Friday Five V.1 : Favorite Moments of London 2012

1. The Fierce Five win Team gold.

This was hands down my favorite moment of the Olympic games. I was so so so happy for these girls, and so proud. Unlike 4 year fans, we on the Gymnternet follow these girls' careers for years and years, and we are completely emotionally invested in them. To see all of their hard work and efforts culminate in the very gold that each one of them aimed for as their goal so long ago was honestly indescribable. It was a magic moment, and definitely the best of the entire Games.

2. Aly Raisman wins Floor Exercise gold.

I've said probably since Aly debuted this Floor Exercise routine that I believed she would win gold in London on this apparatus! I'm so so excited that she had the routine of her life and was able to win it. The floor final lineup was so incredibly talented and Aly was able to outdo all of them. I'm so so happy that she was able to get it!! She is the best tumbler in the world, and now everyone knows it.

3. Aliya Mustafina in general:

UB gold, most decorated gymnast, sportsmanship.

Aliya Mustafina has always been my favorite non-US gymnast .. well since 2010 Worlds, but these Olympic games I grew to love her more than even before. She is truly an inspiration, coming back from an ACL injury a year ago to now being the most decorated gymnast in London with a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals. She performed with focus and determination and honestly was the best display of sportsmanship that I saw at the 2012 games, her adorable hugs followed by her thumbs up! She is amazing. I am so excited that she is training for Rio.

4. Jordyn Wieber's class and strength.

The way that Jordyn handled her Olympic experience was the most classy behavior I have ever seen. Yes, she was disappointed. Yes, there were tears. This did not mean that she was not happy for Aly or Gabby, this was the reaction to a life long dream not coming true. But what did she do? Come out during Team Final and nailed her routines for the team (on a stress fracture no less). She also was in the arena supporting both of her teammates during the All Around and was one of the first to hug Aly after she won the Floor exercise gold medal. Jordyn is a true champion, and if anything, this Olympics just proved that even more.

5. The camaraderie of Team USA.

Social networking is truly a beautiful thing. I love how the entire time that they were in London, the girls were together the entire time as a team, you can really tell that they are all close friends and always will be. It makes you wonder if any of the previous Olympic teams were just like this or were they not so close? It's amazing that they keep us updated on all their goings on even when they are obviously so busy. I'm so glad that this team is so close and I am certain that played a part in how they completely decimated the competition in the Team Final. 

Hope you all enjoyed this! I will try and do it on a weekly basis.

Fierce Five Tribute

16 years ago ...

The Magnificent 7 made history by winning the first Team gold medal in women's gymnastics for the USA. The night was filled with magical moments up to the very end: Kerri Strug's miracle vault landed on one leg. These women set the standard for the future of women's gymnastics in the USA. After their win, the pressure was on all teams in the future to live up to the performances that they gave in 1996.

12 years ago ...

 In Sydney, the USA suffered 2 injuries and a vault scandal that severely affected their chance for an All Around medal. 10 years later, the US was awarded their bronze medals after it was discovered that a Chinese gymnast was not of age to compete in 2000. The bronzes were stripped from the China team and given to the USA who had finished in the dreaded 4th place. No one deserved them more.

8 years ago ...

In Athens, all expectations were for gold, however Team USA would have to settle for a silver. The team scored lower than usual on the uneven bars during team final and had to take Courtney Kupets off of the beam, both which may have contributed to the second place finish. Courtney McCool also did not compete on any event in Team Final, a surprise considering she was one of the two locked spots at Olympic Trials that year.

4 years ago ...

With more injuries (to Sam Pezsek and Chellsie Memmel) hindering the USA in Beijing, the team again finished with the silver when the expectation was gold. In the Team Final, Alicia Sacramone fell off beam in the 3rd rotation, but the USA was still in gold medal position heading into FX, the final rotation. However, a fall for Sacramone and out of bounds for both Nastia and Shawn meant again that the USA would end up taking the silver medal.

2012 ...

