© John Cheng

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 17, 2015 – USA Gymnastics today announced international assignments for five U.S. athletes. 2015 World team gold-medalists Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Buckeye Gymnastics, who is also the reigning Olympic all-around champion, and Maggie Nichols of Little Canada, Minn./Twin City Twisters; three-time U.S. all-around champion and 2012 Olympian Sam Mikulak of Newport Beach, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center); and two-time World medalist Donnell Whittenburg of Baltimore, Md./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), have accepted invitations to represent the United States at the 2016 AT&T American Cup at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on March 5. Three-time World all-around champion Simone Biles of Houston/World Champions Centre, will lead Team USA at the 2016 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships at the XFINITY Arena at Everett (Wash.), April 8-10.

“2016 is going to be an important year for USA Gymnastics and all of our athletes,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “We are Rio Ready and looking forward to some exciting moments throughout the journey. The AT&T American Cup and Pacific Rim Championships are important events on our calendar and will be true showcases for some of the world’s best gymnasts.”

Gymnasts from 11 countries are expected to compete in next year’s AT&T American Cup. The countries are Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Switzerland and United States. The international field for the AT&T American Cup and the remaining U.S. athletes and the international field for the Pac Rim Championships will be announced in 2016. All five of the U.S. gymnasts will demonstrate readiness prior to competing.

AT&T America Cup event information
Tickets for the AT&T American Cup, the USA’s most prestigious international invitational and part of the International Gymnastics Federation’s all-around World Cup series, range in price from $35-$250. The platinum ($250) ticket also includes a reserved seat for the Nastia Liukin Cup. Tickets may be purchased through ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000, or at all Ticketmaster outlets, as well as at Prudential Center’s box office. For group sales (10+ people) information, please call Prudential Center’s Group Sales department at 973-757-6250. Discounted tickets are also available through local gym clubs that participate in the Club Ticket Sales Program. The AT&T American Cup begins at 11:30 a.m. ET. For additional information, please go to attamericancup.com.

The AT&T American Cup features the world’s best gymnasts in a one-day all-around competition. Invitations to compete in the 2016 AT&T American Cup, which became an International Gymnastics Federation all-around World Cup event in 2011, are based on performances at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Biles and the Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev won the titles at the 2015 AT&T American Cup.

Held annually the night before the AT&T American Cup, the Nastia Liukin Cup is named after Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion who has five Olympic and nine World medals to her credit. The annual event features 36 gymnasts who qualify through the Nastia Liukin Cup Series, which includes many of the country’s top invitationals held throughout January and February.

Pacific Rim Championships event information
The three-day Pac Rim Championships is expected to feature approximately 300 gymnasts from more than 14 Pac Rim countries, competing in men’s and women’s gymnastics, trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics. All-session tickets include all six sessions at the XFINITY Arena for men’s and women’s gymnastics and trampoline and range in price from $275-$125. Tickets may be purchased at the XFINITY Arena Box Office charge by phone 1-866-332-8499 or xfinityarenaeverett.com. Group tickets are also available at a discount by contacting Xfinity Arena at (425) 322-2600. Discounted tickets are also available through local gym clubs that participate in the Club Ticket Sales Program.
The competition schedule for XFINITY Arena is listed below.

April 8

  • 1:30 p.m. – Subdivision 1: Men’s gymnastics team and all-around finals, and women’s trampoline team finals and individual preliminaries
  • 7 p.m. – Subdivision 2: Men’s team and all-around finals, and men’s trampoline team finals and individual preliminaries

April 9

  • 1:30 p.m. – Subdivision 1: Women’s gymnastics team and all-around finals, and junior men’s and women’s trampoline finals
  • 7 p.m. – Subdivision 2: Women’s gymnastics team and all-around finals, and senior men’s and women’s trampoline finals

April 10

  • 12 p.m. – Junior men’s and women’s gymnastics individual event finals
  • 6 p.m. – Senior men’s and women’s gymnastics individual event finals

Tickets for rhythmic gymnastics, which will be held at the Walt Price Student Fitness Center at Everett Community College, are not included in the all-around ticket package and will go on sale closer to the event. The rhythmic gymnastics competition schedule is: April 8-9, 2 p.m. – team and all-around finals (two events per day); and April 10, 1 p.m. – junior and senior individual event finals.

