1. The U.S. men attempt to prove Beijing was no fluke: The U.S. men’s inspirational bronze medal performance in the 2008 Olympic team finals amidst a cluster of adversity will go down as one of the great moments in USA men’s gymnastics history.  With just one returning member from that team and several exciting young tricksters, many eyes will be on this talented American team.  They’ll need to nail their spectacular strengths like high bar and also remain calm, clean, and confident on their weakness, pommel horse.
  2. The men’s all-around title up for grabs: With overwhelming favorite Kohei Uchimura questionable for the all-around due to a shoulder injury, the outcome of the competition is tentatively erased.  In Uchimura’s absence, American Jonathan Horton could be one of the front runners for the all-around title, as could numerous other contenders from Japan, China, Russia, and others.  The 2010 men’s all-around gold medalist could very well be one of the most surprising and unpredictable champions ever.
  3. Japan vs. China: The Chinese men dominated the 2008 Olympic Games like no other team has ever done, winning the team gold by over 7 points and taking a total of 7 out of 8 available gold medals.  With world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura backed by several other world class all-arounders, current world and Olympic team silver medalist Japan could pose a serious threat to the newly revamped Chinese squad.
  4. American individual medal threats: With multiple world class specialists on its squad, the U.S. men will be in the hunt for numerous medals in Rotterdam.  Jonathan Horton and Danell Leyva could both be major players in the all-around, Steven Legendre will be a medal threat on both floor and vault, Brandon Wynn will be looking to at least make the rings final, and Horton, Leyva, and Chris Brooks are all capable of medaling on high bar.
  5. New champions destined to be crowned: With the defending all-around champion possibly not able to compete every event, the defending world champions on pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar not in the competition, and the defending world champion on floor and vault not looking his best, we’re bound to have an abundance of brand new world champions on the men’s side.