It's not from Beijing, but Bartlett boy is gold medalist, too

Forget Beijing. Bartlett already has its own pint-size gold medalist.

While he didn't win on the world stage, Bartlett's own Matt McClure did secure first place in the basketball event at the national finals of the U.S. Junior Olympic Skills Competition in Chicago.

The 12-year-old won events in Bartlett and south suburban Homewood before making to the UIC Pavilion for the finals. Event organizers say 1.8 million kids participated this year in the more than 7,500 qualifying events across the country. The Bartlett Park District held its qualifier March 20 and drew about 40 participants. Seventy-two boys and girls from across the country, ages 8 to 13, were in Chicago July 25 to compete in the finals.

"When they announce your name, and when the gold medal goes to you while you're out on the podium, it's pretty neat," said Matt, who'll be a seventh-grader at Eastview Middle School in Bartlett.

Competition organizers chose four sports - basketball, tennis, track and field and soccer - because they're most popular with children, said John Romano, who works out of the U.S. Junior Olympic Skills Competition's national office in Georgia. He said the event aims to spread Olympic spirit among youngsters.

"Any one of these kids could be Olympians," he said. "You never know."

The basketball competition challenged players to sink as many baskets as they could from varying ranges within 45 seconds. Matt racked up 40 points in the final.

The U.S. Junior Olympic Skills Competition is in its third year, organized in part by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The group wants to pump up interest in the Olympics, with the Beijing games beginning Friday.

In its first two years, the skills competition was held in Colorado, but organizers have plans to return to Chicago next summer, just before the International Olympic Committee reveals its choice for host city for the 2016 Summer Games. The USOC wants to capitalize on Chicago's host bid against Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

"I think it would be really neat to have the games in the city," Matt said. "I'd go to them for sure."

Matt said he practiced daily for one or two hours even over the winter, shoveling his backyard court of snow when necessary. His mother Becky McClure joked it would've been nice if once in a while he'd have gone the extra mile and cleared the rest of the driveway.