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- 11 months ago
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Aly Raisman Wins Floor Exercise Gold
Aly Raisman ends the London Olympics with the most medals of any American gymnast after capturing gold on the women’s floor exercise.
Raisman scored a 15.600, winning by four tenths over silver medalist Catalina Ponor of Romania (the same woman she beat out in a tiebreaker on balance beam earlier on Tuesday). Russia’s Aliya Mustafina took bronze, winning a tiebreaker of her own over Italian gymnast Vanessa Ferrari.
Jordyn Wieber finished seventh and ended her London Olympics without any individual medals despite the highest of expectations coming in for the 2011 world champion. Instead it was Raisman winning three medals (gold in team and floor and bronze on beam) and Gabby Douglas leading the charge for the Americans in 2012.
The women’s floor marks the end of the artistic gymnastics competition at the 2012 Olympics. The Chinese team won the most medals with eight, four of them gold. Team USA finished with three golds and six medals overall. Russia’s Mustafina was the most successful individual gymnast, capturing four medals, one gold, one silver and two bronze.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic Gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics section.
- 11 months ago
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Aly Raisman Wins Gymnastics Bronze In Beam After Inquiry
Aly Raisman won her second medal of the Olympics, but not without some controversy.
Raisman originally finished one-tenth a point behind Romania’s Catalina Ponor, but was not given the difficulty score she expected and as a result the USA coach put in an inquiry with the judges. After review, the judges raised the difficulty level by one tenth to a 6.3, landing her in a tie with Ponor. However, since Aly had the higher execution score she won the tiebreaker and bronze medal. Perhaps this is some sweet justice for Raisman after she lost a tiebreaker for the bronze in the all-around competition to Russia’s Aliya Mustafina. Raisman was clearly thrilled to be on the winning side of a tie this time around.
The other American on beam, Gabby Douglas, fell during her routine and as a result finished seventh among the competitors, ending her hopes for a third medal at these Olympics. It was the 14th routine for Douglas in London.
The Chinese took gold and silver and finished far above the rest of the gymnasts. Sui Lu, 2011 world champion was first up and set a score that few other gymnasts could match with a 15.500, but her teammate, Deng Linlin, topped it with a 15.600. Both women had an execution score of 9.0, but Linlin, the 2009 beam world champion, had a slightly higher degree of difficulty to her routine.
This marks the end of the London Olympics for Douglas, but we will see Raisman once more later on Tuesday in the floor competition.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic Gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics section.
- 11 months ago
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Man Who Threw Bottle, Got Punched Before 100m Final Identified
Well this is some great camerawork. It's also a great time to ridicule the moron who, just seconds before the gun went off to begin the men's 100m finals, threw a bottle onto the track in the direction of Usain Bolt.
To set the scene, the eight finalists were in the blocks and the stadium had gone quiet. All eyes were on the starting line as Bolt and the rest of his incredibly speedy competitors got set to fly down the track in less than 10 seconds. And one idiot decided he wanted to be completely stupid.
So he threw a bottle. He was close enough to the track and positioned right behind the runners that the bottle got pretty close to the blocks.
See the woman next to him in the black and orange? That's Edith Bosch. Earlier, she took home a bronze medal in judo.
She wasn't having the whole bottle-throwing thing and reportedly decked the guy. A bit of instant karma, if you will. And if that wasn't enough, the man was arrested. Because he's an idiot and did it in plain sight of, well, everyone. Nice job!
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.
- 11 months ago
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Serena Williams Dominates Maria Sharapova To Win Olympic Gold
Serena Williams won the gold medal in women's singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics on Saturday, absolutely dismantling Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1. And really, it wasn't even that close.
Serena took the first game with three aces, broke Sharapova in the second, and then never looked back, winning the first set, 6-0. Sharapova did not hold serve and win her first game until the second set, when she made it 3-1, roughly 45 minutes into the match. The final took a total of just 63 minutes.
After Serena delayed the start a couple of times for what the NBC announcers speculated was either "nerves" or "bathroom breaks" (perhaps both?), the 2012 Wimbledon champion came out and wrecked shop against Sharapova, the tournament's No. 3 seed, and the No. 3 ranked women's player in the world. The domination was hardly anything new for Serena -- she lost just 17 games in her six matches during the Olympics, and including the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Williams was a perfect 13-0 at the All England Club this summer.
