2012 U.S. Olympic Trials- Women Day 1

By Evan Heiter

Day one of the women’s competition at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials has come to a close. The competition was a mixed bag of highs and lows for the athletes seeking a berth onto the Olympic squad. The top three from VISA Championships - Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman - maintained their positions as the nation’s best.

 Wieber didn’t see a score below 15.050 and boomed to a 61.700 all around tally today.  She started the night in somewhat dramatic fashion, showing excellent twisting rotation on her Amanar vault, but seemed to (again) land with one leg completely locked out. Don’t do that to us, Jordyn! The full-twisting double layout dismount she tossed on uneven bars looked much more stretched than what she’d been showing in practice sessions earlier this week. Another nod in Wieber’s favor today was a smooth stability in her balance beam series of front handspring, tucked full, back handspring. Though the rhythm isn’t the most pleasing, her tempo today was crisp and respectable! She, of course, brought the house down with the same Cirque du Soleil piece of music that saw her rise to the top of the world in 2011. Heading into day two, Wieber looks to have definite dibs on the driver’s seat of the U.S. gymnastics steamroller.

 Gabrielle Douglas taught more than a few people how to gymnastics Dougie this afternoon in San Jose, Calif. She repeatedly electrified the crowd with her daringly delightful sets. A couple hiccups marred Douglas’ first Trials appearance, though. Her signature swing on uneven bars was stalled with a pause following a pirouetting skill. Immediately following this, though, was a gutsy fight to get back on track. And that she did. Douglas worked with confidence for the majority of her beam set. The standing full and flip flop layout were smooth. Her only checks were a leg lift after a front aerial and a slight bounce on the dismount. She moved to floor gaining steam and used her sweetheart status to twist and tumble to a 15.450, second to only Aly Raisman on the event. Douglas ended her day with a tidy Amanar that packs a lot of punch, but not a ton of block and rise. Her control on the landing was arguably the best she’s put on the competition floor, however. Douglas walked out of the arena as she walked in: smiling—only at the meet’s close, she grasped a stuffed flying squirrel given to her by a fan.

 Aly Raisman has been repeatedly praised for her consistency by Martha Karolyi. Today’s meet was not much different. Raisman put another landed Amanar in her competition bank, but again showed form breaks in her knees and legs on the last half twist of it. Her uneven bars were marred by a wayward toe-on full pirouette on the low bar, but as she’s known for, she rebooted the consistency program and finished strong. Balance beam must’ve caught Aly off guard, as it wasn’t forgiving on her piked front salto or the layout back stepout that followed. She took deductions on both skills, but compressed nicely into her Patterson dismount. Raisman took the floor by storm, but hit a hiccup with an out of bounds penalty on her first pass of one-and-a-half twist through to Arabian double tuck, punch front layout.

Other bright spots from day one included Sarah Finnegan nabbing first on beam  for a set that started from 6.7. Parkettes’ Elizabeth Price traded all around places with Kyla Ross from VISA Championships, capitalizing on vault and floor exercise to push her into fourth place. Ross dazzled on uneven bars, but fizzled short (literally) on her Amanar. McKayla Maroney went two-for-four in her competitive return following a mild concussion at VISA. Rebecca Bross did some serious work in the first rotation on uneven bars, only to be betrayed by both Arabian elements in her beam set (standing and dismount). One-for-two left Rebecca visibly distraught. 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone brought her double twisting Yurchenko back, along with some nifty beam combos (front piked salto, back tuck mount combo) for a day of hit sets. 2008 Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin showed her usually excellence in el-grip on uneven bars, only to find herself stalled on top of the bar prior to dismounting and having to bail on her planned double front-half out. To Liukin’s credit and doubters’ dismay, she had displayed multiple, hit full-sets in training here in San Jose.

 On an unfortunate note, 2009 World Champ and 2008 Olympian Bridget Sloan was forced to withdraw from the meet due to an elbow sprain sustained in today’s warm up on uneven bars. A tearful Sloan addressed the media with obvious dismay, but stoic poise. She’ll head to the University of Florida this Fall with much gymnastics promise and, of course, many people rooting for her.

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Photos- Grace Chiu (interior Douglas and Finnegan thumbnail Wieber)

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