"It's a Dream Come True" - Day Two Review/Day Three Preview

                                                  Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

October 13th, 2011 was the day that Jordyn Wieber became the favorite to win the Women's All-Around title at the 2012 Olympics. The DeWitt, Michigan native defeated fellow 16 year old up and comer, Russian Victoria Komova in a thrilling final, that saw Wieber come back from a low score on bars to overtake Komova in the end by a mere .033.  "Jo" as her teammates call her, was thrust into the spotlight, with the skill, work ethic and winning smile necessary to assume her rightful place as the new face of USA Gymnastics.  Alexandra Raisman was there too, finishing fourth, otherwise known as right where she should be and where she would always would be. Aly was steady, Aly was the team leader, Aly kept everybody calm, but Aly would never be the star.

More after the jump



There's a funny thing about having dreams. We're told to believe that we can achieve anything, but unfortunately, whether it be the result of a lack of physical or mental gifts, sometimes we fail to achieve our highest dreams. I for one, have always dreamed of being an Olympian (shocker I know). The problem was that even though I loved basketball, boxing, tennis, track, and swimming, I was simply not gifted enough to become a world class athlete. Failure to achieve our dreams humbles us, it gives us adversity to overcome and that makes us stronger. We are able to find other things that we can become great at, whether it be another sport, or a different type of activity all together. For me, where one door closed, another one opened and I used my never quiet mouth to become a fairly successful member of my high school speech team. While I filled my need for competition through this activity, I've always wondered what it was like to be a world class athlete. In my opinion, there must be nothing like competing with that level of skill and determination. Nothing like achieving that dream.

Jordyn Wieber is a world class athlete, a combination of power and poise that has made her incredibly likable, first in the gymnastics community, and now throughout the general public. Over the last nine months, she has shown a remarkable ability to handle the pressure placed on her 5'2 frame, taking every interview in stride and performing all her promotional duties with grace. She was the definition of unflappable. Her dream had now become an expectation. The problem for Wieber is that she competes in the deepest women's gymnastics nation in the world. A country where countless amounts of girls hold her same dream, with a few sharing the talent and will she possesses. One of them is her friend and Olympic Village roommate Raisman, who yearns for all of the same things Wieber does and with the same amount of passion. Recently, Aly was featured in a well produced documentary that aired on regional television entitled Aly Raisman: Quest for Gold. The three part series tracked the Massachusetts native's progress from last years Worlds to the Olympic Trials. The subject matter revolved around Aly just making the Olympic team, a fact that among some (although not me) was in minor doubt until just before trials. She was overshadowed by Wieber, the fast rising Gabby Douglas, the vault sensation Maroney, and the returners from Bejjing, Nastia Liukin and her gym mate Alicia Sacramone. Raisman was never the story, just the sure thing. She would always hit, but never win, always lead the team, but never lead the headlines. If you were to make a documentary about Jordyn Wieber, it would be Quest for the All-Around, but for Raisman, that was never the expectation, only the dream.  

On Sunday at the O2 Arena, Raisman achieved her dream, defeating Wieber and Douglas to qualify second behind Komova. Raisman and Douglas' placement had shut Wieber, the fourth place qualifier (there are only two per country allowed in the AA Final) out of the final. The fourth best gymnast on the planet, with the proven ability on another day to be the best, would not be able to compete for the ultimate prize; the chance for gymnastics immortality. Wieber did not choke. She scored over 60, beating her own score from the World Championships. Jordyn Wieber barely gave anything away and did not even qualify. When she broke down in tears on the floor after Raisman surpassed her, it was heartbreaking for everyone, but perhaps for no one more than Aly. She had secured the spot that finally made her a star instead of just solid and yet had taken it all away from her teammate. In one moment, the two best friends had experienced the consequences of having dreams, it was just not what anyone, including themselves, had expected them to be.

Things You Need to Know:

