Kudos to Gabby Douglas, but Shame on NBC

Congratulations to Gabby Douglas, 16, who becomes the third consecutive American gymnast along with Carly Patterson (2004 Athens Olympics) and Nastia Liukin (2008 Beijing Olympics) to win all-around gold. Douglas, who was greatly influenced by Dominique Dawes, a member of the 1996 Olympics gymnastics team that won gold in Atlanta, becomes the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in women's gymnastics.

But, we feel outraged that NBC, the network broadcasting the games in the United States, had to zoom in constantly on Viktoria Komova, 17, the Russian gymnast who ended up finishing second as she underperformed on the floor exercise, her last event.

This was yet another dubious moment for the network which has been scorned by American Olympic viewers on social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook. NBC was also criticized for not airing a moment of silence to the victims of the July 7, 2005, London terrorist attacks at the opening ceremonies of the games.

There was yet another controversy in women's gymnastics at the games, and for a second time, it involved American gymnast Aly Raisman, as she lost a tie-breaker to Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina, 17, because the Russian gymnasts' lowest score, which occurred on the balance beam, was dropped.

Earlier, Raisman had edged out teammate Jordyn Wieber, the defending world champion, for the second American slot in the all-around competition. A provocative new rule states that only two gymnasts from each country may compete irregardless of scores.

http://www.chalkbowl.com/gabrielle

http://www.gabrielledouglas.com

Kudos to Team USA aka The Fab Five for Winning Gold in Women's Gym

Congratulations to both Team USA, also known as the Fab Five or the Fierce Five for winning the team gold medal in women's gymnastics and to Team Canada as our neighbors to the north finished in fifth, the highest ever placement for a Canadian team in the sport.

The team victory is perhaps especially sweet for Jordyn Wieber (pictured above) since she could not qualify for the all-around competition because of a highly controversial, perhaps even dubious rule, which only allow two competitors per country based on qualifying scores, irregardless of how high those scores might be.

For Team America, McKayla Maroney paved the way with a 16.223 score and Aly Raisman, who won the highly coveted second slot instead of Wieber, assured team victory with a fluid floor routine. Gabby Douglas, who had the highest score for Team America in the first round, competed on all four events with high scores on each of them. Kyla Ross (pictured below) held steady as well.

For Team Canada, the fifth place finish will make headlines in national newspapers tomorrow even if the team did not get a medal for their historic accomplishment.

Various Canadian media sources said the team members were overjoyed. Kristina Vaculik (pictured middle) tweeted that 'Canada rocked the house,' while teammate Domique Pegg tweeted that she was proud of the team's accomplishment.

Russia finished a distant second in large part because top gymnasts Anastasia Grishina and Ksenila Afanseva had very disappointing floor routines and Aliya Mustafina stumbled on the balance beam.

Romania won bronze, and the team's chances of winning gold were diminished because of an injury to standout gymnast Larisa Ioardoche. But, Catalina Ponour, 24, one of the oldest gymnasts competing at the Olympics and the lone remaining member of the 2008 Athens Olympics gold medal-winning team had an impressive balance beam routine.

Astonishingly, China, a team that won gold at home at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finished fourth.

http://www.usagym.org 

http://www.jordanwieber.com

http://www.gymcan.org