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Phil Sheridan: Painful crash after big buildup for men's gymnasts

LONDON - Maybe it was the gravity of the situation, of finally facing the Olympic moment they had trained for all their lives.

After posting the best score in the qualifying round, the Americans finished fifth in the final round at the Olympics. (Matt Dunham/AP)
After posting the best score in the qualifying round, the Americans finished fifth in the final round at the Olympics. (Matt Dunham/AP)Read more

LONDON - Maybe it was the gravity of the situation, of finally facing the Olympic moment they had trained for all their lives.

Maybe it was just gravity. Take your pick.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team fell, literally fell, short of their expectations here Monday afternoon. This is the flip side of the Olympic dream. For every champion who delivers under the world's brightest spotlight, there are dozens who blink.

The U.S. team blinked. After posting the best score in the qualifying round, the Americans finished fifth in the meet that mattered.

"Nerves really kick in," said Jonathan Horton, the lone veteran of Beijing on the team. "It's a group of young guys. They're trying to win an Olympic gold medal, and that really builds up. We wanted it really bad. Sometimes when you want something so bad, you get caught up in the moment and you can't perform at your best."

It really is true in gymnastics and other judged sports, such as figure skating. The equipment is the same. The routine is the same and, after years of repetition, almost automatic. The only thing different is that this is the Olympics. It brings out the best in some, and those are the athletes we celebrate.

It brings out something else in others. And those are the harder stories to tell.

"It just didn't go as planned," John Orozco said. "There was some pressure. I try to go out there and not think about it. I like to think it doesn't get to me, but I guess it does. I didn't do as well as I hoped today."

Orozco, a 19-year-old from the Bronx, won the national championship this year. He's one of those classic Olympic stories, an athlete who overcame ridiculous odds to reach the ultimate competition.

And it was a nightmare.

After uneventful performances in the floor exercise, the Americans rotated to the pommel horse. Danell Leyva, the team's best hope in the all-around this week, went first.

He fell.

Orozco was second.

"When I got up on pommel, it was like, 'OK, Danny fell,' " Orozco said. "I feel like I have to do really good now. When I started really messing up, I thought, I'm just going to try to stay on and get through my routine as best I can. I'm not going to try to make it absolutely perfect. I just tried to get through it for the team."

The chances for a gold medal were basically gone, but the team still had four more events. That's the brutal aspect of a gymnastics meet.

Orozco, Horton, and Jacob Dalton turned in solid performances on the rings, then the U.S. team moved to the vault. This apparatus, with its higher possible scores, represented their one chance to get back into the competition. Orozco went first.

"I fell on my butt," Orozco said. "I don't have the best technique on vault. I was a little worried about vault because prelims was the first one I landed since I've been here. So I wasn't exactly confident going into vault."

When Orozco hit the mat, the Americans' chances for a medal were gone. Horton went over and told him to keep his head up, but Orozco couldn't. He lowered his eyes, wiped away tears, and looked pretty much shattered.

"It was like that's two routines I've now destroyed," Orozco said. "I wasn't feeling great, personally."

The Americans' misery was sharpened by the bronze-winning performance of the team from Great Britain. The worse things got for the United States, the louder and more raucous the home crowd was. China, not surprisingly, won gold. Japan, aided by a scoring appeal that knocked Britain from silver to bronze and Ukraine off the medal stand, finished second.

In 2000 in Sydney, the U.S. men finished fifth while the women's team bombed out. Those results led to a shake-up in the leadership at USA Gymnastics. That 2000 team included two young guys, Paul and Morgan Hamm, who became the core of the team that won the silver medal in Athens in 2004. Paul Hamm won the all-around gold that year.

Orozco and Sam Mikulak are 19. Leyva and Dalton are 20. They have every chance of being the core of the team that will represent the United States in Rio de Janeiro in four years. More immediately, Leyva and Orozco will compete in the individual all-around final on Wednesday.

"I'm sure these guys are disappointed," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "They've been medal contenders for a few years now. They had their sights set quite a bit higher. They just had a couple of things creep up on them today that made it tough."

Just a couple of things: the gravity of the moment, and just plain gravity.