Jake Dalton

Club/School: University of Oklahoma
Hometown: Sparks, Nev.
Coach: Mark Williams
Birth Date: 8/19/91 (age 18 during World Championships)

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
Making a World Championship team was one of my dreams come true. This was one of the steps toward an Olympic team, so for me, this was a big step.

What was it like to be one of the youngest on the team?
Being one of the youngest on the team was really exciting, knowing that I was one of the youngest and getting to experience everything makes me excited and motivated for the next Worlds and Olympics.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
The best part of the trip was being in the gym training not only with our U.S. team but all of the gymnasts from other countries that I watched as a kid growing up.

What was your best event and why?
My best event was vault; it was my only event. I did mess up a little, but I got the experience that I needed to motivate me.

What was it like to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships?
Competing for the U.S. is one of the best feelings you can have. Knowing you have been picked to go out and compete for team USA makes you want to do better than you ever have before.

I heard you got strep throat on the trip. Can you talk about your disappointment with being sick and not feeling 100%? How did this affect your performance?
It was very disappointing being sick when I got to London because I know being sick takes a lot out of you mentally and physically. Being there in London was one of my dreams. I wanted to compete at my best, and I did not want the sickness to stop me from performing at my best. I knew I had to deal with it and that is what I did. I had a lot of help from the doctors and tried to rest as much as I could so I would be ready.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
The next step will be a team performance at 2010 Worlds, and I am hoping for the U.S. to be on the first place stand for team awards, then having men qualify in all-around finals and individual finals and bringing more gold medals home.

What are your future goals in the sport?
My future goals in this sport are to make more World championship teams and Olympic teams and eventually get a team gold medal for the USA.

How did you keep up with school at University of Oklahoma when you were traveling?
I kept up with school work by communicating with my teachers before I left, and they helped me to get all my work and help me understand everything I needed to do before I left for the trip.

What was the food like?
The food in London was different; they don’t have a lot of sauces so if you wanted something to dip your steak or chicken in, you had to ask for it. A lot of their chicken and meats were plain and didn’t have a lot of seasoning, but they still tasted pretty good.

Who did you room with?
I roomed with Wes Haagensen from the USOTC.

Did you get to sightsee?
Yes, we did get to sightsee. We all went to one of the old castles of England, and we also got to ride on the London eye, the largest Farris wheel in the world.

What is London like?
London was a lot like the U.S. with a lot of different cultures. People from all over go there, but the roads were the most confusing to get used to, looking the right way to cross the street took a while.

Wes Haagensen

Club/School: U.S. Olympic Training Center
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Coach: Vitaly Marinitch
Birth Date: 12/21/85 (age 24 during World Championships)

This was your first experience at a World Championships, how will you use this experience to help you in the future?
Being a part of this World Championships team was one of the best experiences of my life. I was able to measure myself up against the rest of the world and see where I stand and what I need to do in order to be a contender for a medal. After reflecting back on the competition, I’ve learned that just making your routines is not enough in order to make an event final or win a medal. This is where perfection comes into play. All the little things can add up and the fundamentals become as important as ever. I was very proud to have the opportunity to compete and represent the U.S., and after competing in this World’s I’m motivated more than ever to do everything I can to make sure it’s not my last.

What are your future goals in the sport?
My goal for gymnastics is to become a U.S. Olympic Team member and help contribute to a gold medal. I believe as a country we have so much depth that we can really make a run to be the best, and I want nothing more than to be a part of it. To make this goal become reality, I plan to continue adding to my resume with as many international competitions as possible to gain as much experience as I can on the world level. I want to be on future world teams, Pan American Games team, as well as any other opportunities I can earn. I will continue to upgrade and perfect my routines to have them fully stocked and prepared for the end of the quad.

Do you take classes while at the USOTC? If so, how did you keep up with school work?
Currently I do not take any classes. I graduated in December of 2008 with a Bachelor’s in Business from the University of Illinois. I’ve looked into different graduate programs and would like to further my education with an MBA, but right now I plan to focus on gymnastics and achieving my Olympic dream.

What was the food like in London?
The food was very similar to here in the U.S., except we seem to use much more seasoning. I enjoyed the different dishes I had, and was very impressed with the desserts. They had incredible cakes, pies and chocolates.

Who did you room with?
I roomed with Jake Dalton.

Did you get to sightsee?
Yes, we were able to go on a bus tour through all of the different major tourist spots, such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and The Tower. We even saw the guards walking down the road to Buckingham palace, which was a very rare sight.

What is London like?
London seemed a lot like Manhattan. There are a lot of people, a lot of great historic sights, and hundreds of things to do. You could spend days doing different things and still not see half of it. It seemed very similar to going to Time Square with all the shops, restaurants, and attractions. The main difference was that it seemed very clean. It was a beautiful place to be, and I can’t wait to go back.

