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The Olympic gold medal for women's gymnastics was in the Americans' grasp. Team USA was a small underdog coming into Tuesday night.
With a fall off the beam here, a splat on the floor there and two more steps out of bounds Wednesday, the Americans all but personally handed the gold medals to the Chinese team and settled for silver, the Associated Press points out.
That splat and fall came courtesy of Alicia Sacramone following incredible performances from her other teammates - Nastia Liukin, who had the best score of the 2008 Summer Olympics thus far and Shawn Johnson was also sensational.
China's score of 188.9 points was more than two points ahead of the U.S., a blowout in a competition that was supposed to be decided by the slimmest of margins.
"No one else made mistakes, so it's kind of my fault," Sacramone said, still trying to blink back the tears from her red-rimmed eyes. "I think everybody knows you always have good days and bad days. I just wish today was a good day."
It was a spectacular day for China. The American mistakes turned China's final three routines on floor into victory dances, and oh did Deng Linlin, Jiang Yuyuan and Cheng Fei play their parts to perfection.
Team USA had come into the Women's Artistic Gymnastics event as a small underdog and was expected to go neck and neck with China but odds makers at Bookmaker.com and elsewhere instilled China as the favorite.
Some good news to report: Team USA had the most medals going into Thursday (China time)/Wednesday night (USA time). China had 7 more gold however and South Korea, Australia and Russia made up the remaining Top 5.
Bet on the 2008 Summer Olympics Here
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Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
Originally published August 13, 2008 11:11 am EST
