GYMNASTICS: World medalists Liukin, Bieger headline U.S. Women's Team for 2008 Pacific Rim Championships

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 21, 2008-2007 team and balance beam world champion Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, and 2006 all-around world silver-medalist Jana Bieger of Coconut Creek, Fla., headline the U.S. Women's Team for the 2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships presented by Gillette Venus, March 28-30, in San Jose, Calif. In keeping with the event format, the U.S. Women's Team has three senior and three junior level gymnasts. In addition to Liukin and Bieger, the squad features: Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas/WOGA (junior); Darlene Hill of Mount Laurel, N.J./Will-Moor School of Gymnastics (senior); Samantha Shapiro of Los Angeles/All-Olympia (junior); and Jordyn Wieber of Dewitt, Mich./Twistars USA (junior). Olivia Courtney of Fairfax, Va./Orlando Metro, is the alternate. Valeri Liukin of WOGA and Andrea Bieger of Bieger International Gymnastics are the team coaches. Tickets for the event are currently on sale, and single ticket prices begin at $15 for afternoon sessions and $30 for the evening sessions for artistic gymnastics, with the tickets for rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline beginning at $15. Tickets may be purchased charge by phone at 408.998.TIXS; online at www.ticketmaster.com; at all Ticketmaster outlets; or at the Event Center Arena Box Office. Visa is the preferred method of payment Artistic and rhythmic gymnastics will have team, all-around and individual event competitions. Each team will have six athletes with a maximum of three seniors each. The all-around and individual events will have competition for both juniors and seniors. Artistic gymnastics competition is at the Event Center Arena at San Jose State University. Seniors Bieger, who trains at Bieger International Gymnastics, won three silver medals at the 2006 World Championships: team, all-around and floor exercise. Just a week later, she went on to win the uneven bars and floor exercise titles at the World Cup event in Stuttgart, Germany. Earlier this year, she was a member of the team that won the title at the Italy-Spain-Poland-USA friendly competition. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, she won the team, vault and floor exercise and placed third in the all-around. Hill, who was named to her first senior national team in 2007, finished sixth on the uneven bars and floor exercise and ninth in the all-around at the 2007 Visa Championships. She finished fourth in the uneven bars at the 2007 Grand Prix in Glasgow, Scotland. Earlier this year, Liukin won her second Tyson American Cup crown. Along with her team title, she won the balance beam gold medal and finished second on the uneven bars at the 2007 World Championships. Liukin, who trains at WOGA, now has nine world medals (four gold and five silver), tying the mark of nine world medals held by Shannon Miller, who has earned more world and Olympic medals than any other U.S. gymnast (16 total). From 2003-06, Liukin won four straight U.S. all-around titles (junior in 2003-04 and senior in 2005-06), and 10 national individual event crowns (six junior and four senior). She added another U.S. title on the uneven bars in 2007. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, Liukin tied for first in the all-around and won the uneven bars title, as well as was a member of the gold-medal team and finished second on the balance beam. Courtney helped the U.S. Women win the team title at the 2008 Italy-Spain-Poland-USA friendly competition, and earned the team gold medal and placed fifth in the all-around at the 2007 Junior Pan American Championships. She placed fourth on uneven bars and tied for fourth on vault in the junior division at the 2007 Visa Championships. Juniors Earlier this month, Bross, Shapiro and Wieber were members of the U.S. Team that won the team title at the Italy-Spain-Romania-USA friendly competition, held in Jesolo, Italy. Bross finished second in the all-around in the junior division at the Italy-Spain-Romania-USA competition. In international competition in 2007, she won gold medals in the team competition and floor exercise and placed second in the all-around at the Pan American Games, as well as swept the all-around and individual events at the International Jr. Japan competition. Bross won U.S. junior titles in the all-around, vault, uneven bars and floor exercise at the 2007 Visa Championships, where she was second on balance beam. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, she was a member of the gold-medal-winning team and placed fourth in the all-around in the junior division. Shapiro claimed four gold medals (team, all-around, uneven bars and balance beam) and a bronze (vault) at the 2008 Gymnix International. She tied for fifth in the all-around at the Italy-Spain-Poland-USA competition. Shapiro won the balance beam and was second in the all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise in the junior division at the 2007 Visa Championships. Wieber won the all-around gold medal at the Italy-Spain-Poland-USA competition. She won the team, uneven bars and balance beam gold medals, along with the all-around silver and the floor exercise bronze medals, at the 2007 Junior Pan American Championships. At the 2007 Visa Championships, Wieber finished second on vault and balance beam and third on in the all-around and the uneven bars in the junior division. 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 schedule for artistic gymnastics at the Pacific Rim Championships is: Friday, March 28 - men's team and all-around finals, 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; 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 schedule for rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline is: Friday, March 28 - rhythmic gymnastics team and all-around (rope and hoop), 3 p.m.; 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.