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RIO DE JANEIRO -- U.S. mens gymnastics coach Mark Williams watched the womens team in awe.It was only the opening night of competition, the team qualifications. But Williams later called it one of the best gymnastics meets Ive ever watched.It was a statement of national pride. And at the same time, speaking minutes after the U.S. mens team finished fifth in team finals for the second consecutive Olympic Games, it was an expression of envy.How can the men get what the women -- one night later, gold medalists for the second straight Olympics -- now possess as almost their brand? And, because this is what we do in our country, what in heavens name is wrong with the mens program.Im open to suggestions, Williams said.The men lost because they uncharacteristically stumbled on three occasions they normally would not -- two performers on floor and a third on high bar.Weve got to figure it out so guys arent flustered by anything and its just a day at the office, he said. Watching the womens team last night was so impressive. It was amazing. We want to be like that.The U.S. mens team is as likeable a bunch of elite athletes as youre ever going to find. They are unabashedly spirited and optimistic, personified by Sam Mikulaks infectious cheerleading and urging himself and his teammates to put on a show.After Monday nights team final, the five were as stand-up as could be, facing reporters for every last question, including Danell Leyva, who committed the final error of the night when he lost his grip on high bar. And all stood solidly behind Leyva, consoling him in the moment and later emphasizing the teams responsibility for falling from second place in qualifications to fifth, two nights later.It would be easy to be skeptical at Mikulak suggesting that the chest-pounding spirit that fueled a late rally should have accompanied the team as it took the floor. Just as you can wonder if they have a so-called killer instinct when you hear Alex Naddour say, We always say we want to get a medal, we want to be out on the podium, but we want to go out there and put our hearts out there and thats what we did.Leyva unabashedly raved about Simone Biles last week, calling the 19-year-old a huge role model of mine, honestly.Like huge, he said. Ive been trying to emulate the way she goes about her gymnastics. She enjoys it. The last two years just watching her really helped me enjoy my gymnastics more.Williams said after watching the women in qualifications, I was hoping that we would come out and be on fire as well. Theres got to be that energy, he said. Simone is just so comfortable out on the floor. It would be great to have that. Paul Hamm sort of had that spark where he led the team in 2004 and kind of put the team on his back, and that certainly helps. It makes everyone feel comfortable.Talking about the womens team, Anthony Hernandez, the father of Laurie, one of its gold-medal winning members, said the women embrace pressure and clearly its a recurring theme.This is easy for them, Hernandez said. I dont mean it lightly, but Martha [Karolyi], shes always on top of things. Shes always having mock competitions at the ranch, so these young ladies are battle-tested. So when they come out here, yeah, sure, theres anxiety, but theyre used to the wars.The women also work with a sports psychology coach whom Biles and Hernandez have praised for helping them deal with the stress and pressure of competition.The same coach, Robert Andrews, worked with the men before the 2012 Olympics, but he said not everyone bought into what he was trying to teach, which included overcoming injuries. And in an interview with ESPN.com on Monday, he lashed out at USA Gymnastics, blaming selfishness for the mens current deficiencies.The sad thing for me was USA Gymnastics paid my way to London, gave me tickets and I never got to see the team while I was in London, Andrews said this week in an interview with ESPN.coms Alyssa Roenigk. Certain individuals in the system wouldnt give me access to the team and it backfired. Poor decisions were made by one or two people at USA Gymnastics that affected their confidence and belief, and it shook that whole system and those guys went onto that floor fragile because of those decisions.Andrews, now working with the Houston Texans, blamed one or two people within the program who wanted to control things and have all the glory and said, This is how weve always done it, and they wanted to make the Olympics about them.This is going to piss some people off that Im saying this, but Im OK with that, Andrews continued. It was wrong. Their decisions backfired and those guys went onto the floor [at the 2012 Games] confused and distracted, and the result showed. It took me months to get over that. What we could have done with that team in London and if we had the chance to build upon that in 2016 -- I had guys calling me three years later asking me to come back to the program.There are other, pragmatic reasons for why the U.S. men are not better. And a pretty good source in one of the greatest male gymnasts in history believes it is not fair to compare them to the women.The [U.S. women] can go out and have a terrible meet tonight and theyll still likely win the team competition, Bart Conner, a two-time gold medalist in the all-around and team competition at the 1984 Olympics, said Tuesday afternoon before the womens final. An important distinction to realize in this period of time is that there is a very big difference in mens and womens gymnastics.With the large emigration of Eastern European coaches to the U.S. some 30 years ago, womens programs in countries like Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania, the homeland of Conners wife Nadia Comaneci, as well as China, were decimated, Conner reminded us. And they still have not recovered.Its a double-edged sword because weve benefited from their expertise, Conner said. The U.S. women have never been better and the rest of the world has never been worse. Romania doesnt even have a full team. The Belarus team is made up of gymnasts from California who have never been to Belarus.The U.S. women are magnificent and unbeatable. But its more competitive in mens competition. The top six to eight programs are all magnificent. One or two mistakes in the mens competition and youre off the podium.Conner also pointed out the inherent difference between male and female gymnasts. While women are typically in their teens with lives relatively uncomplicated, the men are often dealing with post-college careers and some, such as Alex Naddour, have wives and children.There are also fewer boys than girls who pursue the sport in the U.S. because of fewer collegiate opportunities for males. In 2015, there were 63 womens Division I programs to just 15 mens programs.There probably needs to be a complete review on how to improve performance or results [for the U.S. national team], Connor said. I think they need to do a little soul-searching to find out how to get a little better. But I dont think theres need for a dramatic overhaul. Theyre pretty close. ... Its not in a state of catastrophe.Williams praised Martha Karolyi, the 73-year-old Hungarian-Romanian national team coordinator for the womens program, for getting it right. Martha and husband Bela defected to the U.S. from Romania in 1981, and they have trained nine Olympic champions.By getting it right, Martha Kraolyi is the one voice for the womens programs and there is cohesion in their program that does not exist with the men.Its difficult because we have so many different places theyre coming from, Williams said. But there should be a very strong voice that makes it so that everyone is doing what theyre told to do and that doesnt always happen.Martha Karolyi was asked on Tuesday if she still intends to retire as womens national team coordinator, and she said yes. She was then half-jokingly asked if the U.S. mens program had contacted her, and she laughed and said, No, no. They didnt. I dont know what happened with their program. Theyre very strong gymnasts. .... 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