This year, a rule was made to go back to the team announcement the way it was prior to 2004. In the years before that, the team was named immediately after Trials were over. I remember in 2000 watching Trials, it took the Selection Committee about 20-25 minutes to decide the team and I was completely dying. Last night it did not take that long and finally they made the announcement ...
ALL OF MY GIRLS MADE IT<3
Okay, now that I'm done freaking out ... The Trials were held Friday night and Sunday night in San Jose, CA. There were many amazing moments of Trials, and a few shaky ones. In an upset, Gabby Douglas edged out Jordyn Wieber for the All Around. I have to say though, the team I thought that would be named was, and so there weren't very many surprises. I am so happy for my girls, but also heartbroken for my girls who didn't make it, most of whom I've been watching for over 8 years.
The 2012 US Women's Olympic Team
Jordyn Wieber -- Twistars
2012- American Cup Champion
2012- Finalist for the 2011 James E. Sullivan Award
2012- Pacific Rim Championships AA, Team, FX Champion
2012- Secret US Classic Beam gold
2012- US National AA Champion
2011- American Cup Champion
2011- City of Jesolo V, AA, BB silver
2011- CoverGirl US Classic BB and UB gold
2011- US National AA, UB, and FX Champion
2011- World AA Champion and Team gold.
2010 Pacific Rim Championships Team gold & Junior AA, FX, and UB gold
2010 CoverGirl US Classic AA Champion
2009 American Cup Champion
I believe that Jordyn is America's greatest hope for an All Around gold medal. She is great on all 4 events, and has even recently upgraded her dismount on her "weakest" event, the Uneven Bars, to a full twisting double layout. The only opportunity I think she has to improve is on balance beam in really nailing her connections. I believe that they will use her for all 4 events in the team final, the very nerve racking "3 up, 3 count" format.
Aly Raisman -- Breystan's
2012- American Cup AA silver
2012- City of Jesolo AA and FX silver, UB bronze
2012- US Nationals Championships bronze
2012- US Secret Classic AA Champion
2011- American Cup AA bronze
2011- City of Jesolo Team, FX, BB Champion and AA bronze
2011- CoverGirl US Classic AA, FX Champion and BB bronze
2011- US National Championships AA, FX bronze
2011- World Championships: Team gold, FX bronze
2010- American Cup AA, FX, BB silver and Vault gold
2010- City of Jesolo Team, AA, Vault, FX gold, BB bronze
2010- Pacific Rim Championships Team gold, and BB, FX silver
2010- US National Championships AA, BB, FX bronze
2010- World Championships Team silver
2009- US Junior National Championships AA bronze, BB silver
2009- Pan American Games Team, V, FX gold and AA bronze
Aly brings calmness and focus to team USA. Anytime that you see her in competition she has on this stone faced look of complete and utter focus and determination and concentration. She rarely shows many facial expressions, but that is part of the amazing part of her calmness. I think that she should be the captain of this team, she has the most experience both in the US as well as internationally and I think she would be the best leader for these girls.
Gabby Douglas -- Chow's
2012- Pacific Rim Championships Team, UB gold
2012- US National Championship UB gold, AA silver, FX bronze
2011- City of Jesolo Team gold, FX silver, BB bronze
2011- World Championships Team gold
2010- CoverGirl US Classic Junior Division BB bronze
2010- US Junior National Championships BB silver
2010- Pan American Games Team, UB gold
Wow, just making this entry reminded me that Gabby just began competing in Elite meets in 2010. She moved to Iowa from Virginia Beach specifically to train with Liang Chow, Shawn Johnson's coach. Its amazing that she has so much less experience than all of these other girls yet here she is on the same team they are and a legit threat for an AA gold medal in London! How amazingly exciting for her.
Kyla Ross -- Gym-Max
2012- Pacific Rim Championships Team, BB gold, UB silver, and FX bronze
2012- City of Jesolo AA, BB, UB gold and V bronze
2012- US Secret Classic AA, BB silver
2012- US National Championships UB silver
2011- City of Jesolo AA, BB gold and UB, V silver
2011- US CoverGirl Classic Junior Division AA, UB gold, V silver, and FX broze
2011- US Junior National Championships AA, BB, UB silver and V bronze
2010- Pacific Rim Championships AA, FX, UB silver, V gold
2010- US Junior National Championships AA, BB gold, and FX, V bronze
2009- American Classic Junior Division- BB gold, AA silver, and V, FX bronze
2009- US Classic Junior Division AA, V gold
2009- US Junior National Championships AA, BB, V gold, FX bronze
I have to say that Kyla is my favorite of the 5 girls. I love them all but she is just so special to me. All 4 of the other girls on the team are more "power gymnasts" where she is more of an "artistic gymnast" -- she has beautiful lines and her best events are Uneven Bars and Balance Beam. I think what impresses me most about her is that obviously, you can see she has a lot of experience behind her, however, she's a first year senior and has really only had a few major meets as a senior. That doesn't rattle her focus at all, she said in an interview that it feels no different to her competing as a senior. She won't challenge for the All Around in London but I am hoping and pretty sure that she will be used on both UB and BB and I hope that she can make event finals in those events! And this is irrelevant but her birthday is the day before mine :D<3
McKayla Maroney -- All Olympia
2012- City of Jesolo Team, V gold
2012- US Secret Classic V gold
2011- City of Jesolo Team, AA gold
2011- US National Championships V gold, AA silver
2011- World Championships Team, V gold
2010- US CoverGirl Classic Junior Division V silver
2010- Pan American Games Team, V, FX gold
2010- US Junior National Championships AA bronze, V gold
2009- US Junior National Championships V bronze
McKayla was the one "specialist" that was chosen for this team. Most likely they will only use her for vaulting, but she is World Champion on vault, one of the ONLY gymnasts in the world able to score above a 16, which is just incredibly huge. Not only does she do the Amanar better than anyone in the world, she has also upgraded her second vault to a Mustafina, and it is honestly just extraordinary to watch her vault. If she doesn't get injured and competes to the best of her ability, the Olympic Vault gold for her should be almost a given. There's simply no one in the world who is close to her in terms of her D scores.