Earlier in the day, Belarus' Victoria Azarenka won the bronze medal, defeating Russia's Maria Kirilenko, 6-3, 6-4.
For Serena, who had already completed the career grand slam, it's her first gold medal, making her just the second women's player to accomplish the career Golden Slam (Steffi Graf being the other). Serena will team up with sister Venus later Saturday afternoon in the women's doubles semifinals
After match point, Serena let out a scream and then -- on the grass court of Wimbledon, mind you -- celebrated with a perfect crip-walk.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.
- 11 months ago
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Oscar Pistorius Qualifies For 400m Semifinals
South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, the first athlete to compete in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games, qualified for the 400m semifinals in London on Saturday. Pistorius posted the second fastest time in the first heat of the day to move on to the semis. He crossed the line in 45:44, just behind the Dominican Republic's Luguelin Santos, who posted a time of 45:04. It was best time of the year for Pistorius, and the fourth fastest of his career.
Pistorius had been working towards his Olympic debut for years, finally earning entry this summer to provide one of the best stories of the Games. He spoke about his first appearance, and the nervousness coming out of the tunnel for the first time, via Joe Battaglia of NBC:
"I've been thinking about this day for the last six years...To finally be on the track, on this stage is amazing. I'm almost speechless."
Pistorius then spoke about his run, marking the Dominican and coming in with the second-fastest time:
"I set up on the starting blocks, came out of the blocks fine," he said. "On the back straight I found a very good rhythm and felt very relaxed. Santos was on my outside and he was my marker during the race. I just keyed on him and we started accelerating quite quickly very early on the second corner.
(Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
The South African cruised across the line, indicating that he was pleased with his rhythm and happy with the time. Luguelin looked over his shoulder down the final stretch but the duo had locked up the one-two finish in the heat. An animated gif of the finish:
Pistorius will now run in the semifinals on Sunday. The men's 400m semis will begin at 3:40 p.m. ET with Pistorius scheduled to run in the second heat. The finals are set for 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics hub.
- 11 months ago
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Women's Rowing Wins Gold, Establishes 'American Dynasty'
"That is an American dynasty, baby."
Susan Francia said it best about the United States' women's eight team, which continued its rowing dominance on Thursday, winning the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Not only is it the Americans' second straight gold at the Summer Games, but it also marks their seventh consecutive win at the highest level -- U.S. won the World Rowing Championships in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 (the competition is not held the same years as the Olympics). And at the 2004 Summer Olympics, they brought home a silver.
The U.S., led by coxswain Mary Whipple, led from start to finish, stretching their advantage over the silver-medal winners from Canada to as much as 2.34 seconds at the 1000-meter mark. They completed the 2,000-meter course in 6:10.59, beating the Canadians by 1.47 seconds and the bronze medal winner, the Netherlands, by 2.53 seconds.
"Coming off the line, I felt so much," Whipple said. "And then when we took our stride, that was beautiful.
"We were a little high and I just told them to breathe and enjoy the moment. Feel each stroke. Be present. And we were present -- the whole time."
"It was magical," Whipple added. Then, as is customary in rowing, her crew celebrated by throwing her into the water.
Magical, indeed.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics hub.
- 11 months ago
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2012 Olympics, Women's Gymnastics All-Around: Gabby Douglas Takes The Gold
After playing an integral part in the U.S. winning gold in the women's team gymnastics competition on Tuesday, Gabby Douglas once again put on a show on Thursday to win the gold in the women's individual all-around. She is the third-straight American woman to win the event, coming on the heels of Carly Patterson in 2004 and Nastia Liukin in 2008. It's just the second time any country has pulled off a three-peat.
It was an incredible performance by Douglas, who led after every rotation to best Russia's Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina with a total of 62.232 points. Komova needed to score a 15.360 on the floor exercise, her final rotation, but came up short with a 15.100.
Douglas set the tone for her big night in London on vault, her first rotation, scoring a 15.966 and establishing a lead she would never give up. She pulled off an attempt with a high degree of difficulty, despite a small hop than inched her toward the edge of the mat. It was the highest score of the evening on vault.
