US Olympic Gymnastics Team 2012: Power Ranking Their Toughest Opponents

Women's gymnastics is one of the more popular sports in the Olympics.

London is going to be no different.

The U.S. women's team is the favorite heading into the team competition, but they definitely are going to have to be on their "A" game if they want to take home the title.

Gunning for them are China, Russia and Romania.

Any of those teams could win the gold medal.

With a team that consists of Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross and Alexandra Raisman, the U.S. team has three of the top five gymnasts in the world.

Will it translate into a team gold medal?

Here's a look at those three teams, whom I consider to be the toughest opponents for the U.S. team.

Source: The Atlantic Wire

3. China

The Chinese enter the Olympics as the defending team champions but aren't the favorites to bring home the gold medal, due in large part to the fact that Cheng Fei snapped her Achilles during training.

Still, they're a team to contend with, and I won't be surprised if they came out with a team medal.

This year's team is strong in the balance beam and bars, as they are masters of combo tricks that help them earn more points.

However, they're weak on the floor exercise and vault, which is where other teams will likely capitalize.

Yao Jinnan is the top gymnast coming into the Olympics for China; however, her confidence may not be where it should in one event.

According to a Chinese news source, her coaches had to bribe her to do a more difficult vault. Is she concerned about injury, or does she just not want to do it?

He Kexin is another one of the top gymnasts for China and was the subject of age controversy during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It was reported that she was 16, but He told local reporters she was actually 14, which is against Olympic rules.

Of course, no wrongdoing was found.

Now, four years later, He is back in the Olympics and is still the same size she was four years ago, which will prove valuable on the uneven bars.

2. Russia

The only reason I have Russia at No. 2 is the fact that they've battled injuries.

But, they're still in the running for a gold medal as they have great gymnasts.

According to the Atlantic Wire:

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Where Russia has an advantage over the U.S. is on bars, where they have more difficulty and perform those tricks more beautifully.

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Viktoria Komova is the leader of the Russian squad, having finished second behind Jordyn Wieber at the 2011 World Championships.

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She is known for her elegant dance, flexibility, and difficult bar routine.

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Aliya Mustafina won the world championship in 2010, but a tear in her ACL last year took her down a notch. She's still expected to compete at a great level, but she won't be able to put the numbers together she normally would have had she not injured her ACL.

1. Romania

Romania has been one of the top teams in the world for a long time.

Consistency is the name of the game for the Romanians, as they won't dominate any one event. Instead, they'll remain consistently good and hang around the top of the leaderboard.

If the Americans, Russians or Chinese make even the tiniest of mistakes, that's where the Romanians will take advantage.

Larissa Iordache leads the pack for the Romanians. She's one of the top five all-around gymnasts in the world.

Sandra Izbasa is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the floor exercise and earned a gold medal in the vault at the 2012 European Championships.

The one thing the Romanians have an advantage in is that they have two (Izbasa and Catalina Ponor) who have been to the Olympics before. That experience will help them in the team competition.

If anyone is going to beat the U.S., the Romanians have the best shot.