Bridget Sloan
© Lange

BEIJING, China, Nov. 28, 2007—Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind., and Chellsie Memmel of West Allis, Wis., finished second and fourth, respectively, in the women’s preliminary all-around to qualify for the finals at the Good Luck Beijing International Tournament in Beijing, China. The U.S. Men’s Team advanced to the team finals. The women’s all-around and men’s team finals are Nov. 29.

 

The Good Luck Beijing International Tournament features women’s competition in all-around and individual events, and men’s competition in team and individual events.

 

Sloan posted a score of 59.525 and Memmel scored a 58.675 to advance to the finals. Rounding out the top four in the women’s preliminary all-around were Australia’s Daria Joura in first and China’s Jiang Yuyuan in third.

 

Sloan advanced to the individual event finals in all four events after scoring a 14.675 on vault, a 14.925 on uneven bars, a 15.300 on balance beam and a 14.625 on floor exercise. Memmel qualified for the finals on two events: balance beam and floor exercise. She earned the highest score on balance beam with a 15.525 and scored a 14.400 on floor to finish fifth.

 

The U.S. Men’s Team earned a score of 349.125 to grab the last spot in team finals. Competing for the men are: David Durante of Garwood, N.J.; Sean Golden of Camden, N.J.; Sho Nakamori of Albany, Calif.; David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill.; Clay Strother of Jasper, Texas; and Todd Thornton of Houston, Texas.

 

Sender qualified for the individual event finals on floor exercise and vault. In the preliminary round, he scored a 15.625 on floor to finish fifth and a 15.837 on vault to finish eighth. Golden and Strother are the third reserve athletes on floor and pommel horse, respectively.

 

Individual event finals are Dec. 1-3: Dec. 1, women’s floor exercise and vault, and men’s floor exercise and pommel horse; Dec. 2, women’s uneven bars, and men’s still rings and vault; and Dec. 3, women’s balance beam, and men’s parallel bars and horizontal bar.

 

Held at the National Indoor Stadium, the Good Luck Beijing International Tournament is the test event for artistic gymnastics for the 2008 Olympic Games, giving each country an opportunity to see the Olympic competition venue in action.

 

Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. Its disciplines include men‘s and women‘s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics. For more information, log on to www.usa-gymnastics.org.

 

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Good Luck Beijing International Tournament

National Indoor Stadium

Nov. 28, 2007

Qualification round