National champion Courtney Kupets slipped up twice on her floor exercise. Veteran Tasha Schwikert showed very little of her trademark flash, falling on floor and banging her feet against the mat during her bars routine. Carly Patterson, who's won every event she's been healthy enough to enter since last summer, fell on her beam dismount.
"Obviously, last night wasn't our best performance and we struggled," USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said Monday. "But we look forward to putting our three best against the rest of the world's three best. It's all about execution."
The Russians also disappointed.
The Russians counted a score in the 8s in all but one of their four events. They should've known they were in for a rough day when their very first competitor of the day, Yelena Anochina, stumbled backward on the landing of her vault and slammed into the horse.
Things were particularly brutal on uneven bars, normally one of Russia's strengths. Anochina went first again. And promptly fell again. Tossing herself backward over the bar on a release move, she couldn't hang on and landed on her backside, tumbling backward and smacking her head on the mat.
Ludmila Ehova, the reigning world bronze medalist on bars, was up next, but she dropped off, too.
"There was a little bit too much pressure for the team, and they didn't perform what they're capable of doing," said Leonid Arkaev, head coach of the Russian team.
"When the team competes for the medals, it'll be a completely different look."
As scary as the Chinese and Romanians looked, there is some good news for the Americans and Russians, with scoring starting from scratch in the team finals. Each squad puts three gymnasts on each event, with all three scores counting.
That means one miss, and a team can forget about climbing on that medals podium.
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