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Men's Gymnastics
Spring, USA Advance to Team Finals
Aug. 9, 2008 Follow Spring's Journey in Beijing HERE
Complete Results from Men's Qualifying in PDF Format
BEIJING - Former Illini great and current assistant coach Justin Spring helped lead the U.S. men's gymnastics team to the Olympic team finals by finishing sixth in the qualification round Saturday in Beijing, China at the National Indoor Stadium on Aug. 9. The United States team finished first in its qualifying group with a score of 365.200, only 1.025 points out of third place overall. Host China led the way in the qualification round with a score of 374.675. Scores from the qualification round do not carry forward to the finals. The top eight teams from Saturday's qualification advanced to the finals, which will take place on Tuesday morning, Aug. 12. "First day was very exciting," Spring said. "We went out there and showed the world that USA gymnastics is a contender for a team medal. We had a few mistakes, but we should clean those up for finals. Finals format is a whole new game and we should do well." Spring, along with teammates Alexander Artemev, Raj Bhavsar, Joey Hagerty, Jonathon Horton, and Kevin Tan, were in the first of three qualification groups and began the competition on still rings, followed by vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor exercise and pommel horse. Spring, the 2008 U.S. Parallel Bars National Champion, earned the USA's highest score on that event, posting a 15.800, which was good for 14th overall. The Burke, Va., native finished third for team USA on vault (15.900) and high bar (15.375), and fourth on floor (14.400) and still rings (14.175). His high bar score placed him 12th overall. In the 6-5-4 scoring format for the qualifying round, all of Spring's scores counted toward the final team score. In the team finals, each of the eight teams will only compete three gymnasts on each event with all three scores counting toward the team total. "I'm disappointed that I didn't make individual finals on any event, however, that's something I will now focus on for the 2012 Olympic Games," Spring said. "We're still in contention for a team medal here, which was the goal coming in." Coverage on today's qualification rounds will be aired tonight on NBC from 7-11 p.m. CT. The men's team finals will be held August 12 at 10 a.m. in Beijing and will be aired live on NBC on Monday, Aug. 11 at 9 p.m. CT. 2008 Olympic Games Qualification round results (top eight advance to team finals)
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