The Alternates/Replacement Athletes
Anna Li -- Legacy Elite
I'm really really happy that Anna gets to go to London, even as just a replacement athlete. I am so proud of her for continuing to try for the Olympics at her age, and her bars routine is amazing, I believe the best on the entire team. I'm glad that she gets to end her Elite career this way. It is definitely not a failure by any means and I'm sure she is stoked to be going.
Sarah Finnegan -- Gage
OH MY GOSH. This girl. She is seriously adorable and not only that, she's an amazing gymnast!!! I'm so glad she was chosen for an alternate, but I really hope that she is going to keep going for the 2016 games because she is just getting started!!! I love everything about her gymnastics and if she didn't have a chance for '16 I would've been pushing for her to make the team this year as well. I saw a video of her after and she is just TOO MUCH. I'm honestly in my mind already thinking '13 Worlds haha.
Elizabeth Price -- Parkettes
Okay, so I know A LOT about gymnastics, obviously. However, not gonna lie .. no IDEA where this girl came from! Never seen her/heard her name before and all of a sudden she's like in 3rd at one point during Trials. I feel really really bad for her though because she performed really really well at Trials but unfortunately its not just Trials that counts it's also everything up to it .. I enjoyed watching her though and I hope she has a successful collegiate career, I think thats what she said she was going to do after London.
Unfortunately, no one from Beijing in 2008 was able to make it to London. Chellsie Memmel's petition to Trials was denied, Shawn Johnson retired in June before Nationals, Bridget Sloan injured her shoulder before Day 2 of Trials, and another girl in the mix following Beijing, Becca Bross, has been plagued with untimely injuries for the past two years. However, the 2 women who completed Trials and whose careers ended Sunday night finished the most classy way any Olympian would.
Nastia Liukin -- Not enough time.
At the 2012 US Secret Classic, everything looked wonderful for Nastia as she delivered a solid beam routine for the first time in 4 years. Unfortunately, in the next two meets nothing went well for her. Sunday night was about proving to herself that she could get through her bar routine, not about proving anything to anyone else. Sadly, she missed her Gienger and landed face first on the mat. I honestly wanted to cry for her. I feel like she did her comeback the right way and gave it all of her heart, however, I just think it came down to her simply not having enough time. She only announced her comeback last October after being out of gymnastics for 3 years. Had she began even a year earlier, things could be different. What I'm most proud of her for is pulling herself up off that mat and actually getting up and finishing the routine. That is a true champion. I'm glad that she got a standing ovation after that, because she truly deserved it.
Alicia Sacramone -- No regrets. YOU DID IT.
Alicia has always been one of my favorite gymnasts. My heart broke for her when she didn't make the Athens team in '04 and I was so psyched for her to go to the '08 Beijing games. I honestly cried for her during all her mishaps in the Team final. I never thought she'd comeback to gymnastics, and she proved me wrong. Her comeback WAS successful, even though she didn't make London. She was finally crowned Vault World Champion in 2010 and helped the team win the silver medal at those same championships. The following year she was the leader of the 2011 team headed to the World Championships in Tokyo. In training floor, she tore her Achilles and was pulled from competition and had to have surgery. An Achilles tendon is a potentially CAREER ENDING injury for a gymnast not to mention a gymnast of her age. She was awarded a team gold medal from Tokyo, making her the most decorated World Championship gymnast in American history. And yet, she kept going, training for London. I am so so so proud of her and she is honestly a role model and an inspiration to me as well as many others to keep going no matter what. I can't wait to see what post-gymnastics brings for her.
My lineups for Team Final : 3 up 3 count
Vault
McKayla
Jordyn
Gabby
Bars
Gabby
Kyla
Jordyn
Beam
Jordyn
Aly
Kyla
Floor
Aly
Jordyn
Gabby or McKayla
Congratulations to my girls. :)
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