7:00 AM
DSC Daily Sports Club
By: Lauren Burg
The
Summer Olympics take place every four years and provide great entertainment for
everyone watching. The 2012 Olympic Games, being held in London, England, are
no exception as they feature swimmer Michael Phelps trying to break the record
of medals won at an Olympics and the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team who, as
former coach Bela Karolyi said, has "a real good shot at taking home the
gold." This year's women's gymnastics team features Gabby Douglas
(Virginia Beach, Virginia), McKayla Maroney (Long Beach, California),
Alexandra, who goes by Aly, Raisman (Needham, Massachusetts), Kyla Ross (Aliso
Viejo, California) and Jordyn Wieber (DeWitt, Michigan). The alternates, in
case one of the five I just listed is unable to compete, would be Sarah
Finnegan, Anna Li and Elizabeth Price. In this article, I plan to preview the
five starters by giving their scores from the U.S. Olympic Trials which took
place in San Jose, California, along with how they fared at last year's Worlds
competition held in Tokyo, Japan. Anyways, let's get started!
Gabby Douglas:
A
member of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance, Douglas earned a 15.8 on vault, 15.25 on
bars, 14.9 on beam and 15.45 on floor for a final score of 61.4 during the
Preliminary round of the Olympic Trials. During the final round Douglas
improved her score a bit, only getting a lower score than the preliminaries on
her beam and floor exercise, and finishing with a 62.05 for that round and an overall
score of 123.45. This overall score was just enough as Douglas won the
All-Around competition over Wieber by one-tenth of a point, needing a 15.2 and earning a
15.3 on her final floor routine. The All-Around win also guaranteed Douglas a
spot on the United States Olympic Gymnastics team, something she really wanted.
Douglas's strength, judging from her Olympic trial scores, would probably be
vault. However, she also did well on floor as well as uneven bars. The only
area which she struggled some was on the beam.
McKayla Maroney:
A
member of the All Olympia Gymnastics Center (AOGC), Maroney's specialty, and
what quite possibly helped her ultimately make the Olympic team, would
definitely be her vault. During the Olympic trial preliminary round, Maroney
scored a 16.1 on vault, 13.35 on uneven bars, 13.65 on beam and 15.2 on floor
to finish Day One with a final score of 58.3. Her final round scores were a bit
better, other than her floor routine where she lost five-tenths of a point, and
she finished with a 59.35 score on that day. Overall, she finished with a
combined score of 117.65 in the All-Around competition. Maroney didn't compete
at the World Championships in Tokyo back in October but, then again, neither
did Douglas or Ross so that must not influence their selection. However, I'd
make sure that Maroney competed on vault as one of her All-Around events at the
Olympics because she's definitely mastered that apparatus.
Alexandra (Aly) Raisman:
A
member of Brestyan's American Gymnastics in Massachusetts, Raisman has been on
the radar of everyone involved in Women's Gymnastics for almost a year. At the
World Championships in Tokyo, which took place during October of 2011, Raisman
finished fourth behind fellow American Jordyn Wieber (1st) and a Chinese and
Russian gymnast respectively with a score of 57.558. At the Olympic trials
about a month ago Raisman scored a 15.55 on vault, 14.2 on uneven bars, 14.95
on beam and 15.6 on floor for a grand total of 60.3 for the preliminary round.
During the final round Raisman earned scores of 15.3, 14.45, 15.4 and 15.5 for
a grand total of 60.65. Combining her totals from both days Raisman earned a
score of 120.95, good enough to finish third in the All-Around competition. She
was also elected today to serve as the United States' Team Captain.
Kyla Ross:
Doing
her training at Gym-Max, Ross's highest score of the Olympic trials came on the
uneven bars where she dazzled the judges and scored a 15.65 during the final
round. Her other final round scores included a 15.15 on vault, 15.05 on beam
and 14.75 on floor for a total of 60.6. Her preliminary round scores included a
14.5 on vault, 15.5 on uneven bars, 14.9 on beam and 14.5 on floor for a total
of 59.4. Combining her total scores from each round Ross earned a score of 120
altogether, good enough to finish fifth in the All-Around competition.
Jordyn Wieber:
A
member that does most of her training at Gedderts' Twistars USA, Wieber is the
one everyone around the gymnastics world can't stop talking about and the reason
many view the U.S. team as the favorite to win gold in London this year. Wieber
finished first, with a total score of 59.382, at the 2011 World Championships
in Tokyo. At the Olympic trials about a month ago Wieber scored a 15.9 on
vault, 15.35 on uneven bars, 15.05 on beam and 15.4 on floor for a preliminary
round total of 61.7. To follow that impressive showing, Wieber scored a 15.8 on
vault, 15.35 on uneven bars, 14.9 on beam and 15.6 on floor for a final round
total of 61.65. Her combined score from both rounds was a 123.35, enough to
barely cost her the All-Around title. Not that that's any big deal to Wieber as
I'm guessing she's working extra hard to bring home not only a Team USA gold
medal but also the Olympic All-Around gold medal.
Now
that you have a preview of the United States Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team
feel free to use it as a guide. Remember, the Olympic gymnastics begins
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 so have your televisions set to the correct channel
and a remote nearby. Now I'll leave you with a few parting words to get you
ready for the Olympics: LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
*All
World Championship information was found here:
http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/worlds/2011/tokyo.html
*All
scores from the 2012 Olympic Trials was found here: https://usagym.org/pages/events/trials/results.html
*The
United States Olympic Team Announcement was found here:
https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=10403
***Feel
free to contact me, Lauren, @TBLightning491 on Twitter and Daily Shootout,
@DailyShootout on Twitter.***
0 comments:
Post a Comment