Kevin Tan sat down with his U.S. Olympic teammates for a post-practice dinner Sunday night.
While Tan was at a loss for words as to what dish he chowed down that evening, he had no problem remembering the team meeting following the meal.
The Penn State assistant coach was selected as the captain of the U.S. Olympic Team following a team vote Sunday night in Colorado Springs, Colo.
As teammates called out their captain choice, Tan said it was a very relaxed room.
"To us, we feel like there's a lot of experienced people on the team," Tan said yesterday, speaking via cell phone while at the airport. "Any one person has the ability to lead this team. Captain is mostly a title with responsibility."
With the Beijing Games set to begin Aug. 8, Tan said his primary duty as captain will be to stay in close contact with the coaches and communicate any news or announcements with his teammates.
Tan did not expect to garner as many votes for team captain as he did, although he would not specify whether the vote was close or not.
In fact, the Fremont, Calif., native struggled to find specific instances in the gym where he displayed leadership that would warrant such an honor. But being captain is a role Tan is ready and honored to embrace.
"We have a very good focus on a team that has gelled together," Tan said. "The main thing is getting the team focused on the floor."
Tan and Penn State men's gymnastics head coach Randy Jepson left Colorado Springs yesterday afternoon to return to State College for a couple of days. Tan will train at noon tomorrow at the White Building -- his last visit to State College before he heads to Beijing.
Casey Sandy, the 2008 NCAA all-around champion, plans to work out tomorrow with Tan, though he quickly dismissed any chance of seeing the two gym stars try to upstage one another.
"It doesn't work like that," Sandy said with a chuckle. "He's in really good shape. I don't have anything too big going on, I'm learning new skills."
Tan's captaincy news came to Sandy through the mouths of his Penn State teammates. Sandy called Tan a fine choice for U.S. captain, pointing to his determination and focus when striving for a goal.
Such focus was directed toward Sandy when both he and Tan were training together for the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
"The small things I was doing wrong, he would talk to me about those things," Sandy said. "The small things add quickly, [on dismounts] jumping 10 centimeters too far is the difference between one-tenth and three-tenths."
Despite being distinguished as the leader of the national team, Tan sees enough talent on the squad to not have to worry about making sure each gymnast is performing at their potential.
"We're definitely a team," Tan said. "And we fall on the support on each other. I believe the pressure [to lead] is less."
