C’est Sport part deux

Ok, I never took French in my life, so cut me some slack…

1 Gabby Douglas wins gold in the Women’s AA

I already mentioned Gabby, but I have to mention her again.  Who’d have thought at the beginning of the year that Gabby Douglas, the girl known in gymnastics as a headcase, would win the AA gold in London?  I never thought she’d emerge so confident in the AA, and performed very well on the beam, the apparatus I thought would be her downfall.  It’s amusing, in retrospect, that NBC was so eager back in February to use the American Cup (or SCAM as it’s known by gymnastics fans) to proclaim Jordyn Weiber the odds on favorite in the AA.  And yet, it was Gabby Douglas who emerged the unofficial winner that day, and foreshadowed greater things.

To me, that’s the exciting thing about Gabby hitting (and winning) in the AA, was it was just the culmination of a lot of personal growth.  I’m glad I decided to follow gymnastics again, via Youtube and Blythe Lawrence’s Quick Hits, because I got to see how Gabby Douglas developed over the past year and a half, so her triumph is more about her personal victory, than her Olympic victory for me.

2 McKayla Maroney crashes her Mustafina vault.

I’ve never seen McKayla fall before on any vault, but there’s a first time for everything.  Unfortunately, that first time came in the Olympic event finals.  Maroney leaves with a silver, and once again I find myself shaking my head at the current Code, which allows an athlete to sit down one of her vaults and still medal at all!  Nothing against McKayla, I love this girl, but she simply did not deserve to medal today, when other competitors stood up their vaults and she did not.  Peska deserved the silver, and Berger deserved the bronze.

(Getty Images)

Looks like she agrees with me.

3 Louis Smith gets silver

Another disappointment today for myself and Great Britain, as Louis Smith loses the gold medal in a tie breaker.  At least this tie breaker made sense this time, going by execution scores.  The tie breaker for Mustafina and Raisman was like integrative calculus!  (Though I’m VERY glad Musty emerged the winner in that tie.)  Poor Louis Smith.  So close, and yet so far…

4 Andy Murray wins Gold

Winning a gold medal is sweet, but revenge is even sweeter.

(photo via BBC)

In the past, Andy Murray has gone into a funk after losing Grand Slam finals, and I was terrified that he’d do that after such a crushing defeat at Wimbledon.

Today, my fears were put to rest as Andy Murray demolished Federer in straight sets, winning the Olympic Gold Medal on Center Court at Wimbledon.  He definitely proved a lot today by his amazing achievement!  I am so happy for him.

Congratulations Andy!  Today you are truly British.

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