Rio Olympics 2016: United States of America men’s gymnastics qualifies for finals

In 2012, Danell won the bronze medal at the Olympics in the individual all-around competition, the only medal the USA men’s gymnastics team won that year.

Mikulak, a four-time national all-around champion, and Brooks will compete on all six events in hopes of qualifying to the all-around final.

By the end of Saturday afternoon, Mikulak and his US teammates could not ignore the expectations raised by a qualifying performance that only raised medal expectations, nor the fact that they find themselves on all-too-familiar Olympic ground heading into Monday’s team final.

France sits in last place, which means the team likely won’t qualify for the finals.

RIO DE JANEIRO – The American men advanced to the gymnastics team final on Monday, scoring 270.405 to rank in first with one qualifying round to go.

Leyva’s breakout moment came in 2011, when he earned the third-highest all-around score in qualification at the World Championships that year.

There are Brooks and Alex Naddour at their first Games after traveling to London in 2012 as alternates.

Captain and first-time Olympian Chris Brooks botched his vault, came off pommel horse and had a mistake on high bar.

Reigning gold medal team China would not compete until later in the night, but even so, the U.S. men’s team felt good with their accomplishments for the day. “And then I remind myself, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m here again.’ It’s even crazier”. Our consistency has been good.

“I don’t think the guys were almost as high in terms of emotional level as we were in 2012”, he said.

Of all the competitors to swim in the qualifying heats for the men’s 400 meter individual medley final only two managed to post a time below 4:10, Chase Kalisz of the United States and Daya Seito of Japan. Russian Federation was third at 269.612. Will Naddour maintain his consistent performance and carry the USA team with his stellar pommel horse performance? But that’s not a problem, said head coach Mark Williams.

“They love it”, Broz said of the motivational tool.

Rather than focusing on what those teams will do, the Americans need to focus on their own individual gymnastics, Leyva said. “If we hit 100 percent, we have enough to be in the top three”. Mikulak and Dalton will enter the floor final ranked 1-2, respectively, Alex Naddour sneaked into the pommel horse final by finishing seventh, Leyva will compete in the parallel bars final, and both Leyva and Mikulak qualified for the horizontal bar final.

Additionally, Mikulak made the event final in floor exercise and high bar.

The 24-year-old did not make the cut to be included on the five-member team, despite having won a bronze medal in the all-around competition at the 2012 Olympics – the only male American gymnast to win a medal in London. Mikulak, who scored 89.041, will be the other US all-arounder.

French gymnast Samir Ait Said suffered one of the most gruesome injuries you’ll see at an Olympics or any other competition.