The XVth Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, marked the return of trampolining to the official program of the multi-sport event, a quadrennial competition similar to the Olympic Games, but on the Pan American scale.  The Pan American Games were actually the first international trampoline competition in history where Donald Harper (USA) won the gold medal in 1955.  Since Ron Munn's (USA) victory in 1959, the trampoline event had been discontinued. 

The trampoline competition of these XV Pan American Games took place on July 27-28, 2007, with the finals taking place on the 28th.  While many sports featured at these Pan American Games sent development teams, the trampoline competition featured the best trampolinists from each participating country.  The competition took place in at the Riocentro Pavilhao 3A, a large venue with a significant crowd.  The athletes felt some significant pressure during the finals. 

The main reason for the preliminaries was simply to determine the order in which the trampolinists would compete in the 8-athlete final since there were only 8 athletes competing in the men's and 8 athletes competing in the women's and the scores were reset to zero for the finals.  

In the women's, 2-time Olympic medalist Karen Cockburn (CAN), 26, did not let anybody the opportunity to contest her superiority.  Once again, the delivered in the clutch, despite being a little nervous.  The 2006 World Cup Final winner and 2003 World Champion added a new international gold medal to her extensive collection by delivering a sterling routine.  Cockburn, who won last year's Pan American Championships, obtained 37.50 pts in the final in Brazil, edging her rivals by 1.00 pt.  Cockburn, who competed last in the final after cruising through the preliminaries (67.40 pts) thanks to the best first routine (29.10 pts) and the best second routine (38.30 pts), made the difference with superior difficulty (14.40 pt tariff) and height.  She became the first woman in history to win the Pan American Games in trampoline.

2006 Savognin World Cup bronze medalist Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN - pictured on the left) took the silver medal with a strong routine that obtained 36.50 pts in the final.  MacLennan's performance allowed Team Canada to take the top two spots of the competition.  MacLennan, who won the bronze medal at last year's Pan American Championships, already was in 2nd place after the preliminaries (64.80 pts) thanks to two solid routines (28.40 pts for the compulsory and 36.40 pts for the optional).  The bronze medal of these 2007 Pan American Games went to the promising Giovanna Matheus (BRA - a.k.a., Giovanna Bastos or Giovanna Venetiglio Bastos Matheus - pictured on the right), 17, with a score of 34.30 pts (12.20 pt tariff).  Competing just before Cockburn and MacLennan in the final as she took the 3rd place of the preliminaries with 62.00 pts (35.00 pts for her optional), Matheus relied on the support from the home crowd to the deliver the best performance of the competition up to that point, thus securing a medal for the home country to the delight of the Carioca crowd.  The reigning Brazilian Champion is a Rio native.

Alaina Williams (USA), who struggled in the preliminaries, had to settle for the 4th place in the final with 33.70 pts (13.20 pt tariff).  Nadia Solis (MEX), who also had struggled in the preliminaries, took the 5th place in the final with 32.40 pts (11.30 pt tariff).  Veronica Lorenzo (ARG) followed in 6th place with 30.70 pts.  2006 Pan American Championship silver medalist and reigning U.S. Champion Brittany Dircks (USA), who was one of the favorites of the competition, unfortunately struggled in the final, and could not successfully complete her routine.  She came in 7th with 21.70 pts.  Dircks also had struggled in the preliminaries (4th place with 59.90 pts) as she touched the mat after the 10th skill of her optional.  Bruna Garambone (BRA), who replaced Maria Fernanda Reynaud (MEX) at the last minute after Reynaud got injured in training, was not optimally prepared and took the last place of the final, after taking the 5th place in the preliminaries. 

In the men's, 3-time U.S. Champion Chris Estrada (USA - pictured on the left) managed to keep his focus to ensure that the men's Pan American Games Champion title would remain property of U.S. athletes, 52 years after Donald Harper's (USA) victory, and 48 years after Ron Munn's (USA) victory.  Estrada, who reached the final of the recent 2007 Ostend World Cup, impressed the judges with his traditional 15.60 pt routine, and earned a score of 38.80 pts.  Estrada, who won the silver medal at the 2006 Pan American Championships, relied on his consistency to prevail.  Estrada competed last in the final after dominating the preliminaries (68.60 pts with a 29.90 pt first routine and a 38.70 pt optional). 

