Aly Raisman Wins Gold in Floor Final

Alexandra Raisman had such a powerful floor routine that no one could beat her. tim_dallinger | photobucket.com

Alexandra Raisman won the gold medal in the floor final with a score four points higher than everyone else.

Raisman was the top qualifier for this event and once again she performed an amazing routine.

Her first tumble was a round off, half twist, walk out, double arabian piked, front straight and she landed perfectly.

Raisman performed a very high split jump out of the double arabian pike in another tumble.

All of her landings were perfect.

Raisman performed an absolutely flawless routine.

The judges awarded her a massive score of 15.6 and an execution mark of 9.1.

Catalina Ponor of Romania pulled out all the stops after losing a medal in the beam final.

Ponor was the Olympic champion on floor in 2004 at Athens.

Ponor also performed a perfect routine, sticking all of her landings.

Ponor received a lower difficulty and execution score than Raisman. Ponor’s difficulty level was a 6.2 compared to Raisman’s 6.5 and she only received a 9.0 for execution.

This score could only earn her the silver medal.

Aliya Mustafina of Russia has had an outstanding Olympics. She won silver in the team final, bronze in the all-around, gold in the uneven bars final and now another bronze in the floor final.

Mustafina’s only mistake was she fell out of her spin. Otherwise she had a great routine.

Mustafina was missing the difficulty that the other ladies have, but she earned an execution score of 9.0.

Jordyn Wieber was disappointed with not qualifying for the all-around final and floor was her only chance for an individual medal.

Tuesday was just not Wieber’s day. She had waited so long for this final, over a week since the team final.

On the twisting double back Wieber’s feet almost came out from under her.

She then jumped out of bounds on her second tumbling pass.

Wieber also hopped out of her spin. These mistakes were costly for her.

Sandra Raluca Zbasa of Romania was expected to win gold in the floor final. She qualified second for the event and won the gold in Beijing.

Zbasa had a perfect routine up to the very end. She fell on her last tumbling pass. Zbasa just didn’t quite set up the last tumble and landed on her hands and out of bounds.

Zbasa did win the gold in vault and the bronze in the team final though.

Final Results

Rank	Athlete	Score	+
1	RAISMAN Alexandra	15.600	-
Score Difficulty 6.500 Execution 9.100 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.600 Rank 1
2	PONOR Catalina	15.200	-
Score Difficulty 6.200 Execution 9.000 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.200 Rank 2
3	MUSTAFINA Aliya	14.900	-
Score Difficulty 5.900 Execution 9.000 Penalties 0.00 Total 14.900 Rank 3
4	FERRARI Vanessa	14.900	+
5	MITCHELL Lauren	14.833	+
6	AFANASEVA Kseniia	14.566	+
7	WIEBER Jordyn	14.500	+
8	IZBASA Sandra Raluca	13.333	+

Aly Raisman Wins Bronze in Beam Final

After a disapointing fourth place finish in the all-around final, Alexandra Raisman wins the bronze medal in the beam final. Jaraye_Album | photobucket.com

Alexandra Raisman performed her beam routine with very little errors to win the bronze medal.

Raisman had just missed medaling in the all-round final and really wanted to medal on this apparatus.

Her beam routine had good rhythm and power. Raisman had a wobble on her pike somersault. The only other error was on  the double arabian dismount where she jumped forward on the landing.

Raisman’s first score was a 14.966, with Catalina Ponor of Romania in third place.

There was an inquiry about Raisman’s score and the judges looked over her routine and came back with a score of 15.066, the same has Ponor. When two gymnasts are tied, whoever has the highest execution marks places higher. Raisman’s execution score was higher, so she earned the bronze medal.

Ponor performed a more difficult routine on the balance beam than Raisman, but she also had more mistakes.

Ponor paused before her spin and then wobbled and added an extra half turn. After the full turning back flip she had to fight hard to stay on the beam. On the full twisting double back dismount Ponor took a big step forward and almost hit her head on the beam.

Ponor was the gold medalist on beam at the 2004 Athens Olympics and was hoping for a medal on beam again.

Deng Linlin of China won the gold on beam with a very precise routine.

Deng opened up with a high front somersault.

When she performed the straight back into the Korbut flip she almost ran out of beam. She performed a pike Korbut flip later in the routine as well.

The whistle blew before Deng went into her dismount. She did have a few pauses in her routine that made the routine take longer. The judges could have deducted points for this, but they awarded her with a massive score of 15.6 and an execution score of 9.0.

