Raisman leaps to Gold.

The disappointment began Sunday night when U.S. Gymnast McKayla Maroney settled for a Silver Medal on Vault after landing on her butt, and continued on Monday and Tuesday night for Gabby Douglas, who faltered on both Uneven Bars and Beam. However, Raisman was able to end the journey on a positive note for the U.S. Gymnastics Team, earning Gold on the Floor Exercise and barely Bronze on the Beam.

The U.S. Gymnastics Team won the Gold Medal in the team competition, and Douglas won an All-Around Gold, so really anything after that is just gravy. However, it is sort of strange that the best All-Around gymnast in the world basically blew it on the individual events, but perhaps she really was just exhausted.

No one really expected Douglas to jump past the Chinese or Russian gymnasts on the bars, but coming in last was a bit of a surprise. She overextended on a handstand, and finished with a last-place score of 14.9.

On the bars, Gold went to the feisty (and usually crying) Aliya Mustafina of Russia, Silver went to China’s He Kexin and hometown fave Beth Tweddle of Great Britain earned the Bronze.

Last night, Douglas again had trouble. Though she fought hard, she ended up falling off the Beam during her routine. Russia’s Viktoria Komova (Silver All-Around) also fell, which meant that the 13.363 that Douglas received put her in second to last place.

China rocked the Beam, nabbing Gold and Silver from Linlin Deng and Lu Sui respectively. The real drama came from Raisman, who competed last. Catalina Ponor of Romania was in Bronze contention with a score of 15.066, as Raisman mounted. Her solid performance made her a shoe-in for the Bronze, but Raisman received a score of 14.933.

There was a rumble in the crowd from Béla and Marta Károlyi, and Raisman’s coach made a mad dash to put in an inquiry. The judges decided that they had not counted all of Raisman’s skills and granted her a new score of 15.066 – the same as Ponor. This time, instead of tying and settling for fourth as she did in the All-Around, the tie-breaker was in Raisman’s favor, and she pushed Ponor out of third place. For the tiebreaker, the judges look at the execution score, and Raisman indeed had the edge. However, knowing how much it hurt getting edged out of the All-Around, you have to wonder if Raisman knew what her actions did to Ponor.

Again, I don’t see the problem in just giving away two medals. Raisman had less deductions, but it also means her routine was less difficult. Shouldn’t Ponor be rewarded for trying the more difficult skills?

On the Floor Exercise, Raisman didn’t have to go through any tiebreakers as she beat everyone out with a dynamic routine and a score of 15.6 while clad in the most patriotic leotard imaginable. Ponor of Romania was right behind her with a 15.2, so I’m glad she was able to get a medal after getting the shaft on the Beam. Mustafina was happy to earn the Bronze, considering she stepped out of bounds.

Jordyn Wieber was also on the floor with her only chance of an individual medal, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. She finished in 7th place, right above the Vault champion – Romania’s Sandra Raluca Izbasa – who fell flat on her face on her last tumbling pass.  Izbasa took the Floor last, and I have to wonder how long Raisman waited after the wipeout before jumping for joy because she knew it meant the Gold was hers.

On the whole, it was a very successful outing for all of the U.S. Gymnasts at the Olympic games, except for maybe poor Wieber, whose nightmare began when she was edged out of the All-Around competition. Wieber and Kyla Ross were the only two who didn’t receive individual medals, but Ross wasn’t really supposed to be in the running. Wieber certainly tried her best, and both Wieber and Ross were essential in the U.S. winning the Team Gold.

Now that Gymnastics is over, I can return to my normal life!

Gabby Douglas wins the All-Around Gold.

For the third straight Olympic Summer Games, a U.S. gymnast has grabbed the coveted gold medal in the Women’s Individual All-Around. Last night, Gabby “The Flying Squirrel” Douglas nailed every one of the four Artistic Gymnastics events to take home the Gold Medal for the U.S.

Mary Lou Retton did it first in 1984, and then there was a lengthy drought for the U.S. in terms of the All-Around. Then, in 2004, Carly Patterson took home the Gold in Athens. Nastia Liukin repeated the triumph at the Beijing Games in 2008, and now Douglas joins the list. Douglas may be the fourth U.S. gymnast to take home the Gold, but she is the first-ever African-American gymnast to claim that title.

