Team USA: Olympic Champions!

I can't believe it really happened! The girls of Team USA are now Olympic Champions!! I am SO happy for these girls. What I really love about this team is that they acted as one cohesive unit. They were totally together and supporting each other every minute.  Rather than giving you a play-by-play of the competition, I'd like to highlight what I'm proud of in each girl.


Jordyn Wieber. This girl is fantastic. I love her tenacity and refusal to quit. Her vault, bars, and floor performances were amazing, but what I loved most about her performance in team finals was her attitude. She faced huge disappointment after not qualifying to the all around finals, but nevertheless came out SO strong to clinch the team gold medal. She looked happier than I've seen her in a while: more relaxed and smiley. It was an interesting decision to take her out of the beam lineup (though I think it was the right one) and I was a little bit worried about how she would handle it. Of course, she couldn't have been a better team player. She deserves every bit of that gold medal.




Gabby Douglas. Gabby really pulled through. I was worried that doing the all around again would be too tiring and mentally tough, but she really proved me wrong. She came out even stronger than in qualifying and rocked every routine. Gabby has stepped into her position on the team so well. Even though she was the only all arounder in team finals, she didn't act cocky or over-confident at all; she just quietly came through on each and every performance. I love that we've been able to rely on her so heavily during the games.

Aly Raisman. Aly was fierce yesterday! I absolutely love her team leadership. She didn't compete the most events or bring in the highest score, but that girl really knows how to hit. I love that she steps up as the leader of the team without being loud or obnoxious about it. I also LOVE her emotion. She burst into tears right when she landed her last tumbling pass. She really throws herself into her gymnastics and appreciates competing at this level. She loves every minute of it, and I love watching her enjoy it.

McKayla Maroney. I was SO proud of McKayla last night. Of course, we all saw her hit the most beautiful Amanar ever competed, but that's honestly not why I'm so proud. She certainly did what we needed her to do, but beyond that she was a fantastic cheerleader for these girls. You could hear her screaming for every girl during every single routine. She also got the girls water, asked if they needed anything, and of course, hugged every one of them. She also chimed in on Aly's pep talk before floor. I love that she performed on vault, but I loved even more that she was active the rest of the night. I'm sure she was upset that she couldn't compete on floor as expected, but she never stopped cheering everyone on. She was a huge part of each girl's success.



Kyla Ross. For some reason, I just can't get over how proud I am of Kyla. She's had lots of international experience, but has never been to a big competition like Worlds before. I love seeing her take joy in competing in such a huge event. She handles herself so well and has remained steady though every minute of it. I LOVED when she hugged Jenny after her beam routine and started tearing up. She really is a great team player, and I think she's somewhat overlooked since she doesn't really stand out on any events. I'm upset that she didn't make any event finals, but I'm so glad that she got a gold medal.


I can't even explain my joy in the performances we saw yesterday in team finals. I'm so happy that we were able to come out on top; each and every one of these girls has worked so incredibly hard to get to this point. I hope that they enjoy every minute.


Photo Credit: Getty Images, Reuters, Boston Globe

2012 OLYMPIC TEAM

Jordyn Wieber

Gabby Douglas

Aly Raisman

McKayla Maroney

Kyla Ross

Alternates:

Elizabeth Price

Sarah Finnegan

Anna Li

So happy with team selection. Love the emotions as they came out. What an amazing night of competition.

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!

2012 Visa Championships Wrap Up

I'm sorry this is so late, but better late than never, I guess! Here we go.

The thing that most surprised me about Nationals was Gabby Douglas' performance. She tied with Jordyn for first on Day 1,and made a very good case for the title on Day 2.  I was really surprised that she came so close to Jordyn even with a fall. I predicted that Jordyn would come out extremely strong on Day 2--which she did--but not as strong as I had hoped. I know that Jordyn has a fierce competitive drive and that she wouldn't accept losing to Gabby a few weeks before Trials. 

Photo Credit-USA Today

At the same time though, Gabby was only 2 TENTHS away, even though she had a fall on beam. It makes sense that Gabby could come out ahead of Aly with a fall, because of Aly's very weak bar set, but I can still hardly believe that she almost beat Jordyn. Again, I'm predicting that Jordyn will come back very strong for Trials. She doesn't like to lose.

Right now, I feel fairly confident in saying that the first four spots on the team will go to Jordyn, Gabby, Aly, and Kyla. Here are some of the things I noted about the people challenging for the last spot:

Sarah Finnegan is the one that most people are choosing for the fifth spot. She is a wonderful all-arounder, and came in sixth even with a fall. I think she could contribute most importantly on floor--she could definitely compete floor in TF.  My problem with her is that bars is her weakest event, and we definitely don't need another girl who is weak on bars. She also doesn't have much experience, so I'm a little bit worried about how she would deal with the pressure. 

McKayla Maroney is another favorite for the fifth spot. I would love to see her take this spot, as I feel that she deserves the chance to take her vault gold. I wish we had been able to see her compete on Day 2, but I think that her floor will be good enough to lead off in TF. She gets solid enough scores on beam as well, and she has Worlds experience.

Photo Credit-Stew Milne

One surprise came from Elizabeth Price. Although she wasn't televised, she came in fifth in the all around. At this point, I think I might take her instead of Finnegan. She's a true all-arounder and she brings in a higher vault and bars score than Finnegan would. They both have very limited experience, so that isn't really a factor in deciding between the two. Lauren Hopkins from The Couch Gymnast wrote a lovely piece about Elizabeth Price, if you'd like to learn more.

I could also see Sabrina Vega being thrown in as a fifth all-arounder for the team. She has more experience than people like Price and Finnegan, and she solid scores on every event. She definitely proved herself at Worlds last year and I think we could count on her to hit on whatever event she was needed. 

Bridget Sloan is another girl that could challenge as an all-arounder. While I wouldn't put her in now, I would not count her out. She shows up and hits at the right times, and I definitely think she'll show improvements for Trials. She also has a ton of experience, which will work in her favor.

Alicia continues to make her case stronger. She only did an FTY for her second vault, but I'm not worried about her there. Her beam is looking very nice, and I really feel like we could count on her to hit and handle the pressure extremely well. I know she wants to redeem herself and I would love to give her that chance. 

I've never been a Rebecca Bross fan, but I do feel sorry for her. She looks so incredibly upset every time she falls on her Patterson (which is, by the way, almost EVERY TIME). I was about to completely write her off in favor of Nastia, but from what we've seen so far, she might actually be more valuable. Her bars are great, but I don't think Martha would consider her now that shes fallen about a million times on beam and hasn't changed anything.

Photo Credit-Heather Maynez

Finally, onto Queen Nastia. I actually think that she'll do well at Trials, but I don't know if two good performances are enough to convince Martha to take her. I love her beam, but that's obviously not what we need. If she comes back with a very strong bars set (with a real dismount), she definitely has a shot. 

Well, that's about it. Only two weeks to Trials!