LAUER: Tim, let's talk about gymnastics, and the first thing I want to get out of the way is there's a rules change this year that's going to affect the competition dramatically, can you explain it?Mr. DAGGETT: Certainly. On both the men's and the women's side, in the past you always had the ability for an athlete's score to be dropped, so you could have six athletes competing and you would drop the worst score, that is totally gone now.
LAUER: So one bad dismount on one p--on the part of one gymnastic can dramatically affect the whole team?
Mr. DAGGETT: Yeah. It could take the front-run--runner completely out of the competition, completely out.
LAUER: You were on the team that won a gold in 1984, compare this men's team to that team. How--how good is this team?
Mr. DAGGETT: Well, it's certainly the best group of athletes that the US has been able to put together. Since 1984, they have some tremendous stories, they've got Paul Hamm, who's the reigning world all-around champion, phenomenal athlete.
LAUER: A lot expected of him in these games.
Mr. DAGGETT: Yes. Oh, unquestionably. He could win not just the all-around title, but also two different events. He's got a brother who is equally as fantastic on floor, Morgan.
LAUER: And a comeback story of sorts in Blaine Wilson.
Mr. DAGGETT: It--it's phenomenal. Matt, if you had told me that Blaine Wilson would be competing at the Olympic Games four months--less than four months after tearing his bicep at the Visa American Cup, I would have...
LAUER: So that's a major, major injury for gymnast.
Mr. DAGGETT: It is un--typically career-ending.
LAUER: All right. So the Americans are not the favorites on the men's side, Chinese favorite?
Mr. DAGGETT: Yeah, the Chinese are, but the Americans are phenomenal, as well as the Japanese.
LAUER: Elfi, if you listen to the hype surrounding the women's American team, we might as well not even hold the Games. Are they that good?
Ms. ELFI SCHLEGEL (NBC Olympic Analyst): Ab--absolutely. We've been saying for quite some time now that this team probably could have fielded two teams here at the Olympic Games. They have depth which is, you know, just unbelievable how far they've come along since four years ago. I mean, they--they really are. We've been watching practices, they are on.
LAUER: But with all those expectations comes a lot of pressure. How do you think they're going to handle it when the Games actually start?
Ms. SCHLEGEL: Well, they've been extremely focused. They've got the blinders on. Every practice they have made a point of telling their athletes that we want everyone to watch us, and in fact that has been going on. We watched the Russian team sneak under the curtain and they were peering into where the Americans were training, and you could just hear them gasping, 'Oh, look what they're doing.' It--it's just--it's remarkable, they're the ones to watch.
LAUER: Some people said they won the world championship because it was held on home turf, Anaheim, California. Is that fair or not fair?
Ms. SCHLEGEL: Not fair in my mind. I--I am strictly going by gymnastically what this team is capable of doing. And in my mind, my assessment, they are the best team out there.
LAUER: We always look for a name, Mary Lou Retton 20 years ago, who's--who is going to live up to that type of hype this year?
Ms. SCHLEGEL: Carly Patterson. She's given us no reason not to think that way. Carly is so pure. I--I'm not quite sure when she's going to wake up and realize she's at the Olympic Games, but, you know, she's phenomenal, her gymnastics speak for itself. I--I expect full well that--that Carly will be right up there.
LAUER: And you'd be very surprised if the women don't bring home the gold in the team?
Ms. SCHLEGEL: It would be a disappointment for them not to win.
LAUER: Rowdy, let's get it out of the way right off the bat, there is no roof on the Olympic swimming venue here. A lot of people said, oh, the water's going to get too hot, the backstrokers have nothing to look at. Is it a problem?
Mr. ROWDY GAINES (NBC Olympic Analyst): We're swimmers, we're used to it. I mean, half the team is--are from states that swim pr--predominantly outdoors, Arizona, Florida, California. It's not a problem whatsoever.
LAUER: There wasn't a roof in Los Angeles, was there?
Mr. GAINES: There was not a roof in Los Angeles. You go back to '60 in Rome, not a roof there.
LAUER: Does the heat of the water, the elevated temperature affect anyone, particularly an athlete who's got to swim a lot of events?
Mr. GAINES: It--it will affect somebody like a Michael Phelps, who swims a lot of different events, because they're just swimming so many times, especially in the preliminaries when the heat is a factor. At night, it's--it's a beautiful thing and it should be a factor.
LAUER: I talked to Elfi about Carly Patterson and can she live up to the hype; let's talk Michael Phelps. Can he live up to the expectations that all of America has placed on him?
Mr. GAINES: I think it's unfair, Matt. But I'll tell you one thing, I--I brought my children, all four of my children, and my wife to the Olympic Trials because I wanted them to say they saw the great Michael Phelps swim. I think he is that amazing. We have to remember, though, he's 19 years old, he's still just a kid. If you asked me that four years...
LAUER: He's a kid with good experience, though, he was in the last Olympics.
Mr. GAINES: He--absolutely. Fifteen years old, youngest American ever. But he's still a kid, in my opinion, in swimming terms. This has never b--never happened in our sport before at an age so young.
LAUER: Let's not leave ladies out. What are some stars to watch for on the ladies team?
Mr. GAINES: We just saw Jenny Thompson, a big star, perhaps her last Olympics. But I--I really like Natalie Coughlin in the backstroke, Amanda Beard, those are two huge names in America, and I...
LAUER: Slightly older team.
Mr. GAINES: Yeah, it is slightly an older team, and that's just the nature of the sport, it's gotten older, it's skewed older. And I think a lot of that is because athletes are able to stay in the sport longer because of money.
LAUER: But you would be surprised if at the end of these games we don't say they were the games of Michael Phelps?
Mr. GAINES: Without question. I mean, he's swimming eight events, if he wins eight medals it'll be something unprecedented in our sport and its history. And I do still believe he has a shot at seven golds.
LAUER: I'm just worried that he wins five or six and people say it was a disappointment.
Mr. GAINES: I...
LAUER: And I think that would be just such a disservice to this guy.
Mr. GAINES: Totally unfair. Because you've got to give him a lot of kudos, Matt, for going out for an event, like the 200 freestyle, where he's facing Ian Thorpe, for example, the world record holder and perhaps the most popular swimmer in the world. He could easily have said 'I'm not going for that one, I'm going to go for the 200 back and win a solid silver medal,' instead he dropped out of that one.
LAUER: So in gymnastics, what's first for the men this weekend?
Mr. DAGGETT: Well, they actually--a lot gets going, they--they compete in the first round of competition, that will qualify them for the team, the all-around and the individual event. The first day is the most critical.
LAUER: Elfi, same for the women?
Ms. SCHLEGEL: Yeah, same for the women. They start on Sunday in the same format, they qualify for all those other events. So it's a really important day.
LAUER: It always gets the Olympics off on the right foot. Lots of exciting things to expect in the gym and in the pool. Tim, Elfi, Rowdy, thanks very much.
Mr. GAINES: Thanks, Matt.
Ms. SCHLEGEL: Thank you.
Mr. DAGGETT: Thanks.
LAUER: When we come back, we're going to have an Olympic fashion show. But first, on a Friday morning, this is TODAY on NBC.
Visit 