The Fierce Five win the first team gold medal since the Mag 7 did 16 years ago, and in completely DOMINATING fashion (5 points). This team came out during Team Final and had the meet of their lives. They got an amazing lead on the vault and even when the Russians closed the gap with their phenomenal bars performances, never looked back. This post is a tribute to them and their careers.

Jordyn Wieber - Team Gold

Yes, Jordyn had a disappointing Olympics. She failed to qualify for the All-Around and did not medal during Floor finals. However, I consider her the biggest hero of Team USA during these Olympic Games. After Floor finals, word got out that Jordyn had been competing on a stress fracture in her right leg since around the time of training camp in Houston, weeks before the Games. Her coach said that she wasn't even able to do landings in practice and their reps were limited. 

This girl is amazing. She and her coach could have used this as an excuse for all of the problems they faced during London (heck, it IS a valid excuse!!), but they didn't, the Trio didn't even say one word about it during FX finals because no one knew yet, and you KNOW they would have talked all about it had they known at the time. She is so strong, and the fact that during Team Final she dug down so deep and hit everything to help her team win the gold medal just amazes me. She has so much class and her parents and family must be so proud of the young lady she is. 

Jordyn has not committed to training for Rio yet. She said she's going to heal, and then tour, then make a decision on resuming training. She has also said that she wants to go to UCLA.

Gabby Douglas - Team & AA Gold

Gabby Douglas came home from London with two of the most important gold medals you can win: the Team gold and of course, the coveted All-Around gold as well! Gabby had an amazing time in London, however, I believe that she has yet to hit her peak. She qualified for two event finals, Bars and Beam, and unfortunately had major errors during both finals. 

But Gabby definitely did her part for the team, hitting on perhaps the most critical routine for her, the balance beam. They decided to put Gabby into the 3 up, 3 count line up instead of Jordyn, and it ended up paying off. She also hit all of her other three routines the night of Team Final, putting in her own huge contribution to the win of Team USA. I'm so happy for Gabby that she was able to win the Individual All Around for her and also for her coach, Chow. 

I don't think that Gabby has committed to training for Rio, but I really hope that she does. I know that she can be even BETTER than she was in London, however, I know that she will be pulled so many different ways after returning to the States, that she may end up getting more into the media frenzy and training will be hard. 

Aly Raisman 

Team & FX Gold, Beam bronze

Aly Raisman was the most decorated USA gymnast at the London Olympics, and I was so extremely happy for her and proud of her. I know she is one of the hardest workers anywhere, so say her coaches, teammates, other coaches, media, etc. Aly was able to qualify into the All Around during the Qualifications, having amazing routines on Vault, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise and also a solid routine on her weakest event, the Uneven Bars. She also scored high enough to qualify to Beam and Floor finals.

During the Team Final, she played her part, scoring a 14.933 on Beam and a 15.3 on Floor. One of my favorite moments of the entire Olympics was her breaking down in tears before her Floor was even over, because she knew that they had won the gold. During the All Around, things were looking good for her up until the Beam. She scored better on both Vault and Bars than she did in Qualifications, and with her best two events, Beam and FX to come, it looked good for her to medal. Unfortunately, she had a few major errors during beam, including grabbing the beam, and scored very low. However, with other falls and errors on beam she was still in the hunt for a medal going into the last rotation. Again she took out her punch layout (the last element of her first pass), and that ended up costing her the bronze. She tied with Aliya Mustafina, but Mustafina won it after they dropped the lowest scoring apparatus and counted the highest 3. Luckily there were better times to come for Aly, taking the bronze on Beam after winning a tiebreaker and then, for the first time in history, taking the gold for the USA on Floor!! I was so happy for her, that was one of my major wishes for these Olympics!

Aly has said that she will continue training. I know that she knows how to train between Olympics at an older age because she has had Alicia as a training partner and I know that she will always have her as a mentor. 

Kyla Ross - Team Gold

Kyla Ross is my favorite of the Fierce Five :) Not only did she do her job for the team at these Olympic games, I strongly believe that she can have a tremendously successful quadrennium coming up and be a contender in Rio in 2016, assuming she stays healthy. 

