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!