GYMNASTICS: U.S. men win three golds at Pacific Rim Championships

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 28, 2008-The USA swept the gold medals in the men's competition on the first day of the 2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus, held at the Event Center Arena at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif. The USA won the men's team title and Paul Hamm of Waukesha, Wis., and Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla., won the men's all-around titles in the senior and junior divisions, respectively. Alexander Artemev of Lakewood, Colo., rounded out the USA's medal haul with the silver in the men's senior all-around. The Pacific Rim Championships, which runs through March 30, continues tomorrow with the women's team and all-around finals. The USA claimed the team title with a score of 367.750. China was second at 356.900, followed by Japan with 356.100. In addition to Hamm, Artemev and Leyva, the U.S. Men's Team was comprised of: Raj Bhavsar of Houston; Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif.; and John Orozco of Bronx, N.Y."Today was a really good day, the best overall meet I've had,"Hamm said."The five events I hit were great. I'm a little frustrated with my mistake on pommel horse, but I'll go back and work harder.""It went really well today,"Leyva said."I had three goals for this meet and I made two of the three. I wanted to hit my high bar routine and get a score of more than 15.200, and I also wanted at least an 89.000 in the all-around. I wanted to do my second pass on floor, which I didn't make. But overall, this is the biggest meet I've ever won."Hamm posted an all-around score of 94.450, followed by Artemev at 92.300. China's Lu Bo was third with a 91.350. Russia's Maxsim Deviatovsky placed fourth with a score of 90.800. Bhavsar, who finished fifth with a 90.650 in the point totals, was not ranked in the all-around because there is a limit of two athletes per country."I added a 270 Russian in my pommel horse routine, and I'm happy with my routine and score,"Artemev said."I hope to contend for a medal at the Olympic Games on pommel horse.""I was very happy with rings,"Bhavsar said."I qualified into finals in first place. I feel like I'm on the path in the right direction."Leyva topped the junior division with an all-around score of 89.400. Russia's Igor Pachomenko was second at 87.950 and Japan's Genki Takeshita was third at 87.850. Ishino with 87.500 and Orozco at 86.900 ranked fourth and fifth place, respectively, in scoring totals but were not ranked in the all-around due to the two athlete per country maximum. The USA opened the competition on vault, taking the top three places in the senior and junior divisions after the first rotation. Hamm scored a 16.250 on his Kasamatsu one-and-a-half vault. Bhavsar and Artemev both earned scores of 16.100 on their vaults. Hamm and Artemev both stuck their double pike dismounts on parallel bars and earned scores of 15.900 and 15.600, respectively, while Bhavsar scored a 15.100. On high bar, Bhavsar earned a score of 14.550 on his routine that included a stuck kovacs triple back dismount. Hamm posted a 16.050 and Artemev earned a 15.350. Hamm's floor exercise routine earned a 15.800 and included a second pass that ended with a front one-and-three-quarter dive roll. Both Artemev and Bhavsar closed their routines with triple full dismounts, scoring a 15.150 and a 14.550, respectively. After four rotations, Hamm and Artemev remained in first and second, respectively, followed by Lu in third. On pommel horse, Artemev wowed the crowd on pommel horse with a routine that scored a 15.850. Hamm posted a 14.500 and Bhavsar scored a 14.350. The USA ended the competition on still rings with scores of 16.000 by Bhavsar, 15.950 by Hamm and 14.250 by Artemev. For the juniors, Orozco took the early lead with his vault score of 15.700, while Leyva was second at 15.650 and Ishino was third at 15.150. Leyva moved into first place after two rotations and maintained his position throughout the meet. All three U.S. juniors earned their best scores on vault. The first half of the rhythmic all-around and team competitions were held today, with Lisa Wang of Buffalo Grove, Ill., in first in the senior all-around after two events. The all-around and team competitions conclude on Saturday. About the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus The 2008 Pacific Rim Championships features competition in men's and women's artistic gymnastics; rhythmic gymnastics; and trampoline. The competitors for men's gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline were announced earlier and may be found at www.usa-gymnastics.org. The remaining schedule for artistic gymnastics at the Pacific Rim Championships is: Saturday, March 29 - women's team and all-around