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USA's Gabby Douglas crowned
Olympic champion in dramatic gymnastics all-around final
With a big smile and even bigger performance, Gabby Douglas,
the high-flying 16-year-old out of Virginia Beach, held off a strong and
dramatic challenge by Russian Victoria Komova to win gold in the women's
gymnastics all-around final on Thursday.
Douglas led throughout but needed to deliver a near flawless routine on the floor exercise, the final of four rotations, and then wait out the floor effort by Komova, who needed a 15.360 to win gold.
Douglas led throughout but needed to deliver a near flawless routine on the floor exercise, the final of four rotations, and then wait out the floor effort by Komova, who needed a 15.360 to win gold.
She got only a 15.100.
As the score dramatically flashed on the screen, Komova broke into tears in her coaches' arms and Douglas flashed one of her signature grins and jumped in celebration as chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" rained down.
American Aly Raisman, of suburban Boston, actually tied Mustafina at 59.566, but she finished in a heart-breaking fourth place after losing the tiebreaker. In case of a tie, the lowest score is thrown out and each competitors' top three are calculated. Mustafina was higher.
Douglas took the overall lead on the vault, the first of her four rotations, and then never relinquished it despite strong challenges from the Russians, who were determined to excel at the all-around after being blown out by the Americans in the team competition on Tuesday.
As the score dramatically flashed on the screen, Komova broke into tears in her coaches' arms and Douglas flashed one of her signature grins and jumped in celebration as chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" rained down.
American Aly Raisman, of suburban Boston, actually tied Mustafina at 59.566, but she finished in a heart-breaking fourth place after losing the tiebreaker. In case of a tie, the lowest score is thrown out and each competitors' top three are calculated. Mustafina was higher.
Douglas took the overall lead on the vault, the first of her four rotations, and then never relinquished it despite strong challenges from the Russians, who were determined to excel at the all-around after being blown out by the Americans in the team competition on Tuesday.
Douglas, deemed "The Flying Squirrel" due to high-wire
routines, landed a meet-best 15.966 on the vault to assume the early lead. She
followed it with a sharp 15.733 on the uneven bars, managing to maintain a gap.
Douglas then delivered a brilliant performance on the balance beam, scoring a meet-best 15.500 to give herself a 0.326 cushion going into the floor exercise. Her best moment was landing a full flip with a twist on beam just moments after Mustafina, the 2010 world champion, fell attempting the same complex maneuver.
The final rotation was the floor exercise. Douglas delivered a 15.033, then had to wait nervously as Raisman and Komova got the final two chances. It's common in gymnastics for scores to increase as the competition goes on. In this case, it wasn't enough.
Douglas then delivered a brilliant performance on the balance beam, scoring a meet-best 15.500 to give herself a 0.326 cushion going into the floor exercise. Her best moment was landing a full flip with a twist on beam just moments after Mustafina, the 2010 world champion, fell attempting the same complex maneuver.
The final rotation was the floor exercise. Douglas delivered a 15.033, then had to wait nervously as Raisman and Komova got the final two chances. It's common in gymnastics for scores to increase as the competition goes on. In this case, it wasn't enough.
Report from London
Douglas becomes the
first African American to win the Olympic women's all-around. She follows Nastia
Liukin (2008) and Carly Patterson (2004) to give America the overall individual
champion three Olympics running.
Women's gymnastics will stage its individual
event finals on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, with all five of the American
gymnasts qualified in at least one event, so the United States' haul of gold
should continue into next week.
Douglas, however, is now the unquestioned champion of women's
gymnastics.
A CHAMPION PERSONIFIED!
A CHAMPION PERSONIFIED!
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