Active.com 2008 Olympics : Tags : gymnastics

The U.S. women's gymnastics team showed up to the National Indoor Stadium Sunday night ready to shine with a sure plan to qualify for the team final. Well, they qualified, but not with the same plan they had when they entered the stadium.

As team USA walked out onto the floor their was distress showing on their faces, but no one watching knew why. Next, Samantha Peszek, who was supposed to compete in all four events, never took off her warm-up suit. What was going on?

The announcers searched for answers, panning from coach, to Peszek, to her mother and back. As we later found out fifteen minutes into the competition, Peszek had sprained her ankle during warm up on the floor and did not seem to be competing at all.

The team was clearly stressed by the sudden change in plan, which was first obvious on their faces, but later even more evident when the first two U.S. gymnasts to compete, Bridget Sloan and Alicia Sacramone, stepped out of bounds during their floor routines.

Sacramone's performance on the floor, which is usually her specialty, cost her a chance at competing in the individual finals. The U.S. team seemed to be crumbling right before our eyes.

Peszek did compete in the uneven bars and cleanly landed her dismount despite the painful ankle sprain she endured just a couple hours before. However, Peszek's teammates, Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin were not as lucky. Both had uncharacteristic falls in the event.

With Peszek out of three of the four events, the team was without a throwaway score on floor, vault and beam, which meant there was no room for mistakes if they wanted to go on to the team finals.

By the final rotation, the balance beam, team USA got it together and it might have been thanks to the pep talk Sacramone gave before her teammates took to the beam. They all nailed their routines.

In the end, team USA was in second place, despite an uncharacteristic performance by the defending champions. The girls huddled with their arms around each other and gave words of encouragement to one another and showing the fans watching on tv that team USA would be back, as the team to beat, in the finals. Watch out China!

1 Comments Permalink Tags: 2008_beijing_olympics, 2008_olympic_games, olympics, olympic_games, olympic, gymnastics, team-usa, team

The Men's team final will take place tonight, the third day of Artistic Gymnastics competition, as eight teams will compete for the gold. In qualifications, China finished with 373.600 points, followed by Japan at 369.500 and Russia with 365.425, just .225 ahead of the Americans.

The favorite to win tonight is China, who dominated the qualification stage, but defending champion, Japan, will not go down without a fight. Japan delivered a decent performance at the qualification stage, and has the potential to get much better scores tonight.

Russia's performance tonight may depend on whether or not Konstantin Pluzhnikov is able to participate. Pluzhnikov fell off the rings at the end of the session, landing on the back of his neck. He walked off the podum, then lay down on the sidelines as trainers diagnosed his injury. Pluzhnikov did walk off on his own at the end of the competition, but his status is still up in the air.

Although the Hamm brothers will not be competing in the Olympics this year, don't count the U.S. out just yet. Sasha Artemev, who joined the squad Thursday night, and Raj Bhavsar are the Hamm brothers replacements, and both performed well the other night.

The 2004 Athens runner-up, who finished sixth in the qualifications, lacks experience, but not heart. The United States, led by fist-pumping Jonathan Horton, who went wild the other night during competition upon seeing a U.S. flag, knows they have a lot to prove and will do whatever it takes to not let everyone back home down.