RSS FEED Olympic Champ Paul Hamm to Compete for First Time Since ’08

Olympic Champ Paul Hamm to Compete for First Time Since ’08

1.23.12

Olympic Champion Paul Hamm is back, and ready to compete for the first time since ’08.

Associated Press

2004 Athens All-Around Olympic Champion Paul Hamm plans to compete at a U.S. men’s ranking meet next month, his first competition since breaking his hand at the 2008 National Championships.

Hamm hopes to earn one of eight spots on the national team available at Winter Cup, Feb. 2 and 4 at the Sports Center in Las Vegas.  Being part of the national team would put him in the pool for international competition and also make him eligible for training funds from USA Gymnastics.

Paul Hamm, the only American man to win the Olympic and world all-around titles, missed the Beijing Olympics after breaking his hand in 2008.  He came out of retirement for a second time in the summer of 2010 but missed last year’s National Championships while he recovered from shoulder surgery. (read more)

Posted in: Gymnastics, Paul Hamm, Press |

Success, Motivation, Talent will Follow Ruggiero

12.29.11

Success, Motivation, Talent will Follow Ruggiero

EspnW -By Bonnie D. Ford

Veteran defenseman Angela Ruggiero showed up at the U.S. women’s hockey team camp in Blaine, Minn., on Wednesday without her gear — a first in her 16-year career. Instead, she carried 10 typed pages of prepared remarks. She didn’t want to wing it and risk forgetting something important.

Ruggiero was still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and wasn’t supposed to be there at all, so her teammates stared at her quizzically when she walked into the locker room. She asked them to gather and told them she was retiring, effective immediately. And then, methodical yet passionate as always, she began spelling out the lessons of a lifetime in the game.

Her teammates hugged her when she was done. She told them they would have more time to talk later. Then the players spilled out on the ice to scrimmage and Ruggiero stayed behind in her street clothes, drained and uplifted.

“Right now, I’m standing behind the glass, and I guess that’s a metaphor for how my life will be going forward,” Ruggiero said by telephone Wednesday night. “It feels right. But it’s emotional. Saying goodbye to anything you’ve done that long is hard.”

Here’s the first and, in some ways, the only thing you need to know about Ruggiero: She is smart and driven and talented enough to have done practically anything with her life, but she chose to play hockey. In so doing, she has enriched her sport and the experience of many of the women who shared the ice with her.

Ruggiero’s retirement from the national team comes as she is about to turn 32, after 256 games, four World Championships and four Olympic medals. She should be a shoo-in to join her former teammate Cammi Granato in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After 16 years, Angela Ruggiero played more games than any other Team USA player (256) and finished with 67 goals and 141 assists for 208 career points. (John David Mercer/US Presswire)”][/caption]

Even amid the scrum of well-educated, articulate women who play at the game’s top level in this country, Ruggiero stood out as one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, a go-to player for reporters who wanted big-picture analysis or an X-and-O breakdown. She was generous, humble, straightforward, steely and dependable. Add leadership ability as obvious as the flashing light behind the net, and it’s easy to understand her longevity. (read more)

Posted in: Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey, Press |

Hockey Great Angela Ruggiero Retires from Team USA

12.29.11

Hockey Great Angela Ruggiero Retires from Team USA

(read more)

Posted in: Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey, Press |

OSU Alum Conquors Gym, Tanning

12.6.11

Brandon Wynn, fresh off of a gold medal win on the still rings at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, spends a few extra days relaxing and enjoying the weather after the Games.

UWeekly

A picture that OSU alum and champion gymnast Brandon Wynn posted of himself on Twitter couldn’t be more appropriate: he is wearing a T-shirt bearing the graphic of a license plate that reads ‘GR8 TAN.’  Fresh off of a gold medal win on the still rings at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he spent a few extra days relaxing and enjoying the weather, Wynn needn’t worry that the quality of his tan will falter, as he has just become one of three new “Tan-bassadors” for tanning salon franchise Hollywood Tans.

“While many in the indoor tanning industry have flocked to reality TV stars for endorsements, Hollywood Tans’ approach is based on real people who are relatable and motivational,” said Lewis Shender, CEO of Hollywood Tans Group in a recent press release.

“A wide-range of people tan at Hollywood Tans for a variety of reasons,” said Shender, “and our new Tan-bassadors exemplify that diversity and individuality.”

Wynn, an OSU alum who will graduate with a degree in finance, has been playfully and respectfully dubbed, “Lord of the Rings” for his accomplishments as a gymnast; he has won two consecutive NCAA still rings titles, the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Championship crown for the same event and he represented the U.S. at the 2010 World Championship in the Netherlands. He is a prominent enough athlete that discussions of his abilities command their own sections on websites dedicated to gymnastics coaching and fandom.

[caption id="attachment_2945" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Brandon Wynn trains on the parallel bars at his home gym in Columbus, OH."][/caption]

One of Wynn’s proudest accomplishments is winning the Gold Medal at the 2011 Pan-American Games.  His gymnastics career started at age seven and has awarded him not just success at OSU and with Hollywood Tans: he is currently training to be a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, which requires hitting the gym twice a day, six days a week alongside the numerous practices in preparation for the tryouts in June. (read more)

Posted in: Brandon Wynn, Gymnastics, Press |

Brandon Wynn Claims Gold Medal at Pan American Games

10.27.11

(L-R) Silver medal winner Arthur Zanetti of Brazil, gold medal winner Brandon Wynn (C) of the United States and bronze medal winner Christopher Maestas (R) of the United States pose with medals after the Men's Artistic Gymnastics Rings Finals at the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)

Former Buckeye All-American Brandon Wynn claims gold medal on rings at elite international event

Brandon Wynn, a former All-American (2008-11) on the Ohio State men’s gymnastics team, claimed the gold medal on rings Thursday in the individual finals at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The United States captain and two-time defending national champion stuck his landing to help claim a 15.625 – 0.25 better than the second-place score by Arthur Zanetti of Brazil. U.S. teammate Christopher Maestas notched 15.550 for the bronze medal.

“It really feels good to win,” Wynn said. “I knew coming into this meet and trying to defeat the new world silver medalist as of two week ago would be very hard. But I relaxed and went all in.”

Wynn’s gold medal marked the first top honor for the United States squad at the elite international event. (read more)

Posted in: Brandon Wynn, Gymnastics, Press |