May 21, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State assistant coach Kevin Tan will continue his journey down the Road to Beijing when he competes at the 2008 VISA Championships, the qualifying event for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas from May 22-24. Tan, a member of the U.S. Senior Men's National Team for the last two years, will vie with 44 of the nation's top men's gymnasts for individual championships as well as for highly coveted bids to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
The men's senior division qualifier is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Thurs., May 22. Those gymnasts who advance will compete for the all-around and event titles at 7 p.m. ET on Sat., May 24. NBC will be broadcast the 2008 VISA Championships tape delayed on Sun., June 8 at 2 p.m.
The U.S. Olympic Team Trials are scheduled for June 19-22 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The team that represents the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will consist of six members and three alternates.
Tan, who will compete as a member of Team Chevron, heads to Houston and the VISA Championships as the event's two-time defending still rings champion. In 2007, after dominating the still rings field in the qualifying session, Tan came through with another impressive effort in the finals to compile a two-day score of 32.850. That total topped the second place competitor by a full point and was the highest score total posted by any athlete in any event at the VISA Championships. However, his success was not limited to the still rings, as he also placed fourth in the high bar (29.150) and eighth in the pommel horse (28.600) and the parallel bars (tie, 29.800).
Tan, the 2007 USA Gymnastics Sportsman of the Year, will be looking to build on a highly successful year of competition at the 2008 VISA Championships. In April, he won a silver medal in the still rings at the 32nd Turnier der Meister Cottbus, Germany, an event that featured a collection of the world's elite competitors from 40 countries. His standout showing at the Turnier der Meister came on the heels of two impressive performances earlier this year. In February, Tan captured his third consecutive and fourth overall rings championship at the Winter Cup Challenge. Later that month, he led a select group of gymnasts from the U.S. Men's Senior National Team to a 361.350-352.600 dual meet victory over Canada in Calgary. With perhaps his best performance in his distinguished international career, Tan won the pommel horse (14.900), the still rings (16.300), and the parallel bars (15.500). He also placed third in the high bar (15.000).
A native of Fremont, Calif., Tan was a six-time All-American at Penn State, winning NCAA titles in the still rings in 2003 and 2004. One of just two Nittany Lions to be honored as an All-Big Ten performer in three consecutive years, he captured three Big Ten rings crowns and a parallel bar title during his brilliant collegiate career. Since joining the Penn State coaching staff full-time in 2006, Tan has helped guide the Nittany Lions to the program's NCAA-record 12th national championship (2007) and second Big Ten championship (2008). In 2007, Tan was honored as the NACGC Assistant Coach of the Year.