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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

US Women Are First to Win Gold Since Magnificent 7

I have to admit I cried while watching Team USA celebrate after realizing they had done enough on their last rotation, the floor exercise, to take gold. The first two rotations were really tight, with Russia and the US going neck and neck. However, when the US and Russia, who were in the same rotation group, moves to beam things started going downhill for the Russian. One of their stars, 2010 AA world champ Aliya Mustafina, stumbled and nearly fell. Then Viktoria Komova, who took second AA at last year's world championships and was ranked first after Sunday's qualification round, landed her Patterson dismount with both feet completely off the mat. The Russians continued to struggle on floor, and counted two falls among other mistakes.

Meanwhile, the US girls were solid throughout. Their only errors were very small: slow beam series connections, (small) hops on landings, and slightly missed handstands on bars. By the time they got to floor they knew their usual routines would be enough to earn them first place, as Russia's chances were almost certainly gone after their mistakes on beam. Gabby was up first, and turned in a solid routine (although her choreography/artistry is definitely lacking.) Jordyn Wieber was up next, and rocked through one of the best routines of her life. You could see the determination and emotion in her face as she aimed for gold after very narrowly missing a spot in the All Around competition. But Aly Raisman got to perform very last, and turn in the winning routine just like Kerri Strug did on vault in 1996. Aly's eyes filled with tears as she left the floor, and the girls immediately formed a huddle with their coaches to celebrate. I hear John Geddert say something like "You girls get gold medals. I think it's real gold too!" LOL.

Romania performed solid and beautiful routines, but their lower D scores were only enough to earn them a consecutive bronze. Nadia Comaneci was in the arena watching every minute.

The Chinese looked to be in medal contention for a while, but faltered on beam and finished in what I'm sure was a disappointing fourth after the high of their first place win in 2008.

Montage of US women to come!

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