Kyla had a great Qualifications, except for one small error on the Uneven Bars that left her as a Reserve for the Bars final. She did amazing on Beam and qualified in 6th, and would have made finals had it not been for the controversial 2 per country rule. As it was, Gabby and Aly qualified higher than her, so sadly, she did not end up making an event final. However, that takes nothing away from what she did for the team throughout the Olympics. She was the lead off gymnast for Team USA for Beam in both Qualifications and Team Final. She was rock solid, never wavering. Despite being the youngest member on the team with little to no international experience, she was the most unaffected of the bunch, never letting the crowd noise get the best of her. The queen of stuck landings had a wonderful Olympics. I was thinking, and she reminds me so much of another of my favorite gymnasts, Tasha Schwikert, in Sydney in 2000. Tasha was also the baby of the team, had no international experience, was used as the lead off athlete, performed to the best of her ability, and delivered for the team but did not make an event final.

Kyla has decided to keep her amateur status for the time being. She is going to do "a couple" dates of the Kelloggs tour, but is mainly going to resume training and school. I am so excited to see what becomes of Kyla in the next quad. I compared her to Tasha Schwikert, and after the 2000 Olympics Tasha became the best gymnast in America, winning 2 National Championships, captaining the 2003 World Championships team that won the first team gold at World's ever, and staying in the mix for Athens in 2004. Had it not been for an Achilles injury, I believe she would've made the Athens team. I hope that the exact same happens for Kyla, because she deserves the spotlight on her. She's amazing!! 

McKayla Maroney

Team Gold, Vault Silver

McKayla Maroney was involved in most likely the most shocking upset of the Olympic games in Vault finals. An injured toe prevented her from most likely competing in Floor Exercise during Qualifications. McKayla had a successful Olympics nonetheless.

In Qualifications, McKayla performed only on Vault. She scored a 15.8 and qualified into the Vault final a good 5 tenths above anyone else. During Team Final, she delivered an INCREDIBLE, perfectly stuck Amanar. Everyone believed she should have received a perfect 10 for execution, but of course she did not, scoring still a HUGE 16.233. During the Vault final, she landed out of bounds on her Amanar, but still certainly would have dominated the others and won the gold medal had she not sat down her Mustafina -- which, prior to then, she'd usually been sticking. The last competitor, Sandra Izbasa, was able to put together two solid vaults (though much less difficult), to win the gold. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that McKayla is best in the world at vaulting.

Perhaps this is why McKayla has said that she will be training to try and go to Rio. I really am interested to see her back on all 4 events healthy, I don't even know if she'd do all 4 after this, but most certainly Vault and Floor. It is my hope that she continues training all 4 though. 

These 5 girls came together to win a gold medal, and the moment was honestly so incredible even for us fans, that I can hardly imagine how it felt to be one of them. I'm so so proud of all 5 of these girls. They each did their job for the team, and it was so rewarding for them in the end. I'm so emotionally invested in both this team, as well as in the sport of gymnastics in general, that I found myself in tears so many times during these Olympics -- both tears of sadness and tears of happiness. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the Fierce Five -- Here's to another successful quad for Team USA!! 

Thank you for reading, and look for a special gymnastics edition of The Friday Five, coming this week!

Women's Floor Exercise Final

Gold - Aly Raisman USA

Silver - Catalina Ponor ROU

Bronze - Aliya Mustafina RUS

The Floor final was definitely my favorite final of these games, with Uneven Bars being a close second.  The lineup was completely LOADED with talent, former World FX champs and Olympics FX champs it was just unbelievable!! I was so nervous for Aly and Jordyn because I really wanted them both to medal and they were up so early in the lineup, which seemed to me a disadvantage.

