Team USA Wins Gymnastics Gold

The U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team will bring home a gold medal after their performance in Tuesday's team final.

The five-member team, led by team captain and Needham resident Aly Raisman, earned a total score of 183.596, beating out second-place Russia, with 178.530, and third-place Romania, with 176.414.

With the win on Tuesday, Team USA earned the country's second ever team gold medal for women's gymnastics. The United States first won gold in 1996.

"The gold-medal finish is the sixth consecutive team medal for the U.S. women. Dating back to 1992, it is the second-longest active women’s Olympic team medal streak behind Romania (1976-2012)," according to the team website, usagym.org.

In the individual events, Team USA was first on the vault (48.132), balance beam (45.299) and floor exercise (45.366), but came in third in the uneven bars (44.799).

The team from China dominated the uneven bars portion of the competition, with a score of 46.399, followed by Russia with a score of 46.166.

"We are certainly enjoying this moment," Women's National Team Coordinator Martha Karolyi said in a release sent out Tuesday afternoon following the win. "This is the result of the teamwork and what we did through the years. All the hard workpaid off in the end.”

Competing for Team USA were: Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney on vault; Wieber, Kyla Ross and Douglas on the uneven bars; Ross, Douglas and Raisman on the balance beam; and Douglas, Wieber and Raisman on the floor.

Though she didn't compete until the third event, Needham's Aly Raisman kept busy rooting for her teammates in their events.

“I just kept moving and cheering on the Team USA girls," Raisman said. When the Russians were going, I didn’t pay attention to them. It wasn’t that bad. It went by pretty quick.”

Wieber said the girls worked together well as a team.

“This couldn’t be possible without everyone stepping up today. Everyone did their job and was completely amazing," Wieber said. "I am so excited.”

The final started at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time and was shown live on NBCOlympics.com (for cable and satellite subscribers), also airing during NBC's primetime broadcast at 8 p.m.

Below is a recap of the final from the USA Gymnastics website, usagym.org:

The USA women started off strong on vault. Wieber, Douglas and Maroney all competed a Yurchenko two-and-a-half,also known as an Amanar. Wieber scored a 15.933, Douglas scored a 15.966 and Maroney stuck her vault and received the highest U.S. vault score with a 16.233. The USA scored 48.132 on vault and was 1.733 points ahead of China, who started on bars. Russia, who started on vault, was third.

Wieber once again led off for the USA on uneven bars, scoring a 14.666 for her solid routine complete with a full twisting double layout dismount. Ross showed precise lines, high release moves and stuck her double layout dismount to earn a 14.933. Douglas anchored theteam for the U.S. and scored an impressive 15.200 for her sky-high release moves and double layout dismount. USA continued the lead with a 92.931 to Russia’s 92.532.

On beam, Ross got the U.S. off to a good start with her routine, scoring a 15.133. Ross competed a front aerial to flip flop, layout stepout and dismounted with a double tuck. Douglas’ routine, complete with her standing full and flip flop series to double pike, scored a 15.233. Raisman’s routine included a solid flip flop layout series and she dismounted with her double Arabian dismount to score a 14.933. The USA team score after three events 138.230 to Russia’s 136.931.

Douglas showed off on floor exercise with her dazzling smile and impressive tumbling and dance to score a 15.066. She mounted with a one-and-a-half to triple full and and dismounted with a double tuck to jump. Wieber hit the routine of her life complete with a double twisting double back and a one-and-a-half to triple full to score a 15.000. Raisman, who medaled on floor at the 2011 World Championships, showed impressive tumbling complete with a one-and-a-half to double Arabian and second pass of a pike double Arabian to jump to clinch the medal for the United States with her score of 15.300.

Raisman and Douglas for the all-around finals, which will be held on Thursday, Aug. 2 beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET. The individual event finals will be held on Aug. 5-7. The schedule is as follows (all are in Eastern Time, which is five hours behind London).

• Women's Vault Final—Sunday, Aug. 5, 9:50 a.m.
• Women's Uneven Bars Final—Monday, Aug. 6, 9:50 a.m.
• Women's Balance Beam Final—Aug. 7, 11:47 a.m.
• Women's Floor Exercise Final—Tuesday, Aug. 7, 1:23 p.m.

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