Deng’s teammate Sui Lu was very upset with winning the silver and was seen crying.

Sui is the current World Champion on beam.

She also performed a Korbut flip. She performed a high pike front somersault immediately into the Korbut flip to open her routine.

Sui performed an extremely high front somersault with one and half twist. This is a unique element. She’s not the only one to perform the move, but she is the only one at this level.

Sui also received an execution score of 9.0, but her difficulty was a little lower: 6.50 as apposed to Deng’s 6.6.

During the medal ceremony Deng kissed Raisman, but didn’t kiss her own teammate. There was only a handshake.

Gabrielle Douglas performed well in the all-around final, but hasn’t been able to match her outstanding performances in the apparatus finals. She had small errors in the uneven bar final and landed in last place.

She wasn’t able to redeem herself here.

Douglas started her routine with a wobble on the walk over and then fell off the beam after a split jump. Her routine continued with wobbles.

Victoria Komova desperately wanted to win gold on beam after a silver in the team final, a silver in the all-around final and a fifth place finish in the uneven bars final.

Komova’s routine was also littered with wobbles.

She fell off the beam after a front somersault and fell backwards on her double arabian dismount.

Komova finished in last place.

Diana Laura Bulimar of Romania had qualified for the beam final, but the Romnian team replaced her with Larisa Andreea Iordache. They believed she had a better chance of medaling.

Bulimar fell off the beam during her routine. She tried so hard to stay on, but just couldn’t. She composed herself and finished a wonderful routine, but that mistake was costly.

Bulimar finished in sixth place.

Final Results

Rank	Athlete	Score	+
1	DENG Linlin	15.600	-
Score Difficulty 6.600 Execution 9.000 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.600 Rank 1
2	SUI Lu	15.500	-
Score Difficulty 6.500 Execution 9.000 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.500 Rank 2
3	RAISMAN Alexandra	15.066	-
Score Difficulty 6.300 Execution 8.766 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.066 Rank 3
4	PONOR Catalina	15.066	-
Score Difficulty 6.600 Execution 8.466 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.066 Rank 4
5	AFANASEVA Kseniia	14.583	+
6	IORDACHE Larisa Andreea	14.200	+
7	DOUGLAS Gabrielle	13.633	+
8	KOMOVA Victoria	13.166	+

Beth Tweddle Wins Bronze on Uneven Bars

After not medaling in the last Olympics, Beth Tweddle earns herself a bronze in London. gymnstands | photobucket.com

Elizabeth Tweddle performed an almost perfect uneven bars routine to win the bronze medal.

Tweddle performed a bar routine of a difficulty of 7.0 with such ease.

Her big combination was a somersault to the low bar, feet on, straight back up to the high bar with a half turn. She made it look so easy

Tweddle might have even won silver or gold if she didn’t have a big step back on the dismount. She attempted an extremely difficult dismount: two somersaults and two twists. Her hips were behind her on the landing, so she had to step back.

She still received a 15.916 with an execution score of 8.916 for her routine. This put her into second place, with three more gymnastis to go.

Great Britain did not medal in the team event and this was the only other event Tweddle was competing in.

Aliya Mustafina of Russia won the gold medal with a massive 16.133 score, the same score Tweddle received in the qualification round. Mustifina earned an execution score of 9.133.

She qualified for this event in fifth place.

Mustifina had great accuracy on her pirouettes and handstands and was very high on her somersault.

She stuck the landing of the one and half dismount.

Mustifina had already won silver in the team event and bronze in the all-around final.

He Kexin of China was the first up on the uneven bars and was performing the most difficult bar routine: a 7.1.

Kexin’s handstand and pirouettes were also very well performed, but she was a little low on her second somersault.

She was the reigning Olympic champion on uneven bars and performed such an outstanding routine that only Mustifina could beat her score.

Kexin now has a silver medal to go with her gold from Beijing.

Gabrille Douglas was last up on the uneven bars.

She has already won gold with her team and gold for the all-around event.

Douglas did not perform like she has been doing in the other events.

Gymnasts are required to have a handstand at the end of a pirouette, but Douglas just turned at the wrong time and did not complete the element.

She then stepped back out of her double straight dismount. Douglas knew the mistakes she had made and the disappointment was shown on her face. She ended up in last place for bars.