Up first on the floor was Kseniia Afanaseva. She has beautiful choreography and a wonderful routine, I know that a lot of people were rooting for her to medal, however, she stepped out of bounds on her very first pass. Her whip whip to triple full is completely amazing, but she went out of bounds again on her third pass, possibly with both feet, and scored a very low 14.566. Jordyn was next up, and I was so so nervous for her .. I'm wondering if the stress fracture we just learned of is hindering her more than anyone was letting on because she faltered on almost every landing, and went out of bounds on her stag leap after he triple twist. That is just NOT like Jordyn at all. I'm so sad that this was the way her Olympics ended, with her errors she found herself scoring even lower than Afanaseva.

Aly was up third, and she had the best floor routine of her life!!! She added the punch layout back into her routine and she NAILED that opening tumbling pass and all of her other ones too! She stuck her triple twist as well. I was so so excited and her score was honestly gigantic -- 15.6!! The highest score on floor during the Olympics. I was confident, but with Sandra Izbasa going last there was no way I was ready to celebrate yet.

Catalina Ponor was next and she showed why she was the 2004 Athens Olympic champ on floor, she is honestly amazing!! I believe she was slightly underscored with a 15.2, however, I also thought that it didn't matter because she was definitely not better than Aly. So she went into silver medal position. Next was Lauren Mitchell, and although she is amazing on floor, this was not her best routine. She did respectably well though, and ended up with a 14.833.

Vanessa Ferrari was up next, and as I've said before, I've been so impressed with her these Olympics, and I'm glad that she made it to the event finals. Her routine was good and nice to watch, not a fan of her music though. She scored just a bit higher than Mitchell, posting a 14.9 and putting her in bronze medal position. Seventh was Aliya Mustafina, and I was not expecting her to medal here at all. She gave a wonderful performance though, I believe, her best of the Games so far. I love her music and how dramatic her routine is and her dance is just elegant and beautiful. Much to my surprise, she scored a 14.9, tying Vanessa Ferrari but winning the tie breaker and putting her in 3rd.

I didn't hold out hope of Musty medaling though, because the reigning Olympic champ on floor, Sandra Izbasa, was up last. Sandra's routine is definitely beautiful, but I was not a fan of her music either, it was very slow paced and kind of monotonous. She gave a wonderful routine up until she fell on one of the tumbling passes late in the routine. 

I was so happy for Aly for winning an individual gold medal! She definitely deserves it and I said a very long time ago that I knew that Aly would be FX champion in London. She is simply the best in the world. I was also very happy for Catalina Ponor, what a comeback she's had and to be able to medal with the team and in non consecutive Olympics is just incredible. And of course, I was happy for Musty, the most decorated female gymnast of the London games with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronzes. She has worked so so hard to get to where she is and she fully appreciates everything. It was a wonderful final to end the Games.

Women's Balance Beam Final

Gold - Deng Linlin CHN

Silver - Sui Lu CHN

Bronze - Aly Raisman USA

The Balance Beam final was definitely not something I would call pretty. There were many wobbles and several falls .. and not just falls, pretty ugly falls.

Sui Lu was up first and she delivered a nearly flawless routine. I was actually very impressed with her in qualifications and if one Chinese was going to win the gold I wanted it to be her. She scored a 15.5, huge score! Catalina Ponor was up next, and while I really enjoyed her beauty and routine, she had many balance checks and wobbles, and to me it just looked sloppy. Deng Linlin was third and to my dismay she posted a score even higher than that of Sui Lu's -- 15.6. That was definitely the highest score awarded on beam throughout these Games.

Larisa Iordache was up next, and she ended up falling off of the beam almost immediately. She managed to get back up and definitely fight through the rest of her routine with no major errors. Next up was Kseniia Afanaseva. She got her routine with no falls and relatively cleanly, however a huge step back on the dismount and a low D score was enough to keep her out of medal contention.

Gabby Douglas unfortunately had a very nasty fall after a broken connection and two major balance checks, and Viktoria Komova, who followed had not only one fall, but also sat down her Patterson dismount!! Honestly I think the worst beam final that I have ever seen!!