Jonathan Horton

Club/School: Cypress Academy
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Coach: Tom Meadows
Birth Date: 12/31/85 (age 23 during World Championships)

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
It is always great to make a world championships team. Just the idea of competing for the USA against the best gymnast in the world is an incredible thing. This year was especially great because I got to experience a world team with a brand new group of guys, and it was a ton of fun to get to know these guys a little better and see how they handled the competition.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
Well, it wasn't exactly my best competition this year but I usually find something great about the meet. I guess this year my favorite part of the trip was just to hang out with the guys and coaches and have a great time with everyone.

What was your best event and why?
My best routine at worlds this year was by far my parallel routine from the all-around final. I had the highest score on parallel bars that day and I was really excited to finally do the type of routine on that event that I knew I was capable of.

What was it like to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships and make all-around and high bar finals?
Anytime you have a chance to represent your country at a meet like this is a great honor. My goals this year were to medal in the all-around and on high bar, but although it didn't happen, it was still great for me to represent the country to the best of my ability. I love to compete on the international stage, and I loved the atmosphere at the arena and the people who helped out to make it a great meet.

You didn’t have your best meet but I read lots of quotes on how you will use this experience as a learning one to improve in the future. Can you talk about this?
I use every competition as a learning experience. Whether I win the meet or go down hard trying, I try to take each routine as a chance to learn a little more about myself and how I compete in different situations. I know I will be fired up next time I compete because I will be remembering how it felt when I didn't do so well at worlds. The same things happened to me in 2006 after worlds, and I was able to build off of defeat. I think using experiences like that to your advantage is a great thing to be able to do and I will only be better in the future.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
The next step for us is just to be patient. To have four guys make finals was fantastic for the U.S. team, and now we simply must be patient and continue to train hard at home and at our camps. Just as in the past we came close to winning medals at worlds and we worked hard to improve and we accomplished great things at the end of the quadrennium.

What was the food like?
The food was very similar to what we eat in the US. One thing is for certain, there is no stereotype about how much the British drink tea. It is true!

Who did you room with?
Tim McNeil. Awesome roommate. We have a lot in common.

Did you get to sightsee? What is London like?
We got to sightsee and London was a beautiful place. There is some incredible history to learn, and it was awesome to see some of the famous landmarks.

I know you are newly married. Did you wife make the trip to London to watch the competition or did she stay at home? How did you two communication while you were in London?
No, unfortunately she didn't get a chance to go. She is in medical school now, and she had to stay home and study hard for exams. While I was gone we actually got to see each other and chat a lot though. We both have Mac computers, and we used iChat so we could talk all we wanted.

Steven Legendre

Club/School: University of Oklahoma
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas
Coach: Mark Williams
Birth Date: 5/5/89 (age 20 during World Championships)

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
It was really exciting to make the World team this year, especially because it was my first one. Of course it is a great honor to be selected to represent the United States at such an important meet, which only made it more exciting.

What was it like to be one of the youngest on the team?
Being one of the younger guys on the team was cool, as I think for us it was all a huge learning experience which is always a lot of fun. The older guys really helped us out giving us advice on their previous experience.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
The best part of the trip for me was just the competition in general. The experience I gained from it is something I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else, so I am very thankful for that.

What was your best event and why?
I only competed on floor, so I would have to say that was my best event. I felt like I did a good job in prelims, and was happy to make finals. I wish finals would have gone a little better, but overall I was happy with how it all turned out.

Tell us about your floor routine in finals?
It felt great to make finals, I was happy with my performance in prelims, although I knew that in finals I would have to do better. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that, but just the experience of making finals was a success in its own, as I learned so much.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
The next step is to increase difficulty and consistency. These two elements are keys in gymnastics today, and I feel that once those who have the difficulty increase their consistency, we will come home with a good share of medals at the next World Championships.

What are your future goals in the sport?
My future goals I think are very similar to the rest of Team USA. We all want to win World and Olympic gold medals, both as individuals and as a team. I know we are all capable of it, so shooting for anything less would be selling ourselves short. As far as college gymnastics, my goal each and every year is to lead my team to an NCAA title, so that remains for my last two years.

How did you keep up with school at the University of Oklahoma when you were traveling?
Most of my classes this semester were online classes, which helped out tremendously. The professors are always good to me and willing to work with my situation. It’s difficult doing schoolwork while traveling, but I was able to get it done and stay on track.

What was the food like?
I had very mixed feelings about the food in London. Most of our meals were in the hotel, which I didn’t really enjoy, however the meals where we were able to eat out were great. I particularly enjoyed this little Italian place down the street, the pizza was similar to that good New York pizza I have missed so much the last few years.

Who did you room with?
I roomed with Danell Leyva, which was a ton of fun. We are both younger, and probably a bit more immature than the other guys. We listened to some crazy music and watched Chappelles Show a lot, which had us laughing the whole trip.

Did you get to sightsee?
Although most of the trip was gymnastics and training, after the competition was over we got to sightsee quite a bit. It was a lot of walking, but well worth it!

