Team USA Takes Gymnastics Gold Without Reservation
The American women won their third consecutive world gymnastics title Tuesday night – giving many a glimpse of things to come next summer in London.
Team USA scored 179.411 points just four points ahead of Russia, the 2010 champions.
Martha Karolyi, the national team coordinator, said she was proud of the girls, whom she initially was unsure about.
"I was hoping for it, but I could not be 100 percent sure because there were so many newcomers," Karolyi said.
"These girls were standing up very confident, very powerful out there," she added.
Anna Li, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Sabrina Vega, Alexandra Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas competed and accepted the gold medals for team USA, which has set a record for most world medals.
Although the girls were able to bring home the medal, they were missing team veteran Alicia Sacramone, who tore her Achilles tendon while practicing last Thursday.
The medal will be her 10th, breaking her away from a previous tie with former U.S. gymnasts Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin.
Raisman recognized her team’s strength and ability to compete without their leading veteran.
"Team USA is really strong," said Raisman, the Associated Press reported. "And we're just going to keep getting stronger."
The gymnast said she gave her team a pep talk to prepare them for the big win.
Raisman stated, "I just told them, `We're going to remember this night for the rest of our lives so let's make it count,"' AP wrote.
John Geddert, U.S. coach, said he did not see any nerves in his gymnasts before their gold medal winning performances.
"There's only one better way to follow a 20-for-20 performance (in qualifying), and that's 12-for-12 in team finals," Geddert said, according to CBS. "I think they're oblivious. I didn't see one ounce of nerves out there. It was `Let's have fun and go do gymnastics."'