finals, 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 30 - men's and women's individual event finals, juniors at 12 p.m. and seniors at 6 p.m. The competition is at the Events Center at San Jose State University. The remaining schedule for rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline is: Saturday, March 29 - rhythmic team and all-around (ball/clubs and ribbon), and trampoline prelims, 3 p.m.; and Sunday, March 30 - rhythmic and trampoline individual event finals, 3 p.m. Competition is at San Jose McEnery Conventions Center. NBC Sports is broadcasting action from the Pacific Rim Championships on April 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Pacific Rim Championships, previously known as the Pacific Alliance Championships, were held in Honolulu in 2004 and 2006. World champions Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel tied for the women's all-around title in 2006. In 2004, Paul Hamm won the all-around gold medal before becoming the 2004 Olympic all-around champion. In 2007, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center hosted rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastics competition during the Visa Championships. The Pacific Rim Championships is the official championships of the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Federations. About San Jose State University San Jose State -- Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 30,000 students and 4,000 employees -- is part of the California State University system. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city. For more information, please visit http://www.sjsu.edu. About the San Jose McEnery Convention Center Considered the hub for meetings and conventions in San Jose, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center opened its doors in April 1989. The facility has 432,000 square feet of function space, including a 22,000 square-foot ballroom and 30 meeting rooms. About the San Jose Sports Authority The San Jose Sports Authority is a non-profit organization that serves as the sports marketing agency for the City of San Jose. Since their inception in 1991, they have worked with community partners to bring more than 150 premier events and programs to the San Jose area. For more information, visit www.sjsa.org. About Procter , Gamble Three billion times a day, P,G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Gillette(R), Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest, Oral-B, Actonel, Duracell, Olay, Head , Shoulders, Wella, and Braun(R). The P,G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P,G and its brands. About USA Gymnastics Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. Its disciplines include men's and women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics. For more complete information, log on to www.usa-gymnastics.org. # 2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships San Jose State University Events Center March 28, 2008 First day of three Men's gymnastics-team and all-around finals Team 1. USA, 367.750 2. China, 356,900 3. Japan, 356.100 4. Russia, 354.450 5. Canada, 350.350 6. Australia, 345.150 7. Mexico, 321.350 8. Chinese Taipei, 320.400 Senior All-Around 1. Paul Hamm, Waukesha, Wis., 94.450 2. Alexander Artemev, Lakewood, Colo., 92.300 3. Bo Lu, China, 91.350 4. Maxsim Deviatovsky, Russia, 90.800 *. Raj Bhavsar, Houston, Texas, 90.650 5. Takuya Inatera, Japan, 90.200 6. Heng Wang, China, 89.450 7. Joshua Jefferis, Australia, 88.600 8. Nathan Gafuik, Canada, 88.100 *. Mingsheng Liang, China, 87.900 9. Adam Wong, Canada, 87.600 10. Sergey Khorokhordin, Russia, 87.100 11. Yusuke Saito, Japan, 87.050 12. Jorge Giraldo, Colombia, 84.400 13. Samuel Simpson, Australia, 83.750 14. Chih-Yu Chen, Chinese Taipei, 82.850 15. Che-Wei Chang, Chinese Taipei, 79.300 16. Kalo Traslocheros, Mexico, 75.850 Junior all-around 1. Danell Leyva, Miami, Fla., 89.400 2. Igor Pachomenko, Russia, 87.950 3. Genki Takeshita, Japan, 87.850 4. Glen Ishino, Santa Ana, Calif., 87.500 * John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y., 86.900 5. Zhanteng Liu, China, 86.550 6. Mathew Curtis, Australia, 86.300 7. Xuezhang Chen, China, 86.150 8. Riku Munakata, Japan, 85.450 *. Lixiang Fang, China, 85.150 9. David Beliavsky, Russia, 85.000 10. Jackson Payne, Canada, 84.600 *. Nikita Ignatiev, Russia, 83.600 11. Anderson Loran, Canada, 83.200 *. John Hall, Canada, 80.700 12. Javier Balboa, Mexico, 80.350 13. Wai Hung Shek, Hong Kong, China, 80.100 14. Wei-Ming Lin, Chinese Taipei, 79.700 15. Luke Wadsworth, Australia, 79.350 16. Ping-Chien Shu, Chinese Taipei, 78.550 17. Adrian Prieto, Mexico, 76.750 *. Jack Rickards, Australia, 76.450 18. Chun Kit Poon, Hong Kong, China, 64.200 * A maximum of two athletes per country could count in the all-around rankings.