USA Gymnastics officials on Thursday announced that San Jose has been awarded the ‘16 Olympic women’s gymnastics trials, "a coup for local organizers who produced a successful event before the London Games 2 1/2 years ago," according to Elliott Almond of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The event is scheduled for July 8-10, 2016 “in conjunction with the sport's national congress and trade show at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.” Officials also announced that the '16 men's Olympic trials “will be held June 23-25 in St. Louis along with the women's P&G Championships that serves as a qualifying meet for the San Jose event.” The competitions “have been separated for the first time” since ’76. The Olympic trials “keep the Bay Area in the spotlight" as S.F. prepares a bid for the ‘24 Games if the USOC “decides to go forward.” Gymnastics, swimming and track & field trials “are the three biggest pre-Olympic events for American audiences.” They "overlap over a three-week period as interest in the Games builds" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/5).
TWO TITLE TOWNS: The AP's Will Graves noted USA Gymnastics also is “splitting the national championships.” The '16 men's championships and women's Secret Classic -- “a major pre-Olympic event” -- will be held at the XL Center in Hartford, from June 3-5 (AP, 12/4). USA Gymnastics President & CEO Steve Penny said of the men's trials, “When we left (Hartford) last time, I said, ‘We’ll look for a way to come back.’ The density of our community is so great in that northeast part of the country. We knew we would have a good following for men’s and women’s gymnastics.” He added, “The model really works for us there -- having the training facilities attached to the arena, having the (Hilton) across the street -- that works very well for us. Hartford fits that mold well.” Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau interim Dir H. Scott Phelps said that he “expects attendance to be about 30,000, with the gymnastic teams alone booking 1,425 room nights.” In Hartford, Riley & Gosselin note 24,778 "attended the four-day national championships" last year in the city (HARTFORD COURANT, 12/5).
