Notebook

Wilson fails to qualify for all-around

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Blaine Wilson will be watching when American teammates Paul Hamm and Jason Gatson compete in the all-around competition at the World Gymnastics Championships.

Wilson, a two-time Olympian and 11-year veteran of the national team, scored lower than Hamm and Gatson in Sunday's preliminaries. Wilson was eighth, and each country advances two gymnasts to the all-around Thursday.

"It's upsetting in a way because I did that to myself," said Wilson, who stumbled on the floor and slid off the pommel horse. "I was a little nervous. I tried to compensate by not being as aggressive, and that cost me."

Pommel horse has long been a troublesome event for Wilson. At the U.S. championships in June he scored a 7.9 -- a major reason he didn't win the all-around title.

"If I was that much off," Wilson said, indicating the margin by holding his thumb and index finger an inch apart, "I should be right on Tuesday."

Another surprise was Oleksander Beresch of Ukraine, who also missed the all-around.

Naoya Tsukahara of Japan was the leading qualifier with 57.224 points. Hamm was second with 56.848, ahead of third-place Tae-Young Yang of Korea. Gatson was fourth.

The United States was first with 227.743 points after the preliminaries and advanced to the team final Tuesday. The Americans have never won a team gold medal at the world meet.

They were the only ones to finish in the top 10 as a team in every event. They were sixth or better on each of the six apparatuses.

"Once we got calmed down, we were rocking," Morgan Hamm said.

Tumblin' down

The gymnasts are competing on an older floor than one used at American meets because the sport's world governing body didn't approve newer equipment in time.

The Palmer floor has wider springs and is considered more forgiving than the Stratum floor installed at Arrowhead Pond.

It generally takes six months to get new equipment approved by the International Gymnastics Federation, and the Palmer floor wasn't tested in time to be used at the world meet.

"Floors are a little different no matter what part of the world you go to," said Ron Galimore, U.S. men's program director. "In Sydney, no one could stand that one either."

There were three injuries on floor exercise in the first two days of men's preliminaries.

Russia's Evgeni Krylov fell on his opening tumbling pass Saturday. He crawled off with an Achilles' tendon injury. Later that day, defending world champion Belarus also lost a gymnast to an Achilles' tendon injury. Florent Maree of France injured himself on the floor Sunday.

"The Palmer floor is more like a trampoline," American Blaine Wilson said. "This one is harder, faster, quicker."

And Wilson had no complaints.

"It's no different than us going to China and tumbling on their floor because it's rock hard just like this one is," he said. "As far as the mistakes that were made on it, you'd have to look at your own self because there's nothing wrong with the equipment here."

Who's your daddy?

No one could blame Japan's Nao Tsukahara if he felt a little self-concious. After all, he can't go to a gymnastics meet without hearing his name over and over.

And not for anything he's doing.

Tsukahara is the son of Mitsuo Tsukahara, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and creator of moves on the vault and high bar that are now a staple in gymnastics.

On high bar, the Tsukahara is a full-twisting, double back somersault. On a Tsukahara vault, a gymnast cartwheels onto the vault, hitting it sideways before springing off into a backflip. "Before, I felt pressure, and I couldn't do very well," the younger Tsukahara said. "Now I don't feel that way."

And the younger Tsukahara is making a name of his own this week. He had the highest individual score in the preliminaries, and will compete in Thursday's all-around final. He also qualified for the parallel bars final.

Ropes and mats

Men's teams from Canada and Italy finished in the top 12 and qualified full teams to the Olympics, replacing Bulgaria and Belarus from the 2000 lineup. ... Since they placed 25th, the Greeks will only bring one male gymnast to the Olympics in their home country. That gymnast, to be named later, will compete in team qualifications for spots in the all-around and event finals. ... The 13th through 18th-place finishers -- Belarus, Switzerland, Cuba, Latvia, North Korea and Bulgaria -- will each send two gymnasts. ... The 19th through 28th-place finishers send one gymnast.

 

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