Aly Raisman was up last for the USA, and her routine was very solid, especially compared to the others. A few slight balance checks, and a hop on the dismount, but I was sure she'd medal. When the score came up, however, it had her in 4th place behind Ponor, again!! As I got ready to declare this THE worst EF I'd ever watched, Bela and Marta start waving to Mihai from the stands, telling him that he should appeal the score, and he did! They ended up raising her start value to 6.3, resulting in a tie for bronze with Ponor!! And this time, the tiebreaker went in Aly's favor and she ended up with the bronze medal!!

I was so happy for her for getting an individual medal, but irritated that China went 1,2 - and also with all of the falls and errors, this beam final was hard to watch.

Women's Floor Exercise Final Preview

Top 8 qualifiers and scores:

1. Alexandra Raisman - USA - 15.325
2. Sandra Izbasa - ROU - 15.066
3. Vanessa Ferrari - ITA - 14.900
4. Ksenia Afanaseva - RUS -14.833
5. Lauren Mitchell - AUS - 14.833
6. Jordyn Wieber - 14.666
7. Catalina Ponor - ROU - 14.600
8. Aliya Mustafina - RUS - 14.433

What to watch for:

Oh my gosh .. this Floor final is legit SO STACKED. There is so much amazing talent here and so many incredible routines, I'm so so excited to watch it. It's going to be honestly almost ANYONES game here, it's all going to be based on who hits and who does not.

Aly Raisman could most definitely win gold with this routine, however, both in Team Final as well as the All Around she took out the last element of her first tumbling pass. I'm hoping that it will be back in tomorrow as she goes all out for the gold!

Sandra Izbasa is the reigning Olympic champion on Floor from Beijing, and obviously she is a huge challenger for the gold medal. I'm so so proud of Vanessa Ferrari in this Olympics, she is having great competitions and I really hope that she hits tomorrow.

I really want Lauren Mitchell to do well. The Australians didn't even qualify for team final and I would like her to have something positive to take away from London. Gosh what can I say about Jordyn other than that I want her to medal so badly. *Redemption* If she can score what she scored in team final (15+) I believe she can be on that medal podium with some help.

Catalina Ponor is going to be amazing to watch of course, and how can I not root for Musty?! I love so many of them and they are all so so talented this is SO HARD.

My Medal Podium:

Fantasy Medal Podium : Gold - Jordyn Wieber, Silver - Aly Raisman, Bronze - Aliya Mustafina
Realistic Medal Podium : Gold - Aly Raisman, Silver: Sandra Izbasa, Bronze - Jordyn Wieber

Women's Balance Beam Final Preview

Top 8 qualifiers and scores:

1. Sui Lu - CHN - 15.400
2. Viktoria Komova - RUS - 15.266
3. Gabrielle Douglas - USA - 15.233
4. Deng Linlin - CHN - 15.166
5. Alexandra Raisman - 15.100
6. Ksenia Afanaseva - RUS - 15.066
7. Catalina Ponor - ROU - 15.033
8. Larisa Iordache - ROU - 14.800

What to watch for:

Watch for Komova, the second highest qualifier, to come out fighting. This is her last chance for a gold medal .. She is this year's Shawn Johnson so far, with 2 silvers in both the Team final and the All Around and I think we ALL know from watching her reactions after each competition just how much this girl wants a gold medal.

Sui Lu will perhaps be her toughest competitor .. scoring a fabulous 15.4 in qualifications, as well as Aly Raisman if she can work out the kinks in her routine that she suffered through in the All Around competition. Ksenia Afanaseva gave a wonderful balance beam routine in the team finals, which NBC decided not to show us. Get ready to watch her in her first Event Final.

Don't really think that Iordache will be able to challenge due to her injury, but who knows, maybe she will surprise us! I expect another solid routine from Gabby Douglas , although I don't know if it will be a high enough score to medal! I guess we will see. Very excited to see Catalina Ponor on beam as well.