Victoria Komova of Russia was determined to get a gold in this event, after a silver with her team and a silver in the all-around final.

Komova wasn’t even able to medal in the bars event, even know she is the European and World uneven bars champion. She placed fifth.

Komova took an extra swing before the dismount, because she might have hit the low bar. That would mean a deduction. She looked devastated when she finished her routine.

Komova also took a step back on her dismount.

She still scored a 15.666, but that wasn’t enough to medal with the high quality routines the ladies were producing.

Final Results

Rank	Athlete	Score	+
1	MUSTAFINA Aliya	16.133	-
Score Difficulty 7.000 Execution 9.133 Penalties 0.00 Total 16.133 Rank 1
2	HE Kexin	15.933	-
Score Difficulty 7.100 Execution 8.833 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.933 Rank 2
3	TWEDDLE Elizabeth	15.916	-
Score Difficulty 7.000 Execution 8.916 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.916 Rank 3
4	YAO Jinnan	15.766	+
5	KOMOVA Victoria	15.666	+
6	SEITZ Elisabeth	15.266	+
7	TSURUMI Koko	14.966	+
8	DOUGLAS Gabrielle	14.900	+

McKayla Maroney Takes Home the Silver in Vault

Mc Kayla Maroney was America’s hopeful for their first Olympic gold in vault, but she fell short with silver. MosWantedGirl | photobucket.com

McKayla Maroney was expected to win the first Olympic gold in vault for the US, but she won the silver instead.

Maroney’s first vault was more powerful and higher than the other vaults that came before her. She landed her two and half twist a little off the line and had a little hop, but received a massive 15.866.

Maroney looked so focused as she stepped up for her second vault. She went for a front somersault with a full twist and landed on her feet, but fell back to her butt.

The second vault received a score of 14.30 and both vaults averaged 15.083.

Maroney went into the lead after her vault.

Sandra Raluca Izbasa of Romania was the last up on vault.

Izbasa won gold on vault at the Europeans and won the gold on floor in Beijing.

Izbasa attempted the same vault that Maroney fell on, the somersault with a full twist. She landed it with a slight hop forward. Izbasa scored a 15.383.

Izbasa’s next vault was a double twist and she received a 15 for the vault. Her scores averaged out to 15.191 to win the gold.

Maria Paseka of Russia won the bronze.

Paseka, just like Maroney, was brought to London for her vaulting abilities.

Peseka’s first vault was a two and half twist, that she stepped out of bounds on when she landed. She received a 15.40 though.

The second vault was a half twist onto the vault and a somersault half twist off the vault. She landed with a slight hop. This vault received a 14.70 and both vaults averaged to 15.05.

Yamilet Pena Arbeu of Dominca was attempting the hardest vault of the competition. Her first vault’s difficulty level was a 7.10.

When Pena Arbeu started to run she barely got started before she stopped. She might have been distracted from the dramatic vault before her. She regained her composure and went for her vault.

Pena Arbeu did not land this vault in qualification, but still she went for the difficulty.

Once again she did not land, but she was able to find her feet first before falling.

The vault was a hand spring onto the vault and a double somersault off.

Pena Arbeu received a 14.566.

Her second vault was a double twist, which she had a big step back on, on the dismount. Pena Arbeu received a 14.466 and averaged a score of  14.516 for both vaults.

Pena Arbeu ended up in sixth out of eight gymnasts.

Elsabeth Banks of Canada had a devastating vault.

Banks is the Canadian vault champion.

She attempted a one and half twist, landed on her feet, but fell forward. The judges awarded her a zero for the vault. She could of appealed the score, because she did land on her feet first.

Banks’s coach tried to console her before her next vault.

Banks looked sore after the first vault. She stretched before going for her next vault.

Banks started to run looking confident and then pulled out at the last second. Banks limped off to the side, more hurt than she had let on. She ended up a very disappointing last.

