There's more than one Olympic favorite heading to the American Cup in Madison Square Garden on March 3. Here are the lineups, released today by USA Gymnastics:
Women
- USA: Aly Raisman
- USA: Jordyn Wieber
- Australia: Georgia Simpson
- Germany: Lisa Hill
- Germany: Nadine Jarosch
- Great Britain: Rebecca Tunney
- Romania: Diana Chelaru
- Romania: Larisa Iordache
Men
- USA: Danell Leyva
- USA: John Orozco
- France: Cyril Tommasone
- Germany: Philipp Boy
- Germany: Marcel Nguyen
- Great Britain: Daniel Purvis
- Ukraine: Mykola Kuksenkov
- One athlete to be named due to last minute injury withdrawal
Romania, now without star Ana Porgras, is making a gutsy move by sending Larisa Iordache to face World champion Jordyn Wieber on her turf in Madison Square Garden. The Americans were confident Wieber could knock off reigning World champion Aliya Mustafina in 2011 (and they were right). Looks like Romania would like to do the same.
It's also a statement that Romania isn't running and hiding following Porgras's untimely retirement. The Romanians made it clear that they didn't want Porgras gone before the Olympics ("Everyone tried to talk her into staying," Sandra Izbasa said in a recent interview.) Should Iordache win, it would it would fuel her bid for gold in London. -- just like Nadia, who stormed the inaugural American Cup in 1976 en route to that golden, history-making performance in Montreal.
American Cup lineups are based on invitation, and invitations are issued to the top eight in the world first, then to ninth, 10th, 11th place and so on as top eight gymnasts decline. Given who is going to compete, it's clear that a few countries accepted the invite, but are at liberty to send the gymnast they choose (which is why Georgia Simpson and Lisa Katharina Hill, neither of whom competed in the all-around at the 2011 Worlds, are going. The invitations would have gone to Aussie Lauren Mitchell and Germany's Elisabeth Seitz, respectively.)
Also notable is the inclusion of young Rebecca Tunney of Great Britain, who made her debut at the Olympic Test Event. This first-year senior seems like an outside shot for this year's Olympic team, but the fact that the American Cup will be her second major event in three months indicates that the British feel very strongly about her potential for the future. The same might be said for Australia's Simpson.
With the exception of Wieber, Raisman and Iordache, this feels like a slightly conservative women's lineup. Countries like Germany and Australia feel it's beneficial to send a gymnast to this meet for the experience, but maybe someone a bit younger, not their top competitior.
Not so for the men -- this meet is simply a match of the best against the best. Six of the top nine from the Tokyo Worlds will participate, the notable absence being Japanese stars Koji Yamamuro and World champion Kohei Uchimura. It's a chance for Danell Leyva to gain momentum for his Olympic all-around bid, for John Orozco to solidify his standing as one of the best in the U.S., for Germans Philipp Boy and Marcel Nguyen to demonstrate some consistency, for Mykola Kuksenkov to win first place in a big international meet. Kuksenkov was second at the 2011 American Cup.
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