Tan to captain men's gymnastics team in Beijing

Kevin Tan has been named captain of the Beijing-bound U.S. men’s gymnastics team. Miles Avery, who coaches Paul and Morgan Hamm, will join the squad as an assistant coach.

The Beijing Games that begin on Aug. 8 will be the first Olympics for Tan, a three-time member of U.S. world championship teams. He won his third U.S. title on rings earlier this summer.

The trip will be a homecoming of sorts for Tan, whose grandparents lived in Beijing.

Avery, Ohio State's head coach, served as assistant coach in 2004, when the U.S. men won their first Olympic medal in 20 years in Athens -- a silver -- and Paul Hamm became the first American male to win the all-around title.

Kevin Mazeika is the team's head coach, as he was in Athens four years ago. He also coached at last year’s world championships, in which the Americans finished fourth.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Kevin Tan competes on the still rings during the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in Philadelphia on June 19. Credit: Al Bello / Getty Images