COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Team USA has laid down its challenge to China by naming all-around standouts Guard Young and Blaine Wilson to the U.S. Olympic Team on Thursday following the Olympic Team Selection Camp in Colorado Springs. Team alternates will be Steve McCain and Raj Bhavsar.

 

The pair joins Paul Hamm and Brett McClure, who finished 1-2 in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials process concluding on June 26 in Anaheim, Calif., and Jason Gatson and Morgan Hamm, who were named to the team by the Olympic Team Selection Committee at the Trials.

 

“It’s been a long process,” said Wilson, who made the team after a remarkable five-month comeback from a torn biceps tendon. “I have mixed emotions – good, bad, indifferent – mostly good. Means so much to me to be a part of this team and represent my country. Our guys will be strong, and we’re going to go in and win a medal.

 

“Clearly, if we’re not the best, we’re one of the best teams going into Athens,” Young said. “I’m doing jumping jacks, flips, on the inside, but there’s five other guys who are going home. They’re our best friends and the guys we hang out with, and I feel bad for them as well. Anyone here could have made this team, not just us two. They could have brought in any one of these guys and been a strong team.”

 

Wilson earned his third consecutive Olympic Team berth after a near-miraculous comeback from a torn left biceps tendon on Feb. 28, 2004. Wilson is USA Gymnastics’ only five-time consecutive national all-around champion, and despite his injury, is expected to help Team USA on parallel bars, rings and high bar. His impact may be best felt, though, in the intangible area of team leadership, where the team veteran has shined in the face of adversity and proven his worth to his teammates and coaches. Wilson, of Columbus, trains with Team Chevron-Ohio State under coach Miles Avery.

 

Young will follow in the footsteps of his father, Wayne, who was on the 1976 Olympic Team. Young served as the alternate to the 2003 World Championships Team and was a member of the 2002 and 2001 World Championships squads. Young, an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, fills the team void on floor and vault. Young is coached by Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams.

 

Team alternates can be substituted at any time pr