HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP)—

Nothing like an invitation to the American Cup to get a gymnast back on track.

The American Cup is one of the most prestigious international meets, with past winners including Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin. Win it Saturday, and Sloan becomes one to watch this season—and beyond.

“I like getting back into routine shape. I feel like ’09 worlds will be a whole lot easier because I’ll have routines since February,” Sloan said. “That’s relatively early, but hopefully early will help to my advantage in the later competitions.”

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Fellow Olympians Rebecca Downie of Britain and Koko Tsurumi of Japan also will compete. And all eyes will be on Jordyn Wieber, the reigning U.S. junior champ. Wieber won’t be eligible for the world championships until 2011, so this is an early opportunity to show her off in front of international judges.

“It’s a major step for me to becoming a senior. It’s kind of like a debut meet for me,” Wieber said. “I’m just trying to put myself out there and get more experience in competitions.”

The men’s field, meanwhile, is stacked with five Olympians, including all-around bronze medalist Benoit Caranobe of France and Joey Hagerty, part of the bronze-medal U.S. squad. World silver medalist Fabian Hambuechen of Germany is back, and reigning national champion David Sender is competing in his first major meet since spraining his ankle at Olympic trials.

Sloan went to the Beijing Games as the youngest and least heralded member of the U.S. team. She only turned 16 in June—Alicia Sacramone and Chellsie Memmel were both 20—and not only did she not have any medals from the world championships, she’d never even been on a world or Pan American Games team. Sloan was the alternate on the squad that won the gold at the 2007 world championships.

But she made quite an impression in Beijing, emerging as a rock-solid competitor after teammate Samantha Peszek sprained her ankle right before the preliminaries. All four of her scores counted in prelims, and she had the 11th-best overall score.

She only competed on vault in the team finals, but she was solid. The Americans wound up with the silver behind China.

“The experience was amazing, and it made me a stronger person, stronger athlete,” Sloan said. “Being able to say that you’ve been to the Olympics is something. Being able to say you represented your country and actually competed is something else. It’s so amazing to have that feeling.”

Sloan is the first of the Olympians to return to competition. Alicia Sacramone is retired, and Shawn Johnson is preparing for “Dancing with the Stars.” Liukin, Peszek and Chellsie Memmel are all just now getting back into the gym, with Peszek now training with Sloan.

Peszek’s coach retired after Beijing, and training with her fellow Indianapolis resident was the most logical choice.

“She and Bridget complement each other in their styles,” coach Marvin Sharp said. “Bridget is a little more methodical and likes to do drills while Sam’s more of a go-getter. … Together, Sam pushes Bridget to do some things, and Bridget shows Sam it’s OK to plan a little bit more. So it’s been great.”

Although returning to her regular, 5-hour workouts wasn’t easy at first, Sharp said he’s noticed a new focus in Sloan since she got back from Beijing.

“She understands what she can get from the training,” Sharp said. “If you set a goal as high as the Olympic Games and you really work for it and you do what you need to, you can actually do that.”

Martha Karolyi, the national team coordinator, has noticed it, too. She praised Sloan for coming to last month’s training camp ready to work and likes that she’s willing to jump in and be a leader now, when only a few months ago she was the baby of the U.S. team.

Whether that means she’ll stick around through 2012 has yet to be decided. She still enjoys gymnastics and knows she hasn’t come close to reaching her peak yet. Changes in the rules should help her, too; gymnasts can’t count as many acrobatic skills on balance beam and floor exercise, putting a bigger emphasis on form, flexibility and artistry.

But four years is a long time, especially for a 16-year-old.

“The Olympics really taught me to take everything day by day, and not think about it too much, and that’s what I’m doing,” she said. “Right now, I’m just training for the American Cup.”