Olympic Gymnastics 2012: 5 Best Bets for Gold in Event Finals

The biggest gymnastics competitions may be over, but the fun has just begun!

Three days of individual event finals await where gymnasts fight for the glory of the gold medal in their respective event specialities.

Some events have many talented gymnasts fighting for the gold, while other specialists dominate their event like McKayla Maroney on the vault.

Here's a look at the five best bets for gold in the individual event finals.

5. High Bar: Zou Kai, China

Zou Kai has established himself as the best high bar performer in the world and is the easy favorite in the event. He's the defending world champion and defending Olympic gold medalist in the event. He botched his routine a bit in Beijing and still won a gold. He placed seventh during qualifying but can perform a lot better than that.

Zou Kai is China's best bet for an individual gold medal.

Possible upset: Danell Leyva, U.S.A.

Leyva finished first on the high bar during the individual all-around finals, with a jaw-dropping performance. The routine is what secured the bronze medal for him.

4. Floor Exercise, Aly Raisman, U.S.

Floor exercise has always been Aly Raisman's strongest event. It's the event that propelled her to the individual all-around finals and capped off Team USA's gold medal.

Raisman's qualifying score had the highest difficulty value out of everyone.

She took third in floor at worlds and if she hits her routine, then she's easily the best.

Her routine focuses on intense skills and acrobatics rather than artistry. 

Possible upset: Jordyn Wieber, U.S.A.

As this is Wieber's only shot at an individual event medal, we know she is going to give everything she has.

3. Uneven Bars: Beth Tweddle, Great Britain

I think the loudest eruptions in the arena during this year's gymnastics competitions have been when Beth Tweddle was on the uneven bars.

She has been posting phenomenal routines and with the support of the home crowd, she is going to be unstoppable in the finals.

Tweedle even has backing from Olga Korbut, who openly told BBC sports that Tweddle would win:

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"Beth is not at an Olympics for the first time and she will beat Viktoria Komova," said Belarusian Korbut, "I do not hope she will win, I know she will win. She has big potential. She is very competitive and has a lot of experience. I don't think she is so much better but she has something. I like her."

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Potential upset: Gabby Douglas, U.S.A.

Douglas may be unbeatable after winning the individual all-around gold medal. She is famous for her high-risk release moves on the uneven bars, which gave her the nickname "The Flying Squirrel."

2. Pommel Horse: Louis Smith, Great Britain

I cannot imagine a person out there who isn't rooting for Louis Smith to win the pommel horse gold.

After Smith nailed his routine during the prelims on Saturday, he started crying. It meant more than anything to help his team win a bronze medal.

Pommel horse was his contribution to the team and pommel horse is where Smith shines. 

Smith said in an interview with the Hunts Post that his easy routine is still the best in the world.

Smith didn't even perform his full difficulty routine in the prelims and still qualified first by nearly half a point.

Possible upset: Kristian Berki, Hungary

Berki has one of the highest difficulties and will be waiting like a vulture if Smith slips.

1. McKayla Maroney: Vault, U.S.

There's absolutely, positively no question about it: If McKayla Maroney hits her vault routine she will win the gold medal.

She is the defending world champion on the event and has left everybody else in the dust.

She has fully mastered the Amanar, one of the most difficult and dangerous vault. The air Maroney gets while competing is absolutely unreal.

The biggest question is whether she will be able to nail a perfect score.

Possible upsets: There won't be one, but if Maroney stumbles everybody will be waiting to pick up the pieces. There's Romania's Sandra Izbasa, Germany's Oksana Chusovitina and Russia's Maria Paseka who can pull through on the event.