Four local Olympians will soon return to the United States, including one who will show off a new piece of jewelry.
Mill Creek native Brett McClure, who dropped out of Henry M. Jackson High School six years ago to train for the Olympics, now has a silver medal to show for all his work. McClure, 23, was a member of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team that won silver two weeks ago in Athens.
Snohomish County participants Jarred Rome and Sarah Jones, as well as Camano Island resident Greg Ruckman, fell short of medals at the Athens Games.
McClure shined during the team preliminaries, when his overall score of 56.323 ranked 19th among all participants and second on the U.S. team. He competed in the pommel horse and horizontal bar in the team finals, during which the U.S. finished behind Japan.
McClure finished ninth in the individual all-around, with top-25 finishes in the horizontal bar, the parallel bars and the vault. He was 37th in the floor exercise, 61st in the pommel horse and 64th in the rings.
McClure is the 11th area Olympian to bring home a medal, and the first since Cascade High School graduate Marc Schneider won a bronze in the 1996 Games. They are the only Snohomish County athletes to earn an Olympic medal since 1984.
The other local 2004 Olympians will leave Athens with disappointment.
Ruckman, a 30-year-old rower, had a pair of near misses in the men’s lightweight double sculls event. He and partner Steve Tucker finished second in their opening heat of Olympic competition, barely missing out on an automatic berth in the semifinals. While racing in a repechage, or consolation race, Ruckman and Tucker finished second again to qualify for the four-heat semifinal.
Racing for the third time in three days, Ruckman and Tucker took fourth in their heat of the semis, failing to qualify for the final race.
Jones and Kate MacKenzie also came up short in their rowing event, the women’s pairs. The U.S. pair took fifth in the opening heat and fourth in the repechage.
Jones, who turned 31 last Thursday, grew up in Stanwood before moving to the East Coast.
Rome, a Marysville native who won the U.S. Olympic discus trials, had a disappointing opening round of the Games. After a second-round scratch, Rome recorded a final throw of 201 feet, 11 1/2 inches (61.55 meters), good for only seventh in his heat and 15th overall. He did not qualify for the 12-man final.
Everett AquaSox infielder Yung Chi Chen competed for Taiwan’s baseball team at the Olympics. Taiwan finished with a 3-4 record and failed to make the medal round. Chen already has re-joined the AquaSox after returning from Athens last week.
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