Former Oklahoma gymnast Horton could pick up another medal tonight

By Jenni Carlson

Published: August 13, 2008

Jonathan Horton might have to make room in his luggage for some extra baggage.

The former Oklahoma gymnast wasn't expected to bring home any medals from the Olympics, but with one already in hand, another isn't out of the question.

Horton competes tonight in the men's all-around competition starting at 9 p.m. Oklahoma time. He isn't the favorite. He isn't even expected to medal.

Then again, the same was said about the Americans before the team finals.

Led by the feisty Horton, the Americans won bronze. "If Jon can duplicate what he did for the team," his coach Mark Williams said via e-mail of Horton's performance in the team finals, "he clearly has a chance to medal."

Horton turned in the best performance of his career, hitting big routines and sticking dramatic dismounts. He fist-pumped, high-fived and pep-talked his way through the competition.

Who knows how that might carry over to the all-around? At the very least, Horton is sure to be a factor. Add the best score that each all-around gymnast received in the team competition on each apparatus, and Horton ranks fourth.

The men who likely stand between Horton and a medal: Yang Wei of China, Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany.

"Yang Wei is the favorite," Williams said.

Wei is the defending world champion in the all-around having won the event at each of the last two world championships. Having led China to the gold in the team competition earlier this week, he is currently the best gymnast in the world.

The one thing he hasn't done is win an Olympic gold in the all-around.

Wei won silver at the 2000 Olympics and was favored to win gold in 2004. He was in position to do just that in Athens when he fell off the high bar.

That set in motion a dramatic course of events that ended with a scoring controversy and a disputed champion.

Now, Wei has a chance to win all-around gold on home soil.

"He has a huge rings score and vault," Williams said. "He is also pretty good on pommel horse."

Like Wei, Tomita is a former all-around world champion. He won the crown three years ago.

"He doesn't have a weak event," Williams said.

For Horton, the one event that could determine his all-around fate is pommel horse. It is his weakest event, the only one on which he didn't compete for Team USA during the team finals.

Hitting a big score isn't the key.

Doing a clean routine and avoiding disaster is.

There's reason to believe Horton will do just that. With the exception of Wei, no gymnast performed better during the team finals. He was as consistent as he was excellent.

He showed the world what he can do, and that includes the judges.

"Perceptions often have an impact on scoring in gymnastics," Williams said. "Jon's performance in team finals should have notified the judges that he is one of the top all-arounders in the world."

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