Posted Tuesday, Jul. 31, 2012
By Gil LeBreton
glebreton@star-telegram.com
LONDON -- In the end, it didn't matter who went first, or what Bela Karolyi said, or how many tears Jordyn Wieber had to shed before she finally was able to sleep Sunday night.
They rose to the occasion. They buried the controversy. They stuck the golden dismount.
All five of them.
The U.S. gymnastics squad, razor-sharp and laser-focused, became the new gold standard for women's gymnastics Tuesday. Dominating from their first vault to their final floor flourish, the Americans won the team gold medal by a runaway margin of more than five points.
No women's gymnastics team in the past 52 years has won the gold medal more convincingly.
The 1996 gold medal-winning team, true to its name, was magnificent.
But Magnificent Seven, move over for the Fabulous Five.
"I don't think there's any question -- this is the best team," said the legendary Karolyi, who coached that '96 team in Atlanta. "This is the strongest team anyone has ever put together."
With the rules changed and only five gymnasts to a side and all three scores in each event counting, the need to maximize scores by blending all-around gymnasts and event specialists was critical.
Thus, McKayla Maroney, 16, had only one job to do Tuesday, and it came in the U.S. team's opening event, the vault. Maroney raced down the runway, ricocheted off the takeoff board, and then rocketed into the air high enough to do 2 1/2 somersaults.
The judges, clearly impressed, gave her a 16.233, the highest score that any gymnast received in any event all day.
It's called an Amanar vault. But Wieber's coach, John Geddert, thinks it should henceforth be called a Maroney.
"It was a moonshot," he said.
First Wieber, then Gabby Douglas, and then Maroney -- scores of 15.933, 15.966 and 16.233.
"It was kind of amazing how we started," Maroney said. "It was like boom, boom, boom."
Russia and China spent the rest of the day in a futile race to catch up.
"I must recognize the United States, which led this competition from beginning to end," said Octavian Bellu, who coached Romania to third place.
At the world championships in Tokyo last year, brows were raised when the Americans won by 4.082 over the Russians. But Tuesday's performance showed the world numbers were no fluke.
Geddert said he added it up, and from those world championships through Tuesday's final, the U.S. hit all 56 of its 56 routines.
No falls off the beam, no plummets from the uneven bars, no costly major errors.
Geddert correctly called it "a phenomenal stat. No mistakes for that long a period -- that's absolutely incredible."
His handling of the disappointed Wieber played no small part in what happened Tuesday.
"To put that disappointment behind her and show that she's a great team player was important," Geddert said.
Wieber agreed, while saying, "Today was pretty good redemption."
Indeed, it was.
The U.S. team posted the highest score on three of the day's four events.
The draw for the day meant that the Russians would compete ahead of the Americans in the final event, floor exercise. But the Russians crumbled under the pressure of the large deficit.
When Russia's Kseniia Afanaseva wobbled and collapsed to her knees at the end of her final tumbling pass, even the Russians realized that the chase was futile. The face of Afanaseva's teammate, Viktoria Komova, soured in tears.
At the edge of the podium, the U.S. women had been bouncing along with the Russians' floor ex music. There was no stopping them now.
But now will come the praises, the comparisons, the visits to the White House.
Geddert was asked if he would have a problem with someone proclaiming this the strongest U.S. team ever.
"Absolutely not," Geddert said. "The proof is in the pudding. The level of difficulty separates the two teams."
After Alexandra Raisman's finish on floor, the Americans clasped hands and stared upwards at the video board to see the final scores.
Wieber, a basket case in the same scene on Sunday, was already smiling.
For her, it was a redemption. For the team, it was history.
Five is the new Seven. And they were absolutely fabulous.
Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7697Twitter: @gilebreton
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