The 2016 American Cup, known as the 2016 AT&T American Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the fortieth edition of the American Cup, part of the World Cup circuit in artistic gymnastics. It was held on March 5, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark. Gabrielle Douglas of the United States won the women's competition, and Ryohei Kato of Japan won the men's.

USA Gymnastics promoted the event as the beginning of preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games. For the seventh year, the competition was held in conjunction with the Nastia Liukin Cup. For the first time, it was also held in conjunction with the Elite Team Cup, a men's competition.

It was the first time that USA Gymnastics held a national artistic gymnastics competition in New Jersey. Two days beforehand, on March 3, 2016, it was announced that the 2017 AT&T American Cup would also be held at the Prudential Center.

Background On March 4, 2015, USA Gymnastics announced that the 2016 AT&T American Cup had been awarded to the Prudential Center. The president of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, called the Prudential Center "one of our most successful stops on the 2012 Kellogg's Tour of Superstars", later adding, "The New York metropolitan area has a strong gymnastics community, and we look forward to again kicking off the Olympic year in the area." Although New Jersey had never hosted the event before, New York City has done so twelve times, most recently in 2012.

USA Today reported that organizers originally wanted to return to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, which had hosted the American Cup in every Summer Olympics year since 2000. However, a scheduling conflict (a New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons game) forced them to relocate.

Venue

Opened on October 25, 2007, the Prudential Center is located in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Designed by HOK Sport, the arena is home to the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils and two NCAA teams: the Seton Hall Pirates and NJIT Highlanders. It was also home to the Brooklyn Nets (then the New Jersey Nets), New York Liberty and the New York Titans.

The arena has held a gymnastics-related event before; it was a stop on the 2012 Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.

Sponsors AT&T was the title sponsor of the event as part of a 2013–16 contract with USA Gymnastics. The company, which also provides USA Gymnastics with telecom services, became the title sponsor in 2011.

Hilton HHonors served as an additional sponsor. The company is the official hotel partner for Team USA and offers gymnastics event spectators 15% discounts at its hotels. Additionally, HHonors sponsors several male gymnasts and helps pay for training expenses and their residences at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Kellogg's was the final sponsor. It also worked with USA Gymnastics on the 2012 Tour of Gymnastics Champions.

Prize money The winners received CHF 15,000 (US$ 14,551.52), the standard prize for International Federation of Gymnastics World Cup events.

Rank Amount (CHF) Amount (USD) 1 15,000 14,551.52 2 12,000 11,644.27 3 8,000 7,762.85 4 5,000 4,851.78 5 4,000 3,880.11 6 3,000 2,910.08 7 2,000 1,940.71 8 1,000 969.93 9 500 485.01

NotesExchange rate correct as of November 27, 2015.

Participants Women (WAG) Men (MAG) Gabrielle Douglas Sam Mikulak Maggie Nichols Donnell Whittenburg Tisha Volleman Sun Wei Ellie Black Pablo Brägger Lorrane Oliveira Lucas Bitencourt Mai Murakami Ryōhei Katō Amy Tinkler Nile Wilson Carlotta Ferlito Park Min-soo Tabea Alt Andreas Bretschneider

Sources

Qualified federations Invitations to the AT&T American Cup are issued based on placement at the previous year's World Championships.

Country NOC MAG WAG Total Brazil * Canada China Great Britain Italy Japan Netherlands * Russia South Korea * Switzerland * United States

Notes* denotes national federations that received a reserve qualification spot.

Reserves Nations that finished in places 9–12 in the team competition at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were allocated one reserve spot each to the Cup. The top 4 ranked individual all-around competitors whose teams did not finish in the top 12 were also given Cup bids.

No. MAG Team MAG NOC MAG Gymnast WAG Team WAG NOC WAG Gymnast 1 Germany TBD Brazil TBD 2 France TBD France TBD 3 Netherlands TBD Belgium TBD 4 Ukraine TBD Germany Tabea Alt 5 Cuba Manrique Larduet Switzerland Giulia Steingruber 6 Belarus Dzmitry Barkalau Hungary Noémi Makra 7 Spain Ruben Lopez Romania Larisa Iordache 8 Romania Cristian Bataga South Korea Heo Seon-mi

Results

Women 15.100 15.266 14.966 14.833 60.165 15.033 14.633 14.833 15.200 59.699 14.800 13.866 14.400 14.066 57.132 4 14.833 13.833 14.200 13.066 55.932 5 14.100 12.666 14.566 14.266 55.598 6 14.666 13.066 12.833 13.866 54.431 7 14.666 13.933 13.300 12.500 54.399 8 14.00 13.033 12.900 12.733 52.666 9 14.866 11.566 12.400 11.466 50.298

Men 15.100 14.466 14.666 14.900 14.566 15.233 88.931 15.433 13.600 15.500 15.266 15.466 13.300 88.565 14.100 15.033 13.700 15.100 14.766 14.966 87.665 4 14.166 13.766 14.500 14.766 15.400 13.366 85.964 5 13.266 12.766 14.633 14.500 15.266 13.700 84.131 6 13.666 12.900 13.666 14.866 13.400 15.166 83.664 7 13.666 14.433 14.566 13.900 14.100 12.700 83.365 8 13.966 13.366 14.133 14.200 13.533 13.900 83.098 9 11.233 12.500 14.066 13.600 12.966 12.633 76.998

Nastia Liukin Cup

The 7th Annual Nastia Liukin Cup was held in conjunction with the 2016 American Cup. Since its inception in 2010, the competition has always been held on the Friday night before the American Cup, in the same arena. In previous years, competitors included Gabrielle Douglas, Kayla Williams, MyKayla Skinner, Amelia Hundley, Lexie Priessman, Maggie Nichols, and Ashton Locklear.

Elite Team Cup On January 13, 2016, USA Gymnastics announced that the American Cup would also be held in conjunction with the Elite Team Cup, a men's competition, for the first time.

The competition took place on Saturday evening, after the American Cup.

References