Final Results

Rank	Athlete	Score	+
1	IZBASA Sandra Raluca	15.191	-
Attempt 1 Score Difficulty 6.100 Execution 9.283 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.383 Attempt 2 Score Difficulty 5.800 Execution 9.200 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.000 Score Penalties 0.00 Total 15.191 Rank 1
2	MARONEY Mc Kayla	15.083	-
Attempt 1 Score Difficulty 6.500 Execution 9.666 Penalties 0.30 Total 15.866 Attempt 2 Score Difficulty 6.100 Execution 8.200 Penalties 0.00 Total 14.300 Score Penalties 0.00 Total 15.083 Rank 2
3	PASEKA Maria	15.050	-
Attempt 1 Score Difficulty 6.500 Execution 8.900 Penalties 0.00 Total 15.400 Attempt 2 Score Difficulty 5.600 Execution 9.100 Penalties 0.00 Total 14.700 Score Penalties 0.00 Total 15.050 Rank 3
4	BERGER Janine	15.016	+
5	CHUSOVITINA Oksana	14.783	+
6	PENA ABREU Yamilet	14.516	+
7	ROGERS Brittany	14.483	+
8	BLACK Elsabeth	0.000	+

Gymnastics: Gabrielle Douglas Takes the Gold in All-Around

Gabrielle Douglas earned her second gold of the games on Thursday. RuthJudson | photobucket.com

Gabrielle Douglas won the gold in the all-around final with an almost flawless performance on all apparatuses, with a score of 62.232.

Victoria Komova of Russia took home the silver, missing the gold by only 0.259 of a point.

Russian, Aliya Mustafina, won the bronze.

The other American, Alexandra Raisman, just missed the medals, with the same score as Mustafina, 59.566. When a score is the same, whoever’s execution marks are higher, places higher.

Douglas led for the whole entire competition.

Douglas only faltered on vault, with a slight hop and landing to the right of the line, and on beam, with a slight wobble and a hop back on the dismount.

Raisman just missed a medal because of her low score on the uneven bars, 14.333, and numerous wobbles on the balance beam. Raisman had to put her hands on the beam to stay on.

Raisman was second after the first apparatus.

Komova lost the gold medal because of her performance on vault. She landed to the side of the red line and made a huge step to the side.

Rebecca Tunney of Great Britain had a slight wobble on the beam and a step back on the dismount to land her in 22nd after the first apparatus.

Tunney climbed her way back with outstanding performances on all other apparatuses, to finish 13th overall.

Tunney received a score of 15 on the uneven bars and was 6th on that apparatus.

Hannah Whelan of Great Britain was in 16th after the second apparatus, but she did not land her vault and received a zero. She ended up last overall.

Raisman will have a chance to medal in the balance beam final and the floor final. She qualified first for the floor final.

Douglas will have two more chances to medal in the uneven bars final and balance beam final.

Rank	Athlete	Score	+
1	DOUGLAS Gabrielle	62.232	-
Score 15.966 15.733 15.500 15.033 Rank 1 3 1 4
2	KOMOVA Victoria	61.973	-
Score 15.466 15.966 15.441 15.100 Rank 3 2 2 3
3	MUSTAFINA Aliya	59.566	-
Score 15.233 16.100 13.633 14.600 Rank 5 1 18 6
4	RAISMAN Alexandra	59.566	-
Score 15.900 14.333 14.200 15.133 Rank 2 =9 10 2
5	IZBASA Sandra Raluca	58.833	+
6	DENG Linlin	58.399	+
7	HUANG Qiushuang	58.115	+
8	FERRARI Vanessa	57.999	+
9	IORDACHE Larisa Andreea	57.965	+
10	SEITZ Elisabeth	57.365	+
11	TERAMOTO Asuka	57.332	+
12	van GERNER Celine	57.232	+
13	TUNNEY Rebecca	56.932	-
Score 14.866 15.000 13.133 13.933 Rank =10 6 =20 =13
14	STEINGRUBER Giulia	56.148	+
15	LITTLE Emily	55.765	+
16	TANAKA Rie	55.632	+
17	PEGG Dominique	55.565	+
18	LOPEZ Jessica	55.500	+
19	PIHAN-KULESZA Marta	55.465	+
20	BRENNAN Ashleigh	55.332	+
21	FERLITO Carlotta	55.098	+
22	GOMEZ PORRAS Ana Sofia	54.899	+
23	MALAUSSENA Aurelie	50.166	+
24	WHELAN Hannah	41.999	-
Score 0.000 14.166 13.700 14.133 Rank 24 14 =15 9

Gymnastics: US Women Win Gold in Team Final

The US women’s gymnastics team had a performance that no other country could match in the team finals on Tuesday.

The US scored five points higher than the Russians who received the silver medal.

The Russians made big mistakes on the floor that were costly, but even with the loss of points, they were miles behind the Americans.

The Americans once again came out strong on vault.

