2013 American Cup Gymnastics Competition in Worcester, Massachusetts

UPDATE: Although this event took place in Worcester in 2013, it continues to be a major event in the gymnastics world. The most recent event took place in Henderson, Nevada in March of 2026. Enjoy some early photos of Simone Biles before she became a household name! Also visit the American Cup site for details on next year’s event and ticket opportunities.

Gymnastics has always been my favorite Olympic sport. I spent many years of my childhood competing in park district gymnastics – to this day, it is one of my favorite memories. Mike surprised me with tickets to the American Cup Gymnastics event, which was being held in Worcester, Massachusetts at the DCU Center this year.

I am a huge gymnastics fan and have never been to a competition before, so I was really excited. I was disappointed that Kyla Ross (Olympic medalist and one of the Fierce Five) did not compete due to an injury. However, she did do a balance beam routine for the audience before the awards ceremony.

I didn’t even know who Simone Biles was at the time!

I was impressed by the talent of the 2 winning competitors (Katelyn Ohashi and Jake Dalton – both from the US) as well as several other competitors including: Vanessa Ferrari from Italy, Elizabeth Seitz from Germany, and Victoria Moors from Canada). The other US competitor: Simone Biles is a powerful gymnast. She made a few mistakes, but still came in second due to the difficulty of her routines.

Update: Boy has Simone come along way! To think that I didn’t even know who Simone was back when I wrote this post is crazy. I guess it’s kinda cool that I was able to watch her compete back in the early days! Let’s just say that she is one of the most talented gymnasts of all time and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her in the 2016 Olympics and can’t wait until 2024!

I preferred the women’s gymnastics over the men’s. I find the pommel horse and men’s floor routines quite boring. Let’s face it, the women look so much more graceful on the floor.

However, I had a great time watching the men’s high bar (wow the release moves are incredible) and parallel bar routines up close (our seats were right behind the bars! Plenty of TV time too!). The rings are pretty awesome too – imagine the strength required to hold yourself up?! What an accomplishment! These 2 events are pretty awesome.

The DCU Center – A great place to watch an event!

Unfortunately, 2 of my favorite events – the women’s beam and men’s rings were on the other side of the center – we could still see okay, but not enough to observe precise movements. The DCU center is nice because of the small size – almost every seat is decent. There weren’t any horrible seats, so even people sitting in the upper level had a great time. I am happy that we had seats in the 1st level because it was more exciting being located so close to 2 of the events.

There were special appearances by Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman which really got the crowds excited. It was such a great experience to be able to see the athletes from all the countries compete, over just watching it on TV and only seeing the competitors from your home country. I enjoyed watching the athletes compete on all events in all rounds of the competition. The meet ran about 3 and a half hours (compared to the edited 2 hour TV version).

Not all sporting events are worth attending in person; in fact, some you are better off watching at home. The American Cup Gymnastics is worth seeing in person – the routines really are even more incredible in person. Plus, it is fun to see all the international gymnasts compete as oppose to just a few of the top competitors.

2013 AT&T American Cup Final Results

Men’s Results

1st place – Jacob Dalton (USA)

2nd place – Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine)

3rd place – Marcel Nguyen (Germany)

4th place – Hiroki Ishikawa (Japan)

5th place – Kristian Thomas (Great Britain)

6th place – Danell Leyva (USA)

7th place – Sergio Sasaki Junior (Brazil)

8th place – Jorge Hugo Giraldo Lopez (Columbia)

Women’s Results

1st place – Katelyn Ohaski (USA)

2nd place – Simone Biles (USA)

3rd place – Victoria Moors (Canada)

4th place – Elisabeth Seitz (Germany)

5th place – Vanessa Ferrari (Italy)

6th place – Gabrielle Jupp (Great Britain)

7th place – Asuka Terramoto (Japan)

8th place – Maegan Chant (Canada)

NOTE: I know this event is long passed, but if you happen to come across this post looking for more to do in Worcester, please consider visiting the wonderful Art Museum. It’s one of the best in state. It’s home to the largest floor mosaic in the US. I also recommend stopping by this great local coffee shop called NU Kitchen.