U.S. women gymnasts are ready for world spotlight

Despite great expectations in Beijing, ‘we can’t think of it in the big picture’

TODAY

Having the unusual status of front-runners doesn’t faze the mainly teenage team of U.S. women gymnasts. The six young ladies going for the gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics say they are treating their moment on the world stage as just another day at the office.

“We can’t think of it in the big picture — we just have to think of it as [if] we’re going to the gym and doing our job, which we’ve all been doing for years now,” team member Alicia Sacramone told Meredith Vieira on TODAY live from Beijing. “We’ve all just got to stay calm, and if we do that, we can do great things.”

The most-watched squad at the Olympics comes into the competition as a favorite after capturing the gold at the 2007 World Championships. Still, it’s a heady experience for the athletes — each is making her maiden Olympics appearance.

More

today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26069656#26069656

Women’s gymnastics promises epic battle

By David Woods

BEIJING — This women’s gymnastics contest is a clash of superpowers not seen since the demise of the Soviet Union.

In this corner, the United States, leader of the Western world and usually of the medals table. In the other corner, China, whose economy is growing to become equal to its 1.3 billion population and 3.7 million square miles.

Yet USA vs. China is hardly a conventional rivalry. Mostly, each nation wins medals in sports that the other doesn’t.

An exception is women’s gymnastics, in which the United States beat defending champion China at last year’s World Championships. Yet don’t expect any off-the-mat spats involving the Chinese during Sunday’s team qualification at the Olympic Games.

“They’ve always been a pretty respectful team. No one’s punched anyone out. Nothing violent,” McCordsville, Ind., gymnast Samantha Peszek said jokingly

More