The Americans were destined for gold. They were the favorites, but a few mistakes cost them that medal. So why does silver feel like a huge disappointment? Almost feels like they didn't even place. As a former gymnast myself, I understand what it feels like to perform under pressure. Sometimes you come out on top, sometimes you don't. I just wish last night we had. It broke my heart a little to watch them fall apart at the very end, but there's always a silver lining, and that's just what we got.
The Americans were the favorites to win the gold medal, and going into the third rotation they showed the world why.They had a great competition. All of their vaults were solid. Their vaulters had been; Shawn Johnson, Bridget Sloan, and Alicia Sacramone. The mistakes that usually plagued the Americans on vault, such as landing on their behinds, and taking huge steps, had been avoided, and instead they had near perfect vaults.This was a great start for the Americans, because this, their first event, was usually the most nerve-wrecking, and because China had Cheng Fei a World Champion on vault.
The second rotation on bars was stunning. Awe-inspiring. The Americans and Chinese were head to head in what I consider the most beautiful display of artistic gymnastics to date.The American bar workers had been, Chellsie Memmel, who later revealed she has a small broken bone in her right ankle, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. Nastia's routine was transfixing.She had perfect lines and releases and unlike preliminaries, her dismount was perfect. She received a 16.900, the highest score of the night. On bar, Americans had averaged a 15.900, a great score. Not to be outdone, the Chinese were great on bars as well, with some new skills never before seen.
Then came the third rotation. The always feared four-inch-wide balance beam. The Chinese had a fall on beam from Cheng Fei, which seems to have rattled her teammates, who received deductions for bobbles and balance checks on the apparatus. A window of opportunity had opened for the Americans. And just as quickly as it had opened, it was shut and locked.
As the Americans came to their third rotation, stakes had been raised by the Chinese mistakes. First on beam was Alicia Sacramone. According to the broadcasters, she had been strong during her warm up, with an air of confidence about her that ought to make this a good routine. As she went to mount the beam, her right foot totally missed the beam, and try though she might to stay on, she fell, an automatic .8 deduction. Rattled by this, she had one other small mistake, a balance check, but everything following that fall had been near perfect, including her dismount. It was hard to watch her on beam, because she had been on the verge of perfection one second, and on the verge of tears the next. Her face said it all.The next two routines were by Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, both of whom seemed to thrive under the pressure, delivering near perfect routines to try to relieve the stony looks on their teammmates' faces. It was ok, the Chinese had fallen, the Americans had fallen, in a sense we were more or less even.
1 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete