2008 U.S. Olympic Team for men's gymnastics talks about Beijing: Part 1

NOTE: This is the first of three features with the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for men's gymnastics in which they talk about Beijing, their post-Olympic lives and their future gymnastics plans.

The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for men's gymnastics surprised many people when they won the team bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. After 2004 Olympic team silver-medalists Paul and Morgan Hamm of Waukesha, Wis., withdrew from the team due to injuries, many pundits thought the U.S. men were long shots to win a medal. Without the Hamms, the USA was one of the only teams at the Olympic Games that did not have an athlete with previous Olympic experience, a rarity in men's gymnastics.

USA Gymnastics recently caught up with the six team members to hear their thoughts on Beijing. The members of the bronze-medal team are: Alexander Artemev of Highlands Ranch, Colo.; Raj Bhavsar of Houston; Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M.; Jonathan Horton of Houston; Justin Spring of Burke, Va.; and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif. David Durante of Garwood, N.J., was the replacement athlete, and both of the Hamms withdrew from the team due to injuries. Kevin Mazeika of Houston Gymnastics Academy was the head coach, and Miles Avery of Ohio State University was the assistant coach.

 

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 Did having the U.S. Men's Team viewed as underdogs at the Olympic Games serve as motivation for you?

 Raj Bhavsar: We were in the Olympic Village reading stories on the Internet about how people thought the U.S. Team was going to do and what their expectations were. I wouldn't say outrage is the word, but we wanted to prove them wrong. We said, "This is our team. We can't allow people's perceptions of what is going to happen get the best of us." The meet hasn't even happened yet. In our minds, it wasn't fair to predict that because we had some setbacks, our goal wasn't attainable. It was motivation for all of us. I can't tell you that we knew we were going to win this medal, but I can tell you that we knew we weren't going to give up. We weren't going to concede based on what people thought.

Joseph Hagerty: For some of us, it did. If we came away with a medal, it was frosting on the cake for me. My ultimate goal was to make the Olympic Team and anything after that was above and beyond my expectations.

Jonathan Horton: It was definitely fuel for us. I think that was one of the biggest impacts on us going into the Olympic Games. We read everything with the media saying that without Paul and Morgan Hamm, we have no leadership, no experience, nothing. Reading all that stuff just fired us up. It really kind of put us in that zone to try to prove everyone wrong.

Justin Spring: It did a lot of things. Looking at what the team went through, losing the Hamms, fueled the doubt. I think that absolutely served as motivation and in a lot of ways, took the pressure off. It was kind of like, "No one expects us to do anything." We were going to go in there and have a great meet. We still saw ourselves as a medal-potential team. Just making it to team finals, we already kind of exceeded expectations. We went into team finals like we had nothing to lose. We wanted to lay it on the line and try to have the best meet of our lives and enjoy the moment. I think that's exactly what we did.

I think that having that doubt helped the team bond together. This is one of the closest Olympic teams in history and that's not just me saying that. Blaine (Wilson), Raj (Bhavsar), John Macready and all the other Olympians from the last four or five Olympics said, "You guys had something special out there." I think that the team bonding really helped us compete with a little more ease knowing that you had really good friends who weren't going to hate you if you messed up. It was a really great experience.

Kevin Tan: I feel that for the entire quad, we had been written off as being a medal contender. It was nothing special in that sense. We walked on to the competition floor knowing what we could accomplish and stuck to the game plan. We competed with confidence and were out to prove people wrong. The key was that the team believed in what we could do. So when we found ourselves near the top halfway through, there were no surprises and we kept working.

 

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What was the day of team finals like?

Raj Bhavsar: Going into team finals was obviously very nerve-wracking. Everybody was on edge because we knew what was ahead of us and the goal that we wanted to accomplish, especially after having two injury replacements and being kind of counted out by the media and the general populace. We kind of took it upon ourselves to prove everybody wrong. We didn't necessarily go in with that mindset, but had it in our hearts that we had the opportunity to do something big here. We knew that going into the meet that we'd finish on pommel horse, which obviously at the time, wasn't one of our stronger events so it made the challenge that much greater. But with the way we were competing and the way we gelled as a team, we told ourselves that it was just going to be us on the competition floor and that we're going to knock out one routine after another and let the cards fall how they fall.

Joseph Hagerty: We were there for a week-and-a-half before we competed, so I was ready to go. I was ready to get it over with and get it done. We went to breakfast and then hung around our room waiting and pacing for this meet. Having all six of us in the same room was so cool because we could talk to each other. We were always communicating with each other about how we were feeling. When it finally started, it was like, "Here we go, let's do this."

Jonathan Horton: There really isn't a word that can describe that day. It started with nerves and ended with excitement. When I say nerves, that doesn't do it justice. All of us walked into that meet freaking out. I think that our team was full of guys who knew how to deal with it. I think that's what makes a champion. You're never going to find an athlete at the Olympics who doesn't get nervous. It's the real athletes who know how to use it to their advantage. The majority of that day was just the most nerve-wracking moments of our lives, but in the end, it was celebration and excitement.

