U.S. women get valuable gymnastics lessons

BEIJING – The United States women’s gymnastics team had the potential to make history and become the first to win gold off American soil. I did my share to hype this group, saying it was more impressive than “The Magnificent Seven,” the gold-medal winning team I was a part of at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

These American women were certainly more accomplished with 26 world medals between them, and they believed they were on the verge of accomplishing something special, too. Some of them even wore gold nail polish and eye shadow, sending a message to the world loud and clear that an Olympic team title was their goal. Nothing short of it would suffice.

That explains the deep disappointment they felt after not living up to those high hopes.

TEAM COMPETITION

Plain and simple, the U.S. women had a bad day.

They made multiple mistakes, starting with two falls and continuing with two out-of-bounds deductions and steps on landings. Well, that qualifies as an off day at the Olympics when you’re up against a Chinese team that was driven by their country’s support and pride.

Near perfection was what the Americans needed, but they fell short. Although not a lot of people can say they earned a silver medal when they had a bad day. Still, these girls are competitors and the loss in the team finals hurt.

Grade: C.

INDIVIDUAL ALL-AROUND AND EVENTS

The U.S. women had the opportunity to redeem themselves in the all-around – to show that the team finals were behind them. They ended up dominating, with Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson finishing 1-2 in the all-around.

I am not sure it’s possible to be a disappointment after winning the all-around, but, in my opinion, Liukin fell slightly short of her personal goals. She was the reigning world champion on beam and has a bars routine that vies for gold in any competition, but she ended up with silver in both event finals to go with her bronze in the floor exercise. To her credit, Liukin matched the score of China’s bars specialist He Kexin, who won via a tiebreaker.

After failing short of winning the all-around, Johnson’s bid for gold resumed in the finals of the floor and beam. The 2007 floor world champ watched her first-place score hold up until the very last competitor, when Romania’s Sandra Izbasa edged her for the gold. Beam is not typically Johnson’s strength, but she came through with a near flawless routine for a golden ending to her games.

Alicia Sacramone, a heavy favorite to earn a medal in the vault, came out with a look of determination, but there was no focus on the details. Landings are key in this event, and despite performing two strong vaults, her landings cost her, leaving her in fourth place and just .025 out of a bronze medal.

Grades: A for all-around, B-plus for individual events.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

From the start, the Chinese proved they were not going to allow a repeat of the 2007 world championships, when the U.S. overtook them on the final event to win the team finals. By the second rotation, China had pulled nearly a point ahead, and the Americans allowed distractions to pull them off their game plan and lose focus.

By the 2012 London Games, the U.S. will have learned from its mistakes. It will have Johnson leading the way and, hopefully for the Americans, leading their own domination.

Grade: B-plus.