Memorable Competitions: 2008 All-Around

Hey guys, I decided to do a new segment called "Memorable Competitions, in which I will write about the competition listed in the header, and for the inaugural post of this segment, I will write about the 2008 Olympic All-Around. one of my favorite, and in my opinion, one of the most thrilling, competitions. In this particular post of "Memorable Competitions, I will be giving you, my readers, a rotation by rotation summary.

   Even though Shawn and Nastia still thought about the disappointment of team finals, they were able to focus on the biggest competition of their lives: the all-around. This is where the Queen of gymnastics would be crowned, and really, they knew that they were going to go one and two, but the question was, "At the end of the competition, who would be holding the gold medal, and who would be holding the silver?" Well, they would find out at the end of the night. Going into vault, Nastia knew that Shawn would have the lead, because Shawn was performing a vault that is worth 16.500, the 2 1/2 twist, otherwise known as te Amanar, while she was performing a substantially easier vault, a single twist, coming in at a small 15.400. Now even though Shawn had a cross-over step on her landing, she still scored higher than Nastia Liukin, who stuck her less-difficult vault. And then, Yang Yilin, who scored a 15.175, coming ahead of Nastia Liukin, but behind Amanar-Performing Shawn Johnson.

   Coming into bars, Nastia had the advantage. She had an extremely packed routine, with the most difficult, releases, transitions, and of course, pirouettes and handstands. Shawn had a lot less difficult routine, but in hindsight, her difficult dismount helped her. But still, no gymnastics fan anywhere was surprised that Nastia had a lead over copatriot, Shawn Johnson, going into rotation 3, the beam, and after rotation three, Chinese gymnast, had slid into second place, with a bar routine better than Nastia's, then again, what is to be expected? The Chinese are the masters of the uneven bars. 

   Then it was Beam, Nastia got a 16.125 while her copatriot Shawn Johnson was right behind her (more or less) with a 16.050. And of course, Yang Yilin, coming in with a 15.750. 

  It was the final event, floor, and Nastia had just delivered the best routine of her life, scoring a WHOPPING 15.525, and in order to take the gold medal from Nastia, Shawn needed to perform a routine that would get her a little bit over a 16.000, but as we know, she failed to do this, but do you know why? Two reasons: 

1. Getting a 16 on floor is pratically unheard of

2. Shawn didn't have the D score.

So because of those two reasons, Shawn Johnson didn't have a chance of winning the all around, and Yang Yilin also missed out not only on the gold, but on the silver, finishing her night with the floor score of 15.000. 

   So at the end of the night, Nastia placed first with an overall score of 63.325, Shawn coming behind her with an overall score of 62.725, and Yang Yilin coming in 3rd with an overall score of 62.650. I also copied the table that  http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/2008/olympics2008wagaa.html provided.

2008 Olympic Games Beijing Women’s Individual All-Around Final			VT	UB	BB	FX	Total
1	LIUKIN Nastia	USA	15.025	16.650	16.125	15.525	63.325
2	JOHNSON Shawn	USA	15.875	15.275	16.050	15.525	62.725
3	YANG Yilin	CHN	15.175	16.725	15.750	15.000	62.650
4	SEMENOVA Ksenia	RUS	14.750	16.475	15.925	14.775	61.925
5	NISTOR Steliana	ROU	15.025	15.975	15.550	14.500	61.050
6	JIANG Yuyuan	CHN	14.825	15.875	15.425	14.775	60.900
7	PAVLOVA Anna	RUS	15.275	14.525	15.975	15.050	60.825
8	IZBASA Sandra	ROU	15.075	14.300	15.875	15.500	60.750
9	CHUSOVITINA Oksana	GER	15.750	14.900	14.875	14.600	60.125
10	BARBOSA Jade	BRA	15.025	15.075	15.500	13.950	59.550
11	FERRARI Vanessa	ITA	14.700	15.200	15.600	13.950	59.450
12	DOWNIE Becky	GBR	15.025	15.625	14.700	14.100	59.450
13	BONORA Georgia	AUS	14.850	14.625	15.100	14.375	58.950
14	PAROLARI Lia	ITA	13.950	15.350	15.125	14.500	58.925
15	MORGAN Shona	AUS	14.650	14.625	15.100	14.425	58.800
16	HOPFNER-HIBBS Elyse	CAN	14.875	15.425	14.150	13.925	58.375
17	TSURUMI Koko	JPN	14.075	14.950	15.400	13.675	58.100
18	KASLIN Ariella	SUI	15.350	14.275	14.425	13.950	58.000
19	PETIT Marine	FRA	14.725	14.400	14.275	14.575	57.975
20	OSHIMA Kyoko	JPN	14.575	14.675	13.975	14.400	57.625
21	PALESOVA Kristyna	CZE	14.075	15.350	14.650	12.900	56.975
22	SILVA Ana	BRA	14.175	14.175	14.175	14.350	56.875
23	DUGAIN Laetitia	FRA	14.275	14.275	15.225	13.000	56.775
24	MYS Gaelle	BEL	14.000	12.875	13.100	13.975	53.950
Underlined score indicate starting apparatus
Official Results

  So, the 2008 AA was a memorable competition, No?