The US performed some of their best gymnastics. They scored higher than they did in the qualification round by 1.733.

The only apparatus the Americans faltered on in qualifications was the floor. There was no mistakes on floor this time. Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Wieber and Alexandra Raisman performed perfectly on floor.

The Great Britain team had a bad start to the final on beam.

Jennifer Pinches had a horrible fall on beam that probably cost them a medal.

Hannah Whelan also stepped back on her dismount, other than that she performed a good routine on beam.

Pinches performed amazing on floor after her disappointing beam routine and continued to do so for the rest of the competition.

GB climbed back from a disappointing start to finish sixth.

Elizabeth Tweddle was definitely apart of that comeback, with her amazing uneven bars routine, once again.

GB will still have a chance to medal in the uneven bars final, where Tweddle will compete for gold, and in the all-around final with Whelan and Rebecca Tunney.

The Americans have chances for more medals in the all-around and all  the apparatuses’s finals.

The Chinese finished fourth after winning the gold four years ago in Beijing.

Watch the Team Final on bbc.co.uk while you still can.

FINAL RESULTS:

Rank	Team	Score	+
1	United States	183.596	-
Team Totals by Apparatus Score 48.132 44.799 45.299 45.366 Rank 1 3 1 1 Gabrielle Douglas Score 15.966 15.200 15.233 15.066 Rank 2 6 4 3 Mc Kayla Maroney Score 16.233 - - - Rank 1 - - - Alexandra Raisman Score - - 14.933 15.300 Rank - - 7 1 Kyla Ross Score - 14.933 15.133 - Rank - 8 5 - Jordyn Wieber Score 15.933 14.666 - 15.000 Rank 3 11 - 4
2	Russia	178.530	+
3	Romania	176.414	+
4	China	174.430	+
5	Canada	170.804	+
6	Great Britain	170.495	-
Team Totals by Apparatus Score 43.965 44.599 39.199 42.732 Rank 6 4 8 4 Imogen Cairns Score 14.266 - 13.500 - Rank 22 - =18 - Jennifer Pinches Score 14.833 - 11.833 14.366 Rank 14 - 24 10 Rebecca Tunney Score 14.866 14.766 - - Rank =12 9 - - Elizabeth Tweddle Score - 15.833 - 14.166 Rank - 1 - 15 Hannah Whelan Score - 14.000 13.866 14.200 Rank - 19 15 14
7	Italy	167.930	+
8	Japan	166.646	+

Gymnastics: US and GB in Team Final at the Olympics

Elizabeth Tweddle is the favorite to win gold in the uneven bars final. gymnstands | photobucket.com

The US women’s gymnastics team came out strong on Sunday, with 15 + points on the vault.

The US team qualified for the team final by finishing first.

The Great Britain women’s team also qualified for the team final by finishing fifth.

The GB team had a rocky start, with Hannah Whelan falling off the beam. The team only received a 39.632 for the apparatus.

GB improved as they continued

Jordyn Wieber, the reigning all-around World Champion, was not able to make it the all-around final. gymnstands | photobucket.com

the competition.

Elizabeth Tweddle had an amazing performance on the uneven bars and received the highest score on he apparatus at 16.133 and finished first. She has qualified for the uneven bars final and helped secure her team a place in the team final.

The US team had their worst performance on floor. Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle Douglas and Kyla Ross all stepped out of bounds during their routines.

Alexandra Raisman had and outstanding performance though. She finished first on floor and earned herself a spot in the floor final.

Mc Kayla Maroney finished first on vault and will be in the vault final. She is the favorite for the gold.

Douglas has earned herself a spot in the uneven bars and beam final. She finished sixth in the uneven bars qualification and third in the beam.

Douglas’s weakest apparatus is the beam, but she had an almost flawless performance and gave no impression that the beam was her weakest skill.

Raisman also earned a spot in the beam final by finishing fifth.

Ross just missed out on competing in the beam final. She finished sixth, but because of the rule of no more than two from each team in the final, she will not be able to compete in the beam final.

Raisman and Douglas will be in the all-around individual final, because they finished second and third.

Wieber finished fourth, but once again because of the no more than two rule, she will miss out on the final.

Wieber is the reigning all-around World Champion and was expected to make it to the all-around final. She was seen tearful after her team finished qualifying.

Wieber will be competing in the floor final though, she finished sixth.

Russian, Victoria Komova, finished first in the all-around event.

The team final is on Tuesday.