USA’s Blaine Wilson and Elvire Teza from France won the 1997 Visa American Cup title at the Tarrant County Convention Center Arena, in Fort Worth, Texas, March 1.

Wilson won the competition by 1.30 points over his nearest competitor, Fan Hongbin, from China. This is the largest margin of victory in the 21-year history of the American Cup.
Wilson said, “I came out today to be as clean as possible. I felt pretty sharp this weekend. This boosts my confidence a lot.”
Teza won the Visa American Cup by only .007 over her closest competitor, U.S.’s Vanessa Atler. This is the smallest margin of victory in the history of the event.
Teza said, “I was really surprised to win. I thought the Americans or Russians would win. I had a lot of pressure on my last routine, floor, especially the last pass.”
Atler said, “I’m happy with myself. My goal was to finish in the top three. My second place finish proves I can compete with the seniors.”
The international invitational included 24 Olympic gymnasts from the 1996 Games. Gymnasts from 15 countries competed for prize money totaling nearly $100,000.
Attendance at the Tarrant County Convention Center Arena was 3,323.
Below is a list of the all-around finishes.

Visa American Cup Women’s Final All-Around Results

#, Name, Country, Score, Prize Money
1, Elvire Teza, FRA, 36.574, $10,000
2, Vanessa Atler, USA, 36.567, $6,000
3, Ji Liya, CHN, 36.412, $4,000
4, Oksana Chousovitina, UZB, 36.255, $3,000
5, Alexandra Marinescu, ROM, 36.098, $2,500
6, Kristin Maloney, USA, 35.731, $2,000
7. Elena Savko, BLR , 33.993, $1,500
8, Shanyn MacEachern, CAN, 33.580, $1,000

Visa American Cup Men’s Final All-Around Results

#, Name, Country, Score
1, Blaine Wilson, USA, 55.900, $10,000
2, Fan Hongbin, CHN, 54.300, $6,000
3, Valeri Belenki, GER, 54.150, $4,000
4, John Roethlisberger, USA, 53.850, $3,000
5, Juri Kryukov, RUS, 53.200, $2,500
6, Andrei Kan, BLR, 52.450, $2,000
7, Rustam Sharipov, UKR, 51.150, $1,500
8, Giovanni D’Innocenzo, ITA, 50.750, $1,000

The International 3 on 3 Gymnastics Championships, which features a trio of a male, female and rhythmic gymnast, will conclude the competition on Sunday, March 2, from 2:00-5:00 p.m.