160 hours of Pan American Games-related programming, the most ever televised in the USA.
Using a full collection of its multimedia assets, ESPN also will provide unmatched, daily coverage of the 15th edition of the Pan American Games live from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 13-29. Coverage of the Pan American Games will be featured on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN Deportes La Revista. For a complete listing of when and where men's gymnastics will be shown in your area, please consult you local cable provider or TV Guide.
For more information on this year's Pan American Games, visit the official web site at http://www.cob.org.br/pan2007/ingles/indexing.asp.
For complete updates of results on Spring and the 2007 Pan American team, visit USA Gymnastics at www.usa-gymanstics.org, to access results, photo galleries and features or visit www.fightingillini.com.
