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Americans eager for success on foreign soil
BEIJING (Reuters) - In case the American women were not already feeling the pressure of being favorites to win the Olympic team title in gymnastics for the first time since 1996, Kerri Strug declared, "The gold is theirs to lose."
As world champions, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone and company are expected to tumble their way to the top of the podium in Beijing.
"They are phenomenal. They are doing extremely hard skill levels and they are very well prepared," Strug, a member of the Magnificent 7 team that struck gold in Atlanta, told Reuters.
"I don't want to jinx them but they are stronger than ever."
Twelve years ago the Magnificent 7 triumphed at home to give the U.S their first Olympic team title.
The class of 2008 will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Strug and her team mates by pulling off the feat on foreign soil, which the Americans have never achieved before.
To add to their concerns, their strongest challengers are likely to be the Chinese. The hosts, world champions in 2006, will be determined to make home advantage count but Sacramone said the Americans were ready to live up to their billing.
"The Chinese showed us they are going out there to win and they like a good fight," the 20-year-old told Reuters.
"We want to keep the title of being top of the world, we've been working really hard and we're going to give the Chinese a run for their money.
"We have high expectations ourselves of gold and we want nothing less."
Strug added, "The Chinese are strong technically but mentally the U.S. own the competition."
The U.S. women showed their mental strength last year in Stuttgart when they claimed four of the six golds up for grabs.
While 2004 champions Romania and former powerhouse Russia will also be hoping to dent American aspirations, Liukin felt only the Chinese could deny them the team prize.
"Being able to win the team gold (at last year's worlds) is like everyone is out to get us this year," Liukin, daughter of double Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin, told Reuters.
"The Chinese are our top competitors and it being in China it could help them tremendously or it could hurt them.
"But we're all working even harder because we know that we're the team beat."
(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)
