Women's Gymnastics 2012: Breaking Down Team's Medal Odds in London

With the team final set in women's gymnastics, there's a lot to look at when predicting who will win the team competition.

Sure, the U.S. women are the favorites heading into the final, and sure, I wrote an article that said they were still the team to beat in the final, but I still think it's important to break down each event and see where the real advantages and disadvantages lie.

One thing we learned from qualifications was that the U.S. has three strong all-around gymnasts, the Chinese dominate on bars and there are really only four teams that are in the hunt for a team medal.

When comparing the individual events, this is how it breaks down:

Vault

USA: 47.633

Russia: 46.299

Romania: 45.733

China: 43.566

Analysis: The U.S. had nothing under 15.800 in the vault, while no team had anything more than a 15.633. This is where the U.S. can really make a difference, although I expect the Chinese to score just a little bit better. Still, even scoring a little bit better, if the U.S. can duplicate their scores, they will have close to a 1.5 advantage from the event.

Uneven Bars

China: 46.998

Russia: 45.566

USA: 45.032 

Romania 41.833

Analysis: The Chinese showed how strong they are in this event, as they just performed more difficult routines than the rest of the field. The U.S. performed well, but they can squeeze out a few more tenths on the total team score. Romania just struggled throughout and didn't show up, making mistake after mistake. If this happens again, then this could be the event that keeps Romania off the medal stand.

Balance Beam

USA: 45.441

Russia: 45.232

Romania: 44.699

China: 44.432

Analysis: To see the U.S. come out on top in the balance beam was a little surprising to me. But part of that is due the fact that China had to accept scores of 13.866 and 12.833. Russia performed just as expected and Romania should be in the 45s in the team final. For the U.S., consistency will remain key as they push toward the gold.

Floor Exercise

China: 43.999

USA: 43.757

Russia: 43.332

Romania: 41.641

Analysis: To see scores this low is mind-boggling to me. If one of the teams can score in the 45s, it can make a big difference on the medal stand. The U.S. had two scores in the 13s, while China had three. I'll be interested to see if the routines can be cleaned up a little.

When putting everything together, it's clear that the U.S. is the favorite to win team gold, but consistency is going to be the key. If Aly Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber can put up the same numbers they did in qualifications, then the U.S. should have no problem winning team gold. Russia is my favorite to take home silver, and Romania will take home the bronze.

Final Gold-Medal Odds

USA: 47 percent

Russia: 29 percent

Romania: 18 percent

China: 6 percent