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Off balance Stars were out of alignment for the U.S. women
SYDNEY, Australia -- The U.S. women survived a shaky start to finish sixth in Sunday's gymnastics preliminaries, which qualified them for Tuesday's medal round. But there was little high-fiving in the American camp, as the defending gold medalists showed gaping weaknesses in every apparatus. "I'd say we performed at about 75 percent of our top form," head coach Kelli Hill assessed. "It'll take 100 percent to medal. If we do what we can do, we'll raise our scores four-to-six tenths of a point in every event." As Dandy Don used to say, "If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas." The Americans finished a whopping 3.435 points behind top-scoring Russia. Even factoring in the judges' propensity to raise their scores as the day goes along -- the Russians were in the third rotation, the Americans the first- -- that margin is thoroughly Thorpian in scale. You could float the G'day blimp through it. Russia and Romania are simply on another level from this particular U.S. squad, and it would take an act of Bacchus to get those two teams back to Bela's pack. Judging by Sunday's performance, even bronze seems out of reach for the Americans. China, which also competed in the first rotation, finished 1.949 points ahead of the U.S -- a clobbering in a sport sometimes decided by hundredths. Clearly, the stars were out of alignment for the U.S. "Maybe they just needed to get it out of their system," said Hill. "I saw them do things I haven't seen since they first started training camp in Houston. Kristin never misses a vault. Amy never misses bars. Dominique never falls on the beam. Elise never steps out in the floor. It's nerves. It's sports. It's the Olympics." The good news is that none of it matters going forward. The scores from the prelims don't count toward the medal round on Tuesday, and all six qualifying teams start from zero. The bad news? The same athletes will be competing for the same teams. No trading uniforms. Which didn't stop the Americans from putting a brave face on the events of the day. "We're going to put the prelims behind us and show the world we can rock the routines in the finals," said a confident Dawes. Asked how the team planned to spend the evening, Dawes replied that they were going to watch a movie. Which film had the gymnastics team chosen? Titanic. Sports Illustrated senior writer E.M. Swift is in Sydney covering the Olympic
gymnastics competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read
Swift's behind-the-scenes reports from Down
Under.
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