Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Jordyn Wieber dreamt about going to the 2012 Olympics when she was only 10 years old. We were lucky enough to sit down with the 17-year-old, who has been a gymnast since age 4, and ask her a few questions of our own. Jordyn shares how she gets motivated on days when she's just not feeling it, who her biggest supporter is, and her plans after the Olympics.
Gabby Douglas has become one of the big stars of this Summer's Olympics, and we asked her a few questions of our own to find out more about the gold medalist. Hear from Gabby as she reveals her Olympic heroes, favorite cheat foods when she's training, and the one sport she'd compete in if she wasn't doing gymnastics.
Aly Raisman took home another gold today! After taking home the title in the floor exercise, a gold medal in the team all-around, and a bronze in beam, Aly is the most decorated gymnast of the Fab Five! Being team captain is no cakewalk, and Aly stepped up to the plate with grace and maturity. Get her insight on what separates an Olympian from the rest of the pack.
Once again, Annie Thorisdottir maintained her title of "Fittest Female on Earth" when she won last month's Reebok CrossFit Games for the second year in a row. But Annie, 22, once dreamed of a different type of glory; in 2009, the former gymnast was on track to represent her home country, Iceland, as a pole vaulter before she decided to give CrossFit a try. CrossFit combines everything from simple strength-training moves to weight lifting, aerobics, and gymnastics, making us curious how Annie went from Olympic contender to being the face of this popular workout.
FitSugar: What types of workouts were you doing before CrossFit?
Annie Thorisdottir: I was in gymnastics from age 7 or 8 until 15 and then I started in dance, ballet, and dance sports. Then I went into pole vaulting; I was a pole vaulter for two years and then I did CrossFit and was kind of like, either I'm going to be doing CrossFit or pole vaulting, I can't be doing both 100 percent. I decided to pick CrossFit, and I'm really happy I did.
FS: What were your workouts like when you were a pole vaulter vs. how are they now that you do CrossFit?
AT: I was deciding if I wanted to try to make it to the Olympics in 2012 or 2016 and I really like pole vaulting and enjoyed it, but I always felt like I had to do something more with it. I've never felt like it was enough because it was only one thing and I felt like I really needed something else. CrossFit fit that perfect sport for me.
Some of our favorite female duos took to the courts today to represent Team USA in full force. See the results of some of the most notable events from today below!
Tennis
Venus and Serena Williams teamed up to win the women's doubles title at the Olympics today! They were favored to win and did the US proud after taking down the talented doubles team from the Czech Republic. We're so proud of Venus, and this win is the icing on the cake for Serena — she won the the singles gold just one day earlier.
Beach Volleyball
After a great game against Italy this morning, two-time gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor advanced to the semifinals! In the semifinal competition, the girls will face bronze medalists Zhang Xi and Xue Chen from China. We can't wait to watch that game.
Gymnastics
Even though we were confident that McKayla Maroney would take the gold in women's vault, things did not go as planned! In today's competition, she landed her first vault with grace, but unfortunately McKayla landed on her rear for the second. While she was certainly disappointed at not taking the gold, she did take second place and is going home with a silver medal.
Track and Field
In the women's 400m final, Sanya Richards-Ross took home the gold! Her fellow American Dee Dee Trotter took home the bronze, with Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu coming in second. Jamaica's Usain Bolt took home the gold for the 100m final today, with Justin Gatlin taking home a bronze.
We couldn't have been prouder when the adorable "flying squirrel" Gabby Douglas took home a gold medal in the individual all-around finals. This makes Gabby the first American gymnast to have won the gold medal for the team competition and the individual all-around in the same year. What makes this event even more historical? Gabby is the first black gymnast ever to win the gold medal in the women's individual all-around finals.
The road to the Olympics was no easy feat, but Gabby kept a bright, upbeat attitude in order to persevere. Check out five inspiring quotes about the hard road to Olympic stardom.
You may have been surprised to see Aly Raisman come in fourth place after her score of 59.566 matched Russian Aliya Mustafina, who was awarded the bronze medal. If you're perplexed at how this happened, you're not alone, as many people thought the two would share the podium. In alignment with the International Federation of Gymnastics:
"Should there be ties in the team finals in London, the lowest apparatus score will be dropped and the remaining scores added. If that doesn't break the tie, additional apparatus scores will be dropped, one at a time, until there is a winner. If no winner emerges, the tie stands.
There is a similar formula for the all-around final. But if no winner has emerged following the dropping of apparatus scores, the execution score total for each gymnast serve as the tie-breaker, followed by his or her total start value. If that doesn't establish a winner, the tie will stand."
While the odds of this happening are very rare, under this rule, Mustafina dropped her lowest score of 13.633 (balance beam), while Aly's lowest score of 14.200 (balance beam) was also dropped. Mustafina was able to win because she scored higher on the remaining three events. I'm not sure this is giving Aly any solace with the current situation. Between her lack of bronze in the individual all-around and Jordyn's elimination to the finals despite her fourth-place standing, it seems like all of these rules have been interfering with Team USA's ability to perform. What do you think?
Shawn Johnson may have retired from gymnastics, but she's still taking part in all the fun. The gold-medal-winning athlete from the 2008 games in Beijing has been canvassing London as a Today show correspondent and Team USA's number one fan; here's how the bubbly personality (and future Dancing With the Stars All-Stars contestant) has been motivating her fellow gymnasts while live-tweeting their big events:
Read on for Shawn's tweets on today's women's gymnastics individual all-around results (which will air tonight in the US) after the break.
The carefully selected American women's gymnastic team pulled off a feat that hasn't happened in 16 years: they won the team gold at the Olympics! Team USA's final score was a full five points higher than the silver-winning Russian score. This is a huge victory in a sport where the top spot on the podium is often decided by tenths of a point. The five young women stayed cool under pressure, and by the final rotation, they looked as if they were having a ball. Jordyn Wieber bounced back from the disappointing news of not qualifying for the individual all-around competition, and she looked poised and confident tumbling in her floor routine.
If you missed the competition (or just want to relive the excitement), then take a look at images of our favorite moments of the night. We will be rooting for these young athletes as they compete for individual medals later this week.
It was a huge day for Team USA in swimming with four final competitions today. Tons of excitement at the pool along with support from family and fans helped the US make a few huge splashes.
Spoiler alert: We have scores and medal news from today's events after the break, so keep reading only if you're ready for the updates.
