| Page 2 of 3 < > |
U.S. Gymnasts See Gold Turn to Silver
U.S. gymnasts Alicia Sacramone, left, and Bridget Sloan congratulate Chinese gymnasts He Kexin, left, and Cheng Fei during the medal ceremony.
(By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
But whatever opening that gave the United States was immediately erased by Sacramone, who fell on her somersault mount. She hopped back on and competed the routine, but trudged away dejected.
Karolyi grabbed her by the shoulders. Cradling her face in her hands, she ordered her to forget the mistake and move on. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson followed with impressive routines, trimming the deficit to 1.00 heading into the final event, the floor.
Both Johnson and Liukin tried bolstering Sacramone's spirits during the break between events.
Johnson, 16, asked Sacramone if she had gotten mad at her when she made a mistake at the 2007 world championships. The answer, of course, was no.
"It's not any different now," Johnson told her.
And Liukin assured her that anyone on the U.S. team could have made the same mistake.
But Sacramone fell again during her floor routine. It was an inconceivable error by the 2005 world champion in the discipline -- especially when the team desperately needed her best effort.
She walked off the floor and buried her head in her hands. This time, Liukin and Johnson couldn't salvage matters. Both stepped out of bounds on their floor routines, and China was all but assured of the gold from there.
There were as many tears as smiles on the medal stand afterward, where a joyless Sacramone lined up next to her teammates and bowed her head to receive the silver medal.
"I thought there was an advantage for me because I had been on the international team for so long [that] I didn't let the pressure of competition get to me," Sacramone said, her eyes red and swollen. "But today it got to me."
Coaches could only shake their heads.
"On the balance beam, sometimes it's really hard to stay on if you're having some rough times," said Liang Chow, Johnson's personal coach and coach of the U.S. Olympic team. "But we cannot afford two falls -- floor and beam."
