INDIANAPOLIS – The road to Athens goes through San Jose for USA Gymnastics’ rhythmic and trampoline team members when the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Rhythmic Gymnastics & Trampoline are held Saturday, June 19 at the San Jose State University Event Center.


The Trials, hosted by the San Jose Sports Authority and conducted by USA Gymnastics, will feature top rhythmic and trampoline hopefuls vying for one Olympic berth for each discipline.

“San Jose and the San Jose Sports Authority have proven to be outstanding partners for major events in the past,” USA Gymnastics President Colarossi said. “We appreciate this opportunity to bring the nation’s best rhythmic and trampoline athletes to San Jose, and generate strong enthusiasm for these disciplines.”

“The City and Sports Authority are delighted to host the Rhythmic and Trampoline Olympic Trials in June,” said Dean Munro, Executive Director of the San Jose Sports Authority. “It will be a great event as area sports fans will have an opportunity to see the nation’s best athletes compete for the right to represent their country in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.”

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials serves as the final phase of the Olympic selection process for both sports.

Rhythmic gymnast Mary Sanders automatically qualified the United States for the individual rhythmic competition in Athens by finishing ninth in the All-Around preliminary competition at the 2003 Rhythmic World Championships on Sept. 24, 2003 in Budapest, Hungary. Sanders’ all-around performance – the best-ever by a U.S. athlete in the Rhythmic World Championships – was backed by two fourth-place finishes in the clubs and hoops prelims, followed by seventh-place finishes in both event finals.

Jennifer Parilla of Newport Beach, Calif., placed 16th in the trampoline event at the 2003 Trampoline World Championships on Oct. 27 in Hannover, Germany, qualifying the United States for one women’s entry in the event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Parilla most recently finished sixth overall in the trampoline World Cup.

Individual rhythmic gymnastics first appeared in the Olympic Games in 1984, with trampoline following in 2000.