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BEIJING Wearing an Olympic medal, Justin Spring couldn't bite his tongue.
“Why did everyone else count us out?” Spring said Tuesday hours after the United States showed Paul and Morgan Hamm were replaceable by winning a bronze in the men's gymnastics team final at the Beijing Games.
Few thought the Americans had much of a chance. Paul's withdrawal because of a broken right hand and Morgan's departure because of a left ankle injury gave them no gymnasts with Olympic experience.
Remember that powerhouse China, behind two-time defending all-around world champion Yang Wei, stood in the way, along with 2004 Olympic team champion Japan and formidable squads in Germany, South Korea, Spain and Russia.
In the end, China lived up to expectations with a gold, Japan settled for a silver and an unheralded U.S. bunch, led by Spring and Jonathan Horton, shocked the world.
“We never counted us out,” said Spring, one of the new faces of a team that begins individual competition Thursday. “Anything that got thrown at us, we rolled with it. This team had some ups and downs. {ellipsis}We never doubted ourselves.”
Doubt should have been a natural reaction when the U.S. lost Paul Hamm, the 2003 world champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist whose hand didn't heal from a May break at the national championships.
Panic should have set in minus Morgan Hamm, the two-time Olympian who was unable to effectively tumble on the floor exercise, slowed by bone spurs from his ankle digging into his tibia.
Instead, Horton and Spring did their thing and Olympic Training Center resident Joseph Hagerty, Sasha Artemev, Raj Bhavsar and Kevin Tan contributed just enough.
“We get on the Internet, and we read a lot of stuff that people say about us,” Horton said. “It gets us fired up. So many articles talked about the U.S. team – probably not going to make it to the team finals, if they do, they probably have no chance of a medal.
“This is an incredible team.”