• While the Wieber, Raisman and Douglas all-around subplot turned into the story Sunday, the overall showing of the US team was superb. Watching these girls just pump out Amanars is incredible and their poise on the other apparatuses (other than some shakiness on floor) was very impressive. All these ladies do is hit (shout out to Kyla Ross, who would be a star on most other teams), and they look to be the favorites going into Tuesday's team final.     
• The performances put in by the USA's Russian rivals have to be praised. Komova, whose mature look is a complete change from the wide eyed 16 year old that competed nine months ago at Worlds, put together a solid performance that qualified her in the top spot (scores do not carry over) for the all-around. Aliya Mustafina, her of a previously torn ACL and a stare that makes me question my worth as a human being, was also good, qualifying in fifth place. She threw a double twisting Yurchenko (if you didn't know what DTY meant on Twitter) on vault today, but may have an Amanar ready for finals. That is a potential game changer in the team and AA finals. 
• So, USA Basketball is pretty good. The, "We Take Pictures of Ourselves Sleeping Team" had no problem with France and Tony Parker's goggles in a 27 point victory. The real story for the US today however may be what Yi Jianlian did to Marc Gasol in the Spain/China game. Jianlian, the talented but inconsistent big man who gained notoriety for posting up a chair during his pre NBA draft workouts (earning the nickname "The Chairman"), made Gasol defend by the three point line. The results were unfortunate for bulky Gasol, who was unable to stay with Jianlian through much of the third quarter. LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony must be salivating at possibility of drawing Gasol on defense. That could get ugly. 
• The Lochte/Phelps rivalry took another interesting turn Sunday when the Floridian gave up the USA's lead on the final leg of the 4 x 100 free relay, getting out-touched by a revenge seeking French team for the gold.  Phelps, who admitted after the 400 IM that his competition had, "raced smarter" than him was fantastic, clocking the fastest split on the US team as the second man in the water. Lochte, who may have been a bit tired from his 200 free semi, looked nothing like the invincible beast that he was on Saturday night. Just more to think about in the constantly changing race to become USA Swimming's alpha dog.
• Dana Vollmer is a beast, nuff said.
• Kim Rhode, who is never going to make a dent in the American sports landscape other than every fourth summer, is a name you should know. The veteran of five Olympics broke the world record in the Women's 10m skeet competition, making it look so easy that I should forgive her for my friends and I complaining about how hard skeet shooting is.
• I've never cheered harder for anything South Korean than during the Women's team archery gold medal match vs China. This USA/China thing is gonna drive to me to root for some weird things. I'm very prepared.
•  USA team sports outfits had a mixed day with Men's Water Polo and Volleyball picking up wins and Women's field hockey taking a loss. Women's FH involves the most Terps at these Olympics and you should find out more about them at the great "Terps In London" blog on the umterps.com (major bias alert). 
• The daily Team GB (TEAM GB!!!) update is a positive one, with the host nation picking up its first medals of these games, a silver in the Women's Road Race and a bronze from Beijing gold medalist Rebecca Adlington in the 400 freestyle. Also, the GB soccer (football) squad and their horrible jerseys defeated the UAE 3-1 on a day where gold medal favorites Spain were eliminated by Honduras. Score one for CONCACAF.

Day Two Preview

What to Watch:

The men's gymnastics team final goes down at the O2 (11:30 am ET, nbcolympics.com) with the US trying to carry it's momentum from Saturday and the Chinese and Japanese attempting to right their respective ships after shaky qualifying performances... Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin both swim in finals (2:30 pm ET, nbcolympics.com), with Franklin trying to prove her incredible hype is justified and Lochte hoping to rebound from Sunday's set back... The USA Women's Volleyball team plays Brazil in a good match-up (11:30 am ET, NBC)... Men's weightlifting and judo are interesting... Women's beach volleyball and handball should be a fun time (various times on various NBC based channels)

Storylines to Follow:

• USA Boxing Resurgence: Boxing used to be one of the glamour events in the Olympics for the United States with consistent results and fighters like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd "Money" Mayweather (TFA) all emerging as stars from their Olympic performances. Recently however, USA Boxing has come on hard times, winning only a single medal (bronze from Deontay Wilder) in Beijing. This failure along with the general disillusionment the general public feels for both amateur and pro boxing has pushed a once great sport to the back burner. This year the US does seem to have some momentum, with it's fighters going 4-0 in the first two days. These guys (and soon girls) are putting on exciting fights, tough to do in the amateur boxing format. Terrell Gausha, who dramatically stopped Armenian Andranik Hakobyan in the final seconds of a fight he was trailing, gave boxing some positive headlines in the US at a time when it desperately needs them.
• TFA TO WATCH: Rebecca Soni
• PGA TO WATCH: Janko Tipsarevic (If only for that horrible snake flex celebration  he pulled out vs Roddick a couple years back at the US Open)

One Last Thing:

• Teddy Atlas and Bob Papa continue to attack the scoring system in amateur boxing. Good for them, it's awful.
• NBC's live stream was a little better today, but still had it's problems. I can't even imagine the traffic they are trying to manage, so I'll give them a bit of a pass.
• What I will not give them a pass for his going to a commercial with seven minutes left in the USA's loss to Germany in field hockey. It was a ONE GOAL GAME and going to commercial in that tight of a game, involving the US no less, is unacceptable.

Well that's it. I hope to post my first love for the Olympics explanation on Wednesday. If you read down this far (I know its long), please comment. Follow me on twitter @TaylorSmyth10, unless you are looking to avoid spoilers for your primetime viewing.

Aly Raisman quote in title courtesy of Blythe Lawrence at examinar.com and @GymExaminer