MILWAUKEE — Bring it on, Russia and Romania. China, Belarus and Ukraine, let's see what you've got.
The Americans will send their best teams since the 1984 gold rush to the World Gymnastics Championships this summer, and they're eagerly awaiting all challengers.
"I have goose bumps and chills," Bob Colarossi, president of USA Gymnastics, said after the U.S. Gymnastics Championships wrapped up Sunday.
"I can't wait for worlds. I can't say I wish it was tomorrow, because I think we still have some fine-tuning to do," Colarossi said. "But if this isn't the best-looking team for men and women we've seen since '84, I don't know what is."
Just look at the results from nationals. Unlike the last two years, when the all-around title was all but decided on the first day, there was heated competition among both the men and women.
The top six women were separated by little more than a half-point after preliminaries, and four women were in the hunt for the title before Courtney Kupets won it on the meet's last event. Tasha Schwikert, the 2000 and 2001 champion, climbed from sixth to second, not scoring anything lower than a 9.350 during the finals.
On the men's side, Paul Hamm decisively won his second title, but Blaine Wilson and Jason Gatson were pushing him the whole way.
"There's a lot of unity on both sides with the men and the women, and you can see it on the floor," Colarossi said. "These guys are pushing each other, but supporting each other. The days of internal bickering are gone. We're focused on what we're here to do, which is win the world championships."
Worlds are Aug. 16-24 in Anaheim, Calif.
The Americans have talked big like this before, only to come up embarrassingly short. But this time, they have the superior skills to back up their trash talk.
Since the Sydney debacle, when the United States failed to win a single medal for the first time since 1972, Americans have been heavy metal magnets. The men won silver at the 2001 world championships, while the women took bronze despite sending what amounted to a minor-league squad.
Hamm and Sean Townsend were in contention for the all-around title, and Townsend won the gold medal on the parallel bars. Katie Heenan won bronze on the uneven bars.
At last year's individual event world championships, Kupets won gold on bars while Ashley Postell was crowned balance beam champion.
"Before we were really excited just to go there and see how well we could do," said Schwikert, the only holdover from the 2000 team. "Everyone's mindset is different now. We're not just going there maybe to get bronze. Everyone's going there to get gold this time."
Schwikert, Kupets and Hollie Vise earned spots on the world team, with the remaining three members and two alternates chosen after a national team training camp early next month. National team coordinator Martha Karolyi is expected to take three all-around gymnasts, as well as three "specialists" who can guarantee the team at least one blockbuster score on each event.
Vise is likely a specialist, routinely scoring 9.5s or higher on balance beam and uneven bars, while Annia Hatch is practically a lock for her vaulting ability. Hatch won a bronze on the vault at the 1996 worlds, when she was competing for her native Cuba, and she's even better now.
As a reigning world champ, Postell is probably on the team, too.
That leaves one spot, and it could be filled by Carly Patterson. Patterson has been the most successful American gymnast the last year, winning every meet she's entered. She had to skip nationals because of a fracture in her elbow, but she's training again and hopes to be ready for the selection camp.
"She's doing really well," said Valeri Liukin, one of Patterson's coaches. "She's very motivated, she's very strong and she's a very strong-minded kid."
As for the men, the days of U.S. hopes being pinned on Wilson and whatever five guys they could round up are over. Hamm has beaten Wilson at the last two nationals, and is well-established on the international scene.
And for as good as Hamm was at nationals — without still rings, his average score for each event was a 9.55 — he'll be even better at worlds. Limited for most of the season by a shoulder injury, he didn't really start serious training until May.
"I expect Paul to dominate for the rest of his career," said Stacy Maloney, Hamm's coach. "He's only going to get better in the future."
The same could be said for Gatson, who once was the most promising gymnast the United States had ever seen. But he blew out his knee twice, and the injuries cost him most of the last four years. Now back to his old form, he'll be a formidable presence in the U.S. lineup.
Then there's Wilson. At 28, his resume is filled with personal achievements. But he stuck around after Sydney because he hungers for world and Olympic medals.
With the kind of teams the United States has now, he just might get them.
"There's a reason why they have the competitions," Colarossi said. "But that said, both of these teams are medal-potential teams."