Here is my last blog from Pan-Ams!!

In a hard-fought battle, Guillermo Alvarez took home the silver medal in the floor exercise finals. His score of 15.625 was one of his highest scores on this event and was a mere 0.25 points behind the champion, Diego Hypolito from Brazil.

"Getting second place behind the best guy in the world, I feel good about it," said Alvarez. "My routine went better than in practice, although my scale was a little shaky and worried me a bit, but I felt comfortable and I am glad to have this medal."

Hypolito was the world champion on floor exercise in 2005 and was the silver medalist on floor exercise in 2006.

“For Guillermo to be so close to Diego is a real tribute to his hard work and artistic ability,” said Head Coach Mike Burns.“Every time Guillermo gets the opportunity to compete against guys like this it makes him that much better and that much stronger.”

Other medalists in the men’s finals included Sean Golden on still rings who also brought home the silver medal with an amazing routine that displayed an incredible strength sequence.

“Sean finished second with one of the best routines I have ever seen him do,” said Burns. "His score of 15.275 was only 0.4 points behind Gold Medalist Regulo Carmona from Venezuela who posted a 15.675."

Justin Spring brought home the gold medal on parallel bars with a dynamic routine that scored a 15.55.

“Justin outclassed the rest of the field in finals with this routine,” said Burns. “He is capable of competing with the best in the world on this event.”

Guillermo was also in the finals on PB’s but dislocated his finger on his second to last skill and wasn’t able to finish his set. Our team doctor was able to put his finger back in almost immediately and we will be getting x-rays when we return home. This is a small setback for Guillermo but hopefully it won’t slow him down too much.

All in all, the Pan-Am Games were a great experience for all of us who were lucky enough to have been chosen to represent the USA. The competition was very strong with many of the South American countries really showing some quality gymnastics. We are scheduled to return home to the states on Thursday, July 19th and it will be nice to finally get home but not after creating some sensational memories from the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.