When dreams go bust

Gabby Douglas called it a "shocker", Aly Raisman felt "really bad" and Jordyn Wieber fled in tears as her dreams of being crowned all-around champion at the London Olympics were cruelly dashed on Sunday.

However, running off to her room in the athletes' village is unlikely to provide the 17-year-old gymnast with much comfort as she will again come face-to-face with the villain who denied her a place in Thursday's final — her room-mate and best friend Raisman.

The competition that had been built up as a showdown between world gold medallist Wieber and US trials champion Douglas was over before it even started after the Michigan resident's floor exercise to "Wild Dance" went awry.

One small step out of the marked area ended up being one giant mistake for Wieber. She earned 14.666 on the apparatus, leaving the door ajar for Raisman to sneak up on her.

Raisman did not falter and her score of 15.325 not only knocked out Wieber but also made her the top American qualifier for the individual final.

With only the top two competitors from each nation progressing to the finale, Wieber missed out on a chance to add her name to the gymnastics hall of fame by 0.233 of a point.

Just 24 hours after her mother Rita had told ‘Reuters’ that her daughter's "whole world is gymnastics, it's really all she's known since she was four", it was little wonder Wieber broke down as 13 years of blood, sweat and tears came to nothing.

It meant for the first time since the Soviet-boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games, the reigning world all-around champion will not feature in the individual Olympic final.

"My first thought was about Jordyn because I was really happy but at the same time I feel bad just because I know how bad she wanted it," Raisman, 18, told reporters after the US topped team qualifying. "It's really hard. Unfortunately it's tough but I'm really happy that I made it because I've been working really hard."

So distraught was Wieber, she could not face the world's media and instead released a statement outlining her heartache. "It's a bit of a disappointment," she summed up.
If her floor routine was a little scrappy, her balance beam display was anything but sublime. She flapped her arms about after a backward somersault, nearly slipped off during a layout, wobbled on her spin and stumbled following her double-twisting dismount.

It earned her a score of 14.700 and left her as the only American who failed to break the 15-point barrier on the four-inch piece of wood.
Twenty minutes later she was shedding tears of disappointment.