POSTED: Wednesday February 18th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESTIGIOUS TYSON AMERICAN CUP GYMNASTICS SEEN IN ITS ENTIRETY ON NBC AND UNIVERSAL

“For Jordyn Wieber, the Tyson American Cup is a chance for her to make a name for herself.” – NBC’s Schlegel

       NEW YORK – Feb. 18, 2009 – NBC Sports and Universal Sports combine to provide three and a half hours of live competition from the 2009 Tyson American Cup gymnastics competition this Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Featured U.S. gymnasts include 2008 Olympic medalists Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind., and Joseph Hagerty of Rio Rancho, N.M., 2008 U.S. all-around champion David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill., and 2008 junior all-around champion Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich., representing the United States.

NBC\‘s gymnastics broadcast team of Paul Sunderland(host), Tim Daggett (analyst), Elfi Schlegel (analyst) and Andrea Joyce (reporter) provide the commentary from Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Live coverage of the 2009 Tyson American Cup starts Saturday on Universal Sports (2:30-4 p.m. ET), and continues on NBC from 4-6 p.m. ET.  Universal Sports will also air an encore presentation of the NBC Sports broadcast on Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 7-9 p.m. ET.

SCHLEGEL ON THIS YEAR\‘S TYSON AMERICAN CUP: \“This year\‘s Tyson American Cup is a glimpse into the next four years, specifically from the Americans. It\‘s such an exciting time for the American team because they have been so successful over the past couple of years with the sport, and specifically the last Olympic Games. They\‘re riding such a great wave of success especially on the women\‘s side. For any youngster, like thirteen year-old Jordyn Weiber, the Tyson American Cup is a chance for her to make a name for herself.\”

SCHLEGEL ON 13-YEAR-OLD JORDYN WIEBER: \“There have been so many in her position like Kim Zmeskal, Nastia Liukin and even Shawn Johnson. You know you\‘ve made it when you get selected to compete at the Tyson American Cup. For Jordyn it\‘s \‘go for it, make a name.\’ It\‘s so exciting for her to be able to plant a seed into the American people to say \‘I\‘m someone you need to watch for the next four years.\”

Other 2008 Olympic medalists expected to compete include Olympic all-around bronze-medalist Benoit Caranobe of France and Olympic horizontal bar bronze-medalist Fabian Hambuechen of Germany. Also scheduled are: men – Japan\‘s Koji Uematsu, Puerto Rico\‘s Luis Rivera Rivera, Romania\‘s Adrian Bucur and Russia\‘s Yury Ryazanov; and women – Canada\‘s Brittany Rogers, France\‘s Youna Dufournet, Germany\‘s Kim Bui, Great Britain\‘s Rebecca Downie, Japan\‘s Koko Tsurumi, Romania\‘s Amelia Racea, Russia\‘s Kristina Goryunova and Venezuela\‘s Jessica Lopez. In all, ten 2008 Olympians, including five all-around finalists in Beijing, will compete in the 2009 Tyson American Cup.

The 2009 Tyson American Cup on Feb. 21 features an all-around format, which means the men compete on all six apparatus and the women on all four.  The male and female gymnasts with the highest score at the end of the competition win the coveted Tyson American Cup title.


       Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.

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Keywords · 2009 Tyson American Cup · gymnastics · NBC

Name: Adam Freifeld
Organization: NBC
Email:
Phone: +1.212-664-6772

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