Flipping Out

"John Cheng"

JACKSONVILLE, Fl. – In a hard fought battle for gold, the United States pulled out gold for both the men and the women.

Jordyn Wieber took the gold in the women’s all around and Jonathan Horton took the gold in the men’s all around at the AT&T American Cup. Each beat out the current world champions in their disciplines, Aliya Mustafina of Russia and Koji Uematsu of Japan.

Wieber took the lead early. The women started on vault, resulting in a wide range of score. Wieber scored a 15.833 for her stuck and almost flawless two and a half twisting Yurchenko. Mustafina performed the same vault but with less accuracy, scoring a 15.566 putting her in second behind Wieber after one rotation.

However, Wieber lost her lead when she fell on the uneven bars in the next rotation, giving Mustafina the edge heading to the balance beam.

After mistakes from Mustifina on beam and a clean set by Wieber, she pulled back into the lead. But it was clear the the fight was not over.

Mustafina had an uncharacteristic fall on the floor exercise in the last rotation, giving Wieber the opportunity she needed to take gold and left Mustafina with the silver.

On the men’s side, the lead bounced from gymnast to gymnast with every rotation until Horton took control during the last two rotations. Not to mention the incredible amount of falls and mis-steps made by other competitors, inculding the world all around champion, Uematsu, who placed fourth.

Other notable performances were made by last minute replacement Jake Dalton of the United States who took the bronze in the men’s all around and 2010 U.S World Team silver medalist Alexandra Raisman, who took the bronze in the women’s all around.

It was, as experts deemed it weeks in advance, the most competitive American Cup the world had seen in years. And it was a glimpse of what is to come for gymnastics in the year 2011 and heading to London in 2012. The stage is set and the athletes are prepared to take on the challenge.