Two princesses to vie for Nastia Liukin's Olympic throne By GIL LEBRETON
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- With a thud and a tear, the golden queen of gymnastics bid farewell to her Olympic career Sunday night.
The question remains: Was there another queen in the house?
For Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber, Sunday's dazzling head-to-head battle for the U.S. Olympic trials' all-around title may have only been a hint of what's to come.
Both are expected to have a solid chance to gain the crown that Nastia Liukin won four years ago.
Douglas and Wieber will lead the five-woman team headed to London. They will be joined by Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass.; McKayla Maroney of Long Beach, Calif., and Kayla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif.
As promising as the night was Sunday, however, for them and the two new gold medal contenders, both 16 years old, it was bittersweet for Liukin, 22, who came into these Olympic trials hoping to shed the rust from a two-year layoff and make the U.S. team in two events.
The 2008 all-around gold medalist in Beijing saw those hopes dashed with tired, struggling performances on the uneven bars and balance beam on Friday night. Afterward, she said she hoped to at least finish the competition on a high note, as a reigning Olympic champion should.
But fate handed her a cruel goodbye.
Midway in her uneven bars routine, Liukin missed her grip during a release move and plummeted to the mat, belly first. She lay there, stunned, for a few brief seconds -- half winded, half seemingly in resignation.
In the gymnastics world, there are said to be two levels of fitness for athletes coming back from injuries or after a long layoff -- skills shape and routine shape. Putting together the series of skills needed to make a full world-class routine takes time.
And Liukin ran out of time.
After her fall from the bars, she slowly rose to her feet and walked to the chalk bin, clearly trying to regain her bearings. When she headed back to the bars to resume her routine, the capacity crowd at HP Pavilion cheered reassuringly.
The cheers rose exponentially when she finished the routine without further major mishaps. Her father-coach, Valeri, gave her a tight hug.
A few minutes later, Liukin was on the balance beam, her face showing the strain from her earlier fall.
It wasn't her best beam performance, not by far. But it clearly showcased her grace and classic style.
She stuck the landing like the champion she will always be. Instantly, the crowd roared and came to its feet.
They realized they had likely seen one of the greatest American gymnasts of all time on the mat for the final time.
A smile came to Nastia's face. She waved to the crowd. And like any dad would, Valeri Liukin kissed his daughter.
Her score on the beam was 14.95. The bars score ended up being 13.95.
It wasn't what a queen would have ordered. But the night belonged to the future princesses.
In a back-and-forth battle all night, Douglas overtook Wieber to win the trials all-around competition 123.45 points to 123.35.
Raisman was third, scoring strongly in all events except the bars.
Ross, likely by virtue of her high scores on the uneven bars, was given the nod for the team over up-and-comer Elizabeth Price.
The other spot went to Maroney, who completed an inspiring comeback from a serious fall at the U.S. championships in June, where she broke her nose and suffered a concussion. Maroney's vault score is expected to help the U.S. chances considerably in the team competition in London.
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