Ginnasta Gabby Douglas vola a tutto tondo oro delle donne

LONDRA - Ci sono voluti enorme coraggio Gabby Douglas a allontanarsi da casa a 14, lasciando la sua amata madre ei fratelli dietro a Virginia Beach, ad allenarsi con un allenatore di livello mondiale che l'avrebbe spinta a eccellere.

E ci sono voluti pratica indicibili, sacrificio e dolore per Douglas e Liang Chow trasformare questa ginnasta migliore rispetto alla media, con sogni più grandi rispetto alla media in un bona-fide olimpionico in meno di due anni.

Giovedi al Giochi di Londra, Douglas ha dimostrato che il mondo probabilmente non ha visto il limite di ciò che questa insolitamente giovane padrone di sé può fare vincendo il titolo più prestigioso di questo sport: individuale all-around medaglia d'oro olimpica.

Douglas seized the lead at the outset with the world’s most difficult vault and then stood tall, a 4 piedi 11, per respingere una carica da due russi formidabili, offrendo una performance che era pieno di potenza, grazia e una gioia palpabile che ginnastica femminile manca dolorosamente.

"Basta non avere paura e andare lì e basta dominare fuori,"Douglas ha detto in seguito, una mascotte olimpica farcito sotto un braccio, un mazzo di fiori in una mano e una medaglia olimpica d'oro al collo. "Devi andare là fuori e di essere una bestia. Perché se non lo fai, non si sta andando ad essere in cima. "

Douglas, che ha chiuso con 62.232 punti, divenne la terza volta consecutiva donna americana a vincere il singolo ambito all-around oro, seguente Nastia Liukin, il 2008 Campione Pechino, e Carly Patterson, che ha trionfato al 2004 Giochi di Atene.

She’s also the first African-American to win the all-around title. It was Douglas’s second gold medal in 48 orario, coming on the heels of il U.S. women’s team championship Tuesday.

Russia’s Viktoria Komova, an elegant gymnast who had been chasing Douglas all night, took silver, breaking down in uncontrollable sobs when the scoreboard showed that her final routine, an inspired performance on the floor, wasn’t enough to vault her into gold. Komova finished with 61.973.

Americana Aly Raisman, 18, a surprising qualifier for Thursday’s final, earned the same score as Russia’s Aliya Mustafina (59.566), leaving them tied them for the bronze medal. But under the sport’s international code, such ties are broken by a rule that neither Raisman nor her coach, Mihai Brestyan, was aware of.

In short: the lowest score of each gymnast is dropped, then the remaining three scores are added together to settle it. After that calculation, Mustafina held the edge, con 45.933 to Raisman’s 45.366.

Raisman was given no official explanation and walked off the floor still hopeful of a shared bronze. A journalist broke the news.

“I was hoping that they’d given us both the bronze medal, but obviously they didn’t,” said Raisman, of Needham, Mass., who had outperformed her best friend and teammate Jordyn Wieber to earn the unexpected chance to contend for the individual title. “It’s definitely upsetting, but I’m still happy for the rest of the girls that are on the podium tonight.”

Raisman still has a chance to win two more medals, having qualified for the finals on the balance beam and floor. Douglas could also add to her London medal haul, anche, when the individual event finals are held.

But not all of Douglas’s Olympic ambitions dangle from purple satin ribbons.

“I hope I inspire people,” said Douglas, breaking out into an enormous smile. “I want to inspire people!"

And her message?

“If you’re having a hard time, never give up! Always keep fighting!"

Even at 16 anni, Douglas speaks from experience. She has dealt with injuries — missing the 2009 national championships because of a broken wrist and struggling with a strained hip flexor and hamstring in 2010. And two years ago, she made the wrenching decision to leave her close-knit family to live with a foster family in West Des Moines, Iowa, and train with Chow at the same gym as 2008 all-around silver medalist Shawn Johnson.

Thursday at North Greenwich Arena, the 94-pound Douglas took the fight directly to her 23 challengers.

She opened with the high-risk Amanar vault, which just a handful of gymnasts in the world perform. It automatically adds 0.7 of a point to a gymnast’s score because of its difficulty, but that gain can be quickly negated by botched execution or a muffed landing.

Douglas was flawless on the handspring takeoff and through 2¹ / ₂ twists in the air, but she wobbled slightly upon the landing. Ancora, her score, 15.966, was the highest among all 24 vault performances.

Raisman’s was nearly as good, 15.900, putting the Americans 1-2 after the first rotation.

Then came the uneven bars, a strength of the Russians and mixed bag for the Americans. And the lithe Komova demonstrated why she’s the reigning world champion on the apparatus. Her reedlike body is ideally suited for whipping around the uneven bars, and she did so with effortless grace, her legs perfectly aligned. Mustafina was more daring, and stylish as well.

Douglas her held her own, while Raisman fell to fourth behind the Russia duo.

Whatever nerves a gymnast feels tend to show themselves on the balance beam. Douglas, whose ability to focus throughout a competition was in question earlier in the season, held hers together impressively, somersaulting up and down the four-inch-wide beam as if it were wide as a sidewalk and quickly composing herself after each slight wobble.

But beam was disastrous for the normally solid Raisman. She never fell off but was penalized a full point, as costly as if she had fallen, for using a hand to keep herself from tumbling off.

Raisman’s coach was baffled afterward, having watched her nail the routine in the U.S. team qualifying earlier in the week and twice in warmups that morning,

“When it’s about the team, she is giving everything,” Brestyan said. “When it’s about herself, something is wrong there. I don’t know why. It’s a shame.”

Douglas had a comfortable leading entering the final event, the floor, but not so comfortable that she could relax. Chow had forbid her from looking at the scoreboard throughout the competition, telling her to focus solely on him and the apparatus.

She peeked anyway, she confessed afterward.

But that hardly kept her from staging a full-tilt show. She brought the house down with a high-energy, fun-loving routine that mixed explosive athleticism with sassy dance moves. Her jumps were spectacular; her tumbling, daring but always in control. Her score, 15.359, put tremendous pressure on Komova, the only gymnast in position to overtake.

And in the end, Douglas’s mark stood. And she disappeared from view in a sea of hugs.

“She performs with extreme lightness,” said U.S. team coordinator Marta Karolyi, che Douglas soprannominato "The Flying Squirrel" dopo la prima averla eseguire due anni fa. "Penso che era una delle qualità che i giudici internazionali apprezzate. Non stava lottando. Non era appena tirando attraverso le competenze. Era davvero volando nell'aria, come il suo nome dice!"

Fonte: Washington Post