American Cup (gymnastics)

The American Cup, currently known as the AT&T American Cup through a sponsorship arrangement, is an elite senior level international gymnastics competition held in the United States, and is generally considered to be one of the first major competitions of the Gymnastics season, as it is held in March or February of each year. In 2011, it became a part of the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series. With the exception of 2005, it has been exclusively an all-around competition. Past champions have included Olympic all around champions Nadia Comăneci, Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, and Nastia Liukin. The American Cup has been controversial, with accusations of biased judging in favor of American gymnasts in the past (as well as the seemingly lopsided presence of top American women gymnasts with the rest of the foreign field not as high caliber). [1] Since becoming part of the FIG World Cup Series in 2011, the field of competitors is determined by FIG rules and is based on gymnast's placement at the previous World Championships or Olympic Games. It also features an international panel of judges.

Past women's champions

Women's Champions
Year Location Gold
1976 New York, NY  Nadia Comăneci (ROM)
1977 New York, NY  Kathy Johnson (USA)
1978 New York, NY  Natasha Tereschenko (URS)
1979 New York, NY  Stella Zakarova (URS)
1980 New York, NY  Tracee Talavera (USA)
1981 Fort Worth, TX  Julianne McNamara (USA)
1982 New York, NY  Julianne McNamara (USA)
1983 New York, NY  Mary Lou Retton (USA)
1984 New York, NY  Mary Lou Retton (USA)
1985 Indianapolis, IN  Mary Lou Retton (USA)
1986 Fairfax, VA  Kristie Phillips (USA)
1987 Fairfax, VA  Kristie Phillips (USA)
1988 Fairfax, VA  Phoebe Mills (USA)
1989 Fairfax, VA  Brandy Johnson (USA)
1990 Fairfax, VA  Kim Zmeskal (USA)
1991 Orlando, FL  Betty Okino (USA)
1992 Orlando, FL  Kim Zmeskal (USA)
1993 Orlando, FL  Shannon Miller (USA)
1994 Orlando, FL  Dominique Dawes (USA)
1995 Seattle, WA  Kristy Powell (USA)
1996 Fort Worth, TX  Kerri Strug (USA)
1997 Fort Worth, TX  Elvire Teza (FRA)
1998 Fort Worth, TX  Viktoria Karpenko (UKR)
1999 St. Petersburg, FL  Jennie Thompson (USA)
2000 Orlando, FL  Elena Produnova (RUS)
2001 Orlando, FL  Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS)
2002 Orlando, FL  Tasha Schwikert (USA)
2003 Fairfax, VA  Carly Patterson (USA)
2004 New York, NY  Carly Patterson (USA)
2005 Uniondale, NY VT: Alicia Sacramone (USA)
UB: Chellsie Memmel (USA)
BB: Zhang Nan (CHN),  Nastia Liukin (USA)
FX: Patricia Moreno (ESP)
2006 Philadelphia, PA  Nastia Liukin (USA)
2007 Jacksonville, FL  Shawn Johnson (USA)
2008 New York, NY  Nastia Liukin (USA)
2009 Chicago, Il  Jordyn Wieber (USA)
2010 Worcester, MA  Rebecca Bross (USA)
2011 Jacksonville, FL  Jordyn Wieber (USA)
2012 New York, NY  Jordyn Wieber (USA)
2013 Worcester, MA  Katelyn Ohashi (USA)
2014 Greensboro, NC  Elizabeth Price (USA)
2015 Arlington, TX  Simone Biles (USA)
2016 Newark, NJ  Gabby Douglas (USA)

Past men's champions

Men's Champions
Year Location Gold
1976 New York, NY  Bart Conner (USA)
1977 New York, NY  Mitsuo Tsukahara (JPN)
1978 New York, NY  Kurt Thomas (USA)
1979 New York, NY  Kurt Thomas (USA)
1980 New York, NY  Kurt Thomas (USA)
1981 Fort Worth, TX  Bart Conner (USA)
1982 New York, NY  Bart Conner (USA)
1983 New York, NY  Peter Vidmar (USA)
1984 New York, NY  Peter Vidmar (USA)
1985 Indianapolis, IN  Tim Daggett (USA)
1986 Fairfax, VA  Alexei Tikhonkikh (URS)
1987 Fairfax, VA  Brian Ginsberg (USA)
1988 Fairfax, VA  Marius Toba (ROM)
1989 Fairfax, VA  Vitaly Marinitch (URS)
1990 Fairfax, VA  Alexander Kolyvanov (URS)
1991 Orlando, FL  Trent Dimas (USA)
1992 Orlando, FL  Jarrod Hanks (USA)
1993 Orlando, FL  Vitaly Scherbo (BLR)
1994 Orlando, FL  Vitaly Scherbo (BLR)
1995 Seattle, WA  John Roethlisberger (USA)
1996 Fort Worth, TX  John Roethlisberger (USA)
1997 Fort Worth, TX  Blaine Wilson (USA)
1998 Fort Worth, TX  Blaine Wilson (USA)
1999 St. Petersburg, FL  Blaine Wilson (USA)
2000 Orlando, FL  Eric Lopez Rios (CUB)
2001 Orlando, FL  Blaine Wilson (USA)
2002 Orlando, FL  Eric Lopez Rios (CUB)
2003 Fairfax, VA  Blaine Wilson (USA)
2004 New York, NY  Jason Gatson (USA)
2005 Uniondale, NY VT: Jeffrey Wammes (NED)
HB: Yann Cucherat (FRA)
PB: Kazuya Ueda (JPN)
FX: Jeffrey Wammes (NED)
SR: Yuri Van Gelder (NED)
PH: Alexander Artemev (USA)
2006 Philadelphia, PA  Jonathan Horton (USA)
2007 Jacksonville, FL  Jonathan Horton (USA)
2008 New York, NY  Paul Hamm (USA)
2009 Chicago, Il  Fabian Hambuechen (GER)
2010 Worcester, MA  Maxim Devyatovskiy (RUS)
2011 Jacksonville, FL  Jonathan Horton (USA)
2012 New York, NY  Danell Leyva (USA)
2013 Worcester, MA  Jake Dalton (USA)
2014 Greensboro, NC  Sam Mikulak (USA)
2015 Arlington, TX  Oleh Vernyayev (UKR)
2016 Newark, NJ  Ryohei Kato (JPN)

Sponsorships

In recent years the USA Gymnastics National Championships has been sponsored by various companies, and the event is typically named for the sponsoring company. Below is a list of past and present sponsors of the event, as well as the official name of the event during the period of sponsorship

Year Sponsor Event Name
1978-1979 Dial Dial American Cup
1982-1996 McDonald's McDonald's American Cup
1997-2004 VISA VISA American Cup
2005 T.J. Maxx American Cup
2006-2010 Tyson Foods Tyson American Cup
2011-Present AT&T AT&T American Cup

Nastia Liukin Cup

Main article: Nastia Liukin Cup

Since 2010, the American Cup weekend has also seen the inclusion of a new event open exclusively to Level 10 J.O. female athletes, the Nastia Liukin Cup, named after Nastia Liukin.

See also

References

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