What is London like?
London is really an incredible city. The buildings are beautiful, there are a ton of people just like a big city should have, and there is always something to do there. It is a city with so much history behind it, and that shows when you are able to walk around and see so many incredible things.

Danell Leyva

Club/School: Universal Gymnastics
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Coach: Yin Alvarez
Birth Date: 10/30/91 (age 17 during World Championships)

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
It was an incredible feeling, like nothing I've done before, just amazing.

What was it like to be one of the youngest on the team?
It was pretty normal really, just because I've always been the "youngest in the group" ever since I started gymnastics. My dad would always make me compete in the higher level.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
Sticking my high bar dismount in finals!

What was your best event and why?
High Bar. On parallel bars I had a little bit of a rough routine; I had to fight during one part of my routine really hard and my legs split so I missed finals by 3 tenths.

What was it like to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships and make high bar finals?
It was really exhilarating. I had the biggest rush of adrenaline right before going up, and I felt pretty good.

You finished fourth on High Bar. Can you talk about being so close to a medal and what was going through your head as the rest of the competitors finished their routines?
Like anyone who wants to be someone big in his sport, I was a little upset that I didn’t get a medal, but I was also really happy about how I did my routine. I did all I could do, the rest was up to God. About watching the guys, I didn’t really see the first two guys, but I was watching the rest and just enjoying the moment. I was cheering for everyone and was probably as excited as if they were my teammates, but all in all I had a great time.

Do you have plans to change your high bar routine for the future?
Yes I do! I'm going to add the Cassina, and the Tkatchev 1/2 for Winter Cup, the start value is going to be 17.3.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
I think the next step to medal is just to keep working as hard as we all are. I really believe we can win the gold in 2012.

What are your future goals in the sport?
My goal is to place first at Winter Cup, first at Visa Championships, and of course, winning the team and all-around gold at the Olympics.

What was the food like?
Pretty much the same as the food here. I'm not too picky with what I eat.

Who did you room with?
Steven Legendre.

Did you get to sightsee?
Yes we did. It was really fun actually.

What is London like?
I liked being in London, the only thing that was weird is the driving. (They drive on the other side of the street, than we do here in the United States.)

I learned that your mom was the coach of the Columbian female gymnast – is that correct? What is it like to have both your mom and step dad in the gym coaching?
Yes, Jessica's my teammate. And I really couldn't tell you how it would be without my mom and step dad in the gym because I've never had any other coaches. I like it because we just have this chemistry and we just flow. I could never really leave them.

Tim McNeill

Club/School: UC Berkeley
Hometown: Falls Church, Virginia
Coach: Barry Weiner
Birth Date: 5/5/86 (age 23 during World Championships)

What was it like to make the World Championships team?
Making the World Championships Team was a long time dream come true. I had been on the National Team for years, and I really felt I was ready to break through even further. Making the world team was the next step I needed to take.

What was the best part of the trip for you?
The best part of the trip was warming up and competing with so many incredible gymnasts. I have looked up to a lot of those guys for years, and it was really cool to be in the mix with all of them.

What was your best event and why?
Pommel Horse was my best event. Not just because I placed highest on it, but because it is by far the hardest event to compete when the pressure is on. I’m happy I was still able to handle the pressure and hit my routine all three days of competition.

What was it like to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships and make all-around and pommel horse finals?
I came into worlds still thrilled that I was even on the team. I’ve never even come close to competing in a competition of that magnitude so I must admit I was pretty nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. But by the time the competition came around, I was calm and excited to go out and represent the U.S. to the best of my abilities. Making the all-around and pommel horse finals were added bonuses to what was already an incredible experience competing for the U.S.

You were the top all-around gymnast from the USA and sitting in medal position (third) after prelims. How did that make you feel to know you were so close to earning a medal?
Placing third after the first day of competition was one of the most exciting, motivating, shocking, and incredible things that has ever happened to me. I have had very little all-around experience over the last five years, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I came into the competition just hoping to advance to the all-around finals, so when I saw myself in third after prelims, I was thrilled. It gave me the confidence I needed to realize that I can legitimately compete with the rest of the world.

The USA men had four guys make finals at this year’s World Championships. What is the next step to earn medals?
There is no doubt that the U.S. Team has the potential to win medals on the world stage. I just think at this year’s World Championships, we as a team were a little too inexperienced. I think that we all learned something from this competition and are eager to get back and show the world that the U.S. can be a dominating force.

What was the food like?
The food was really good. The best part was the desserts! They have this thing called banoffee which is banana and toffee flavored pie, and it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

Who did you room with?
Jon Horton

Did you get to sightsee?
After the meet ended, the U.S. Team went out for a day of touring London.

What is London like?
I loved London. It was sort of like New York City except with thousand year old buildings mixed in. Hopefully I’ll be back in 2012!

What is your status with school? Did you have home work while traveling?
I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2008 with a psychology degree. Thank God I didn’t have to worry about school while I was gone. I already had enough on my mind! But, I do update my website frequently. Check it out at www.tim-mcneill.com.