Aly Raisman was also on the roster last night for the All-Around competition (if you’ll remember she edged out Jordyn Wieber, who was forced to watch from the sidelines), but though she tied for third place she did not take home a medal. More on that later.

At the end of the competition the results looked like this: Gold, Douglas; Silver, Russia’s Viktoria Khomova; Bronze, Russia’s Aliya Mustafina.

The rotation was the same as it has been all of the previous nights with vault first for the top six gymnasts: Douglas, Komova, Mustafina, Raisman, China’s Deng Linlin (who was on the Gold Medal Team in Beijing) and some girl who never got any air time so after looking online I’m guessing was Romania’s Sandra Raluca Izbasa.

The U.S. has been solid on vault this year, and that streak continued as Douglas and Raisman went 1 and 2  scoring 15.966 and 15.900 respectively. The Russians aren’t nearly as strong, giving them a disadvantage after the first rotation.

Next up came the uneven bars, where the Russians were going to gain some ground. They went 1 and 2 here, with Mustafina and Komova receiving 16.1 and 15.966, respectively. Douglas pulled in a solid routine, and her third-place 15.733 kept her on top after the second rotation. Raisman had a bit of trouble – as expected- and her 14.333 led her to slip. Her two best events were still coming up.

On the dreaded beam, Douglas was solid again with a top-scoring 15.5, but Komova was right on her heels with a 15.441. Mustafina had a disaster that included falling completely off the beam, and her 13.633 left the door wide open for Raisman. Unfortunately, Raisman also had some issues. She didn’t fall, but she did put her hands on the beam, which is still a large deduction. She received a 14.2.

With nothing left but the floor, Douglas had the lead, but Komova had the potential to jump right in there. Douglas gave a stellar performance and received a score of 15.033. It was going to take a near-perfect performance for Komova to overcome Douglas, and she couldn’t do it. In the end, Douglas had an overall score of 62.232, beating Komova’s 61.973 by a narrow .259 of a point.

Meanwhile, Mustafina and Raisman were fighting for 3rd. Raisman had a fantastic floor routine, and her score of 15.133 was second only to Romania’s Izbasa, who I’m sure had a great performance that NBC must not have cared about because we didn’t see it. Mustafina’s 14.6 put her in sixth place on the floor.

If you’re keeping count, that means that the two finished with the exact same overall score of 59.566. I don’t remember this happening in the past, so it was unclear what was going to happen. Apparently, the rule for a tie (which even Raisman said in an interview that she didn’t know existed) is to throw out the lowest score (which was beam for both of them) and tally the scores again. Without the ugly beam score, coupled with that amazing uneven bars score, Mustafina went home with the medal. Though on the whole Raisman’s sores were more solid on each apparatus, Mustafina had higher highs and lower lows – and was rewarded.

In my opinion, they both should’ve gotten the Bronze medal. When you take out the lower score you are eliminating one of the events, and therefore it is no longer an All-Around score. Since they both had low beam scores, it’s like beam didn’t even happen, and competing in three events is by no means an All-Around competition. As All-Around gymnasts they are equals, so why does one get a medal over the other?  In swimming people share medals, so why not in gymnastics? I’m also pretty sure in the Event Finals sometimes they share medals, so why not in the All-Around?

Rainsman was very classy and gracious in an interview I watched this morning, but she has to be dying a little bit inside. Though she was tied for third at the Olympic Games, she won’t receive an All-Around medal. I hope she comes out swinging next week in the event finals.

I also have to slightly wonder how Wieber feels. Yes, she’s happy for her teammates, bla, bla, bla. But, deep down inside her adolescent mind is she happy that Raisman failed to medal, or is she annoyed that she was beaten by a gal who couldn’t even medal. I’m sure we’ll never know, but I’m curious.

Congrats to Douglas and to Raisman, who in my book certainly deserves the Bronze. Stay tuned for the event finals next week, where all five of the Gold Medal Gymnastics Team will have a chance to compete.

