Gymnasts Chris Brooks, Alex Naddour motivated after serving as alternates

ST. LOUIS — Alex Naddour and Chris Brooks didn’t stay in the Olympic village in London. They trained on their own, away from the other Americans. When it came time for the gymnastics competition to start at O2 Arena, Naddour and Brooks watched from the stands.

In Rio de Janeiro, the two will not be separated from the teammates they have trained with and competed against for years. After making the five-man U.S. team, Naddour and Brooks finally will realize the Olympic dream they hoped to accomplish long ago.

They both say they will be better for what they went through in London.

“I’d say I was more motivated after being an alternate than I was previously,” said Naddour, 25.

For Brooks, the experience was frustrating. In what he thought would be his last, best chance to get on the team, he was sitting in the crowd thinking he’d rather be watching from home.

“And then the lights go down and the music starts and (the gymnasts) march in and everything, and you feel that tenseness in the air, and you feel that energy. It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. In that moment, I thought to myself, ‘OK, I get it. I get it now. I’m so glad I’m here. I’m so glad I’m an alternate this time around, because now I know what it’s going to be like hopefully for the next time around.’”

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Neither Naddour nor Brooks saw himself as being a first-time Olympian as a veteran.

Naddour has long been a pommel horse specialist, giving the Americans a good score on what is easily their weakest event. He’d hoped that would help get him on the team, and Naddour thought he was close enough that he left Oklahoma early to go pro.

But with a finals format that has teams put up only three gymnasts and count all of their scores, the five-man team favored all-arounders who could contribute on multiple events.

“It wasn’t so much anger for me when I was an alternate. There was more of confusion and ... just couldn’t really believe it kind of thing,” Naddour said. “You only get a few shots to do it, and to come that close is really tough.”

But the experience in London prompted Naddour to work on other events. While he won’t compete in the all-around in Rio, he can contribute on three or four events. In four days of competition in the U.S. championships and Olympic trials, he finished tied for first on pommel horse and third on rings.

“He knew that he had to be better,” said Mark Williams, the U.S. coach in Rio and longtime coach at Oklahoma. “The team needs him on pommel horse, but he also has gotten so that rings and vault are in the mix and he’s good on floor, so well-earned.”

Brooks, meanwhile, lacked not for versatility but for health. The veteran’s list of injuries reads like a medical school textbook — he’s had multiple surgeries on his ankles, shoulder, hand and arm — and little felt good physically at the end of the qualifying process.

“I definitely wasn’t planning on still doing gymnastics at this level at 29,” Brooks said. “I was hoping to have reached my goals earlier. But this is the hand of cards I was dealt, so I’m trying to play them the best I can.”

Brooks was easily the most consistent performer throughout qualifying, finishing second in the all-around. He was first on parallel bars and high bar and tied for fifth on vault.

He left no doubt about his place on the team, and afterward he celebrated with friend Jonathan Horton. During the trials, Horton, a 2012 Olympian, texted Brooks and Naddour a photo of them cheering in the stands in London.

His message was clear — don’t do this again — even if the pair didn’t need the reminder.

“We did have a lot of frustration of being so close,” Naddour said.

That feels like a distant memory, although, as the tears poured when the team was selected, it no doubt gave them perspective to appreciate their path to becoming Olympians.

“Those guys, I know it was hard to be in London and not get a chance to be out on the floor, but both of them have been at world championships since then,” Williams said. “They’ve had things that have gone on in their life.

“But I think they still had that vision. I think they didn’t believe that they were done, and gymnastics was still fun. They wanted to keep doing it, and I’m glad they’re getting their dream.”