Ok so I'm certainly not the first blogger to voice opinions on this, but USA and international gymnastics got a bit of an eye opener today when Gabrielle Douglas, the '3rd' american and alternate for the meet, competing purely as an exhibition, beat reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber at Madison Square Garden.Wieber took the cup, but Douglas' success will not be forgotten in the lead up to the Olympics.
The results were
(Gabrielle Douglas - 61.299)
1. Jordyn Wieber USA 61.032
2. Alexandra Raisman USA 60.832
3. Larisa Iordache ROM 59.332
4. Victoria Moors CAN 56.365
5. Diana Chelaru USA 56.100
6. Lisa Katharina Hill GER 55.599
7. Georgia Simpson AUS 54.566
Douglas has been known as a strong bars worker and member of the world champion team USA, but we shouldn't really be surprised by her all around success. Take a look back to the qualifying round at the 2011 worlds.
1. Viktoria Komova (RUS) 60.157
2. Jordyn Wieber (USA) 60.032
3. Yao Jinnan (CHN) 59.031
4. Alexandra Raisman (USA) 58.432
5. Gabrielle Douglas (USA) 57.657
Not bad for a rookie in her first time on the real world stage. Everyone talks about how the USA's 'weakness' on bars will be instrumental to the picking of the olympic team, but if I was picking a 5 member olympic team, the more strong all arounders I had, the better. And if like Douglas they have a world class bars set and an amanar vault - bonus!
So time may not remember Douglas as the 2012 American Cup Champion, but her perfomance here will have done her a LOT of favours and come the closing ceremony of the London games, we may remember her for much more!
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