JORDYN WIEBER, 13, WINS

By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Jordyn Wieber made herself at home Saturday with two American greats in gymnastics: Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin.
Wieber, 13, of DeWitt, Mich., became the second-youngest Tyson American Cup women's champion and was immediately congratulated by past American Cup champs Liukin and Retton at the Sears Centre, located about 25 miles northwest of Chicago.
"I feel very honored to be one of these people now," Wieber, who is 4-10½, said. "I really look up to them. That was really exciting."
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Wieber scored 60.2 to beat fellow American Bridget Sloan, who scored 59.6. Kim Bui of Germany finished third with 56.0. In the men's competition, Germany's Fabian Hambuechen beat American David Sender 90.65-90.45 for the title. American Joey Hagerty finished third (89.55).
Liukin won this meet twice, in 2006 and last year at 18, a prelude to her Olympic all-around title in Beijing last August. Retton, the 1984 Olympic all-around gold medalist, won this meet three times from 1983 to 1985. Both were honored guests Saturday. Liukin has resumed training but doesn't expect to compete until later this year.
Wieber has a long road ahead to become an Olympian with the London Games three years away, but she has established herself firmly as the sport's rising star.
She is still too young to compete at the senior level in world qualification meets. The minimum age requirement for that is 16, which means Wieber will spend this year and next competing in the junior division.
Wieber, who will turn 14 in July, is the reigning junior national all-around champion and will be eligible for her first world championships in 2011.
"It's all about pacing … making sure she enjoys it," her coach, John Geddert, said. "We're in no hurry."
She is the youngest American Cup champion since Tracee Talavera of the U.S., then 13, won in 1980. Talavera was a member of the 1984 Olympic team.
"Truly amazing" is how Liukin described Wieber's skills. On vault, Wieber, only an eighth grader, executed a Yurchenko mount with 2½ twists. Only about three women's gymnasts in the world tried that vault last year, including American Shawn Johnson, the Olympic silver medalist in all-around.
Wieber took a step on the vault landing but the difficulty made her the highest scorer at 15.75. To put the difficulty in perspective, consider that Sender, 23, the men's runner-up, performed the same vault.
"I didn't start doing that vault until I was 18 or 19," Sender said. "She's obviously a very talented little girl. I'm excited to see how she'll do in the next four years."
Wieber also was the meet's highest scorer on balance beam and the uneven parallel bars. She scored second-highest on floor exercise behind Sloan.
"She's a machine," Sloan said.
Her debut with senior-level gymnasts, televised by NBC, was no doubt a hit.
"We've never had a doubt that she's a competitor," Geddert said. "We were wondering if the big stage would change any of that. … You never know once TV cameras get in your face, if that's going to change anything. I'm happy to see it doesn't