Blogging from Beijing: Miles Avery Sends Back News from China – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
Aug. 14, 2008
Hello everyone,
Well, it is already Thursday evening on August 14th here in Beijing and I am reeling from the last few days of excitement. It seems like only now do I have a moment to connect once again with the Buckeyes back home. So let me tell what I have experienced the last few days. I have never felt more honored to be part of an Olympic team than this one. As Paul and Morgan Hamm had to resign their positions on the Olympic team, I too asked that my position as assistant coach go to a personal coach of an athlete still on the team. That request was denied by the athletes themselves who told me both before and after the competition that they wanted me out there on the floor with them. We have talked so much about family and they told me that my role in this family has been establish beyond Paul and Morgan they wanted me with them. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve this 2008 Olympic Team as its assistant coach.
With that said, let’s start where we left off.
On Saturday, August 9, 2008, we went into our qualifying round with a team that only slightly resembled the team we picked two months ago at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philly (my hometown). It was because of the withdrawals of both Ohio State graduates Paul and Morgan Hamm that the experts were saying this U.S. team would not even make the Top 8 at the Olympics. No matter what people were saying, the U.S. team believed in itself and did great job. We were in the dreaded first subdivision and had to suffer through excruciating low scores to advance to the medal rounds. (For whatever reason, judges’ scores tend to escalate as the day goes on.) We went on to qualify to the finals as the sixth-place team, knowing full well we deserved to be higher.
Monday, August 11, 2008
It is the team finals the medal round so we have to be good this day. We enter the arena and believe if we do what we are capable of, we will be on the medal podium. Although we get an unusually low score from the judges for Kevin Tan pm ring, our first event goes very well with Raj Bhavsar (a Buckeye from 2000-03) leading off for the USA. Our second event is vaulting and we do better than even we could dream. Raj and Justin Spring almost stick their landings and Jon Horton stuck his double front! On to parallel bars and Raj, Justin and Jon again hit all of their routines.
Team USA is off to an amazing start. We move on to high bar and just when we think things can’t get any better for us, the guys just do an awesome job ending with both Jon and Justin sticking their crazy hard dismounts. Even the Chinese people join in on chants of U-S-A, U-S-A heard throughout National Indoor Stadium. Only Olympic champions China could beat our score on high bar.
We move on to floor and have a couple of little bobbles but just keep on rolling through this competition. We finally come to our last event pommel horse the event the experts had said was the reason we would not even make it to the medal round. We all knew we were going to have to do a good job. Entering into the event, we knew the bronze medal was in our control and we just had to fight off the Russians and the Germans for it.
Kevin Tan struggles as he goes first but Raj does better and rights the ship for us. Now we have to go and get the bronze with our pommel horse ace. Sasha Artemev is a world-class gymnast who was left off of this team originally because of his spotty performances through the U.S. Trials process. But we had all our belief in him that he would close the door to anyone else that wanted our bronze medal and he did!
Against all odds, the team from the USA took home the bronze medal. Go USA!!!
We do tons of media events even The Today Show. It feels great to take home a medal, knowing everything this team has gone through. A reception is held in the team’s honor at the USA house and the team is greeted by family, friends, IOC members and other USA Olympians. My longtime friend, Mary Lou Retton, is one of the excited greeters for the team.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Most of the guys and the coaches get a well-deserved day off and go to the Great Wall and then out to dinner. However, there is more work to be done for Jon and Sasha who have qualified for the all-around finals on Thursday. So myself, acting as Sasha’s personal coach, Sasha, Jon and his personal coach Mark Williams have a day of training planned instead of sightseeing.
Today, August 14, 2008. The guys show up at the all-around finals looking to hit more routines and represent the USA to the best of their ability. Both Jon and Sasha once again do an incredible job and finish ninth and 12th, respectively, in the all-around. There is still more work to be done at these Olympics as Sasha tries to win an individual medal on the pommel horse (Aug. 17) and Jon tries to do the same on high bar (Aug. 19).
GO USA!!!
Miles
One-on-One with Miles Avery
OhioStateBuckeyes.com: What was it like to not only see Raj Bhavsar finally achieve his dream of competing in the Olympics but also to see him turn in two great performances?
