After watching two shaky, wet-behind the ears gymnastics teams compete, I began to wonder if U.S.A gymnastics was suffering the fate of another one of my favorite teams. Let's look at the evidence:
- Paul Hamm, the returning all-around gold medalist, had to pull out of the games due to injury. His brother Morgan, the only other male gymnast with Olympic experience, followed suit after his own injury.
- Chelsie Memmel, who battled injuries her entire career, finally made an Olympic team. Not long before the team left for Beijing, she hurt her ankle. Memmel still competed in the qualifying round, but fell on a release move.
- Samantha Peszek injured her ankle moments before the qualifying round began, and was only able to compete at the uneven parallel bars.
- Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson completed flawless balance beam routines, and were rewarded 15.975 scores, considered low by the U.S. announcers.
Still, it wasn't all bad for the United States. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin finished the day 1-2, and the women are in second place. The men, meanwhile, qualified for the team final with an inexperienced team. I hope that the gymnastics teams break their curse, inspiring another team to follow suit.
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