U.S. alternates have credentials to compete with best in world
ST. LOUIS — Better than any others, Chris Brooks and Alex Naddour can understand the frustration of serving as Olympic alternates. But with both making the U.S. team for Rio four years after they were alternates in London, they’re reassured by the depth of the gymnasts who will be there to fill in should anyone on the five-man team be unable to compete.
In Danell Leyva, they have the all-around bronze medalist from London. And in Donnell Whittenburg, they have a medalist from the most recent world championships. Add Akash Modi, a Stanford senior who finished sixth overall in the four rounds of U.S. championships and Olympic trials that determined the team, and the members of the U.S. team selected here Saturday feel confident.
“Two world medalists in our three alternates, I feel that speaks for itself,” said Brooks. “That’s how deep we are and that’s how great this team can be. Thankful that those guys have my back.”
It was Leyva who was most notably not on the team, which includes 2012 Olympians Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton and John Orozco.
In addition to the all-around bronze he won in London, Leyva has five medals from world championships, three from this quadrennium alone.
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But he struggled at nationals, missing weeks of training in the lead-up after he was bitten by his dogs breaking up a fight.
“I was very happy with the way that I performed. I’m very happy with how my routines went,” Leyva said on Sunday. “But we know that it wasn’t perfect and we know there were some places to improve on. It definitely went as planned as far as the routines.”
Leyva said he felt he had made his case to the selection committee, which picked all five team members after no one made the team on the subjective criteria. Like Whittenburg, though, Leyva was clearly disappointed.
For Whittenburg, the bronze medalist on vault at last year’s world championships, the decision came after he finished fourth overall. But he was inconsistent in trying to qualify for his first Olympic team, and he wasn’t as strong on his strongest events – vault, still rings and parallel bars – as some of the other gymnasts.
“That’s definitely one area I wanted to work on,” Whittenburg said, “but stuff happens in gymnastics so you just have to learn how to keep that on the back burner and focus on what’s ahead of you, so that’s what I’m gonna do now.”
Unlike his more experienced teammates, Modi was thrilled to make it as an alternate. The two-time NCAA champion has been preparing for trials since taking silver in the NCAA all-around this spring.
He finished sixth overall here, and could provide support on pommel horse and parallel bars should the Americans need a replacement.
“As much as I wanted to be on that team, I kind of knew that I wasn’t going to be the best choice,” Modi said. “I definitely still knew I was still in contention for the alternate spot, and I think I really showed that I can fill in just about any event, in any routine I’ll put everything I have out there.”
After the competition Saturday, Raj Bhavsar approached Whittenburg and Leyva and told them to be ready to be called upon. Like Brooks and Naddour, few know better how important the alternate role is. Bhavsar and fellow alternate Sasha Artemev both wound up competing at the Beijing Olympics after Paul and Morgan Hamm were injured.
That 2008 team wound up with a bronze medal.
And this group saw Brooks replace Mikulak after he partially tore an Achilles going into last year’s worlds.
“To have those guys as an alternate, it really shows that this is a ridiculously strong team. And also those guys, not just their talent,” said Naddour. “They have heart too. They’re great guys. They’re in a hard spot to be in, but I know that they’ll take it seriously and they’ll do everything they can to be ready.”