Miles Avery: I could not have been more proud of Raj. As a former coach and as a USA Team coach on the floor, it was great to see Raj be an Olympian. It was inspiring to see him take full advantage of his opportunity to be the best Olympian that he could be. He attacked the apparatus with the same aggressiveness I remembered him having as a Buckeye gymnast.
OhioStateBuckeyes.com: Who on this Olympic Team took on a leadership role?
Miles Avery: The Olympic Team is made up of special individuals as it is and all of these guys are great gymnasts and leaders but Kevin Tan, Jon Horton and Raj certainly were the leaders among leaders. It was no surprise to me that Raj is one of the team’s leaders as he was a two-time captain for the Buckeyes. I saw leadership in him even as a freshman.
OhioStateBuckeyes.com: With half of the team coming from Big Ten gymnastics programs, how does this gymnastics team reflect upon college gymnastics?
Miles Avery: With half of the Olympic team coming from Big Ten schools it lets everyone know just how incredible Big Ten gymnastics really is. People should come out to watch next season to get a preview of the Olympic team for 2012 already. Also, if you add in another NCAA athlete, Jon Horton from Oklahoma, to the three Big Ten gymnasts, the team was made up of two-thirds of NCAA athletes. I think the statement the numbers make is that NCAA gymnastics is the way to the Olympics and just like with the Big Ten, amazing gymnastics awaits anyone who wants to see.
OhioStateBuckeyes.com: In general, what has your experience been like in Beijing?
Miles Avery: My overall experience at the 2008 Olympics has been great. China has done a remarkable job with what would seem everything, but especially the venues and the village. My incredible experience has only been heightened now that we took a team that was not supposed to make the Top 8 to the medal podium, earning a bronze.
August 8, 2008
Hello again,
Wow! What a difference a few days makes. Yesterday, we got up and had no idea of what was in store for our day or our Olympic Team. On Wednesday we went to our podium training and did okay. We struggled on floor getting used to the podium but by the end of the workout everyone had it all figured out. Thursday, we went to training and now we have to decide if Morgan’s ankle is going to let him compete or not. It is so heart wrenching to watch him be in so much pain and I realize that it is not going to happen at this Olympics.
Team USA was completely behind Morgan decision to withdrawal, so much so they all go to the press conference to support him with this very difficult decision to give up his spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. We had several team meetings for everyone to give their opinion and it was decided that Sasha Artemev will replace Morgan. Our mantra has been “One Team, One Dream” and we have spoken quite a lot about needing all six Olympians and the three replacement athletes to be ready. We have already used two of our replacement athletes so never have we been so right about our team then now.
We are so ready for the competition to begin and get into the realm of certainty and what we can control GYMNASTICS!! August 9 can’t come too fast. Today the team will relax back at the Olympic Village and prepare to be amazed by the opening ceremony. We will go to sleep tonight with dreams of hitting lots of routines and qualifying to the medal round.
Wish us luck.
GO USA!
Miles
August 5, 2008
Hey Everybody,
Just checking in to let the Buckeye and USA faithful know how it is going over in Beijing. Today, August 5, was a very busy day.
I got up around 7 a.m. to eat breakfast and went to the silk street market because a couple of coaches wanted to get tailor-made suits before our first training session at 10 a.m. Today we started by just having the guys move around and stretch out in the morning as our main training would be later in the day. Afterwards, we had a coaches meeting to go over the goals we needed to accomplish in our second training sessions.
Our second training would be held in our competition warm-up hall so this was an important training session. The athletes and the staff really had the chance to get accustomed to this venue at our 3 p.m. training session. I thought the guys looked good and ready for the most important training session, called podium training, which is tomorrow.
For people back at home in the U.S., the men’s gymnastics podium training will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com at midnight August 5. (Click here for more information)
We also had an opportunity to see the competition gym at the National Indoor Stadium (NIS) and it was unbelievably beautiful. If I were allowed, I would send a picture but you will see it soon enough on NBC. For podium training, we will actually get to go into the competition venue and do our routines.
After training we arrived back at the Olympic Village for a team meeting to go over the details of the upcoming important podium training tomorrow.
Now, I am going to go eat dinner and then go to the USA flag raising ceremony in the Olympic Village. The USA flag is raised to let the world know that Team USA has officially arrived at the 2008 Olympics.
Go USA!
Miles
