Field of Olympians to Compete in 2001 Pontiac American Team Cup

Indianapolis – Some of the biggest stars from the 2000 Olympic Games will be competing at the 2001 Pontiac American Team Cup, March 30-31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. A strong U.S. squad will face teams from Romania and China, which include gold, silver and bronze medalists from Sydney.

Romania’s delegation consists of six Olympians including team gold medalists Andreea Raducan and Andreea Isarescu. Raducan, who also won a silver medal on the vault in Sydney, has emerged as an international star with medal winning results over the past few years. Raducan earned gold medals on beam and floor and a bronze medal on uneven bars at the 2000 World Cup. At the 1999 World Championships, she earned gold medals in the team competition and floor exercise and also won a silver medal on beam. Marian Dragulescu leads Romania’s men’s squad along with three Sydney teammates. Dragulescu recently earned gold on vault at the 2000 World Cup and finished sixth in the floor exercise event final in Sydney.

Highlighting the roster for China are LING Jie and HUANG Mandan, members of the women’s team that won bronze in Sydney. LING is known for her uneven bars accomplishments, earning a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and a bronze medal at the 1999 World Championships. She also won gold on beam at the 1999 World Championships. The men’s team is made up of promising young stars hoping to follow in the footsteps of the previous generation who won the team gold medal in Sydney, a first for China.

The U.S. men’s team features 2000 Olympians Paul and Morgan Hamm and Sean Townsend. Townsend, a 1999 World Championships Team member, recently finished a close second to Blaine Wilson at the 2001 Visa American Cup. The Hamm brothers were impressive in Sydney, one of their first international competitions. Paul qualified for the all-around competition in sixth place and ended up placing fourteenth, which was the second highest U.S. finish. Morgan finished seventh in the floor exercise event final. The U.S. women’s team will be determined at a training camp and released the week of March 26.

“This strong line-up of athletes creates a very exciting rivalry for the Pontiac American Team Cup,” said Bob Colarossi, President of USA Gymnastics. “The meet promises to be exciting since many of the gymnasts will step on the competition floor for the first time since Sydney, at the same time competing the new FIG Code of Points.”

Created by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the Code of Points are the rules and requirements that govern the sport of gymnastics. The new Code of Points for the present Olympic quadrennium went into effect January 1, 2001 and are valid until 2004.

The men’s competition will take place on Friday while the women will compete Saturday. Each men’s and women’s team consists of six athletes. Five athletes compete on each individual apparatus and the top four scores count. The team with the highest point total is the overall team champion.

The competition will be hosted locally by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and OHANA Hotels of Hawaii. It will be held in conjunction with the Hawaii State Gymnastics Championships.

TICKET INFO
Tickets are available at the Neal Blaisdell Center Box Office at (808) 591-2211, through Ticket Plus at (808) 526-4400 or online at ticketplushawaii.com or tickets.com.

MEN
Paul Hamm, 18/Waukesha, Wis./Swiss Turners, 2000 Olympian
Morgan Hamm, 18/Waukesha, Wis./Swiss Turners, 2000 Olympian
Sean Townsend, 22/Dallas, Texas/Team Texaco-Houston, 2000 Olympian
Mike Dutka, 22/Fairless Hills, Pa./Team Texaco-Houston, 1997 World Team Member
Brett McClure, 20/Mill Creek, Wash./Team Texaco-USOTC, 2000 Olympic Trials
Guard Young, 23/Provo, Utah/University of Oklahoma, 2000 Olympic Trials

MEN	WOMEN
Marian Dragulescu *	Andreea Raducan *
Rares Orzata *	Andreea Isarescu *
Ioan Suciu *	Alexandra Barac
Dorin Petru *	Carmen Ionescu
Nistor Sandro	Silvia Stroescu
Dan Potra	Sabina Cojocar

Alternates: Robert Ene, Constanin Covaci, Loredena Boboc, Elena Velicu, Melina Druta

MEN		WOMEN
ZHAO Zhe		HUANG Mandan*
YOU Yanan		LING Jie *
DAI Tengfei		PENG Sha
LIU Jinyu		ZHOU Lan
XIE Jianhui