My Medal Podium:

Gold - Aly Raisman
Silver - Sui Lu
Bronze - Gabby Douglas

Women's Uneven Bars Final

Gold - Aliya Mustafina RUS

Silver - He Kexin CHN

Bronze - Beth Tweddle GBR

Wow, the Bars final was a nail biter, just as I assumed it'd be. I said in my preview that I believed Mustafina, Komova, Tweddle, Kexin, and Douglas would be the contenders for the medals.

He Kexin was first up. She definitely got through her set nicely, however, when she connects all of her releases on the high bar, I think she looks a little sloppy when she gets off centered. Overall though, that routine and her huge score of 15.966 had me just praying that someone could beat it. Komova was up second, her routine was going great until she clipped her foot on the low bar just before her dismount .. incurring the big deduction and leaving her disappointed with a 15.666. Yao Jinnan was 4th and she performed a brilliant routine, putting China in gold and silver medal positions.

Finally, the first person to be able to challenge Kexin's score, Tweddle, was up fifth. Her routine was jam packed of difficult releases in combination and actually it was flawless until the landing of her dismount, on which she took two costly steps backwards. She did score a 15.916, enough to go ahead of Jinnan and behind Kexin. 

I was just hoping and wishing for Mustafina to hit it out of the park and she did!!!! She performs her routine so effortlessly, and her combination Pak to stalder to Shaposhnikova with a half was AMAZING as always. She topped it off with sticking her Mustafina dismount named for her. I was just on the edge of my seat waiting to see if it'd be enough to top He and IT WAS!! 16.133! I was seriously ecstatic for this girl, she has come so far so fast and it is her determination and will power that has gotten her here. 

With low scores from both Koko Tsurumi and Gabby Douglas, the podium was set. I'm pretty much satisfied with the way things went down. I would've liked to see Yao in second instead of He, but in all honesty, I think of Beth winning the bronze and most importantly MUSTY WINNING THE GOLD and everything is okay. Love my Princess! 

Women's Uneven Bars Final Preview

Top 8 qualifiers and scores:


1. Beth Tweddle - GBR - 16.133
2. He Kexin - CHN - 15.966
3. Viktoria Komova - RUS - 15.833
4. Yao Jinnan - CHN - 15.766
5. Aliya Mustafina - RUS - 15.700
6. Gabrielle Douglas - USA - 15.333
7. Elisabeth Seitz - GER - 15.166
8. Koko Tsurumi - JPN - 15.033

What to watch for:


This final could go honestly so many different ways. He Kexin is the reigning Olympic Champion from Beijing, but she has many challengers that could take away the chances of her winning a second gold medal on this apparatus.

Beth Tweddle in qualifications and Aliya Mustafina in the AA have the highest Uneven Bars score posted at the Olympics so far -- a 16.1. For these two to get it done tomorrow and challenge for the gold medal, Beth will most definitely have to hit all of her super difficult releases and connections and Aliya will really need to stick her dismount that is named after her.

Viktoria Komova can also score very well on this event, and so can Gabrielle Douglas. I believe there will be these 5 girls (He, Beth, Aliya, Viktoria, and Gabby) fighting for the spots on the podium.

My Medal Podium:


AAAH there is so many scenarios that I want. Mainly I want Beth Tweddle or Musty to win gold (mostly I want Musty because she deserves it so much after coming back from her injury to get where she is now), and I want Gabby to medal. So we will say ..

Musty, Beth, Gabby.

Women's Vault Final

Gold - Sandra Izbasa ROU

Silver - McKayla Maroney USA

Bronze - Maria Paseka RUS

No beating around the bush is necessary. It was the second shocker of the Games for Team USA today when World Champion on the vault, McKayla Maroney, did not win the gold that has been so expected from her ever since she won the World Championship title last year (and probably even before that).

Had Maroney not gone out of the area on her amazing Amanar, which incurred a 0.300 penalty, she probably could have even still won the gold after uncharacteristically sitting down her second vault, the Mustafina. As it was, unfortunately Maroney did both of those things, and it was just one tenth too low for the gold medal.

