Gold - Gabrielle Douglas USA
Silver - Viktoria Komova RUS
Bronze - Aliya Mustafina RUS
I can't say the All Around turned out EXACTLY the way that I wanted it to, but two out of the 3 girls I wanted on the podium made it there, so I'm definitely not going to complain. As in my preview, apologies, but I'm going to focus mainly on the gymnasts that were in contention for medalling since I only watched the top group's rotation on the live feed, I was simply too nervous to miss one second of that group.
The top group began on Vault. Gabby was the first one up, and she nailed her Amanar, scoring a 15.966. Next up was Aly, and I was so proud of her vault. That was the one thing I thought she really had to score well on to keep up with the rest of the top 4, especially because her bars set scores so low. She got a 15.9. Komova again had issues with stepping out of bounds, but again the score was not very drastically affected by it, she earned a 15.466. I was wondering all morning if Aliya would throw an Amanar today, but she did not and I'm very happy with the choice she made. She injured herself on the Amanar back in 2011 and has been doing DTY's in competitions ever since, and she honestly owns that vault now. She stuck the landing, and stayed in the mix for medal hopes with a 15.233.
Next up were the Uneven Bars. Aly was up first, and that was a major disadvantage for her, however, she actually delivered a great set and scored even higher than she did in qualifications with a 14.333. Komova was up second of the 4, and she did a great routine and was rewarded with a 15.966. It seemed today that the bars judges were scoring a little on the higher side, but they did it consistently across the board so it didn't bother me that much. Next up was Musty, and she gave one of the best bars routines I've EVER seen in my life and scored a HUGE 16.1!! I was so incredibly proud of her. And Gabby was last up and she rocked it out like she normally does, this girl gets so much air on her releases its insane. She scored a 15.733.
The beam is where everything started going haywire. Komova was up first. I believe she was overscored a bit. She had at least 3 balance checks and a step on the dismount, but was still given a 15.441. Musty was next up and she fell on her standing arabian!! :( I was so upset!! Her chances for medaling looked to be slim to none at that point, 13.633. Gabby got up on the beam and I was so nervous for her. But what do you know .. she hit AGAIN. 15.5!! 3rd beam routine in a row hit at these Olympic games!!! I was so ecstatic because I knew she'd taken the lead and I knew that Aly was up next and beam is one of her best events so I was looking for her to take at least bronze medal position going into her best event, floor. Unfortunately, Aly's beam was very shaky. She actually had to reach down and touch the beam at one point, a huge deduction. Besides that, there were many wobbles in her routine as well as a larger than normal step on her Patterson dismount. She scored a 14.2, and at that point I was really worried for her.
Floor exercise was last, and I believe the order was Gabby, Musty, Aly, and Komova. Gabby hit all of her passes solid except for a slight messy landing on one. Overall though, she gave a fantastic performance and there was NO DOUBT in my mind once I saw the score, 15.033, that she had won gold because Komova would have to score a 15.360 to pass her. So next came Musty, delivered a brilliant performance, her music is so perfect for her and so dramatic, I honestly just love watching her, however .. I need to see what her D score is because her score to me always seems so low. She was given a 14.6. Next up was Aly. She took out her arabian to punch front combination (the last move in her first pass), to my surprise. I really wish she had not done that because what do you know, after her score came up she and Musty were tied! At this point I remembered hearing about the new rule that if theres a tie, both gymnasts get a medal. But I forgot that was when they were referring to a situation like Nastia's and He Kexin's in the bars final in Beijing when BOTH the execution scores are tied as well. Long story short, Musty ended up medaling and Aly did not. Had she left the move in her routine and done it as she usually does, I believe she would have medaled. So, last up .. Komova. She needed a 15.36 to win the gold. I feel really sad for her because no one can deny that she went out and gave the floor exercise of her life ... and again, just like at World Championships, she came up short in the end.
I'm so happy for Gabby. She literally came out of nowhere in 2010 and continued to get better and better. I remember seeing her live at the CoverGirl in 2010 and she was all nerves, jitters, and falls. Throughout the last two years she has come such a long way and she deserves everything because she has worked for it. I'm so happy for coach Chow also, especially after how Shawn came up short in Beijing. Now he has the past two Olympics the Olympic Champ this year and the silver medalist in 2008. He deserves this success so much and I hope to see more of him in many more Olympics to come.
A lot of people don't like Komova and are irritated when she cries, and so am I, but only because I don't know why she puts so much pressure on herself! That is her downfall. After Vault she was in 3rd (KNOWING the Americans are dominant on vault and her turn would come on bars), and I just don't get that. Same with crying because of the silver. I totally get that its devastating and of course someone should be able to cry, but honestly you won the silver medal! You're the second best gymnast in the whole world. But even though she cries, I'm proud of what she did I just wish she was not so hard on herself.
I could not be happier for Aliya Mustafina. This girl is honestly such and inspiration to me. She has come back from an ACL injury in a year and still manages to help her team to a team silver medal and wins a bronze in the All Around. I'm so happy she medaled she truly deserves it, and I really really REALLY hope that she goes for Rio, because that will give her all the time in the world to be back to top form because this isn't even her best!! I am so so excited to watch her in bars and floor finals, I so want her to medal in bars.
I'm very sad for Aly. I know how hard she has worked and for her to have literally scored the same as Mustafina and then not gotten the medal, I cannot even imagine. I think that the rule is so dumb. If they have the same total scores why try and pick apart routines and scores, sorry they both ended with the SAME total score so they both deserve a medal! However, I know that Aly is strong and she will be fine and I know that she is going to rock it in the beam and floor finals.
I have to say that a part of me has felt so odd all day and I honestly think it was because I was so not used to Jordyn not being in the All Around. It was so weird not getting excited about her routines and cheering her on. She was so amazing today, tweeting Aly and Gabby both multiple times with congratulations, I can't even imagine what she was feeling. They really really need to go back to the 3/36 format they used in Sydney. Or just take the best 24 athletes period. I will be making a photo post later most likely. Thanks for reading!
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