USA secures berths for 2012 Olympic Test Event in London

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Dec. 7, 2011 – According to the list of qualifiers released by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the United States is eligible to send gymnasts in men’s and women’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline to the Olympic Test Event in London, Jan. 10-18. For rhythmic gymnastics and men’s trampoline, the USA will be seeking to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. The United States has already qualified for the Olympics in men’s and women’s gymnastics and women’s trampoline.

Logan Dooley of Lake Forest, Calif./World Elite Gymnastics, and Steven Gluckstein of Atlantic Highlands, N.J./Ultra Twisters, will represent the United States in men’s trampoline at the 2012 Olympic Test Event. Thirteen men will vie for the five remaining Olympic spots. Eight Olympic berths were determined at the 2011 World Championships, and the top three from Worlds — China’s Lu Chunlong and Dong Dong and Japan’s Masaki Ito — complete the 16-man Test Event field. Trampoline is scheduled for Jan. 13, and the U.S. men compete in the 14th and 16th spots in the qualification round. The top eight advance to the final round.

In rhythmic gymnastics, Julie Zetlin of Bethesda, Md./Capital Rhythmics, will represent the USA at the Olympic Test Event; the USA qualified for an invitation to the event based on Zetlin’s performance in the all-around at the 2011 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships. Zetlin, the highest place finisher from the Americas at Worlds, is hoping to qualify for one of the five Olympic spots at the Olympic Test Event, Jan. 16-18. She is in Group 1 in the qualification round Jan. 16-17. The top 10 from the qualification round advance to the finals to contend for the five available spots. Zetlin is also eligible to qualify to the Olympic Games as a continental representative, but this will not be determined until after the conclusion of the Olympic Test Event.

For artistic gymnastics, the U.S. has already qualified as a team for both the men and women, and will send two men to participate at the Olympic Test Event, Jan. 10-13. The U.S. men will compete in Mixed Group 6 in Subdivision 3 and start on the vault on January 10. The top eight men on each apparatus in the preliminary round advance to the individual event finals.

For women’s trampoline, the preliminary round performance of U.S. champion Savannah Vinsant of Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express, at the World Championships secured a berth for the United States to the Olympic Games. As a result, the USA is not entered in the women’s competition at the Olympic Test Event.