Sandra Izbasa won the gold, performing vaults with D scores of 6.1 and 5.8, significantly lower than those of Maroney's super vaults. Nonetheless, she performed them cleanly and was able to score enough to take the gold medal. 

I am still proud of McKayla for winning the silver. I feel that there was so much pressure placed upon her to win gold and I think that was her downfall today, or at least a part of it. It looked like she was going very much for the stick, too much so. She has still been an asset to Team USA and is still the best vaulter in the world.

Maria Paseka took bronze, I wish that Chuso could've snuck in, but at this point it is what it is I guess!

Women's Individual All Around Photos

Aly Raisman on Vault.

Komova vaults.

Aly salutes after her bars set.

Musty on bars.

Musty high fives after her amazing 16.1

Gabby :)

Musty after falling on beam.

Gabby on beam. Awesome.

Vika waving to the crowd.

Waiting for Vika's score. They're so cute!

Gabby Douglas -- Olympic Champion!!

Gabby's family & Shawn cheering!

<3

The podium.

Musty's beautiful smile!

Gold, silver, bronze.

Precious .. Gabby and Marta.

Women's Individual All Around Final

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!

Women's Individual All Around Preview

Top 24 Qualifiers and Scores:

1. Viktoria Komova - RUS - 60.632

2. Alexandra Raisman - USA - 60.391

3. Gabrielle Douglas - USA - 60.265

4. Aliya Mustafina - RUS - 59.966

5. Deng Linlin - CHN - 57.998

6. Vanessa Ferrari - ITA - 57.932

7. Asuka Teramoto - JPN - 57.865

8. Larisa Andreea Iordache - ROU - 57.800

9. Huang Quishaung - CHN - 57.707

10. Sandra Izbasa - ROU - 57.532

11. Jessica Lopez - VEN - 56.665

12. Elisabeth Seitz - GER - 56.466

13. Rebecca Tunney - GRB - 56.391

14. Ana Sofia Gomez Porras - GUA - 56.132

15. Hannah Whelan - GBR - 55.699

16. Dominique Pegg - CAN - 55.657

17. Celine van Gerner - NED - 55.632

18. Carlotta Ferlito - ITA - 55.500

19. Guilia Steingruber - SUI - 54.715

20. Emily Little - AUS - 54.498

21. Aurelie Malusessena - FRA - 54.399

22. Marta Philan-Kulesza - POL - 54.365

23. Rie Tanaka - JPN - 54.333

24. Ashleigh Brennen - AUS - 54.232

What to watch for:

ANYTHING can happen in the All Around competition. The most minuscule misstep can lead to a gymnast not medaling and a large error will take them totally out of it instantly. This can happen to anyone, even the best of the gymnasts qualified to this final. However, I believe that the greats in this final will make very few if any mistakes, and these will be the 3 ladies that you see on the podium tomorrow night winning the gold, silver, and bronze.

Take a look at the top 4 qualifiers: Viktoria Komova, Aly Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas, and Aliya Mustifina, and a look at their scores. Even the 4th place qualifier, Mustafina is almost a good 2 points ahead of the 5th place finisher. I believe that the Top 4 will be the challengers for the medals tomorrow night, and quite obviously, one of them is going to be disappointed and finish off of the podium. So in this preview, I'm mainly going to focus on these 4 gymnasts, since I believe they have the best shot of medaling in the All Around.

Komova qualified with the top score. In qualifications, she performed solidly on every event with the exception of floor, on which she scored very low -- in the 13's. This performance led to her being pulled from the line up in team final. In team final, Komova stepped out of bounds to the side on her Amanar vault, yet was still rewarded a high score. However, she needs to clean up that Amanar if she's going to have any chance of scoring close to Aly Raisman or Gabrielle Douglas's vault scores. Komova is simply a superstar on the uneven bars, and this is where her advantage is going to be and where she will need to pick up some extra tenths after the vault. In team final on balance beam, she was a little slow on her connections and was off the mat on her dismount, so she will really need to fix that before tomorrow. She also needs to do better on her floor exercise execution to have a shot. Komova has the skills and difficulty to win the gold, but she has to clean up the executions in her routines.

