By John Powers
This time it was official. When Gabby Douglas 'won' the AT&T
American Cup during the last Olympic year she was participating as an
alternate whose scores didn't count. "It just feels so good to actually
be a competitor," the London champion said Saturday afternoon after she
had outpointed teammate Maggie Nichols to win the women's title inside
Newark's Prudential Center in the season's first major international
meet. "The time before, I wasn’t, so I was so happy to be out on the
floor and my scores counted."
Douglas went wire-to-wire with a performance that indicated that she was
well along her comeback trail en route to this summer's Games in Rio de
Janeiro. "There's just something that flips and something that clicks,"
said Douglas, who won on vault, beam and bars and was second on floor
for a total of 60.165 to Nichols' 59.699. "I'm so honored to still have
that clicking mode when the cameras are on, when it counts."
Nichols, who won floor and was second in the other events, was solid and
secure in what was meant to be a showcase opportunity as an
all-arounder. "I think I gained a lot more confidence knowing that I can
hit my routines in this big of a meet," said Nichols, who was a key
contributor to last year's U.S. team victory at the World Championships.
It was the 14th consecutive time that the American women had won the
all-around title and only a slipped hand in the final rotation deprived
the U.S. of a victory in the men's competition, as well. Donnell
Whittenburg, who'd placed first on floor, rings, vault and parallel
bars, was in the lead after five rotations when he fell on horizontal
bar, allowing Japanese rival Ryohei Kato to slip past him for the crown.
"It's been a while since a Japanese has won the American Cup," observed
Kato, who was the first victor from his country since Mitsuo Tsukahara
in 1977. "So it was good to ride the momentum from Worlds last year and
to put on a good show."
While Whittenburg was disappointed by his mishap, he felt that his
overall effort was an encouraging milestone on his buildback from last
year's global meet. "I feel like it was a really good day except for the
last event," said Whittenburg, whose 88.565 score was .366 of a point
shy of Kato's. "It definitely will help me in my consistency and that's
what I've been striving for right now. Just try to hit sets as best as I
can the majority of the time."
Sam Mikulak, who won the title two years ago, had a rough outing with a
break on pommel horse and a fall on high bar, but managed to finish
fourth behind China's Sun Wei. "It's not the competition I wanted, but
maybe the competition I needed," said Mikulak, who is working his way
back from a left ankle injury. "This definitely got a fire building
inside of me. It's never fun to look up and see other people winning an
American event."
The U.S. women haven't had that experience since Russia's Elena
Zamolodchikova prevailed in 2001. With two members from last year's
global gold-medal team, the Americans were the class of the field that
included challengers from the British, Canadian, Italian, Dutch and
Brazilian World squads.
"For the beginning of the season, it is very much promising," said
national team coordinator Martha Karolyi. "They hit four routines of
four. We still have some little upgrade that we will be introducing in
our routines later in the season, but they actually competed as I
expected."
RCN America Network wants to congratulate Gabrielle Douglas on winning the AT&T American Cup.
