Aly Raisman Wins 2012 Olympic Women's Gymnastics Floor Routine Gold Medal

After the disappointment of finishing tied for third in the all-around competition, but missing out on a bronze medal due to a tiebreaker, American gymnast Aly Raisman managed to pull herself together and turn in a fantastic performance in the floor routine final as she secured a gold medal on Tuesday.

Place	Name	Country	Score
1	Aly Raisman	USA	15.600
2	Catalina Ponor	Romania	15.200
3	Aliya Mustafina	Russia	14.900
4	Vanessa Ferrari	Italy	14.900
5	Lauren Mitchell	Australia	14.833
6	Ksenia Afanasyeva	Russia	14.566
7	Jordyn Wieber	USA	14.500
8	Sandra Izbasa	Romania	13.333

It came as a shock to many when Raisman supplanted gold-medal favorite Jordyn Wieber in all-around qualifying and eliminated her from the competition due to the fact that only two athletes from the same country can qualify for a final. Raisman finished off the podium in the all-around, and most feel like Wieber probably would have medaled had she made it.

Raisman didn't let that disappointment affect her in the floor final, however, as she had an excellent performance on one of her signature apparatuses.

Raisman received a bit of redemption earlier in the day during the balance beam final as she initially finished a tenth of a point behind Romania's Catalina Ponor for bronze. After an appeal, however, Raisman tied Ponor and this time she was the beneficiary of the tiebreaker. That was just the beginning of Raisman's fruitful day, though.

The competition was certainly stiff in the floor competition final as she had to deal with her United States teammate in Wieber as well as Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who clipped her for bronze in the all-around, but Raisman managed to thrive against many of the world's elite gymnasts.

The floor has been one of Team USA's dominant events during the Olympics as Raisman, Wieber, Gabby Douglas and Kyla Ross are all capable of putting up big scores. Raisman in particular shows a great blend of power and grace on the floor, and that helped her qualify in the top position for the event and ultimately take home a gold medal as well.

Raisman's performance continued an incredible run for Team USA women's gymnastics in London as the gymnasts have garnered medals in nearly every event. Not only did the Americans strike team gold, but Douglas won the all-around competition, while McKayla Maroney took silver in the vault. Douglas didn't reach the podium on uneven bars, but the Americans' medal drought didn't last long.

At only 18 years of age, Raisman is considered the elder stateswoman and leader of the United States' gymnastics team. Her calm and cool performances were a huge part of the Americans' team gold, but that wasn't the extent of her contributions. Raisman was seen giving Douglas advice prior to some of her routines in the team event as well, so it was nice to see her take an individual gold.

Raisman certainly didn't receive the same notoriety as Wieber or Douglas heading into these Olympic Games, but she has proven to be just as important as either of them in London. Thanks in part to her experience and ability to perform under pressure, Raisman nabbed yet another medal for the Americans in the floor exercise and capped one of the best overall Olympic performances for Team USA in women's gymnastics.

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