Sunday, July 1, 2012

Final Olympic Team Prediction

Photo Credit-Getty Images

I cannot believe it's already Day 2 of Olympic Trials. My team has changed so much throughout the past year, and now it's finally the time to choose the actual team. Here's my final prediction:

Jordyn Wieber
Aly Raisman
Gabby Douglas
Kyla Ross
McKayla Maroney
Alternates: Elizabeth Price, Sarah Finnegan, Alicia Sacramone

Vault: Gabby, Jordyn, McKayla
Bars: Jordyn, Kyla, Gabby
Beam: Kyla, Jordyn, Aly
Floor: McKayla, Jordyn, Aly

I really feel like McKayla proved herself on floor night 1. She got a 15.2, and even though floor was overscored, it would still be a good score a few tenths lower. She did fall on beam and bars, but those are the two events that we wouldn't be using her on. Sarah Finnegan, on the other hand, had a major error on floor, an event on which we would expect to use her in team finals. I was thinking about putting her on the team rather than McKayla, but Sarah doesn't have much experience and her errors at Nationals and Trials make me doubt her ability to perform under Olympic pressure. I think the other four spots are basically locks; the only one with the slightest chance of being off the team is Kyla, but her bars are so strong that I don't really see a team without her on it.

I'm more uncertain about my alternates. Since I believe that Sarah is very close to making the team, I think she's a very likely alternate. Price made a wonderful case for herself on the first night of trials, and her Amanar is almost as good as McKayla's. She's a great all arounder and I think she'd be a fantastic alternate. The last spot is the one I'm not sure about. I think choosing Alicia for the last alternate spot might just be me being optimistic, but I really do think she deserves a spot. She can be counted on to hit in any situation, even if she was brought in at the last second. However, Martha loves all arounders, so I think a more realistic alternate might be Sabrina Vega. She proved herself at Worlds, and although she doesn't have super high difficulty, she hits her routines and would be solid in a leadoff position.

Well, there it is. I can't believe we are less than 12 hours away from the selection of the Olympic team. It's been a great 4 years, and I wish all the best to the girls competing tonight. The USA is so deep right now, and I think that there are a lot of combinations of teams that would do well in London. I can't wait to see what happens tonight!

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