International Gymnast - January/February 2009

Sasha, Justin, Raj, Jonathan and
Joey out and about … Kevin must
be snapping the photo!
Texas with President Bush

lines of the Vikings-Packers game.

As far as new friends go, we all made many, but the group that truly went above and beyond to make us feel at home and kept our spirits free was the production crew. Each one of them had their own personalities, similar to the uniqueness of the ’08 men’s team, but the common ground we shared is that they were all willing to work as a team to treat every show like it was the greatest one on earth. For that I honor them.

The opportunities were endless and many times you would hear the phrase, “Dude, this is awesome!” My take is that for most of us, a second dream came true and that was a chance to live like rock stars.

As for me, I am just happy that this sport provides the opportunity to celebrate success after an Olympics. However, my dreams and visions for the sport go beyond just a tour in an Olympic year. I am hoping that the visionaries in the gymnastic community continue to see the potential that we athletes possess. Not just the potential to be great athletes, but the power to entertain. I think this sport has too much to offer in terms of entertainment value to just be limited to an Olympic year. I can’t tell you how many people told us, “That was the best show I’ve seen in a long time.” I knew they were saying this not only because they saw Shawn do a beam routine or Nastia’s grace on

floor, but because they saw talent in its raw form, and felt entertained, no matter what our names were.

The truth is that this was a very successful Olympic Games for the U.S., both men and women, and we knew it! It’s that success that finally hit us while on tour, and we wanted to make the most of it. We wanted to show the country that not only were we spectacular at the Olympics, but we were multi-talented performers who wanted to give back to our fans by performing our hearts out every night! IG