HOUSTON – Greetings from St. Louis where the Road to Rio continues for the USA Men’s Gymnastics team. The Olympic Team Trials are right here over the next couple of days and by Saturday night the five-member team plus three alternates will be announced after competition ends.
The fight for the coveted spots is going to be fun to watch as seven of the eight members and alternates from the 2012 Olympics are still in the hunt for Rio. One of those is Houstonian Chris Brooks who was an alternate in 2012. Brooks is coming off a strong second-place finish in the All-Around recently at the Men’s P&G in Hartford.
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“I’m so happy to be here and have the chance to compete," Brooks told us today at Media Day in St. Louis. “I’m 29 now and have been doing this a long time but I’d really like to finish strong here and get a shot in Rio.”
National Team Coordinator Kevin Mazeika is also a Houstonian and was the coach and coordinator in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games for the Men’s Gymnastics program.
“This is probably the deepest team we have had in a very long time,” he said after Wednesday’s training session. “It is going to be a hard decision for us to make as to the top five we take to Rio and up to three alternates in that group as well.”
Along with Brooks, names to watch this week are Sam Mikulak, Donnell Whittenburg, Jake Dalton and 2012 bronze medal winner Daniel Leyva.
The women are also here for their P&G Championships before moving on to their trials. Simone Biles is the No. 1 ranked gymnast in the world and a favorite to win the All-Around Gold in Rio but she’s not looking ahead.
“That’s still down the road,” Biles said Wednesday. “We still have this meet, trials and more training at the Ranch back in Texas so the work continues.”
Look for more coverage from the Men’s Gymnastics Olympics Trials on KPRC Channel 2 and we continue on the Road2Rio.