After a night of mishaps by the men, the women came into the all-around competition swinging.
Nastia Liukin, daughter of Soviet Union double-gold-medalist Valeri Liukin, captured gold. Nastia was born in Moscow, but at age 2 her father moved the family to the United States.
Shawn Johnson of Des Moines, Iowa came up just 0.600 points shy in taking silver, while Yilin Yang of China won the bronze.
Johnson fared well in every event but suffered in the uneven bars, earning a score 1.500 points behind Yang, who led with 16.725 points.
It all came down to the last event, floor. Yang went first out of Johnson and Liukin, and did the best she could. She had one small step after a tumbling pass, and bent knees in the air that cost her. She received a 15.000.
Liukin went next. Her routine, perfect. Her elegance and grace proved a major factor as she recorded a score of 15.525.
Now it was the World Champion in floor, Johnson's turn. During her routine, teammate Liukin was pacing, but also clapping and cheering Johnson on. Johnson also performed a perfect routine, matching Liukin's 15.525.
As the score flashed on the board, Liukin and her father/coach fought back the tears, and embraced before teammate Shawn Johnson came and gave Liukin a well deserved hug.
Vault Score:
Shawn Johnson, USA: 15.875
Yilin Yang, China: 15.175
Nastia Liukin, USA: 15.025
Uneven Bars Score:
Yilin Yang, China: 16.725
Nastia Liukin, USA: 16.650
Shawn Johnson, USA: 15.275
Balance Beam Score:
Nastia Liukin, USA: 16.125
Shawn Johnson, USA: 16.050
Yilin Yang, China: 15.750
Floor Score:
Nastia Liukin, USA: 15.525
Shawn Johnson, USA: 15.525
Yilin Yang, China: 15.000
Final Score:
Nastia Liukin, USA: 63.325
Shawn Johnson, USA: 62.725
Yilin Yang, China: 62.650
Congratulations to Liukin and Johnson, who outshined everyone. They deserved it.
12 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Thomas 10 months ago
I must be under a rock or something, cuz I haven't been able to watch the Olympics the past day
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PJ Edelman 10 months ago
this was a great event to watch. The announcers were going crazy because all of the scoring seemed to be off, but it worked out in the end. Congrats to the 2 little US champs!
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Emily Thompson 10 months ago
Yea the scoring was getting ridiculous! Liukin outperformed Yang in uneven bars and received a lower score, and then stuck a perfect vault and got all these deductions. I was sitting in disbelief. I'm glad it all worked out though.
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Devon Jeffreys 10 months ago
Shawn Johnson may be the cutest little thing I've ever seen. That's the way all kids should be. She deserves all her success. I'm glad the scores worked themselves out because it was getting closer and closer to conspiracy every time there was another scoring hiccup.
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Lauren Green 10 months ago
Nice recap, Emily. I, obviously along with others, was about to lose it watching bad score after bad score show up. But, we were good enough to beat out the competition AND the poor judging. This was a great night for the US.
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aditi anshu 10 months ago
they are the best gymnastics player i was really shocked when they won the silver in women's team event but she deserves Olympic gold. she is really brilliant.
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Great Debater 10 months ago
I believe Shawn deserved the Gold more than Nastia. She had a much better performances (aside from the side step landings she kept doing), but most of all she definitely appeared to have more energy and agility. Anyone watching could tell she had that olympic spirit almost identical to how Mary Lou Reton was when she performed. Even Mary could tell from up in the stands... you could tell she noticed something wasn't right when they showed her again after the gold was awarded to Nastia. Didn't the judges get forced to turn around their style RIGHT AFTER Shawn had gotten stuck with her low points and thus giving those that went after her (Nastia included) the correct points? That would give Nastia a good set above her (especially on that same event), wouldn't it? Plus, most of the time tonight Nastia acted like a sour puss. Sitting in the chair moping and jealous that Shawn was leading her and would thus give her the cold shoulder whenever they were next to one another. Compared to the other competitor's behavior, that to me looks like bad sportsmanship. Only after she knew there weren't enough points available for Shawn take her lead (due to the faulty scoring she got on the flawless uneven bars, c'mon!), that she then acted (faked) enthusiastiasm for her fellow competitor. Just taking a look at her face when getting the gold medal had guilt all over it! However, that was after she accepted the medal and just went along with the flow. Rather than live with the guilt, as the undeserved glory will surely fade, I would've stepped down and passed it to Shawn. Also, regarding the scoring issue.... If you ask me, immediately once the fraudulent judging was exposed, and the game was still going on, they should have had the other judges go back, review and analyze all the taped footage, and fix the tallys before deciding the winner.
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Emily Thompson 10 months ago
I love both Nastia and Shawn, but I truely believe Nastia deserved this medal. Nastia's vault was perfection, and received one of those flawed low scores. She was flawless on balance beam as well.
Johnson is the reason she didn't receive the gold. Yes her uneven bars routine was amazing, but Nastia's was better and they both received low scores. If Johnson would have stuck her landings on balance beam and vault she would have the gold. Johnson messed up Liukin did not. Therefore Liukin gets the gold.
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Thomas 10 months ago
Great,
Were you watching the right competition? I swear Nastia did better. Or do u think Shawn's cuter then Nastia so ur going for here?
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Devon Jeffreys 10 months ago
I don't think Nastia was moping as much as she was focused. Different people have very different ways of acting during competition. Throughout the Olympics it has seemed as though Nastia has put on a game face before her first event and held it until after her last one. That's the way she prepares. She was all smiles afterwards and I don't think her enthusiasm for Shawn's floor routine was faked at all, but its hard for some people to be a cheerleader and an individual competitor at the same time. You have to figure both of these girls have been working their whole lives toward this moment and both deserved it.
And I'm not sure what your vendetta is against Nastia, Great, but she did deserve it. She stuck the dismount on 3 of her 4 routines and preformed each one of them at her highest level. She was what they call clutch. Shawn was great too, and the score probably should have been closer, but she took steps on every landing that Nastia stuck, and that's the difference between gold and silver.
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N Zimm 10 months ago
I agree with the comments that Nastia earned the gold medal last night. I love both of the gymnasts, and rooted for them equally, and at the end of the night, the results were right. Johnson had a chance to win gold by sticking her vault, but missed out. However, Johnson significantly outperformed Yilin Yang, which was definitely not reflected in the extremely tight score between silver and bronze. If Yilin Yang won silver, it would definitely been very unfair. I am so proud of the Americans, and I hope they enjoy their well-deserved spotlight. Nastia was absolutely breath-taking in all her performances. She had the grace of a ballerina and the tumbling power of a world-class gymnast. I suspect that both will continue on to achieve even further greatness in gymnastics. Personally, I believe Shawn Johnson can get Olympic gold in 2012 in the all-around.
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matt maccaro 10 months ago
i really wanted johsnon too but am happy americans went one and two. I do like Johnson much more tho. Hopeully, she'll win gold on one of the individual evetns. Whats more is Luikin probably wont be a contender for all round in 2012 while Johnson will, so it was ok.
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