The favorite of the competition, Jason Burnett (CAN - pictured on the right), who won the 2006 Pan American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, had to settle for the silver medal with 38.60 pts, just 0.20 pts off Estrada.  After performing the best compulsory routine of the competition (30.10 pts), Burnett struggled in the optional of the preliminaries where he performed only 9 skills.  Due to a significant traveling, Burnett replaced a backward skill by a forward skill, and finished his routine apparently thinking that he had performed 10 skills whereas he had done only 9 skills.  This mistake caused the 2-time Canadian Champion to take only the 4th place of the preliminaries with 64.50 pts.  In the final, possibly feeling some pressure, Burnett, suffered from a little lack of consistency, and traveled throughout the second half of his 16.20 pt routine, which caused him to modify his routine and lose precious tenths and ultimately the gold medal.  However, this time, Burnett managed to complete his optional.   

8-time U.S. Champion Ryan Weston (USA - pictured on the left) gave his best and managed to win the bronze medal with a score of 37.50 pts (15.50 pt tariff).  Weston had struggled in the preliminaries where he performed a half out pike both in his compulsory and his voluntary, which caused him to lose 1.10 pts of difficulty (11.90 pts down from 13.00 pts) for the tariff of his optional after video review.  Competing with 4 athletes left to jump in the final, Weston delivered a quality routine.  Estrada, Burnett, and Weston were already the medalists at the 2006 Pan American Championships, which were used as qualifying event for the Pan American Games.  However, this time, Estrada and Burnett swapped their places.  

2004 Pan American Champion Bryan Milonja (CAN) took the 4th place with 36.50 pts (15.00 pt tariff), moving down one spot in the final (29.60 pts for his compulsory and 36.90 pts for his optional in the preliminaries).  Carlos Pala (BRA - a.k.a., Carlos Ramirez de Azevedo Silva Pala - pictured on the right) unfortunately touched the mat at the end of his routine in the final, losing 2.40 pts and a bronze medal to the disappointment of the home crowd.  In the end, Pala took the 5th place with 35.20 pts (15.30 pt tariff).  Pala was very impressive in training, mixing great height and consistency.  The tall Carioca who celebrated his 22nd birthday the day before did great in the preliminaries, taking the 2nd place with 66.90 pts thanks to a sharp 38.00 pt optional.   Unfortunately, Pala might have suffered from the pressure in the final.  Dario Arias (ARG) and Ramses Zavala (MEX) struggled both in the preliminaries and the final.  They respectively took the 6th and 7th places of the final.  2005 Brazilian Champion Rafael Andrade (BRA), who took the 4th place at the Pan American Championships, was not as successful as hoped as he had to interrupt his optional early on in the final.  Andrade took the last place of the event.

AcrobaticSports.com would like to thank Stephan Duchesne, T&T High Performance Director with Gymnastics Canada and FIG Judge, for sending us information about the event.   

Summary results (the numbers in parenthesis indicate the scores of the preliminaries and the places after the preliminaries - the degree of difficulty is the second number indicated)

Men
1. Chris Estrada (USA)              38.80 pts - 15.60 pts (68.60 pts - 1st)
2. Jason Burnett (CAN)             38.60 pts - 16.20 pts (64.50 pts - 4th)
3. Ryan Weston (USA)              37.30 pts - 15.50 pts (62.20 pts - 5th)
4. Bryan Milonja (CAN)              36.50 pts - 15.00 pts (66.50 pts - 3rd)
5. Carlos Pala (BRA)                 35.20 pts - 15.30 pts (66.90 pts - 2nd)
6. Dario Arias (ARG)                  27.40 pts - 08.20 pts (30.20 pts - 8th)
7. Ramses Zavala (MEX)            24.60 pts - 09.20 pts (35.70 pts - 7th)
8. Rafael Andrade (BRA)             07.80 pts - 03.20 pts (49.10 pts - 6th)

Women
1. Karen Cockburn (CAN)           37.50 pts - 14.40 pts (67.40 pts - 1st)
2. Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN)  36.50 pts - 14.00 pts (64.80 pts - 2nd)
3. Giovanna Matheus (BRA)        34.30 pts - 12.20 pts (62.00 pts - 3rd)
4. Alaina Williams (USA)             33.70 pts - 13.20 pts (32.00 pts - 8th)
5. Nadia Solis (MEX)                  32.40 pts - 11.30 pts (43.70 pts - 7th)
6. Veronica Lorenzo (ARG)          30.70 pts - 08.70 pts (54.20 pts - 6th)
7. Brittany Dircks (USA)             21.70 pts - 09.20 pts (59.90 pts - 4th)
8. Bruna Garambone (BRA)          04.40 pts - 02.50 pts (57.00 pts - 5th)

Link to the women's final results

Link to the men's final results

Link to the women's preliminary results

Link to the men's preliminary results