The U.S. men’s team finished ninth at the 1995 World Gymnastics Championships in Sabae, Japan, earning a berth for the U.S. men at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. China won the competition, followed by Japan in second and Romania in third.

While the U.S. men were in third place going into the optional round of competition, they placed 11th in optionals-only, dropping their overall rank to ninth. Problem areas included a fall on parallel bars, high bar and pommel horse, as well as weak vaulting performances.

Head Coach Peter Kormann said, “They did well. We had some breaks, and we need to improve our difficulty. We made a big step in compulsories, but we have work to do for the Olympics.”

John Roethlisberger, the top U.S. finisher, commented, “We did well, but it was tough out there. I would have thought for sure, if we hit like we did tonight, we would be in the top six. I was surprised we dropped as much as we did We’re going to have to beef it up for Atlanta.”

The top twelve countries from the 1995 World Championships qualify for the 1996 Olympics. Complete results from the men’s team competition follow:

Men’s Team Compulsory Results:
(Rank, Country, Compulsory Score, Optional Score, Team Total)
1., China, 282.048, 284.571, 566.619
2., Japan, 282.060, 281.498, 563.558
3., Romania, 279.974, 281.973, 561.947
4., Russia, 276.537, 284.434, 560.971
5., Ukraine, 279.274, 281.660, 560.934
6., Belarus, 278.051, 282.097, 560.158
7., Germany, 278.622, 280.324, 558.946
8., Korea, 277.661, 281.160, 558.821
9., USA, 280.336, 278.448, 558.784
10., Bulgaria, 278.174, 279.111, 557.285
11., Italy, 276.249, 280.112, 556.361
12., France, 277.225, 276.299, 553.524
13., Hungary, 276.150, 274.312, 550.462
14., Canada, 274.762, 272.137, 546.899
15., Switzerland, 274.012, 270.100, 544.112
16., Australia, 270.557, 271.649, 542.336
17., Great Britain, 270.600, 267.937, 538.537

The top 36 men and women from the team competition will qualify for the all- around competition which takes place Oct. 8, while the top eight gymnasts on each event from the team competition will qualify for the individual event finals on Oct. 9-10.

The top U.S. competitor, John Roethlisberger from Minneapolis, Minn., qualified for the all-around finals by finishing eighth during the team competition. Also qualifying for the U.S. were Blaine Wilson (Columbus, Ohio) in 30th and Jair Lynch (Washington, D.C.) in 31st. The top male all-around competitor during the team competition was Li Xiaoshuang from China, followed by Hikaru Tanaka from Japan in second and Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus in third.

Qualifying for individual event finals for the men were Roethlisberger on still rings and Mihai Bagiu on pommel horse.

All-around scores for the U.S. Men’s Team follow:
(Athlete, Hometown/School or Club, AA Score, AA Rank)
John Roethlisberger, Minneapolis, Minn./University of Minnesota, 112.812, 8
Blaine Wilson, Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University, 110.937, 30
Jair Lynch, Washington, D.C./Stanford University, 110.787, 31
Kip Simons, Bloomsburg, Pa./Ohio State University, 101.837, 101
John Macready, Los Angeles, Calif./U.S. Olympic Training Center, 82.926, 166*
Mihai Bagiu, Albuquerque, N.M./Gold Cup Gymnastics, 73.736, 179*
Josh Stein, Houston, Texas/Stanford University, 73.275, 181*

*Did not compete all-around

ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

  • Roethlisberger, on the home crowd advantage: “The home crowd is definitely an advantage. Look at Japan.”
  • Simons: “I tweaked my back in warm-ups, and it took everything out of me. I had to really switch gears. It was a very challenging competition for me. I think the team did well. The judging was very tight toward us.”
  • Macready: “I thought I did well. I had a great time out there! The crowd was really loud, and there were so many people waving flags and yelling. I think we did a good job tonight.”
  • Lynch: “We didn’t perform at the highest level today, and that’s what we needed to do.”