POSTED: Thursday March 3rd 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NBC SPORTS AND UNIVERSAL SPORTS PRESENT FOUR HOURS OF LIVE COVERAGE OF THE AT&T AMERICAN CUP GYMNASTICS THIS SATURDAY

Universal Sports to Air Exclusive Live Broadcast of Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup on Friday

New York and Los Angeles—March 3, 2011—NBC Sports and Universal Sports will combine to provide four hours of live coverage from the 2011 AT&T American Cup gymnastics competition this Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. ET on Universal Sports and continuing live on NBC at 1 p.m. ET. NBC’s Olympic gymnastics broadcast team of Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett, Elfi Schlegel, and Andrea Joyce will call the event for both NBC and Universal Sports from the Veterans’ Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 2011 AT&T American Cup features an all-around format, with the men competing 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 will win the coveted AT&T American Cup title. The field of gymnasts include 10 World medalists and seven 2008 Olympians. Highlighting this year’s AT&T American Cup will be U.S. gymnast Jonathan Horton, as he battles 2010 World all-around silver medalist Phillipp Boy of Germany on the men’s side. On the women’s side, Jordyn Wieber of the U.S., the 2009 American Cup Champion, will take on reigning World all-around champion Aliya Mustafina of Russia, giving viewers an early look at the possible showdown at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

1996 U.S. WOMENS GOLD MEDAL TEAM HONORED: Universal Sports’ coverage of the American Cup will feature a live broadcast of the 15th anniversary celebration of the 1996 U.S. Women's Olympic Team's winning the Olympic team gold medal. Shannon Miller, Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps and Kerri Strug will all be in attendance to celebrate their achievement. Dominique Dawes will be the only team member not there. 1996 marked the first time that the U.S. Women's Team won the Olympic team gold medal.

NASTIA LUIKIN SUPERGIRL CUP: Universal Sports will also deliver the exclusive live broadcast of the 2011 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, also from Jacksonville. Coverage for the Supergirl Cup begins this Friday at 7 p.m. ET on Universal Sports. The network’s digital platform, universalsports.com, will live stream both events and offer full competition highlights, replays, photos, news and blogs.

“It’s amazing that we are ready to celebrate the second year of this great event,” said Olympic Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin. “From what I am hearing, the competition at the qualifying events has been better than ever, and I look forward to meeting and watching all the girls compete in Jacksonville. I’m also very honored that for the second straight year, it will be broadcast live on Universal Sports.”

The second annual Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup celebrates youth gymnastics by giving up-and-coming junior gymnasts the chance to qualify for one of the event’s 36 spots through a series of designated invitationals. It is a unique competitive opportunity for the younger generation of top gymnasts to compete in a nationally televised event, the night before the prestigious AT&T American Cup. Liukin created the event with the intent that these young athletes will learn the importance of commitment, dedication, sportsmanship and goals in their lives.

2011 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup Broadcast/Web Schedule

All times ET and LIVE

Date Competition Time Network

March 4 Supergirl Cup 7 p.m. Universal Sports and universalsports.com

2011 AT &T American Cup Broadcast/Web Schedule

Date Competition Time Network

March 5 AT&T American Cup 11 a.m. Universal Sports and universalsports.com

March 5 AT&T American Cup 1 p.m. NBC Sports and universalsports.com

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, LP, is the premier multi-platform media destination for Olympic-related sports programming in the United States. Universal Sports is available in 52 markets nationwide, including all of the nation’s top 10 media markets and 20 of the top 25. Major world championship sports events aired on Universal Sports include track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons, figure skating, cycling and rugby. The network’s website, UniversalSports.com, delivers an immersive user experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through interviews and blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year-round. For more information, please visit UniversalSports.com.

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Keywords · NBC Sports · Universal Sports · Gymnastics · American Cup

Name: Adam M Freifeld
Organization: NBC Universal
Email:
Phone: 212-664-6772
URL: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/

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