Sacramone Falls; Liukin and Johnson Perform Beautifully on Balance Beam

The Women's gymnastic events are some of the most widely followed events of the Summer Olympics. This year, after grand opening ceremonies, host China and rival United States faced off against one another in heated battle for the coveted gold medal in team gymnastics Wednesday. United States athletes gave strong performances, with good difficulty ratings, and solid scores. Most impressive was watching these young women perform their routines, then perform a great service to our nation in representing good sportsmanship.

The United States started strong, but ended up taking silver behind China and ahead of Romania. With errors and falls for both top teams, all events were close, however, most crucial in deciding which team captured first was the balance beam. Alicia Sacramone normally holds the team together but lost her usual composure when she fell attempting a pike mount onto the beam. This led to a less than top notch performance for the duration of the team events.

As world champion on beam, Alicia Sacramone faced unimaginable pressure to shine. Her nerves took over, and the rest is history. After remounting, she gave a decent performance, though she had lost her focus. She fought back tears as her scores were announced. She did not make excuses, rather, stated that she got nervous, and didn't perform well. Her coach indicated some of her nerves came from the fact that her name was called, but she was stopped twice before being allowed to proceed. There is speculation on the Internet that this was intentional and strategic, as she was seen as the strongest contender in this event.

Sacramone took the blame for her team's silver, after she fell in the floor event, and stepped out of bounds. The deductions for these errors, along with her beam deductions, cost her team dearly. Due to solid, crisp performances on beam and floor by Shawna Johnson and Nastia Liukin, the U.S. Olympic Women's team pulled off the silver medal. The team stood strong and proud of their silver, as they rallied around Sacramone and each other.

Has the silver medal brought the issue of the Chinese gymnasts birth records more to the forefront? One might think that younger athletes have a disadvantage, but in reality, the opposite is true for this event. Watching the tiny "women" on the Chinese team fly through the air like hummingbirds was impressive, but did they have the advantage of youth? Younger bodies are more supple, limber, and lighter, which makes them easier to bend, stretch, and fly through the air. Younger girls compete with fierce confidence, not fully understanding or feeling the same pressures that can put a more experienced girl off balance - while the world watches. None of the U.S Women's competitors have used this as an excuse.

Regardless of ages of athletes, China had a good day, and outperformed the U.S.A this time around. They deserve respect for that, but the U.S. team deserves respect for taking silver (no small feat in and of itself) and for accepting it gracefully, supporting each other as teammates even when disappointed, and recognizing the deserving efforts of the other team. They should be proud that they are role models as medaled Olympians, but also as having good character and dignity.