Men’s gymnastics trials, Rotation 1: Who’s up, who’s down?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

PHILADELPHIA -- The men came out to, of course, the music from ‘Rocky,’ which has become Philly’s theme song ever since Rocky Balboa ran up the steps of the art museum and became everyone’s favorite underdog.

WHO’S UP: David Durante, the 2007 U.S. all-around champion who is from nearby Garwood, N.J., completed a powerful parallel bars routine with pointed toes and barely a shake in his strength moves and stuck a motionless landing. He gave an enthusiastic fist pump and raised one finger. His score of 15.500 brought another fist pump from Durante. That was the best score of the round.

WHO’S DOWN: Morgan Hamm, who won the floor exercise at nationals, fell to his knee on his final tumbling pass and limped off the mat. Hamm is still trying to round into top shape after having surgery on his pectoral muscle in January. Hamm had completed his signature ‘air flare’ breakdancing move to big applause but his bad final landing earned him a low score of 14.750. At nationals, Hamm had scored 15.750 and 15.600 on the two nights.

-- Diane Pucin