- Use Playlist to watch in order - BBC Coverage 2008 Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team Final Top 8 Qualifying Teams: China United States Russia Romania Australia France Brazil Japan enjoy!
i love shawn's beam routine!!! she was the youngest one on the USA team but she never cracked under pressure and was always so consistent! I love how she always saves the day
The US team had three alternates (Ivana Hong, Jana Bieger and Corrie Lothrop) but none of them traveled to Beijing. Alternates are usually called in if an athlete drops out during the preparation and training for a meet - not when competition has started.
yeah yeah Nistor's floor was EXTREMELY UNDERSCORED!!! only 14. sth.???!!! that's impossible and i well really loved the romanian team they are the real gymnasts
One thing the American commentators brought up that the Brits don't mention is that the Chinese floors have considerably more "bounce" to them, making it much harder for gymnasts used to working on a weaker floor to control their tumbling. The opposite problem was had at the 92 olympics in Barcelona, where the floor wasn't even sprung and the gymnasts had trouble getting their flips over! Why won't FIG standardise manufacturing specs the same way they standardise size?
Shawn Johnson's knees were her greatest asset, landing all those routines correctly, I just don't think she was the same after her skiing accident. The knee she hurt was important to her performances.
Alicia's floor was good, though she did have an error in sat down and miss steps. I feel sorry for her in how she's emotionally is taking it. Nastia's floor was beautiful and excellently well done, though she miss step too. Both her's and Alicia's floor I enjoyed.
@chinghxd Yeah, especially because her mistakes alone couldn't have accounted for the team's second place finish. It's simple addition, but people don't want to realize that. The Chinese just had a sizable lead at the end and that was that.
A little different scenario- Morgan was injured several days before competition. Sam was injured, like, 3 seconds before going onto the floor. And with 3-3 in finals, I don't know how much the alternates would really affect compete, whereas Tasha competed quite a bit in place of Morgan {and there was time to bring her in!}
Yeah, Sam would have been a likely one to be picked for beam too, I was just using Chellsie as an example. As for Bridget -- remember she was making mistakes on floor at the Trials, and Martha hadn't seen any of her 2009 routines yet, since they hadn't even happened. ;)
Sacramone's style on floor reminds me a bit of Boginskaya, the way it's quite seductive in the choreography. And yes, she made mistakes and they didn't win the gold so get over it and leave her alone. She probably feels bad enough without people reminding her of it all the time.
Martha would have used Chellsie Memmel on beam if she hadn't been injured and then I think Team USA might still have had a fighting chance. I thought they rallied well after Alicia's fall on beam though. Ahh, poor Alicia, there was just too much pressure for her.
yeah, and some gymnasts have the misfortune to fall just in the worst possible moment for their teams. like sacramone here. too bad, she's a great athlete
What is with everyone saying Chinese Gymnasts are under-aged? Sure, maybe they cheated in 2000, but that doesn't mean they cheated in this Olympics. The case against them was dropped as there was sufficient evidence that they were all of age. I'm a big fan of the USA team, but in the end, the Chinese gymnasts were the ones who gave the better performance on the day, and when they won the gold, they were met with huge speculation over their age and people saying they didn't deserve the gold.
It is debatable whether or not the US would've won without her errors, but regardless, someone of Alicia's caliber and with her level of experience shouldn't have completely unraveled like this in the team competition. She should've done better - plain and simple - and she felt awful because she knew that.
@tammy842 I agree i am american and that is abit typical of us we like to win alot and beat the better people and if we dont we feel angry im not biased im just saying
Yeah... I disagree... getting a silver with all hit routines feels much better than falling twice on two separate events. She had a horrible day. The USA falling short without two falls by one teammate would have felt better to the other girls too.
i hate how none of the US gymnasts seem to enjoy being there the romanians smiled the chinese smiled but the only time the US gymnasts smiled was at the beginning and ending of routines and even that was perfunctory they just did it for the judges you would think that the chinese would be the ones not smiling everyones under pressure but the chinese had the most pressure because it was their home country and probably 3/4 of the audience was chinese
Yeah, that's what I thought. You can never move the knee with as much flexibility after reparation. Walking and basic stuff is fine but Dancing and physical stuff that's the stuff that she will have to stop..
no part 3, 7, 8 or 9! you kidding me! so not happy!! I had been looking for the NBC broadcast but watched this annoyed that they never pronounced Nastia's name right and get parts cut out. so not nice of them to do this to us
Shouldnt there have been alternates at the games with them? It is gymnastics and injuries happen often so I would think they'd take alternates with them to China or else they didnt have any they thought were good enough to replace who they already had.
@indorican648 That's interesting... I am not saying you're wrong, but I have been following gymnastics for years and every American announcer I've heard has pronounced it "Commanechi". Probably an oversight. They also pronounce Sacramone to rhyme with macaroni. It may also just be American-British differences- kind of like the Brits say Rumania, but we say Romania over here.
ok people....so wat if the americans dont look like they are having a good time?they are focusing really hard...and when u focus hard you tend to not smile a lot...
it's one thing for Alicia to fall on beam, but to sit down on floor too is ridiculous. I don't blame her, but the decision to use her. She clearly had something wrong with her mental state, her second floor pass, and the pressure of a beam fall. Maybe Marta should have used someone else for beam
I cringe watching Alicia fall on her backside on floor. That was pretty much the nail in the coffin/momentum killer for team USA. Nastia and Shawn had to make up for her mistake once on beam, and then again on floor. If Alicia didn't fall on floor, would Nastia and Shawn been more determined and focused for their routines and not stepped OOB? Would the closer gap in scores put more pressure on China? Things to think about.
We've never been happy with 2nd. At 2010 Worlds, the girls looked upset. In 04', they looked sad with silver. They only seem happy when they win gold. I bet Russia,Romania, Brazil,Japan,Australia, and France would have killed for an Olympic team medal. Silver is still better than nothing. Be happy you medaled at all. Russia and tons of other countries didn't medal at all. I used to be like this when I competed and I realized it made people look down on you. They should try to be more happy!
c'mon, with the amount of battle the american's put up against china, with them being neck a neck, who wouldn't be disapointed that they all know they could've gotten gold if they hadn't of stepped out of bounds on they're floor. you shouldn't criticize them, they're at the olympic games! not many people get he chance to do that, to know you didn't do the best you did which is why you haven't got gold, who wouldn't be disapointed?
But then again it was all Alicia's fault...becuase Nastia bobbled a bit on beam...and the US had steps out of bounds on the floor...so it;s not entirly Alicia's fault...but I agree though we did have a shot but it was just small things that really killed us too...But I wish she haden't folded under pressure either...
Ok, so Marta still trusts Alicia after 2 falls(beam and floor) and a step-out at the Olympics, but Mattie Larson falls in bounds on her floor routine at Worlds and Marta says she can't be trusted. And she said she won't be in 2012 because of that one mistake. So Marta is trusting Alicia. And she trusted Rebecca Bross even after she fell on floor at Worlds too. Wow! Stupid.
If someone want to see a young lady REALLY dance then they need to watch Natalia Illienko (think thats how you spell it) from the early 80's - much better than Nastia!
@tammy842 What a pointlessly cynical, negative comment. You have no way of knowing whether or not they're "enjoying this experience" (if it's because some are not not smiling, let me remind you--they're world-class athletes at the Olympics, not dollies who smile mindlessly) or what they're feeling or why. "What a waste"--what a nasty, dismissive remark about their experience. FAIL.
