There is no event in gymnastics more difficult than the pommel horse. \u00a0It\u2019s the safest event for the men \u2014 even if you fall off, it\u2019s almost impossible to hurt yourself badly. \u00a0So you might think that male gymnasts would breathe a sigh of relief when they come to this event. \u00a0But they don\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s an anxiety-filled event, because the slightest imbalance can lead to what Tim Daggett calls \u201cdisaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the high bar, it\u2019s also one of those events where you can have multiple falls. \u00a0It\u2019s all too easy to fall off, jump back up, and fall off again. \u00a0Or even if you don\u2019t fall off, sometimes if you find yourself off balance it feels impossible to regain your balance throughout the whole routine.<\/p>\n
This was a brutal event for the men\u2019s team. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to say that their chances are over already \u2014 it depends on whether other teams make lots of mistakes, and gymnasts will remember when Paul Hamm got back in the gold medal hunt when other top gymnasts made mistakes in 2004. \u00a0But it\u2019s close. \u00a0Right now they\u2019re not thinking about the gold anymore. \u00a0This had been touted as the first team that had the potential to win the gold for America since 1984 \u2014 which would have made them the first team to win the gold in a fully contested Olympic Games. \u00a0But now they\u2019ve just got to be hoping to make the medals stand.<\/p>\n
Danell Leyva had a 13.2.<\/p>\n
A 14.5 for Sam Mikulak.<\/p>\n
A 12.733 for John Orozco.<\/p>\n
Brutal.<\/p>\n
I hope the men\u2019s gymnasts show their mettle and their character by putting these things aside and performing to the best of their ability for the rest of the night. \u00a0Rig<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is no event in gymnastics more difficult than the pommel horse. \u00a0It\u2019s the safest event for the men \u2014 even if you fall off, it\u2019s almost impossible to hurt yourself badly. \u00a0So you might think that male gymnasts would breathe a sigh of relief when they come to this event. \u00a0But they don\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[913],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gymnastics-2"],"yoast_head":"\n