The competition schedules are subject to change. For more information on the Pac Rim Championships, go to pacrim2016.com.

The team competition format for all disciplines is a mixture of junior and senior level athletes. The medalists for both team and the all-around, as well as qualifiers for event finals, for men’s, women’s and rhythmic gymnastics are determined during the team competition. For trampoline, the first day of competition determines which athletes advance to the finals. The top eight in the rankings advance to the finals, and a maximum of two athletes per country are eligible to advance to the individual event finals.

Background information

    AT&T American Cup

    • Prudential Center. Prudential Center is a world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Opened in October 2007, the state-of-the-art arena is the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) three-time Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils, Seton Hall University’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball program, and more than 175 concerts, family shows and special events each year. Ranked in the Top 10 nationally by Pollstar, Billboard and Venues Today, Prudential Center is recognized as one of the premier venues in the United States, and welcomes 1.75 million guests annually. For more information about Prudential Center, visit PruCenter.com and Facebook, and follow @PruCenter on Twitter.

    • About AT&T. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions of people and businesses around the globe stay connected through leading wireless, high-speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. We’re helping people mobilize their worlds with state-of-the-art communications, entertainment services and amazing innovations like connected cars and devices for homes, offices and points in between. Our U.S. wireless network offers customers the nation’s strongest LTE signal and the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network. We offer the best global wireless coverage. We’re improving how our customers stay entertained and informed with AT&T U-verse® TV and High Speed Internet services. And businesses worldwide are serving their customers better with AT&T’s mobility and highly secure cloud solutions. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att. © 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Reliability and signal strength claims based on nationwide carriers’ LTE. Signal strength claim based ONLY on avg. LTE signal strength. LTE not available everywhere. Global coverage claim based on offering voice and data roaming in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier, and offering the most wireless smartphones and tablets that work in the most countries.

    • International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). The International Gymnastics Federation is the governing body for gymnastics worldwide. It is the oldest established international sports federation and has participated in the Olympic Games since their revival in 1896. The FIG governs seven disciplines: gymnastics for all, men’s artistic, women’s artistic, rhythmic, trampoline, aerobic and acrobatic. It counts 142 national member federations and boasts a 27-person staff at its international seat in Lausanne, Switzerland, host city of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For more information, go to www.fig-gymnastics.com.

    Pacific Rim Championships

    • XFINITY Arena at Everett. The XFINITY Arena at Everett, recipient of the International Association of Venue Manager’s (IAVM) prestigious Venue Excellence Award 2010, was developed by the Everett Public Facilities District. The 10,000-seat venue hosts a myriad of events including concerts, ice skating and family shows. The facility is also home to the Everett Silvertips, a Western Hockey League franchise, and the venue accommodates other sporting events such as basketball, volleyball and international skating competitions. Spectra is a major provider of sports and entertainment hospitality services in Washington. One or more of the divisions is at work supporting 15 Washington venues and events, including Washington State University and Gonzaga.

    • Spectra by Comcast Spectacor. Spectra by Comcast Spectacor is the expert in hosting and entertainment, partnering with over 300 clients at 400 global properties to create memorable experiences for millions of visitors every year. Spectra’s expertise is embodied within three divisions: Venue Management (formerly Global Spectrum), Food Services & Hospitality (formerly Ovations Food Services), and Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan). Learn more at SpectraExperiences.com. Comcast Spectacor is part of Comcast Corporation, a Fortune 50 media and technology company that operates Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, in addition to Spectra, Comcast Spectacor owns and operates the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center venue. Visit us at ComcastSpectacor.com, PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, and WellsFargoCenterPhilly.com for more information.