USA Gymnastics: Domination 2012

   We all remember London 2012 right? The Olympics, Michael Phelps winning the gold. This is not a swimming blog, its a gymnastics blog, so lets talk about that. Not only did the USA win team gold with the Fierce Five. A lot of the Fierce Five won individual medals, shooting them way high in the medal count. Team Gold won by the Fierce Five, Vault Silver won by McKayla Maroney, All-Around Gold by Gabby Douglas, Beam Bronze by Aly Raisman, and Floor Gold by Aly Raisman (Aly left as the most decorated gymnast on the US Side, both men and women. The USA has such a strong hold on gymnastics right now that it is unbelievable. And until Rio 2016, they will continue to have this amazing hold on the sport. The USA hasn't rocked the sport since 1996 since the Magnificent Seven won gold. They rocked the sport, and are still rocking it with fresh senior Simone Biles,  Fierce Five Members Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney, Simone getting into every final, and medaling in almost all of them at the Worlds, Kyla Ross medaling silver in almost every final that she got into, and McKayla Maroney winning vault gold, setting a record for team USA, a record that only team US has. Defending a Worlds Title. I believe that that was Maroney's redemption. That she is redeemed, but still will try for Rio De Janeiro and try to steal the vaulting gold. But overall, USA has had a strong hold on the sport, and will have it forever.

USA vs. Russia: Situations when Americans and Russians were pitted against each other

  There were some situations in 2012 when the Russians and the Americans were fighting each other: Here are some examples


1. Vault Final: It was McKayla Maroney (USA Representative) and Maria Paseka (Russian) after Maroney fell on her second vault, Paseka thought that winning silver was inevitable. But, because Maroney's form was perfection, Maroney left with the silver, instead of Russian, Maria Paseka, who left with bronze, despite a horrible vault in team.
2. Uneven bars finals- It was two against one, but Mustafina won gold over Gabby Douglas, who disappointed me when she fell on bars, and landed her sorry little butt in 8th place.
3. All-Around Final: It was two verses two in this final. It was Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova vs. Gabrielle Douglas and Aly Raisman. Aly Raisman lost the bronze to Aliya Mustafina because of difficulty, but Gabby Douglas snatched the gold from a gymnast who has already had a pretty bad Olympics, and would continue to do so, Viktoria Komova
4. Beam Final, it was Ksniia Afaneyseva and Aly Raisman, they both wanted to medal, but only one of them did, and that is Aly Rasiman, (Komova and Douglas were in contention but dropped to 8th (Komova) and 7th (Douglas)
6. The floor final, Mustafina was aiming for  gold, but Aly got it
7. The Team Final: USA USA! They won the gold over the Russian team for only the second time.

The Sportsmanship Award: Team USA

   Gold Medals, Silver Medals, Bronze Medals, those are all GREAT to win, but what about the sportsmanship award? Those are the absolute greatest to win. They define a single gymnast on the team. On the USA team, we have a tie! A tie between Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber. I could not decide! So, I decided to do both, here are the reasons why I nominated both


1. Aly Raisman- She lost the bronze all-around medal to Aliya Mustafina, and was still happy. She shook Gabby's, Viktoria's, and Aliya's hands when she saw them on the sidelines. And in the floor final, when she won gold, she did not gloat! She shook the hands of the 2-8th place finishers. She hugged Jordyn when her last chance at an individual medal slipped away. When she grabbed the bronze on beam above Catalina Ponor, she gave her a hug and said "It will be ok" Aly is a co-champ because of that reason

2. Jordyn Wieber- She missed out on the all-around final, and after crying for a few minutes, she congratulated Gabby and Aly for making it. And most importantly, she came back like a bouncy ball in the team final, and pushed her team to gold, sticking every landing, swinging bars, doing tumbling, her artistry apparent. She was amazing.