US Women's Gymnastics Olympic Team 2012: Teams Standing in Way of Gold for USA

The Olympic Games have gotten under way already, despite the opening ceremony due to be conducted later today. All the gymnasts have been practicing in earnest with the event scheduled to start tomorrow onwards with qualifying.

The Women's team of the United States is one of the favorites to win some gold medals this year and are expecting a very strong showing in London indeed. Four years ago in Beijing, the United States managed a silver behind China in the team all-around event, while they bagged both the gold and silver in the Individual all-around event.

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were the star performers that year. Neither of them will be around to take part in the games this year. Other teams are still expected to come in second-best in front of accomplished talents such as Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross, Alexandra Raisman, McKayla Maroney and others.

Let us look at teams that will be providing the most fierce competition to team USA for gold. 

China

China is one competitor that you will find winning things in any Olympic event. In women's gymnastics, they won the Team all-around Gold four years ago with He Kexin, Chang Fei and Yang Yilin among the athletes who got medals through better performances.

This year, they lead the charge with some new names and a couple of old ones that were involved four years ago. He Kexin and Deng Linlin have the experience of achieving gold in an Olympic event, while the new personnel of Sui Lu, Yao Jinnan and Huang Qiushuang make the Chinese a formidable contender.

Sui Lu is not exactly new, but London will be her first experience of competing in the Olympics. She is a specialist in the balance beam and floor exercise events.

Yao Jinnan is a 17-year-old who has previously given good competition to individual event favorites Jordyn Wieber and Viktoria Komova.  

Romania

The Romanian competition will be led by Catalina Ponor. Ponor won gold in the team, balance beam and floor events in Athens eight years ago and has wanted to emulate that feat ever since. She has always wanted to make a comeback.

Ponor suffers from a congenital heart problem since birth. I guess it is adversity that makes a person even more determined to reach a targeted goal. 

The others in the team are Sandra Izbasa, Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar and Diana Chelaru. Izbasa won Gold in the floor exercise event in Beijing in 2008.  

Russia

Russia managed to win gold in the rhythmic gymnastics in Beijing four years ago but could not register even a single medal in any of the individual or teams events in Women's gymnastics that year. They will be eager to change that.

The Russians will be represented by a strong lineup of athletes containing Viktoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina and Ksenia Afanasyeva. While Afanasyeva will be expected to perform in the floor exercise event being the 2011 World Champion, Komova will bear the brunt of expectation.

Komova is an all-rounder and carries Russia's hope of doing well in London to a good extent. She is particularly excellent at the uneven bars. Anastasia Grishina has never won a gold medal in her career, and that may change soon.

Aliya Mustafina won gold at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. She won five medals in all, including two golds, giving her a feat of becoming the first person to do so in over a decade.