Actually it was a combination of the Chinese women\\\’s strong performances and the American women\\\’s mistakes that earned China the women\\\’s team gymnastic Gold Medal and the defending Olympic champion US team the Silver Medal. It started off well enough for the US, with all three gymnasts–Alicia Sacramone, Shawn Johnson, and Bridget Sloan–nailed their vaults. Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Chellsie Memmel (competing with a broken ankle) were outstanding on the uneven bars. However, on the final two aparatuses, the team faltered. Sacramone fell off of the balance beam (below) even before her routine began and she landed on …read more

It wasn’t the start the US women’s gymnastic team would have hoped for. Just minutes before the qualifying competition began, Samatha Peszek injured her ankle, allowing her to compete just on the uneven bars and leaving the US with just four uninjured gymnasts for most of the qualifiying rounds, where teams are allowed to use five members and count the best four scores on each apparatus. (Chellsie Memmel injured her ankle last week and will compete only on the uneven bars.)
And, it seems to get worse from there. Alicia Sacramone led off the floor exercises and landed with two …read more

Image details: 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics Day 4 served by picapp.com
The US women’s Olympic gymnastic team was named yesterday evening, with few surprises. Joining Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin in Beijing will be Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, Samantha Peszek, and Bridget Sloan (pictured above). The US women are favorites to win the Gold team Medal in Beijing.