Competition for the men’s individual and team all-around gymnastics medals begins day one of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, with the finals coming on August 8th and 10th, respectively.
After finishing fifth in the 2012 Summer Olympics, the U.S. men’s Olympic team is back and ready to put up a fight in Rio. The New York Times praised the 2016 Olympic roster and said it was “so good… it could be the first United States men’s team to win gold since the 1984 Los Angeles Games."
Three of the five contestants from Team USA competed in London—Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton, and Danell Leyva—and the two others, Chris Brooks and Alex Naddour, are seasoned athletes, both Olympic alternatives back in 2012.
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Mikulak was the first man in history to win the NCAA all-around title as a freshman and is the most decorated gymnast on the men’s national team, with four consecutive all-around titles at the P&G Gymnastics Championships. In Rio, he will face six-time all-around champion and reigning Olympic champion, Japan’s Kohei Uchimura.
Danell Leyva is also a favorite to medal in Rio, having won the U.S. men’s only Olympic medal in 2012. After faltering on the pommel horse, Leyva came back with the night’s highest scores on the horizontal and parallel bars to claim the bronze medal.
Alex Naddour will likely be an enormous asset to the American team as a four-time national champion on the pommel horse, an event where the U.S. men are typically weak. Chris Brooks, recognized for his consistency in the Olympic selection events in June, will likely be another key player; a gymnastics veteran at 29, he will also be making his Olympic debut in Rio alongside Naddour.
With the help of Naddour and Brooks, this year the U.S. Gymnastics team is ready to leave it all on the mat in Rio.
Yet some big questions remain:
Will Brooks shine in his Olympic debut? Will Naddour maintain his consistent performance and carry the U.S. team with his stellar pommel horse performance? Can Mikulak beat Uchimura?
Watch to find out.
How to Live Stream the USA Men’s Gymnastics Competition:
NBCUniversal’s networks and digital platforms will be showing nearly 7,000 hours of programing over 19 days during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app will also live stream coverage of the Games for pay TV subscribers via TV Everywhere. You can download the NBC Sports app to your Android TV, Apple TV, Xbox or Roku or use the iOS, Android or Windows Phone apps.