An animated GIF of the attempt that, just like the team competition, started the gold-medal evening:
After Komova closed the deficit on uneven bars, Douglas once again put on the performance of the night on balance beam. Her 15.5 score was the highest of the evening and pushed her lead to three-tenths of a point heading into the floor exercise. Her finish on the beam put the crowd at North Greenwich Arena in full roar:
Douglas carried the momentum from the beam over to floor, one of her best events. She finished off the evening with a 15.033, setting a mark that Komova could not overcome.
With the victory, Douglas became the first African-American gymnast to win all-around gold, and the first American gymnast to capture gold in both the team and individual all-around competitions. She reflected on the momentous achievement after the win:
"Oh, my gosh, I forgot about that," she said. "It's definitely an amazing feeling and great honor to be the first African-American to win. I hope I can inspire people. My mother told me that I can inspire a nation."
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics hub. For more on Olympic gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic gymnastics section.
- 11 months ago
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Danell Leyva's High Bar Routine Secures Bronze Medal
Danell Leyva's high bar routine was the last of his six in the men's gymnastics all-around competition on Wednesday. It was also a very good one, one that secured his bronze medal in the event.
The high bar is the equivalent of the uneven bars for men's gymnastics, but it swaps the precision of the uneven bars' transitions for the power of the flips male gymnasts pull on it. For example, the one to the right, in which Leyva whips himself around for a backflip.
Leyva was America's best hope for a medal in the all-around event, and he got it done with this routine, which ended up netting him a 15.700, tops in the event on the day.
The backflip wasn't Leyva's only strong move in the routine, as he also pulled off a flip that had a twist to it, but it wasn't until Leyva's dismount that he was well and truly assured of a great routine.
Leyva steps out a bit, but you can tell from the cheers of the crowd as he straightens out that he had done something good. Indeed, it was good enough to win the first medal for an American in the men's all-around since Paul Hamm touched gold in 2004, and only the second since 1984.
You can find a complete medal tracker at SI.com.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic gymnastics section.
- 11 months ago
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Fab Five: Team USA Wins Gold In Women's Team Gymnastics
For the first time since 1996 in Atlanta, Team USA has won gold in women's team gymnastics. The "Fab Five," led by Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber, posted a total team score of 183.596, crushing Russia by more than five points, which finished second with a score of 178.530. Romania (176.414) took home bronze.
After Aly Raisman's floor routine, the final event for the U.S. -- and needing only to score a 10, more of a formality than anything -- Team USA stood together and watched the scoreboard as the results were officially announced and began laughing and crying, celebrating the moment. The United States' gold medal, just its second ever in the event, comes after two straight silvers in Beijing and Athens, and a bronze in Sydney.
The Americans turned in the highest team scores in vault, beam and floor (they were third on the parallel bars).
The U.S. opened on vault and posted a huge score, leading the way with a 48.132 on the strength of McKayla Maroney's 16.233. Russia was second, with a score of 46.366.
Team USA took a 1.733 point lead over China heading into the second rotation, which for the Americans, was the uneven bars. Jordyn Wieber rebound nicely from Sunday's showing with a 14.666 and no major mistakes, but the team score of 44.799 was only good for third, behind both China and Russia.
The U.S. maintained its slim advantage -- leading Russia just 92.931 to 92.532 -- heading into the third rotation, balance beam. The three Americans all posted solid scores, led by Gabby Douglas' 15.233 (Kyla Ross turned in a 15.133 and Raisman scored a 14.933)
On beam, the trio of Americans all posted strong numbers -- and avoided any falls -- to post a 45.299, the highest team score of the competition. More importantly, the results extended the U.S. lead over the Russians, giving them a 1.299-point advantage heading into the floor exercise, the final routine of the women's team final.
Russia was on the floor first and they struggled, with Anastasia Grishina scoring just a 12.466, a total that brought down their team score to 41.599. The low tallies meant the United States just needed to avoid a collapse of epic proportions on their floor routine to win Olympic gold, and they did just that.
Gabby Douglas stuck her routine to lead things off with a 15.066. Jordyn Wieber followed with one of her career best performances (15.000) and then Raisman brought it home for the U.S (15.300).
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.
