Raisman Wins Gold on Floor, Finishes Olympics with 3 Medals

Aly Raisman won gold in the floor exercises and bronze on the beam, finishing with more medals than any of her teammates.

American Aly Raisman completed a clutch Olympic performance Tuesday with a gold medal in the individual floor exercise and a bronze in the balance beam, ending the games with three medals, more than her highly hyped teammates, Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber.

In the runup to the Olympics, the spotlight had been on Wieber, the all-around 2011 world champion. But she failed to qualify for the Olympic all-around competition. Gabby Douglas seized the opportunity, and shocked the world by winning gold. But in individual apparatus events, Douglas and Wieber faltered, and Raisman, the team captain, shined.

Raisman finished the London games with two golds -- for her individual floor performance and the Americans' all-around team triumph -- and a bronze in the beam. She nearly earned a fourth medal in the individual all-around, missing bronze in a tiebreaker.

Raisman scored a 15.6 on a near-flawless floor routine on Tuesday, far ahead of any of her competitors, including Wieber, who stepped out of bounds and ended in seventh place.

Raisman mouthed "wow" after she saluted the judges, according to the Associated Press. Teammate McKayla Maroney yelled "whoa!" from the stands when her score was announced.

Raisman was the first American woman to win gold in the floor exercise, the AP reported.

"It was definitely the best floor routine that I've ever done," Raisman said. "To have it be at the Olympic Games, in the finals, is just really amazing and just a dream come true. That's what you work for your whole life."

Catalina Ponor of Romania and Aliya Mustafina of Russia won silver and bronze, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Raisman took advantage of Douglas' fall on the balance beam and came in third.

Raisman's initial beam score put her behind third-place Ponor, but her coach asked for a review. The judges examined detailed aspects of Raisman's routine and ended up raising the score for its difficulty, bringing her a tie with Ponor at 15.066. This time, the tiebreaking rules went in Raisman's favor. Her higher execution total put her ahead of Ponor, according to NBC Olympics. Bronze was hers.

Raisman told reporters the beam bronze felt like redemption for losing the all-around tiebreaker.

Deng Linlin and Sui Lu of China took gold and silver on the beam.

American men Danell Leyva, who won bronze in the all-around competition, and Jonathan Horton competed in the horizontal bars Tuesday, but neither won a medal. Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands won gold, Fabian Hambuechen of Germany won silver and Zou Kai won bronze.

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