The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team took home an easy gold last night. L-R: Jordyn Wieber, Gaby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross

They were the favorites going in, but anything can happen in the Olympic Games. Despite the added pressure (and curse?) that comes from being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, last night the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team leaped their way above the competition to nab the first team Gold Medal since the Magnificent Seven team of 1996.

Jordyn Wieber was able to shake off any disappointment she may have felt after being left out of the all-around race and started the team off on a high note with the very first vault in the first rotation. She beamed from ear to ear as she landed an impressive score of 15.933. Gabby Douglas, the only member of the team to compete in every event last night, received a 15.966 and McKayla Maroney, the world champion on the vault, had a near-perfect 16.233 (out of 16.5). After the first rotation the U.S. team was more than 1.5 points above the Russians, who would be their competition the whole night long.

The U.S. headed to the bars next, which is their weakest event. Kyla Ross turned in a respectable 14.933, Wieber received a 14.66 and Douglas led the team with a 15.2. Though all fine scores, having just one gymnast score above 15 was a bit of a detriment. Viktoria Komova earned a 15.766 and Aliya Mustafina enjoyed a score of 15.7. Boom, just like that the Russians were back in the race.

Heading to the balance beam, which has to be the most nerve-wracking event, the U.S. was more than solid and regained the lead they had enjoyed after the vault. Ross received a score of 14.933. Aly Raisman competed for the first time and earned a 14.933 and Douglas received a 15.233. All very respectable scores, but certainly not unbeatable.

Lucky for the U.S., the beam is where things start to fall apart for the Russians. We only saw two of the athletes perform, but it began with Mustafina pulling in a jittery performance with a number of balance checks. After her dismount she stormed past her coach and sulked on the bench as she awaited her 14.533 score. Komova did a better job with a 15.033, but the Russians could feel the competition slipping away.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, even though the U.S. went first on every other event, the Russians went first on the last apparatus of the night: the floor. Mustafina started off and had a few bobbles, earning her a 14.8. Then, we got our first glimpse of Anastasia Grishina. Apparently she was on bars but we didn’t see that performance.

On the floor, Grishina was a disaster of – shall we say – Olympic proportions. First she screwed up the landing on a tumbling pass, and then she fumbled another tumbling pass to the point where she entirely skipped the second half. I have never seen anyone completely miss an entire half of a tumbling pass before, so it was clear this was going to be ugly. When she finished, I wasn’t even sure if Grishina knew quite what had happened, but her teammates sure did. With a 12.466 Grishina’s score was the second worst overall for the whole night (Someone from Great Britain managed to get a 11.833 on beam).

Stepping onto the floor, the U.S. team needed to average barely over 13 per athlete to win the gold – which is really a piece of cake for these gals. Wieber got a 15.0 and then Douglas scored a 15.066. Raisman could do the routine in her sleep and the team would’ve still won the gold. Though she took out a tumbling pass that had been giving her trouble, she easily scored a 15.3. Her face crumpled in tears of joy as she finished her last tumbling pass and the Gold was sealed.

No curse here for the team.

The Gymnastics results were released much earlier in the day yesterday, but I’m glad I avoided social media as much as possible so that I could watch the event without any knowledge of the outcome. As soon as Grishina blew it hardcore on the floor I knew that the U.S. had it in the bag; but again, you still never know for sure. When Raisman finished her routine and could barely keep in the tears, I must admit it was a little dusty in my house because my eyes were cloudy as well. The U.S. team linked hands and waited for their final score, but it was more than obvious that a trip to the top of the podium was in there future.

Aside from Russia, no one else was anywhere near the Americans. China had some great bar routines, but was weaker on the other events. As always, NBC decided to only show the U.S., Russians (not all routines) and a smattering of Chinese and Romanian gymnasts. We did not see one routine from gymnasts from Canada, Italy, Japan or even the host country of Great Britain. Regardless, the stars of the night were truly the U.S Gymnasts, who easily lived up to the hype. They finished with a score of 183.596, more than five points above second place Russians with 178.530 and over seven points more than Romania in third with 176.414.

No matter what happens in the individual all-around competition on Thursday, each member of the U.S. Gymnastics Team (Wieber included) will go home from the London Games with a Gold Medal.