01. März 2006  
Philadelphia / USA  
Artistic Gymnastics

2006 American Cup 2006 with new Sponsor

World Champion Anastasia Liukin (USA)

'Tyson Foods' and USA Gymnastics jointly announced Tyson’s three-year sponsorship of USA Gymnastics, which will extend through the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China. In this role, the company will headline the 2006 Tyson American Cup, one of the sport’s premier international invitationals, scheduled for March 4 at Philadelphia’s Liacouras Center at Temple University.
This partnership is a natural extension of Tyson’s 2004 associate sponsorship of USA Gymnastics’ post-Olympic championship tour....

2005 world uneven bars and balance beam champion Nastia Liukin of Plano, Texas, headlines the U.S. Women's Team for the 2006 Tyson American Cup.
On top of the impressive roster of international stars are Olympic champions Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS) and Hisashi Mizutori (JPN)...

A traditional event with a new title sponsorship

The 'Tyson American Cup', which has grown into one of the most prestigious international invitationals since its inception in 1976, showcases the world’s top male and female gymnasts as they compete for prize money and the coveted all-around title.
In 2006, the Tyson American Cup is expected to feature gymnasts from the United States, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Romania and Russia.
The 2006 Tyson American Cup is also the first major international event in the United States, and one of the first in the world, to use the new scoring system for gymnastics that allows gymnasts to earn scores above the traditional 10.0.
Participants 2006
Olympic champions Elena Zamolodchikova of Russia and Hisashi Mizutori of Japan headline the impressive roster of international gymnasts. Representing 10 different countries, the international field is comprised of the following:

Women
Aisha Gerber, Canada
Suzanne Harmes, Netherlands
Maryna Kostiuchenko, Ukraine
Kyoko Oshima, Japan
Lais Souza, Brazil
Elena Zamolodchikova, Russia
Zhou Zhuoru, China
Daria Bijak, Germany

Men
Nathan Gafuik, Canada
Sergey Khorokhordin, Russia
Li Junhao, China
Florent Maree, France
Hisashi Mizutori, Japan
Ryuta Nakazato, Japan
Danilo Nogueira, Brazil
Fabian Hambuechen, Germany
Razvan Dorin Selariu, Romania
U.S gymnasts at Tyson American Cup 2006
2005 world uneven bars and balance beam champion Nastia Liukin of Plano, Texas, headlines the U.S. Women's Team for the 2006 Tyson American Cup.
At 15, Bianca Flohr, of Creston, Ohio, is already a three-time U.S. junior national team member and the 2005 junior national champion on the bars.
Sixteen-year-old Jacquelyn Johnson, of West Chester, Ohio, qualified for the senior national team with her performance last August in the national championships: 10th in the all-around, fifth on balance beam and uneven bars.
At 15, Shayla Worley, of Orlando, Fla., has been an international elite gymnast since 2003 and was a silver medalist in the 2005 Massilia Gym Cup.

U.S. men's team...:
David Durante of Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron, Jonathan Horton of Houston, Texas/University of Oklahoma,
Brett McClure of Mill Creek, Wash./Team Chevron, and
David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill./Stanford University, have accepted invitations to represent the United States.
Source: US-Gymnastics