Jonathan Horton leads, but U.S. men's gymnastics team wide open
GYMNASTICS
Selecting the U.S. men's Olympic team will be difficult with the competition close going into the all-around finals Saturday. Paul Hamm expected to be a lock.
PHILADELPHIA -- Saturday's competition at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials will be the last step for the men's Beijing hopefuls, and it's a credit to the quality of their performances that nothing has been determined.
Well, almost nothing.
Athens all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm, unable to compete here after breaking a bone in his right hand, is a lock to get a berth when the team is announced, perhaps as soon as Sunday.
But after that, little is sure.
Thursday's opening-night efforts at the Wachovia Center were impressive enough to scramble any preconceived notions about who might be chosen as event specialists to help the overall team score.
"I can say that a lot of guys helped themselves," said Ron Galimore, a vice president for USA Gymnastics.
"The thing you always hope to have is that guys go in and hit a lot of routines and have more control of their destiny. That makes it easier on the selection committee."
Using a formula that weights results from the U.S. championships and the trials, Jonathan Horton of Houston was the cumulative all-around leader entering Saturday's finale, with 63.255 points. Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M., was second at 63.165.
Horton is expected to get the second all-around spot, after Hamm, but the five-member selection committee will face tough decisions in choosing six team members and up to three alternates.
Hagerty is perhaps the biggest surprise, both for his all-around total and for ranking first in floor exercise and high bar and fifth on the parallel bars. He doesn't have much international experience, but that hasn't held him back.
"It's like he has ice water in his veins," said Galimore, who is not on the selection committee but was the men's program director for 12 years.
"He's shown a lot of consistency throughout the trials process."
Galimore also lauded Alexander Artemev, who leads the pommel horse standings and is in the top five in vault, parallel bars and high bar. Raj Bhavsar, third on rings, second on vault and fourth on parallel bars, won praise from Galimore too.
"It was nice to see Artemev and Raj and Jonathan Horton have a good competition," Galimore said. "They need to have a good [final] day. Then you have a lot of good information so we can put the best team on the floor."
The caliber of the competition so far, he said, "is what I knew was out there. There's just so much pressure and it's hard to convince yourself that it's just another meet like you've done every day in the gym. You get here and you see the Olympic rings and you see the introductions and you know it's special and it's hard. But I'm so proud that the guys did perform.
"We have a program that will contend for a medal, and I think the routines that were shown support that."
helene.elliott@latimes.com
