US Women’s Gymnastics Cruise Through Qualifying Round

The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team lived up to the hype as this years favorite to win the overall event while World champion favorite Jordyn Wieber failed to impress, missing out on the all-around final after finishing behind Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.

The team as a whole finished with a final score of 181.863, 11 points ahead of second-place Britain. The U.S. gymnasts likely would have scored even higher had Wieber, Douglas and Kyla Ross not bounced out-of-bounds during their floor exercises.

The team final is Tuesday and the US gymnasts will face down tougher competition from defending Olympic champions Romania and the always tough team from China.

Team USA has had problems clinching gold at the last two Olympic events, despite entering both of those competitions as world champions.

The American women have the advantage this time around of starting on the vault, the teams overall strongest event and a great “mood setter” for the rest of their events. All four women on the American side perform Amanars, the hardest to complete vault in the world in which they roundoff onto the takeoff board, back handspring onto the table and 2.5 twisting somersaults before landing. After just one event that trick tends to give the Americans a huge advantage heading further into competition.

Following the qualifying round the US women’s Gymnastics team had racked up a 47.633 on the vault.

The women were also strong on the uneven bars, especially in the case of Douglas who managed a massive dismount and landing that was so high in the air it brought many spectators to their feet.

Wieber in the meantime struggled a form break on a handstand on uneven bars and then several wobbles on the balance beam. Wieber also had to take a step back on her tumbling passes to steady herself.