World’s best gymnasts to make stop in Vegas

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999 | 3:56 a.m.

Southern Nevada gymnastics fans will get a preview of the 2000 Olympic Games when the Visa Gymnastics Series makes a stop in Las Vegas on Jan. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Visa American Cup has a long history of showcasing eventual Olympic gold medalists, including Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner, Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug, Shannon Miller, Kurt Thomas and Peter Vidmar.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Visa American Cup, USA Gymnastics is expanding the format to a three-event Grand Prix series, with the first stop being the RCA Gymnastics Challenge on Jan. 14 in Las Vegas.

Legendary gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi, who recently came out of retirement to serve as the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics women's program, said the RCA Gymnastics Challenge will be an Olympics-caliber competition.

"This is one of those unique chances when you can see -- right in front of you, performing live -- some of those Olympic athletes, to feel that pulse, that electricity of the arena when these big competitions are going on," Karolyi said Wednesday during a promotional visit to Las Vegas.

"This is an exciting thing, to see the best gymnasts in the world performing live. This is a fierce competition, aiming to designate a champion of an event."

Karolyi added that the RCA Gymnastics Challenge will be the first major competition of the Olympic year and will help determine the members of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team.

"This is the very first competition of the new millennium and, of course, that's important for us because it is the year of the Olympic Games," he said. "It is the final stretch of our national team going toward a performance that we're all expecting, and that's got to be the best.

"This competition is going to be the very first test toward achieving the goal to be, again, among the best in the world and to be very successful in the upcoming Olympic year."

Bob Colarossi, USA Gymnastics president, said that many nations will be sending their best gymnasts to participate in Las Vegas in January.

"The American Cup is the most prestigious invitational gymnastics meet in the world," Colarossi said. 'We're expecting a great field ... if you're in this meet, you're an Olympian. If another country sends you to this meet, you're the best person they have -- that's the standard of this event.

"The results of this meet will be posted internationally and they'll be really scrutinized by the rest of the world. The American Cup has always been a barometer for future success, particularly in an Olympic year. Because of the level of competition, if you can win here, you can win anywhere."

The top U.S. national team members will be joined at the RCA Gymnastics Challenge by the best gymnasts from China, Russia, Romania, Cuba, Bulgria, Spain and Australia.

"All of the best gymnastics countries in the world are going to bring their best athletes in (to Las Vegas) ... because everybody knows how important, how visible and how prestigious the American Cup is," Karolyi said. "Every American Cup winner became an Olympic or a world champion."

Comaneci, then a member of the Romanian national gymnastics team and coached by Karolyi, was the very first American Cup women's champion in 1976. Six months later, she became the youngest all-around champion in Olympic history.

Tickets for the RCA Gymnastics Challenge are priced at $30 and $40 and are on sale at the MGM Grand Garden Arena ticket office and all TicketMaster locations. To charge tickets by phone, call TicketMaster at 474-4000.