Texas Gymnasts to Compete in Japan Cup

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2009 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (July 3, 2009) Houston's Jonathan Horton and Flower Mount's Steven Legendre have been named to the USA Gymnastics squad that will compete in the 2009 Japan Cup.

The Japan Cup will be held July 18-19 at the Makuhari Event Hall in Chiba, Japan. Jonathan Horton was a 2008 Olympic silver-medalist and Legendre was the 2008 NCAA all-around, vault and floor exercise champion.

Horton and Legendre will to joined on the team by Kyle Bunthuwong (U.S. junior parallel bars champion), Danell Leyva (gold medalist on the parallel bars at 2009 Winter Cup and the high bar at the 2008 PAGU Individual Event Championships), Tim McNeill (2009 Winter Cup horizontal bar champ) and Sho Nakamori (2009 NCAA team champion).

Horton was also a member of the USA’s Olympic bronze-medal team and won the weighted all-around at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

The team competition will take place July 18 with the all-around competition on July 19. The all-around will feature 12 gymnasts, with a maximum of two per country.

In the team competition, three gymnasts compete on each apparatus and all three scores count toward the team score.