US Men's Gymnastics 2016: Meet the Team Headed to Rio
After two nights of 18 men competing in Hartford, Connecticut, at the P&G Championships and two more nights in St. Louis for the U.S. Trials, the selection committee for the U.S. men's gymnastics team chose Sam Mikulak, Alex Naddour, Chris Brooks, John Orozco and Jake Dalton to represent the Stars and Stripes at the 2016 Olympics in Rio this August.
Team USA had high hopes for the 2012 Olympics in London only to come home with a disappointing fifth-place finish in the all-around, which features parallel bars, high bar, still rings, pommel horse, floor exercise and vault.
Mikulak, Dalton and Orozco were on the team in 2012 while Naddour and Brooks were alternates for it. Will this combination give USA a better chance of bringing home a gold medal?
Here's a little bit of information on each of the five men who will be flipping and flying through the air in Brazil later this summer.
Sam Mikulak
1 of 5
The Man
A 23-year-old from Corona del Mar, California, Sam Mikulak is the most decorated member of the U.S.men's gymnastics team by a country mile, and thus entered the Trials as a virtual lock to make the team. If there were a captain of the team, he'd be the one.
The graduate of the University of Michigan has won gold for the all-around (highest combined score on all six routines) at four consecutive P&G U.S. Championships, as well as the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto. He also has individual golds for pommel horse, parallel bars, vault and floor exercise.
And if you're having any difficulty locating him in Rio, just look for the gymnast with the biggest smile. When he's not flipping through the air like a leaf blowing in the wind, Mikulak can often be found dancing around, enjoying life to the fullest.
His Specialty
Take your pick, really. The only routine where Mikulak isn't a serious threat to post one of the five highest scores in the world is on the still rings.
But where Team USA needs him the most is on the pommel horse—which is his favorite event, according to his bio on USAGym.org. As Tim Daggett mentioned repeatedly during NBC's broadcasts of the Trials, the pommel horse is the nation's biggest weakness.
"I came up with my own skill, and it gave me a little more passion for (pommel horse), and it's something that I've now tried to make my best event," Mikulak told Jared Kiemeney of NBC Los Angeles.
Alex Naddour
2 of 5
The Man
It has been said that there is a woman behind every successful man, and it's a new (future) woman motivating Alex Naddour to bring home the gold.
"Each set I'm doing, it's not just for me or for my wife or friends, family. It's for my daughter," he told Julia Fincher of NBC last week.
Naddour and wife Hollie Vise welcomed Lilah into the world in February, but becoming a dad has been the furthest thing from a distraction for the 25-year-old gymnast from Gilbert, Arizona. Despite an uncharacteristic fall on the pommel horse on night one of Nationals earlier this month, he rebounded with an incredible score on night two and has been performing better than ever.
His Specialty
Without question, Naddour's forte is the pommel horse. He won gold in that event at the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 P&G U.S. Championships and took silver in 2014. He was an alternate who did not compete in the 2012 Olympics, but based on how much of a disaster that event ended up being for the Americans, they could have desperately used him.
Now is Naddour's chance to get redemption for himself and for his country.
In addition to the pommel horse, Naddour scored well on the rings and vault in St. Louis and will likely partake in those three events in the team finals in Rio.
Chris Brooks
3 of 5
The Man
A full Olympics cycle older than any other member of the team, 29-year-old Chris Brooks was the feel-good story to root for at the U.S. Trials.
"He has so often been overlooked, time and time again," said NBC's Tim Daggett on Saturday night.
Like Alex Naddour, Brooks was an alternate for the 2012 Games, and it only drove him to work that much harder for the next four years to realize his dream. He became a jack of all trades, finishing second to Sam Mikulak for the best all-around score after the four nights.
As NBC's announcing crew mentioned several times, Brooks was the only gymnast to go 24-for-24—completing all six routines on each of the four nights without any serious mishaps. That isn't to say he flawlessly executed each routine, but he came closer to pitching a perfect game than anyone else.
An oldie but goody, the native of Houston and graduate of the University of Oklahoma is guaranteed to be fired up for his trip to Rio. No one screamed more often or more exuberantly at the U.S. Trials than Brooks.
His Specialty
Over more than a decade of competing at the P&G U.S. Championships, Brooks has five medals each in parallel bars and high bar. Those are the two events where Team USA will almost certainly put him to use, but he might also make the final cut in still rings or vault.
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John Orozco
4 of 5
The Man
Do you like rooting for athletes with redemption stories who have to fight through adversity?
Then you're going to adore John Orozco.
The 23-year-old from the Bronx became the face of Team USA's failures in men's gymnastics in London in 2012, faltering miserably on both the pommel horse and the vault. At the end of night two in St. Louis, Tim Daggett said multiple times that—despite great scores on pommel horse and high bar at both Nationals and the U.S. Trials—he wouldn't have chosen Orozco for the roster because of the struggles he had four years ago.
There's your redemption story. Now add in the tribulations.
Orozco tore his right Achilles tendon in June 2015—a injury he had previously suffered in 2010—and was told there was almost no chance that he would be able to compete for more than a year. And this setback came just four months after his mother suddenly passed away in February.
Speaking about his last year and a half with NBC's Andrea Joyce just moments after the announcement of his selection to the U.S. men's gymnastics team, he couldn't hold back the emotion.
"My mom was there the whole time," he said through tears. "I know she's looking down on me and she's so proud. If you can hear me mom, I love you."
His Specialty
High bar is Orozco's strong suit, but here's hoping he can fight through the demons of 2012, because Team USA could really use him on the pommel horse as well.
If he can give them the kind of scores on pommel horse that he posted in St. Louis, he, Sam Mikulak and Alex Naddour just might be able to steer the Americans to an all-aound team gold.
Jake Dalton
5 of 5
The Man
Jake Dalton played a ton of sports as a young kid. Basketball, baseball, football, swimming, snowboarding. You name it, he probably did it. But according to a story for NBC, Dalton fell in love with gymnastics at the age of six after watching the 1986 movie American Anthem.
From there, he channeled his seemingly endless supply of energy into becoming one of the greatest all-round gymnasts in the country.
But if you want to know what he has been up to more recently, just check out his YouTube page.
Dalton has been chronicling his journey to Rio in the form of short videos for more than a year, but he has ramped up his output in the past three months. From workouts and diets to Q&A's with fans, "Dalton's Ride to Rio" has been fun to watch and is all but certain to get even crazier over the next six weeks.
His Specialty
Dalton had the third-highest all-around score between the P&G Championships and U.S.Trials, so he's good enough to have his hand in quite a few cookie jars. But it's the floor exercise where Team USA most needs him to shine.
Dalton won the gold medal for floor exercise at the 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016 P&G Championships and represented Team USA in that event at the 2012 Olympics. Each of the men on the team can perform acrobatic feats that most sane people would never dream of attempting, but Dalton's ability to fly through the air without the aid of a vault or a bar is simply jaw dropping.
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