2016 Olympians, Including Final Five, Among Gymnasts Recognized at 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships

Jul. 26, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS, July 26, 2017 – The Final Five, the 2016 Olympic gold-medal winning women’s gymnastics team, is among the U.S. gymnasts who will be honored during the 2017 P&G Gymnastics Championships, Aug. 17-20 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Following the final session of women’s gymnastics at the P&G Championships on Sunday, Aug. 20, USA Gymnastics will recognize the 2016 U.S. Men’s and Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team. The P&G Championships determines the U.S. champions and the U.S. National Team for the junior and senior elite men’s and women’s gymnastics.

The members of the Final Five are Simone Biles of Spring, Texas; Gabby Douglas of Tarzana, Calif.; Laurie Hernandez of Old Bridge, N.J.; Madison Kocian of Dallas; and Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass. The members of the men’s 2016 U.S. Olympic Team are Chris Brooks of Houston; Jake Dalton of Norman, Okla.; Sam Mikulak of Newport Beach, Calif./U.S. Olympic Training Center; Danell Leyva of Miami; and Alex Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./ USA Youth Fitness. The replacement athletes will also be recognized:  women – Ashton Locklear of Hamlet, N.C./Everest Gymnastics, Mykayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz./Desert Light Gymnastics, and Ragan Smith of Lewisville, Texas/Texas Dreams; men – Akash Modi of Morganville, N.J./Stanford University, and Donnell Whittenburg of Baltimore, Md./U.S. Olympic Training Center. 2012 Olympian John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y., who withdrew from the men’s 2016 Olympic team due to injury, will also be recognized.

The 2017 USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame induction ceremony, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 19, at 11 a.m. at the Anaheim Hilton, features the 2016 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team; Miles Avery of Philadelphia, Pa., men’s Olympic coach and former Ohio State University head coach; Mihai Brestyan of Burlington, Mass., a three-time member of the Women’s Olympic team coaching staff; 2012 Olympic all-around champion and two-time Olympic team gold-medalist Gabby Douglas of Tarzana, Calif.; 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East of Nashville; 2008 Olympic team silver medalist Chellsie Memmel of Dousman, Wis.; and 2000 Olympian and 2001 World parallel bars champion Sean Townsend of Pearland, Texas.

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the United States garnered its greatest gymnastics medal haul since the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The total tally of 12 medals – four gold, six silver and two bronze – is the most earned by the USA in gymnastics in a non-boycotted Olympic Games.

The Final Five made history at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro by winning the USA’s second-straight Olympic team gold, a first for the United States and its third overall. The U.S. women posted the highest score on each of the four apparatus to secure the dominant victory, beating Russia by more than eight points. In total, the women brought home nine medals (four gold, four silver and one bronze), the most women’s gymnastics Olympic medals won by a single country since the Soviet Union claimed 10 medals at the 1972 Olympics. 

Leyva captured silver on the parallel bars and horizontal bar, with Naddour bringing home the pommel horse bronze. 

P&G Gymnastics Championships

The competition schedule is:

• Thursday, Aug. 17: Men’s gymnastics, Day One – 1 p.m., juniors, and 7 p.m., seniors
• Friday, Aug. 18: Women’s gymnastics, Day One – 1 p.m., juniors, and 7:30 p.m., seniors
• Saturday, Aug. 19: Men’s gymnastics, Finals – 12 p.m., juniors, and 5 p.m., seniors
• Sunday, Aug. 20: Women’s gymnastics, Finals – 11 a.m., juniors, and 3:30 p.m., seniors

Single-session tickets range in price from $20 to $122 per ticket. In addition to single-session tickets, multi-session ticket packages are also available and listed below (prices listed are per person per ticket package).

• Women’s Gymnastics Day One: both junior and senior sessions on Aug. 18, $85-$150.
• Women’s Gymnastics Final Day: both junior and senior sessions on Aug. 20, $99-$165.
• Men’s Gymnastics Package: all men’s junior and senior sessions, Aug. 17 and 19, $85-$130.
• Senior Finals Package: senior men’s and senior women’s sessions on Aug. 19-20, $95-$140.
• All-Session Ticket Package: all competitive sessions, $159-$699. Platinum packages include VIP seating in the first five rows, an Olympian meet-and-greet, and a USA Gymnastics gift.

Tickets may be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000. For group sales, contact Honda Center at 714-940-2859 or via email at groupsales@hondacenter.com.

The P&G Championships field will feature the country’s top gymnasts, and the championships also traditionally serves as part of the selection process for the World Championships.

In addition to several post-Olympic gymnastics tour events, Honda Center also has played host to the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships and the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics. Honda Center and Visit Anaheim are working with USA Gymnastics to stage the championships.

Four-time Olympic gold-medalist Biles and two-time Olympian Mikulak won their fourth consecutive women’s and men’s U.S. all-around titles, respectively, at the 2016 P&G Championships. The roster of former U.S. all-around champions is a veritable who’s who of gymnastics, including: women – Jordyn Wieber, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Carly Patterson, Courtney Kupets, Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Kim Zmeskal and Mary Lou Retton; and men – Jonathan Horton, Paul Hamm, Blaine Wilson, John Roethlisberger, Mitch Gaylord, Peter Vidmar and Bart Conner. The U.S. Gymnastics Championships traces its history back to 1897 for the men and 1931 for the women. This is the first time the event will be held in Anaheim, Calif.

The annual USA Gymnastics National Congress and Trade Show is a three-day event open to the entire gymnastics community. Held in conjunction with the P&G Championships, the National Congress provides a unique opportunity for presentations, demonstrations and educational seminars on a variety of topics and a large exhibitor’s hall with additional business opportunities. The 2017 edition will be staged Aug. 17-19 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

 Background information

• Honda Center. Honda Center is the premier entertainment and sports venue in Southern California. Owned by the City of Anaheim and operated by Anaheim Arena Management, LLC, the arena opened in June of 1993. The National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks have called the arena home since their inaugural season in the fall of 1993. In addition to Ducks games, Honda Center hosts a variety of world class acts such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Professional Bull Riders and more. For more information, visit www.hondacenter.com.
• Visit Anaheim. Founded in 1961, Visit Anaheim is a 501 (c)(6) nonprofit destination marketing organization. Visit Anaheim’s mission is to develop, market and sell Anaheim benefiting the economic vitality of our communities. Follow Visit Anaheim on Facebook (Facebook.com/VisitAnaheim) Twitter (@Visit_Anaheim), Instagram (Instagram.com/VisitAnaheim) and LinkedIn (VisitAnaheim)
• USA Gymnastics. Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. Its disciplines include men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and Gymnastics for All (formerly known as group gymnastics). For more complete information, log on to usagym.org.