Justin Spring: The night before was nerve-wracking and I don't think anyone got as much sleep as they wanted to because we were all panicking thinking about what we had to do the next day. When we got to the meet, got together and were like, "Okay, let's do this," the nerves seemed to ease a little bit. It finally happened on high bar when we took the number one place. We knew we weren't going to win, but we knew that we had quite the buffer on some of the other teams. Then when we rocked high bar, which could have been a very inconsistent event for us, we were like, "This is it. We're having an amazing meet." We had pommel horse to end on, and we had been so successful on those other events that we knew we had a buffer in scoring. We were in position to win a medal.

The momentum kept building and watching our score in the top three was just incredible with the rollercoaster ride of losing teammates and the whole media world doubting that we would even make team finals, let alone be a medal-winning team. All those things made winning that medal that much more special because in a lot of ways, we didn't expect it, either. We knew we could do it, but everyone has doubt. I mean, it's the Olympics, and you're competing in the three up-three count format. It was just surreal, incredible.

Kevin Tan: It was high energy! We came out with such a great mindset as a team and found ourselves competing our hearts out. For me, the trust and confidence in my team was all I needed to compete without holding back. It was nerve-wracking but also exciting to be hitting routines and moving up the leader board.

 What is your favorite memory from China?

Raj Bhavsar: Other than standing on the podium winning a bronze medal, my favorite memory would have to be living in the Olympic Village. It represented equality. All of the athletes there came to one place on earth to strive for athletic glory. It was cool to be on the same level as all kinds of other athletes, whether they were high-profile or low-profile. You could see it in their faces that we were all going for those Olympic medals. It was very inspiring.

Joseph Hagerty: I have so many. Everything about China was amazing: being together in a room for a month, going to the Silk Market four or five times, watching Horton win the silver medal on high bar. There are so many little moments that most people would never know happened, but are things I will remember for the rest of my life.

Jonathan Horton: I don't really have one favorite memory, but I have a couple. One of the best is watching Sasha (Alexander Artemev) on pommel horse when he hit that routine. I was sitting there shaking and then I was jumping around after his routine because it wasn't a nerves thing anymore. I was just pumped up because I knew that we were going to medal. Another favorite is me and Justin on high bar during team finals because that was ridiculous and I've never experienced anything like that.

But really just every moment that I was able to spend with all six guys together. Every bit of that entire month was awesome. Just the time we spent becoming a family.

Justin Spring: My high bar routine, for sure, and the high bar lineup. Horton tells me all the time, "I watched the high bar lineup again today." We watch the high bar lineup from team finals like once a week. That was the moment for us. That was the make-or-break event for us. I did three release moves, Horton did three release moves and Joey did two big ones. We do a lot of release moves, which lends themselves to a lot of errors, possibly falls. We not only got through our high bar routines, but we had three of the best routines that the three of us could have. When I stuck my triple back, a "USA" chant broke out in the arena and 20,000 people were like, "Who is this team?" That moment right there was incredible.

Kevin Tan: Of course, it was receiving the bronze medal with my team. There was nothing quite like it. To know how hard each of us has worked to get onto the team and the unique relationship we share as a team made everything that much more special. We are a family, and to share such a great moment with family meant everything to me.

 

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Talk about your friendship with the rest of the Olympic Team and what it means to you.

Raj Bhavsar: That's the most important lesson in all of this: how close we've become as a family. I can't recall a time ever in gymnastics where so many guys were so close that there were no individuals on the team. It was everyone working toward a common goal. I think the greatest lesson out of all of this is the friends that we make and the relationships that we have with other people. If we were all stripped of the medals, at the end of the day, we still have that. And that's the greatest thing of all.

I think what we did as a team, how we all came together, sends more of a message than winning a medal. We put our egos aside. It didn't matter who we were, we were all going after this medal. I've been on a collegiate team, too, and while I was close to my teammates, these guys (Olympic teammates) have become like brothers to me. If nothing else, that Olympic medal has given me friends and family members for life.

Joseph Hagerty: They are like my brothers now, all nine of us. Not even just the six who competed, but Paul (Hamm), Morgan (Hamm) and Dave (Durante). We're such a tight group of guys and we're going to be family for the rest of our lives. We're going to share this bond of being those guys who did this "miracle."

Jonathan Horton: We said from the very beginning that this was a nine-man team. Nothing would ever change about that and it didn't matter who was competing. We were a family and that family started the moment they named the six guys to the team and the three alternates. We told each other that we couldn't make it through this without the efforts of every single one of us.

The camaraderie between us is amazing. I've never been around a group of guys that gets along as well as we do. And I've been part of a college team for the last four years. There was something about the Olympics - spending that much time together - and having that memory in our minds forever. All those guys put so much effort into making that Olympic dream happen this past year and none of it could have been done without everyone.

Justin Spring: It's incredible. When you go through such a strenuous situation with someone it really amplifies the relationship you have with that person. Competing at the Olympics and going through the whole Olympic process - Trials, getting to the Olympic Games and losing some members - as chaotic as it was, I went through all these crazy experiences with my teammates. It really strengthened my friendship with them. I feel like that's a bond that we'll never lose. I talk with everyone on the Olympic Team very frequently. It's a friendship that I know we'll share for the rest of our lives because that one experience was so intense and one-of-a-kind.

Kevin Tan: I have known and competed with these guys for my entire life. We have spent countless competitions building friendship within the competitive environment. We have shared so many of the same experiences and it has brought us into a close-knit family. To me, I cherish the fact that we have become so close. It is not everyday that you bond with a group the way we did.