McKayla Maroney: Analyzing Gold Medal Odds for USA Gymnast

McKayla Maroney, a 16-year-old Long Beach native, will be making her first appearance at the Olympic Games this summer.

If Maroney continues to perform in an event she has come to master, she will likely be leaving London with at least one gold medal around her neck. 

Below, we breakdown the odds for Maroney at the 2012 London Games. 

Vault 

Maroney enters the vault as the reigning world champion, having won convincingly in Tokyo at the 2011 world championships.

She became just the third ever American to win a world championship on the vault, but also the third straight after Alicia Sacramone accomplished the feat in 2010 after Kayla Williams became the first in 2009.

After two vaults, Maroney had won by .600—a large margin in this case—over Germany's Oksana Chusovitina. 

Maroney is the heavy favorite to claim gold on the vault in London this summer. 

As Brian Cazeneuve put it in his women's gymnastics preview for Sports Illustrated, few other Olympians are as capable of putting together two solid vaults as Maroney currently is. 

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The world champion on vault, McKayla Maroney is a favorite to win that event again in London. Vault finalists must actually throw two different vaults in the events finals and Maroney is one of the few who can stick a pair of vaults that score in the 16s with regularity.

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The gold medal in the vault will be decided on August 5. Barring one of the bigger upsets on the women's side of gymnastics, Maroney should be atop the podium with gold around her neck. 

Team

The American women haven't won team gold since 1996, the year the "Magnificent Seven" took ahold of the country in Atlanta.

With that being said, the 2012 squad of Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross is likely the most talented and deep team the United States has brought to an Olympics in 16 years. 

What does that mean for Maroney? 

A second chance at winning gold. 

The U.S. took home the team gold at the 2011 world championships, and despite the recent dominance of China and Japan, the Americans are in prime position to win that ever-elusive team gold. The pieces are all in place. 

Maroney is almost a lock to win gold on the vault, Douglas has been dominant on the uneven bars and will compete for the all-around individual gold, Wieber is a front-runner for individual gold and Raisman has improved so much on the floor exercises that she's now a contender for gold as well.

If all four reach their peak in London, the American team will be very difficult to keep off the gold medal stand.