Aly Raisman had the meet of her life during qualifications. I believe that what really put her ahead of both Gabby and Jordyn was her vault. She did the best vault I've seen her do this year. With her scores on balance beam and floor exercise both normally in the 15+, I believe that her vault was the difference between making AA and not. She needs to have another superb Amanar vault tomorrow if she wants to have a hope of getting the gold. She also needs to do a solid uneven bars set tomorrow like she did in qualifications. Everyone knows that bars is not Aly's strength, but if she can hit cleanly, with no falls, her other scores will give her the numbers she needs to medal. Beam in team finals was just a TAD shaky. She needs to hit everything and score above 15 like she did in qualifications, I believe, to win gold. For floor, its simple: she is the BEST in the world. All she needs to do is go out and do her routine the way she did in qualifications and she's golden. I pray that Aly keeps her focus and believes in herself. That will be vital to her possibly winning the All Around gold medal.

Gabby Douglas has constantly proved me wrong these Olympic games. I've been nervous about her so many times, and she just keeps going on up there and hitting routine after routine. She is legit, the real deal. Her vaults have been amazing, bars have been incredible, SO IMPROVED on the balance beam, especially in team final, and other than the bound out of bounds in qualifications, her floor has been solid as well! Honestly there is no other criticisms that I can find in her! All she has to do is just TRUST herself and BELIEVE that she can be the Olympic All Around Champion, take that out onto the floor and hit her routines, and she will be. Thats all there is to it. Her nervousness is the only thing that can hold her back, and I haven't seen it thus far at these Games so I don't expect to see it tomorrow. 

Aliya Mustafina has had a rough time in these Olympics thus far. Her qualifications day was decent but unfortunately she did not have a good day during the team final. Aliya actually surprisingly to me has looked nervous. I normally do not sense or see that from her but I have these last few days. She definitely did not look like the girl who DOMINATED the 2010 Worlds, and started out 2011 by losing the American Cup because she told her coach she was doing her floor the way that SHE wanted it and not him. I have always love that about Mustafina, that she knows that she is NO DOUBT amazingly talented and never second guesses that fact. For her to medal, she's going to have to get that belief and confidence back. She needs to forget what happened in team final: a VERY shaky balance beam routine with 3 major balance checks that almost led to falls as well as missed connections, which happened right after they had closed the gap on the US and could have pulled into the lead. She needs to vault exactly the way she did that night, sticking her DTY. I wonder if she will throw an Amanar .. wouldn't surprise me but I don't think so. She needs to be amazing on bars as she always is, and she could afford to clean up her floor landings just a tiny bit. I really love Aliya and I want her to medal so badly.

My Medal Podium:

Gabby Douglas, Aliya Mustafina, Aly Raisman .. I listed them alphabetically, no rank at all because I can't decide. I want an American to win Gold, I don't care who though and I want Mustafina to get silver or bronze but again I can't decide my placements because I like them all so much. But as long as those 3 girls are on the medal podium, I'm happy :)

Women's Team Final - Photos

Lining up for introductions.

Jordyn Wieber smiles as she lands her vault.

McKayla Maroney after her perfect Amanar.

McKayla and her coach.

Aliya Mustifina on Vault.

Viktoria Komova - Bars Superstar of Russia.

The Flying Squirrel getting it done on the Uneven Bars.

Kyla Ross doing her job on Bars.

Aly and Gabby.

Kyla smiles after hitting her beam routine.

The Russian Team.

Olympic Champions!

I LOVE Kylas face in this one :D

Aly Raisman waving to the crowd.

"USA!!"

We're #1!

Team Canada who finished in 5th PLACE!

All of Team Canada.

Medal Ceremony.

National Anthem plays.

Team Russia with their silver medals and smiling.

The Fab 5 with their gold medals.

I love this one. All coaches, the girls, and Marta.

I couldn't find many pictures of the other teams, so I went with what I had. Thanks for reading!